Latest F1 news in brief – Tuesday (Update)
07/29/14
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Rosberg's slower teammate Hamilton, cost him win in Hungary Cool Rosberg admits Hamilton cost him Hungary win
- 'Hired to race' not obey team orders – Hamilton
- Wolff denies Mercedes will punish Hamilton
- F1 to 'look at rules' to stop 'negativity' – Ecclestone
- Villeneuve makes comments 'for the headlines'
- Horner lauds 'truly sensational' Ricciardo New
- Hamilton: I will come back stronger after break New
Cool Rosberg admits Hamilton cost him Hungary win
(GMM) Mercedes chiefs are heading into the month-long summer break scratching their heads at how to deal with an escalating driver battle.
Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo may have won in Hungary, but Toto Wolff admits that it was Nico Rosberg who probably should have held the biggest trophy aloft — if only Lewis Hamilton had obeyed a clear and repeated team order.
German media sources report that even though German Rosberg is determined to play cool, calm and controversy-free, he 'poked his tongue out' at the outcome of Sunday's race by uncharacteristically wearing his cap backwards in his post-race meeting with reporters.
He was asked if Wolff is right to say the defiant Hamilton spoiled his victory in Budapest.
"That's so theoretical. I don't know," said Rosberg, before changing his mind.
"Ah, no, no — let's go with what Toto said. He's looked at all the data — let's go with his opinion. He's the best person to know that."
It's as close as the controversy-dodging Rosberg will come to accusing Hamilton of ruining his race.
But he did admit that he thinks Hamilton should have obeyed the order.
"Lewis didn't let me by although he was ordered to," said Rosberg, "so that's obviously not good."
Beyond that, he closed the door on the topic.
"I'm sorry," he said. "I don't want to say anything on the subject. I don't know what Lewis said.
"You all saw what happened," Rosberg added. "It's pretty obvious, it was all on the radio, but it's better if we discuss everything behind closed doors."
'Hired to race' not obey team orders – Hamilton
(GMM) Lewis Hamilton has hit back at suggestions he was wrong to ignore team orders during Sunday's Hungarian grand prix.
Niki Lauda, who after Hamilton's qualifying fire had cheered the Briton up over pizza, insisting with typical clarity that the driver was "right" and the German team "wrong".
"Lewis ignored it because he remembered before the season that we said they could fight freely against each other.
"That's why he did the right thing," the great Austrian told Bild newspaper.
Not everyone is as convinced.
The headline in the major German daily Welt claims Mercedes is the victim of "Hamilton's ego-show".
"With his disobedience, Hamilton weakened the authority of the team leadership and provoked his teammate Nico Rosberg, for a comparatively low reward."
But according to Hamilton, that's not the point. On Monday, he insisted he is "hired to race".
"It is not questioning authority," the 2008 world champion explained. "I am hired to be me, and race my heart out."
Team boss Toto Wolff and Rosberg agreed after the race that Hamilton's defiance had cost Mercedes a race win.
Again, Hamilton doesn't see it that way.
"I did not cost Nico a win," he insisted. "I was racing against him! Why would I be concerned for him?
"I don't think I was being ruthless. I was not even being bloody minded. I was doing my job. I tried my hardest to be ahead and I don't feel as though I was obligated to help."
John Watson, a former F1 driver turned commentator, thinks the problem is home grown.
"Is Toto Wolff more interested in projecting himself?" he wondered. "Does he really have the authority?" the former McLaren driver told the Daily Mail.
"Paddy Lowe is a fantastic guy, but he is not the person to deal with this. Lauda is a very clever man, but I don't know what authority he has.
"If there was one person who could kick ass in that team, it is the person that they let go, Ross (Brawn)," said Watson.
Wolff denies Mercedes will punish Hamilton
(GMM) Toto Wolff has dismissed suggestions Mercedes will sanction Lewis Hamilton for ignoring team orders in Hungary.
Although it was potentially explosive, the German team closed ranks after the incident but rumors persisted that the 2008 world champion will be punished behind closed doors.
"Something like that will not happen," boss Wolff is quoted by Der Spiegel.
"We are all adults — we just have to do a better job next time."
Indeed, Mercedes is admitting its own culpability after repeatedly asking Hamilton to slow down to let Nico Rosberg – on a different strategy – pass him.
The typically non-controversial Rosberg has quietly admitted he thinks Hamilton's defiance cost him the win, but otherwise he is playing a cool hand as usual.
"I will not respond just because you want me to," he told German reporters. "It's not my style to respond. The title race will remain intense until the end, but I'm looking forward to it."
Mercedes team chairman Niki Lauda backed Hamilton after the race, while Wolff admitted that Mercedes may have to rethink its approach to team orders in light of the intensifying battle.
Red Bull boss Christian Horner, whose Daniel Ricciardo won in Hungary, also thinks Hamilton was right to ignore the order.
"You can understand Lewis," he said. "He's fighting Nico. If he lets him run his fastest strategy, it puts him under pressure.
"It's entirely understandable from Lewis' point of view to say 'not today thanks'."
In the calm of Monday, Wolff basically agreed.
"When two teammates become the main rivals for the championship," he said, "it is clear that every decision taken by the drivers and the team is affected by a climate of very heavy emotion.
"Many decisions in Budapest were made under pressure," Wolff is quoted by Italy's Autosprint, "with little time to evaluate them thoroughly.
"It is now evident that we are in a situation where we cannot ask one of our drivers to damage himself for the interest of the team.
"The message to Hamilton was probably wrong, but it was a very difficult time to determine what was right and what was wrong."
F1 to 'look at rules' to stop 'negativity' – Ecclestone
(GMM) Bernie Ecclestone thinks formula one needs to act now to prevent a downward trend of unpopularity.
Before qualifying in Hungary, amid a climate of paddock doom about dwindling spectator and television numbers, the F1 chief executive met with team bosses.
Afterwards, it emerged that Ecclestone would revive the F1 career of Flavio Briatore in the wake of his 'crash-gate' ban by appointing him the head of a new 'popularity working group'.
When asked about the flamboyant yet divisive Italian figure, Ecclestone is quoted by Italy's Tuttosport: "We'll see. We'll see what we can do."
Ecclestone is following up the Hungarian meeting with another meeting involving the governing FIA this Thursday, after Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo urged the need for a crisis 'summit'.
Confirming that team boss Marco Mattiacci will be there, Maranello based Ferrari confirmed on Monday that the meeting is to "look at the general situation of formula one and how to increase the sport's appeal".
Ecclestone added: "We simply want to see if there is the possibility to look at the rules, because there has been so much negativity.
"We need to have a look at all of this and clear some things up," he added.
Villeneuve makes comments 'for the headlines'
(GMM) Jacques Villeneuve makes comments designed deliberately to trigger sensational headlines.
That is the claim of Oskari Saari, a commentator for the Finnish broadcaster MTV3 who says he knows the 1997 world champion well.
"Jacques is a great guy," he said. "I always like to see him because I like to argue with him! He is always in a happy and positive mood when I see him."
Former Williams and Honda driver Villeneuve is now a regular television pundit for Sky Italia, but he also makes regular print headlines with his biting observations.
Recently, he added fuel to the silly-season by suggesting Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel are on the move, and after Hungary accused Nico Rosberg of trying to "destroy Lewis' race".
MTV3's Saari thinks he has figured Villeneuve out.
"Last season he criticized Valtteri Bottas heavily," he said, referring to the young Finn who in a competitive Williams has emerged in 2014 as a true star.
"Last weekend I asked Villeneuve about that and he admitted that this year is going a little more smoothly for Bottas than last year!
"I have the feeling that Villeneuve throws these things out there just for fun, just for the color of the stories and for the headlines," Saari charged.
Horner lauds 'truly sensational' Ricciardo
Christian Horner has heaped praise on Hungarian Grand Prix winner Daniel Ricciardo for delivering a "truly sensational" performance.
The Red Bull driver jumped up the order during the first Safety Car period of Sunday's race, when the top four missed the chance to pit immediately, and made his tire strategy work to remain a member of the leading pack.
He ultimately came out on top in a close battle with Ferrari's Fernando Alonso and Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton after a pair of bold passes.
"Daniel was truly sensational," said Red Bull team boss Horner.
"Starting in wet conditions, he benefitted from being a little bit further back and getting in for slick tires at the first Safety Car and then managed to make his strategy work on the Soft tires through the next stages of the race.
"We knew we'd have to make a final stop, which would put us behind Alonso and Hamilton who were trying to get to the end. But he closed the gap down quickly and then, with some fantastic overtaking maneuvers in the last five laps, pulled off a dramatic victory to achieve the second in his career and our second of the season."
Horner also praised Sebastian Vettel for limiting the damage of an eventful afternoon in seventh position.
The German was one of the four drivers to get caught out by the first Safety Car period and, while doing his best to keep Hamilton at bay later in the race, narrowly avoided retirement with a wild spin at the final corner.
"After a good start and some good battles, Sebastian got the call at the same time as Daniel to pit after the Caterham had an accident, but was too far round the last corner to make it into the pit lane," said Horner.
"He was making progress but then had the spin at the final corner and managed to avoid the pit wall, but he flat spotted his tires and then had a problem at the restart. It was then a question of damage limitation, trying to run the Hard tires to the end of the race and he did a phenomenal job to keep [Valtteri] Bottas behind him."
Heading into the summer break, Red Bull holds second in the standings, 174 points behind Mercedes.
Hamilton: I will come back stronger after break
Lewis Hamilton says he will use Formula 1's summer break to "re-energise" himself and get even "fitter" and he is confident he will be able to come back that bit "stronger" for the final eight races of the season.
Hamilton looked to have regained the momentum after his win in front of his home fans at the British Grand Prix, but subsequent problems outside of his control in qualifying in Germany and Hungary – with a brake disc failure and a fuel leak respectively – left him with it all to do.
Furthermore despite fighting back to third in both races, and despite beating team-mate and championship rival, Nico Rosberg in Budapest on Sunday, he remains behind in the title race, with eleven points separating them.
Speaking after round eleven, Hamilton added that he thinks he has shown now though that he has the mental strength to cope with adversity.
"I think it has been a very challenging and trying and testing last two weeks," Hamilton told Sky Sports F1. "And to be able to still keep myself together – I saw some of the stories written, which said I was going to crack under pressure or something like that – this hopefully shows that I am not.
"I am still in the fight and I am still raring to go. So this break will be good to re-energise, get fit; I'm very light but the car is lighter, so I can put a little bit of weight on over this break.
"But it will be muscle not fat and hopefully [I'll] come back stronger, physically and mentally."
Hamilton conceded, however, that technical issues could well decide who is crowned Champion this year.
"Ultimately it [reliability] is a concern because I have stopped more than him [Rosberg]," he added. "But there is still quite a few races to go and it will be telling, dependent on how…
"Obviously I've got the pace, got the ability, [it is] just really whether or not the car holds up."