Latest F1 news in brief

Hamilton forces Rosberg off the road in Montreal

Lauda backs Hamilton after latest Rosberg clash
Press says Ferrari victory now 'within reach'
Minister says Baku could be on next 10 F1 calendars
New engine 'another world' for Red Bull – Horner
Button had 'no warning' before failure
Massa halted by water system issue
Nasr: Magnussen move 'unnecessary'

Lauda backs Hamilton after latest Rosberg clash
(GMM) Niki Lauda has backed Lewis Hamilton after the first corner collision that Nico Rosberg admits left him "p—-d off" in Canada.

After the crash and double-DNF of Barcelona, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff had warned that more contact between the silver-clad pair may result in team orders being imposed.

Then in Montreal, Hamilton and Rosberg banged wheels in the first corner, resulting in the German tumbling down the field and ultimately seeing his championship lead shrink to just nine points.

And now, Hamilton wants that remaining gap to be gone completely by his home race at Silverstone next month.

"I need to win every race," he told British newspapers on Monday. "I want to win every race."

Wolff, however, sounds wary of the tactics deployed to achieve that, insisting that "If we start the race 1 and 2, we do not want to come out of the first corner 2 and 9.

"They touched and we don't want to see that, so we will discuss it again," he is quoted by Speed Week.

But F1 legend and team chairman Lauda made clear he saw nothing untoward in Hamilton's racing in Canada.

"It was just a very normal racing incident," he told Bild newspaper. "There was no one to blame.

"Lewis drove well — he has regained his form but I'm also sorry for Nico," Lauda added.

He admitted that Rosberg's championship chances took a major hit in the difficult races for the German in Monaco and now Canada.

"The battle for the title is now harder and Nico has to win in Baku, there's no question about that," said Lauda.

Even Rosberg's current contract negotiator, Gerhard Berger, backed Hamilton's racing, telling Tagespiegel newspaper: "Lewis just defended his line."

Ferrari's new turbo gave it enough power in Canada to almost keep pace with Mercedes. However, Mercedes has been saving its engine tokens until this moment and now will use them on another engine upgrade

Press says Ferrari victory now 'within reach'
(GMM) Sebastian Vettel's wish for an easier time from the Italian press after Canada was only partly delivered.

As the Maranello team bounced back with a redesigned turbo and other innovations for Montreal, the German performed strongly all weekend but the win went begging due to a strategy error.

Team boss Maurizio Arrivabene initially acknowledged the mistake but then backtracked, indicating he thinks pointing fingers was not right after Vettel was called in for an early pitstop.

He told one reporter: "Are you a strategy expert? If you are not, I can say that we tried a strategy with a bit of risk but that does not necessarily mean it was wrong."

Predicting that Ferrari would get a hard time in the post-race Italian press over the 'mistake', however, Vettel urged Italy's authoritative La Gazzetta dello Sport to instead "write something nice" about the team's pace in Montreal.

"I think sometimes it's a bit surreal," said the German. "I think Ferrari stands for great passion and a lot of values in Italy and sometimes it seems like the Italian press is our biggest opponent."

Although La Gazzetta criticized another poor race for Kimi Raikkonen, the sports daily did hail the overall step forward made by Ferrari in Canada.

"Vettel humiliated the Mercedes duo in the opening meters, but once again victory was cruelly missing. It (victory) was, however, within reach with Ferrari's best performance this year. The step forward is undeniable," the report added.

"Victory is no longer a dream," Gazzetta said.

But other Italian titles did point fingers at Ferrari's strategy call, Tuttosport saying it was a second place that "hurts".

And a more critical La Repubblica declared: "Ferrari wasted Vettel's masterpiece."

Azad Rahimov – The Baku GP government is going to lose a lot of money (upwards of $20 million a year) but the government backs the race and they want the TV exposure

Minister says Baku could be on next 10 F1 calendars
(GMM) Baku could become a long-term feature of forthcoming F1 calendars, according to Azerbaijan's sports minister Azad Rahimov.

With an unique, narrow and ultra-high speed street layout, the former Soviet republic will this weekend host its inaugural F1 race by reviving the European grand prix.

However, the Azerbaijan news outlet ABC said ticket sales have been slow, with only 18,500 tickets printed for the race and "not all of them sold".

Nonetheless, Baku could be in F1 to stay, unlike other recent new hosts like Turkey, India and Korea that had only short-lived runs on the calendar.

"The contract for the race is signed for five years," minister Rahimov said, "and under the contract, we have the right to extend it for a further five years."

For the F1 circus itself, the flyaway Canada-Baku double header – with both races held within a 7-day period – is particularly trying, but none more so than for the Sauber team.

Struggling with finances, the Swiss outfit could not afford to join the special charter flights that went directly from Montreal to Baku.

Instead, according to Blick newspaper, the team's equipment has gone back to Zurich and then on to Azerbaijan via Istanbul, because "it is cheaper".

Another piece of bad news for Sauber is that after a truck drove over the foot of a team member in Monaco, he has unfortunately had a toe amputated, Blick reported.

Max Verstappen

New engine 'another world' for Red Bull – Horner
(GMM) Christian Horner says Montreal was proof that Red Bull is right back on track.

After a resurgent showing for the former world champions in Barcelona and Monaco, Daniel Ricciardo warned that whether Renault's engine upgrade had really delivered would only be clear on the long straights of Canada.

Max Verstappen duly finished fourth in Montreal, but the real test was the way he fended off the advances of Mercedes' recovering championship leader Nico Rosberg.

"A few months ago Rosberg would have flown straight past with his DRS on the straight," team boss Horner is quoted by Auto Motor und Sport.

"Last year we got beaten up but now we can defend ourselves," he added.

"We lost only 3 tenths in qualifying — this latest engine is like another world. In terms of power we are 6kph up compared to what we had before," said Horner.

Canada also hosted a 'comeback' for young Verstappen, after an horror outing in Barcelona with two crashes. It was also a firm rebuke to Mercedes' Toto Wolff, who had questioned the 18-year-old's maturity.

"It's incredible how Max reacted," Horner said, just as Verstappen was voted by the fans as the official 'driver of the day' on Sunday.

Even Wolff's fellow Mercedes chief Niki Lauda admitted he was impressed by Max in Montreal.

"Verstappen showed what he can do," the great Austrian said. "He drives like an old man although he's still so young."

Button

Button had 'no warning' before failure
Jenson Button has explained that he had "no warning" before his dramatic technical failure during the Canadian Grand Prix, the cause of which remains unknown.

Button pulled to the side of the track along the Droit du Casino after nine laps, while running 11th, with smoke coming from the rear of his Honda-powered MP4-31.

Honda initially reported no sign of any issues on Button's Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) data, with investigations ongoing to determine which part gave up.

"I radioed in [to the team] to say I had a terminal problem, and I looked in my rear-view mirror and saw a lot of smoke and sparks," Button recalled after the race.

"I had no warning – the car just failed as I came out of the hairpin.

"The engine was still running, but I turned it off anyway.

Felipe Massa

Massa halted by water system issue
Felipe Massa's retirement from the Canadian Grand Prix was the result of a water system problem that caused his power unit to overheat, Williams has confirmed.

Massa was running inside the points-paying positions when he encountered the issue, with Williams ultimately calling him back to the pits on Lap 36 to protect the engine.

"Felipe would have finished anywhere from fourth to sixth, so that's a lot of points we've lost with the water system issue that caused the temperatures to rise," said performance chief Rob Smedley.

"We went through counter measures to try and get round it, but none of them worked; we therefore had to take the decision to retire the car because the power unit is right at the start of its life

Massa expressed his frustration after team-mate Valtteri Bottas went on to score a podium.

"I'm very disappointed not to finish the race because of a mechanical issue that we had," he added.

Felipe Nasr

Nasr: Magnussen move 'unnecessary'
Felipe Nasr has hit out at Kevin Magnussen for what he feels was an "unnecessary" move on the opening lap of Sunday's Canadian Grand Prix.

Renault's Magnussen, who started at the back of the grid after his practice crash, attacked Sauber's Nasr, who lined up 18th, on the approach to Turn 3.

As Nasr moved back across the circuit from left to right, the pair banged wheels, with Nasr tipped into a spin, and Magnussen continuing on his way.

Nasr criticized Magnussen's actions after the race.

"It was a disappointing race for me," said Nasr.

"My race start was OK, but then suddenly in Turn 3 I was hit from behind [by Magnussen]. It was very unfortunate and an unnecessary move.

"This [incident] compromised my race from there on. I tried my best to recover, and in the end I was able to put in decent lap times on the Soft tires."

Magnussen and Nasr ultimately crossed the line two laps down, with Magnussen claiming 16th, and Nasr taking 18th, between the two Manor drivers.

No action was taken by the stewards over the incident.