Latest F1 news in brief – Monday
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Italian Daniel Ricciardo, who now lives in Australia, is happy to get a pay raise from Red Bull Ricciardo confirms pay-rise for 2015
- Buemi stays as Red Bull reserve
- Alonso was 'tired of Ferrari promises' – Briatore
- Former F1 doctor attacks FIA over hospital visit
- Ferrari 'vetoed' F1 boss role for Montezemolo
- Alonso 'just a spectator' in F1 briefings
- Engineer says Ferrari shakeup 'impressive'
- Verstappen debut 'an insult' – Villeneuve
- Rosberg overlooked in German sports awards
Ricciardo confirms pay-rise for 2015
(GMM) Daniel Ricciardo looks set to get a pay-rise after his meteoric first season with Red Bull.
Australia's Sydney Morning Herald newspaper reports that while he out-shone the quadruple world champion Sebastian Vettel in 2014, he was making "just over $1 million" for the year.
That is many multiples times less than German Vettel's salary.
The newspaper said Ricciardo's fee is now likely to be more than doubled for 2015, with significant bonuses in the offering for race wins and titles.
The 25-year-old confirmed: "Yeah, I should be (paid more). I should get a little bit of a pay rise, so we'll see how much that ends up being."
Despite finishing third behind only the dominant Mercedes in 2014, Ricciardo's salary is dwarfed by many of the top drivers he defeated this year.
But he said: "On average, most of us are earning a pretty good wage but the best thing is if you can make a living out of what you love."
Buemi stays as Red Bull reserve
(GMM) Sebastien Buemi is staying put as Red Bull's reserve driver.
The 26-year-old has been the team's main test and simulation driver since he was dropped from the junior squad Toro Rosso at the end of 2011.
This year, he became the world endurance sports car champion with his Toyota teammate Anthony Davidson, and he also races in the new Formula E series.
But if Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo or Daniil Kvyat – or perhaps even a Toro Rosso driver – is unable to race during the course of next season, Buemi will remain first in line for the seat.
He told Blick newspaper: "One never wishes anything bad for a colleague. The truth is that I enjoy working in the simulator.
"That's why I have signed up again for another two years," the Swiss newspaper quoted Buemi as saying.
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| Alonso had no clue how to structure the right people around him at Ferrari. |
Alonso was 'tired of Ferrari promises' – Briatore
(GMM) Fernando Alonso effectively decided to leave Ferrari more than a year ago.
That is the claim of Flavio Briatore, who has played a leading role in the Spanish driver's management throughout his illustrious career.
After five years in red, Alonso has decided to return to McLaren for 2015 to spearhead the British team's new works Honda era.
But Briatore told Italy's La Gazzetta dello Sport that Alonso basically made his mind up to leave Ferrari in 2013.
"It was a gentlemen's agreement with (Luca di) Montezemolo," he said. "'If the (2014) car is not up to it, adios'. All it needed was a handshake.
"Fernando was tired of the usual refrain: 'You'll see, the next one will be a winning car'."
Gazzetta also suggested that Alonso and Briatore had urged Ferrari to use its veto power to stop the move from the old V8 formula to turbo V6s for 2014 and beyond.
"The problem in 2013," Briatore explained, "was clearly the aerodynamics, as regards the engine we (Ferrari) were right there with the competition.
"So there was this 'leap in the dark' taken with the engine.
"He (Alonso) also felt the efforts made in the recruitment of technical staff was insufficient — that Ferrari should be wooing the number 1, not the number 25!" he added.
Alonso's new home is McLaren, where his 2007 tenure ended spectacularly badly. Briatore said: "Time heals everything."
Rumors however suggest talks between Alonso and Mercedes took place last year, but Briatore insists there was "never a serious negotiation".
He also suggested Alonso was attracted by the resources being pledged to the McLaren project by Honda, and denied that the double world champion demanded that his 2015 teammate be Jenson Button.
"It was an internal matter concerning sponsorships," Briatore said. "But we are happy because he (Button) is a good guy, smart, clever. He has already worked with Fernando in my team (Renault)."
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| Former F1 doctor Gary Hartstein makes Jean Todt out to be a weasel |
Former F1 doctor attacks FIA over hospital visit
(GMM) Former F1 doctor Gary Hartstein claims the FIA tried last week to have him fired from his day-job in Belgium.
The American was F1's chief doctor until the end of 2012, when president Jean Todt decided not to renew the contract.
Since then, he has been clinical professor of anesthesia and emergency medicine at the university hospital in Liege, which last week reportedly received a visit from Gerard Saillant.
Working at the FIA Institute, Saillant is a mutual friend of both Todt and Michael Schumacher, and Hartstein claims it is he who fired him "by email" in 2012.
"Imagine my surprise to learn that despite having heard nothing from you or your boss (Todt) since being fired, you actually came to my hospital because of me!" Hartstein wrote in an open letter to Saillant and Todt on his blog.
On the blog, Hartstein has been a regular critic of the way the Schumacher camp handled the seven time world champion's public face of his skiing accident and injuries.
Last week, Hartstein was also critical of the FIA's investigation into the injuries sustained this year by Jules Bianchi.
Hartstein added: "You made an appointment with the Dean of my medical faculty, to speak about me. I'd be flattered if I wasn't so shocked.
"I think it's important that people understand just how you and your boss work," he added. "You came here to try to get me fired.
"You and your boss want me fired from the job that pays my rent. The one I've held for 25 years. Wow. Were you wearing a black trench coat and fedora?"
Hartstein said Saillant was armed for the meeting with the Dean with copies of his blog postings and also an email from Schumacher's wife Corinna.
"You came here to raise the issue of whether this blog violated my contract at work and could therefore be a reason to fire me, or at least to muzzle me," he added.
Hartstein defended his blog postings on the basis that they are his private opinions, based on nothing but "conjecture and experience".
"In fact, things like 'privacy' and 'free expression' come to mind — not as sterile principles, but as laws that you are on the cusp of violating," he raged.
"Be aware that I've referred the 'dossier' you handed over to the Dean to my attorney. You are on very, very thin legal ice.
"Word to the wise? Shut up, back off, and watch out," Hartstein concluded.
Ferrari 'vetoed' F1 boss role for Montezemolo
(GMM) More publications are reporting that Ferrari 'vetoed' F1's move to install Luca di Montezemolo as the new chairman of the Formula One Group.
Germany's Sport Bild made the claim last week, after it emerged ousted Ferrari president Montezemolo had been appointed to the board but only as a non-executive director.
Now, Italy's La Gazzetta dello Sport is also claiming that F1 owner CVC intended for Montezemolo to become chairman, but the move was blocked by new Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne.
"That is the reason why Peter Brabeck continues as chairman although he had resigned for health reasons," said the Spanish daily El Mundo Deportivo.
It means that with former Diageo chief Paul Walsh also stepping back from the role and becoming merely a non-executive director, F1 is still seeking a new chairman.
"We will find somebody," Ecclestone is quoted by F1 business journalist Christian Sylt in the Independent. "Lots of people are in the frame.
"It will probably come up at the next board meeting next year. I don't want to be chairman. That's the last thing I need," the sport's chief executive added.
Alonso 'just a spectator' in F1 briefings
(GMM) Fernando Alonso claims F1 drivers stay deliberately quiet in pre-race briefings chaired by Charlie Whiting.
New drivers have often expressed surprise at the contrast between fiery driver briefings in lower categories, and the almost silent exchange between officials and racers in the F1 equivalent.
In a feature covering his final race with Ferrari last month in Abu Dhabi, Spaniard Alonso said the F1 briefing is usually little more than a "chat between friends (drivers)".
"I usually stay out of all discussions and quarrels," he told the La Sexta program, "because in my years of racing, I have found that the briefing is a formality.
"If you say something, sometimes all you achieve is the race director becoming angry.
"And if you upset him, and then you are involved in something … instead I sit down, relax, think and listen.
"It has become fairly routine," the Spaniard explained. "I'm there just as a spectator."
Engineer says Ferrari shakeup 'impressive'
(GMM) To some, the 'restructuring' at Maranello in recent days and weeks has resembled Italian chaos.
But Luca Furbatto, a prominent F1 designer who has moved from Toro Rosso to McLaren for 2015, says the moves by new Ferrari boss Maurizio Arrivabene so far have actually appeared "impressive".
One of those decisions was to sign up ousted Toro Rosso driver Jean-Eric Vergne as tester — a move that surprised most F1 insiders.
Furbatto told Ferrari insider Leo Turrini's blog: "Jev is fast and he's a fighter. In the race he never gives up.
"I know some are wondering why Ferrari didn't offer the opportunity to (Davide) Rigon or (Raffaele) Marciello, but I think there is a very sensible explanation.
"Today, unfortunately, the rules do not allow track testing, so the very young or the absolute beginners are objectively disadvantaged.
"Vergne has three seasons of experience and in the simulator he has worked a lot with (engineer Riccardo) Adami, who has now gone to Maranello with Vettel," Furbatto added.
"From a distance," he continued, "I have the impression that Arrivabene has understood very well what Ferrari needs. The revolution taking place at the level of the racing department is impressive.
"From my point of view it is good to have at the helm someone like (James) Allison: one of the best in the business, one who speaks Italian so that he is understood.
"It seems to me that Arrivabene is shaping a team according to a pyramid structure, with clear roles and responsibilities. This is encouraging, as with clarity, results will come.
"It may seem strange from someone working for McLaren but I hope for this (Ferrari's success) with all my heart," Furbatto concluded.
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| It won't be the first or last time Jacques Villeneuve sticks his foot in his mouth. Saying Verstappen is too young at 17 when the current F1 cars are so easy to drive is laughable |
Verstappen debut 'an insult' – Villeneuve
(GMM) Jacques Villeneuve says the forthcoming debut of F1's youngest ever race driver Max Verstappen is "an insult".
Just a year out of karts, 17-year-old Verstappen has been signed to drive for Red Bull's junior F1 team Toro Rosso in 2015.
The outspoken 1997 world champion told Italy's Omnicorse: "Should I tell you the truth? I think Max is an insult.
"Do Red Bull realize they are putting a child in formula one?
"I do not doubt that he is fast, but he has no experience. I arrived in F1 when I was 25, after winning in Indycars.
"Before you are fighting against the lives of others, you have to learn, and it is not F1's role to teach," said Villeneuve.
He said the FIA's move to impose a minimum age of 18 is not enough.
"It should be 21," said Villeneuve. "You should arrive in formula one as a winner and with a wealth of experience. F1 is not the place to come and develop as a driver."
The former Williams and Honda driver thinks even Red Bull was not prepared for the controversy that Verstappen's impending debut would trigger.
"The debut of a 17-year-old is a negative message for F1," he charged, "and I think the impact so far has not been as positive as Red Bull expected."
The French Canadian says the main problem is that the modern breed of grand prix car has become too easy to drive.
"Verstappen arrives, does ten laps and immediately looks strong," said Villeneuve. "It seems that anyone can drive an F1 car, while in my father's day the drivers were considered heroes at the wheel of almost impossible monsters.
"F1 impressed me when I arrived, even though I came from Indycar. But this F1 is not exciting. The cars seem slow," he said.
Rosberg overlooked in German sports awards
(GMM) Nico Rosberg has been almost completely overlooked in this year's 68th running of the German sportsman of the year awards.
At the ceremony in Baden-Baden, it was the discus thrower Robert Harting who defended his title of 2013, when then world champion Sebastian Vettel finished second.
Rosberg won five grands prix for the German team Mercedes in 2014, and was in contention for his first drivers' title until the season finale.
The 'team of the year' award, meanwhile, was presented to Germany's national football team, with ski jumping and volleyball teams in second and third places.
And German reports say Rosberg came in a distant seventh place after around 3000 sports journalists in the country voted for the coveted 'Sportler des Jahres' honor.
Vettel, meanwhile, did not even make the top ten.