Latest F1 news in brief

Rosberg upon hearing of the reprimand, 'are they kidding me'?

Silverstone likes the sound of 'new' F1
Doctors 'cautious' after Schumacher awakening news
Webber tips Red Bull to win Monaco
Rosberg nursing injured toe in Bahrain
F1 must accent positives of new era, says Symonds
USGP Generates $376.1 Million In Exposure
Kimi Raikkonen still not happy with car
Pirelli questions 2015 tire warmer ban
Nico Rosberg gets FIA reprimand after F1 practice

Silverstone likes the sound of 'new' F1
(GMM) Organizers of the British grand prix have counted themselves out of the controversy surrounding the milder sound of F1's new V6 engines.

While Melbourne's Ron Walker and F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone have been making a lot of noise about the sport's new quieter sound, the president of Silverstone's circuit-owning club BRDC thinks the old V8s were in fact "too noisy".

"I think they were ear-bleeding," former F1 driver Derek Warwick, also serving as a steward this weekend in Bahrain, told Reuters.

"We've just got to re-adjust our volume."

Also in Bahrain this weekend is Richard Phillips, Silverstone's managing director, who thinks fans are actually "intrigued" by the controversial 'new' F1.

"From what we have discovered, the fans are really intrigued as to the sights and sounds of this new formula one," he is quoted by the Times newspaper.

"Yes, the engines are quieter but we do not feel it will have any impact on our event," Phillips added.

Elsewhere, the public attitudes being expressed by the likes of Walker, Ecclestone, Red Bull's Dietrich Mateschitz and Ferrari's Luca di Montezemolo would make it appear that the new rules have thrown F1 into crisis.

Pat Symonds, Williams' technical boss, warns against all the negativity.

"I think many people from the UK will remember a guy called Ratner who basically killed his business by negative comments on it," he said on Friday.

Symonds is referring to Gerald Ratner, who in 1991 destroyed his jewelry business when in a speech he referred to his company's products as "crap".

Now, it is not surprising FIA president Jean Todt is in Bahrain, where one of his tasks will be to meet personally with world champion Sebastian Vettel, who said the sound his sport is making in 2014 is "shit".

Warwick said: "I've been in this sport now for 50 years, I love my sport and I will never talk it down."

Doctors 'cautious' after Schumacher awakening news
(GMM) A wave of relief spread through the Bahrain paddock on Friday, as news broke that F1 legend Michael Schumacher has shown "moments of consciousness" this week after months in a coma.

The brief statement made by the great German's manager Sabine Kehm, however, refused to divulge the "details" of the development out of respect for the family and to protect the medical team's "calmness".

Respected doctors, however, were quick to add some of their insights to the news.

Dr Alain Simon, the medical consultant for the French sports daily L'Equipe, says the latest Schumacher statement is "difficult to interpret".

"It could mean he opens and closes his eyes when he is asked," he said.

"People who are in this phase are not speaking and it could be months like this," Simon explained, "but perhaps these moments are a sign of hope."

Simon said the development in Schumacher's condition could actually be very timely.

"In a head trauma with loss of consciousness," he said, "beyond three months is a long-term coma with consequences. With less than three months there may be no consequences."

Alain Ducardonnet, the medical consultant for France's BFMTV, agrees that the statement issued by the Schumacher camp on Friday is "good news".

"Previously there had been nothing in particular," he said. "It was attempted to wake him but obviously he did not.

"But 'moments of consciousness and awakening' can mean everything and it can mean nothing. These are generic words.

"Perhaps he is responding to simple commands: open your eyes, move your hand, perhaps the skin was clamped to see if he feels pain.

"These are the first things we do when we assess consciousness," Dr Ducardonnet added.

Yet another doctor, the French neurosurgeon Philippe Decq, warned: "We must be extremely cautious.

"Signs of awakening is probably the observation of eye movements, followed by eye-contact. This is encouraging and I am happy to hear that but we must be extremely careful.

"The lesions are obviously extremely serious. Anything can happen," Dr Decq warned. "You are never unscathed after a trauma of this severity."

Schumacher's former manager Willi Weber, however, spoke for the world of F1 when he said on Friday: "Thank god. For me, that's the best news of the year."

Bild newspaper reported that Schumacher has been moved within the Grenoble hospital to an intensive care area for patients requiring less constant supervision.

Webber tips Red Bull to win Monaco
(GMM) Mark Webber has tipped Red Bull to win next month's Monaco grand prix.

The Australian, who retired from formula one in 2013 after a seven-year stint with the reigning world champions, acknowledged that for now, dominant Mercedes will continue to lead the way at grands prix.

But Webber warned: "They (Red Bull) will get back to Mercedes' level.

"They need some time, but it's normal," he told the Austrian newspaper Salzburger Nachrichten. "You can't win for 15 years in a row.

"Everyone's saying they're not strong because they're finishing second or third, and Red Bull did do a lot of winning (in the past) but I'm sure they will win again this year.

"Whether they win enough to win the championship, we will have to see how strong Mercedes is to get too many points in the first part of the season," added Webber.

After wins in Melbourne and Malaysia, Mercedes' advantage appears even greater in Bahrain for round three, but Webber suggested that is because of the German marque's power advantage on long straights.

"Mercedes will continue to dominate the next races," he is quoted by Speed Week, "but Red Bull will win in Monaco."

Rosberg nursing injured toe in Bahrain
(GMM) Pain may be holding championship leader Nico Rosberg back this weekend in Bahrain.

Although clearly ahead of the rest of the field, Mercedes' German driver seemed a few tenths off teammate Lewis Hamilton's pace in Friday practice.

The German publications Bild and Sport Bild might have discovered the reason.

In the Bahrain paddock, correspondents Bianca Garloff, Ralf Bach and Nicola Pohl noticed that when wearing casual clothes, Rosberg is sliding his left foot only partially into his shoe.

"I hurt my toe while jogging on the beach," he told Bild. Sport Bild reports that the injury was sustained last week, when the 28-year-old was holidaying in Dubai.

Rosberg confirmed that he brakes with his left foot but played down the impact of the injury on his driving.

F1 must accent positives of new era, says Symonds
Formula One needs to focus on the positives of its new turbo era rather than talking itself down, Williams technical head Pat Symonds said on Friday.

Speaking ahead of Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix, Symonds warned that criticism of the rule changes from within the sport risked a backlash similar to that faced by British jeweler Gerald Ratner in 1991.

Ratner wiped 500 million pounds ($829.50 million) off his firm's value with a speech to business leaders that mocked both his merchandise and customers' taste.

In one of the great corporate blunders, he boasted his company's earrings were cheaper than a prawn sandwich "but probably wouldn't last as long" and called a cheap set of decanters and glasses "total crap".

Symonds said Formula One should not follow that path.

"We are in a good place and as a business we should focus on the positives," he told a news conference after Friday practice.

"I think many people in the UK will remember a guy called Ratner who basically killed his business by negative comments on it. We should be positive. We've done something good and we should tell the world about it."

Formula One ditched the old 2.4 liter V8 engines at the end of last season and replaced them with a new 1.6 liter V6 turbo power unit with systems harnessing exhaust gases and kinetic energy from the brakes.

The result has been much quieter cars that must now complete races with 30 percent less fuel in a bid to become more environmentally friendly and road relevant.

Critics, such as Ferrari president Luca Di Montezemolo and Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone, have condemned the new sound and the formula that puts an emphasis on fuel economy rather than outright speed.

Montezemolo is due in Bahrain for talks with Ecclestone and Jean Todt, head of the governing International Automobile Federation (FIA), on the new regulations and possible tweaks.

Symonds, a former Benetton and Renault technical director, said the new technology was impressive and necessary.

"The road car industry, rightly or wrongly, has to hit CO2 per km targets…and they will have to employ technology such as we are using in Formula One. So we are moving forwards, we are more relevant than we used to be.

"There was a great danger that we would become irrelevant, that we would become the focus of gas-guzzling and not having social responsibility. I think it was really important that we did move away from that," added the Briton.

"The thing Formula One needs to really face up to at the moment is costs. It's costs that are going to kill Formula One," he said.

Mercedes executive director Paddy Lowe, whose team are currently dominant, agreed.

"I was very interested in Pat's Ratner comment because we've seen a little bit of that going on and I don't understand it," he told reporters.

"I think there are so many positives around this formula. For an engine to deliver similar power to last year with more than 30 percent less fuel consumption is just an incredible achievement. And it's something we should celebrate.

"There's good stories around…and I think we should be talking more about that."

Red Bull technical head Adrian Newey, whose team are on the back foot after winning the last four championships, was unconvinced however.

"Efficiency, strategy and economy of driving is very well-placed for sportscars. Formula One should be about excitement, about man and machine performing at its maximum every single lap," said the designer.

"I guess ultimately the spectators and television viewers are going to vote with their feet. What we waste words saying in here won't make much difference."

USGP Generates $376.1 Million In Exposure
Research by F-1 industry monitor Formulamoney shows that the Formula One U.S. Grand Prix has generated exposure worth $376.1 million for Austin over the first two years of its contract.

The race at Circuit of The Americas maintained its place as one of the most high-profile Grands Prix on the calendar in 2013 with its second event generating global media coverage for Austin worth $185.1 million. This builds on a successful first event, which generated $191.2 million worth of coverage for Austin, giving an average of $188.1 million per year.

Even though media interest is generally much higher in a race’s debut season, Austin experienced only a 3.2-percentdrop in the value of exposure due to the race remaining one of the most popular on the calendar among media and fans.

The race drew the third-highest Sunday attendance of the season, with an impressive total 113,162 fans visiting Circuit of The Americas. This was more than the attendance for the Monaco, German and Bahrain Grands Prix combined. The USGP’s three-day attendance of 250,324 fans put it fourth behind only Britain, Singapore and Canada.

The event was also a big success for F-1’s teams as it drew significant exposure for their sponsors. The 161 brands displayed on cars and trackside hoardings during the 2013 race gained exposure which would have been worth $140.6 million if it had been purchased as traditional TV advertising slots.

This total ranks the United States Grand Prix as the sixth best race last season in terms of brand exposure, well above the race average of $124.9 million. This is despite fan interest dropping later in the season due to the early conclusion to the championship when Sebastian Vettel took the crown at the Indian Grand Prix, two races prior to Austin.

The best-exposed brand of the race was F-1 global partner, Rolex, which benefited from the prime location of its trackside hoardings on the start-finish straight. This resulted in total exposure for the watchmaker worth $23.8 million.
World champion Sebastian Vettel of Infiniti Red Bull Racing handily won last year’s USGP race at Circuit of The Americas.

Thanks to Vettel’s dominant victory, Red Bull was the second best exposed brand of the race with coverage worth $19.1 million, followed by Red Bull Racing title sponsor Infiniti on $9.6 million. The top five brands were rounded out by Lotus ($8.9 million) and Mercedes title partner Petronas ($8.5 million).

Kimi Raikkonen still not happy with car
Kimi Raikkonen is still not comfortable with his Ferrari after Friday's practice sessions at the Bahrain Grand Prix after suffering with a couple of issues on his car in FP1.

After two tricky opening races this year, Raikkonen ended the second session in Bahrain 14th fastest and over a second off team-mate Fernando Alonso.

"Overall, this was a difficult day, because I didn't feel comfortable with the car in either session," he said. "In the first one, I damaged the floor on the curb at turn 4 and this meant I had to pit. The team did a super job, because they got me back out on track in a short time, but then, because of a problem with the brakes, I was unable to complete the program.

"In the second session we concentrated on looking at the two Pirelli compounds and with the Soft it was definitely better than the Medium. Now we will get down to analyzing all today's data, especially regarding the immediate change in the track from day to night and we will try and improve for qualifying and the race."

Pirelli questions 2015 tire warmer ban
Formula 1 tire supplier Pirelli is doubtful whether next year's planned tire warmer ban will be feasible.

The Italian manufacturer is to begin testing development tires at the upcoming post-race test in Bahrain, as it attempts to get an idea of what changes will be required for the complete ban on heating devices.

But Pirelli Motorsport Director, Paul Hembery, says there are safety concerns over finding a solution with the current dimension of Formula 1 tires, describing it as the brand's "biggest issue" ahead of the 2015 season.

"Working with no tire blankets is a very big problem," Hembery commented. "It is not an issue with the compounds, it is more to do with stopping a tire becoming a balloon, and becoming undriveable or dangerous.

"At the moment, I have to say it looks very difficult to achieve for next season staying with the current tire sizes."

Hembery added that, if tire sizes are changed, a ban on tire blankets would be realistic, but even with the increased levels of testing this year, he is not sure that a safe product can be produced for 2015.

"Everything is possible given time," Hembery went on to explain. "The number of parameters involved are so important and so intrinsic to the inherent safety of the sport that it is not something that you can do lightly.

"While we do have an improved situation with regards to testing, it is debatable about whether or not that is acceptable or sufficient to allow us to arrive at a solution that is robust enough for Formula 1."

Nico Rosberg gets FIA reprimand after F1 practice
The FIA has reprimanded Nico Rosberg for impeding Sergio Perez during the second Formula 1 free practice session for the Bahrain Grand Prix on Friday.

Perez's Force India swerved violently around Rosberg's Mercedes when the championship leader slowed suddenly early on in the session.

The governing body has given Rosberg his first reprimand of the season for slowing "unnecessarily and recklessly in front of car 11 between Turns 13 and 14", according to an official statement.