FORMULA 1 - 2014

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New style good for F1 - Rosberg

Australian Grand Prix winner Nico Rosberg believes the new style of racing that is required to be successful in Formula One is good for the sport.

Despite some claims that the new, less-noisy V6 Turbo power units detract from the sport as a spectacle, Mercedes driver Rosberg believes the rules changes that came into effect this year are improving the sport as a whole.

The German claims that it is far more of a challenge to get the car to perform optimally and that the reduced levels of downforce the cars have make for thrilling racing.

"It has shuffled everything about, which is great. The sport needs that," Rosberg told Autosport ahead of this week's Malaysian Grand Prix.

"And it is contemporary. It is all very, very energy efficient, which is a good direction to take.

"Driving-wise, it is good fun too. It is slower than last year, which I don't like, but I have got used to it and I don't notice any more that I am slower.

"It is all good. It is very complicated in the car of course, because there is so much going on, and it will take some time to get on top of all that."

Williams driver Valtteri Bottas agreed with his Mercedes rival, saying that it was the most fun he has ever had behind the wheel of a F1 car in Australia.

"It was fun. It was proper racing; it was the most fun I have ever had," Bottas told Autosport.

"For me there was no fuel saving at all. The safety car always helps, because you can save some fuel and push, plus the tyres seemed to be more consistent than last year.

"I think it was good fun and hopefully good for the spectators."

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Remember When: Rain Cut Short The Malaysian Grand Prix

The 2009 Malaysian Grand Prix was the first race in eighteen years to award half points after it was cut short due to horrendous weather conditions.

The second round of the season got underway on a dry track but with dark clouds looming in the distance. Jenson Button had secured pole position following Brawn GP’s fairy-tale start to the year in Australia, but he got a poor start off the line and dropped to fourth place through the first two corners.

Nico Rosberg had a clean start and powered into the lead. Jarno Trulli moved into second with the Renault of Fernando Alonso jumping up to third. However, the Spaniard was soon passed by Button as the Brit tried to claw his way back to the front. He was heavier on fuel in comparison to the leading duo and used the extra laps to his advantage, reclaiming the lead as he emerged from his first pit stop on lap 18.

The rain arrived on lap 19 but it was only light to start off with. Ferrari gambled and fitted the wet tires to Kimi Raikkonen’s car despite there being no standing water out on track. It didn’t pay off with the heavy rain failing to materialise when the Italian team had expected it to.

Timo Glock was running on the intermediate tire compound and it proved to be the right choice. He moved rapidly up to third and his fast lap times prompted the rest of the field to pit and fit the same Bridgestone rubber.

The majority of the field remained on the intermediate tyres until lap 31 when the heavens opened. Visibility soon became a real concern and drivers were struggling to keep the cars on the track. In the end, the race was red flagged on lap 33 with the results being taken from the classifications from two laps earlier.

For the first time since the 1991 Australian Grand Prix, half points were awarded as the race failed to reach the 75% (42 laps) distance. Jenson Button won the race, the third victory of his career, from Nick Heidfeld – who became the first driver to ever score a podium a KERS-powered car – and Timo Glock.

Most of the 2009 field backed the decision to stop the race due to terrible visibility, treacherous driving conditions and decreasing light due to the later start time. 2008 world champion Lewis Hamilton even said: “It was impossible to drive out there; it was very, very dangerous. It’s the most dangerous conditions I have ever raced in.”

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Schumacher wins, Senna spins and Brundle has an incredible escape

The Interlagos circuit in Sao Paulo, Brazil witnessed the hotly-anticipated first race of 1994. It promised to be the beginning of a new era following the banning of active suspension, traction control and other driver aids.

But despite the change – which had arrived following months of political wrangling – few expected to see the new rules lead to new winners.

This was because there had been little competition to speak of for much of the preceding two seasons. Williams’ mastery of electronic driver aids and Adrian Newey’s use of them in the service of generating downforce had propelled them far beyond the chasing pack.

Their 1992 car, the FW14B, was so fast the team postponed introducing its successor because it wasn’t needed. Nigel Mansell won the drivers’ championship in August and the following year his replacement, Alain Prost, was similarly untroubled as he picked up a fourth crown.

So while the sport had been shaken up in 1994 by the banning of driver aids, and an unpopular new gimmick had been devised to ‘spice up the show’ – refuelling – few expected Williams to have lost their way over the winter.

But no team was better prepared for the new formula than Benetton. The B194 had been testing for over a month before Ayrton Senna put the first miles on the FW16.

Michael Schumacher, already a two-times race winner, had sussed the refuelling variable during his days in Mercedes’ sports car team. Team principal Tom Walkinshaw and designer Ross Brawn had done the same while running the Jaguar XJR-14s of Schumacher’s rival team. Together they were about to spring a surprise on Formula One.

1994 Brazilian Grand Prix qualifying

Twelve months earlier a rain storm in Sao Paulo gave Senna the chance to put one over the Williams drivers. Now he was driving for them, and when the rain returned as he topped the times during Saturday qualifying it guaranteed his 63rd career pole position – and a full house for the grand prix.

But a three-tenths margin over Schumacher was not the kind of advantage Williams had enjoyed in years past. And the the well-honed B194 looked a more comfortable drive for 71 laps than Senna’s machine.

With JJ Lehto still recovering from neck injuries sustained in testing, Schumacher was partnered by test driver Jos Verstappen. The 22-year-old’s F1 debut was his 53rd car race of any kind, coming just two years after his graduation from karting, and he was almost two seconds off his team mate’s pace in ninth.

Damon Hill in the second Williams was 1.6 seconds off Senna, but that was still good enough for fourth on the grid. Like Senna, Hill was grappling with the FW16′s unpredictable handling balance.

There was a similar gap between the two Ferraris. But while Jean Alesi claimed third on the grid a litany of problems on the other car saw Gerhard Berger mired in 17th behind both Tyrrells, a Larrousse and a Minardi.

Two new teams had appeared for the first race of the season. The tiny Pacific and Simtek squads brought crews numbering just 21 and 19 to their first event, and each succeeded in getting a single car onto the grid. The non-qualifiers were Paul Belmondo, who suffered a suspension failure on his Pacific, and Roland Ratzenberger, who was unable to set a competitive time during Saturday’s dry running due to an engine misfire.

1994 Brazilian Grand Prix

Schumacher’s starts became a point of contention late in the season as Benetton stood accused of retaining a banned launch control system. But his first start of the season gave no indication of any illegal performance enhancement: while Senna motored off into the lead, Schumacher fell to third behind Alesi.

The Ferrari drivers could scarcely believe his luck, as moments before the start his mechanics had been “running in all directions like headless chickens” as an engine failure forced a switch to the spare car.

Having got away cleanly, Alesi even took a speculative look at passing Senna but thought better of it, adding afterwards the local would have lynched him had he pitched their hero into the dirt at the first corner.

Schumacher’s Zetec-R V8 engine was widely considered the weakest link in the Benetton package, even though Ford-Cosworth’s unit had won six races the previous season including the final three. Its balance of performance and fuel economy was probably underrated, but for sheer grunt the Ferrari V12 was hard to beat.

Illustrating that point, when Schumacher nipped past at Juncao on the end of lap one, the Ferrari blasted back into second place on the long uphill climb back to the pits. But Schumacher only spent one more lap stating at the rear wing of the 412T1. He made the same move next time around but made a cleaner exit and secured the position.

Behind them the field thinned out quickly. A phenomenal start propelled Berger to eighth but his engine only lasted five laps. Gianni Morbidelli, who had qualified his Footwork an excellent sixth, stopped on the same lap, his gearbox having been faulty since the start. Bertrand Gachot and Olivier Beretta had already retired having made contact while trying to avoid Eric Bernard’s spinning Ligier.

Senna held his lead over Schumacher at just under four seconds to begin with, but as the expected time of their first refuelling stop approached the Benetton drew closer to the Williams.

Was this going to be the story of 1994? The front of the field had a new look as the blue-white-gold Williams headed the pale blue Benetton. The pair dodged through traffic, kicking up sparks. Schumacher seemed to be biding his time, waiting for an opportunity.

The decisive moment came on lap 21 and not on the track, but in the pits. The pair came in together and Benetton’s crew got Schumacher out of his pit box again with the minimum disruption.

With no speed limit in force he gave the B194 full power as he scorched out of the bumpy pit lane. He shot past the stationary, who sat with his visor open as his mechanics pumped fuel into the car just millimetres behind his head. Moments later the Williams sped out of the pits in pursuit of Schumacher.

Back on the track Senna found it was all he could do to keep the Benetton in sight. Schumacher set a searing pace – by lap 40 they were the only two drivers still on the lead lap. Five laps earlier a frightening shunt had eliminated four of their competitors.

Martin Brundle was leading a three-way scrap for seventh place involving two of the sport’s newest drivers: Eddie Irvine, making his third race start for Jordan, and debutant Verstappen. Brundle had just lapped Bernard’s Ligier when his McLaren’s Peugeot engine threw a flywheel.

As Bernard hesitated behind the McLaren, Irvine took avoiding action – and chaos ensued. Verstappen had drawn alongside Irvine just as the Jordan driver jinxed left. The B194 touched the grass and snapped out of control. It slewed sideways, collecting the Jordan and Bernard’s Ligier. Finally it reached Brundle’s McLaren and launched off the rear of the car.

Verstappen’s right-rear wheel dealt Brundle’s crash helmet a sickening blow as the Benetton headed for the sky. Mercifully all four drivers walked away, though a heavily concussed Brundle periodically stopped and crawled as he headed back to the pits.

The Safety Car remained on stand by throughout and by now the 26-car field which started the race had been halved to 13. But there was one more retirement to come – and it would be the most surprising of all.

Senna had fallen up to nine seconds behind Schumacher following their second pit stops but with 20 laps to go he was making periodic stabs at cutting the deficit. He gained more time as Schumacher spent most of one circuit putting a demoralised, unwell Hill a lap down again.

With 16 laps to go the gap was down to five seconds. But just as the race seemed to be building to a climax, it was all over. On lap 56 Senna’s FW16 snapped sideways at Juncao and stopped. A live heart rate monitor on the television broadcast – which was mercifully absent from later races – registered 164bpm as he climbed from the cockpit.

‘Senna out’ read Schumacher’s pit board as he began his 57th lap. The crowd had got the message as well, and thousands made for the gates with over a dozen laps still to run.

They didn’t miss any major developments over the final laps although another Sao Paulo native, Rubens Barrichello, delivered a career-best fourth place for Jordan.

Schumacher won by a full lap from Hill. Alesi joined them on the podium, his hands bloodied by 70 laps of wrestling with his Ferrari.

Ukyo Katayama scored Tyrrell’s first points since Suzuka in 1992, and Karl Wendlinger claimed the final point for sixth. The last of the 12 runners was David Brabham’s Simtek, four laps down but classified on the team’s debut.

‘An outrageous miscarriage of justice’

Irvine was handed a one-race ban for his role in the four-car pile-up during the race. But if that seemed severe, it was nothing compared to the consequences when Jordan appealed against the stewards’ decision.

The FIA Review Board threw the book at Irvine when it met in April, extending his ban to three races. In a decision which provoked widespread debate, Irvine’s actions were compared to those of a motorway driver whose reaction was to swerve instead of applying the brakes. They ruled:

• The Board takes the view that F1 is the top of world motorsport and very high standards must be set by drivers participating in these races;
• The Board is satisfied that Mr Irvine caused and avoidable collision, forced My Verstappen’s car off the track and illegitimately prevented Mr Verstappen’s legitimate overtaking manoeuvre;
• The Board particularly has in mind the evidence, which they accept, that Mr Irvine knew of the fact that a car was following, and that he ought to have foreseen that Mr Verstappen may have overtaken him at that point;
• It is the Board’s opinion that Mr Irvine failed to evaluate the situation in the way that he ought to have done, and recklessly pulled out to pass the car driven by Mr Bernard.

An appalled Eddie Jordan called Irvine’s sentence “one of the most outrageous miscarriages of justice I have ever seen in Formula One”.

While Jordan came to terms with an unfathomable ruling, Williams realised their days of dominance were, nor the time being at least, behind them.

They had begun the previous two seasons with crushing wins. But in Brazil Schumacher had been able to get ahead of Senna, pull out a lead and provoke the three-times world champion into a rare mistake.

Schumacher and Benetton represented a more than credible threat. The new season promised to be a tooth-and-nail fight between one of the sport’s great champions and the man who was starting to look like his successor.

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Rosberg and Hamilton oozing confidence ahead of Malaysian Grand Prix weekend

A beaming Nico Rosberg predicted that he and Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton will be battling for victory in Sunday’s Malaysian Grand Prix with their swift adaptation to the new regulations leaving the opposition trailing.

The German driver overtook pole sitter Hamilton before the first turn of the season-opening race in Melbourne two weeks ago to go on and grab the first chequered flag of the V6 turbo era.

With little time for their rivals to employ significant upgrades, Rosberg was quietly confident that his fifth career victory could come in Malaysia on Sunday.

“The chances are that we will be right at the front it seems we already have a bit of an advantage over the other people,” the German told reporters at the Sepang Circuit on Thursday.

“Of course Melbourne is not a bench mark as a race so we should be cautious with that but we are looking good, so for sure it will be possible to get a great result here.”

The technical changes introduced for the 2014 season are the biggest most of the sport’s engineers and mechanics have ever seen, with new quieter engines, energy recovery systems and an emphasis on fuel economy as the sport embraces a ‘green revolution’.

After four consecutive world titles for Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel, the last coming after the German won nine straight races, the new changes have levelled the playing field and unsurprisingly Rosberg was all for it.

“I think its been all good for F1, it has changed the pecking order around, which is definitely good for everybody after the same guy winning last year. We needed a bit of a change on that so that’s been good,” he said.

“Its been a fantastic start to the season. I think the whole team has done a great job with these new regulations with the car and engine and the power trend they have built.

“We looked to be the quickest at the moment which is fantastic but then we must be careful with that and the opposition is not asleep and they are pushing like crazy.”

Despite the strength of the car, Hamilton encountered engine problems in Melbourne and was told to retire by the team over the radio, on his third lap.

The Briton told reporters at Sepang he would be using the same engine in Malaysia and stressed the importance of reliability, especially in the testing conditions in Sepang where temperatures are high and the humidity heavy.

“Reliability is going to be put to the real test because it’s so hot the engine is going to be on the absolute limit and I really don’t know how big the advantage is going to be,” the 2008 world champion said.

“When you lose 25 points that’s a serious deficit to catch up and from one DNF (did not finish) you can gain a large amount. I hope for our team that we don’t have anymore DNFs this year.”

Despite the stuttering start to the season, Hamilton shared Rosberg’s confidence in the car and said it was important the team made the most of their advantage before the grid inevitably made up the time over the course of the season.

“Everyone else is pushing massively hard to catch us up and we can definitely not sit back and relax we have got to keep pushing and keep trying to develop the car,” the Briton said.

“We’ve got to try and capitalise as much as we can, I tried to do that in the last race and I will try and do that from moving forward. We should be strong this weekend.”

MIKA: I hope Mercedes win one of their home races - And I hope it's Nico who succeeds!

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Button: If drivers don’t like the new sound, go and race somewhere else

Jenson Button has reacted to Sebastian Vettel’s disdain of the Formula 1 new era sound, by saying that if drivers do not like it they “can go drive elsewhere”.

The McLaren driver, World Champion in 2009, didn’t like the sound of all the moaning about the ‘new’ face of Formula 1.

He retorted by saying that complaining drivers [like Vettel] should “Go and race somewhere else if you’re not happy here”.

According to Auto Motor und Sport, Felipe Massa also can’t understand why drivers are suddenly complaining about the sound.

“We have known for years that the V6 with a turbo will not make the same sound as a V8,” said the Brazilian. “So it makes no sense to be upset about it now.”

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso was reserving his judgement completely.

“If I say now that I think the show was bad [in Melbourne], then I will be accused of being frustrated because I didn’t win,” he said.

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Vettel: The new Formula 1 sound is sh*t and I think for the fans as well

Sebastian Vettel has thrown his weight behind those who believe that the new Formula 1 sound, made by the all new V6 turbo powered cars, is not what the sport is about and not what fans want.

Speaking on the eve of the Malaysian Grand Prix weekend, Vettel responded to questions by reporters about the unspectacular sound and his response was, “It’s sh*t. That’s my opinion and I think for the fans as well. I think Formula One has to be spectacular and the sound is one of the most important things.”

“When I was a small child, I don’t remember much, but I remember when I was six years old and we went to see the cars live during Free Practice, the one thing I remember was the sound. How loud they were, to feel the cars through the ground and the whole ground was vibrating. It’s a shame that you don’t have that.”

Regarding his chances at Sepang, after a problematic pre-season with the troublesome Renault Power Unit, Vettel said “It was a relief to see that the package was quick, we just need to make sure that we get everything together and make the package reliable.”

“I hope for here we can have a reliable package and keep up the performance and even improve from where we were in Australia. Anything is possible here.”

“I wouldn’t mind some rain here, Dan has proved that the car was quick in the wet as well last week so we will see,” added Red Bull’s four time World Champion.

Regarding the noise made by the current generation of F1 cars, Jenson Button declared that it is not up to drivers to complain about the sound.

He told media, “Go and race something else if you’re not happy. As drivers we don’t have an opinion where the cars are in terms of sound and feel.”

“But when you cross the finish line first you’ve won a grand prix, so you don’t care what the car sounds like or what it looks like. You’ve beaten the best in the world, and that’s all you care about,” said the 2009 Formula 1 World Champion.

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Alonso: Not a perfect start but I believe we can fight for the championship

A small room in the temporary Ferrari offices at the back of the Sepang paddock is where Fernando Alonso began his official duties ahead of the Malaysian Grand Prix weekend, the second round of the 2014 Formula 1 World Championship.

After dismissing thoughts of a repeat of the 2012 race here, where the Spaniard drove brilliantly from ninth on the grid to win, with the words, “that’s something you only see once in life,” the topic turned to the new F1.

“I think we need to give more time to see how the races are and how the show is and how the people react to this new Formula 1,” began the Ferrari man.

“There was a lot of talk before the Australian race about how exciting this new Formula 1 would be and how many cars will finish, maybe zero! When 15 cars finish and there are not many problems and not many overtakings, that was not what the fans expected.”

“In our case, we need to see how the next races go in terms of our own performance to learn how we can quickly develop the car to be in better shape. In Australia we were not happy with the performance we showed and we need to improve as quickly as possible.”

If these comments had a negative tinge to them, Alonso was quick to emphasise the positives.

“I believe we can fight for the championship,” he assured the media. “We have more potential than we showed in Australia. We need to put everything in place and then we will have a better weekend. The team has the facilities and the talent to do a very good job.

“We can be strong and we will do better, I’m sure. It’s not been a perfect start. It seems like a repetition of the last couple of years, but these are different rules and a different rate of development applies. Our hopes are perfectly intact.”

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Raikkonen: We have plenty of good people working flat out as a group to improve things

Kimi Raikkonen’s Malaysian weekend officially got underway with the FIA press conference, where he began by denying that all his difficulties in Melbourne had been down to the brake-by-wire system.

“What I need is a set-up that means the car is more how I like it and the team is working on that. Hopefully when they get that for me, it will make things easier and give me more feeling, although this will take a little while” maintained the Finn.

Kimi was his usual candid self when it came to assessing the Scuderia’s Australian performance, “Obviously, it was not the ideal start to the year for the team, not what we wanted to achieve,” he said.

“However, after all the small difficulties we experienced in many areas, at least we got something out of it in terms of points. It’s going to be a long year. Hopefully, we can now build on it. We have plenty of good people working flat out as a group to improve things. I am sure we will keep making progress.”

As for the coming race weekend, the Ferrari man had no crystal balls to help him, “Obviously, every circuit is different, it’s very hot and humid here and we have different tyres for the first time. It will be very hard on the cars.”

“So I have no idea what to expect, but even in the past that was the case – that it was difficult to say from race to race. Hopefully, we will have a bit better feeling and with the experience we gained at the first race, things should run more smoothly and we can aim for a better result.”

Raikkonen’s usual laid back approach meant he had no startling revelations regarding what these new cars are like from the cockpit.

“From a driving point of view I don’t think it’s awfully different to last year’s cars, apart from some small details,” he revealed. “For me the bigger difference is being in a different team, as each team builds a different car.”

Nor were there any fireworks when it came to his relationship with Fernando Alonso.

“It is good and it’s always been good. Our joint aim is to work together to improve things and get the team where we want to be,” said Raikkonen.

Reports after Melbourne suggested that he was struggling with the brake-by-wire system on the F14T, the Finn scoffed at the idea, “I don’t know where that came from, it’s not the issue and there is nothing wrong with the system.”

“Somebody asked me about it after the race and I said ‘it’s not that’, so it’s not true. It is mainly just set-up and getting the car as I like.”

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Villeneuve: In the first three races Fernando is trying to destroy Kimi psychologically

Fernando Alonso is going all out to ‘destroy’ his new Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen in the first three races of the season according to Jacques Villeneuve, Formula 1′s outspoken 1997 world champion.

Although Villeneuve acknowledged that the predictions of outright war between the two world champions have not yet been proven to be correct, he believes that the psychological war has most certainly begun.

“In the first three races Fernando is trying to destroy Kimi psychologically. He will try, at all costs, finish ahead of teammate and get the team to rally around him,” Villeneuve said.

“Fernando’s plan is obvious – he wants to beat Kimi at all costs,” said the French Canadian. ”In the tests it was all calm, but in Melbourne Fernando showed his true potential.”

Indeed, Finn Raikkonen struggled with the handling of his 2014 Ferrari throughout the Melbourne weekend, while Spaniard Alonso comfortably beat him in Qualifying and the race.

But Villeneuve tips Raikkonen to fight back and insists, “Kimi is not an ‘Iceman’ – he has created this image to isolate himself, but like any driver, he doesn’t like bad results.

“But I don’t think that Kimi’s fans should worry – he also had problems with the handling in 2007 but he still became world champion.

“I think the rule changes will even play into his hands,” Villeneuve told Germany’s Sport Bild. ”In qualifying, Alonso will be faster, but this year that’s not so important.”

MIKA: This guy really loves to generalize and state the obvious! Villeneuve really is a "Schwanz Kopf" IMO

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Nico and Lewis on their bicycles in Kuala Lumpur

Formula 1 history is peppered with instances of acrimonious relationships between teammates - Piquet vs Mansell, Senna vs Prost, Vettel vs Webber – but it appears that the Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg partnership at Mercedes is harmonious…for now.

The duo were in fine form during a promotional cycle around Kuala Lumpur, chirping on Twitter as they went about their PR activity.

Rosberg tweeted: “Hey @lewishamilton ! Your new KL bike suits you really well! #hellokittyracing”

To which Hamilton replied, “You don’t look too bad yourself @nico_rosberg #hellokittyracing”

Last year at the same venue the two were involved in a team orders scenario whereby the Silver Arrows pitwall ordered Rosberg to hold station behind Hamilton – the pair crossing the line in third and fourth respectively.

Rosberg and Hamilton have known each other since their karting days, rising through the lower formulas through to Formula 1 almost simultaneously.

Below are photos of their outing in Kuala Lumpur.

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Fuelgate has Sepang paddock buzzing with speculation

The Sepang paddock is buzzing with speculation regarding Red Bull’s appeal against their disqualification from second place at the Australian grand Prix,and their action plan ahead of the Malaysian Grand Prix weekend.

Many are wondering if the world champion team risk an even heavier sanction by ignoring the new FIA-supplied fuel flow sensor.

Ricciardo, who lost his second place in Melbourne, said: “I trust the team to make the right decisions.”

And Sebastian Vettel also backed Red Bull to do the right thing for the team, “Of course we are always trying to exploit everything to the limit – but always within the rules.”

But Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso indicated that he cannot understand Red Bull boss Christian Horner’s claim that the accuracy of sensors will be the difference between success and failure.

“When it comes to incorrect measurements, we are talking about numbers after the decimel point,” said the Ferrari driver. “Nobody will win or lose a race [because of fuel flow],” he added.

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Switch to Mercedes power was not a fluke decision for Williams

Deputy Team Principal Claire Williams has denied that her Williams team simply lucked into being powered by the best Formula 1 engine for the sport’s new V6 turbo era.

Having struggled to just ninth in the 2013 standings with Renault power, Grove based Williams is now working with the field-leading Mercedes.

And the FW36 is regarded as probably the best 2014 car behind the works Mercedes.

Some think that Williams simply lucked into the best engine for the revolutionary new era, but Williams insists that is not so.

“We were in our second year with Renault after a long history with them,” she is quoted by Brazil’s Totalrace.

“But we did a huge amount of research into understanding how Renault and the other manufacturers would go with the rule changes.

“It was obvious early last year where some of the manufacturers were in the developmental stage,” Williams explained.

“We talked with Renault and Mercedes about it, and we decided to go with Mercedes. It was a very conscious decision,” she added.

Williams admitted that the team’s close ties to Mercedes’ Toto Wolff – still a co-owner and also husband of test driver Susie – helped the talks along.

“We were able to exchange information with him,” she revealed.

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Kehm dismisses F1 doctor Hartstein’s pessimism on Schumi recovery

Michael Schumacher’s manager has hit back at claims that ‘really bad news’ about the Formula 1 legend’s condition and recovery is in the pipeline.

Ex Formula 1 doctor Gary Hartstein claimed that, more than 12 weeks into the great German’s coma, it is “less and less likely” that Schumacher will recover.

He thinks that “really bad news” about the former F1 great’s prospects might be issued soon, due to the “terribly dismal prognosis”.

Citing sources, Hartstein was also critical of Schumacher’s early treatment following his skiing fall on the French ski alps, and predicted that doctors at the Grenoble hospital will eventually move the 45-year-old out of his bed if a patient with better prospects needs it.

In the wake of Hartstein’s comments, Schumacher’s manager Sabine Kehm said: “What I said in my last statement is still true.

“We remain confident that Michael will pull through and wake up, and we are fighting for that together with a team of doctors that we trust,” she told Bild newspaper.

The German newspaper report questioned Hartstein’s claims that his comments were based on the information of “usually impeccable sources”.

“Bild knows that, during his time in Formula 1, Hartstein was never close to Michael Schumacher.

“He has not had contact with Schumacher’s family or the doctors,” the report added.

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Stefanovich second F1 bid fails due to lack of engine deal

Serbian business man Zoran Stefanovich has admitted he had to withdraw his bid to enter Formula 1 in 2015 because his project could not secure an engine deal.

Alongside Gene Haas and Colin Kolles’ separate bids, Stefanovich – who also tried and failed to enter Formula 1 with departed Toyota’s assets in 2010 – recently renewed his push to join the sport.

Formula 1′s governing body has delayed making a decision about the twelfth team for 2015, but Stefanovich has confirmed reports that he is no longer in the running.

The biggest problem, he told Italy’s Omnicorse, was that he was unable to agree terms with either Mercedes, Ferrari or Renault for a customer turbo V6.

“Our view is that everyone should play the game on the same field,” he said, “but we were not able to close a contract for the supply of an engine with one of the existing manufacturers, and we talked for a long time with all of them.

“Since we did not reach an agreement on the Power Unit, our participation was compromised and we were forced to stop in the middle of the selection process,” said Stefanovich.

“There was no equality of treatment,” he complained, “but we do have a future in Formula 1.”

Indeed, it is reported that Stefanovich has been in talks with Marussia.

When asked about those contacts, he answered: “I have had contact with several teams for several years, which is a known fact.

“I don’t think that I need to go into the details of any ongoing negotiations at this time.”

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Panis not a fan of new era of green low volume Formula 1

Formula 1 veteran Olivier Panis has admitted he is no fan of the all new Formula 1 V6 turbo era.

“Honestly, yes,” he answered when asked by France’s sport365 if the 2014 opener in Melbourne left him feeling frustrated.

Panis, now 47, raced through the heart of the old Formula 1 era, when mammoth budgets and screaming V10s echoed around the circuits of the world.

The Frenchman said he was “shocked” when he heard the comparatively meek sound of the turbo V6s.

“I think the sound is part of Formula 1, because it allows you feel the power of these machines,” Panis said. “Now it’s not there.”

He also dislikes the idea that, instead of being flat-out, cars and drivers are now nursing a limited amount of fuel to the chequered flag.

“Formula 1 has ceased to be what it was before,” said Panis. “The races were sprints, not marathons. Formula 1 has evolved into endurance racing.”

He revealed that even the arguments about Formula 1 needing to race into a ‘green’ future are not convincing.

“They say that electric cars are the transport of the future, but I am not sure about that,” said Panis, who won the 1996 Monaco Grand Prix and last raced for Toyota in 2004.

“Electric cars create new problems, such as the disposal of batteries. I do not believe that electricity is the ‘new fuel’ for motor vehicles.

And “Formula 1 has never been ‘green’,” Panis insisted. “Formula 1 is performance, and that’s what the fans love.”

[MIKA27]

Sutil reveals weight concerns

Adrian Sutil has revealed that Sauber are battling to get down to the minimum weight of car, which is hurting their lap times.

This season the FIA raised the minimum weight to 692kg in light of the new 1.6-litre turbocharged V6 engines and ERS.

However, teams admitted from the get-go that it would be difficult to get down to that weight.

And one team that is still struggling to do that is Sauber with reports suggesting the weight of their Ferrari engine is part of the problem.

"The weight is very hard for us to achieve at the moment," Autosport reports Sutil as having said.

"We are overweight and step-by-step we are going to improve that, [but] it's going to take some time.

"The lightweight production is expensive but for the next few races we have a plan to try to reduce [the weight] regularly."

Sutil, who is not being helped by the fact that he is one of the taller drivers in the field, has called on the FIA to increase the minimum weight.

"I cannot lose more, this is just how I am. I am a tall man so there are no other things I can do.

"Small drivers have a clear advantage. It's obvious, everyone knows it and I hope to have some adjustments in the regulations very soon.

"This is very different compared to the years before as tall drivers now have a clear disadvantage in lap time."

MIKA: See this IMO is one of the most ridiculous problems this season... The minimum weight range is stupid. Now taller drivers like Hulkenberg, Sutil, Ricciardo and a few others suffer whilst smaller drivers like Massa weighing in at around 57 Kg benefit. What now.... Formula 1 will use horse Jokey's to race!?

It's also a health concern because one can only lose so much body fat and then it starts to eat at the muscles which these drivers need. On average a driver loses 4kg per race. Where does that come from now when Sutil for example looks skeletal?

[MIKA27]

Grosjean: Getting angry won't help

Having record a double DNF in Melbourne, Romain Grosjean admits Lotus won't be "100 per cent" in Malaysia but that getting angry won't help.

It was a frustrating start to the Championship for the Frenchman and his team as they struggled to put in the laps.

Issues with their E22 and its Renault engine, meant it wasn't until Sunday's grand prix that Grosjean and his team-mate Pastor Maldonado amassed more than 20 laps in a single run.

While Grosjean covered 45 before he retired, Maldonado managed 29. That, though, was a marked improvement for the Enstone team which Grosjean is hoping they can continue this weekend at the Sepang circuit.

"I think we've made quite a lot of changes and [there's] a lot of areas where we've seen we can improve from the race data we learnt on Sunday," he told Sky Sports. "So hopefully we did our homework.

"I don't think everything is going to be 100 per cent but if it can be a good step forward then that would be nice."

He added: "You have tough weekends in your life. Last year, for example, in Monaco I was super-quick but super-quick in the wall as well.

"Melbourne was a different weekend, in that you get there and know you haven't done enough mileage in testing and don't know where you're going to be.

"If you're extremely, extremely lucky things go right. But basically that wasn't the case."

The 27-year-old was asked about the moment he appeared to lose it during third practice for the Australian GP.

"I was shaking my head," he explained. "I had to take pills after for a migraine, it was really bad.

"Being angry would be the best thing to get your mind out of the right place."

[MIKA27]

Thunderstorms forecast for Sepang

Formula One could be in for a wet weekend at the Sepang circuit with thunder storms forecast.

Although there could be a dry start to Friday's first practice, midway through the heavens are expected to open with the conditions worsening as the day progresses.

Heavy showers are forecast for second place with a high of 32'C for the opening day's action.

There is more of the same on Saturday afternoon with heavy rain throughout final practice and qualifying with a high temperature of 31'C.

As for Sunday, while thunderstorms are expected in the morning it will dissipate to a light shower by the time the 56-lap Malaysian Grand Prix gets underway at 4pm.

A high of 32'C is forecast for Sunday with the humidity at 65 per cent.

[MIKA27]

SEBASTIAN VETTEL: RICCIARDO DISQUALIFICATION AFFAIR IS “BAD FOR THE SPORT”

Sebastian Vettel has weighed into the debate about his team-mate Daniel Ricciardo’s disqualification in Melbourne and the subsequent decision to appeal, saying that the episode is “bad for the sport”.

The four times champion was a spectator in Melbourne after retiring early in the race and congratulated his young team mate on a breakthrough performance.

But he said in the paddock in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday that the decision to remove the Australian from the standings because the Red Bull team did not follow the FIA’s instructions on reducing the fuel flow was “a big hit for the team and for Formula One”.

He added: “We had the race, Daniel did a fantastic job finishing second. The whole country [of Australia] was very happy and then a few hours later they take the second position away from him. From a driver’s point of view and a team point of view it hurts a lot. We need to see where the appeal goes, but if you look at the sport itself it’s always bad when these kinds of things happen.”

Red Bull’s appeal will be heard by the FIA Court of Appeal in Paris on April 14th. The team has indicated that this weekend it has acquired a number of new fuel flow sensors and will work with the FIA during the weekend to find one that is accurate to the satisfaction of both sides. A repeat of what happened in Australia is not ruled out, but it will be a case of seeing how well set up the teams are with accurate sensors after qualifying on Saturday.

Red Bull has carried out tests since Melbourne, observed by FIA staff, which show that their system was accurate and this is what has given them confidence that they will win the appeal. The appeal judges will have to assess, in other words, whether fuel flow sensors which are accurate to +/- 0.25 per cent are good enough and accurate enough for F1. Should the world’s most technically advance sport seek to do better?

Rival teams have pointed out that in these fine margins, there are real performance differences. Running at 0.5 per cent above the 100kg/hour flow rate for key parts of the race, for example, would make a difference of 1/10th of a second per lap to the overall race time.

Red Bull themselves estimate that if they had run as the FIA asked them to – with the troublesome sensor they used in practice together with the offset the FIA requested – that Ricciardo would have finished fifth.

The Australian driver, meanwhile, was his usual smiley and sanguine self, saying he took more positives than negatives from his performance in Melbourne. He added that he believes he can fight for the podium again here in Sepang.

“The team is appealing and fighting because they believe it didn’t have any performance gain,” he said. “So we believe that the pace was still the same in any case. So yes, given that set-up goes well on Friday here I hope to be in the top three.”

Ricciardo said he was deeply disappointed when informed on Sunday night that he had lost his result, “I was like, blimey, really?” he joked.

“It was a bit of a bummer. I was like, ‘Does this really have to happen now?’ Everything had gone as well as it could. We were never going to catch the Mercedes, but I did all I could, so in any case I was pleased with that.

“The team has a lot of faith in me, but there were probably still a few question marks until someone races at the front and gets the podium. So it was nice with all the pressure in Melbourne to show them that I can do this and that I’m ready to rumble!”

Although his target is the podium on Sunday here in Malaysia, Ricciardo was realistic about his chances of keeping the Mercedes-powered cars behind him on the two long straights in Sepang. In Melbourne he was clocked at 273km/h through the speed trap, compared to 308km/h for Kevin Magnussen’s McLaren. But it’s hard to pass in Melbourne, whereas a speed differential like that here will make him powerless to resist.

“Yeah, we know we are still a bit down on power and the Mercs are strong on the straights,” Ricciardo admitted.

“We know it will hurt us here a little more than Melbourne, but I’ve heard from the factory and from Renault that they have made some progress, so hopefully we will have a few more horses in the car this weekend.”

[MIKA27]

Fernando Alonso: More Potential In Ferrari F14 T Than Shown In Australia

Fernando Alonso believes there is plenty more to come from Ferrari’s F14 T, despite a less a muted start to the season in Australia.

Following a fourth-place finish in Melbourne, more than 35 seconds adrift of winner Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes, Alonso bemoaned a lack of performance, adding the team “needs to improve”.

Speaking today in the Sepang paddock today, however, Alonso, when asked if he had revised his opinion following time to digest the Melbourne race, the two-time champion admitted that while it feels like a repeat of the team’s troubled early races of the past few seasons, there is plenty of scope to improve F14 T.

“It’s not been a perfect start. It seems like a repetition of the last couple of years, but these are different rules and a different rate of development,” he said. “The hope is perfectly there.

“We have more potential than what we saw in Australia,” he added.

“We need to put everything in place and have a better weekend. We also understand we need to improve, especially with the Mercedes seeming so strong. But the team has the facilities and the talent to do a very good job. We should be strong and we will do better, I’m pretty sure.”

Kimi Raikkonen, though was less optimistic, saying that Ferrari’s position in the pecking order was as the team finished in Melbourne.

“I think we are more or less where we finished in Australia.” Said the Finn.

“Every circuit is different and obviously it is very hot and humid here, with slightly different tyres. I have no idea, even from the past years it was very difficult to say race to race and with the new rules it will still be hard to say. Hopefully we can get a slightly better feeling and overall have a bit more experience on how everything will run.”

Raikkonen’s opening weekend of the championship was hampered by handling issues, which Ferrari later put down to the Finn having difficulty with F1’s new brake-by-wire system.

Today, though, the Finn denied the new technology was to blame for his problems in Malaysia.

“I don’t know where that came from, it’s not the issue and there is nothing wrong with the system,” Raikkonen said.

“Somebody asked me about it after the race and I said it’s no issue, so it’s not true. It is mainly just set-up and getting the car as I like it to run. We are making some new stuff for me and hopefully when we get those it will be easier and I’ll get some more feeling in the front end. It’s not been the ideal start, but it’s going to be a long year and I’m sure we can keep progressing.”

Referencing Raikkonen’s issues, Alonso said he was unsure of what the problem was but that if he had a “better adaptation” he would be happy to provide it to the Finn.

“I’ve only had a few tests and one race with Kimi, so I don’t know exactly what is the problem with him,” said Alonso.

“I have enough to concentrate on on my side but if I have a better adaptation, I am here to help the team and if they have more difficulties hopefully they will improve quickly and in races where I have difficulty I can learn from them as quickly as possible.”

Finally, asked for his opinion of the new era of F1 having had two weeks to reflect on the experience of the first race of the season, Alonso confessed that he would not be able to give a ‘correct’ answer.

“It’s a very uncomfortable matter to speak about,” he said.

“If I say I like this Formula One I will be criticised because this is not anymore Formula One for most of the fans. If I say I don’t like this Formula One fans will be critical because I only like it when I win.

“It’s the same with our performance. If you say you are more or less happy with fourth place in the race in Australia because you finished the race, then you are not motivated anymore and not hungry for success. If you say you want to win and we don’t have the performance, you are criticising the team, so it’s very difficult when you have the microphone to talk about anything in this difficult contest.

“We need to give it a little bit more time,” he said.

“I understand the disappointment of the Australian race from the fans point of view, because the race was not as we thought. There was a lot of talk before the race about how exciting this new Formula One would be, how many cars would finish, maybe zero, all of this. When 15 cars finished and there were not that many problems people were not maybe expecting that. So we need to give a little bit more time. Maybe here we’ll have a fantastic race, a fantastic show.”

[MIKA27]

Williams Malaysian upgrades not ready in time

Williams showed great pace in Australia with Valtteri Bottas set for a podium finish had it not been for his brush with the wall, whilst Felipe Massa's form remained an unknown thanks to a first corner incident.

The team however had hoped to further close the gap to the front with its Malaysian Grand Prix upgrade package, however that won't be ready in time according to Felipe Massa.

"We are missing a little bit or rear down force and we are working on that to improve," he said on Thursday.

"Pieces were not ready for this race, so we have the same car, more or less, as we had for Australia.

"This is a different track so we need to see how the car behaves here, but we are definitely working 100% in the factory to improve.

There are some areas we need to improve and I'm sure when we fix them the car will grow.

"The car will show a better balance definitely and I think that will be positive for us as well."

As a result, the team will bring a bigger than expected package to China were Massa is hopefuly of making some big gains.

"From now until Barcelona you will see many different results and different improvements from other teams and for us as well. We are working to have a big package for China and we will see how it happens race-to-race and we hope we can be competitive like we were in Australia."

[MIKA27]

Has Formula 1 ‘overdone it?’

If you need a good spokesperson and all-round good guy to trumpet a cause, few are as good at towing the line like Nico Rosberg. We’ve said it many times before, if I were a sponsor, I’d want Nico peddling my products. He’s like a wind-up spokes-bot who says all the right things with the right smile.

I've also noted how Nico seems to always look at the bright side of things and when DRS and HD tires came into the equation, Nico was out front championing the new artifices and loved the impact they had on Formula 1.

No surprise then that Nico is leading the spin to stop the bleeding that F1 is currently experiencing telling AUTOSPORT’s Mr. Noble:

“It’s been good for F1,” Nico said. “It has shuffled everything about, which is great. The sport needs that.

“And it is contemporary. It is all very, very energy efficient, which is a good direction to take.

“Driving-wise, it is good fun too. It is slower than last year, which I don’t like, but I have got used to it and I don’t notice any more that I am slower.

“It is all good. It is very complicated in the car of course, because there is so much going on, and it will take some time to get on top of all that.”

It will be somewhat difficult to get a driver to denigrate their livelihood so perhaps some quarter must be given to Rosberg and Bottas who feel the sport is better off with the 2014 regulations. No one wants to pile on to an issue if it means you could very well be out of a job because of it—not that I believe it has reached those proportions mind you.

I don’t want to throw a grenade into a ideological debate that is ripe with politics but the FIA’s incessant poking and some team’s verbal affirmation about “going green” seems to be a part of this regulation change equation for sure but even Todt now says he doesn’t want this to be a sport of economy runs—makes you wonder what he thought the new regulations would do to the sport to begin with.

Regardless of how you feel about the “green” issue, there are many mouths speaking and sharing the voices of journalists, drivers, former drivers, teams, fans and sponsors. It’s been interesting to see how journalists of car magazines have struggled to be on board with a “green” ideology while writing about an industry that is the absolute antithesis of their belief. That must be difficult to do. It also must be difficult for Formula 1 to want to be green but by its very nature simply isn’t.

Is F1 changing because the very livelihood of the series is dependent upon being “green”? If F1 didn’t change to a fuel mileage series, would it risk dying? Would manufacturers leave the sport? Would fans leave the sport? What could that mean? Would Ferrari leave? Would Mercedes? Don’t ask me…but you can take Mario Andretti’s word on it as he told ESPN:

“I think quite honestly that they’ve overdone it, with the gigantic rule change they made — especially on the technical side,” Andretti said. “It’s got no spectator value whatsoever. The cost factor is ridiculous, and I think it’s taking away from the show, quite honestly. It puts more of the onus on the haves and the have-nots.

“Mercedes obviously is going to thrive on that because of all the manufacturers, they’re probably the most liquid to get into that area and it’s showing. But is that going to do anything for the show? I think it’s detracting, and the pure music of those 18,000-rpm engines is going to be missed.”

Even MotoGP star Valentino Rossi sees the danger in overhauling motor sport telling Tuttosport:

“I was expecting something different from Formula 1 with the new rules, instead I found it boring” said Valentino Rossi. “In motorcycles and cars you should run with the fuel you need. What is happening now in MotoGP I do not like, it’s just an exercise for engineers”

Former Renault F1 boss Flavio Briatore feels the same in that this is an engineering exercise and nothing more. Before you discount that, consider that the two main protagonists in F1 were sidelined due to software issues. Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton both set on the sidelines as the race went on without them.

Sure, attrition has always been a part of F1 but software glitches over a battery store, MGU-K or fuel-flow? In the past, drivers battled drivers and if there was attrition it usually meant an engine went boom under stress. Wouldn’t it have been much better to see Lewis and Seb battle it out than sit it out?

Surely there is a balance and perhaps 2014 will represent a year of seeking the balance between a more efficient racing series, a competitive series focused on driver battles and a sound worthy of the pinnacle of gladiatorial open-wheel battles. Finding that harmony will take some serious thinking and hopefully the fans will be patient enough to allow for this R&D year.

[MIKA27]

Mercedes set the pace but eyes will be on Red Bull

The two week gap after F1′s newest generation of cars passed their first test in racing conditions in Australia will no doubt have been very welcome, but now the teams face an even tougher challenge for round two.

The Malaysian Grand Prix has always been one of the toughest races of the season on the drivers, and now the long straights and energy-sapping heat of Sepang will prove just as threatening to the health of their cars.

But the heat is not the only hazard here as the timing of the race often coincides with the downpours which can be relied upon to hit the region in the late afternoon.

When the rain stays away, the Malaysian Grand Prix tends to produce a fairly straightforward race that often provides a better indication of the true pecking order than Albert Park. But when the rain arrives, chaos often follows.

Two of the last five Malaysian races have been red flagged due to extreme wet weather conditions – with the 2009 race bring abandoned after just 33 laps.

Hosting its 16th grand prix, the Sepang International Circuit is characterised by its long straights and long corners. With a mix of high speed sweepers and slow hairpins, aerodynamic efficiency is key around this 5.5km track.

The long corners and multiple traction zones mean that Sepang is one of the hardest circuits on tyres on the calendar, and Pirelli will bring their two hardest compound tyres as usual for this race.

Overtaking is certainly possible due to the lengthy straights that straddle the main grandstands with DRS helping to make passing even less of a challenge in recent seasons. Top speed will be crucial and the speed trap figures for the new generation of engines will make interesting reading – two weeks ago in Melbourne the cars were quicker in a straight line than they had been last year.

On the back of a dominant victory in Melbourne, Mercedes arrive in Sepang with a clear advantage over the rest of the field. But with Lewis Hamilton’s engine related retirement showing that the Mercedes are by no means bullet-proof, a Mercedes victory in Malaysia is not guaranteed.

With reliability still a major concern and the new cars set to undergo heavy development as the season progresses, even a race as early as this could ultimately play a pivotal role in the outcomes of this season’s championships.

Malaysian Grand Prix team-by-team preview

Red Bull

Red Bull were mired in controversy at this race last year and return to the track under a cloud once more. How they will approach this weekend following their Australian Grand Prix disqualification and pending the outcome of their appeal will be one of the major talking points.

In Australia the team ignored the FIA’s instructions on how to allow for variations in the reading given by their fuel sensor, which they believed was faulty. As a result the FIA found the team repeatedly violated the maximum 100kg/hour fuel flow rate on Daniel Ricciardo’s car.

But what if they find themselves in a similar situation again this weekend with another faulty sensor? Ignoring the FIA’s advice a second time would demonstrate the strength of their convictions, but would lead to certain disqualification. Whereas obeying the FIA could be seen as a tacit admission that they did the wrong thing in Australia.

It may not come up, but if it does Christian Horner will have to decide whether he gambles another weekend on Red Bull winning their appeal, or hedges his bet and hopes it doesn’t weaken their case before the FIA on April 14th.

Regardless of the appeal outcome, Red Bull can take heart from the improved performance of the RB10 in Ricciardo’s hands at Melbourne, not all of which will have been down to their fuel infringement.

Mercedes

Despite a victorious opening race weekend in Australia where they secured pole, led all 57 laps and took the first win of the season, Mercedes may well be disappointed to arrive in Malaysia with only 25 points to their name.

Having won with pace in hand in Melbourne, Nico Rosberg will realise that only his team mate or a mechanical failure will likely prevent him from taking two wins out of two this weekend.

After engine troubles forced him into a frustrating retirement in Australia, Lewis Hamilton will be on a mission to make up the disappointment of Melbourne with the first Malaysian victory of his career.

Twelve months ago the team chose to call off the contest between their two drivers in the closing stages of the race, much to Rosberg’s chagrin. With the W05s the class of the field, it’s surely a question of when rather than if they will feel the urge to impose team orders again.

Ferrari

A fourth and seventh place finish was not the result that Ferrari would have been hoping for as they began their latest attempt to win a championship for the first time since 2008.

The team will be hoping that history repeats itself this weekend as both of their world champion drivers have previously won the Malaysian GP for the Scuderia – Raikkonen in 2008 and Alonso in 2012.

But that may prove difficult as the team has admitted they are lacking in top speed – a potentially serious weakness on Sepang’s long straights.

Lotus

Heading into the second round of the season, the Lotus E22 is still yet to successfully complete a full race distance.

Despite a weekend of almost endless problems in Melbourne, the fact that Romain Grosjean was just 14 laps away from the chequered flag on Sunday will have been seen as a promising step forward.

But getting to the chequered flag will not be any easier in the unrelenting Malaysian heat than it was in Australia.

McLaren

For the first time since Bahrain 2012, McLaren arrive at a grand prix as leaders in the constructors’ championship. Top-three scores for both cars in Melbourne – albeit pending the outcome of Red Bull’s appeal – was likely the best result they could have expected.

Kevin Magnussen will be brimming with confidence following his Driver of the Weekend winning performance at his Grand Prix debut. Unlike Melbourne, he’ll have the support of father Jan with him in the paddock in Malaysia.

Team mate Jenson Button was only promoted to the podium on the back of Ricciardo’s disqualification in Melbourne but believes the performance of the MP4-29 was promising.

“Even if we don’t yet have the pace to take the fight to the front-runners, we should have a car that’s decent in every sector, and which we’ll be able to hustle through the race,” he said.

Force India

A positive start for Force India in Melbourne was hailed by team principal Vijay Mallya as “the best start we’ve had since I took over the team”.

Nico Hulkenberg looks to record his eighth points finish in ten races this weekend, while Sergio Perez needs a clean start to the race after a first lap puncture in Melbourne inflicted by Esteban Gutierrez severely compromised his afternoon.

Sauber

Two years after almost winning this event in 2012, Sauber return to Sepang in 2014 looking to score their first points of the season. Adrian Sutil and Esteban Gutierrez were classified 11th and 12th respectively in Melbourne.

Both drivers were lapped in Melbourne but Sutil remains open-minded about the car’s potential. “I am curious to drive the car on this track where the aerodynamics play a huge role,” he said.

“If a car is good in Sepang, then it will be fast on other tracks as well.”

Toro Rosso

Having endured a difficult winter the opening race in Melbourne was a welcome relief for Toro Rosso, who saw both cars score points in the season-opener for the first time since 2009.

Having become F1′s youngest ever points scorer in Melbourne, Daniil Kvyats says he appreciates the chance to start a race at a venue where he has driven before.

“I took my first ever single-seater win here for BMW in 2010 and actually this is also where I drove my very first single-seater race, so I have plenty of memories of this circuit,” he said.

Williams

Valtteri Bottas made two comeback drives in one race in Melbourne for an eventual result of fifth, softening what was an otherwise frustrating weekend of misfortune and missed opportunity for Williams. However, ten points means that the team eclipsed their entire 2013 total in the first race of the new season.

The FW36 clearly has good pace and with aero efficiency key in Malaysia, Williams will likely be hoping for a normal race weekend free of rain or incidents to allow them to show just how good a car they have this year.

Marussia

Despite both their cars having started from the pit lane in Melbourne, Marussia will have left Australia pleased to have had both cars running at the finish and Max Chilton recording what could turn out to be a crucial 13th place.

This came after a distinctly unpromising run-up to the season in testing. “The data that has yielded could not have provided us with a better baseline for our development programme,” said team principal John Booth.

“We have spent quite a bit of time since Melbourne analysing that information carefully to enable us to have a more straightforward and successful weekend in Malaysia.”

Caterham

Melbourne was an up-and-down weekend for Caterham: they failed to set a time on Friday, then Kamui Kobayashi reach Q2 on Saturday, only for him to crash out at the start due to a braking problem.

A trouble-free build-up to the race is their first goal. Like Kvyat, rookie Marcus Ericsson has some prior experience of the circuit to count on which will be valuable if the CT05 doesn’t run any better in practice than it did two weeks ago.

MIKA: Notice how Mercedes use a 2013 Spec V8 in their demo at KL and not a V6? Same for Coulthardt at the Melbourne GP.

[MIKA27]

Ayrton Senna's last interview revealed in new issue of F1 Racing

Ayrton Senna's final interview before his death at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix has been revealed by the man who conducted it, former Williams commercial director Richard West.

Senna and team-mate Damon Hill visited the Williams Paddock Club shortly before lunchtime on Sunday May 1, 1994 for a Q&A moderated by West.

What was, at the time, a routine driver appearance would be the last time Senna spoke in public.

In the aftermath of Senna's accident, West forgot all about the interview until he received a video tape of it from an anonymous source several years later.

During the interview Senna touched on circuit safety - although, poignantly, with a focus on the forthcoming Monaco Grand Prix rather than Imola.

"It's a very tight pitlane with too many people in it," he said. "It will be very, very dangerous.

"So we just talked today about it and we are thinking about asking the FIA officials to introduce a speed limit for the pitlane."

Before leaving, Senna autographed a copy of the circuit map - putting his signature next to the Tamburello, the corner where his car would leave the track with fatal consequences.

"It's a short interview, but incredibly poignant, and it was lost until now," said West. "To this day I still don't know who sent me the tape."

[MIKA27]

Kamui Kobayashi claims current F1 car noses are "dangerous"

Kamui Kobayashi has called for a rethink about nose designs in Formula 1 following his Australian Grand Prix crash with Felipe Massa.

The Caterham driver suffered a rear brake failure at the first corner in Melbourne, and ploughed in to the back of Massa's Williams.

Images of the crash showed that Kobayashi's car had submarined under the rear of the Williams briefly - confirming fears expressed by Adrian Newey earlier this year about a consequence of the new 2014 low noses in rear impacts.

Having reviewed what happened, Kobayashi thinks the situation needs further examination by the FIA.

"It was quite a serious problem, and it can be quite dangerous for the driver," said Kobayashi, who was uninjured in the accident.

"I think I was lucky that I did not hurt myself, because if it happened in Monza, it could be dangerous.

"The speed at the first corner is not so high [at Albert Park]. When I saw the pictures after that, it can be quite scary stuff."

Kobayashi thinks his lucky escape from having his nose go under Massa's car should be reason enough for the FIA to look into the situation for next year.

"We need to be serious about what happened, as we went to a different nose for safety reasons," he said.

"If it's dangerous going with the different front nose, then I think we need to talk again about what we need to do for the regulations."