Latest F1 news in brief

Ecclestone's expression when he heard the sound of the 2014 F1 cars. He knew it was the day F1 died.

Ecclestone to push for louder F1 engines
Hamilton still on track to beat teammate – Lauda
Ricciardo hopes to win back Melbourne podium
Boullier denies Dennis already interfering
Sauber patient amid slow-moving Russian deal
Ferrari and Merc backing the FIA
Magnussen urged to stay grounded
Allison: Our competitiveness was not acceptable

Ecclestone to push for louder F1 engines
(GMM) Bernie Ecclestone has vowed to get to work on making formula one loud again.

The F1 chief executive said he is "horrified" by the purring tones of the new turbo V6 era, arguing it will drive race promoters and spectators away.

Ecclestone was critical of the new engine formula long before the first 1.6 liter 'power unit' was fired up, but his latest comments follow Melbourne race organizers' claim the low volume may even be a breach of contract.

"It's not what we paid for. It's going to change," Australian Grand Prix chairman Ron Walker told Melbourne's Age newspaper.

Walker said he has spoken to his friend Ecclestone already, while Ecclestone admitted he has been on the phone to FIA president Jean Todt.

"What I've said is that we need to see whether there is some way of making them sound like racing cars," the 83-year-old Briton told the Telegraph.

"I don't know whether it's possible but we should investigate.

"I think let's get the first few races out of the way and then maybe look to do something. We can't wait all season. It could be too late by then," said Ecclestone.

Hamilton still on track to beat teammate – Lauda
(GMM) Lewis Hamilton is still in the hunt for the world championship despite failing even to finish in Australia.

That is the view of Mercedes team chairman Niki Lauda, who revealed he consoled the Melbourne pole-sitter by harking back to his own F1 history.

After Hamilton retired at Albert Park only to see his German teammate Nico Rosberg go on to win, Lauda said: "I hugged him (Hamilton) and said 'This was only the first race.

"'In 1984 I also failed in the first race but I was world champion in the end'," Lauda recalled telling Briton Hamilton.

Indeed, while Lauda retired in the pits at Jacarepagua in Brazil, his McLaren teammate Alain Prost won the race.

But Lauda went on to win the 1984 title by half a point.

Asked how Mercedes has managed to get off to such a strong start in 2014, Lauda told the Osterreich newspaper: "Because we have been best with the new engine regulations.

"Also last summer, when Red Bull was still focusing on the 2013 season, we were already developing our new car," he added.

Italy's La Repubblica declared after Sunday's Australian grand prix: "The F1 revolution has its leader."

But Mercedes chief Toto Wolff expects Red Bull to catch up.

"With these new cars," he told Kleine Zeitung newspaper, "the development curve is much steeper than usual."

He said the reigning world champions had already "caught up massively" between the winter season and Melbourne.

And Red Bull's increasingly confident Dr Helmut Marko said: "We know what is still to come in our car and the (Renault) engine.

"On the engine we are still nowhere near the maximum," he insisted.

McLaren's Jenson Button, however, thinks that at the moment, F1 has a clear leader.

He said: "Right now we seem to be able to fight against everyone — except one."

Ricciardo hopes to win back Melbourne podium
(GMM) Daniel Ricciardo thinks he has a good chance at winning back his Melbourne podium.

Red Bull has vowed to appeal the stewards' decision to throw out the Australian's popular home race result due to irregularities with fuel flow into his Renault engine.

Early on Monday, having learned the bad news only at midnight after Sunday's race, the 24-year-old told the local Herald Sun: "I'm not really in a place … not in the mindset to talk about it right now."

But after jetting from Melbourne to his native Perth for a few days of training before Malaysia, Ricciardo told the West Australian newspaper that he is confident Red Bull will prevail.

"Otherwise they wouldn't (appeal). It's a lot of time for them and some money as well so they have confidence that we can turn it around, but it's going to take a while until we know," he said.

F1's other two engine suppliers, however, are siding with the FIA, despite Red Bull team boss Christian Horner insisting all three manufacturers had trouble with the mandatory fuel flow sensor in Australia.

But Ferrari's Stefano Domenicali said: "We need to rely on the fact that it is a situation that is well managed by the FIA."

And Mercedes' Toto Wolff was also quoted by the Guardian newspaper: "The FIA is obviously controlling fuel flow and checking with all the teams, and it is a question of learning by doing it between the FIA and the teams."

But Ricciardo said he thinks Red Bull has solid grounds to be unhappy with the Melbourne ruling.

"They feel that it's not black or white, it's a little bit shaded, so that's why they're going to fight it and we'll see how they go," he said.

It could take some time before the FIA schedules the actual appeal hearing, but Red Bull's Dr Helmut Marko thinks the matter needs to be at least clarified urgently.

"The device that measures the flow rate has weaknesses," he told Kleine Zeitung newspaper. "In our opinion we were within the regulations.

"This has to be clarified by the next race, because at the moment there is not a reliable measurement," Marko insisted.

F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone, meanwhile, thinks the entire rule limiting the flow of fuel into the engine should be scrapped.

"The whole regulation, to me, seems a bit of a joke," he told the Mirror.

Ecclestone said he thinks the rule limiting each car to just 100 kilograms of fuel per race is enough.

"If you use too much you are going to run out of fuel. It seems to be that simple and if it isn't, it should be," he said.

Boullier denies Dennis already interfering
(GMM) Eric Boullier insists McLaren 'supremo' Ron Dennis is letting him get on with his new job.

Boullier, previously in charge at Lotus, was drafted in to replace the ousted Martin Whitmarsh after McLaren's disastrous 2013 season.

The Frenchman's first race in charge was in Melbourne, but lurking nearby was the McLaren supremo Dennis, who has returned to the formula one paddock on a mission to rescue his beloved team that "lost its way" last year.

66-year-old Dennis will not wear a team uniform at the races and, during the pre-season, he insisted "he is not going to be on the pitwall", according to the Daily Mail.

But "What's the betting he will be (on the pitwall) before the season is over?" said correspondent Jonathan McEvoy.

Indeed, in Melbourne, Dennis was spotted walking to the pitwall, apparently to tell Boullier what to do.

"He was not (telling me what to do)," Boullier insisted to the Telegraph. "He came to visit a couple of times."

Dennis said he is just an observer at the races this year.

"I'm a racer, so the thought of not understanding and contributing doesn't come across my mind," he said. "When you observe things it's good to say 'why not this?' or 'why not that?'"

The bigger McLaren-themed story after Melbourne was the surprisingly good debut performance by rookie Kevin Magnussen.

But another F1 rookie, Toro Rosso's Daniil Kvyat, also caught the attention of the experts, like triple world champion Niki Lauda.

"These guys are, first of all, huge talents," he said.

The old guard is impressed at how the youngsters are arriving on the grid with almost no track testing and performing at the highest level.

Lauda says it's a generational thing.

"It's like my kids, who are four and a half and already better at computer games than me. They are made quite differently than in my day," he smiled.

Sauber patient amid slow-moving Russian deal
(GMM) Sauber insists its Russian rescue deal remains on track.

Originally set to feature the teen Sergey Sirotkin on the 2014 grid, talk of the Swiss team's Russian buy-in has now quietened in the F1 paddock.

Asked if the deal is still on track, team boss and co-owner Monisha Kaltenborn insisted: "Yes. We are continuing to move in that direction."

She told the Russian website f1news.ru that "active negotiations" are currently taking place with Russian companies.

"The lesson we have learned in recent months is that when you are dealing with organizations such as this, you have to understand their notions of time.

"We also need to understand that in these negotiations, sometimes other circumstances that are maybe more important to these companies than formula one will interfere," Kaltenborn added.

So while an earlier priority was to quickly get Sirotkin a super license and push him onto the grid, Kaltenborn said the 18-year-old is now more focused on the Formula Renault 3.5 series.

"At the moment, everything is going according to plan," she said. "He has a seat with Fortec, I am sure he can get great results, and then we'll think about the next step."

A more immediate priority for Sauber is to improve its 2014 car, after the Ferrari-powered machine struggled badly on the straights at Albert Park.

Switzerland's Blick newspaper said the car is significantly overweight and underpowered.

"Last year we managed to turn the corner," Kaltenborn said, "and we will do it again."

Ferrari and Merc backing the FIA
Red Bull's hopes of getting Daniel Ricciardo's runner-up spot at the Australian GP reinstated have received a blow with Ferrari and Mercedes warning it's important to support the FIA over the new fuel-flow technology.

Starting second on the grid at Albert Park on Sunday, local hero Ricciardo produced an immaculate display to claim his maiden podium in his first race for Red Bull.

However, more than five hours after he crossed the finish line he was excluded from the results after the FIA found that his car "consistently" exceeded the maximum fuel-flow rate of 100kg per hour.

Red Bull, though, are adamant they didn't do anything wrong and have indicated they will lodge an appeal with team principal Christian Horner describing it as an "immature technology" that is "impossible to rely 100 per cent on that sensor".

It appears they won't have the backing of Ferrari and Mercedes in any appeal though, even though the teams have admitted they were scratching their heads at times over the new technology.

Stefano Domenicali, the Ferrari team principal, is quoted by Autosport as saying: "We need to rely on the fact that it is a situation that is well managed by the FIA. We have the FIA that will do their job and I am sure there will not be a problem at all."

Toto Wolff, the Mercedes executive director, also insisted that it is important that motorsport's governing body is backed over the issue.

"The FIA is obviously controlling fuel flow and checking with all the teams, and it is a question of learning by doing it between the FIA and the teams," he said.

He added: "The fuel-flow meter is an FIA system and this needs to be integrated in the cars. This is a learning process where the teams support the FIA and vice versa." Planet F1

Magnussen urged to stay grounded
Ron Dennis, a man who knows a thing or two about nurturing F1 talent, has urged Kevin Magnussen to stay level-headed after his impressive debut.

After qualifying P4 at Albert Park, the 21-year-old rookie produced a mature display that saw him finish third behind Nico Rosberg from Mercedes and Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo.

He was later bumped up to second after Australian Ricciardo was excluded from the results, but McLaren CEO Dennis was quick to give him some advice.

"Keep your feet in the ground," he told his driver. "A very wise old man went into his house and nailed to the ceiling was a pair of shoes. I asked what they were for and he said they were his son's shoes because every time he sees them it reminds him to keep his feet on the ground. I will put some in your hotel room."

Magnussen, of course, is over the moon with his brilliant start to his Formula One career. He bettered Lewis Hamilton's record of finishing third when he made his debut in 2007.

"It was unbelievable really," the Dane said. "The team have taken care of me so well and I am proud of the team. It does not feel real. It is so strange that this is happening. I have been dreaming about this for my whole life. I have now done my first F1 race, I was able to get on the podium and I did it with McLaren. It is my dream." Planet F1

Allison: Our competitiveness was not acceptable
Thought to be over half-a-second off the pace of the Mercedes, Ferrari Technical Director James Allison admits the team has much work to do.

"While we can take some satisfaction from the reliability shown by the F14T, it is clear that we have our work cut out to improve our car in order to compete on equal terms with the Mercedes team," said the Englishman.

"There is plenty about the F14T that is working very well," he insists. "The starts and the pace in the corners, especially the high speed ones, are particular strong points, but we need to work further on the stability under braking and the speed on the straights."

Whilst the car's reliability was encouraging, there is still room for improvement to ensure that the new and complex power unit works at its best. However, the main task facing the team at the moment is increasing the efficiency of the F14T.

"All the recent seasons in F1 have been characterized by a fierce development battle from March until November," said Allison. "With all the new regulations this year, the opportunities to improve the car are legion and we can expect the race to improve the cars to be even more intense than normal.

"Our competitiveness was not acceptable in Melbourne," he admitted. "But we intend to fight our way back up the grid with the improvements that we will bring to the car." [Editor's Note: They can start by chopping the front of the car off and redesigning the front suspension to be push-rod]