Latest F1 news in brief

Nico Rosberg

Rosberg has beaten Hamilton 'in the head' – Berger
Ferrari rejects need for English F1 base
Long season just 'part of F1 now' – Raikkonen
Wolff: Big points swing still possible
Even Mercedes loses their shirt on F1

Rosberg has beaten Hamilton 'in the head' – Berger
(GMM) Nico Rosberg is now dominating his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton in every way.

That is the claim of Gerhard Berger, an F1 legend who earlier this year helped to negotiate German Rosberg's new Mercedes contract.

But the former Ferrari and McLaren driver is not alone in thinking Rosberg is a worthy adversary for Hamilton in 2016, especially given his now 33 point advantage with just 4 races to go.

"Nico has defeated Lewis in the head," Berger told Germany's Sport Bild.

"He has learned from his previous experiences — on a level ground, Hamilton is too fast. But Nico unsettled Lewis so much this year that he (Hamilton) has started to copy Nico's success formula.

"This has made Nico stronger and Lewis weaker," the Austrian said.

"Nico has become so cool and comfortable, and so consistent in his approach at each race, that Lewis began to doubt his own strength.

"He suddenly started to change things even if there was no reason," Berger added.

Indeed, the report said Hamilton used Rosberg's car setup at Suzuka, and the race earlier started using special seamless gloves used by his teammate to master Mercedes' difficult-to-use clutch system.

Sport Bild said Hamilton no longer stays in luxury hotels at European races, but – like Rosberg – sleeps in a motor home at the track, and his also copied Rosberg's approach to having a close-knit track support team and physio.

"Because Nico is so precise in everything he does, Lewis has to do the same," team boss Toto Wolff confirmed.

Ferrari rejects need for English F1 base
(GMM) Piero Ferrari has rejected suggestions the great Maranello team needs to set up a British base.

Amid Ferrari's current struggle to end its decade-long title drought in formula one, figures like Flavio Briatore have suggested the team must set up a design office in the UK.

"I would put a nice building in the middle of Red Bull, McLaren and Williams," he said recently.

But Piero Ferrari, the only living son of team founder Enzo Ferrari, has backed Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne's insistence that the team must remain completely Italian.

Piero said: "It is never easy to govern a racing team that has over 1000 people and there were organizational problems, but now the direction is right."

As for the idea of an English base, Piero – the Ferrari vice president and co-owner – recalls the mid 80s, when Ferrari did just that and it was headed by John Barnard.

"You know what remains my biggest regret for the years in which I was in charge of the team?" Ferrari told the Italian blogger Leo Turrini.

"It was to convince my father that there was still the need to rely on a great designer from the outside. But Barnard never interacted with our culture — it was a big mistake.

"This is why I agree with Marchionne that we can return to winning whilst being consistent with the tradition of Ferrari," he insisted.

Long season just 'part of F1 now' – Raikkonen
(GMM) Kimi Raikkonen has given only lukewarm backing to fellow F1 veteran Fernando Alonso's recent complaint about the long race schedule.

Like this year, 21 races have also been scheduled for 2017 but new owners Liberty Media have talked about expanding the calendar even further.

"The big point is that we travel too much and have too many races back-to-back," Alonso, who has been on the grid since 2001, when there were 17 races, said.

"To me, it's just too much," he added.

When asked about the bustling calendar, Ferrari driver Raikkonen – who also debuted in 2001 – agrees with Alonso that it is a tiring schedule for the teams.

"When we finish the races this year it will be close to Christmas," the Finn told Brazil's UOL Esporte, "so there will not be long until it all starts again.

"For everyone on the team it is a long year and there is not much time to relax and prepare," Raikkonen admitted.

"But whoever isn't happy can stay at home, because there's always someone else who wants to be here. It is a fact that longer seasons are part of formula one now and who knows what will still happen in the future," he said.

Wolff: Big points swing still possible
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff insists a big points swing between Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton remains possible, despite the German's emphatic victory at the Japanese Grand Prix.

Rosberg opened a 43-point advantage after triumphing across the opening four rounds, before Hamilton struck back to head into the summer break 19 points clear.

However, Rosberg has since turned the tables to move back ahead, with a 33-point buffer back to Hamilton, who has not won any of the last five races.

Despite Rosberg's advantage, and with only 100 points up for grabs, Wolff remains wary that the championship is not yet a foregone conclusion.

"It's finally mathematically between only our two boys," said Wolff.

"The gap in the championship is now 33 points and we will let them battle it out in a clean race to the end.

"If this season has shown one thing, it's that anything can happen and big swings are possible.

"There are 100 points still to be scored and a lot of racing still to go."

Wolff also heaped praise on Mercedes' workforce after it secured its third straight Constructors' crown.

"It is a tale of passion, commitment and incredible people working beyond their limits to win," he commented.

"And not just doing it once, but re-motivating themselves to surpass their achievements year after year.

"This is their moment – all those heroes in the background who are the core of what makes this team so special."

Even Mercedes loses their shirt on F1
Formula One needs to take notice of its ongoing financial issues as Mercedes reveal a loss for 2015.

Despite being world champions, the German carmaker’s F1 operation lost Â£22.3 million over the year which was a considerable drop from their Â£77m loss in 2014 writes Ben Issatt of MSN.com.

However, the difference between the two figures, while significant, isn’t as big as the Â£66m increase in turnover Mercedes received from sponsorship deals, as well as revenue and prize money given by the commercial rights holder Bernie Ecclestone.

Commercial director Toto Wolff praised the team for ‘exceeding expectations’ as they maintained their dominance from 2014, with the loss coming within parameters set by the parent company’s shareholders.

But while Mercedes can afford the burden of a pretty hefty hole in its finances, the loss highlights the different game manufacturer teams and subsidiary teams like Red Bull can play compared to the independent teams such as Sauber or Force India.

These teams don’t have a parent company waiting to cover any losses and, as we have seen with Caterham and Lotus, who was saved by Renault, a failure to control funds simply results in their demise.

Despite the continued warnings, costs continue to rise. Mercedes revealed an eight percent jump in operational outgoings in their 2015 figures and with those independent teams struggling to keep up something really has to be done.

Mercedes, Ferrari and Renault can all help by simply supplying their power units at a much cheaper rate.

The switch to V6 turbo hybrids was necessary for F1 but it came at a major financial cost with customer teams having to pay 20% more in some cases than during the V8 era.

When the Marussia team were in administration in late 2014, it was revealed they had an outstanding payment of $25m just to Ferrari alone in engine costs.

Some teams have taken on associated drivers in deals that do see a reduction in engine payments. Manor now has two Mercedes-backed drivers in their cars while the Ferrari link was crucial in Esteban Gutierrez’s return to F1 with Haas.

The all-new 2017 cars will also increase design costs as teams will start with a clean slate as oppose to the evolution of cars that has occurred since 2009.

Previous efforts have been made to try and at least kerb costs, former FIA President Max Mosley was desperate to impose a budget cap in 2010, however, the manufacturer teams rejected the plan. While more recently, the RRA (Resource Restriction Agreement) that was introduced through the F1 teams’ association also fizzled out as the top teams ignored it. Ben Issatt/msn.com