Latest F1 news in brief

Wolff will not agree to unfreeze of F1 engines to give others a fair chance of catching Mercedes. Since F1 began in 1950 every manufacturer was allowed to do what it needed to catch-up. No longer. They are frozen out. Renault and Ferrari should quit F1 now.

F1 now guaranteed 'Abu Double' title finale

Boycott threat still lingering for Brazil GP
Mercedes insists unfreeze push "ridiculous"
Friend admits future unclear for Schumacher
Perez given seven-place grid drop for Brazil
Massa feels podium was possible
Vettel: Second half of race came alive
Ricciardo: We are doing what we can
Kaltenborn admits Ericsson bought his ride
Rosberg: KERS mistake helped Hamilton
Kaltenborn critical of Mattiacci stance on F1 issues

F1 now guaranteed 'Abu Double' title finale
(GMM) Lewis Hamilton on Sunday continued to charge towards his second world title, but his Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg is guaranteed to still be in the title fight for the finale that could be referred to as 'Abu Double'.

Just before to the US grand prix, Mercedes team chairman Niki Lauda said: "If he (Rosberg) does not beat him (Hamilton) today, it will be difficult for him (Rosberg).

"So he is very motivated," Welt newspaper quoted Lauda as adding.

But despite German Rosberg starting from pole in Austin, Hamilton surprised him with an audacious overtaking move and went on to secure his fifth straight victory.

Afterwards, Lauda told Bild newspaper: "Lewis has shown again that, at the moment, he has Nico under control."

Hamilton's win, and also Rosberg's gap to third place in the drivers' championship, means that – finally – Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo is mathematically out of the running for the 2014 title.

"For us as a team," said Lauda, "the drivers' championship is ours."

Only the identity of the silver-clad champion is still unknown, and it definitely will not now be decided until the final race in Abu Dhabi next month.

That is because – like it or not – the race in Abu Dhabi, already dubbed 'Abu Double' by some sections of the media, will count for twice as many points as usual.

It means Rosberg could fail to finish in Brazil next Sunday, handing Hamilton a points tally of up to 49 points that, normally, would easily guarantee him the championship with a race to spare.

"For me, that's great to hear of course," said Rosberg, "so I'm sure it will be an exciting end to the season for the fans."

The big issue, of course, is that the scenario of Hamilton having won six races in a row, and eleven of the 19 in total, could still see Rosberg crowned champion.

Asked if he fears that outcome, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said in Austin: "No fear, but the double points has the potential to overshadow a season."

Boycott threat still lingering for Brazil GP
(GMM) Two hours before Sunday's US grand prix, the risk that only 12 cars would race still existed.

As promised, Bernie Ecclestone negotiated an eleventh hour solution, and the boycott threat posed by angry privateers Lotus, Sauber and Force India was put down.

The F1 chief executive had laid the foundation of the peace deal 24 hours earlier by issuing an unprecedented 'mea culpa' amid Caterham and Marussia's death throes.

He openly admitted that the income distribution model favoring F1's most powerful teams is wrong.

But for now, although all 9 solvent teams did race in Austin, the boycott cloud could be back over the paddock at Interlagos in mere days.

"It's been acknowledged that there is an issue," said Force India's Bob Fernley on Sunday, as he informed reporters that the Austin boycott was averted.

"The question is 'Can that issue be resolved?' But the fact that it's been acknowledged is enough for the moment to be able to progress," he added.

It is believed Lotus team owner Gerard Lopez, who doesn't attend every race on the calendar but was conspicuously present in Austin, played a leading role in organizing the boycott.

He has also warned that this weekend's threat may not be the last, saying: "It's going to be really interesting to find out what's going to happen in the next couple of weeks around this topic."

Some paddock sources say that if the 2014 season ends without the problem having been addressed, the aggrieved teams might even launch a challenge as to the legality under EU competition law of the big team-dominated 'strategy 'group'.

In reality, the fight may have to go on. Ecclestone, having acknowledged the problem, also revealed that existing contracts means his hands are tied unless he can convince big teams to "tear them up".

"The trouble with lots of regulations and lots of contracts is we don't think long term," he said.

The prospect of tearing up the existing deals seems impossible, as F1's biggest players Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes are already talking the logistics of adding third cars to their garages — the touted solution for losing more failed minnows.

"There are always teams that are safe and others who come and go," Mercedes team chairman Niki Lauda said.

"If this third car would have a rookie in it, then we would do that," he added. "A full grid again and a new, innovative idea."

Team boss Toto Wolff also suggested Marussia and Caterham succumbed to their naivety in having entered F1 in the first place, comparing their task to setting up an airline.

"If you want to set up an airline tomorrow," he said, "it's going to be difficult, because Lufthansa is going to eat you up."

Ecclestone, however, is suddenly back-paddling on his three-car proposal — perhaps because McLaren has clearly said 'no', and perhaps because he is taking the angry small teams' boycott threats seriously.

"Forget three cars," he said. "Nobody can afford two."

But if F1 loses no further teams, the heat of the 'crisis' will lift — especially if rumors Marussia is close to rescue are true.

Lauda told RTL on Sunday that he has heard an Indian bid to buy the team is "credible".

And Britain's Sky reports that Marussia could be back up and running by next month's Abu Dhabi finale, having lodged a team entry for the 2015 season.

Mercedes insists unfreeze push "ridiculous"
(GMM) Mercedes appears less inclined than ever to give in to its rivals' demands for an engine 'unfreeze' ahead of the 2015 season.

Media reports in Italy suggest Ferrari boss Marco Mattiacci may have pulled off a political masterstroke over the US GP weekend by convincing F1's dominant force to agree to a relaxing of the development homologation rules.

But listening to Mercedes bosses Toto Wolff and Niki Lauda, it is difficult to imagine that is true.

"They're saying they want to develop the engine during the year," Wolff is quoted by Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper. "I think this is an incredible nonsense.

"It just costs a lot more and the order would not change."

Lauda, the German team's chairman, agrees, estimating the additional cost per manufacturer of expanding the engine 'freeze' as at least EUR 10 million.

"We would not allow that," he is quoted by Italy's La Repubblica. "It is irrational and senseless.

"Ridiculous," the F1 legend continued to charge. "Mercedes wins its first title for 100 years and they want to change the rules.

"Ferrari can still work on 48 per cent of the engine. There is nothing to defreeze," said Lauda. "It's already thawed."

Friend admits future unclear for Schumacher
(GMM) Former F1 doctor Gary Hartstein has expressed doubt Michael Schumacher will ever recover from his ski crash brain injuries.

Britain's Mail on Sunday newspaper claims the F1 legend's wife Corinna is spending $160,000 on his care at their Swiss estate, including an around-the-clock medical team and state-of-the-art equipment.

But the newspaper believes Schumacher, 45, remains in a 'minimally conscious' state, and is not yet even sitting up unaided let alone walk or talk.

Hartstein, who has been outspoken throughout the Schumacher family's ordeal in 2014, thinks it is worrying that so little is known officially about the former Ferrari and Mercedes driver's progress.

"As time goes on it becomes less and less likely that Michael will emerge to any significant extent," he said, speculating that – in effect – Schumacher remains basically comatose.

"Life expectancy for a comatose patient who does not improve neurologically is measured in months to a relatively few years," said Hartstein.

The newspaper's correspondents Allan Hall and Olga Craig quoted a long-time friend of the family as agreeing that the outlook for Schumacher's future is unclear.

"Will he speak again? Will he walk again? Will he be able to feed and dress himself? The doctors don't know. No one can know," the unnamed friend said.

"The probability is that he will never be the man he was before the accident. That much is starkly clear."

Perez given seven-place grid drop for Brazil
Sergio Perez has been hit with a seven-place grid penalty for the Brazilian Grand Prix after being deemed responsible for a first lap accident in Austin.

The Force India driver was attempting to overtake Adrian Sutil at Turn 15 when he ran too deep, clipped Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari and slid back into the path of his Sauber rival.

While Raikkonen continued, Sutil was eliminated on the spot and Perez returned his car to the pits with terminal damage.

Having assessed the relevant footage, the stewards opted to hand Perez the sizeable drop for next weekend's Interlagos round, plus two penalty points.

"I made a move on Adrian at Turn 15 when he left the door open, so I went up the inside," Perez said of the incident.

"Then Adrian started to close the door and I had to try and brake later than him. By doing so I was unable to avoid contact with Kimi [Raikkonen], which caused me to make contact with Adrian also.

"I just didn't expect Kimi to be in that position. It's a big shame."

Meanwhile, Jean-Eric Vergne has been given a five-second stop/go penalty for his clash with Romain Grosjean, dropping him to 10th, behind Pastor Maldonado.

Massa feels podium was possible
Williams driver Felipe Massa believes that a podium opportunity slipped through his grasp at the United States Grand Prix.

Massa started from fourth on the grid but passed Williams team-mate Valtteri Bottas for third on the opening lap and remained there for much of the race.

But Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo utilized the undercut at the second round of stops and, along with a slow stop for Massa, jumped into third position.

"I had a very good start to get up to third and we showed strong pace throughout the race, but unfortunately a slower than normal pit-stop allowed Ricciardo to jump me and this could have cost us a podium which was possible," said Massa.

"These things happen though and the team have been operating at a very high level with pitstops this season so we need to quickly move on from this one."

Bottas came home in fifth position and was pleased to extend Williams' advantage over Ferrari in the Constructors' Championship.

"Overall we have managed to secure some good points and increased our lead over Ferrari for third in the Constructors' Championship, but there are a number of things we can learn from today," he said.

"I had a bit of clutch slip at the beginning which allowed Ricciardo to jump me in the first corner. The Red Bull's also had better tire management and could run at a better pace for longer, so that made it difficult to catch Ricciardo after he jumped me at the pitstops.

"At this point in the season we're trying to maximize our points haul and this has been a solid result that puts us in a good position headed into Brazil."

Vettel: Second half of race came alive
Sebastian Vettel says the second half of his United States Grand Prix "came alive", as he conducted a late charge to finish seventh.

The Red Bull driver spent the early stages attempting to make up positions after a pre-race engine change enforced a pit lane start.

As the race drew to a close, he took the gamble to put on a new set of Soft tires, following which he picked off a string of rivals.

"The first half of the race wasn't so good, but the second half came alive," said Vettel.

"We were able to make up some ground with a pit-stop near the end of the race. We decided to go for fresh tires with only a few laps to go, so we were in a stronger position at that point compared to others who were struggling on older tires and the pace was better.

"The low downforce set up was good for passing, but it made it difficult to stay close to people."

Vettel finished just half a second behind Ferrari rival Fernando Alonso, who also completed a late pit-stop for fresh rubber.

Ricciardo: We are doing what we can
Daniel Ricciardo says third represented the best possible result for his Red Bull team during the United States Grand Prix.

The Australian bounced back from a lackluster start to jump Williams drivers Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa during the pit-stop phases.

He does, however, mathematically fall out of the title race, leaving a straight fight between Mercedes duo Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.

"We are doing what we can," explained Ricciardo.

"Thanks to Red Bull for giving me a package to fight for the podium. I'm really happy with third place."

Ricciardo dropped to seventh on the opening lap, but made up for lost ground after the early Safety Car period with bold passes on Ferrari's Fernando Alonso and McLaren rookie Kevin Magnussen.

"You can overtake here!" he said. "I got Magnussen and Alonso on the restart so it wasn't too boring."

Red Bull team-mate Sebastian Vettel recovered to seventh after starting from the pit lane.

Kaltenborn admits Ericsson bought his ride
Monisha Kaltenborn admits money had a part to play in signing Marcus Ericsson as one of Sauber's race drivers for 2015.

Ericsson's signing was announced on Saturday in Austin, with the Swede making the move after his previous team Caterham entered administration. With Sauber one of many teams also struggling financially, Kaltenborn confirmed to Crash.net that the backing Ericsson could bring to the team contributed to him getting the drive.

Asked if there were financial considerations involved, Kaltenborn replied: "Yes, there are.

"We have to be open about it because I think if you look at the situation today in Formula One for private teams you have to consider these kind of arguments when you make a decision. If it is now good or bad, let's leave that aside. The fact is that we did consider that as well, however he is not the only driver who has this kind of support so there's nothing negative about it."

And Kaltenborn said she is excited to sign Ericsson despite admitting he's not a driver who has been on her radar for very long until his check became available.

"I am excited (to get his money). I don't know him from a very long time – I only met him recently – but I have been watching him for the last couple of races and it was impressive to see what performance he showed, particularly in the last races.

"I can see that it must have been a very tough season for him, that's something that we have in common! It's good to see when somebody can keep cool that way, remain so focused and then still show actually this kind of improvement in his performance. So I think he is bringing the right qualities and the right experience over to us.

Rosberg: KERS mistake helped Hamilton
Nico Rosberg says a post-race briefing revealed that a mistake he made deploying KERS helped Lewis Hamilton overtake him in the United States Grand Prix.

Hamilton passed Rosberg under braking for Turn 12 having been a long way back, and admitted he was slightly surprised his team-mate didn't do more to defend. While Rosberg said he was caught out by Hamilton's move he also discovered he had not received the help from his KERS that he was expecting which had compromised his chances of defending.

"A little bit [surprised] maybe, yeah," Rosberg said. "I just found a new thing that I made a mistake because I used the wrong thing to get me more KERS. I thought I was using the right thing but there was a delay in that one.

"If I did it with a button it would be immediate, but with a switch there is a delay, so I never got the extra KERS. So I had a big derate, which is why in the last meters he got a good jump on me. So, that was a mistake that I didn't know about.

"The last part. I went for extra boost but the way I did it, it only comes on with a delay so I didn't get extra boost at that particular moment. When I saw him coming I decided to go for extra boost, but I never got it."

Rosberg also said he may not have changed the way he defended either way, as shutting the door completely on Hamilton could have left him open to another move exiting the corner.

"I am sure I could have done better, but it is a judgment thing. If I defend a lot he will brake late on the outside and get me on the next one, so I thought indicating I am closing the door would have been enough to stop him from trying, but it wasn't. Because I was part way over already and I thought that was enough for him to think he should not try, but it wasn't."

Kaltenborn critical of Mattiacci stance on F1 issues
Sauber team principal Monisha Kaltenborn has criticized Marco Mattiacci for his stance on the current financial state of F1.

When it was put to Mattiacci on Sunday evening that the impression being given off is that the bigger teams don't need those further down the grid in the sport, he replied: "It's not to define middle teams or small teams, Formula One needs competitive teams.

"There are many corporations around the world and many big brands who should capitalize on a phenomenal motorsport platform like Formula One is.

"Entrepreneurs have to find a reason why … we're doing an excellent job with Haas but it's very clear what he wants to do. He has a long term plan, project, solid investment and a good reason – a business reason – to get in to Formula One.

"We need competitive teams. I'm not here to say small or middle, we need competitive teams with a solid business background and a solid financial background."

However, when made aware of Mattiacci's comments, Kaltenborn countered that all the current teams in F1 have to be open to change, saying Ferrari's business model is not bulletproof.

"Wasn't it Marco who also said that he's getting questions on ROI (return on investment) from his partners?" Kaltenborn asked. "How does he plan to keep that so well going if the way things are going here? What if his partners – who are probably paying a lot – come and say 'What's my return on investment with results? What's my return on investment with viewers going down, with the show not being attractive?'

"So I wonder if his business model is going to work if he didn't have the backing of those kind of partners or a manufacturer? Because I think if the manufacturer wouldn't put that money in there you would have a business model that is defunct. And I know what I'm talking about."