Latest F1 news in brief – Wednesday
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No check, career over for Haryanto No 2017 return for Haryanto – mother
- Haas 'better fit' than Renault or McLaren – Magnussen
- Renault's Palmer not ruling out 2017 podium
- 'Politics' spoiling McLaren 'passion' – Ramirez
- Vandoorne plays down Hamilton comparison
- 'Almost impossible' task for Hamilton teammate – Merhi
- Newey expects mixed-up start to 2017
- Mercedes reveals 2017 car launch date
No 2017 return for Haryanto – mother
(GMM) Rio Haryanto has dropped out of the running to return to F1 in 2017.
The Indonesian rookie's 2016 season ended prematurely with sponsor trouble, and now his main backer Pertamina has pulled out completely.
Haryanto, 23, had been in the running to return this year with either Manor or Sauber.
But his mother, Indah Pennywati, told the Asian news source Rappler that her son "Will not be in F1 this year".
"The deadline with the Sauber team is up," she added, referring the Swiss outfit that is believed to have now signed Pascal Wehrlein.
Pennywati said her son is now likely to work in 2017 with the family's popular stationary business, Kiky.
Deputy Indonesian sports minister Gatot S Dewa Broto commented: "I was of course very sorry when I heard that Rio could no longer compete in F1.
"We hope that Rio's career does not end just because of a lack of funds," he added.
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| Kevin Magnussen's check was big enough for Haas, not Renault or McLaren |
Haas 'better fit' than Renault or McLaren – Magnussen
(GMM) Kevin Magnussen is sure he will enjoy his F1 career more now that he has switched teams for the second time.
The Dane debuted for McLaren, but fell out with Ron Dennis, who has now been ousted himself by the Woking based team's other shareholders.
Magnussen, 24, returned after a year's absence with Renault last year, but opted to move to Haas for 2017 thanks to the offer of a multi-year contract.
"Haas is a completely different team than both McLaren and Renault," he told the Danish newspaper BT. "And it fits much better for me.
"I feel like I've been unlucky in formula one to hit two teams that were having a bit of a mess with their leadership," Magnussen explained.
"But Haas is a much cleaner management structure. Gunther Steiner runs the team and Gene Haas is the owner, but they're both real racers who are in formula one because they love the sport, not because they want a profile or to make a lot of money.
"That suits me really well, because I'm exactly the same type," he added.
Magnussen also thinks his working environment will be much better at Haas, hinting that the sponsorship and PR duties at McLaren and Renault were overwhelming.
"Haas is much less dependent on sponsors than Renault, and I'm super happy about that," he said.
"Promotional work can take your focus away from racing, and it also takes time that otherwise could be spent on training.
"Motor sport has unfortunately become a sport in which the driver's physical fitness and well-being are not considered particularly highly — it is just assumed that we are in very good shape.
"But how do we get in top condition if there is not enough time to train?"
BT said Magnussen has been training harder than ever throughout December to be in top shape for the start of the season in March.
"It will be necessary," he said, "because there are many indications that the 2017 cars will be the fastest in formula one history."
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| Jolyon Palmer on some sort of hallucinogen |
Renault's Palmer not ruling out 2017 podium
(GMM) Renault can target points and maybe even a podium in 2017.
That is the claim of Jolyon Palmer, even though the French team's incoming new driver, Nico Hulkenberg, has warned that breaking into the top ten this year might be tough.
Indeed, Palmer scored just a single point in 2016, but the Briton thinks Renault will make a big breakthrough this year.
"We think the top three – Mercedes, Red Bull, Ferrari – will continue to lead, but we can fight in the next group with Williams, Force India, McLaren and maybe Toro Rosso," Palmer told Autocar.
"We want to be fighting for points in every race."
However, Renault's best finish of last year was the departing Kevin Magnussen's 7th in Russia.
But Palmer says a podium is not even out of the question.
"I dream of a podium," he admitted.
"Obviously, everything's up in the air at present. If we scored a podium, it would have to be the result of a perfect race.
"But if Force India can get two of them in 2016, we can do it this year. That's what I feel right now, anyway," said Palmer.
'Politics' spoiling McLaren 'passion' – Ramirez
(GMM) McLaren's former long-time team manager Jo Ramirez thinks "passion" is lacking in the Woking team of today.
Ever present throughout the glorious Senna and Hakkinen eras, the 75-year-old Mexican told Spanish radio Cadena Cope that he remains well connected with McLaren figures now.
"Unfortunately, McLaren is in a very delicate situation because there are a lot of politics," he said.
Indeed, team supremo Ron Dennis lost a recent power struggle, and new executive Jost Capito has reportedly left the team despite having only joined some months ago.
Ramirez claims: "Everyone is still working, but there's not the passion there was before because new people have come but most of them were Ron's people."
But the Mexican said not all is lost for the famous British marque.
"In January or February, we will see if the new management has been able to revive this great name, because for those who were there before it is a pity to see them destroying themselves," said Ramirez.
He tips Honda to keep improving the engine, but also said the McLaren chassis needs to get better because it was "not perfect" in 2016.
"They lack great people in design, but have understood what they need to do. 2017 should be the year in which they are good, and if Fernando (Alonso) will have left, he would have regretted it.
"He has taken a few decisions at the wrong time and suffered, so let's see if he's now right this time. Hopefully," Ramirez added.
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| Stoffel Vandoorne |
Vandoorne plays down Hamilton comparison
(GMM) Stoffel Vandoorne is refusing to compare himself with Lewis Hamilton.
In 2007, then-rookie Hamilton burst onto the scene at McLaren and unsettled the established star and champion Fernando Alonso.
Now, Belgian Vandoorne is the rookie set to take on the famous Spaniard.
"I do not want to be Hamilton," Spanish reports quote 24-year-old Vandoorne as telling La Gazzetta. "I want to be Vandoorne and I'll give my maximum."
Vandoorne comes to the F1 grid with a strong reputation from his junior career, insisting he does not expect Alonso to give him advice.
"I do not expect anything from the relationship between Fernando and I," he said.
"I didn't exactly get advice from Fernando and (Jenson) Button until now, but I was always close to them at the circuit, watching and trying to learn. But I have my own style," Vandoorne insisted.
He also played down any comparison with Max Verstappen, a rookie who arrived in F1 two years ago and caused a sensation.
"Max and I came to F1 on very different paths," said Vandoorne. "I started racing a little late, did not have much money and didn't know what categories to do.
"Max did everything much faster. I lack experience in grands prix, but I'm more than ready," he added.
As for racing for the same team as F1 legends Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost, Vandoorne said: "I drove his (Senna's) car in some shows a couple of times and also Prost's, and it's amazing how much F1 has changed.
"Emulating them would be incredible but I don't want to talk about that now."
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| Roberto Merhi |
'Almost impossible' task for Hamilton teammate – Merhi
(GMM) Former F1 driver Roberto Merhi has tipped a tough forthcoming season for Lewis Hamilton's new teammate.
It is believed Valtteri Bottas has secured the seat following world champion Nico Rosberg's shock retirement, and former Manor driver Merhi said he would be delighted to get an opportunity like that.
"Of course," he told Spain's sports daily AS. "Among other reasons, because the only thing you would need to do to win the title would be to beat Hamilton.
"It's as if you tell me there's a place at McLaren and all I have to do is beat Alonso! I'd be delighted to be there, but beating those guys would be another story," Merhi added.
So the 25-year-old, who went on to race sports cars after F1, said the task for Hamilton's new teammate will be more than difficult.
"Anyone at Mercedes just has to beat Hamilton and that's almost impossible," said Merhi.
"Rosberg did it on his third try so he needed time to make everything perfect and more reliable. (Jenson) Button beat Hamilton in a very bad year for Lewis, but I think of the current grid only Alonso could beat him.
"Nico did it, and I'm not saying it was by chance but it's true that he had things in his favor," Merhi added.
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| Will new regulations mix up the grid in 2017? |
Newey expects mixed-up start to 2017
Red Bull design guru Adrian Newey says that he expects a mixed-up grid at the start of the 2017 season, as a result of the technical regulation overhaul, but has also questioned Formula 1's future direction.
Formula 1 lap times are set to be significantly quicker during the upcoming season, through overhauled aerodynamics and much wider tires, which supplier Pirelli has been testing extensively.
With the greater emphasis on aero performance, Red Bull has been tipped to move to the fore, but Newey emphasized that nothing can be guaranteed when such major changes are introduced.
"It will almost certainly mean that the grid will be a bit more spread out to start with," Newey, still Chief Technical Officer at Red Bull, told Sky Sports, as he predicted the impact of the regulation reset.
"Whenever there is a regulation change, some teams read the regulations better than others.
"Typically the big teams, who have the bigger resource, read them better, but when we had the last big change in 2009 that wasn't the case, it was Brawn and ourselves who read them correctly.
"The grandees, then Ferrari and McLaren, struggled a bit [to read the changes].
"You have lots of ideas which you have to channel down to a direction and a philosophy. Although we are one of the bigger teams we don't have the resources to look at all avenues simultaneously.
"It's 'this is the avenue we believe is the correct one' and we hope we are right, [but] there is always the chance that there is an avenue or direction which someone else has taken which is superior."
Newey, however, is unconvinced by Formula 1's path with hybrid technology.
"Is Formula 1 a technical showcase for motor manufacturers, of their engine prowess for instance, or is it a spectacle that involves man and machine?" he went on to comment.
"It would be entirely possible to come up with a set of regulations that would reward creativity more than simply the number of people… a budget cap is very difficult to implement but you could come up with resource restrictions, certainly on the chassis side most of which aerodynamic driven.
"You could restrict research resources much more heavily, perhaps scrap wind tunnels, be much more restricted on the CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) runs, and if you restrict the resources there wouldn't be [any] point having so many engineers because they couldn't feed it through the funnel.
"On the engine side, my personal opinion is that all this blurb which a few manufacturers would like to put out, that it improves their road car product… if that is the case then those manufacturers in the future, five years at the most, should be demonstrably ahead in the automotive sector of their rivals.
"l suspect that will not be the case, which tends to say it is marketing blurb."
Mercedes reveals 2017 car launch date
(GMM) Mercedes on Wednesday announced it will launch its 2017 car on 23 February.
The event, and the title-defending W08's first laps, will take place at British grand prix venue Silverstone.
Mercedes announced the news in the form of a competition, where the winning fans will attend the launch.
"I wish you all the best and hopefully I get to see you guys there," Lewis Hamilton said in a video message.