Latest F1 news in brief

Is Rosberg playing with Hamilton's head?

Monaco mind games 'good for Rosberg' – Massa
Jordan tells friend Sauber to sell F1 team
Mercedes' Lauda also made Newey offer – Marko
Verstappen says F1 world 'talking about' son Max
Webber-like luck 'can't go on' – Vettel
Haas Formula is leaning towards Ferrari

Monaco mind games 'good for Rosberg' – Massa
(GMM) Monaco was a victory for Nico Rosberg not only on the track, but also in the mind.

That is the view of Felipe Massa, who in 2008 only just lost the battle to Hamilton when the Briton won his sole title.

"He's a guy who needs to be perfect on the psychological side," Brazilian Massa is quoted by Totalrace, "otherwise there is the chance of him making mistakes.

"He lost in 2007 because he lost the car in China, also in Brazil. It was his mistakes," the former Ferrari driver explained.

So Massa thinks Hamilton's reaction to the events in Monaco, where he missed the chance at pole position due to Rosberg's controversial mistake, is a big victory for the German.

"If Rosberg did that on purpose then that is not something that is part of my mentality," said Massa.

"But without a doubt it is something that could hurt Hamilton on the psychological side and end up being good for Rosberg."

However, Hamilton's previous F1 teammate, Jenson Button, doubts Rosberg will get the mental upper hand that easily.

He recalls beating the sister McLaren in the past, prompting Hamilton to be "quite outspoken and emotional" immediately afterwards.

"And the next race he would destroy me," Button said. "He would arrive at the next race very quiet and then go and blitz it. He will do the same in Canada.

"The mind games people play on him will not work."

Qualifying aside, there were plenty of 'mind games' at play in Monaco.

Hamilton made his foul mood with Rosberg clear by complaining about the noise outside his quarters by the German's kicking of a football with his trainer Daniel.

And the 2008 world champion initially refused to appear for the post-race Mercedes victory photo, until it was reportedly made clear to him that his snub was also against the waiting Daimler chairman Dieter Zetsche.

"Perhaps he was in the toilet," joked Sport Bild correspondent Bianca Garloff, referring to Hamilton's excuse for not attending a post-qualifying team briefing.

And Hamilton also did not attend Thursday's pre-practice briefing, telling reporters he "overslept".

Rosberg is also guilty, reportedly not inviting Hamilton to his forthcoming wedding, and after the Spanish grand prix reacting furiously when it emerged that Hamilton had won by using a forbidden engine setting.

"On the Sunday in Barcelona we had some emotions from the other side; Nico felt aggrieved by what had happened, which is understandable," said team boss Toto Wolff.

It is understood that Hamilton and Rosberg have been told, and will be told again, that if their rivalry spins out of control, Mercedes may have to resort to 'team orders'.

The big 'no-no' is a crash.

"And the one who is to blame will have big trouble from the top management of Mercedes," team chairman Niki Lauda told Germany's Bild newspaper.

"We must be careful that it doesn't get out of control."

But in the wake of the Monaco trouble, the driver duo insists they remain in control.

"I am sure when we turn up in the next place (Canada) we will be as professional as ever," said Hamilton.

And Rosberg added: "There is a psychological battle now, but there always has been since we were 13.

"His attitude over the weekend did not surprise me. It is hard to be amazed by someone you've known for that long. We had some very difficult times in karting and things always calmed down and we moved forward."

Jordan tells friend Sauber to sell F1 team
(GMM) Eddie Jordan has urged Peter Sauber to follow him into F1 retirement.

Actually, having sold his Silverstone based team back in 2005 that today is called Force India, Irishman Jordan is now an outspoken expert pundit for British television.

But selling up, he told the Swiss newspaper Blick, "was the best decision of my career. Since then I have enjoyed every day of my life."

Earlier, the veteran Blick correspondent Roger Benoit described Sauber's 2014 predicament as "embarrassing", after the backmarker Marussia in Monaco moved ahead in the constructors' world championship.

"We talked in Monaco for a long time about Sauber," Benoit said, recounting his conversation with the 66-year-old Jordan.

Jordan said: "Sauber are in the biggest crisis they've ever been in, but I've always rooted for him. Because he (Peter Sauber) is the most honest guy in the paddock.

"I can't say the same thing about me!" he laughed.

"But it's obvious that they've reached the point where it can't go on like this. Before the damage is even greater, the best solution would be to stop and sell the team.

"I don't say this lightly, but Sauber can no longer compensate for their disadvantages on the financial side, and also on the engine side as well," Jordan added.

Already reportedly up for sale is the Caterham team, and in Monaco it was said that an obvious potential buyer was the former Benetton and Renault chief Flavio Briatore.

But the flamboyant Italian told the news agency PA Sport that he would rather hang on to his millions.

"What you are sure of is the team is losing money, and I'm not interested in buying any team that loses money," said Briatore.

Caterham's current team owner, Tony Fernandes, is yet to respond to multiple media enquiries about the situation, after his London football club Queens Park Rangers earned promotion to the premier league.

"Am so behind on tweets and emails and sms," he wrote on Twitter. "Got thousands of congratulations. Apologizes for delay."

Mercedes' Lauda also made Newey offer – Marko
(GMM) Ferrari is reportedly not the only team prepared to pay big money to lure Adrian Newey from Red Bull.

In Monaco, Ferrari team boss Marco Mattiacci denied reports he had offered Newey dozens of millions of dollars if the highly-respected engineer moved to Maranello.

But the rumors were strong enough that Red Bull issued a media statement quoting Newey as saying: "I remain committed to Red Bull for the foreseeable future."

The fact Red Bull did not single out Ferrari's reported interest in the statement could be because it was not the 55-year-old's only offer.

Dr Helmut Marko is quoted by Kleine Zeitung newspaper as revealing that some rival teams are offering to pay "about double" in order to attract Red Bull staff.

"And we pay our people quite decently," he said.

Newey is the obvious main target. Marko told the newspaper that the Briton received an offer from the mouth of Mercedes team chairman Niki Lauda.

And the Kleine Zeitung report added: "Marko said Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo went to Barcelona two weeks earlier to present his offer (to Newey)."

Marko said: "Newey has decided to stay with us at Red Bull until further notice."

Verstappen says F1 world 'talking about' son Max
(GMM) Jos Verstappen was in the Monaco paddock.

The 42-year-old Dutchman was a highly popular formula one driver for multiple teams until 2003, including Benetton and Minardi.

In 1998 he replaced Jan Magnussen at Stewart. This year, Dane Magnussen's son Kevin made his F1 debut for the top team McLaren.

Now Verstappen is hoping his own son is close to making the leap.

De Telegraaf newspaper reports that the reason for Jos Verstappen's Monte Carlo paddock visit was to talk to his F1 contacts about his son, 16-year-old Max.

Last year, Verstappen Jr made the step from karts to cars, and in 2014 he is racing in the FIA's highly-regarded European F3 championship.

Verstappen has already secured his first pole and win, and so his well-known father was keen to spread the word among the decision-makers in the world of F1.

"It's nice to see that there is plenty of interest in Max," Jos is quoted as saying afterwards.

"His performances have not gone unnoticed, people are talking about him, and that's always a good sign," he added of Verstappen Jr, whose mother Sophie Kumpen was a successful kart driver.

Toro Rosso rookie Daniil Kvyat raced in the European F3 series last year, and on the grid this year is Lucas Auer, the nephew of F1 legend Gerhard Berger.

Webber-like luck 'can't go on' – Vettel
(GMM) After four consecutive world championships, Sebastian Vettel's fall from grace has been swift in 2014.

Although a chassis change after China appeared to have worked for the German, Vettel's troubles returned with a vengeance in Monaco, where poor reliability spoiled not only his qualifying, but also the race.

"A turbo engine with no boost is not a turbo engine," he joked to the German media.

Monaco was actually Vettel's 100th grand prix for Red Bull, and the last nine of 2013 he won on the trot.

But after Sunday's race, he couldn't wait to get out of the Principality.

"How do I get out of here?" he asked reporters, reaching hard for his customary humor. "I don't have a boat!"

But not much earlier, his in-race frustration on the radio was obvious. "Come on guys," he pleaded to the pitwall. "I mean, you've trying everything."

At the very same time, team newcomer Daniel Ricciardo is sweeping up the plaudits and making Vettel look like Red Bull's 'number 2'.

"Every champion goes through a phase like this at some point," former F1 driver turned commentator Martin Brundle is quoted by Germany's Die Welt.

"It seems as though he has inherited Mark Webber's car," the Briton added, referring to the fact that, in the past, it was usually Vettel's teammate with the lion's share of problems.

Vettel agreed: "It's always something different going wrong, but it can't go on forever."

Mercedes team chairman Niki Lauda admitted he feels for the beleaguered champion.

"This can happen when a team is trying so hard to come back, but unfortunately it's always happening to Sebastian.

"When things go wrong, they go wrong," the triple world champion told RTL television.

The German news agency DPA quoted Vettel as saying: "Sh*t happens. We move on."

Haas Formula is leaning towards Ferrari
Gene Haas is edging closer to announcing a technical partner for Haas Formula and it’s apparent that Ferrari is his top choice.

"We haven’t exactly signed a formal contract but we’re pretty close," Haas told Motorsport.com prior to Sunday’s Indianapolis 500. “We’re leaning towards Ferrari. They’re more open to what we need to do.

"It’s not that Mercedes isn’t right for us, it’s just that we need more help than Mercedes would want to do at this time."

"They all can do it, they all want to do it, they’re all very interested in helping us," Haas said about chassis builder Dallara. "I think they’re looking at it as a good long-time partnership but it just comes down to you have to order things and it takes time to order things and get things scheduled. It just seems that it’s taking longer to accomplish what we wanted to do than we thought.
"
So, it’s taken a couple of weeks but in another week then we’ll definitely know."

"It’s already June so it’s just seven months away and the timing issues are starting to get real crazy," Haas said. “We have a list of names, but the problem is a lot of times they’re already working for somebody and they can’t get out of their contracts for three to six months so there’s a lot of those contractual issues that have to be resolved before someone can come over.

"Maybe that’s why they thought we were going to buy a team, because if you buy a team you get a lot of that in place. But for us, buying a team causes a lot of other problems because then you’re geographically bound to where that team is – and we really want that team to be based in Kannapolis."