Latest F1 news in brief – Tuesday
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Ecclestone's secret is out – he loves watching a Mercedes 1-2 parade every race Mercedes stopped 'lousy' 2014 season – Ecclestone
- Button resorts to jokes as McLaren wait continues
- Mercedes eyes Friday role for Wehrlein in 2015
- Mercedes 'surprised' by 2014 dominance
- With superior Mercedes car Hamilton can't miss beating Senna's records
- Hulkenberg makes Porsche test debut
- Many reasons for gap to Fernando Alonso – Kimi Raikkonen
- Newey will still attend races
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| Bernie Ecclestone — critical of both Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso |
Mercedes stopped 'lousy' 2014 season – Ecclestone
(GMM) Bernie Ecclestone has credited Mercedes' team management for preventing a "lousy" world championship in 2014.
Considering the German team's utter dominance this year, the F1 'supremo' admitted he was disappointed with the "attitude" of the struggling reigning champion, Sebastian Vettel.
"I'm a super supporter of Sebastian," said Ecclestone, "but I'm a little bit disappointed with his attitude, which I think has changed."
As he struggled with his Red Bull alongside Daniel Ricciardo in 2014, Vettel was highly critical of the sport's new regulations and decided to switch to Ferrari for a new challenge next year.
"He's acting like a defeated guy," Ecclestone said, "and he isn't — that's not his mentality."
Writing in the foreword of the official F1 season review, the 84-year-old Briton also criticized the man Vettel is replacing at Maranello.
"Ferrari was very disappointing," Ecclestone said, "getting lost somewhere. Fernando (Alonso) got a little bit like Sebastian halfway through, so I'm a little disappointed in him, too."
2014 did, at least, crown a new winner, as Mercedes totally dominated following years of Vettel's supremacy.
"I don't think we could have lived with another Red Bull year," Ecclestone said, "any more than we could have lived with another Schumacher (Ferrari) year.
"I thought perhaps Ferrari or Red Bull or one of the other teams would catch up (with Mercedes) halfway through the season and make up a few points at the end."
He said that, in light of Mercedes' unchallenged supremacy, it was "lucky" the Brackley team's bosses decided to let Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg fight almost unfettered for the drivers' crown.
"We've been extremely lucky with what happened," said Ecclestone. "These two guys have been racing each other and it's good that Mercedes allowed them to do that.
"If not, we would have had a really lousy championship."
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| Jenson Button |
Button resorts to jokes as McLaren wait continues
(GMM) Jenson Button has resorted to jokes as McLaren's farcical delay in announcing its 2015 driver lineup drags on.
"I have a new Japanese phone number," said the 2009 world champion. "Maybe that's why I haven't heard anything."
The British veteran was attending the annual Autosport awards, as was McLaren's team boss Eric Boullier.
Amid growing criticism of McLaren's dithering, Boullier said he hoped the waiting will end within "days".
"It's a matter of days, I hope," said the Frenchman, "because we all want to know as soon as possible who will work (at McLaren) next year."
Ron Dennis, the man most directly responsible for the unmade decision about Fernando Alonso's Honda-powered teammate, did not attend the event in London.
Button admitted: "It's a strange situation. But sometimes in life you find yourself in these situations. You just have to deal with it."
Damon Hill, the 1996 world champion, said that despite speculation Kevin Magnussen is the frontrunner for the seat, Button must also still be in the running.
"I'm sure McLaren are trying their best," he told Sky, "otherwise one would assume they would have told Jenson 'We can't hold on to you, do whatever you need to do'.
"Likewise if Jenson didn't think he had a chance he would have told the team that he is off.
"I suspect there are deals at McLaren that need to be finalized before any decision is announced," Hill added.
Finally, new reigning double world champion Lewis Hamilton admitted he is looking forward to racing his old McLaren teammate Alonso in 2015 following the Spaniard's Ferrari exit.
"It will be interesting to see what Fernando can do with his car," Spanish reports quote Hamilton as saying.
Mercedes eyes Friday role for Wehrlein in 2015
(GMM) Pascal Wehrlein could be a regular name on the F1 race circuits in the near future.
In September, Mercedes signed the now 20-year-old German to be the dominant F1 team's new reserve driver.
Since then, he has been a regular in the team's F1 simulator at Brackley and he set the pace in the title-winning W05 in the post-race Abu Dhabi test.
Driving for Mercedes' premier HWA team, Wehrlein this year became the youngest race winner in DTM history, but he is now preparing to take his next step into F1 for 2015.
"There are, of course, not many open doors in formula one where you can gather kilometers in reasonable cars," team boss Toto Wolff told Austria's Sportwoche.
Wolff is reportedly not seriously considering a GP2 seat for Wehrlein in 2015, but instead "a reserve or test role (in F1) or any Friday (practice) role with a smaller team".
Mercedes' engine customers for 2015 are Force India, Williams and Lotus.
Wehrlein said he is ready for that next step.
"I think it helps when people like Magnussen and Kvyat come into formula one and are fast straight away," he said.
"I think our generation is able to do that and I hope the trend of younger drivers continues," Wehrlein added.
"It will be a little like a journey into the unknown," said the Frenchman, "but it is a journey that I am thoroughly looking forward to."
Mercedes 'surprised' by 2014 dominance
(GMM) Mercedes was "surprised" when it realized the level of its dominance at the start of the radical new V6 era in 2014.
With the season now over, the German team's rivals are left only to marvel at the superiority of the silver W05.
Asked if he can think of a more dominant car in F1 history, Mercedes customer Williams' Valtteri Bottas told Sky: "Not really, no!"
Another Mercedes-powered driver in 2014, McLaren's Jenson Button, agreed: "In the shower the other day I thought to myself 'nothing has ever been that dominant'.
"I think it's the best car there has ever been in formula one."
And Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo, the only non-Mercedes driver to win grands prix in 2014, said: "With last year's Red Bull, I thought 'There's no way someone's going to dominate like this again'. But they (Mercedes) did.
"I don't recall anyone dominating like that."
Undoubtedly the secret of Mercedes' success was ramping up its underpowered budget a couple of years ago and concentrating almost exclusively on the 2014 project.
One Mercedes chief was quoted by Germany's Auto Motor und Sport as recalling just how early the team was thinking about the radically-different rules.
"We were asking the FIA questions about the rules that, at the time, nobody else was asking. That's why the engine was so good," the boss is quoted as saying.
"The way we integrated it with the car, and things like the separation of the turbine and the compressor, you can't do that overnight," he added.
"Mercedes engineers had those ideas in early 2013. The team saw the new rules as an opportunity and I'm surprised that there weren't more who jumped on the same train."
With superior Mercedes car Hamilton can't miss beating Senna's records
World Champion Lewis Hamilton says he is highly motivated to match his hero Ayrton Senna in 2015 as he bids to add a third crown to his tally.
Hamilton has idolized Senna throughout his racing career and clinched his second world title in Abu Dhabi in November.
With Mercedes likely to remain the team to beat in 2015, Hamilton – who now has 33 wins to Senna's 41 – says emulating the Brazilian legend holds a big appeal.
"I have always wanted to emulate Ayrton, so now I have the second I am going to be working really hard to get that third one," Hamilton told Autosport.
"Not many people get to win championships, but if I get a chance to do that I will make sure I am ready."
Hamilton is also adamant that Mercedes, which won the 2014 Constructors' title with a record 16 wins and 701 points, will not rest on its laurels heading into next season.
"The one thing is that this team is the best," he said. "We plan to be the best next year.
"There is a lot of work going on, and I have faith in them. We are going to be coming at it hard. It is not a case of we are World Champions, let's just go in to next year as World Champions.
"It resets after this – we want to go back and we want to go in even stronger next year. We have to come from humble beginnings."
Hulkenberg makes Porsche test debut
Nico Hulkenberg has tested a Porsche 919 Hybrid for the first time ahead of his World Endurance Championship debut with the German manufacturer in 2015.
Hulkenberg sampled the 919 at MotorLand Aragon on Tuesday and is set to race a third car in the 6 Hours of Spa in May next year in preparation for the Le Mans 24 Hours in June, alongside his Force India F1 commitments.
However, doubt was cast over Hulkenberg's plans last week after the release of the 2015 Formula 1 calendar featured a provisional return for the Korean Grand Prix on the same weekend as the race in Belgium.
Porsche has not yet confirmed the drivers who will race alongside Hulkenberg in the third 919 next year.
Ex-Red Bull driver Mark Webber switched to the WEC with Porsche for 2014, claiming three podium finishes alongside Timo Bernhard and Brendon Hartley in the #20 machine.
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| Kimi Raikkonen rarely found himself this close to Fernando Alonso in 2014 |
Many reasons for gap to Fernando Alonso – Kimi Raikkonen
Kimi Raikkonen says there were many reasons for the 106-point gap to Ferrari team-mate Fernando Alonso this season.
Raikkonen made a disappointing return to Maranello this year, with a fourth place finish in Belgium his best result over 19 races. The Ferrari was undoubtedly uncompetitive, but Raikkonen's struggle was also related to his driving style while Alonso managed to grind out results.
"There are many reasons [for finishing so far behind Alonso], but the end result is always the same," he told Top Gear. "It was a difficult year in many areas, and like I said if you're fighting for anything less than the championship it's not a very good year. As a team we had a very bad year.
"Myself… I was struggling more, but there's no point to go into the details too much. Obviously we have to work hard in the coming years to improve and put Ferrari at the front where it should be."
Alonso will be replaced by Sebastian Vettel next year and Raikkonen is looking forward to having a team-mate he can have fun with.
"It will be interesting. What we had before as a friendship… I don't see why that should change. We will try to push Ferrari together to where it should be, and try to beat other on the way. I think we can have some fun too." ESPN.co.uk
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| Adrian Newey |
Newey will still attend races
Adrian Newey's new dual role will see him mentor a number of other designers within Red Bull, as well as heading up the new Advanced Technologies department.
But Newey will not be stepping away from F1 entirely as he is eager to ensure he keeps up to speed with developments at the track.
With his last full season in F1 now behind him, speaking to Press Association Sport about his change of plans Newey said: "It's a change.
"I'll still be part of the team, even if I'll be less hands on than I have been, but I'm looking forward to the future, whatever it may bring.
"I'll be attending half-a-dozen races or so. I want to keep in the loop, so in the mentoring, advisory role, I'm fresh enough that I'm able to keep on top of that.
"That means going to some of the races. I'll certainly be in Melbourne (Australian Grand Prix in March) and a few after that, the key ones, the ones that tend to pose the biggest engineering challenges."
Despite stepping back, Newey is confident Red Bull's future is in good hands, adding: "They're a very good bunch.
"What is happening is well timed as they've been developing as a team very well and now it's time for them to really step up to the plate."
Although Newey will not be able to take credit in the future for any success, he concedes he can look back with pride at what has been achieved with Red Bull.
"When we first started if you'd said to us we would win however many races we have won, four championships, second in the two either side of those four, then I would have said 'you're dreaming'," said Newey.
"But all that success is a fantastic tribute to everybody."
As for four-time champion Sebastian Vettel, now with Ferrari after his time with Red Bull came to an end last Friday, Newey remarked: "It was a real privilege working with him.
"In reality in 2009 he was very young, and as a team we all made mistakes.
"But in 2010 we reached the maturity we needed to properly challenge for the championship.
"It was a great learning curve for us, and a great learning curve to have done that with Sebastian."