Latest F1 news in brief

Bourdais: F1 is about Money and position — it is not about the racing

Ex-Toro Rosso driver Bourdais slams F1
Sauber still looking to improve in 2015
Alonso still highest paid driver in 2015
F1 more lucrative than World Cup – report
Maldonado not 'untouchable' despite millions – Carter
Renault expecting two penalties per car in 2015
Verstappen to see FIA doctors on Thursday
Juncadella among handful of Mercedes sim drivers
F1 tire war ruled out until 2020
Symonds says Massa 'incredible' driver

Ex-Toro Rosso driver Bourdais slams F1
(GMM) French driver Sebastien Bourdais has slammed formula one.

The 36-year-old arrived in F1 late last decade with an impressive pedigree on America's premier open wheeler scene.

But his relationship with Toro Rosso soured spectacularly after just a season and a half.

Bourdais is now back in the US, where on Sunday he won at the Belle Isle circuit in Detroit.

"It feels really good," he said. "I'm enjoying my racing again after a horrible experience in formula one."

Bourdais has little positive to say about either his own experience in F1, or the world championship in general.

"I didn't feel wanted or that I could work with the team (Toro Rosso) in formula one," he said.

He also attacked F1's circuits, saying driving in the rain in Detroit was "tougher than any formula one track, including the streets of Monaco," Bourdias told the Detroit Free Press.

"F1 has ruined every track," Bourdais continued. "They have taken the character out of them, made them vanilla. It hurts me. Monaco is now a frigging parking lot with a couple of turns."

He said he thinks IndyCar is a better sport than F1.

"Too much in formula one is all about the wrong reasons," said Bourdais. "Money and position — it is not about the racing.

"In IndyCar, no one makes money. It's just great, pure racing."

Nasr's Sauber

Sauber still looking to improve in 2015
(GMM) Sauber is not resting on its laurels, having recovered from its disastrous 2014 season.

"Yes, 2014 was a disaster," admitted team boss and co-owner Monisha Kaltenborn.

2015, though, also began disastrously for the small Swiss outfit, as Kaltenborn faced down the prospect of jail at the Melbourne season opener over the Giedo van der Garde dispute.

Interviewing Kaltenborn, Globo's Livio Oricchio said the Indian-born Austrian remains "visibly shaken" when asked about the saga.

"Everyone has a very strong opinion about what happened," she said. "What not everybody understands is that he (van der Garde) could not drive. I do not give out super licenses from my office.

"The FIA made it clear that they would not give him one. And I couldn't say anything and only had to hear everybody else talking.

"The press took an extreme position, with zero idea about what was really happening in reality."

Once Felipe Nasr and Marcus Ericsson had their places confirmed, things turned good for Sauber as the new C34 car proved a big step forward.

Explaining the disastrous 2014, Kaltenborn said: "In 2013, as we were struggling to improve our championship position, we should have given greater attention to the 2014 project.

"We never imagined there would be such a great performance discrepancy between the power units. So when you have a chassis problem, as we did, and combine that with a power unit problem, the difficulties are multiplied."

Obviously improved for 2015 is the customer Ferrari engine, but Kaltenborn says the Sauber car is also much better.

"The supplier of the power unit has done a great job," she said, "but we also identified the weak points of the car and tried to improve them.

"We are not satisfied yet, despite our progress."

Sauber began 2015 very strongly, but the impression now is that rivals are clawing back with their bigger budgets.

Kaltenborn said: "The car's development planning is of course related to the budget. But we are not driven by what the others are doing.

"We will introduce new parts throughout the season. Right now we are in the middle of the grid.

"In some races we are going to be further forward, others further back, as in the last two races."

Asked what she would do with a bigger budget, Kaltenborn does not hesitate: "The car's development. It's hard to say where.

"We would do what we are doing, but with a greater number of new parts in order to generate a larger impact on performance."

McLaren has no sponsor yet Alonso is the highest paid? Doubtful.

Alonso still highest paid driver in 2015
(GMM) Fernando Alonso remains the highest paid driver in formula one this year.

That is the claim of the latest edition of Business Book, having published a detailed salary ranking of every driver on the 2015 grid.

Spaniard Alonso is yet to score a single point this season following his switch to McLaren-Honda, but he will banking no less than $39 million, international media reports quote Business Book as having found.

That is more than Sebastian Vettel, even though the German's new $30 million Ferrari retainer is higher than his earlier wage as quadruple world champion at Red Bull.

In third place in 2015 is Lewis Hamilton, but the world champion's $28 million will reportedly increase to or beyond Alonso's dizzying earning powers next year and beyond.

Kimi Raikkonen ($20m), Nico Rosberg ($15m) and Jenson Button ($11m) complete the ranks of the most powerful earners in 2015, but Felipe Massa, Nico Hulkenberg, Sergio Perez, Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado all take home a comfortable $4.5 million apiece, Business Book claims.

The only other drivers reportedly making their millions in 2015 are Valtteri Bottas ($2.2m) and Daniel Ricciardo ($1.65m).

Red Bull newcomer Daniil Kvyat is listed as earning $820,000, ahead of the impressive Toro Rosso rookies Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz, each with $275,000.

Sauber reportedly pays Felipe Nasr and Marcus Ericsson $220,000 each, while Manor's Will Stevens and Roberto Merhi make even less than that, the list suggests.

F1 more lucrative than World Cup – report
(GMM) F1 has been more lucrative than the FIFA World Cup in the past fifteen years.

That is the finding of F1 business journalist Christian Sylt, writing for Forbes.

He said the pinnacle of motor sport's revenue has been $16.2 billion, compared to FIFA's $14.5 billion in the same period since 1999, he said.

The latest financial news comes despite Bernie Ecclestone saying the success of football is one reason F1 has been struggling to attract new fans.

"Maybe other forms of entertainment, because of television, have taken away a big chunk of people, who would have watched F1 and are now watching something else," the 84-year-old F1 chief executive told the latest edition of F1 Racing magazine.

"These other things are now accessible; before, they weren't. Football is big, big, big. Thousands of games. We have 20 'games' per year.

"And sponsors," Ecclestone continued. "They come to us if they want to position their product in F1. We can offer them 20 different variations of where they can go and how they can appear, but with football … think of how many games they play on a weekend, in every country.

"The world has changed," he concluded.

Maldonado not safe. Another ride-buyer with a bigger check could come in and he'd be out of his ride

Maldonado not 'untouchable' despite millions – Carter
(GMM) Pastor Maldonado's millions do not guarantee his place on the grid.

That is the claim of Lotus chief executive Matthew Carter, as pressure continues to pile on the shoulders of the Venezuelan driver who wears number 13.

This week, a 'mockumentary' starring Maldonado emerged on social media, chronicling the notorious driver's string of incidents and crashes and his dubious status among fans, fellow drivers and the F1 paddock at large.

The perception is that first Williams, and now Lotus blindly tolerate Maldonado's blunders because of the dozens of millions he brings in the form of PDVSA sponsorship.

But Lotus' Carter insists the 30-year-old, who is pointless so far in 2015 having only finished one race, is a good driver.

"He has been very unlucky, but he is a quick racing driver," he told Britain's Sky broadcaster.

"We see him in the simulator week in, week out, we see what he can do and even in the races — he was quicker than Romain (Grosjean) for big chunks of the race in Malaysia," added Carter.

"I think the first few incidents it is very hard to blame Pastor for. He has been unlucky and it is really frustrating for us as we have thrown away a lot of points that we should have had."

Enstone based Lotus is just seventh in the constructors' championship at present, having emerged in 2015 with a much better car than last year's.

Had the team been scoring with both cars, it would almost certainly be fifth, ahead of Sauber and Force India.

"Coming off the back of a very difficult season last year our target is to finish fifth and I think looking at the championship that is where we could and should be," Carter said.

He tackled the perception in F1 that Maldonado's millions make his place at a team "untouchable".

"He is not untouchable," Carter insisted.

"He has to prove himself, he has to prove himself as a racing driver — and from our side, he is doing that.

"He outqualified Romain in Monaco and you don't do that around Monaco unless you are a good driver. He has been quick in all the races so far at different points, he has just got to string a good weekend together.

"Confidence builds and if he strings one weekend together, then it will follow and there is every chance he can do it in Canada. Canada should be very well suited to the car," he added.

Renault expecting two penalties per car in 2015
(GMM) Every engine manufacturer in F1 has been busy preparing upgrades for its 2015 'power units'.

Ferrari and Honda have traded in the very first in-season performance 'tokens' in the days between Monaco and Canada, while Mercedes is taking a reliability upgrade to Montreal.

And the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, closely following the early career of local rookie Max Verstappen, said Red Bull and Toro Rosso supplier Renault is also heading to Canada with a reliability update.

The French marque has struggled not only with performance so far in 2015, but also reliability, with all Renault-powered cars in the field burning quickly through their allocation of four engines for the entire season.

"Unfortunately we are doing damage control from a sporting point of view now," Renault's Cyril Abiteboul admitted.

"Therefore, we should think about using the fifth engine already. Not because we cannot use the fourth, but also so we can begin using the fifth."

A main problem so far has been in the basic piston design, and so the current upgrade is believed to have addressed that area.

Fitting the fifth engine, of course, attracts ten-position grid penalties, but Abiteboul played down the impact.

"I know there is a lot of frustration," the Frenchman admitted, "but ten place penalties in tracks where you can overtake and a car is out of place, you can quite easily make up during the race.

"So I'm sorry for my customer teams but I don't think it's a big game-changer for the championship," he added.

And the very next engine upgrade in the pipeline for Renault, it is believed, involves the spending of 'tokens' for performance.

Sixth engines, then, will attract even more grid penalties.

"It will happen," Abiteboul confirmed, "maybe twice per car unfortunately."

Verstappen got his bell rung but is otherwise ok

Verstappen to see FIA doctors on Thursday
(GMM) Max Verstappen has a date with the doctor ahead of the weekend's Canadian grand prix.

Because of the magnitude of his huge head-on shunt into the Ste Devote barriers in Monaco, the 17-year-old rookie must now be cleared fit to race in Canada.

According to Speed Week, that FIA medical check will take place at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Thursday.

It is Verstappen's first ever trip to Canada.

He said last week he is not suffering any after-effects from the Monaco crash, and proved it by going karting and then demonstrating Formula Renault 3.5 and F1 cars at the Spa track last weekend.

"Without a doubt it was my biggest crash," Verstappen told his website. "The impact was 30G.

"I saw the barrier coming up and thought 'Now I need to brace myself'.

"But I've put the crash behind me now. There's nothing I can change about it and everything is said and done."

He was checked by doctors immediately after the crash, but even his blood pressure was completely normal.

"Just like when I am resting," said Verstappen.

"My neck was a bit stiff, but apart from that I was fine. It didn't hurt as much as I expected."

He visited a physio last Tuesday, but "Everything is as it was and I'm ready to go again," said Verstappen.

Verstappen said he has prepared for Montreal in Red Bull's simulator and is expecting a "fun" track "close to the walls", but knows he will have to serve a five-place grid penalty for the Romain Grosjean crash.

"Yes," he said, "it means I'll have to do a few overtakes."

Juncadella among handful of Mercedes sim drivers
(GMM) Dani Juncadella is just one of a handful of drivers who work for reigning champions Mercedes in the sophisticated Brackley simulator.

Last year a reserve driver for Force India, the Spaniard is now focused mainly on racing for Mercedes in the German touring car series DTM.

Less known is that he spends two days a week at Brackley.

"In late 2014," the 24-year-old told the Spanish sports daily Marca, "they tested 10 or 12 drivers to share the simulator work."

Among them, he said, are 2015 reserve Pascal Wehrlein, Anthony Davidson, the Petronas backed Jazeman Jaafar and another driver that Juncadella said must remain nameless.

"I am in there twice a week," said Juncadella. "The degree of accuracy is very high, a lot has been invested in it. Psychologically and physically it is hard work."

F1 tire war ruled out until 2020
(GMM) A tire war has been ruled out in formula one at least for the next four seasons.

Pirelli and, it seems, Michelin have both put their names forward for the newly-announced tender process to identify the sport's official supplier beyond 2016.

And according to Pirelli's Paul Hembery, the tender document says F1 "will have a single tire supplier until the end of 2019" at least, he was quoted by Brazil's Totalrace.

The news comes despite some in F1, including Fernando Alonso, believing a tire war would be one way to take the sport back to the thrilling days of a decade ago.

But the F1 teams are not keen.

Franz Tost, boss of Toro Rosso, said tire wars usually mean "Two teams get the good tires and the rest get the scraps".

"When Michelin was in," he recalled, "it (the favored Michelin team) was Renault, therefore Alonso has good memories".

And Hembery said Tost's sentiments are shared widely among his colleagues.

"I think the teams want the situation to stay as it is (with one supplier)," he said, "and we have nothing to add to that."

Felipe Massa

Symonds says Massa 'incredible' driver
(GMM) Williams appears more than happy with Felipe Massa.

In recent weeks, the star of the early 2016 'silly season' has been Valtteri Bottas, who is strongly linked with a potential move to Ferrari.

Also on Ferrari's shortlist to possibly replace Kimi Raikkonen, according to Italy's Autosprint, is frustrated Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo.

But with Finn Bottas reportedly first in Ferrari's sights, it could mean teammate Massa's place at Williams is strongly firming up for 2016.

Pat Symonds, the team's hugely-experienced technical boss, told UOL Esporte he is happy with the 34-year-old Brazilian.

"Before Felipe came to Williams," he said, "I did not know him very well.

"He's one of those people who, if you see them in a restaurant and someone says it's a driver, you wouldn't believe it.

"But when I see him in a racing car, it's incredible.

"I think the only time I had spoken to him for any length of time was when we were arguing in the stewards room at Monza in 2006.

"I seem to remember accusing him of pretending not to speak English well when I knew very well that he could," Symonds laughed.

That was when Symonds was working alongside Fernando Alonso at Renault. Alonso went on to be Massa's Ferrari teammate for four years until 2013.

Symonds said: "I know very well how good Alonso is and so that gave me the confidence to know that this guy (Massa) was good.

"It's what I told him the first time we talked when he came to Williams: 'You've beaten Alonso already, so we believe in you', and I think that attitude – not only from me but also the rest of the team – made him relax," he added.

And Symonds said 'relaxing' was the key to Massa's newfound return to confidence and form at Williams.

"He's no longer fighting a world led by Fernando Alonso," said the Briton. "Now he's part of the team. One day he's beating Valtteri and the next he's not, but it doesn't matter — everyone is working to bring the team forwards."