Latest F1 news in brief – Monday
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Maurizio Arrivabene (R) surveys the situation with Ferrari technical boss James Allison in Shanghai Rosberg vows to 'move on' after Hamilton run-in
- Nico Rosberg: Post Race Video Q+A China GP 2015
- Alonso not cause of Ferrari slump – press
- Bianchi father furious at FIA investigation
- Arrivabene backs 'sensitive Iceman' Raikkonen
- Founder says Sauber 'future' back on track
- China GP demanding 'changes' in F1
- Red Bull, McLaren brace for difficult Bahrain
- Manor Marussia pleased by two car finish
- Grosjean relieved to end points drought
- Alonso upbeat over 'useful' race finish
Rosberg vows to 'move on' after Hamilton run-in
(GMM) Nico Rosberg has vowed to move on after his post-race run-in with teammate Lewis Hamilton in China.
Addressing his fans in a video posted on social media from the Shanghai airport, the German said "constructive criticism" had been exchanged in team meetings "and we're moving on to Bahrain".
"Now it's a thing of the past," said Rosberg, who was highly critical of championship leader and Shanghai winner Hamilton's race tactics on Sunday.
The 29-year-old, who has been outshone by world champion Hamilton so far in 2015, may have been placated by the promise of action from the pitwall should Hamilton not up his pace to fend off rivals' advances in future.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said he is loath to issue 'team orders', but confirmed that Hamilton had in fact been asked by radio to speed up so that Rosberg's race was not compromised by the charging Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel.
"It could have come to a point where we would have been very firm on the radio saying 'This is what needs to be done'," the Austrian said.
"Lewis didn't do anything wrong," said Wolff, "but we realized that Nico was in the risk of falling into third place or even worse. So there were a lot of thoughts on the pitwall.
"We were close to having (to make) such an unpopular call."
According to former F1 driver Patrick Tambay, the lasting outcome of the Shanghai saga may have been etched on Hamilton's smirk on Sunday as Rosberg laid out his complaint.
Tambay told France's RMC Sport: "Hamilton proved today that he is the boss in his team."
Nico Rosberg: Post Race Video Q+A China GP 2015
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| While Alonso wasn't the cause of the slump at Ferrari, he also did not help put a winning team in place to improve the situation like Vettel did, and Schumacher before him. Alonso is just a good driver. |
Alonso not cause of Ferrari slump – press
(GMM) Leading members of the Italian media have played down Niki Lauda's suggestion that Fernando Alonso was a real cause of the Ferrari slump.
F1 legend and former Ferrari driver Lauda, now the outspoken team chairman at Mercedes, had in China slammed Spaniard Alonso as "selfish, moody and negative".
Alonso's Maranello exit has coincided with a major boost in form for the fabled team, while the 33-year-old's new employer McLaren-Honda is struggling.
Lauda told La Repubblica: "The changes (at Ferrari) have brought fresh impetus. In sport you cannot seek perfection, only functionality — and now Ferrari works."
But Pino Allievi, the doyen of F1's Italian press contingent, sees it slightly differently.
"For me the most important change was the presidency, rather than the absence of Fernando," he told the Spanish sports daily Marca.
"I think everything is now organized in a more rational way, with all the power given to (technical boss James) Allison and the president no longer grandstanding.
"Ferrari is now a normal team, nothing more," the Gazzetta dello Sport veteran added.
As for Alonso versus his successor Sebastian Vettel, Allievi insisted: "Fernando would have won with that car in Malaysia, for sure."
However, La Stampa correspondent Stefano Mancini said it would be amiss to rule out the effect of Ferrari's driver change.
"Fernando is a great," he said. "One of the best, if not the best.
"But it is true that in recent times he was very closed, barricaded within his immediate working group and that blocking affected the team in certain ways," added Mancini.
"With Vettel it looks a little different — always smiling and a more positive atmosphere, but I think it is a matter of one cycle ending and another beginning," he said.
La Republicca's Marco Mancini, meanwhile, thinks the new guard at Ferrari – headed by Sergio Marchionne, Maurizio Arrivabene, Allison and Vettel – are reaping the benefits of work that has been going on for some time.
"It has been a progressive change," he said. "It started with Domenicali, followed with Mattiacci, who gave all power to Allison, and now it continues.
"It is true that Fernando's ego was hard work in recent times, but the result of Malaysia was not because of the drivers. Last year he (Vettel) would not have won either."
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| Jules Bianchi still in a Coma, still fighting |
Bianchi father furious at FIA investigation
(GMM) Jules Bianchi's father has admitted he is angry about the investigation into his son's horror 2014 crash.
More than six months after that fateful day in Japan, 25-year-old Frenchman Bianchi remains in a coma in his native Nice.
His father, Philippe, said he agreed to a new interview with the local Nice-Matin newspaper "out of respect for all the people who continue to send Jules their beautiful wishes, encouragement and affection every day".
But he admitted there is little to report about Jules' progress.
"The only thing we can say is that he fights with the same strength that he has always fought with, before and after the accident," said Philippe.
"Every day, Jules does a marathon. From a medical point of view, his condition is stable. He is fairly autonomous — no physical problems.
"All of his organs are working without assistance. But for now, he remains unconscious."
Asked if the neurosurgeons in Nice have noticed any improvement in Bianchi's brain state, Philippe answered: "For this kind of trauma, we know the evolution is very slow.
"But compared to what the Japanese professor who operated on him told us, it is already night and day. There, when we arrived to see Jules, there was no hope. There was talk of irreversible damage.
"It was said he could not be transferred before one year, but it was done after seven weeks, as Jules quickly began to breathe again on his own.
"Now, the doctors tell us there is no specific intervention they can do. Most important is to stimulate Jules so that he feels a constant presence at his side.
"So we take turns every day — his mother, his sister, his brother and me. He also has his German girlfriend, Gina, who lives here now," Philippe revealed.
"From time to time," he continued, "at his bedside, we see that things are happening. Sometimes he is more active, he moves more, squeezes our hand — but is it mere reflex or is it real?
"Hard to know," Mr. Bianchi acknowledged.
He said it continues to be a terrible time within the family of the promising French driver.
"Our universe collapsed on 5 October 2014," said Philippe. "The questions that no one can answer now: will he make it? If so, will he be disabled or can he live normally?
"I think that in this type of accident, it hits harder than a death. The suffering is relentless. A daily torture," he explained.
"To those people who think of him, I want to thank. And tell them that we will give news when there is any, good or bad."
As for the FIA investigation that essentially blamed Bianchi for the Suzuka crash, however, Philippe sounded furious.
"It was an internal investigation," he answered curtly. "Only those who were involved were engaged.
"Regarding this, I have nothing new to say," said Mr. Bianchi. "Very good people are involved now to defend the interests of Jules.
"If someone is responsible someday, he will have to pay. Frankly, I'm too upset to talk about it. I prefer to focus my energy on Jules now," he added.
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| Raikkonen not as mentally strong as teammate Vettel |
Arrivabene backs 'sensitive Iceman' Raikkonen
(GMM) Ferrari's team boss has backed Kimi Raikkonen after a difficult start to the 2015 season for the Finn.
While new teammate Sebastian Vettel has finished on the podium in all three races so far, Raikkonen is just fifth in the championship.
He ran into trouble in both Australia and Malaysia, and technical boss James Allison even sounded critical of Raikkonen after qualifying in Shanghai.
But then Raikkonen, 35, had a strong Chinese grand prix, finishing just behind Vettel for fourth place.
He also won the full backing of team boss Maurizio Arrivabene.
"Seb and Kimi are completely different characters," the Italian was quoted by Speed Week after the race in China.
"Vettel is psychologically very strong. Kimi needs to feel the support of the team.
"I always have to smile a little when 'Iceman' is mentioned. In truth, he is a very sensitive person.
"It was important that he knows … clearly in Malaysia we were as joyful as children with Sebastian's victory, but no one should forget what an outstanding race Kimi did.
"I could not imagine a better driver pairing," Arrivabene added.
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| Peter Sauber thinks his team is back on track |
Founder says Sauber 'future' back on track
(GMM) Having emerged from the comfort of his pre-season low profile, Peter Sauber is now declaring confidently: "We're back."
In recent times, the Swiss team's 71-year-old founder has been content to sit in the background while new boss and co-owner Monisha Kaltenborn steers the ship.
But as the Giedo van der Garde saga exploded in the Melbourne courtroom last month, Sauber jumped on a plane from Switzerland.
"It's difficult to speak about this shit," he told a British reporter on the grid.
But 90 minutes later, Sauber had put its pointless 2014 season firmly in the past, and Felipe Nasr and Marcus Ericsson scored yet more points in China on Sunday.
The team, once written off as the sport's likely next victim, is now fourth overall in the championship, ahead even of the title-winning giant Red Bull.
Sauber acknowledged: "It is an illusion that we can keep this place. But even sixth would be terrific and extremely important for our future.
"Shanghai showed that the result of Australia was not an accident," he told the Swiss newspaper Blick.
Asked how the team has managed its giant leap over the winter, Sauber admitted: "In the first instance it is the Ferrari engine. They have taken a big step forward.
"But the team has also developed and improved."
He even defended the new cockpit duo of Nasr and Ericsson, who after replacing Esteban Gutierrez and Adrian Sutil were often described as 'pay drivers'.
"I would not say that the drivers last year were worse," said Sauber. "But they were not terribly motivated. That has now changed.
"We had Felipe Nasr on the radar for the last three or four years. We were always confident that he has a lot of potential," he explained.
"And Marcus Ericsson is not so far behind."
Sauber warned, however, that F1's troubles overall are far from over.
"The overall situation remains tense and difficult," he said, "and not only for teams like Lotus, Force India and us."
China GP demanding 'changes' in F1
(GMM) Organizers of the Chinese grand prix are demanding "changes" within formula one.
The annual Shanghai race is promoted by Juss Event, whose marketing manager Yang Yibin has revealed concerns about the state of the sport.
He said while the local fan base is stable, the overall drawing power of the Chinese grand prix has been in decline.
"There are various reasons," he told Shanghai Daily, "like one team dominating several seasons (and) smaller teams finding it hard to challenge the bigger constructors, etc.
"The races are not as brilliant as they were a decade ago," Yang added.
Shanghai's F1 race contract runs until 2017, and Yang said the grand prix is just one of "a lot" of international events in the sprawling city every year.
As for whether the F1 deal will be extended, he insisted: "Changes have to be made to the sport.
"UBS was the title sponsor of last year's Chinese GP, but they didn't extend the contract this year, and there must be a reason for it.
"Maybe we can expect something new when we go into the post-Bernie (Ecclestone) era," Yang added.
Red Bull, McLaren brace for difficult Bahrain
(GMM) Red Bull-Renault and McLaren-Honda are bracing for a difficult Bahrain grand prix.
Red Bull official Dr Helmut Marko's frustration boiled over in China on Sunday, declaring to Kleine Zeitung newspaper: "With so many problems, this is hardly motor sport anymore."
Indeed, it was nothing short of a miserable Shanghai race for the former world champions, as engine partner Renault suffered widespread reliability problems across both the senior Red Bull team as well as the junior squad Toro Rosso.
Afterwards, team boss Christian Horner showed a united front in a joint press briefing with Renault's Cyril Abiteboul, the Briton insisting: "We have a good relationship with Renault, but a number of fundamental issues need to be addressed."
Abiteboul, however, warned that with mere days separating China and the next race in Bahrain, a quick fix may not be possible.
Asked what Red Bull will do about it, Horner said: "Close your eyes and hope? What else can we do?"
As for McLaren-Honda and its quest to rise from the back of the field, qualifying and the race in Shanghai did not deliver the promise that earlier practice sessions had.
"We should not be too optimistic," Fernando Alonso admitted to EFE news agency, "because within days we will be in Bahrain and the car will be much the same as it was here."
Team boss Eric Boullier, however, was offering slightly more hope, saying new aerodynamic parts and mechanical developments are being added to the MP4-30 "at each grand prix".
"We have practically a new car at every race," he is quoted by Speed Week.
Manor Marussia pleased by two car finish
Manor Marussia Team Principal John Booth says the squad can be 'proud' of its achievements in China after it got both cars to the finish for the first time since last year's Singapore Grand Prix.
Will Stevens started a race for the first time this season and placed 15th, while Roberto Merhi again made it to the checkered flag as he registered 16th position at the Shanghai circuit.
"The whole team can feel really proud of what we've achieved in China this weekend," said Booth.
"Our target was to get both cars to the checkered flag and it's a great feeling to have achieved that and to see the progress we've made in every session.
"The pace is also starting to come now – we were much better off in the race – so there is a lot to be satisfied with and a lot to look forward to."
Stevens was pleased about his first race with the squad – having driven for Caterham in Abu Dhabi last year – and believes that the team will now make rapid progress.
"[It was] a great race for me and the team and one which shows how far we've come in a very short space of time," he said.
"Obviously it feels really good for me to be racing again and to finish the race with both cars is so important for us at this stage of our development.
"We always knew that when we sorted out the challenges we'd have a reliable car. I didn't get the best of starts but those sorts of issues are easily resolved and I'm sure we'll see a lot more progress over the next few races."
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| Grosjean happy to score points in Shanghai |
Grosjean relieved to end points drought
Romain Grosjean expressed his relief at scoring his and Lotus' first points of the season after he finished in seventh place at the Chinese Grand Prix.
Grosjean had not scored a point since Monaco last May but he qualified inside the top 10 and was able to run a clean race as he collected his best result since 2013.
"It's the best we could do and it's satisfying to have achieved the team's first points of the season," said Grosjean.
"I'm proud of everyone at Enstone and at the track. It wasn't an easy circuit for us, with a lot of front limited corners that we don't particularly like, but we had a strong start, and most of the stints were good too.
"We've made a good job improving the car race after race and it's great to finally score points. The next race could be promising too."
Deputy Team Principal Federico Gastaldi added that Grosjean's points have lifted Lotus' morale.
"It feels great to gets points on the board and get that particular monkey off our back," he said.
"Romain performed strongly all weekend and his seventh position is just reward.
"The team is buoyed by Romain's result and we're looking forward to increasing our tally in Bahrain."
Alonso upbeat over 'useful' race finish
McLaren driver Fernando Alonso admitted his Chinese Grand Prix was challenging but says he was pleased to reach the checkered flag for the first time in 2015.
Alonso started from 18th position but made progress to move into 12th place, taking advantage of a collision late on between team-mate Jenson Button and Lotus' Pastor Maldonado.
"This wasn't the easiest race for us," Alonso said. "We weren't very competitive at the beginning.
"Then we had a few issues with the aero behavior of the car, which slowed me down in the middle stint, but I was able to push a bit harder on the Soft tire at the end of the race."
Alonso said that completing the full race distance was useful in increasing his understanding of the Honda-powered MP4-30.
"We still need to learn a lot more about this car in order to extract its maximum, but an afternoon like today was extremely useful for us as it enabled us to better understand the car," he said.
"It was a useful race for me too: my longest stint during winter testing was 12 laps; in Malaysia, I did 22; and here I completed the race, so this is a step forward.
"Hopefully, we can improve again for Bahrain."