FORMULA 1 - 2014

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Vergne to race in Formula E this weekend

Jean-Eric Vergne will make his debut in Formula E at this weekend’s round in Uruguay.

Vergne, who lost his seat at Toro Rosso at the end of this season, will drive alongside fellow former F1 driver Franck Montagny at the Andretti team.

Vergne says he is eagerly anticipating his first experience of the electric single-seater cars at the Punta del Este street circuit on the Atlantic coast.

“Although I have no experience in this new series, I am excited about the prospect of racing in Formula E, and racing for such a prestigious team as Andretti,” said Vergne.

“As always, the main objective of the weekend is to stay out front and finish the year on a high note. The weekend will be a little like a journey into the unknown, but it is a journey that I am thoroughly looking forward to.”

Also among the former Formula One drivers racing in the series are ex-Toro Rosso pilots Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi.

Jarno Trulli, Nick Heidfeld, Takuma Sato, Bruno Senna, Karun Chandhok, Jerome d’Ambrosio, Lucas di Grassi, Stephane Sarrazin, Charles Pic and Nelson Piquet Jnr also race in the series.

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FURBATTO ON WAY TO JOIN STELLA AT MCLAREN

Another Ferrari engineer is headed for McLaren Honda, according to a report by respected Maranello ‘watcher’ Leo Turrini.

Earlier, it became clear that Fernando Alonso will take his race engineer at Ferrari, Andrea Stella, with him to Honda-powered McLaren for 2015.

Another Italian is now hot on Stella’s heels, Turrini wrote in his Quotidiano blog. Early in 2014, Faenza based Toro Rosso split with its chief designer Luca Furbatto.

He had moved to the Red Bull-owned team in late 2011 after a long stint at McLaren. Turrini said Furbatto is now returning to the Woking based team.

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MERCEDES SEEK FP1 ROLE FOR WEHRLEIN IN 2015

DTM ace Pascal Wehrlein could become a regular name on the Formula 1 race circuits in the near future.

In September, Mercedes signed the now 20-year-old German to be the dominant Formula 1 team’s new reserve driver.

Since then, he has been a regular in the team’s Formula 1 simulator at Brackley and he set the pace in the title-winning W05 in the post-race Abu Dhabi test.

Driving for Mercedes’ premier HWA team, Wehrlein this year became the youngest race winner in DTM history, but he is now preparing to take his next step into Formula 1 for 2015.

“There are, of course, not many open doors in Formula 1 where you can gather kilometres in reasonable cars,” team boss Toto Wolff told Austria’s Sportwoche.

Wolff is reportedly not seriously considering a GP2 seat for Wehrlein in 2015, but instead a reserve or test role [in Formula 1] or any Friday FP1 role with a smaller team. Mercedes’ engine customers for 2015 are Force India, Williams and Lotus.

Wehrlein said he is ready for that next step, “I think it helps when people like Magnussen and Kvyat come into Formula 1 and are fast straight away.”

“I think our generation is able to do that and I hope the trend of younger drivers continues,” Wehrlein added.

Meanwhile, Toro Rosso refugee Jean-Eric Vergne will make his debut for Andretti in the new electric-powered single seater series Formula E this weekend in Uruguay.

“It will be a little like a journey into the unknown,” said the Frenchman, “but it is a journey that I am thoroughly looking forward to.”

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Force India’s best season could have been even better

Force India ended the season sixth in the championship – equal their best-ever result, which they’ve now scored in three of the last four seasons.

And having taken only 13 races to match their previous best haul of 109 points, this was clearly Force India’s most impressive season in their seven-year F1 history. The Silverstone-based squad hasn’t finished higher since its Jordan-Honda days in 2001.

This brings advantages beyond securing a portion of F1’s prize money. Force India is not one of the five teams which automatically gets a place on the powerful Strategy Group, but having been first in the championship out of the remaining outfits, it will take the sixth place in the group which was previously occupied by Lotus.

A substantial part of the credit for Force India’s success has to go to its Mercedes-Benz PU106A V6 turbo hybrid engines. But the foundations of their impressive 2014 campaign were laid in the first half of last year.

A strong start to the 2013 season gave Force India the luxury of being able to devote all its efforts to the VJM07 ahead of time. This was especially important for a team which lacks the resources of larger teams.

Indeed for much of 2014 it looked as though Force India would pull off a shock by demoting one of those teams – McLaren – to last among the Mercedes-powered runners. Force India’s Woking rivals only passed them for fifth in the championship with three races to go.

As last year, Force India hit the ground running. Nico Hulkenberg finished all of the first four races in the top six, and Sergio Perez gave the team its second-ever podium finish in Bahrain. As F1 returned to Europe for round five, Force India held a remarkable second place in the constructors’ championship.

It couldn’t last. Sure enough Force India slipped back down the order partly due to the superior development capacity of their better-resourced rivals, and partly because Williams, having built a better car, finally started to get the best out of it.

A shot at a big points haul went begging in Canada. Perez was pressuring Nico Rosberg for the lead at one stage, and had he not been frustrated by the hobbled Mercedes repeatedly staying one second clear of him at the DRS detection point, Perez could have made a run for it. Instead he came under attack from behind, and an incautious defensive move while under attack from Felipe Massa caused a major crash.

The team’s line-up of returnee Hulkenberg and McLaren refugee Perez served it well for the most part, and both have been retained for next year. Hulkenberg was the lead points-scorer but on days when tyre preservation was a greater factor Perez often came to the fore. Conversely, problems with tyre warm-up were at the root of Perez’s too-frequent indifferent qualifying performances.

Hulkenberg could usually be relied on to stay out of trouble, though he committed an uncharacteristic faux pas in Hungary by colliding with Perez. Hulkenberg was out on the spot and Perez found the barrier on his own a few laps later, resulting in the team’s first of just two point-less weekends all year.

The other came at Austin, where Perez slipped up by colliding with Sutil on the first lap. In a double blow, Hulkenberg ran over the debris and had to pit for repairs, then later retired.

This was a blow to their hopes of getting back in front of McLaren. At this stage of the season, despite a steady stream of upgrades, the VJM07s were increasingly out-gunned in qualifying. The effect on Hulkenberg’s qualifying positions was especially striking: having started in the top 11 for the first 11 races, he failed to do so for the rest of the year.

However the team made a timely resurgence ahead of the double points finale in Abu Dhabi, which was partly explained by them having resolved a sticking point in the development of their car. Hulkenberg and Perez came home sixth and seventh, the team’s best result since Bahrain.

But that 26-point margin to McLaren must have left a nagging feeling that, although 2014 was a very good year for Force India, it could have been even better.

MIKA: IMO - This was a brilliant season for Force India

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Some F1 teams targeting engine freeze loophole for 2015

The FIA is facing a challenge over Formula 1's engine freeze, as some teams believe there is a loophole in the 2015 regulations that could hand them extra development time.

With attempts to convince Mercedes to relax the freeze rules to allow rivals a mid-season upgrade having failed, Renault and Ferrari are now pondering how best to make up ground over 2015.

One issue that has emerged in recent technical meetings with the FIA is that there is no date specified in the regulations for when 2015 engines must be homologated.

Although it is widely believed that the new upgraded power units have to be lodged with the FIA for the first race of the season, some teams believe that the way is open for them to not homologate their engine until later in the year.

Such a delay could prove valuable in allowing longer development time to make further improvements.

The matter was brought up by Ferrari technical director James Allison in recent technical meetings with the FIA in Abu Dhabi, but the governing body argued that although no date for homologation is set, other clauses in the engine regulations make it clear what can be done.

ONE ENGINE TYPE PER SEASON

In particular, paragraph 2 of Appendix 4 of the F1 Sporting Regulations relating to engine homologation states: "A manufacturer may homologate no more than one specification of power unit."

The FIA argues that the clause prevents manufacturers from running two types of engine in one season, making a late homologation impossible.

However, teams argue that a manufacturer would still only be homologating a 2015 engine, as any running earlier in the season would be done with its 2014 unit.

One high level source at a team said Ferrari was not alone in questioning the rules.

"There is no specified date to homologate the engine, so in theory you could wait a few races before doing it," said the source.

"That would allow some valuable development time, but equally would mean starting the year with a slower 2014 engine."

DISCUSSIONS ONGOING

Although the FIA has expressed its opinion, the door is open for teams to ultimately challenge the matter with race stewards at the Australian Grand Prix if they wanted.

An FIA spokesman made it clear, however, that the governing body hoped to have the matter resolved well before the first race.

"Our position, as stated very clearly in the meeting [in Abu Dhabi], is you can only have one type of homologated engine per year," he said.

"So whatever you turn up with in Melbourne is your homologated engine.

"It was always envisaged, although not explicitly stated in the rules, that manufacturers would have to deal with modifications on the engine within the constraints of the rules, and then submit their 2015 engine [at the first race].

"It is simple, but when you read it [the rule book], it doesn't say that unfortunately.

"However, you have paragraph 2 of Appendix 4 and countless meetings beforehand where it was made clear.

"The matter still needs discussing, but we will get it sorted it out before Melbourne."

Honda, as a new F1 manufacturer, has been told that its 2015 engine must be homologated by February 28 next year rather than for the start of the season.

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Jenson Button speaks about his F1 future with McLaren

Jenson Button appeared on stage to make a presentation at the AUTOSPORT Awards, but beforehand he was asked about the latest on his Formula 1 future.

After sharing some light-hearted conversation with presenter Steve Rider, Button admitted that it was a "strange situation" to be waiting for a verdict on McLaren's driver line-up for 2015.

As the video above shows, he also sparked a raucous reaction from the audience when asking if anyone in the room wanted to see him in Formula 1 next year.

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IS ALONSO TO MCLAREN HONDA REALLY A DONE DEAL?

As the McLaren driver impasse trundles along, the British team is continuing to take hefty criticism for leaving Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen in the lurch for so long as new information suggests that Fernando Alonso’s move to the Honda powered team is not yet a done deal hence the delay.

“What is happening at McLaren is unworthy of such a team,” Mika Hakkinen, who won both his titles with the Woking outfit, is quoted by Blick newspaper.

At the same time, it is obvious that there is more to the situation than simply the dithering of McLaren supremo Ron Dennis, while AS newspaper claims McLaren wants its driver decision to coincide with announcements about two new sponsors, and the “negotiations with one of them is complicated”.

The report cited sources in saying one of the sponsors could be Movistar, to complement the Fernando Alonso deal, while another is “a major company from the United Arab Emirates”.

However there are other authoritative reports that suggest the hold-up could even be related to Alonso’s contract. La Gazzetta dello Sport claimed on Tuesday that the Spaniard’s contract, although not yet announced, contains a unilateral exit clause.

The news will re-fire speculation Alonso still sees his future at Mercedes in 2016, particularly after the less-than-smooth and downright disappointing track debut of Honda’s new V6 engine recently.

And the latest reports do not stop there as Auto Motor und Sport said Alonso could be so alarmed by the recent Honda test in Abu Dhabi that he might simply choose to sit 2015 out altogether and focus instead on a Le Mans campaign with Porsche.

Another theory is that Alonso is waiting on the outcome of Ron Dennis’ wrangling with McLaren’s other shareholders, which could mean a new boss is installed for 2015.

All pointing to the prospect that Alonso’s expected move to McLaren is actually the hold up, and if the Spaniard does not sign for the Woking outfit then both Button and Magnussen will be retained for another season – thus the reason why the duo are being kept in limbo.

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HORNER: NEWEY VERY MUCH INVOLVED IN DESIGN OF 2015 CAR

Red Bull is playing down the likely effect of Adrian Newey’s diminished involvement in their Formula 1 business, amid reports the design guru is shifting his attention to other projects..

Although the sport’s best paid and most highly rated engineer is staying with Red Bull at Milton Keynes, he will be heading a new division that will focus on projects like Ben Ainslie’s America’s Cup bid.

So after Red Bull’s defeat to Mercedes in 2014, and the loss of world champion Sebastian Vettel to Ferrari, team boss Christian Horner insists the team still has a “great lineup” for 2015.

“We’ve got strength in depth and some real talent,” he told Sky. “A lot of teams have been chasing after that talent but we’ve managed to hang onto it.”

And Horner hit back even at suggestions Newey is taking a step back from Formula 1 and told media recently, “Adrian being Adrian, a step back never seems to be that far!

“He’s still very much involved. He’s still very much involved in the design of next year’s car and he’s going to be around for sure,” Horner added.

In light of the America’s Cup news, however, Newey said that while he remains “part of the team”, he will be “less hands on” in 2015.

But he told PA Sport news agency: “I’ll be attending half a dozen races or so. I want to keep in the loop, so in the mentoring, advisory role I’m fresh enough that I’m able to keep on top of that.

“I’ll certainly be in Melbourne and a few after that, the key ones, the ones that tend to pose the biggest engineering challenges,” Newey added.

The 55-year-old also expressed confidence in his successors at Milton Keynes, saying Red Bull is being left in good hands, “They’re a very good bunch. What is happening is well timed as they’ve been developing as a team very well and now it’s time for them to really step up to the plate.”

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MCLAREN SUMMON MEDIA TO WOKING HQ FOR ANNOUNCEMENT

McLaren could put a spring in Jenson Button’s step, or bring down the curtain on the 2009 world champion’s Formula One career, on Thursday when they are expected to announce their 2015 driver lineup.

The team, who are starting a new partnership with Honda and have yet to announce a title sponsor, called a news conference at their Woking headquarters for “an important and exclusive media event”.

No details were given, and McLaren gave no further indications when contacted, but the move was interpreted by an expectant media as evidence a driver decision had been reached at last after a board meeting last week ended without news.

Button’s future has been the big question in the sport for months, with the 34-year-old Briton out of contract and McLaren the only team yet to name their drivers.

One is sure to be Spain’s double world champion Fernando Alonso, already replaced at Ferrari by four times titleholder Sebastian Vettel but whose return has yet to be confirmed officially by McLaren despite being an open secret.

The other looks a straight choice between Button, the sport’s most experienced current driver, and Danish youngster Kevin Magnussen, who formed this year’s pairing.

Magnussen, 22, has youth and promise on his side but Button delivered more on the track this season and is keen to stay at a team that has not won a race since his last victory in Brazil in 2012 and is undergoing a major overhaul.

McLaren group head Ron Dennis said last month that the choice would be made on a “clinical and emotionless analysis of the options”.

But there has been plenty of emotion from fans and followers of both drivers, with Button sparking a lively reaction from an audience of motorsport insiders when he addressed the subject at last Sunday’s Autosport awards in London.

“Do any of you think I should be racing in F1 next year?” the Briton asked, to raucous cheers of support, before adding that it was a ‘strange situation’ to be in.

“I’ve got a new Japanese (mobile) number so that might be why I haven’t heard anything,” joked the winner of 15 races, eight with McLaren.

“If it was my first year in F1 it would be a lot more difficult, but I’ve had an amazing career in Formula One. To win a world championship and achieve what I’ve achieved has been an amazing experience.”

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TODT SAYS NINE F1 TEAMS SUFFICIENT FOR 2015 SEASON

FIA president Jean Todt has revealed his ambition to welcome one or more new teams to Formula 1, but meanwhile has declared an 18 car grid is sufficient for the world’s premier motorsport championship.

Although Caterham returned in Abu Dhabi, the collapse of the least competitive backmarkers this year reduced the grid from 22 to just 18 cars.

It triggered speculation the top teams might be asked to boost numbers in 2015 by adding third cars to their garages. That prospect has now dwindled, with Todt saying 18 cars is sufficient for now.

“We’ll get a new team [Haas] in 2016,” he is quoted by Speed Week. “So in the worst case we will have 18 cars in 2015 and 20 in 2016. We could also make a new bid to attract one or more additional teams. But for this to be successful, the costs must be cut.”

Nonetheless, Todt does not want to overstate the significance of the two backmarkers’ survival struggles, insisting it is just part of the sport, “Of course I’m not happy about what happened to Caterham and Marussia. But such things have always happened.”

Toto Wolff, the boss of the new reigning champion team Mercedes, agrees that so long as Formula 1 retains its ‘core group’ of teams, it will prosper.

“They [teams] come and go,” he told Maxim. “I think there is a core group that is really important, and that group has been there forever. That’s important to remember.”

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F1 ROOKIE NASR PLAYS DOWN PLIGHT OF SAUBER

Formula 1’s latest rookie Felipe Nasr has played down suggestions he is kicking off his career at the pinnacle of the sport with an ailing team.

A constant and respected presence on the grid for over twenty years, Hinwil based Sauber sunk to its worst-ever result in 2014, failing to score even a single point.

Now, the fact the Swiss team has signed Brazilian Nasr and his sponsor Banco do Brasil, and the heavily-backed Caterham refugee Marcus Ericsson, has been interpreted as a sign of clear financial problems.

But Nasr, third in the GP2 standings this year, insists Sauber is not an ailing minnow, and told Globo Esporte, “I didn’t want to join a small team that is not competitive. Sauber has a good structure, serious people.”

“It has a Ferrari engine and Ferrari has been improving a lot. I expect a more competitive team next year. I am excited and optimistic for these first two seasons with Sauber,” Nasr added.

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PALMER RESENTS DRIVERS HE HAS BEATEN BEAT HIM TO F1

GP2 Series champion Jolyon Palmer has expressed frustration that his new title has not proved an instant ticket to the Formula 1 grid.

The son of former Formula 1 driver Jonathan, 23-year-old Briton Palmer is in the running for a Force India reserve role, but Speed Week reports that he may still be required to raise some sponsorship funding.

On the other hand, the significant Banco do Brasil backing enjoyed by Felipe Nasr has earned the Brazilian driver his Grand Prix debut next year with Sauber.

That is despite the fact Nasr was beaten to the 2014 title not only by champion Palmer, but also the McLaren protege and runner-up Stoffel Vandoorne.

“It is disheartening to see drivers I have beaten on the track so easily get a seat in Formula 1,” Palmer is quoted as saying.

“That’s the reality of Formula 1 at the moment but it sends the wrong message,” he added. “It creates the impression that Formula 1 doesn’t need the best drivers.”

MIKA: This is the perfect example of what Formula 1 has become... a real shame for the sport.

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Williams are proof that big budgets aren't needed

Williams believe they're proof that huge budgets aren't needed to succeed in Formula 1 following their successful 2014 season.

The British team finished third in the Constructors' Championship this season behind Mercedes and Red Bull, but crucially ahead of long-time rival Ferrari.

Deputy team principal Claire Williams says that's a huge achievement for an outfit which has a budget of around £100 million compared to Ferrari which is nearer £200m, and proves that money isn't necessarily everything.

"For us, from where we were last season, it's such an amazing achievement against the likes of Ferrari which is operating on a budget twice the size of ours," she said.

"That's such an achievement and, for me, that says everything that we need to say around all of the conversations going on at the moment," she added in regards to the various meetings between Lotus, Force India and Sauber about how F1's prize money is distributed.

Williams also addressed recent comments from Ron Dennis after he stated that a customer team has almost no chance of competing for the championship when going up against manufacturer teams, hence McLaren's switch to Honda power next year.

"We have a great engine supplier in Mercedes and we're lucky to have a great relationship with them. At the moment that works but if an engine manufacturer came in and talked to us, why wouldn't you have that conversation? Of course you would.

"I know there have been comments in the press recently saying you can't survive unless you've got that backing, it's totally not correct. We've survived for many years - in fact for all our time in Formula One - without having an engine manufacturer solely looking after us and there's no reason we can't continue to do that."

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Nico Hulkenberg sure F1 chance will come eventually

Nico Hulkenberg is adamant that he has not missed the boat in landing a drive with a top Formula 1 team.

The German committed to a 2015 deal with Force India ahead of the United States Grand Prix, which has again ruled him out of a seat with the leading outfits.

But despite no doors opening up yet for him at the front of the F1 grid, he is confident that an opportunity will come if he keeps impressing.

"Every driver wants to be in a top car and drive for wins and championships," said the German. "It is no different with me.

"So from that point of view, you are impatient and you want to get there. For me it is frustrating not to have it yet at this second - but that is how life is, that is racing.

"But I will keep working hard here and I am sure one day the opportunity will come."

Hulkenberg recently announced he will compete in the Le Mans 24 Hours with Porsche, and he had his first test with the manufacturer at Aragon on Tuesday (pictured below).

He said that he did explore what other options were available, but reckoned in the end that Force India offered him the best opportunity for 2015.

"Obviously you always keep your eyes and your ears open to check the market, but it is good to confirm your plans just to get that out of your mind and move on with the important stuff - the racing," he said.

"For me it was a very good option and I took it."

FORCE INDIA CAN RECOVER

Force India began the year fighting for podium finishes - and being locked in a close fight with McLaren for fifth in the constructors' championship.

However, its pace has fallen away over the campaign and McLaren has pulled clear.

Hulkenberg believes that Force India's form this year can be explained through its Mercedes engines having such an advantage at the beginning of the campaign before rivals Renault and Ferrari caught up.

"At the beginning of the season the Mercedes advantage was quite large, and it has shrunk a lot already," he explained.

"The others have caught up quite a bit, but as far as our performance goes, we have to do a really good job and do all the right things to put ourselves back up to where we were at the start of the season.

"We have slipped. We didn't work good enough or efficient enough but I think if we can do that, if we can be better there and bring the updates as we wanted, then I can see us getting stronger again."

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Fernando Alonso says Ferrari years were his best in Formula 1

Fernando Alonso believes that his five years with Ferrari were the best of his Formula 1 career, despite failing to add to his collection of two world titles.

Alonso has departed the Scuderia and is set to rejoin McLaren for the 2015 F1 season.

The Spaniard has not won a title since 2006, but he reckons he performed better during his five seasons at Maranello than at any other time in F1.

When asked to rate his time at Ferrari following his final race for the Italian team in Abu Dhabi, Alonso replied: "From one to 10 I think in those five years I will put nine.

"I know it seems high, but I have enjoyed it so much - I grew up as a driver, as a person.

"I have worked with some amazing people here, and I raced with my heart, I raced at the best level of my career."

Alonso said trouncing his world champion team-mate Kimi Raikkonen in 2014 gave him particular satisfaction.

"Even this year, I have a world champion on the other side of the garage and I had some doubts, but I was curious to see the performance and what I could learn, what I could improve," Alonso added.

"I got only two podiums, but [versus Raikkonen] I was 16-3 in qualifying, 17-2 in the races.

"I never imagined to have this beautiful performance over these five years, fighting for the championship, racing with everything I have inside, never giving up.

"I am proud of the team and of the things we did together.

"We missed the title, but we raced against a very dominant era of F1 with Red Bull, and this year with Mercedes - no one could get closer to them.

"This is what I missed to get to 10 [out of 10] for these five years, but any driver should drive for Ferrari for one year because it is a unique spirit."

ALONSO AT FERRARI IN NUMBERS

Races: 96
Wins: 11
Poles: 4
Podiums: 44
Points: 1190
Fastest laps: 8
Best championship finish: 2nd (2010, 2012, 2013)

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DANIEL RICCIARDO: ‘I SURPRISED MYSELF THIS YEAR’

Daniel Ricciardo says his 2014 success “was a surprise” to him but that now that he has tasted victory he “won’t settle for anything less” in 2015.

Speaking in Qatar at the FIA’s annual Prize-Giving event, where he was on hand to pick up his trophy for third-place in the F1 Drivers’ standings, the Red Bull Racing driver was asked if he had been surprised by his competitiveness in his first year with Red Bull Racing.

“A little bit,” he said. “Deep down I always believed I could do it. I believed that if I had the equipment and the opportunity I could do it, but looking back at it and how dominant Mercedes were and for me to be only driver to break that dominance that surprised me a little bit.

“It was frustrating a lot of the time seeing Nico and Lewis ahead but that was it for me this year.” He added. “You always try to be as fast as you can but with their dominance it was always just about making sure I was the next guy in case they made a mistake. I hope they’re less dominant next year and that it creates a few more opportunities for me.”

And Ricciardo is determined to return to the top step as soon as possible in 2015.

“This year was a big step forward in my career, a big step in the direction I wanted it to go in,” he said. “Obviously the Mercedes were dominant, but I was able to score the only other three wins of the season, so that was a big year for me.

“Once you make one step you want to keep making more. I won’t settle for anything else now. I’m sure Mercedes are going to very quick again next year, but the gap’s there for us to close, so hopefully we can do that and looking forward to the future now.”

Elaborating on the steps forward he made this year, Ricciardo said that a large part of his competitiveness stemmed simply from enjoying his racing ands from having a car with which he could challenge for podiums.

“I had the most fun I’ve ever had in a race car and the results just came,” he said. “[The competitiveness] grew a lot. My love for the sport grew; my love for competition. This year I think knowing you’ve got a car that can fight for a win or a podium and just race at the front with all these world champions that I looked up to when I was young. That just gives you so much more motivation.

“I’m not kidding you, every race this year I was more and more excited. Sunday would come and I though I couldn’t get more pumped up for the race and the following week I was more and more the week after. It just got better and better. I think having that opportunity, knowing that if you have a good weekend, if you do everything you have a chance of standing on the podium that makes it a lot easier I guess.”

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Jenson Button secures McLaren seat alongside Fernando Alonso

Jenson Button is to partner Fernando Alonso at McLaren next season.

The team are to announce their driver line-up at a news conference at their factory in Surrey on Thursday.

But BBC Sport has learned they have decided to retain Button after weeks of leaning towards Kevin Magnussen.

Button, the 34-year-old 2009 world champion, will continue into a 16th season and has his wish granted to test himself against the man widely regarded as the best in F1.

McLaren signed Alonso some weeks ago, but had been vacillating over the identity of his team-mate.

Chairman Ron Dennis had been keen to retain Magnussen, 22, but the continuing delays over making a decision have tipped the balance back in favour of Button.

The two were evenly matched for pure pace in 2014, with Button out-qualifying the novice 10-9 in 19 races.

The Englishman scored more than twice as many points as Magnussen over the season.

McLaren had intended to retain Magnussen on the basis that the team's data had suggested he was fractionally quicker and had youth and promise on his side.

But Button's strong finish to the season, his experience and perhaps unrest at boardroom level over Dennis's position has influenced the team to go the other way.

Magnussen may be retained as reserve driver for 2015.

McLaren, as well as representatives of both Button and Magnussen, were unavailable for comment on Wednesday.

The farrago over the identity of the team's second driver has detracted from the impact of McLaren's signing of double world champion Alonso.

This is quite a coup considering his standing in the sport and the fact McLaren have succeeded in luring him away from Ferrari.

Ferrari had their least successful season for 21 years in 2014 but still finished ahead of McLaren, largely thanks to the efforts of Alonso.

But the Spaniard was convinced by the arrival of new engine partner Honda and a restructuring of the team, including the signing of key personnel, that they were more likely to give him the chance to secure the third title he has been seeking since he won his second in 2006.

Alonso is reputed to have signed a deal worth $40m (£25.5m) a year, which would make him the best-paid driver on the grid.

His contract is believed to be for two years with the option for one more, but Alonso will almost certainly be able to leave at the end of 2015 if McLaren's performance is not up to expectations next season.

Button will be on a one-year deal at a salary reduced by at least half from the reputed £12m he was earning in 2014.

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ALONSO AND BUTTON FOR MCLAREN AS MAGNUSSEN GETS AXED

Several British media outlets are reporting that Jenson Button is set to stay at McLaren Honda for 2015 alongside incoming Fernando Alonso, with rookie Kevin Magnussen axed from the Woking line-up.

BBC and Daily Mail are among those who have pre-empted today’s press conference at McLaren headquarters in Woking, where the team’s 2015 driver line-up is expected to be announced.

The British team, led by Formula 1 veteran Ron Dennis, has been under fire for delaying their driver announcement and jeopardising the future of both Button and Magnussen. However internal issues within the upper management of the team and protracted negotiations with Fernando Alonso are believed to have caused the stand off.

With Honda on board as the team’s engine supplier, results are expected rather sooner than later with reports from Japan suggesting that Honda were adamant that a big name driver be signed to lead their re-entry into Formula 1.

For some time it has been known that Alonso was heading back to the team with whom he spent an acrimonious and tense year with in 2007, but both parties are adamant that time has moved on and ready to accommodate one another.

The sticking point has been the choice of Button or Magnussen – experience or youth – with the 2009 world champion Button set to get the nod on the basis of his huge experience at the pinnacle of the sport, which will be useful in this early stage of the new McLaren Honda era.

Magnussen is expected to stay on as a reserve driver, groomed and ready to step into the cockpit when Button decides to quit – 2015 could well be his final season in F1.

Meanwhile a number of Ferrari staff, including Alonso’s race engineer, are following the Alonso to Woking as well as major Spanish sponsors. While the Spaniard himself is reportedly on a two year contract worth $88 million.

A full announcement by McLaren is expected today (Thursday) at their Woking HQ where media have been summoned, thus ending months of speculation surrounding the identity of the team’s line up beyond 2014

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ALONSO AND BUTTON FOR MCLAREN AS MAGNUSSEN GETS DEMOTED

Spain’s double world champion Fernando Alonso and Britain’s Jenson Button will drive for Honda-powered McLaren next season, the Formula 1 team said on Thursday, with Danish rookie Kevin Magnussen demoted as a result.

Alonso’s return to Woking, seven years after he left following an acrimonious season as 2007 team mate to then-rookie Lewis Hamilton, had been an open secret for months in the paddock.

His partner next year had been far less clear-cut, with the former champions having to decide between one of their 2014 pairing of Button and Magnussen, who will stay with the team as a reserve and test driver.

The decision to go with Button, who made his race debut in 2000 and was the most experienced driver on the starting grid this year, will see the Briton start his 16th season at the age of 35.

The former Honda driver remains McLaren’s most recent race winner, having triumphed for the under-performing former champions in Brazil at the end of 2012.

McLaren have not won a race for two years and are going through a major overhaul, with changes at technical and managerial level.

They have also teamed up again with Honda in a repeat of their hugely successful partnership in the late 1980s and 1990s when Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost dominated Formula One.

Alonso, who won his title with Renault, has spent the last five seasons at Ferrari but his patience ran out after the Italian glamour team again failed to take the fight to dominant Mercedes this year.

The Spaniard is desperate to win a third title, something he came close to in 2007 when he and Hamilton finished level and one point behind Ferrari’s champion Kimi Raikkonen.

“I am joining this project with enormous enthusiasm and determination, knowing that it may require some time to achieve the results we are aiming for, which is no problem for me,” Alonso said.

“Over the past year I have received several offers, some of them really tempting but, more than a year ago, McLaren-Honda contacted me and asked me to take part, in a very active way, in the return of their partnership – a partnership that dominated the Formula One scene for so long.”

Button said he was extremely excited to be racing his sixth season for the team.

“Like Fernando, I am certain that McLaren and Honda will achieve great things together, and I feel sure that, working together, all of us will pull incredibly hard to create a brilliantly effective winning team,” he said. “I am absolutely raring to go.”

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ALONSO: I WILL DO EVERYTHING IN MY POWER TO DELIVER FOR MCLAREN

Formula 1’s worst kept secret that Fernando Alonso is joining McLaren was finally confirmed during a function at the team’s Woking headquarters, with the Spaniard returning to the team he drove for in 2007.

Alonso said: “I have never hidden my deep admiration for Ayrton Senna, my favourite driver, my idol on track, my reference. I still remember, as a kid, the posters in my wardrobe, my toy cars in which I dreamed I would one day emulate Ayrton, and the kart that my father built for my older sister, and that I ended up falling in love with.

“That kart had the livery of one of the most legendary partnerships in the history of Formula 1, McLaren-Honda, the car that Ayrton drove, the same partnership to which I am now honoured to join, to take part in the next Formula 1 world championship.

“I am joining this project with enormous enthusiasm and determination, knowing that it may require some time to achieve the results we are aiming for, which is no problem for me.

“Over the past year I have received several offers, some of them really tempting, given the current performance of some of the teams that showed interest. But, more than a year ago, McLaren-Honda contacted me and asked me to take part, in a very active way, in the return of their partnership – a partnership that dominated the Formula 1 scene for so long.

“McLaren-Honda’s repeated and open desire, perseverance and determination in making it possible for me to join their exciting renewed partnership, have been some of the main factors that made me take this decision, not forgetting the most important factor of all: we share a common objective and expectations, and there is a very solid future, with confidence, ahead.

“I have had in-depth discussions with all the senior people at both McLaren and Honda, I have viewed their fantastic facilities in both the UK and Japan, and it is clear to me that, together, McLaren and Honda are in the process of beginning what is sure to be a long and successful partnership. And I intend to give 100% effort to help make it exactly that.

“Finally, I want to thank the persistence of those who have fought so hard for this to come true. I will do everything in my power to deliver for everyone and for our team, based on a formula that has always worked for me: effort, sacrifice, perseverance and faith.

“We have time, we have hopes and we have the necessary resources. Let the legend return: that is our challenge.”

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DENNIS: FERNANDO AND JENSON IS THE STRONGEST LINE-UP POSSIBLE

McLaren-Honda is delighted to announce its new driver line-up for 2015: Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button. Kevin Magnussen will remain an important part of the team, as test and reserve driver.

All three men will play crucial roles in re-establishing the ascendancy of one of global sport’s most iconic unions, for McLaren and Honda have already formed one of the most dominant partnerships in motorsport history: Honda broke new ground in the 1980s by creating a turbocharged engine that was unparalleled in both its output and its efficiency, and, between 1988 and 1992, McLaren-Honda won eight world championships and 44 grands prix, and took 53 pole positions and set 30 fastest laps, all in just 80 grands prix.

In 1988, the partnership created arguably the single most successful Formula 1 car of all time: the all-conquering McLaren-Honda MP4/4, which was driven to victory by Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost in an amazing 15 of the season’s 16 grands prix.

The lure presented by those same goals has once again brought the legendary Japanese corporation back to the pinnacle of global motor racing; and, again, that company, Honda, is developing its revolutionary new turbocharged engine at its all-new purpose-built state-of-the-art motorsport facility in Sakura, Japan.

It is against that backdrop that McLaren and Honda are now committing to rebuilding afresh the strongest possible partnership in Formula 1.

The aforementioned Ayrton Senna, in the opinion of many the greatest driver in the history of our sport, won 30 of the 44 grands prix that McLaren and Honda annexed together between 1988 and 1992. Ayrton once said: “We do not need myths. We need examples to be followed – examples of courage, determination and hope. We need to believe it is possible to win, and it is our duty to pursue that belief.”

Everyone at McLaren, and at Honda, agrees with every word of that inspirational remark, starting with our newly re-recruited driver, Fernando Alonso.

Ron Dennis (Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, McLaren) said: “I am absolutely delighted to be on the threshold of leading McLaren-Honda to a new era of partnership, and I speak on behalf of all at McLaren when I say that. I am equally confident that our colleagues at Honda share that determination and passion to win.

“As regards drivers, McLaren’s policy has always been to assemble the strongest line-up possible, and in Fernando and Jenson I firmly believe that is exactly what we have.

“We signed Fernando a little while ago, but we decided not to announce the fact until we had also re-signed Jenson as his team-mate. For many reasons our negotiations with Jenson took quite a long time, but, now that they have been concluded, we are confident that our collaboration with him will continue to thrive in the future every bit as well as it has in the past. Make no mistake about it, Jenson is 100% committed to McLaren-Honda, to Formula 1, and to winning.

“As a pair, he and Fernando are supremely experienced. Fernando has started 234 grands prix, has converted 32 of those starts to victories, has stood on a grand prix podium 97 times, and has won the drivers’ world championship not once but twice. He is a class act.

“He is 33 – which, for an athlete as physically fit as he is, constitutes a Formula 1 driver’s professional prime of life. Moreover, he is old enough to be experienced and expert, yet young enough to be enthusiastic and energetic. I therefore firmly believe he will deploy those four e’s – experience, expertise, enthusiasm and energy – to drive forward McLaren-Honda’s on-track success next season and for quite a few seasons to come.

“As for Jenson, at 34, he is every bit as fit as Fernando but even more experienced: he has started 266 grands prix, has won 15 of them, and has stood on a grand prix podium 50 times. He, too, is an ex-world champion, and is one of the smoothest and fastest guys out there.

“To sum up, Fernando and Jenson have started a combined total of precisely 500 grands prix between them – a mighty aggregate – and have won 47 of them.

“I can safely say, therefore, that we now have by an order of magnitude the best driver line-up of any current Formula 1 team.

“Finally, I want to thank and pay tribute to Kevin, who has done a great job this season and will continue to be an integral part of our team. He will be our test, reserve and third driver, and remains an excellent prospect for the future.”

Yasuhisa Arai (Senior Managing Officer, Honda R&D Co Ltd; Chief Officer of Motorsport, Honda) said: “Our partnership with McLaren goes from strength to strength, and I am very excited to welcome as part of our Formula 1 team two great world champions, Fernando and Jenson. Yet the magnitude of the announcement is quickly bringing me back down to earth to focus harder and stronger on the seasons ahead.

“Kevin has shown remarkable growth in the 2014 season, and we are delighted to continue working with him throughout 2015 and beyond; we are certain there is much more to come.

“Honda is dedicated to speeding up the development of the power unit based on the learnings of the recent Abu Dhabi test.

“Working together with these very experienced drivers, we will fine-tune and complete the power units to competitive perfection towards the new season.”

[MIKA27]

FRENTZEN FROM F1 TO HEARSE DRIVER

Once a grand prix race winner and Formula 1 title contender, Heinz-Harald Frentzen today drives a hearse and is recovering from knee surgery.

Driving a Jordan, the German was a standout of the 1999 season, winning races against the odds and remaining a championship dark horse until the final stages.

Now 47, the former Williams driver Frentzen has most recently been racing a Mercedes in Germany’s GT Masters series. But Kolner Express newspaper reports that he might be forced to sit out the 2015 season as he is recovering from a serious knee operation.

The publication said the long-term injury dates all the way back to 1999, when he crashed his Jordan at high speed in Canada.

“My knee is still swollen and tender and I have to be careful,” said Frentzen. “It’s my braking leg and in GT Masters you need to brake very hard.”

While he recovers, it is reported that Frentzen has returned to his native Moenchengladbach to help with the running of the family business — a funeral home.

“It’s true,” he confirmed. “Even in my formula one career from time to time I helped my father with the business and now I’m helping my sister Nadine-Nicole.”

Their father, Harald, died in 2014. Express said one of Frentzen’s new roles is to drive the hearse — a converted E-Class Mercedes.

Frentzen said: “I’m actually retired and at the moment I don’t mind not racing in 2015. But one should never say never.”

MIKA: Well at least he'll never be late to a funeral...

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Ferrari's Pat Fry, Tombazis sent 'on vacation' - reports

Pat Fry is the next major Ferrari name set to depart.

Amid a tumultuous time for the fabled Maranello marque, 2014 has already seen a host of major names including Stefano Domenicali, Luca Marmorini, Luca di Montezemolo, Marco Mattiacci, Fernando Alonso and Andrea Stella all leave.

Reports suggest that as Ferrari faltered so badly at the start of the new turbo V6 era, chief designer Nikolas Tombazis has become the next major scalp.

And Italian reports now suggest that, ahead of former Mercedes chief Bob Bell's apparent arrival, the highly-rated British engineer Pat Fry is also leaving.

The reports, also mentioned by Spain's El Mundo Deportivo, said that while the Greek Tombazis and former McLaren engineer Fry have not yet been officially ousted, they have been sent "on vacation".

"As this is the critical period in the development of the car for next season," the report surmised, "there is no doubt they will be made redundant".

Alongside the leader of the 2015 car project, James Allison, it means the leading technical protagonists at Ferrari in 2015 will be Bell and the newly-promoted Simone Resta.

Two wins for 2015

The new team boss, meanwhile, is the former Marlboro branding executive Maurizio Arrivabene, who this week has given one of his first interviews to the Ferrari media insider Leo Turrini.

He told Turrini's Quotidiano blog: "When people ask me when things will change on the track, I reply that I do not have a magic wand.

"In 2015 it would be enough to win a couple of races - one with Vettel, one with Raikkonen.

"Seb is beginning to understand what Ferrari is. Kimi knows already and, incidentally, Kimi has the advantage of being a normal guy in a world - Formula One - where many, but fortunately not Vettel, are quick to lose touch with reality," Arrivabene added.

"None of us are here to regret the past. We are all here to build the future.

"I have no doubts about our president (Sergio) Marchionne's dedication to our battle. You'll see with time the concerns of those who do not know him will vanish," he predicted.

Arrivabene also spoke more broadly about the state of today's F1, saying: "At the political level, Ferrari asks not what is right for our company, but what is right for anyone who loves the sport.

"Whoever runs the racing world has to realise there is an audience to regain. I'm not interested in speeches about Rolex, I want a Formula One that is as popular as the Olympics and the World Cup.

"It once was so, and we have to go back to those levels," he insisted.

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DENNIS: PAINFUL DECISION TO CHOOSE BETWEEN JENSON AND KEVIN

In recent weeks, his Formula 1 career appeared over, but Jenson Button is now half of what Ron Dennis is hailing as easily the best lineup in the sport today.

But as ever in Formula 1, there was more than meets the eye to the controversial and protracted delay in deciding the identity of Fernando Alonso’s Honda-powered teammate.

Conventional wisdom says team supremo Dennis, who favoured the young Kevin Magnussen, was ultimately out-voted by the McLaren board including fellow shareholder Mansour Ojjeh.

Magnussen, at just 22, sees his race career stall at the first hurdle but he reacted by posting on Twitter a photo of The Terminator, which would logically be captioned: I’ll be back.”

“But I’m still with a great team and I still have big opportunities in Formula 1,” the Dane said at Woking on Thursday.

Dennis admitted choosing against Magnussen was tough, “While it was a little painful for the two drivers, the pain for them would have been nothing compared to the pain for me if my decision was wrong.”

However he suggested that part of the decision was to have a top driver on standby should McLaren have to run a third car at short notice, something that has been discussed amid possible collapse of more F1 teams.

“We now have a contractual obligation to run three cars in the event that the grid falls below 16 cars or less,” revealed Dennis. “I still feel two teams have great challenges left to get to next year’s grid.”

“And it is my intention to try to assist them to that, because I believe that third cars are not good for F1. However we have a contract: and if we have to run those three cars I want to have the best drivers. Hence the decision was a little bit influenced by that likelihood,” he explained.

But perhaps the most decisive part of the story was simply the difficult negotiations between Dennis and Button — the highly-experienced 2009 world champion whose points haul was more than double Magnussen’s this year.

Ultimately, it emerged on Thursday, the 34-year-old had to grudgingly agree a more than $6 million pay cut, meaning his $12 million is dwarfed by Alonso’s staggering $50 million deal.

In the end, with McLaren under increasing pressure to make a call, time ran out for Button early this week.

“He [Dennis] put the options to me,” Button revealed. “I just said yes.”

Dennis confirmed that once Button had agreed to the proposed “solutions” to the negotiating stumbling blocks, the rest of the deal was “very easy” to put into place.

But he also admitted that, until then, he had his reservations about Button’s commitment, and had to insist upon at least a two-year commitment.

“He hadn’t been saying the things that would make me believe that this was really important to him,” said Dennis. “Him saying yes to two years was one of a range of things that convinced me.”

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ECCLESTONE WANTS F1 TO DITCH NEW ERA TURBO ENGINES

Formula 1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone refuses to give up his crusade against the sport’s current V6 turbo engine era.

Meeting with a select group of reporters on Thursday including Forbes’ business journalist Christian Sylt, Ecclestone revealed that he intends to propose the sport brings back loud “normally-aspirated” engines for 2016.

He said he will table the matter at the December 18 meeting of the powerful Strategy Group, asked if he is contemplating V8s or V10s, and referring to the teams and manufacturers, 84-year-old Ecclestone answered: “It’s up to them.”

Ecclestone said to counter the argument that abandoning the quieter energy-recovery-boosted turbos would be a backwards step, the 2016 engines would be branded as ‘Hybrid’ and have KERS systems aboard.

And he played down suggestions carmakers like Honda and Mercedes will walk away by insisting it would actually be “a bit of a dream for them to build a normally-aspirated engine and develop it to about 1000 horse power”.

Ecclestone denied that potentially putting off Volkswagen might be another obstacle, as the German giant has been “out there for long enough and haven’t made a big enough effort to come in”.

Fascinatingly, Ecclestone also said the FIA might not even be an obstacle to the move, given that president FIA president Jean Todt “sold the rights” in a recent commercial deal.

“The Strategy Group that we have got. We made a contribution of $40 million a year to buy that actually. They sold the rights to have this new group set up in the way we thought it should be set up,” Ecclestone added.