Latest F1 news in brief

Kimi Raikkonen not going anywhere

Drivers want better wet tire after Bianchi crash
$65m Interlagos upgrade saved Brazil GP – mayor
Toro Rosso hopeful Sainz 'patient' amid Vergne reports
Amid Alonso commotion, Raikkonen staying put
Nigel Mansell's Ferrari F40 gets auctioned
Vladimir Putin could run Europe or America, says Bernie Ecclestone
McLaren plans 'major' late-season upgrade
Ricciardo to demo Formula 1 car in Austin
Adderly Fong and Roy Nissany will test a Sauber C31 New

Drivers want better wet tire after Bianchi crash
(GMM) Top F1 drivers are calling on the sport's sole tire supplier to improve its wet-weather product.

The now critically injured Jules Bianchi lost control of his Marussia in worsening rain conditions at Suzuka recently when raining on worn 'intermediate' tires.

Lewis Hamilton is a magician in the wet. The World Championship leader, however, is not fond of the Pirelli rain tires.

Championship leader Lewis Hamilton said drivers often prefer to run on that tire when it is wet, because the 'full wet' Pirelli is so much slower.

"It is no secret that they are not the greatest wet tires that I have known," said the Mercedes driver.

"The slick will always be improved, but I guess not so much focus gets put on the wet," he is quoted by the Daily Mail.

"You want a tire that clears the water and does not force us to go to the intermediate when it is so much quicker, and when it is probably not safe enough to do so," Hamilton added.

Reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel admits the drivers' concerns have been passed on to Pirelli.

"It's definitely something we've passed on already, not just after Japan," he said, reportedly having raised the issue in the pre-race briefing last week in Russia.

"As soon as you've got rid of most of the water (with the full wet tire), you try to put the intermediate on, taking a lot of risk into account, just because it's the quicker tire," the Red Bull driver added.

"That's something we need to work on," said Vettel.

$65m Interlagos upgrade saved Brazil GP – mayor

Interlagos – in need of some upgrades.

(GMM) Brazil had to spend millions on upgrading the ageing Interlagos circuit or risk losing its place on the formula one calendar.

That is the claim of Sao Paulo mayor Fernando Haddad, after inspecting the first phase of $65 million improvements to the popular venue this week.

The biggest change ahead of next month's Brazilian grand prix, set to be the penultimate round of the 2014 world championship, is a full resurfacing of the asphalt.

But by the 2015 edition, F1 teams will be housing themselves in a completely new pit and paddock complex.

Haddad is quoted by the Spanish news agency EFE as saying a federal government program funded the improvements.

"If it were not for the (program), we would be in a very delicate and serious risk of losing this race to another city," he said.

Brazil's Globo also quoted him as saying: "It is the biggest reform since 1990 because we were at risk of losing F1 to another Latin American cities like Buenos Aires."

And Haddad was quoted as saying by Totalrace: "We were at a delicate moment because the track is loved by drivers and the teams, but there was a technological gap."

Toro Rosso hopeful Sainz 'patient' amid Vergne reports
(GMM) Carlos Sainz Jr says he is being "patient" as Red Bull decides his future in formula one.

Before Sebastian Vettel blew the 'silly season' wide open and Daniil Kvyat got the call to replace him at Red Bull Racing next year, Spanish rookie Sainz was licking his wounds at having missed out on a Toro Rosso debut for 2015.

But with Kvyat now headed to the parent team, a seat is once again available at Faenza and 20-year-old Sainz Jr, the next cream of Red Bull's junior program, is an obvious favorite.

Team boss Franz Tost and owner Dietrich Mateschitz, however, have hinted it might make sense to keep experienced Frenchman Vergne on board after all, given that the only confirmed Toro Rosso driver for 2015 is the unprecedentedly-young and inexperienced Max Verstappen.

This weekend at Jerez, it is little more than a formality for Sainz to wrap up a dominant title win in the highly-regarded Formula Renault 3.5 series.

Ahead of that finale, he was asked by Spain's El Confidencial if missing out on the 2015 Toro Rosso seat for a second time would be too disappointing to bear.

"When everybody was saying I was already sat in the Toro Rosso, I was the first to lower the expectations," said Carlos Sainz Jr, whose father is the world rally legend.

"I was telling people I am a Red Bull driver, like any of the others and with Red Bull you never know what is going to happen," he explained.

"If you think about logic, merit, numbers and results then it would be me, but we know that in formula one things do not always go this way.

"It is necessary to be patient," Sainz added, "because things can change very quickly."

Amid Alonso commotion, Raikkonen staying put
(GMM) Amid all the 'silly season' commotion surrounding Fernando Alonso, the other Ferrari driver insists he is going nowhere fast.

Newly-departed president Luca di Montezemolo confirmed the paddock's most open secret this week when he admitted the Spaniard is jumping ship.

One reason Alonso has gone on the market, Montezemolo explained, is that he is at "an age when he cannot wait to win again".

That doesn't tally with the latest comments of the newly-installed Ferrari president, Sergio Marchionne, who insists the Maranello team must "kick some ass and we've got to do it quickly".

He is quoted by Autocar: "I takes what it takes. We might screw up, but we've got nothing to lose, right? Let's risk something."

Whether that is music to the ears of Alonso's likely successor, the reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel, is debatable.

But Ferrari is confirming nothing — neither Vettel's impending arrival, or Alonso's impending exit.

"There is no news. Nothing new to report," a team spokesman is quoted by Spain's AS newspaper.

Even older than Alonso is his 34-year-old current teammate Kimi Raikkonen, who has struggled to perform this year in the F14-T car.

Unlike Alonso, however, he looks set to stay put — at least for 2015, and perhaps even longer.

"I have a contract for next year and probably for one more year," Raikkonen told CNN.

Nigel Mansell's Ferrari F40 gets auctioned
Nigel Mansell's former supercar, this impressive Ferrari F40, has recently found a new owner who had to pay approximately 690,000 EUR before taking it home.

The newest owner of a Ferrari F40 which used to belong to Nigel Mansell is an unidentified telephone bidder who paid 690,000 EUR during the Bonhams auction event, at Knokkle-Le-Zoute, Belgium.

"We've enjoyed another great sale at Zoute, achieving nearly double last year's total. Ferraris continue to excel, taking pole position as top lot, with Nigel Mansell's F40 achieving â‚¬690,000 (Â£543,375) to a telephone bidder, and a 1972 Ferrari 365GTC/4 Berlinetta selling at â‚¬287,500 (Â£226,406)", said the head of Continental European Motoring department, Philip Kantor.

The Ferrari F40 is one of the most appreciated supercars ever to have been produced. The model has been put together in Maranello, Italy, between 1987 and 1992, in just 1,315 units. It was offered in a two-door coupe body style, with a mid-engine and a rear-wheel drive layout. Power to the supercar was being provided by a 2.9 liter turbocharged V8 engine, which was capable of producing no less than 471 HP (352 kW), which was enough for a 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) sprint made in 3.8 seconds. The F40 was the first road legal production car to break the 200 mph (320 km/h) barrier.

Vladimir Putin could run Europe or America, says Bernie Ecclestone
Vladimir Putin could control Europe or America if he were not so busy, according to Formula One tycoon Bernie Ecclestone.

Bernie Ecclestone tells Sebastian Vettel, he thinks Vladimir Putin should run all of Europe.

The pair, who have been seen together at recent sporting events, often defend each other's viewpoints. But now the British billionaire has gone even further in praising Mr. Putin, 62, during an interview with Russian newspaper Vedomosti.

Mr. Ecclestone, 83, reportedly praised the Russian president – who is widely blamed for stoking the conflict in Ukraine in recent months – saying: 'He's [Putin's] a first-class person. I always supported him.

Eyes on the race: The pair sat in a box together at the Russian Grand Prix in the Olympic host city of Sochi.

'He could control Europe or America; he is able to deal with it. But I think he is very busy. Let him finish what he's doing and then we'll see.'

The Formula One boss was spotted deep in conversation with Mr. Putin in the hospitality grandstand at the Russian Grand Prix last weekend.

The two men are believed to have met several times over a deal that secured the Black Sea resort of Sochi as the venue for the event, Russia's first of its kind. Moscow is reportedly paying Â£31million a year to Formula One, thought to be the highest ever grand prix hosting fee.

It is not the first time Mr. Ecclestone's comments concerning the Russian leader have caused controversy.

With what Putin is reportedly paying to host the Russian GP, we imagine you'll keep hearing lots of nice things about the Russian about the Russian president from Bernie.

He previously spoke of his 'great admiration' for Mr. Putin and said he 'completely agrees' with his views on homosexuality – which included advising gay athletes to stay away from children at the Winter Olympics – and said they had been misrepresented.

Mr. Ecclestone previously spoke of his 'great admiration' for Mr. Putin and said he 'completely agrees' with his views on homosexuality – which included advising gay athletes to stay away from children in Sochi

'He hasn't said he doesn't agree [with homosexuality], just that he doesn't want these things publicized to an audience under the age of 18,' Mr. Ecclestone told US broadcaster CNN.

'I completely agree with those sentiments and if you took a world census you'd find 90 per cent of the world agree with it as well.'

Previously, Mr. Ecclestone has expressed sympathy for Adolf Hitler and said his friend Max Mosley, the son of British fascist leader Oswald Mosley, 'would do a super job', as prime minister, adding: 'I don't think his background would be a problem.'

Despite the controversies over the crackdown on rights in Russia, and the behavior of Russian-backed militias in the Ukraine, Mr. Putin has also retained the support of some British political figures.

Earlier this year, Scottish SNP leader Alex Salmond refused to apologize after he commended the Russian leader for 'restoring a substantial part of Russian pride' in a magazine interview.

The F1 boss said: 'He could control Europe or America; he is able to deal with it. But I think he is very busy'

Asked about whether he admired Mr. Putin, the SNP leader said: 'Certain aspects. He's restored a substantial part of Russian pride and that must be a good thing.

'There are aspects of Russian constitutionality and the intermesh with business and politics that are obviously difficult to admire. Russians are fantastic people, incidentally, they are lovely people.'

While in March, Ukip leader Nigel Farage controversially said he respected Mr. Putin more than the 'kids' who run Britain.

The Ukip leader said he did not like or trust Putin, or want to live in Russia, but claimed he was doing a better job on foreign policy than David Cameron and the foreign secretary, William Hague.

At the time, Deputy PM Nick Clegg condemned support for the Russian president as 'utterly grotesque'.

McLaren plans 'major' late-season upgrade
McLaren is planning to introduce another "major upgrade" package before the end of the season.

Having applied a raft of updates in Singapore, McLaren scored more points than all teams bar Mercedes and Red Bull at the following Japanese and Russian rounds, reclaiming fifth position from Force India in the process.

McLaren's Racing Director, Eric Boullier, says that rather than a final push to further improve the outfit's overall classification, developments over the remaining three races will be geared towards the 2015 campaign.

"We have another major upgrade coming before the end of the season," explained Boullier during a McLaren-Mercedes phone-in. "It is not designed to bring an advantage for the double points [season finale in Abu Dhabi], it is more about building the foundations for the future. 100 per cent is applicable to next year's car."

Boullier agrees that reeling in Ferrari – 45 points clear – remains feasible, but says it is not a specific target.

"If the performance on our car is good and we can deliver some strong races like in Russia we will see if we can take back another championship position. I would be delighted to," Boullier added. "[But] I don't think we have a clear target this year other than rebuilding the team and getting ready to fight back as soon as possible."

Ricciardo to demo Formula 1 car in Austin

Daniel Ricciardo will drive in a promotional event for the United States Grand Prix. Rumor has it, he smiles occasionally, as well.

Daniel Ricciardo will give a Formula 1 demonstration in Austin ahead of the United States Grand Prix.

The Red Bull driver will get behind the wheel of the RB7, used by Sebastian Vettel en route to the 2011 world title, for a series of runs up and down Congress Avenue, in the downtown area of the city, on October 29.

Vettel is also set to make an appearance in the Infiniti Q50 Eau Rouge, which the German helped to develop.

Formula 1 visits the Circuit of The Americas for the third time this year, from October 31 to November 2.

Adderly Fong and Roy Nissany will test a Sauber C31
On the 22nd and 23rd October, Adderly Fong and Roy Nissany will test a two year old Sauber C31 on the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia.

Fong and Nissany will drive the Sauber C31 next week at Valencia.

Adderly Fong will be driving during the first day of testing on Wednesday. The 24-year-old Chinese driver has competed in several single seater championships in Asia and Europe. This year he has focused on the Audi R8 LMS Cup, an Asia-based sprint race series. "I am very pleased I am going to test a Sauber C31 in Valencia. It will be my first time driving a Formula 1 car with this high a power to weight ratio, and I am looking forward to it," stated Fong.

Roy Nissany takes over the car on Thursday. The 19-year-old Israeli, who also holds a French passport, is currently competing in his second season in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship. Over the last five years, Roy has competed in single seaters in Europe. "I am delighted to have the chance to test the Sauber C31, and I will put lots of efforts into it to do a good job," said the young Israeli.