Latest F1 news in brief

What the Spaniards do not realize is that Alonso had no option to stay at Ferrari. They signed Vettel and asked Alonso to leave.

Ferrari pushing on for Mercedes title battle
Officials defend Alonso amid latest rumors
Carmen Jorda backs all-female F1 proposal
Spaniards defend Alonso after McLaren switch
Merhi admits he could lose Manor seat
Toro Rosso happy with Renault progress
Formula One teams must talk on money deal, says ex-FIA chief Mosley

Ferrari pushing on for Mercedes title battle
(GMM) F1 is shaping up for a 'silver versus red' battle in 2015.

The dominant reigning champions Mercedes were surprised in Malaysia to have been beaten to the checkered flag by Ferrari newcomer Sebastian Vettel.

Boss Toto Wolff said the "wake-up call" will speed up technical developments and trigger a strategy re-think.

His colleague Paddy Lowe agrees: "It is now clearer than ever that there is serious competition for this world championship".

Ferrari is also vowing to keep the pressure on.

"We have some aerodynamic improvements coming and we will bring them to the car as quickly as possible," technical director James Allison told Germany's Sport Bild.

"The aerodynamic regulations are still young, so there is a lot of potential."

Ferrari has undoubtedly made a step forward with its car in 2015, but others see the biggest gain in the area of the Italian marque's 'power unit'.

"The two teams that have taken the biggest leap are (Ferrari-powered) Ferrari and Sauber," Williams' engineering boss Rob Smedley is quoted by Spain's El Confidencial.

Sebastian Vettel can drive the Ferrari the way he likes

Also getting a lot of credit, however, are technical boss Allison and quadruple world champion Vettel.

Allison, however, played down any comparison to the great technical brain of the Schumacher era, Ross Brawn.

"I have won exactly zero world titles," he told Auto Motor und Sport, before joking: "Ross won several million."

As for Vettel, his former mentor Dr Helmut Marko said Malaysia was the perfect rejoinder to those who thought the German can only win in a Red Bull.

"Last year, Sebastian simply could not use all of his little tricks with our car, but with this Ferrari he can use them again," he told Sport Bild.

"He never forgot how to drive," Marko added of the four-time title winner.

Officials defend Alonso amid latest rumors
(GMM) Two leading figures in Spanish motor sport have hit back at the latest rumors about Fernando Alonso's Barcelona testing crash.

German publications are openly doubting the honesty of Alonso's claim in Malaysia that he crashed because the steering on his McLaren-Honda "locked".

The highly respected Auto Motor und Sport correspondent Michael Schmidt said he had spoken to multiple people with knowledge of the telemetry data collected from the Spaniard's car.

Their unanimous opinion is that Alonso's claim about the steering is "impossible", as the data "clearly shows that everything with the steering was fine".

"Alonso never even tried to steer left, as the torque sensors on the steering wheel would have shown it," Schmidt added.

And the German magazine Auto Bild is running a similar analysis in its latest edition.

Nonetheless, the president of Spain's motor racing federation Carlos Gracia said he is standing behind Alonso.

Gracia, who is close to F1's governing body, confirmed to Spain's El Confidential newspaper that he had "exchanged views" on the topic with the FIA.

"In the end, the one who really knows what happened is Fernando," he said. "Fernando was physically and mentally perfect, and so to have that accident, something must have happened to his car, as he has said."

A well-known former FIA steward Joaquin Verdegay, meanwhile, urged the media to finally move on after an intense period of speculation.

"It is a shame that media professionals and journalists who pay little or no attention to racing as a sport continue with a story that is now in the past," he wrote in El Mundo newspaper.

"They are trying to create news and controversy where there is none."

Carmen Jorda backs all-female F1 proposal
(GMM) Carmen Jorda has added another voice to the debate about the idea of an all-female F1 series.

Bernie Ecclestone's proposal was roundly blasted, with a reporter for the Associated Press even describing it as a step to "sexual apartheid".

Williams tester Susie Wolff said a grand prix category just for women is "definitely not the right way forward", while another female driver Alice Powell was less scathing but said she would prefer to compete against men.

And Michela Cerruti, who has raced in the new Formule E series, said the women's F1 series would be essentially "to attract attention" and "much less interesting than seeing women racing against men".

New Lotus development driver Carmen Jorda has a different view entirely.

"Nowadays you see women competing in their own championships in most sports: football, tennis, skiing, you name it," she told F1's official website.

"In none of these championships are men and women competing against each other. So the question is: why not have a F1 world championship for women?"

Jorda also told AP that women will never beat men in F1 "because of the physical issue".

"I don't want to fight for 10th or 15th. What I want to do is to win," she added.

The question now is whether Ecclestone's proposal will go any further than mere debate.

The president of the FIA's 'women in motor sport' commission is Michele Mouton, a French driver who finished the world rally championship second in 1982.

She told AP she was initially "annoyed and very disappointed" with Ecclestone's proposal, but later insisted the FIA would not dismiss it "without proper debate and research".

"But from my own experience as a competitor, I truly believe women want to compete on an equal level with their male counterparts," Mouton said.

Fernando Alonso pushed out of Ferrari after Vettel was signed, but Spaniards still making excuses for him

Spaniards defend Alonso after McLaren switch
(GMM) Two of Fernando Alonso's countrymen have backed the Spaniard to eventually succeed at the wheel of a McLaren-Honda.

McLaren's early 2015 struggle, and his Ferrari successor Sebastian Vettel's Malaysia breakthrough, caused many observers to question Alonso's decision to switch teams over the winter.

But Roberto Merhi, a Spanish rookie for the Manor team, said it is not fair to surmise that Alonso made a poor choice in leaving Ferrari just as it was about to make a giant leap forwards.

"Nobody was expecting them to make that jump," the 24-year-old told the Spanish sports daily Marca.

"Those criticisms of Fernando are not justified. Formula one is a very complex sport, and so choosing a team is often a pure lottery," Merhi said.

"Let's wait and see what happens by the end of the season or maybe even in a couple of years, because he always said that it was a medium-term commitment."

Asked if he thinks McLaren-Honda can improve after its woeful start in 2015, Merhi insisted: "They already have.

"Between Australia and Malaysia they made great progress," he added.

Meanwhile, the president of Spain's motor racing federation, Carlos Gracia, also backed Alonso's decision to leave Ferrari for McLaren.

"The Ferrari story was very complicated," he told El Confidencial newspaper.

"I would have liked to have seen Fernando in this Ferrari, but his prospects now are also very good and we must respect his decision," said Gracia.

"Honda has not returned to be a spectator, and while we talk about Ferrari, McLaren is also a team of great tradition that will use every means to develop the car.

"I think by Spain or Monaco he will begin to be in contention, if not for victory then for a podium," he added.

Roberto Merhi's check not big enough to keep ride?

Merhi admits he could lose Manor seat
(GMM) Roberto Merhi is heading to China this week fully expecting to line up for Manor on the Shanghai grid.

The Spaniard knows that he will be ousted by the former Marussia team if a better-funded driver comes forward.

So ahead of the back-to-back China and Bahrain rounds, the 24-year-old rookie admitted to Marca sports newspaper that he has not been told officially that he will be racing this weekend.

"But I'm not waiting for news," Merhi told the Spanish publication. "If they don't say anything, I'll be the one to race in China and Bahrain."

Merhi is keeping his 2015 options open, having travelled from Malaysia last month straight to Spain for a test in a Formula Renault 3.5 car.

He is signed up for the full 2015 'world series' championship, which includes some rounds that clash with F1.

Asked if he is worried his time at Manor will eventually run out, Merhi admitted: "Realistically, that can happen.

"I wouldn't say worried, all I can do is my best and not think about what might happen. But honestly, yes, there is that possibility."

He is expecting the struggling Manor team to start getting up to speed in China and Bahrain.

"In Malaysia we were not using the full power of the engine. And I got so few laps that I could hardly remember the braking points in qualifying," said Merhi.

The Renault engines appear to be running better in the Toro Rossos. Is that because they might buy the team?

Toro Rosso happy with Renault progress
(GMM) Toro Rosso says it is happy with the progress being made by Renault.

While the senior team Red Bull slammed its French partner after Melbourne, Toro Rosso has emerged as the more competitive 2015 package.

The Faenza based outfit, bought by Red Bull from Minardi in 2005, and Renault are now openly considering a close tie-up for the future that could see the Toro Rosso cars re-branded in yellow.

So it is no surprise that the highly-critical language used by Red Bull chiefs after Australia is not being echoed by those at Toro Rosso.

In part, that is because the team is on track for its target of fifth in the constructors' championship, while Red Bull is more accustomed to winning titles.

Red Bull has already given up on the 2015 crown, with Dr Helmut Marko telling F1's official website that the targets now are Toro Rosso in "P5 and Red Bull Racing P3".

"With the handicap that we have this year with the power unit we could say 'That's ok for this season' — but not for medium term," he said.

Toro Rosso, on the other hand, is happy with Renault's progress.

"Renault took a big step forward after Melbourne," said technical boss James Key.

"In Melbourne, we had several problems, particularly regarding the drivability of the engine," he is quoted by France's L'Equipe.

"But they worked hard and both drivers were very satisfied in Malaysia," said Key. "It's not perfect yet but it is much better than in the first race.

"I think after a difficult weekend in Melbourne, Renault is back on track now."

Max Mosley

Formula One teams must talk on money deal, says ex-FIA chief Mosley
Former international motorsport federation chief Max Mosley believes Formula One teams need to reach consensus on a fairer distribution of earnings to ensure the sport's survival.

In a telephone interview with dpa, Mosley said teams had to be told clearly that Formula One has "a real problem" unless the money is divided more equally.

"The only way to deal with it is to get everybody to agree," Mosley said.

"You can sit all the teams down and say look collectively we've got a massive problem because some of you have got enough money but most of you haven't and if we go on like this Formula One is going to collapse, so I am inviting you all to agree to a change.

"But they would have to all agree. You can't do it without unanimity unfortunately. I think that could be done but it needs people to make very clear to them that there is a real problem."

Mosley, who presided over FIFA from 1993 until 2009, unsuccessfully tried to introduce a budget cap towards the end of his office and said all the teams bar Ferrari agreed at the time.

Rows over revenue distribution led to a crisis towards the end of last season when Lotus, Force India and Sauber demanded a bigger share of income, while Marussia and Caterham went into administration.

Mosley said Formula One, which now has an estimated overall turnover of 1.7 billion dollars, had changed enormously since he first entered motorsport as a racing driver in the 1960s, competing at club car and European Formula Two level.

The sport is far safer thanks to technological advances and improved track security, but a F1 team now employs between 700 and 1,000 people whereas an outfit like Tyrrell could win world championships (three drivers' in 1969, 1971 and 1973; one constructors' in 1971) employing around 20 people.

The March team, which Mosley helped found in 1969, had a budget of 113,000 pounds in its first year, he recalled. Now a team needed hundreds of millions.

"Of course the technology is amazing but a great deal of it is concealed so the public don't actually see – 90 per cent, 95 per cent of what goes on is not visible to an outsider and even kept secret within the teams," Mosley said.

"So it's changed enormously – whether it's changed for the better; I think it's gone too far.

"I think it was good that it should become more sophisticated, more technical and so on but at a certain point there should have been a restriction on how much you can spend, and indeed I've tried to bring that in at the end of my time at the FIA but I didn't succeed."

Mosley said the revenue from F1 chief Bernie Ecclestone "should be divided equally among the teams." The teams should not be allowed to spend significantly more, with successful teams able to increase their earnings through sponsorship.

At present the richer teams are receiving a far greater share of revenues and are able to win better sponsorship deals.

"At least half the teams simply can't compete because they haven't got enough money, and that to me is wrong," Mosley said.

"You obviously wouldn't allow one team to run a bigger engine than another team and yet if one team has got five times as much money the effect is exactly the same as if they had a bigger engine. It's not fair from the sporting point of view."

The right balance also needed to be struck between the business of Formula One, as run by Ecclestone, and motorsport, as governed by the FIA, Mosley said.

"If everything is in one pair of hands than I think you have a problem," he said.

"I don't know what's in the arrangements which have been made but my understanding is that Bernie together with the teams can outvote the FIA.

"I might be wrong about that and shouldn't really speculate but I get the impression the FIA is not perhaps in a strong a position as it used to be."

Mosley, who will be 75 on April 13, stood down as FIA chief at the end of his term in 2009, making way for Frenchman and former Ferrari motorsport head Jean Todt.

The decision was taken long before the 2008 News of the World's stories about his sex life.

Mosley successfully sued the now defunct Sunday newspaper which had claimed a public interest in publishing because of alleged Nazi connotations. Mosley, the youngest son of British 1930s fascist leader Oswald Mosley, said this was shown to be unfounded.

"They invented this Nazi thing which was a complete lie," he said. "When it got to court it fell to pieces."

Mosley said few people would have been in a position to sue the newspaper and that was also a reason he would have no hesitation in doing the same again.

"I felt the conduct of the newspaper was so outrageous that it had to be done…and I thought if I don't do it, it will be 10, 15 years where they can continue to behave outrageously and expose people who can't defend themselves."

The News of the World was closed down by owner Rupert Murdoch in July 2011 following revelations it was involved in phone hacking.

"It was a criminal enterprise there and happily it has been shut down," Mosley said.

Mosley is meanwhile continuing his efforts to get Google to prevent its search engines providing links to images used for the News of the World stories.

"The thing is one has to make one's mind up, these things take a very long time but you get there in the end," he said. "One just has to be relentless and yes I am (fighting Google), and I am relentless." DPA