Latest F1 news in brief

Wehrlein through the Monaco tunnel before Button punted him against the barrier

'No back problems' after Monaco – Wehrlein
Engine rules 'driving McLaren to ruin' – Marko
Sauber 'open' to taking Honda-linked driver
Alonso 'wasting time' at McLaren – Andretti
Raikkonen 'basically' Ferrari no.2 – Salo
Button gets Super GT debut at Suzuka
Vandoorne gets own grandstand for Spa
F1 CEO Chase Carey Says Potential For Circuit's Global Growth Is 'Enormous'

'No back problems' after Monaco – Wehrlein
(GMM) Pascal Wehrlein says he will take part in next weekend's Canadian grand prix.

After missing races earlier in 2017 with fractured vertebrae, the German had said after a rollover crash in Monaco that he would undergo scans this week.

"Monaco is checked off for me," the Sauber driver told Germany's Sport Bild late on Thursday. "I have no back problems."

There was similar confirmation on Twitter, with the 22-year-old declaring: "Checks all done. See you in Montreal."

And the Swiss team Sauber added: "Great news! Medical checks done — ready for the Canadian grand prix".

Engine rules 'driving McLaren to ruin' – Marko

Dr Helmut Marko pans the mental midgets in F1 who developed the current engine formula

(GMM) Dr Helmut Marko says formula one desperately needs new engine rules for 2021.

The Austrian is a leading F1 official at Red Bull, the energy drink owned company that has two teams on the grid and is promoter of the Austrian grand prix.

He told Salzburger Nachrichten newspaper that F1's current "nonsensical power unit formula" is "wrong for F1".

"Formula one needs an engine that is simple, loud and with a cost not exceeding ten million dollars," Marko said.

The report claims that if F1 proceeds with its current engines beyond 2020, Red Bull could quit the sport.

Marko said that is because the engines are hurting F1's popularity, which has been "drastically decreasing" since the start of the current rules in 2014.

"The power units are an incredible technical achievement that does not matter to the public and puts the driver in the background.

"It is madness if you need 20 million and more for an engine," he said. "Above all it is irrelevant, as there is nothing like this technology in production cars."

And Marko said the successful carmakers like Mercedes and Ferrari are currently in a position to "blackmail" other teams. "We were close to getting no engine in 2015," he said.

"The rules must be such that Cosworth and Ilmor can successfully and commercially make an engine, so that whoever wants one – whether us or Sauber or Toro Rosso – can buy one," he said.

He said the current rules have "almost driven McLaren to ruin. The sponsors run away.

"It is simply the complexity of these regulations that make it so difficult for a world-class company like Honda to be competitive," Marko insisted.

And so he puts it in new F1 owner Liberty Media's hands to fix the problem beyond 2020.

"We are assured by Liberty that they are serious. Ross Brawn works in this direction, because even a super engineer like him sometimes does not even understand."

Sauber 'open' to taking Honda-linked driver

Monisha Kaltenborn happy to take any Honda driver if he comes with free engines

(GMM) Monisha Kaltenborn has admitted Sauber may take a driver from Honda's talent pool for 2018.

Earlier, when regular Pascal Wehrlein was injured, the German was replaced by Antonio Giovinazzi, who is engine supplier Ferrari's official reserve driver.

But Sauber has subsequently done a deal to be powered by Honda power units for 2018, and Giovinazzi has gone on to ink a Friday practice deal with the Ferrari 'B team' Haas.

So for 2018, it appears possible Sauber will take on a Honda-linked driver.

"At the end of the day it's the team's decision, and also the team's responsibility to have good drivers," said team boss Kaltenborn.

But she also said that "in the past" Sauber has discussed the issue of driver choice with its engine supplier.

"And we have taken drivers from our engine supplier because it was the right thing to do," Kaltenborn explained.

"It's something we're open to and we'll see how it pans out."

As for a Honda-related sponsorship deal, Kaltenborn said it is "far too early" to speculate about that.

Alonso 'wasting time' at McLaren – Andretti

77-year old Mario Andretti

(GMM) Motor racing legend Mario Andretti says Fernando Alonso is "wasting" his time at McLaren-Honda.

Last weekend, the Spaniard skipped Monaco in order to tackle the fabled Indy 500 with the team run by Andretti's son and former McLaren driver Michael.

But Alonso, 35, will be back in his McLaren-Honda in Canada, even though 1978 world champion Andretti has advised him to consider a full-time Indycar foray.

"The only thing that keeps a driver happy is to be competitive," the 77-year-old is quoted by Spain's Marca.

"Anything else is total frustration. He is in the best phase of his career and wasting his time. McLaren obviously feels the same pain because it's a team that only knows how to be with the best."

And so Andretti does think there are better times ahead for both McLaren and Alonso.

"It can only go better for him," he said. "It looks like they have a (good) chassis, and the situation with the engine will improve. I'm sure he'll be in the points before the season is over."

He also said Alonso was right to have sat out Monaco in order to try to win at Indianapolis, even though it was a familiar Honda engine failure that let him down.

"I guarantee that his value has gone up," said Andretti, "and he deserves the respect he gets. There were no losers here, except for the engine."

Raikkonen 'basically' Ferrari no.2 – Salo

Kimi Raikkonen too old and too slow to be the #1 driver

(GMM) Kimi Raikkonen is "basically" already the number 2 driver at Ferrari for 2017.

That is the view of the Finn's countryman Mika Salo.

His comments follow Monaco, where a controversial pit strategy saw Raikkonen lose the lead and the subsequent race win to teammate and championship leader Sebastian Vettel.

"Vettel has a good chance of winning the world championship," Salo said.

"He's doing a very good job against Hamilton. Kimi is already quite a lot of points behind, so basically he's the second driver in everyone's eyes," said the former F1 driver.

"Of course Kimi may not believe it until it is mathematically impossible to win the championship, but the team's interest means Kimi is probably the second driver," Salo added.

However, Salo said that de-facto number 2 status does not mean Raikkonen will be the subject of draconian 'team orders'.

"That sort of thing cannot happen anymore, although it may be a bit worse than a pit strategy or something else.

"We haven't seen it yet, but I bet we will if Vettel continues to lead and Kimi happens to be faster somewhere. There may be the need to change places," he added.

Button gets Super GT debut at Suzuka

Jenson Button

McLaren-Honda's Jenson Button will make his debut in the Japan-based Super GT series in August, after agreeing a deal to race for Team Mugen.

Button will join regular drivers Hideki Mutoh and Daisuke Nakajima for the Suzuka 1000km on August 27, racing a Honda NSX-GT.

He will link up with the team next Tuesday and Wednesday for a tire test at the circuit, ahead of his appearance in the championship later in the year.

Having retired from Formula 1 at the end of 2016, Button returned to action in Monaco last weekend in place of Fernando Alonso, though failed to finish following contact with Sauber's Pascal Wehrlein.

"After driving an NSX Concept-GT at Honda Racing's 'Thanks Day' last December, I became interested in racing in Super GT," said Button.

"I spoke with Honda and they have given me the chance to race at the Suzuka 1000km.

"As an F1 driver and a member of Team Mugen, I will push to win.

"I am very much looking forward to racing in front of my Japanese fans again."

Vandoorne gets own grandstand for Spa

Must be nice to be rich. Stoffel Vandoorne bought his own grandstand so he will have someone to cheer for him

McLaren-Honda driver Stoffel Vandoorne has announced that he will have his own grandstand available for fans at this year's Belgian Grand Prix.

Vandoorne stepped up to a full-time race seat with McLaren for 2017, having made his Formula 1 debut in Bahrain last season, following several years under the team's guidance.

Vandoorne triumphed at Spa-Francorchamps in Formula Renault 3.5 in 2013 and again during his dominant title-winning GP2 campaign in 2015.

The grandstand will be located on the outside of Stavelot corner.

"Since my position as full-time racing driver for McLaren-Honda was confirmed, I started thinking about my first home F1 GP in Spa-Francorchamps," he said.

"It's a great feeling knowing that I'm about to race in Formula 1 at Spa-Francorchamps and it's a dream I've been working towards for my entire racing career.

"I'm looking forward to welcoming all my fans and the Supporters' Clubs and I cannot wait to see them supporting me from the grandstands, enjoying the Grand Prix and living this dream all together!"

F1 CEO Chase Carey Says Potential For Circuit's Global Growth Is 'Enormous'

Chase Carey

Sports Business Daily's Tyler Everett writes that Formula 1 CEO Chase Carey emphasized the sport's untapped potential throughout an interview with Intersport Founder, Chair & CEO Charlie Besser at the '17 Intersport Brand Engagement Summit. F1, which was led by Bernie Ecclestone until Liberty Media's $8B acquisition of the sport in January, was not, in Carey's words, "achieving what we think is possible," particularly over the last half dozen years.

One of the biggest priorities for Carey will be beefing up F1 from an organizational standpoint. "A large part of the transition is, in some ways, it's an organizational startup," he said.

"There wasn't an operating group to drive the business forward. When I first went in the fall, essentially, my dining room table was my office and I would walk the streets of London for meetings. We're moving into offices where we can properly put the organization in place. We need to support it."

THINKING BIG: Carey wants each race — this year's calendar features 20 and next year's will have 21 — to be a massive event for fans, sponsors and promoters. He has said he wants each race to feel like a Super Bowl. He elaborated on that on Thursday. "We've talked broadly about 21 Super Bowls," Carey said.

"And people will say, 'Well, you've got 21, and there's only one Super Bowl.' The analogy can get carried too far, but realistically, we're only in each country once, so there is a uniqueness to each one. What we really meant by that is, we want this to be — and it should be — an event that sort of captures the city for the week we're there, that you know you're in a Formula 1 city; and there's stuff going on on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. The race is the pinnacle of the weekend, but there's an energy and an excitement and a breadth of events. It transcends sports; food, entertainment, music, exhibitions."

U.S. GROWTH: The U.S., where Austin, Texas, is currently the only city that hosts a race, offers a number of interesting potential destinations for Carey and Co. He said that several cities in the States have expressed interest in hosting races. "We believe there's an enormous opportunity here for us," he said.

"I think there is a large fan base that's never really had the opportunity to connect with the sport. Historically, it's probably where the deal-making and lack of resources sort of hurt our ability to develop new markets. … If you're going to develop markets like China and the U.S., we have to have the ability to be more engaged in developing that opportunity. We'll do it in steps.

Initially the two things we're focused on are adding a race — the race in Austin is great, and we're proud of it and look to continue to build it — but a race in what I call a destination city — like New York, Miami or Las Vegas — where you'd have a race that captures the world's imagination. A race that truly defines the word event. If you're in that city, you're going to know that week that Formula 1 has come to town."

Carey also addressed a wide range of other issues.

On the current season: "To date, we've been thrilled by the reaction through six races. I think every one of them has had a very tangible positive uplift. We've gotten great reactions from drivers like [Mercedes'] Lewis Hamilton arriving in Barcelona and saying he hasn't seen positive energy like this in 10 years. Early days, but we've got a lot going."

On the dominance of Mercedes and balancing technology and competitiveness: "These are very smart guys. They recognize that if you're a sport first and foremost, competition, excitement and the underdog having a chance to win are important. Yes, there's a side to you that says, ‘I want to win, how do I create advantages to win.' It's to some degree protecting you from yourself."

On changing the perception of exclusivity: "In the last half dozen years, there's a misperception that the sport was somehow trying to find its path to being attractive to stars and high-end customers. Bernie [Ecclestone] had a statement early on. He said, ‘I don't care about the 20-year-olds, because the 60-year-olds have money.'

Getting access to the paddock became increasingly frustrating, difficult and almost painful. The view would be, ‘That's how you make it exclusive.' … What we view is, you don't need to preclude others. You can still be exclusive, but be fun and enjoyable. It doesn't have to be painful, frustrating and agonizing to get into the paddock."

On his message to sponsors: "This is a truly unique sport. … There's a large block of fans that are uniquely attached to this. It's an incredibly attractive group of fans in a sport that is nowhere near what it will be and can be. Anybody who looks at it even superficially would recognize what has not been done. Again, I don't want to turn this into criticism of past management, because we've clearly given Bernie [Ecclestone] credit for what was built. But in the last 10 years, we just haven't marketed the sport, we haven't connected with fans." Tyler Everett/SportsBusinessDaily.com