FORMULA 1 - 2014

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Lopez: 'We need to sit Maldonado down and talk'

Lotus co-owner Gerard Lopez admits he may need to sit down with Pastor Maldonado and tell him to push a little less, following a spate of incidents.

The Venezuelan is no stranger to incidents and was of the most penalised drivers last year. His start to 2014 hasn't been much better. He was handed a ten-second stop-go penalty in Bahrain for making contact with Esteban Gutierrez, three penalty points and a grid drop in China, then this weekend he crashed during qualifying and made contact with Marcus Ericsson on the opening lap of the race.

The stewards handed him a five-second stop-go for that and another penalty point. Maldonado's team-mate Romain Grosjean was in a similar situation in 2012 and was even handed a race ban, but he has since matured and went on to qualify fifth in Spain and secure the teams first points.

"Romain has matured a lot," Lopez said of the Frenchman.

"He now feels comfortable in his shoes and that helps on the track and we know that he can do the job."

However, the Lotus chairman questioned Maldonado's approach and, although admitting the former-Williams driver is "unbelievably fast", suggested he needs to push a little less.

"Pastor we've known for a long time from GP2, as he's been running with DAMS who are a team very close to us,"

Lopez told the official F1 website.

"He is unbelievably fast - every lap for him is something of a qualifying lap. Maybe he's doing a bit too much and we need to sit down with him and work that out - tell him that in his case - with the speed that he has - most of the time 95 per cent would be enough.

"But he's a nice guy and very accepted by the team."

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Gran Turismo 6 to release free Ayrton Senna Tribute

Twenty years after the death of Ayrton Senna, Gran Turismo have created new content that follows his beginnings and motorsports career, the “Ayrton Senna Tribute”, under a partnership with the “Ayrton Senna Institute”, a non-profit organisation, which carries on the legacy and will of Ayrton to this day.

This free update for “Gran Turismo 6″ will be released in the latter half of May, exclusively on PlayStation 3. The “Ayrton Senna Tribute” is a 4-part special content that retraces the life of Senna through various photographs and videos.

Players will have the chance to relive Senna’s career first-hand by driving the same cars and challenging the same events that shaped his legend, such as the #17 DAP Racing Kart he drove to fight in the World Karting Championships and his Lotus 97T F1 car on tracks like Brands Hatch GP circuit and the Italian circuit of Monza, which have been given a complete makeover in order to restore their original layouts from the ’80s.

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Todt says Russian GP on track despite crisis

The inaugural Russian Formula One Grand Prix in Sochi remains on track for an October debut despite concern raised by the crisis in Ukraine, according to local promoters and the sport’s governing body.

International Automobile Federation (FIA) president Jean Todt, speaking to reporters, said that currently there was “nothing that should change the running of the calendar”.

World Superbike organisers have cancelled their round of the championship scheduled to take place at Moscow Raceway in September.

“At the moment there is no change to the calendar. Russia is on. I am comfortable with what the FIM (Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme) has done, but at the moment we don’t have any reason to reconsider any race [which] we have on the calendar,” added Todt.

“I have no doubts the race will go ahead,” race promoter Sergey Vorobyev told Reuters separately after meeting Formula One officials at last weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona.

“We have construction being done at a good pace, we have the operational and sporting preparations also being done very extensively. There is no doubt from any point of view that the race will happen.”

Media speculation about the race, to be held on a street circuit around facilities used for this year’s Winter Olympics, began after Moscow annexed the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea from Ukraine in March.

The crisis is the worst between Russia and the West since the Cold War, with the United States and European Union imposing sanctions – including asset freezes and visa bans – on a number of individuals and companies.

The Russian round of the world superbike championship that had been scheduled for Moscow Raceway on Sept. 21 has already been cancelled.

Series organisers said that decision was reached because “the current political situation affects the capabilities of a number of key partner companies essential to run the event”.

Aleksey Sheian, minister for strategic development and investments in the Krasnodar region around Sochi, was also in Barcelona and told Reuters the race had to be seen as a purely sporting event.

He added that postponement of a project strongly backed by President Vladimir Putin was “not even on the agenda, no way”.

Vorobyev said work in Sochi was progressing well and had picked up speed as soon as the Olympics finished in February.

“We have entered a very active phase in the construction,” he explained. “We are doing the final interior works on the team buildings, pit building and main grandstand.

“We are preparing for laying the final layer of asphalt which will be done quite soon. We are confident that in August we will have the circuit completed.”

The promoter said a decision on how many temporary stands would be installed around the circuit would be made by May 20 when details of the ticketing programme would also be announced.

Organisers plan to sell 55,000 tickets with overseas visitors expected to account for about 20 percent of the crowd.

Richard Cregan, who was chief executive of the Abu Dhabi circuit and is now acting as a consultant to Sochi organisers, told Reuters he had no doubts about the facility.

“It’s going very well at the moment,” he said. “There’s no question it will be tight but it will be ready, it will be complete.

“We had a good meeting with the FIA and (race director) Charlie (Whiting) for the inspections and all that so that’s all going to be scheduled soon.

“Charlie’s quite happy and obviously he’ll come and inspect and then set up a second inspection date and go from there.”

Asked in a Spanish Grand Prix news conference about the race, principals said they had travel arrangements in place and would follow government advice nearer the time.

“If we go there it will be a second home race for us so it’s pretty important,” Marussia team boss John Booth, whose team have a Russian-licence and sponsors, told Reuters.

Sauber and Toro Rosso also have Russian partners – with Russian rookie Daniil Kvyat racing for the latter team – while tyre supplier Pirelli has oil major Rosneft as its single largest shareholder.

“Russia is for us a very important business market and will remain so. If we go to Russia we’ll be happy,” said Pirelli motorsport head Paul Hembery.

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Tost says Barcelona test is a waste of money

Toro Rosso Team Principal Franz Tost has blasted the current testing session in Barcelona, deeming it a waste of money and resources.

Speaking to the media on the first day of the second in-season test taking place in Spain (the first happened in Bahrain after that country’s grand prix) Tost said, we have a test here in Barcelona and in my eyes it’s a totally useless spend of money, because what do we bring in?”

“We bring a car, an extra car, we bring in extra people. We are running here for two days and each kilometre in Formula 1 costs you three or four hundred euros or even more and if you calculate all this at the end we have spent a lot of money,” he revealed.

“I think we should find now a way with the Technical Regulations and the Sporting Regulations to cut the costs,” he added.

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McLaren may test Honda powered car in 2014

McLaren could be ready to test a Honda V6 turbo power unit before the end of the 2014 season claims team boss Eric Boullier, even though the Frenchman’s immediate task after joining McLaren from Lotus is to win races with Mercedes power.

After a promising start, McLaren’s season has slumped, and yet the newly-returned ‘supremo’ Ron Dennis is demanding race wins long before the switch to works Honda power.

“I know why [Dennis] is saying it,” said Jenson Button. “We have to be quicker this year if we want to be quick next year. We have to keep on pushing and will not let up, unlike maybe Mercedes once they have a 300 point lead.”

London newspaper The Times claims that Boullier has been given “carte blanche” by Dennis to depart from traditional McLaren methods and “start again”.

The highly-anticipated Honda era, meanwhile, may get an unexpectedly early start, with Boullier hinting that the Japanese-made turbo V6 could get its first laps in Abu Dhabi at the end of the season.

“We have thought about it,” said the Frenchman, referring to whether McLaren could immediately switch to Honda power for the post-race test after the Abu Dhabi finale in November.

“We are currently running a Mercedes engine until Abu Dhabi so we will not run anything else, but we have thought to maybe try the [Honda powered] car afterwards,” added Boullier.

However, he dismissed the suggestion that – already without a title sponsor in 2014 – McLaren might as well write off this season in favour of the 2015 project.

“We definitely are not in a limbo year,” he said. “We are working just flat-out at Woking and a title sponsor doesn’t change anything anyway as our budget is in place already.”

“Obviously next year’s power unit is another programme but it is not affecting what we are doing at all,” Boullier added.

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Massa unconcerned about latest criticism

Felipe Massa insists he is not worried by the latest round of criticism which has surfaced after his poor showing during the Spanish Grand Prix weekend.

The Brazilian was often under fire as a Ferrari driver, but for 2014 he switched to Williams where he relished the chance to be a de-facto number one.

In Spain last weekend, however, Massa qualified ninth while his young teammate Valtteri Bottas made the headlines with his impressive run to fourth.

And in the race, the 33-year-old struggled even more, and he was lapped and out of the points while Finn Bottas, 24, finished fifth.

Once again, Massa is facing criticism, but he told Brazil’s Totalrace: “I’m not the least bit worried. The focus is on the next race and doing a better job. I’m used to the pressure.”

He said the Grove based team is currently looking into why his tyre wear was much higher than expected in Barcelona, “I think the only change was the temperature. With the colder track, something did not work for me.”

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Mateschitz adamant that Red Bull will fight to the end

Red Bull will not give up the battle for the 2014 Formula 1 championship race is the order straight from the top, despite some predicting that Mercedes’ can achieve the unprecedented feat of winning every single grand prix this season.

Red Bull mogul Dietrich Mateschitz, however, wants the Milton Keynes team to keep fighting and told APA, “Our first goal is that we become capable of winning this year. If we can be competitive then, as long as it is mathematically possible, we are still in the world championship fight – definitely.”

Mateschitz acknowledged that a lot depends on Red Bull’s beleaguered engine supplier, Renault, and other factors as well.

“A new fuel can bring up to 20 or 30 horse power. We have never had the most powerful engine, but a good package overall. Perhaps the Grand Prix of Austria can be a turning point,” said Mateschitz, whose company is the promoter of his country’s return in June to the Formula 1 calendar.

“We have a good car,” he said. “We started two seconds behind but it is looking much better now.”

At the very top of his game in 2014 has been Red Bull team newcomer Daniel Ricciardo, with Mateschitz admitting the extent of the Australian’s success was a “surprise”.

“Sebastian Vettel has had a lot of bad luck this year,” he told Salzburger Nachrichten, “but Daniel has shown no weaknesses from day one.

“This also shows that Toro Rosso is an excellent school for producing future winning drivers, and the very next contender is Daniil Kvyat,” Mateschitz added.

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Red Bull have no plans to ditch Renault

Red Bull has made no secret that it regards its RB10 car as a championship winner, with the only missing link being the deficiencies of the Renault engine.

The French marque, however, insist that they are rapidly catching up, with Remi Taffin claiming after the weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix: “I’d say we are about 90 per cent of the way on our recovery now, with final refinements to come.”

Although as early as January, when the Renault engine problems were at their worst, there was talk of the world champion team sourcing their power unit elsewhere. But for the moment, Red Bull is ruling out a change of engine supplier.

“Change to who?” team owner Mateschitz said when asked the question. “We currently have no alternatives, and the contracts with Renault are long term.”

Red Bull is pushing ahead with its French partner, he explained, “I hope that by mid-season we succeed to some extent in making Mercedes’ lead at least no longer unassailable. As always, hope dies last!”

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Red Bull to assess 2014 championship strategy after Austria

Red Bull F1 team will take stock of their 2014 Formula 1 campaign after their home race in Austria next month.

That is the claim of the energy drink company’s Helmut Marko, despite team owner Dietrich Mateschitz insisting that Red Bull will keep pushing for the title.

Mercedes has easily won the opening five grands prix of 2014, but Red Bull’s rate of improvement since a disastrous winter season has also been impressive.

“The Grand Prix of Austria is a benchmark,” Marko, referring to the June 22 race at the renovated Red Bull-Ring, is quoted by APA news agency.

“By then we will have all the parameters with the engine all together,” he added. “Then we’ll see how things look.”

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Barcelona negotiating F1 deal through to 2026

Talks about the long-term future of the Spanish Grand Prix reportedly got underway during the course of last weekend.

Although the Circuit de Catalunya’s existing contract runs until 2016, El Mundo Deportivo reports that a new ten-year deal through 2026 is now being discussed.

The preliminary talks in Barcelona were reportedly between Formula 1 Chief Executive Bernie Ecclestone and Catalonian president Artur Mas, Spanish correspondent Elvira Gonzalez has reported.

Gonzalez said that a race-day crowd of more than 91,000 attended Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix, more than any other European round on the calendar besides Silverstone.

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Barcelona Test Day 1: Chilton on top for Marussia

Max Chilton went fastest on the opening day of the second in-season test in Barcelona, the Marrusia driver setting a time of 1:26.434 on Pirellis’s supersoft tyre in the final minutes of a session that was complicated by morning rain and a spate of red flags.

Lotus test driver Charles Pic finished in second place with a time two tenths adrift of Chilton, the French driver’s best lap coking on the soft tyre. They were followed by Mercedes Lewis Hamilton who had headed the timesheet for much of the afternoon and who had been quickest in the wet morning session, with a time of 1:44.291 on the intermediate tyre.

Aside from being made tricky by the persistent rain the morning session as also interrupted by a number of red flags.

The morning session was made more difficult by a number of red flags. Kimi Raikkonen suffered a power unit problem on his first run that kept him out action for the morning and Chilton stopped at Turn 5 after an hour.

Jean-Eric Vergne had two early stoppages too, bringing out the red flags on his first lap out when he pulled over between Turns 9 and 10 and he then also stopped on his second lap out. He too failed to set a time in the morning session.

The rain led to the opening session being shortened and the lunch break brought forward to midday in a bid to give teams more running in the dry weather forecast for the afternoon. The second outing was also extended until 6pm local time.

Red Bull test driver Sébastien Buemi’s afternoon ended well before then, however. The Swiss driver, focusing mainly on work correlating his on-track performance with his time in the team’s simulator, was sidelined by a gearbox problem after 54 laps.

That was more than double the total managed by Raikkonen. After failing to set a time in the morning the Finn completed just 18 laps in the afternoon before he stopped again at Turn 4, once again bringing out the red flags. Raikkonen ended the day with the fourth fastest time, however.

Behind the Ferrari driver, Vergne was fifth-fastest in front of Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg and Felipe Massa was seventh ahead of Jenson Button. Eighth place went to Caterham’s Kamui Kobayashi who ended his session with a big off that saw him hit the barriers hard, with considerable damage to the front end of his CT05.

He was followed by Buemi and finally Sauber tester Giedo van der Garde, who amassed the day’s biggest total of laps with 86.

Barcelona Test, Day One Times – Tuesday, 13 May 2014

Max Chilton Marussia 1:26.434 60 laps

Charles Pic Lotus 1:26.661 70 laps

Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:26.674 79 laps

Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:26.965 20 laps

Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:27.724 52 laps

Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:27.727 53 laps

Felipe Massa Williams 1:27.756 55 laps

Jenson Button McLaren1:28.333 74 laps

Kamui Kobayashi Caterham 1:30.101 72 laps

Sebastien Buemi Red Bull Racing 1:31.440 54 laps

Giedo Van der Garde Sauber 1:31.783 86 laps

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Button: I don’t want to retire at the end of this year

Jenson Button endured a frustrating 2013 season with McLaren, and 2014 is no better. The season has in fact started off even worse than last year – as the Woking outfit have failed to score points in the last three races and languish sixth in the championship standings.Despite this the Briton has no intentions of quitting.

Speaking to Sky after a below par weekend in Spain, Button said of his plans beyond this season, “I definitely want to be in Formula 1. This sort of season does not make you want to retire.”

“If you do retire, you want to retire on a high and if you have the possibility to do that, then you continue racing to get that high. The problem then is when you do that you don’t want to stop racing either, so you could be racing for many years,” explained the 2009 F1 world champion.

“I am happy about my future, and think it is quite exciting. The biggest problem is that I need to be in a car that is competitive, that gives you confidence as a driver as well. I hope that’s here,” said Button who has tasted victory on 15 occasions during his Formula 1 career which began in 2000.

When to quit is always a tough call for drivers who have been at the pinnacle of motorsport for such a long time, Button acknowledges, “It is a difficult decision for a driver in my position, with so much experience and so much to give. I’m at the point in my career where I’ve only a few years left where I will be in F1, and I want to be in a position where I can win races or be close to winning races.”

McLaren enter a brand new era as they re-unite with Honda starting in 2015, and Button wants to be part of the plan, “I would like to think that I’ll be here and the team will be competitive towards the end of this season, which will then give me good reason to want to be here.” (GP247)

Colleen tells me that this poepholiena has promised to come back with an offer “within 48 hours”…let’s see what she puts on the table.

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Alonso: Ferrari in a battle for second

Fernando Alonso has admitted that there is no way for Ferrari to catch Mercedes in the Constructors' Championship and that finishing second is now their objective.

The two-time Drivers' Championship winner and his team-mate Kimi Raikkonen finished in sixth and seventh during in last weekend's Spanish Grand Prix, where Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg completed their fourth consecutive one-two finish of the year.

"We need to do better. Mercedes is out of reach, but we have potential to catch the other teams so second position is our target," Alonso told Autosport.

"The race was difficult, the weekend has been difficult in general with a lack of grip and balance in the car; there were new parts on the car so we had a difficult weekend."

"We cannot be happy with finishing so far behind the leaders.

"In a way we've had this situation since the first races, because we finished a minute behind the leaders with some safety cars.

"Here we didn't have safety cars so this minute was [actually] a minute and a half."

After Sunday's disappointing race in Barcelona, Ferrari have now gone a year without a race victory and Alonso admitted that a Maranello victory is unlikely in the near future.

"Unfortunately it's been a lot of time; we haven't been able to fight for wins in the last 12 months and we want to do better," he added.

"It will probably not happen soon as we got lapped here, so when we arrive in Monaco we probably won't be in a position to win.

"We need to concentrate and work on every area of the car and make it stronger."

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From the notebook in Barcelona

The paddock in Barcelona was busy with a lot of folk making their first appearances of the year in F1. There was a meeting of F1 race promoters involving all but two of the current crop. Having said that, the most important race promoter was missing because the Automobile Club de Monaco was hosting its annual historic event (at which incidentally one of the most important F1 cars ever was crashed and damaged. The car in question was Jim Clark’s Lotus 49, the actual chassis that used a Cosworth DFV for the first time). Monaco is a bit like Ferrari in that it is impossible to imagine the Formula 1 World Championship without either, while all other races and teams seem to be largely expendable. Monaco and Ferrari define what F1 is and so without Monaco, the circuit promoters have no real voice. The meeting was headed by Ron Walker of Melbourne, a close associate of Bernie Ecclestone, so it is impossible to imagine the organisation ever becoming powerful despite the fact that on paper the TV rights for any event is held by the person on whose land the event is taking place. In theory, if all the promoters got together and agreed not to do business with the Formula One group, they might be able to form a new entity and take over the business. This would be a good idea for them because they could then stop the exploitation of the race fees that currently make it impossible for any promoter to make money. The Automobile Club de Monaco is anything but dynamic and does not want to cause trouble as it is rumoured to have a special deal with the Formula One group.

The big stories of the weekend were Renault complaining that some of its teams have not been paying their bills. Elsewhere McLaren quietly secured the derives of Guillaume Cattelani, a former Peugeot Sport and Dallara engineer who has been working at Lotus F1 Team in recent years. He will be joined by Tony Salter, who spent much of his early career with Williams before moving to Sauber. The word is that the Swiss team has also lost its head of vehicle dynamics Britain’s Ben Waterhouse.

There is a lot of talk in the newspapers about Adrian Newey going to Ferrari. This is interesting because Newey has turned down offers on many occasions in the past. Adrian is currently being paid about $10 million a year to work at Red Bull and consequently he enjoys a nice lifestyle and every toy one can imagine. Yet he remains focussed and head-down trying to win. The stories all suggest that all Ferrari needs to do is to pay Newey an inordinate amount of money and he will go to Italy, but this is not really the case. It is way more complicated than that. When Red Bull Racing’s Christian Horner signed Newey he looked for ways to make sure that the latter would stay for the long term. I’m told that there are clauses in contracts that tie Newey and Horner together so, for example, if Newey leaves, Horner can as well (and vice versa). This means that both are protected and the loss of one or the other would be disastrous for Red Bull and so it is best to make sure that both are happy. If that involves paying more money then more money will likely be paid. It is possible that such a deal might impact on any attempt to recruit Newey because while the Italian might be happy to get Newey, they might not want Horner in a team principal role… Newey likes life at Red Bull and has no real need to change, particularly if it means going to a foreign team. His successes thus far at Williams, McLaren and Red Bull have all been achieved in the UK.

The other argument against such a deal is that Ferrari has only had James Allison on its books since last autumn which means that he has still to produce his first Ferrari design, this year’s car having been the fruits of the previous technical director. To bring in Newey now would make little sense as Allison’s car could be much better (particularly if the engines improve) and that would be a much more cost-effective way to get to the front.

“What was proposed was a joke,” he said. “The proposals that they seem happy with are to reduce budgets by $2 million. It is ridiculous. We know the budgets are between $100 million and $400 million. When we speak about costs we must speak about reducing it by 30-40 per cent. What costs money is head counts. They are big. I gave some input, and I want to see what the teams say. We will meet with all the people and hopefully they come with some sensible suggestions.”

Elsewhere the F1 world is still watching Bernie Ecclestone’s adventures in court with interest. Ecclestone’s Parrot Press tried to make out that last Friday was a good day for Mr E, but the truth was rather different as Gerhard Gribkowsky told the Munich court that he was offered money by Ecclestone only two occasions prior to the contentious one. He said that he was offered $10 million bribe in 2004 to give up a legal fight. Gribkowsky told the court that he informed his bosses at BayernLB and told the police about the offer, but there was never any investigation. he also claimed that he was offered a second payment worth $80 million at a meeting in Singapore. The context of these claims is interesting as there was a fight between the Formula One group and its shareholder Speed Investments after the banks claimed the shares that had belonged to Kirch Media before it went bust in 2002. Control of the board of directors was grabbed by Ecclestone and the Bambino Trust, the Ecclestone Family trust fund. The banks were not happy when they discovered this and legal actions began to win back management control of the Formula One companies. After a number of attempts to prolong the delay, including a lawsuit over the question of jurisdiction, the case came to court in December 2004. It was an embarrassing defeat for Bambino with Mr Justice Park giving a summary judgment in favour of the banks, making it clear that Bambino had no case at all. He called one of the Bambino’s arguments “un-maintainable” and rejected another as “bordering on the hopeless”. He refused the right to appeal the decision. A further action was launched against Bambino and Ecclestone personally to win control of FOA but in March 2005 Ecclestone agreed to settle.

The other point of note was that there has been a major change in the structure of the Paddock Club, the VIP hospitality service that is owned by the Formula One group. It has been decided to sub-contract the entire business, presumably in exchange for an annual fee and/or a percentage of the profits. This used to be case when it was run by Allsport Management but after that business was acquired by the Formula One group it became an in-house operation. It is understood that the Paddock Club will now be operated by Do & Co, the events catering firm that is listed on the Vienna stock exchange, which previously provided the catering. The remaining staff from the original operation will transfer to Do & Co in order to maintain continuity. The Paddock Club has suffered badly since the economic meltdown in 2008 but has steadfastly refused to lower its prices. That can now happen as the Formula One group will likely be getting a set amount of money each year, without needing to organise anything.

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Vuvuzela style F1 exhaust tested by Mercedes is a flop

A vuvuzela style megaphone exhaust tested by Formula One leaders Mercedes in Spain on Wednesday failed to make the quieter new cars sound any louder, race driver Nico Rosberg said on Wednesday.

“It wasn’t a great solution,” the German said in a video posted on Instagram after he had lapped Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya with what looked like a shiny vuvuzela – the trumpet made famous at the football 2010 World Cup in South Africa - at the back of the car.

“It just didn’t work. It didn’t make it much louder. So we’ll just have to look for another solution.”

The season’s dominant team, runaway winners of all five races so far, had agreed to try out the trumpet-like device to try and pump up the volume after complaints that the new V6 turbo hybrid cars were too quiet compared to the old V8 screamers.

Rosberg was not alone in his early perception of the unsightly device as RTL reported, “So far no good news concerning the sound.”

BBC correspondent Andrew Benson agreed that the initial reaction from fans was “almost totally negative”.

German journalist Bianca Garloff opined: “In my view, the new sound is even worse”, while Sky’s Rachel Brookes reported she heard “no audible difference”.

The softer sound provided an immediate controversy when the season started in Australia in March with some race promoters, who met in Barcelona on Saturday, fearing ticket sales could fall off if fans were alienated by the lack of decibels.

Others in favour of the quieter new era argue that increasing the noise goes against the greener spirit of the regulation changes, which reduce wasted energy from the exhaust and brakes and harness it to improve fuel economy.

“It’s an interesting moment in time for Formula One,” Mercedes motorsport head Toto Wolff said last weekend. “Traditionally you would have said… that Formula One needs to be loud to be spectacular. Maybe now that’s changing.”

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Prost reacquianted with Renault turbo from bygone era

Alain Prost drives the Renault RE40 during the Grand Prix Historique de Monaco

The ninth Grand Prix Historique de Monaco saw Renault ambassador Alain Prost get behind the wheel of the Renault F1 Turbo (RE40) he raced in the Formula 1 World Championship in 1983 when he claimed four victories and second place in the end of year Drivers’ standings.

Last weekend, Alain Prost completed a series of parade laps in the Renault Classic prepared car in which he came close to securing his first F1 world crown in 1983. That season, he started the Monaco GP in his Renault single-seater from pole position.

This time, with four supreme titles to his name, the Frenchman entertained the crowds that lined the streets of the Principality with the bark of his car’s 750hp Renault V6 Turbo engine. Also present was another key player in Renault’s F1 history, namely Jean Pierre Jabouille who was the first driver of the marque’s famous Turbo era in 1977. He was also the man behind Renault’s first F1 success in 1979.

His car for the Grand Prix Historique de Monaco was the Renault F1 Turbo RS 01 which he drove in 1977 and 1978. The two French aces breathed life into two of Renault’s landmark singleseater racing cars which revolutionised modern Formula 1 history thanks to their turbo technology which has now returned as a feature of motor racing’s premier competition.

The breeding that went into the turbocharging technology developed by Renault for F1 in the 1970s and 1980s can be found today in the DNA of the Renault Energy range of engines which benefit from the brand’s unique expertise in the realms of downsizing, reliability and energy efficiency.

The new 2014 Renault Energy F1 Power Unit serves as a valuable means to test and fine tune technologies of the future which, in a few years’ time, will enhance the performance, fuel consumption and CO2 emissions of the brand’s forthcoming production power-plants.

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Barcelona Test Day 2: Maldonado quickest for Lotus

Pastor Maldonado set the fastest time of the final day of testing in Barcelona,. The Lotus driver posted a time of 1:24.871 on the Supersoft tyre to put him just under a second ahead of Mercedes Nico Rosberg, who set his time on Medium tyres.

In the morning the German also trialled Mercedes’ experimental new exhaust, designed to increase noise.

Following a good day for Lotus yesterday, when test driver Charles Pic completed 70 laps and claimed the second fastest time of the opening day, Maldonado enjoyed an even more solid outing today, logging 102 laps of the Circuit de Catalunya.

The Venezuelan finished 0.934 s ahead of Rosberg, who also broke the century mark with 102 laps. The German began his day’s work testing Mercedes much anticipated ‘megaphone’ exhaust. The results of the test will be analysed by the FIA and discussed with the sport’s teams before a decision is made on whether to adopt the solution.

Rosberg was followed on the timesheet by Kimi Raikkonen, who enjoyed a much better day at the wheel of the F14 T than yesterday. The Finn completed just 20 laps yesterday due to power unit issues and a late off but today he completed 93 laps for a best time of 1:26.480, almost half a second clear of Sauber’s Esteban Gutierrez.

Gutierrez was involved in a minor incident in the morning session when a fire broke out at the back of his car in the pit lane. It was quickly extinguished by his mechanics and the Mexican was soon back on his way for an eventual tally of 84 laps.

Elsewhere, Williams Development Driver and FIA Women in Motorsport Ambassador Susie Wolff took over from Felipe Massa at the wheel of the Williams FW36, for a full day of testing, her first since driving the team’s 2013 car at last year’s Young Driver Test at Silverstone. This latest test is an advance of her scheduled appearances in Friday Practices at this year’s British and German Grands Prix.

After an early spin Wolff soon got into her stride and completed 27 laps in the morning. She improved again in the afternoon, eventually claiming the day’s fifth-fastest time with a lap of 1:27.280, set on the Soft tyre. In total she completed 55 laps.

Behind her Jules Bianchi finished sixth but was confined to the garage for most of the afternoon with a technical problem. The team did manage, however, to get him up and running again in the final 10 minutes of the session.

Seventh place went to Sebastian Vettel, whose running was largely restricted to the afternoon session. A gearbox problem cut short Red Bull Racing’s running yesterday and overnight repairs dragged on into this morning. Vettel eventually emerged some three hours into the session, putting in a couple of runs before lunch. The afternoon was more productive for the champion – he got through 72 laps.

“The problems of yesterday made [us] a bit late out this morning but the afternoon was productive and we did a lot of laps, which considering the time we had, it was good,” said Vettel. “We used the tyres used last weekend as we want to try to understand the car more and in terms of that I think we have learned a lot, so I would say it was a useful, if not perfect, day.”

Behind the champion came Force India tester Daniel Juncadella and, getting a first F1 outing, McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne. Both were conducting tyre testing for Pirelli and afterwards Vandoorne said thathe was pleased with his first day in F1.

“This has been a fantastic day for me: my first experience in a Formula One car, and a really great opportunity to get plenty of laps under my belt,” he said after racking up the day’s largest total – 136 laps. “I want to say a big thank-you to the team – everyone has been incredibly helpful and positive. It’s also great to have been able to contribute to the test programme: 136 laps today was a fantastic achievement, and it’s great that it’s earned me my Formula 1 Superlicence.”

Daniil Kvyat was ninth for Toro Rosso. The Russian brought out the red flags twice in the morning and then spent most of the afternoon in the garage.

Caterham, meanwhile, did not run at all, with the team announcing in the morning that damage caused by Kamui Kobayashi’s accident yesterday was severe enough to prevent the team from taking part.

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Has Fernandes put Caterham up for sale?

Is Formula 1 backmarker Caterham for sale? This is the question being asked by Auto Motor und Sport, recalling paddock reports from the Spanish Grand Prix venue in Barcelona.

When Renault revealed that its turbo V6 engine bills had gone unpaid, many eyes turned to Lotus, who last year struggled to pay drivers and suppliers.

An initial media statement from the Enstone based team sounded equivocal, but team owner Gerard Lopez now insists: “We have paid all our engine bills.”

German correspondent Michael Schmidt said that the suspicion has now fallen on Caterham, who according to reports may be losing the support of founder Tony Fernandes.

“Apparently, the green team is also behind in its gearbox payments to Red Bull,” Schmidt added.

Earlier this year Fernandes said, “If we are at the back, I don’t think we’re going to carry on. After five years and to get no points, there’s a limit to everyone’s patience, money etc.”

He added at the time, “I think if we are going to every race and are not competing, two seconds behind everyone else, then we haven’t made any progress. If we are not competing then we have got to seriously examine ourselves as to whether this makes sense.”

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Red Bull: Vettel’s old chassis is not distorted

Red Bull have denied reports that Formula 1 world champion Sebastian Vettel’s early season struggles were due to his car having a bent chassis.

The 26-year-old German was given a ‘new’ chassis for last weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona and charged to fourth despite starting 15th, following a five-place penalty for a gearbox change.

Media reports in Germany suggested that the previous chassis, while supposedly no different to the replacement that was used in pre-season testing, was bent but the team said there was no evidence of that.

“The ‘old’ chassis has not been found to be distorted,” chief engineer Paul Monaghan said in response to a query.

“The investigation is ongoing as the extent of the checks is vast in order to be thorough. No one error can be considered an entire explanation and requires further work to that completed prior to and within the Spanish GP.

“Changes to some ancillary equipment and preparation procedures [have] resulted from the checks made thus far,” Monaghan added.

“Once all the information is available, Red Bull will address the points found in order to implement a complete solution.”

Vettel, winner of the last four championships and the final nine races of 2013, has been fighting more for points than podiums so far this year.

The German complained of a lack of ‘feel’ from the car as Formula One entered a new V6 turbo hybrid era after ditching the old V8 engines.

Red Bull’s engine partners Renault have also been playing catch-up with a power unit that has been less competitive than the dominant Mercedes design.

However, Vettel has also been outperformed by his new Australian team mate Daniel Ricciardo, who started and finished third in Spain and was disqualified from second in Australia.

Team Principal Christian Horner said after Sunday’s race that it looked like the Vettel of old was returning, however.

“[in 2013] his confidence was high, he was on the crest of a wave, and then you can walk on water. He had the feeling from the car that everything was going for him,” the Briton told reporters.

“That’s what he has been searching for with RB10, and this weekend you could see in the race the recovery drive that he had, the fastest lap, he hunted down the Ferraris. It looked like he had got his mojo back.”

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Susie Wolff: It was a steep learning curve

Williams development driver Susie Wolff recovered from an early spin to notch up 50 laps at the wheel of the Williams FW36, during the second day of Formula 1 testing in Barcelona, and declared that she is now ready for her first experience of Formula 1 free practice which she is earmarked to partake in during the British Grand Prix weekend at Silverstone.

Speaking to media after ending her day fifth on the timing sheets, at Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya, Wolff said, “The team did a really good job preparing me and we got the most from the day. That was the most important thing because we need to be ready.”

Although Wolff tested for Williams last year in July, this was her first taste of the all new V6 turbo powered F1 cars. She explained, “I had a programme to run through. It was a difficult start to the day. It is a different car to drive than last year. It was a steep learning curve. The afternoon ran much better.”

“I feel like I have a lot of hard work ahead of me to get ready for the free practice sessions because the car is very different to drive. I got good laps in today [Wednesday], a lot of laps and time in the car does help because the driving style is different.”

“I didn’t look at the timesheets. I had my own personal targets that I was set by the team. They had their expectations of what I should achieve on each tyre set and that was my goal.”

As for a race seat on the Formula 1 grid for 2015, Wolff said, “It’s definitely too early to say. I am a very proud to be part of this team. I have a great opportunity and I have to prove myself. And keep doing a good job.”

“Of course it is the dream of every driver to be on the starting grid but it’s a tough sport and there are many good drivers trying and I’m one of those drivers trying.”

Wolff believes the time is fast approaching when a woman will be on the Formula 1 grid, “The way the sport is going – the cars are less physical. It’s still going to be tough to get in but it’s tough for a man or a woman because there are such limited spaces. But I think it will happen.”

Giovanna Amati was the last woman to take part in a Formula 1 race weekend as a driver, in 1992 when she failed to qualify her Brabham for the first three races of that season.

The most succesful woman driver in Formula 1 was the late Lella Lombardi whose Formula 1 career spanned 1974 to 1976 whereupon she entered 17 grands prix, qualifying for and racing in 12 and scoring half a point in the controversial and tragedy struck 1975 Spanish Grand Prix.

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Boullier: After Silverstone we may go more radical

McLaren may take a more radical approach to their Formula 1 car if they are still uncompetitive by July, racing director Eric Boullier said on the first day of testing in Bracelona.

The team, who ousted Martin Whitmarsh as principal in January after their worst season since 1980, have failed to score a point in three races despite having the same power unit as dominant Mercedes.

Jenson Button and Danish rookie Kevin Magnussen finished 11th and 12th in Spain last Sunday while former McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton chalked up his fourth successive win with Mercedes, who have won every race so far.

Boullier told reporters that the team, whose form has plunged since Magnussen was second and Button third in the Australian season-opener, was starting “from quite far back” but had everything in place to recover.

“I think the real question about how capable we are at catching up and how fast we can catch up will be from Austria to Silverstone,” he told reporters.

“I’m not saying we’re going to win at Silverstone, I’m saying we’ll know more about our capability to catch up by these races.

“I don’t think we will shift our focus onto 2015,” he added. “But it’s possible that we will draw a line after Silverstone and we may go with more radical concepts.”

McLaren are switching to Honda power units next season. The team’s home British Grand Prix on July 6 is the ninth round of the 19 race championship, and McLaren failed to score a point at Silverstone last year.

The second most successful team in Formula One history, after Ferrari, failed to secure a single podium finish in 2013 and last won a race in November 2012.

They are still without a title sponsor and the run of three races without a point is their worst since 2009 when they drew a blank in Spain and the three successive races. They are currently sixth in the constructors’ championship.

Boullier hoped to see an improvement in Monaco next week, “We have seen very, very significant progress in the wind tunnel in the last few weeks, so I think we need to just understand where we are, where we want to go.”

“Monaco could be not bad for us. Our car is well-balanced in low-speed corners and very driveable, so Monaco could hurt us less.”

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Ferrari: We made up for time lost on day one

Scuderia Ferrari ended up third fastest on the second and final day of the second of the three in-season tests planned for this year.

Constant speed runs for aero measurement work and set-up testing with the F14 T were on the agenda today. Kimi Raikkonen made up for some of the time lost yesterday to various difficulties, bringing a busy programme to a close at the Catalan track.

Most of the running was done on the Medium tyres, ending on the softer one. There were no problems today and the weather was much more spring-like than yesterday.

Scuderia Ferrari will be back in action at the Monaco Grand Prix, the sixth round of the world championship, over the weekend of 25th May, on the Monte Carlo street circuit.

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Sauber: Very positive as we got some good results

Although the Sauber F1 Team lost an hour on day two of the Barcelona test due to a problem with the powertrain, it was able to complete the planned programme and get some valuable information. In the morning the main focus was on aerodynamic testing in order to fine tune the development package, while in the afternoon the team worked on suspenision development parts as well as different set-up configurations. Overall the team was very pleased with the outcome of the day. In total, Esteban completed 85 laps.

Circuit: Circuit de Catalunya / 4.655 km

Driver: Esteban Gutiérrez

Weather: Dry, air 12-22 °C, track 18-35 °C

Chassis / engine: C33-02 / Ferrari

Laps today: 85 laps, 395.675 km

Fastest lap: 1:26.972

Paul Russell, Test Engineer: “We had a good day. In the morning we did short runs and worked on the aerodynamics in order to fine tune the development package which we brought to the Spanish Grand Prix. We definitely made some good progress there. Late morning we had a problem with the powertrain, which caused us to postpone a bit of work to the afternoon. It took us an hour, but it didn’t really hold us up. After lunch we tested several suspension parts on longer runs and higher fuel loads in order to identify how these are working in race configuration. Besides that, we also worked on the set-up of the car. It’s been very positive as we got some good results. We achieved a good correlation from what we measured and what Esteban told us. We are quite encouraged with today’s outcome.”

What comes next? Next week the Monaco Grand Prix already kicks off, the sixth round of the FIA Formula One World Championship, which will take place from the 22nd to 25th of May 2014.

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Pink shirts tribute to John Button at Silverstone

For this summer’s British Grand Prix, McLaren have created a special T-shirt that commemorates the life of Jenson’s beloved father, John, who passed away in January this year.

John was hugely proud and supportive of his son’s racing exploits, guiding him from his earliest days in karting through to his 2009 world title, and his many grand prix wins with McLaren Mercedes. His death earlier this year has left a hole in the motorsport community that will be impossible to fill.

At Silverstone, we’re encouraging fans to go pink – the colour of John’s traditional race-day ‘lucky shirt’ – and buy a tribute #PinkforPapa T-shirt to show their support and appreciation for a departed British motorsport icon.

A percentage of the proceeds will go to Jenson’s preferred charity, the Henry Surtees Foundation – an organisation set up by former world champion John Surtees, in memory of his son Henry, to assist and support people with injuries caused by accidents, injuries, and provide resources and assistance for young people to develop their skills.

Jenson said: “We want to turn Silverstone pink to commemorate John, and to support the Henry Surtees Foundation. Your support is much appreciated in raising awareness ahead of the British Grand Prix.”

Speaking about his father earlier this year, Jenson said: “Whether I liked it or not, he was always the last person to give me a high-five or a cuddle before I got into the car. Even if I was trying to concentrate, he’d be there to make sure he gave me that last hug.”

For more information, and to buy a John Button tribute pink T-shirt: click on http://bit.ly/PinkShirtsforSilverstone

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Smedley hints that Ferrari wind tunnel problem persists

Former Ferrari engineer Rob Smedley says it is impressive to finally be working in Formula 1 with a wind tunnel that works.

The Maranello team’s wind tunnel problems are well known, but when asked by Totalrace, Smedley initially answered: “I don’t like to talk about Ferrari.”

Smedley, Felipe Massa’s long-time race engineer at Ferrari, joined his Brazilian collegaue in moving to the Grove based Williams team for 2014.

Smedley, 40, is now Williams’ ‘head of performance engineering’ and admitted that a major technical difference between Ferrari and his new employer is that new parts developed in Williams’ wind tunnel always work as expected.

“At Williams, the correlation between the wind tunnel and the track is amazing,” he said. “Compared to my previous experience, it is something that has impressed me. Everything we take to the track ends up on the car, so the car really does improve from race to race.”