Latest F1 news in brief

Gradual improvements for McLaren says Eric Boullier

McLaren improvement to be 'gradual' – Boullier
Hulkenberg not in talks with other teams yet
Toro Rosso helping Red Bull to end Renault crisis
Rosberg admits he cannot hide bad moods
Sauber denies testing new Ferrari engine
Manager guarding Schumacher's privacy
Stevens deletes 'ugly' tweet about Merhi
Sauber F1 team wary of costs of new engines for 2017
New Ferrari was designed to suit Raikkonen New

McLaren improvement to be 'gradual' – Boullier
(GMM) Fernando Alonso left Bahrain expecting McLaren-Honda to make a "big step" for the start of the forthcoming European season.

Having switched from the now-resurgent Ferrari, the Spaniard – as well as fellow champion teammate Jenson Button – have struggled so far in 2015 and are the only drivers except those at Manor yet to score a single point.

But a car and engine upgrade are now due for Barcelona, Alonso's home race and the first event after the opening quartet of 'flyaway' races.

El Confidencial newspaper quoted team boss Eric Boullier as saying "most of the back of the car" will be "new" in Spain.

"In Spain we will see the first big step forward," Alonso said.

But Boullier warned: "Any step would be good.

"We cannot expect to take a big step," he added. "Those days are gone. It's more a case of gradual improvements in this modern formula one."

Former long-time McLaren driver Mika Hakkinen, who won both of his world championships wearing grey, wonders if Alonso has the patience to wait for the team's next phase of success.

"You are right," he told a reporter for the Daily Express, "is Fernando ready to work next two, three, maybe four years in a situation when you are not close to winning?

"It can be a really boring process because it's not only 15, 16 races in the season, it's a long year, travelling around the world, it's really, really tough, so can he motivate himself all the time?" Hakkinen added.

Nico Hulkenberg

Hulkenberg not in talks with other teams yet
(GMM) Nico Hulkenberg is settling in at his new "second home".

The German headed straight from Bahrain, where he raced with the struggling Force India team, to a test this week at the wheel of Porsche's Le Mans prototype.

Hulkenberg is splitting his time this year between F1 and a sports car program, culminating in the races at Spa and fabled Le Mans.

"Maybe this (Porsche) is a new home for the future," the 27-year-old told Germany's Sky.

Although highly rated, Hulkenberg's F1 career has been a stuttering one, as he flicked between tenures at Williams, Sauber and his current Silverstone based employer.

And Force India's 2015 campaign is not going well, after winter troubles badly delayed development of the new car.

"It is not an easy situation at the moment," Hulkenberg admitted.

"I think in the next two months – until Austria – not too much should be expected from us.

"At least we have something to work towards, but the reality is that right now we are simply too slow and can't do very much."

However, Hulkenberg refuses to just give up on formula one.

"I'm still working on it to try to bring my career forwards," he said. "My goal to win races and become world champion remains."

That might require a move away from Force India. So is he already in contact with some rival teams?

"No. At the moment everything is quiet. It's only April," said Hulkenberg.

Reliability has been our Achilles heel since the last two races," boss Cyril Abiteboul said. Last 2 races? Try last 2 years. Vettel's Renault had problems every weekend last year

Toro Rosso helping Red Bull to end Renault crisis
(GMM) Red Bull is looking to speed ahead — with the help of its sister team, Renault and an Austrian partner called AVL.

Right now, according to Italy's Omnicorse, a Toro Rosso car is up and running on the sophisticated AVL dynamic test bench in Graz, Austria.

It follows a disastrous start to the season for Red Bull, due mainly to the problems with Renault's supposedly-improved turbo V6 'power unit' for 2015.

In reality, it is underpowered and unreliable, and even Renault is not denying it.

"Reliability has been our Achilles heel since the last two races," boss Cyril Abiteboul said after Bahrain.

"But with 18 days to go before Spain, we have the time to introduce the more permanent fixes we have in the pipeline and start making the performance steps we are all keen to make."

In the meantime, Red Bull's Christian Horner and Dr Helmut Marko are now tempering their earlier scathing criticisms of the French supplier.

But Horner admits: "We are all frustrated because we became accustomed to victory and success.

"It is particularly frustrating in that it is not something within our power to fix," he added.

And in reality, any hopes of a rapid recovery and a tilt for the 2015 title are now gone.

"We can't do anything better than third place now," Marko, referring to the already big points gaps to Mercedes, Ferrari and to a lesser extent Williams, told the Swiss newspaper Blick.

Nico Rosberg

Rosberg admits he cannot hide bad moods
(GMM) He is not giving up yet, but Nico Rosberg admits he could not hide his bad mood in Bahrain.

A bad qualifying session left him six tenths behind teammate Lewis Hamilton, but German Rosberg appeared to have returned to top form on Sunday with a fighting race punctuated by overtaking moves on Ferraris.

Ultimately, however, he finished third due to a brake problem, when Kimi Raikkonen passed him.

"I can't buy much with third place," Rosberg wrote in a column for Bild newspaper early this week.

"I don't even care if it's Kimi or Seb (Vettel) overtaking me, and the distance to Lewis in the world championship has unfortunately also grown.

"Fortunately, the season is still very long," he added.

Nonetheless, his body language on the podium was obvious, and Rosberg does not even deny his foul mood.

"I can't always hide my disappointment," he admitted. "Maybe I'm just nod a good actor. It's just who I am."

Rosberg says he has now returned to his home in Monaco.

"I flew home immediately and was there the next morning. When I saw my wife – who is now almost one-and-a-half women – the frustration was gone.

"Thank god Vivian is now much better after the first few months of pregnancy," he explained, "as she was constantly so sick.

"Now I want to be home for a while before Barcelona, catching up on some sleep to recover from the long journeys at the start of the season."

Finally, Rosberg denied reports that teammate Hamilton's new contract might be delayed because the Mercedes driver is demanding clear number 1 status.

"That will not happen," the German is quoted by F1's official website.

"In my contract it is written that the team follows a philosophy of two completely equal drivers."

Sauber denies testing new Ferrari engine
(GMM) Sauber has denied it ran Ferrari's next-specification engine during the 2015 winter test season.

Following reports Ferrari is planning to introduce a new specification of its 2015 'power unit' in Canada, Bild newspaper claimed that a Barcelona debut has actually been scheduled for the 20-30 horse power boost.

"The new engine was already tested in the winter, in Barcelona," the major daily revealed.

"The competition did not notice, because Ferrari put the unit in a Sauber car."

Writing on his website f1-insider.com, however, German correspondent Ralf Bach said the new engine will probably debut only in Canada in early June.

"An earlier debut does not make sense," he explained, "because Vettel only began to use his second of the allowed four engines in Bahrain."

Indeed, once an engine has been used, it cannot then be upgraded to the latest specification.

And the Swiss team Sauber also denied Bild's claim that it ran the upgraded Ferrari engine in the winter.

"We only had one engine in use," the Ferrari customer said, "and we don't think this was a special version. We would have certainly noticed the difference."

Manager guarding Schumacher's privacy
(GMM) Michael Schumacher's manager is reportedly working hard to keep news about the health of her famous client quiet.

Ever since the F1 legend and seven time world champion was injured in a late 2013 skiing fall, the Schumacher circle has carefully guarded its privacy.

Italy's Autosprint claims this has been especially true over the past few months, during which there was barely any news at all about the health of the former Ferrari and Mercedes driver.

"This silence among the media in Germany and Switzerland is especially surprising," said the report, "as they would have more direct sources.

"The explanation lies in the conduct of Sabine Kehm, Schumacher's manager, who systematically sends legal letters threatening lawsuits when a newspaper spreads the slightest information about the health of the German driver."

Autosprint added: "And the medical staff that assists Schumacher at home signed a series of very restrictive confidentiality clauses."

The situation might be sharply contrasted with the approach of Jules Bianchi's family, in the wake of the young Frenchman's horror Suzuka crash late last year.

More than six months into the former Marussia driver's coma, his father Philippe told Nice-Matin newspaper this month that there is little news to report.

But he wanted to give an interview "out of respect for all the people who continue to send Jules beautiful messages of affection and encouragement every day".

"Those people who think of him and pray for him are fabulously motivating," Mr. Bianchi added. "I am sure Jules hears them!

"Today I want to thank them all again, and tell them that we will give news whether it is good or bad," he said.

Will Stevens

Stevens deletes 'ugly' tweet about Merhi
(GMM) Will Stevens has deleted a tweet described as "ugly" by one well-known Spanish sports daily.

After Bahrain, Briton Stevens highlighted the significant gap between his race finishing time and that of his Manor teammate, fellow rookie Roberto Merhi.

"Really good race pace today," Stevens' 'tweet' read, "car felt good and got into a really nice rhythm. I won our own little race again."

Stevens concluded his tweet with the hashtag '#44seconds', which was the gap between his finishing time and that of Spaniard Merhi's in the sister car.

The tweet was roundly criticized by Merhi's mainly Spanish supporters, and Stevens duly deleted it.

Sauber F1 team wary of costs of new engines for 2017
Sauber boss Monisha Kaltenborn has called on manufacturers to cut the cost of Formula 1 power units and not take advantage of its customers should the regulations change in 2017.

F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone said last week that F1 needed to "urgently" return to its V8 engines and ditch the current V6 formula, but he later said he would accept keeping the current power units provided costs could be controlled.

As talks progress over plans for a revolutionary overhaul of Formula 1 cars with 1000bhp engines for 2017, manufacturers want to stick with V6s.

The current spec of power units can cost customer teams as much as Â£18m per year, which for some further down the grid is a significant part of their budget.

Kaltenborn, whose team is a customer of Ferrari, told AUTOSPORT: "As a customer team, for us the most important factor on engines is what the cost is.

"The engines used to be such a big cost driver and we managed to move away from that for many years.

"But unfortunately now we are back to where we were which is not a very sensible thing."

She also believes that it is wrong for customer teams to pay the price for engine development that the manufacturers are going to do anyway for their works teams.

"While we fully understand as a customer that a manufacturer needs to showcase their core technology and latest technology, it should be at an affordable level," Kaltenborn added.

"I don't think we should be used to finance their R&D because they will produce that engine anyway.

"You will never see a Mercedes using a Ferrari engine or the other way round."

New Ferrari was designed to suit Raikkonen
Maurizio Arrivabene has revealed he sat down with Ferrari's designers in December and demanded they build a car that would better suit Kimi Raikkonen this year.

Raikkonen struggled throughout 2014, pointing to a lack of grip and feedback from the car's front end as the main reason. Arrivabene arrived at the team following the final race of 2014 and said he quickly set about asking for a car that would suit Raikkonen's driving style.

"I remember it was the 10th or 12th of December and I was asking [chief designer] Simone Resta, and Rory [Byrne, Ferrari consultant], we were watching a picture of the car and I said what can you do to transfer the weight of the car a bit more in front?" Arrivabene explained. "Because I said Kimi likes to feel the car in this way and Sebastian [Vettel] is more or less the same.

"They said we need six months. I said what can you do in three? They said we have to work day and night. I said ok, I'll work together with you guys, come on."

Arrivabene said the concession Ferrari managed to achieve over the use of engine tokens throughout the year was also key to the development of the power unit, which is now one of the car's main strengths.

"Initially it was the engine and now it's still the engine because I want to say clearly that without the tokens that our president was able to cut into the strategy meeting in December it was not possible for us to develop the engine. But afterwards, when you have a good engine, you need to have a good chassis, a good aero and so on. And I have to thank all the guys at Maranello, every single guy at Maranello, that they were able in three months not only to work on engine development but to work in every single part."

Raikkonen praised the way in which the team is working together this year under its new management.

"Obviously a big chunk of it [the performance] is the engine itself," Raikkonen said. "It's a big improvement on horsepower plus reliability but you cannot just give all the credit to them. The car has improved a lot: much more downforce, the car is handling much better because of that, and obviously how the whole package has been done and put together.

"I think the big key is that all areas have improved quite a bit plus the people have been working more closely, as one team putting it together more nicely, so obviously the end result is what we have now and I'm very happy how things are going, very happy with the team and I think not many people expected after last year that we can be in this kind of position this early and now we are going in the right direction.

"So I'm sure we will get there but we want to start winning races more often and we just have to have some patience and do the work that we've done so far and we will get there." ESPN