Latest F1 news in brief

Now that he has the measure of Lewis Hamilton, Bottas will not race anywhere as a No. 2

'Number 2' talks no motivation – Bottas
Ferrari, Mercedes moves for Alonso unlikely – Lauda
Honda engine has 'all disadvantages' – Boullier
FIA happy with 2017 overtaking situation
Stroll rues 'unfortunate' first-lap spin
Perez hails 'tremendous' Force India effort
Hulkenberg happier with Renault race pace

'Number 2' talks no motivation – Bottas
(GMM) Valtteri Bottas has denied that being called a de-facto 'number 2' driver had something to do with his motivation to win in Russia last weekend.

Until Sochi, the Finn had been basically outpaced by his highly rated teammate Lewis Hamilton since joining Mercedes, triggering a debate about whether the team should impose a clear hierarchy.

But he said anger with those questions never intruded into the cockpit.

"All the questions, all the speculation, number two driver and so on, it doesn't get into me. It doesn't matter," said Bottas.

He told Auto Motor und Sport: "I knew the season was still young."

So for now, with his first win in the bag, the team orders questions will end.

But a new line taken by the media and pundits could be whether the mere 10-point gap between Bottas and Hamilton will disturb the peace of their relationship.

"Lewis was the first to congratulate him in Russia," team boss Toto Wolff insists.

"Of course they are opponents on the track but I don't think the relationship will evolve in the way we saw with Lewis and Nico (Rosberg)."

Bottas agrees: "So far everything has been very professional.

"In the course of the season it could be a bit more problematic, of course, especially if it is about the world championship. Then there will be less talking and more fighting," he admitted.

As for suggestions Bottas has now done enough to secure a contract extension beyond 2017, a famous member of his management team certainly thinks so.

"I'm confident that he's going to have an unbelievable future ahead of him," two-time world champion Mika Hakkinen told CNN.

But the former McLaren driver does admit that 2017 looks set to be a season-long battle between Mercedes and Ferrari.

"At the moment the Ferrari is really consistent in qualifying and in a race configuration," Hakkinen said.

"Mercedes is quick for one lap but the long distance it's really lacking some performance. So they have to find a solution for that."

Ferrari, Mercedes moves for Alonso unlikely – Lauda

Lauda says Alonso's talents are beyond dispute, but he has made many poor decisions on where he has raced

(GMM) Niki Lauda has played down Fernando Alonso's chances of leaping to the front of the grid for 2018.

The Spaniard, obviously frustrated with his dire situation at McLaren-Honda, will make a bid for victory at the fabled Indy 500 next month.

And Lauda, the F1 legend and Mercedes team boss, says he understands why Alonso wants to do it.

"He's bored," the great Austrian told the Spanish broadcaster Movistar, "and he needs a challenge.

"As a driver I understand, but for McLaren to let him go in the most important race of the year and where they can have their best result is a tough decision to make.

"It's a good decision for Alonso because he can enjoy things there that he cannot do here, and I'm curious to see what he can do at Indy," Lauda added.

Beyond 2017, however, Alonso's future is wide open. He is said to have already had talks with Renault, but the 'big two' in F1 are Ferrari and Mercedes.

Lauda doubts either of them are options for the 35-year-old.

"He left a lot of trouble with his teams when he left," he said. "I don't think Ferrari wants to have him again. He left with a contract. The same thing happened with us (McLaren-Mercedes).

"We (Mercedes) have drivers who do their job, so if we win with Hamilton and Bottas, we don't need a replacement."

Nonetheless, Lauda said Alonso's actual talent is beyond dispute.

"He is fast, aggressive, in this way he is the best. But unfortunately, drivers sometimes cannot prove they are the best by the decisions they make, and Alonso has made many mistakes," he said.

"He left Ferrari very early and decided to go to McLaren, but the problem with Honda's engine development was already known. Now he's disappointed, but going to McLaren was his decision," added Lauda.

Honda engine has 'all disadvantages' – Boullier

In his heart Eric Boullier would love to have Mercedes engines. Says Honda inferior in every aspect.

(GMM) It is dark days at McLaren, with boss Eric Boullier insisting that Honda has to already get to work on its engine for 2018.

But the Frenchman said Fernando Alonso not even getting to the grid in Russia with the 2017 power unit is "not acceptable".

Alonso, however, says he was not surprised.

"We have had a lot of problems from the winter tests, and now they continue in the races. And they will continue until there is a fundamental change," said the Spaniard.

Boss Boullier said the problem is exacerbated by the technological situation in F1.

"Formula one at the moment has a downside," he told Speed Week. "The gaps between teams has increased even more.

"An engine that is more powerful is also more efficient, with better consumption and stability. The more powerful engines have all the advantages, and our engine combines all of the disadvantages," Boullier added.

Now, McLaren is simply hoping for an improvement at the forthcoming Spanish grand prix.

"In principle yes," Boullier confirmed. "I hope so."

But he issued a terse "no comment" when asked if rival Mercedes will actively help Honda to catch up.

However, Boullier did admit that Honda is already starting to think about 2018.

"2017 is still under development," he said, "and the rest is the responsibility of Honda. But Honda must start now.

"Mercedes, for example, already has an engine that will run in 2018."

Boullier also confirmed that he will be trackside at Indianapolis in the coming weeks to watch Alonso prepare for the Indy 500.

"I cannot be at the testing this week," he said. "But I will go with Fernando after the race in Barcelona and look at the first two days.

"As a racing enthusiast I am thrilled, as I have never been to Indianapolis for the race."

Another development is that Sauber will become the first Honda customer next year, even though ousted McLaren supremo Ron Dennis always vetoed that sort of deal.

"We decided together," Boullier said.

"We did what we had to do. Ron had a very definite and clear position as he didn't want any distraction.

"But there was a moral agreement between Honda, the FIA and FOM and we knew that one day Honda had to look at other teams at the right time. But we got the reassurance that we had to get, so why not?" he added.

"For Sauber it is good, because it gives them access to a factory engine like Renault and Red Bull, for example."

FIA happy with 2017 overtaking situation

The Jean Todt (R) led FIA will take no action

(GMM) F1's governing body is for now taking no action to spice up overtaking.

Earlier, the FIA said it would analyze the opening few races of the new car and tire regulations to assess if changes would need to be made, for example to the length of the DRS zones.

After a processional start in Australia, China and Bahrain were better races. However, in Russia last weekend, there was just a single passing move all race.

Germany's Auto Bild points out that even the notorious six-car race at Indianapolis in 2005 boasted more overtaking than that.

A year ago at Sochi, there were 29 overtakes.

"Well, it's difficult to pass, let's put it that way," championship leader Sebastian Vettel said.

"Behind another car you lose the balance, the car slides and you fall behind again," the Ferrari driver added.

Sochi winner Valtteri Bottas added: "Trying to get past with these new cars, we definitely lose more downforce."

However, a source told us that the issue of overtaking in 2017 was discussed at the last meeting of the technical working group, but the FIA informed those present that the current situation is satisfactory.

And in Russia, all teams were told of the decision to leave the DRS zones unchanged for the remainder of the season, the source added.

Stroll rues 'unfortunate' first-lap spin

Lance Stroll just lost the car

Williams rookie Lance Stroll was left irritated by a first-lap spin at the Russian Grand Prix, which dropped him to the back of the field.

Stroll moved forwards from 11th on the grid through the opening sequence of corners to emerge in ninth spot, but spun at Turn 5, and slumped down the order.

Stewards investigated whether Stroll had been clipped by Renault rival Nico Hulkenberg but concluded that the Canadian had spun of his own accord, consequently taking no further action.

Stroll took the restart in 14th position and eventually classified in 11th spot, having overhauled Daniil Kvyat and Kevin Magnussen through the pit phase, after gaining a spot when Daniel Ricciardo retired.

It marked the Canadian's first finish in Formula 1 as he came home just 5.6s shy of the points-paying positions.

"It was so unfortunate," said the 18-year-old.

"I had a really good start and think I was around P8 at one point, and then I got squeezed on the curb, there wasn't much grip and the car just got away from me.

"I knew I didn't have any damage, but I fell to the back and it was just one of those things that happens.

"After that, it was a difficult first stint because I had that spin and then had to spin the car round to keep going, and I overheated the rears quite a bit so I had poor grip.

"But then I recovered a bit on the second stint and saw the checkered flag for the first time, which was nice.

"It was a bit disappointing with the spin, as I think it could have been quite a bit better, but we will take our first finish."

Williams team-mate Felipe Massa ran in sixth place before an unscheduled second stop, due to a slow puncture, demoted him to ninth.

Perez hails 'tremendous' Force India effort

Sergio Perez

Sergio Perez has lauded a "tremendous effort" by Force India as the team secured another double points finish in Russia, consolidating its fourth place in the Constructors' championship.

Perez and team-mate Esteban Ocon lined up from the fifth row of the grid and both made progress in the race, with Perez taking sixth, eighth seconds clear of seventh-placed Ocon.

The result extended Perez's run of consecutive points finishes to 14 races, and strengthened Force India's grip on fourth in the standings, 13 points ahead of Williams.

"Sixth place feels very satisfying and with Esteban in seventh it has been a really positive weekend for the team," said Perez.

"We've consolidated our fourth place in the championship and I'm seventh in the drivers' championship – which is a tremendous effort from the first four races.

"The race was not especially exciting for me because I was always on my own in clean air – chasing the cars ahead and pulling away from the cars behind.

"So there were no on-track battles and I could simply focus on managing my race and bringing home the points."

Ocon's seventh spot was his best result in Formula 1, building on his three 10th-place finishes across the opening trio of Grands Prix.

"It feels great to finish in seventh after such a strong performance from the whole team," he said.

"I am very happy with what we achieved this weekend: we improved in every session and never went backwards.

"I feel there is nothing more we could have extracted from the car: the only negative from the race was a poor start, but I managed to get those positions back before the first lap was over, so it was all good in the end.

"Finishing in the points in all of the first four races is a great way to start the season and the best I could have hoped for."

Hulkenberg happier with Renault race pace

Nico Hulkenberg

Nico Hulkenberg believes Renault has taken a step forward with its race pace after he secured another points finish at the Russian Grand Prix.

Hulkenberg expressed frustration after the preceding event in Bahrain, reckoning the team was losing out in race trim, and Renault conducted extensive work during in-season test running at Sakhir.

Hulkenberg raced to eighth in Sochi, after starting from the corresponding grid position, gaining from problems for Daniel Ricciardo and Felipe Massa, but losing out to both Force India drivers.

The German driver completed the first 40 of the 52-lap race on the Ultra Soft tires, before making a relatively late switch to Super Softs.

"I'm really happy with the strategy we ran," said Hulkenberg, who moved into 11th in the standings.

"There wasn't too much left from the tires at the end of that first stint, but we achieved what we set out to do.

"I lost track position at the start so we let everyone else pit ahead of us and went as long as we could go on the first set of boots.

"I kept pushing and the car performed really well, staying switched on with the track improvement meaning I was able to get faster and faster.

"I was definitely happier with our race pace; we've still got more work to do but we've clearly taken a step in the right direction this weekend."

Renault team-mate Jolyon Palmer retired after first-lap contact with Haas' Romain Grosjean.