Latest F1 news in brief

Manor still determined to return in 2015 – boss
Force India denies not paying supplier bills
Strategy Group rejects V8 engines for 2017
Force India doubts VJM08 will make last test

Manor still determined to return in 2015 – boss
(GMM) The former Marussia team has confirmed reports it has not given up on returning to formula one in 2015.

Looking to exit administration with new investors, and now called Manor F1 Team, the newly Dinnington-based outfit hit a roadblock on Thursday when the strategy group blocked its application to use a 2014 car this year.

But boss Graeme Lowdon hit back at those reports, including rival Force India chief Bob Fernley's claim that the way Manor tried to gain the approval of the powerful strategy group in Paris was a "poor show".

"We are doing everything possible to adhere to the process set out for us to return," Lowdon insisted late on Friday.

"This is a fantastic good news story for the whole sport and we just want to go racing."

Lowdon said he was most "surprised" to hear about Fernley's comments, hitting back that Manor in fact did not even make a presentation to the strategy group.

"We did not make any application to the strategy group meeting and nor were we asked to," he confirmed.

He did, however, admit that Manor is still trying to gain its rivals' unanimous consent to field its old car this year and is still "actively engaged in achieving this".

"This process involves providing all relevant information to the teams to allow them to fully consider its request," said Lowdon.

So he said the team is working hard on preparing its 2014 cars, and at the same time "pressing on with the development of its 2015 car to ensure it can supersede the 2014 car as soon as possible".

Force India denies not paying supplier bills
(GMM) Force India has hit back at reports it could be the next team to spin out of formula one.

The Silverstone based team missed the Jerez test and will also not have its 2015 car at the forthcoming Barcelona session.

According to Auto Motor und Sport correspondent Michael Schmidt, it has triggered rumors Force India has "no chassis, no fuel tank, no engine, no gearbox and no wind tunnel time" due to a financial crisis.

But chief operating officer Otmar Szafnauer insists all of that is untrue.

The biggest rumor is that Force India fell so behind in payments to its carbon manufacturer EPM that its 2015 monocoque has not been delivered.

Szafnauer insists: "We have no debt to our supplier."

He explained that the delay is simply due to EPM moving factory over the winter, during which crucial machinery was damaged.

As for rumored problems with the fuel tank supplier ATL, Schmidt said the explanation is that the company changed the payment terms of its bills, but Force India has now "paid the bill and received the tank".

As for the powertrain, Mercedes team chairman Niki Lauda confirmed that "We have received our money from Force India", while Szafnauer says there are also no issues with its new arrangement in Toyota's wind tunnel.

"If we had not fulfilled our obligations," he said, "we would not be in the wind tunnel right now."

Strategy Group rejects V8 engines for 2017
(GMM) The powerful strategy group on Thursday rejected Ferrari's proposal to replace the current V6 engines with a twin-turbo V8 formula for 2017.

However, Germany's Auto Motor und Sport reports that plans to boost the sport cars to a whopping 1,000 horse power nonetheless remain on track.

The report said that when Ferrari's V8 proposal was raised, Honda and Mercedes "rejected it outright and threatened to withdraw from formula one".

Bernie Ecclestone's touted 1,000hp figure will instead be achieved by reportedly using the current turbo V6 architecture and tweaking the fuel flow limit.

Also rejected were ideas by Red Bull and McLaren, outlined in aggressive-looking drawings, to significantly improve the shape of the current F1 cars for 2016.

"Fearing a cost explosion, most teams do not want to take this step until 2017," correspondent Michael Schmidt claimed.

Those at the meeting also failed to decide on the thorny issue of Honda's position under the 2015 engine 'unfreeze', with McLaren supremo Ron Dennis pushing for his new works partner to have more 'tokens' to play with.

Force India doubts VJM08 will make last test
Force India Deputy Team Principal Bob Fernley says that the squad faces a race against time to get its 2015 car, the VJM08, ready in time for the final pre-season test in Barcelona at the end of the month.

Force India had originally planned to debut its VJM08 during the next test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, which commences on February 19.

But earlier this week the team confirmed that it had put back the introduction of the VJM08 until the final test, which begins on February 26.

However Fernley now says that the Silverstone-based team may not have its car ready for the last test.

"The question for me is only how much of the third test we will participate in," Fernley told the BBC after denying that the team was a doubt for the opening round of 2015 in Australia.

"We won't make the second test at all – although we are looking at taking the 2014 car there to do a little bit of driver and tire work.

"I'm hoping we will make the start of the third test with the 2015 car, but we have to get as much of it as we can."

Fernley added that the primary reasons for the delay was the wait to sign a deal with Toyota over the use of its wind tunnel, as well as the collapse of Caterham and Marussia having "hurt the suppliers and they can't afford to give us the credit terms we've had in the past."