FORMULA 1 - 2014

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Magnussen hails Dennis 'pressure'

Kevin Magnussen says it is "good" that Ron Dennis is putting pressure on his drivers and the McLaren team to perform.

Ahead of the British Grand Prix, the McLaren CEO spoke of both Magnussen and his team-mate Jenson Button.

While telling the latter to "try harder", Dennis added that it is the Dane's job to take the fight to his Championship-winning team.

The Brit's comments were widely taken as criticism, however, Magnussen says they actually have a positive connotation.

"It's good that Ron is putting pressure on us, that's what is good about Ron being there," the rookie driver told Autosport.

"It puts pressure on everyone and you know you have to deliver, so I hope everyone in the team feels the same way because we are a good team - we just need to deliver everything we can.

"We need to extract everything we can out of ourselves and do the best job possible, and that's the effect Ron has.

"I think it's positive he has this energy about him."

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No penalty for Raikkonen

Kimi Raikkonen has reportedly escaped sanctions for the manner in which he attempted to return to the track in the Britsih Grand Prix.

Fighting for positions at the start of Sunday's race, Raikkonen went off the track and, after using the run-off area, stormed back on at the Wellington Straight. He did so despite rivals coming up behind.

However, as he returned to the track, he hit a bump that pitched him into a violent accident which left the driver bruised and his F14T severally damaged.

Following the race there were some calls for the Ferrari driver to be penalised as the rules state that a driver can only rejoin the race when it is "safe to do so."

However, according to Autosport the FIA have ruled that Raikkonen did not rejoin in an unsafe manner.

The publication states that "although the FIA accepted that Raikkonen would not have crashed if he had slowed down dramatically, it is understood the governing body believed that any other driver would have rejoined the track in the same manner."

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Wheel size in Formula 1

There is no doubting that larger wheels can look pretty good but on the other hand, the larger the wheels and the tyres the heavier they are and thus the more effect they will have on performance. Tests show that as wheel/tyre combinations get bigger, acceleration and fuel economy suffer often quite dramatically with a 10 percent drop in fuel economy between using 15-inch rims and 19-inch rims. Formula 1 has used 13-inch rims for the last 20 years and this is now out of step with the industry which tend to use 15-inch rims with lower profile tyres. In theory this means that a tyre company has less scope to apply the technology learned in F1 to road car tyres. This is not strictly true but it is clear that if one can market tyres that are the same size as those used in F1 there are likely to be more sales. There was talk a year or so ago of Michelin coming into the sport but the French company said that it wanted to increase wheel rims to 18-inches after the first couple of years.

“The 13-inch tyre is no longer relevant to the everyday road user,” says Pirelli’s Paul Hembery. “While 18-inch tyres would be a big step for Formula 1, there are many other motorsport series that already use this size. So there’s scope to go even bigger than that in Formula 1 in years to come. In order to underline F1′s role as a test bed for future mobility solutions, we believe that it benefits everybody to have as close a link between road car tyres and competition tyres as possible. However, we’d like to emphasise that this move is not something that we are actively pushing for, as our role in Formula 1 is not to instigate changes. Instead, it’s to help teams and drivers make the most out of the equipment, regulations and resources they have at their disposal – whatever they decide that framework is going to be.”

Thus the Pirelli test of 18-inch tyres this week at Silverstone was an interesting experiment. The tyres were run by Charles Pic, with the Lotus.

“It was a very early evaluation test and the different tyres and wheels affect the aerodynamics of the car quite a lot, but you could certainly feel that the tyres felt different to those we’re used to on an F1 car,” he explained.”

The objective of the test was to give Pirelli some initial loading information as well as for everyone to see what the cars looked like in this configuration.

“The new tyres looked stunning fitted to the Lotus,” Hembery said. “These are just a prototype concept, but if the teams decided that they wanted us to proceed in this direction, we have the capability to carry on development in this area and come up with a production-ready version in a comparatively short space of time. We’ve heard a lot of opinions already and we look forward to canvassing other opinions in the coming weeks and months. Even though performance wasn’t by any means priority here, the new tyres still behaved exactly in line with our expectations, so we’re clearly potentially at the beginning of a huge development curve, with the wheel and tyre size rules having remained unaltered for many years.”

The key technical advantage of an 18-inch tyre is a stiffer sidewall that helps maintain the structural rigidity of the tyre and also makes it easier for the tyre to maintain a constant pressure – as there is less actual air inside the tyre.

The reality is that if the wheel size changed, the cars would need to be completely redesigned because of the impact of the tyres in the airflow around the cars. The cars are generally changed from year to year so this is not necessarily a problem but it will mean that the philosophy of design will change as engineers try to find the downforce that will be lost with such a change.

“They are more reactive and nervous and on top of that you lose a lot of aero,” Pic said. “It is not even like you are on the aero you use at Monza, it is even less. The combination means you are five or six seconds off the pace.”

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An interesting new business..

Formula 1 has been creating "spin-offs" for years as the technology and expertise are applied to other industries. In recent times several of the teams have turned to this idea and have been making money commercialising their F1 assets. A new independent company called GPFOne has just launched a product called Hypetex, which seems to have huge potential across a wide range of industries, including automobiles, motorsport, marine, aviation, cycling, fashion and design.

The concept is very simple. Carbonfibre composite materials have always been black in colour. The materials are used for a wide range of activities these days but must always be painted. The paint adds weight to the product. Thus creating coloured composite fibres is a good way to improve efficiency and to create a new look. GPFOne has developed the world’s first coloured carbon fibre composite materials, offering exciting opportunities in the future with the “light, bright, bold and strong” properties.

It has taken seven years to develop Hypetex, with the expertise coming from F1 composite engineers, notably Harry Street, who has been around F1 for 20 years, starting out with Pacific GP, before spells at Prodrive, Honda Racing F1/Brawn GP and Force India. The company is led by entrepreneurs Marc and Stephen Cohen. They have signed a deal with the Formula One group for the production of F1-branded goods and to use the sport as a platform to draw attention to their product. Items made from Hypetex were on display at an industry forum at Silverstone, called “Driving Technological Change within British Manufacturing”, organised by the Northamptonshire Enterprise Partnership, in the days before the British GP. The event looked at technology related to materials and composites, power train efficiency, energy capture and aerodynamics, fluid mechanics and heat transfer.

“If Hypetex wasn’t so thrilling I wouldn’t put my name to it,” said Bernie Ecclestone.

The company believes that there is a huge market for its expertise and hopes to became a big new player in the industry. The global demand on carbonfibre composites is reckoned to be in the region of $15 billion, with an annual growth rate of at least seven percent. The strongest demand comes from the aircraft and aerospace industries, wind energy and the automotive and military sectors.

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Near-miss at Silverstone

http://youtu.be/OZ5edAfPWcE

The accident at Silverstone that stopped the race on the first lap could have been a great deal more serious than it ended up being, as it is clear from fan footage that has been posted on Youtube. The video clip shows just how lucky Max Chilton was when his Marussia was hit by wreckage from Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari, notably one of the two tyres which were torn loose from the Ferrari’s wheels. What was left of the wheels remained with the car thanks to the wheel tethers. If the tyre had hit Chilton’s head it could have had very serious consequences.

“That was a scary moment when I was hit by the flying tyre,” Chilton said. “I was very lucky in one respect but massively unlucky given the damage to my car. It was like an explosion. Everything shot across to the left-hand side of the track and I saw something fly across and I ducked and luckily it hit the nose and went to the left and broke my front wheel duct.”

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London GP a step closer as government lifts ban

A Grand Prix on the streets of London could be a step closer after the UK government overturned a ban on racing on British roads today.

Bernie Ecclestone has long held the dream of holding a race on the streets of the British capital, but a ban on motor racing on public roads has been one of the major hurdles to overcome.

That will now change as prime minister David Cameron confirmed on Friday during a visit to the Williams F1 facility that local councils will be granted the power to close public highways for motor racing events.

"We have a great tradition of motorsport in this country and today we are bringing British motor racing back to British roads, to benefit local communities," he said.

"As part of our long-term economic plan, we are backing our world-leading motorsport industry to support jobs, enhance skills and help us to build a more resilient economy.

"Following the huge success of the first three stages of this year's Tour de France being staged in the UK, which saw an estimated 3.5 million spectators line the streets, todays move will allow local communities across the country to reap the benefits from staging elite motor sports events."

Whilst a race in London still remains unlikely due to the logistics involved, it is now a step closer and legally possible should Ecclestone push for it once again. The 83-year-old has even offered to finance the race should it happen.

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Standing restart idea came from McLaren - Whiting

Charlie Whiting has revealed that the idea for standing restarts came from himself and McLaren after the two discussed ideas to spice up the sport.

The rule change will come into effect next year and will see cars lining up on the grid after a safety car period to restart the race. It's a controversial decisions with fans and drivers mainly against the proposal, but Whiting is confident it will improve races.

"Standing restart is something that I was involved in personally," he said in an interview for the Russian Grand Prix.

"I was talking to someone at McLaren and we came up with this idea how to make this show a bit better.

"When you watch a race, what is the most exciting part of the race? The start. So, why not have a second one? It makes sense."

Addressing the issue of safety and being too artificial, Whiting recognised that the majority are against it, but said he personally couldn't see a downside.

"Of course, it offends some people because it's not pure racing. It's been done for the show. Some people were even silly enough to say it's dangerous. Well, if it's dangerous, you wouldn't even have the start of the race, would you?

"I understand why some people might think it's too false as it's not what normally happens. But why not? I can't see any downside to it.

"It will provide more excitement; you seldom get any changes of position at a rolling restart, so this might provide an opportunity for changes. Some drivers may be worried of losing their lead, but then again other drivers might get a chance to gain something from it. I think it's an interesting idea. "It's been approved. Now we've got to work on making it work."

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VETTEL: MERCEDES CAN WIN ALL REMAINING RACES

Quadruple, and reigning, Formula 1 World Champion Sebastian Vettel has admitted Red Bull will not be able to catch up with Mercedes in 2014.

Earlier reports suggested that Vettel, on the eve of his home grand prix in Germany which he won last year, was not yet writing off his chances of winning a fifth consecutive world title this year.

But he has now told the Swiss publication Motorsport Aktuell: “I doubt that we can close the gap to Mercedes this season. At the moment they are the measure of all things.”

“We at Red Bull and Ferrari need to realise that we are lagging far behind in terms of power to Mercedes. Unless they make mistakes, they can in theory win all of the remaining races,” Vettel predicted.

Previewing his home race at Hockenheim he added, “Of course, you want to give as much as possible back to the fans, but sometimes it’s not in your hands. However we will attack at the weekend and give everything.”

Sebastian Vettel won last year’s German GP

At Silverstone, Mercedes did make a ‘mistake’ in the form of reliability trouble, when championship leader Nico Rosberg’s gearbox failed.

“We can see the performance in the car,” said the Brackley based team’s boss Toto Wolff, “but bulletproof reliability is equally important if we are to maintain our advantage in the championship through to the end of the season.”

Another of the team’s bosses, Paddy Lowe, said fixing the Rosberg issue was the “priority” in the days between Silverstone and Hockenheim.

“A lot of work has been put into rectifying the issue and we head to Hockenheim with a remedy in place,” he announced on Tuesday.

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FORGHIERI: GET RID OF THE RIDICULOUS DRS

Mauro Forghieri with Jody Scheckter in 1979

Legendary Ferrari designer Mauro Forghieri has a couple of simple suggestions to spice up Formula 1, and one of them is to get rid of DRS.

Amid a dwindling television audience in 2014, most of the blame has fallen on the brand new engine rules, with smaller, quiet turbo motors replacing the screaming V8s of the past.

Forghieri, a leading figure at the fabled Maranello team from the 60s to the 80s, backs the new V6 turbo hybrid era, “All the major manufacturers want hybrids, and I think it’s good that they only need 70 per cent of the fuel of the past, or even less, for the same distance.”

“Where I cannot agree with the FIA is the monitoring of fuel consumption lap after lap,” the 79-year-old, who designed the legendary 312 series and Niki Lauda’s title-winning cars, added. “In my very personal opinion, Formula 1 is a show of power and so this rule is unacceptable from a sporting perspective.”

Unsurprisingly, Forghieri is also no fan of the rear wing overtaking aid called ‘DRS’, which has been similarly denounced by other Formula 1 purists.

“Get rid of the DRS,” he exclaimed. “DRS is ri-di-cu-lous,” he emphasised. “I dislike the whole aerodynamics of the current cars – I don’t understand why it is not reduced in order to allow normal overtaking without DRS.”

“Now, if one’s opponent is less than a second behind, he can only watch as his pursuer goes past – and that cannot be correct. A world champion needs to be in a position to overtake his opponent without help – otherwise, in my eyes, he is not a world champion,” Forghieri insisted.

He said that another rule change that would improve the racing is in the area of braking, “How many road cars use discs made of carbon? So why is it used in Formula 1? If we would use normal discs in Formula 1, the braking distances would be double and overtaking would be so much easier.”

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MONTEZEMOLO: AS IT IS NOW FORMULA 1 HAS NO CHANCE

Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo has warned that he is prepared to take action to improve Formula 1 as a spectacle, as he believes that the sport is becoming increasingly difficult to understand for fans.

Fiercely critical of the sport’s direction, culminating in the new era of quiet, hybrid engines, the Ferrari president recently wrote a letter inviting the sport’s major stakeholders to an emergency meeting.

Speaking with news magazine Focus, the 66-year-old laid out his repeated sentiments: “The rules are too complicated, the drivers have turned into taxi drivers. They must save fuel and tyres instead of being fast.”

“The teams have to decide how much fuel they’re using and how many tyres are wearing out. Before, it was the best man winning in the best car,” he declared.

“Now, the viewers – the ones in the stands and the ones in front of their TVs – no longer understand. As it is now, we must do something. Otherwise Formula 1 has no chance,” added the man who masterminded Ferrari’s F1 renaissance in the mid-seventies.

Montezemolo said that it is up to Formula 1 Chief Executive Bernie Ecclestone to act, and “If he doesn’t, I’ll do it myself. I see it as my duty,” he insisted.

“The need to do something to recover the lost charm of Formula 1 is urgent,” said Montezemolo. At the very same time, there are those who believe that Ferrari have more pressing issues to address, such as the pace of our Formula 1 car.

It is believed that engine chief Luca Marmorini has now paid the price for Ferrari’s 2014 struggles by being forced to leave Maranello, and the latest reports are that designer Nikolas Tombazis and technical chief Pat Fry are also in doubt.

The trend has Ferrari insider Leo Turrini worried, “I do not think the decline in performance can be attributed to individuals,” he said in his Quotidiano blog, instead pointing out a culture change since the end of the ultra-successful Michael Schumacher and Jean Todt-led era.

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HAKKINEN: RAIKKONEN RETIREMENT TALK NOT SMART

Double F1 World Champion and fellow Finn, Mika Hakkinen has questioned Kimi Raikkonen’s admission that he will probably retire after the 2015 season.

Raikkonen, who replaced Hakkinen at McLaren when the latter retired in 2001, said at Silverstone that he is unlikely to seek a new contract once his current Ferrari tenure ends.

“Everyone does what he thinks is right,” Hakkinen said in his latest interview for sponsor Hermes, “but in my opinion that was not tactically very smart.

“If the mechanics and everyone else knows that a driver intends to just hang up his helmet in a year and a half, then they will probably pay more attention to the other driver, in this case Fernando Alonso,” the 45-year-old added.

Hakkinen also thinks that Raikkonen’s admission reveals a lot about his current state of mind.

“When you start to think about quitting,” he said, “it has a negative effect on your motivation. You find that you can no longer focus on the many things that you need to focus on in Formula 1.”

But, unlike some others, Hakkinen does not think Raikkonen’s huge crash at Silverstone was a case in point. Some have criticised the Ferrari driver for the way he rejoined the track after running wide at the start of the British Grand Prix.

But Hakkinen said: “Silverstone is a good track, but why is there such a big bump? When a Formula 1 car loses contact with the ground at speed, no driver can control it anymore.”

“The race has just started and the drivers are full of adrenalin, so of course he wants to come back as soon as possible. I wouldn’t blame Kimi,” he insisted.

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FERRARI BURN RUBBER IN MOSCOW

Ferrari put on an exciting and spectacular show at the Moscow City Racing event on Tuesday , with thousands of fans and ardent car collectors turning out in the Russian capital.

One of the sponsors of the event is Kaspersky Lab, also a Scuderia sponsor and with its head office in Moscow. The weather also did its bit, making it a great day out for over 100,000 fans who lined the track on the roads around the Kremlin.

Scuderia Ferrari test driver Marc Gene was definitely the star attraction, not only talking to the press but also driving the 2009 Ferrari F60 Formula 1 car, which Kimi Raikkonen took to a memorable win at Spa Francorchamps, on three exciting runs.

This is Gene’s first trip to Russia and he was amazed at the interest shown by the knowledgeable local fans who quizzed him about his life as a racing driver and Formula 1 in general. The blue riband of motorsport makes its Russian debut on 12 October at Sochi, the Black Sea city that hosted the recent Winter Olympics.

The Spaniard did a dozen laps in the F60, featuring tyre burning starts, demonstrating the car’s amazing acceleration. Marc also took part in celebrations of Ferrari’s ten years in Russia, leading a parade organised by the local market to mark the occasion, at the wheel of a 458 Spider. Also in Moscow, former Scuderia driver Jean Alesi, who also took part in the parade.

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RAIKKONEN FULLY RECOVERED FOR GERMAN GP

Kimi Raikkonen will be back in action for Ferrari at the German Grand Prix, after making a full recovery from his high speed crash on the first lap of the British Grand Prix.

Ferrari announced ahead of the weekend at Hockenheim that: “Kimi Raikkonen is now fully recovered.”

The accident sidelined the Finn during the recent Silverstone test, where his place was taken by Pedro de la Rosa on day one and Jules Bianchi on day two.

Raikkonen, the 2007 world champion will be competing in his 202nd Formula 1 race this weekend, but he has never won the German Grand Prix.

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UGLY CATERHAM NOSE TO GO AMID NEW UPDATES

The distinctive but decidedly ugly ‘anteater’ nose of the Caterham CT05 car could be a thing of the past amid a new development push by the backmarker team.

“New management, new nose, new hope,” read a report in Speed Week, as it referred to Caterham’s plans to press ahead in the post Tony Fernandes era.

Caterham is currently last in the constructors’ standings, after its traditional backmarker rival Marussia finally broke into the points in Monaco.

Finishing last in 2014 – a statistic new bosses Colin Kolles and Christijan Albers are determined to avoid – could mean the loss of about $20 million in official prize-money.

And so it seems Caterham’s mysterious new “Swiss-Middle Eastern” owners have approved a timely development push.

Omnicorse claims that departed backer Fernandes had essentially ‘blocked’ the further development of the uncompetitive CT04 car while he contemplated selling the Leafield based team. The new management has now ‘unblocked’ that programme.

The report said that, on Tuesday, a 60 per cent model of the car entered the state-of-the-art Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne, with the fruits of the work scheduled to debut at the Belgian Grand Prix after the summer break.

The headline improvement will be a “more efficient nose”, Speed Week claims.

The curious ‘double nose’ on the CT04, arguably one of the ugliest innovations in Formula 1 history, is tipped to be gone at Spa-Francorchamps in August. But, before that, the new nose would require a new FIA crash test.

“We obviously have a lot of work to do,” said team boss and former Minardi driver Albers, “but we’re prepared for the challenges ahead.”

In 2015, it is expected that every car on the grid will feature much more aesthetically-pleasing nose designs. Next year’s rules have addressed the issue of the unseemly and unpopular ‘anteater’-style noses.

“We can’t legislate against ugly cars,” said the FIA’s Charlie Whiting, “but what we can do is to try to get closer to what was originally intended.”

The 2015 rules mandate larger minimum cross-sections of the noses, he confirmed, “They [will] have to be a certain height and a certain width and they must be symmetrical about the car centre line.

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MERCEDES TO LIMIT ROSBERG AND HAMILTON PIT STRATEGIES

Mercedes will restrict the race strategies that can be adopted by drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg in their fight for the 2014 title.

Until now, the dominant team has given its driver duo almost free rein to battle for the championship, despite constant speculation that Mercedes and its parent Daimler might prefer to see German Rosberg ultimately triumph.

Autosprint now reports that one of the ways Mercedes is moving to demonstrate absolute equality between the pair is to limit them to very similar pit strategies.

“The drivers must comply with the same number of pitstops,” said correspondent Alberto Antonini.

That aside, the Hamilton and Rosberg camps will be free to wage their battles, even at the risk of some loss of ‘transparency’ as outlined by boss Toto Wolff recently.

“As an individual, you cannot dominate alone in motor racing,” Wolff is quoted by Speed Week. “Our position is a testament to how well we work together.

“But of course there are areas where you keep certain details to yourself to develop an advantage, and this is also accepted by the team. But it must not have a negative influence on the development of the team,” he insisted.

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Trio set to drop FRIC

McLaren, Mercedes and Red Bull are set to remove the FRIC systems from their cars for the German Grand Prix.

Last week the FIA wrote to all the teams informing them that the Front-and-Rear Interconnected Suspension (FRIC) systems contravened Article 3.15 of F1's Technical Regulations.

The sport's governing body, though, is keen to have the systems removed for the German race, but they need the green light from all 11 teams before they can go ahead with the ban.

Although most teams are adamant removing the system is no big deal, many are yet to make a decision for this weekend's race at Hockenheim.

However, Germany's Auto Motor Und Sport reports that Mercedes and Red Bull will be without FRIC in Germany while Autosport reveals that McLaren will also remove the system.

"McLaren does not currently intend to run a FRIC suspension system at the German Grand Prix," a spokesman said. "McLaren will comply with the FIA's rulings on the matter."

The issue, though, doesn't seem to be clear-cut with Force India saying the FIA is unlikely to get the go-ahead from all 11 outfits.

"It's not about majority, it's about unanimity. I think the likelihood of unanimous agreement is zero," the team's chief operating officer Otmar Szafnauer told Sky.

"There will be people out there that will say if the FIA think it should be banned then let's do that."

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Hulkenberg 'pretty optimistic' for Germany

Nico Hulkenberg believes Force India will again be fighting at the front in Germany after missing out at the previous race in Britain.

Unlike in recent weeks, the Silverstone grand prix saw Force India fall off the pace a bit.

Instead of fighting near the front of the top-ten, Hulkenberg and his team-mate Sergio Perez were battling just to stay inside it.

This week, though, Hulkenberg expects better at his home race, confident that the nature of the Hockenheimring will suit his VJM07.

"I think Hockenheim will be better [than Silverstone]," he told Peter Windsor at The Racers' Edge.

"That track will suit us more, the low speed corners, it's not dominated by high speed, we have the soft tyres again which are a bit more in our favour I think.

"I'm pretty optimistic for Hockenheim."

This season is Hulkenberg's first back at Force India having spent 2013 with the Sauber team.

It's been an impressive start to the Championship for the German racer who has scored 63 points in nine grands prix.

He added: "I'm very comfortable, super happy here with the team.

"Everything has gone really well so far. We are now fifth in the Constructors' Championship.

"Overall we've had a mega first half of the season.

"Nine consecutive times in the points for me personally which is very good.

"Overall a very positive first half of the season."

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ALONSO: I HAVEN’T TALKED WITH ANY OTHER TEAM

On the eve of the German Grand Prix weekend, with the temperature at Hockenheim already hitting 30 degrees, the air-conditioned Ferrari Media Unit provided a welcome cooling off sanctuary where Fernando Alonso tackled his usual Thursday meeting with the media.

Asked to look back at his passing move on Vettel at Silverstone, the Spaniard admitted that it was a bit special. “That move at turn 9 was a bit risky,” he said. “It was a one-off. I’d hope not to repeat it, as there’s too much risk of not finishing the race. If you are fighting for the championship, you need to step back a bit and think of scoring points every weekend. So hopefully, we won’t see it again, as it will mean I am fighting for the championship!”

As for the German GP, the Ferrari man felt that the weather would play an important role. “Being realistic, this will be another tough weekend, with hot temperatures and running the Soft and Super-soft tyres automatically means tyre management will be necessary in these temperatures.”

“In past races where it was hot, we were not so competitive. Here we have some new parts and hopefully they will bring us some performance. Our target is to beat some of our main competitors from second to fifth in the Constructors’ championship, where it is very tight, and will be to the very end of the season.”

“We need to reduce the gap to Red Bull and increase it if we can to Williams and McLaren, that are becoming very strong. I think it will be interesting. I have won three times at Hockenheim, twice at the Nurburging [European GPs] every time we come to Germany we seem to have a good weekend, so let’s hope we continue that trend this weekend.”

Amid reports that McLaren are courting him, he was asked if he was talking to any other teams regarding his future, even though he has a Ferrari contract, Fernando smiled before replying. “Every year now I get asked this question in July, maybe since I started in 2003. I haven’t talked with any other team and it’s not my priority. We have to score some good points this weekend and get some good results this year.”

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MERCEDES KEEN TO KEEP DRIVERS FOR THE LONG TERM

Mercedes is so happy with its driver lineup that they can imagine keeping Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg on board for the long term or as team boss Toto Wolff put it: “until the cows come home”.

Wolff’s comments come on the day after Rosberg’s new contract was announced, which according to reports will extend for at least three more years.

And the same reports say Rosberg’s pay has been about doubled, with his €55 million deal bringing him almost eye-to-eye with Briton Hamilton’s big pay-packet.

“The balance in the team is more important than anything else,” Wolff is quoted by Germany’s Die Welt newspaper.

On the face of it, Hamilton and Rosberg have clashed personally in 2014, as they battle for the 2014 crown with the dominant W05 cars.

But Wolff indicated that he sees Mercedes’ pairing as similarly competitive but far more harmonious than many other potential driving combinations.

“We have deliberately avoided saying just how long the contract is,” he insisted. “But in the best case scenario, we all stay together until the cows come home.”

Rosberg is also happy to give the impression of relative harmony with Hamilton, despite his rival saying recently that Germany is not really his home race.

“The interviewer started it as a joke,” Rosberg said on Wednesday, “and my teammate then played along. I have no problem with that. We have a healthy rivalry as we fight every single race weekend for the win. That is precisely the challenge I am involved in motor sport for.”

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ROSBERG AIMS TO KEEP GERMANY CELEBRATING

Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg can keep Germany on a winning roll on Sunday by becoming the first German driver in the history of the Formula 1 World Championship to win his home grand prix with a German car.

It has been 60 years since a Mercedes works team last won at home – and it was the late Argentine great Juan Manuel Fangio they had to thank for that in 1954.

The historians would have to delve back to 1939, before the outbreak of World War Two, to find the last all-German home triumph – Rudolf Caracciola for Mercedes-Benz at the Nurburgring.

Now, after Fangio’s compatriots failed to deny Germany victory in last Sunday’s World Cup final, Rosberg arrives at Hockenheim with the party well underway and fans keen to keep the beer flowing in the forest campsites as F1 reaches the halfway point in the season.

He has plenty to celebrate himself, having signed a new multi-year contract after getting married last week and, even if his team are British based, a win for the ‘Silver Arrows’ in Germany will be something special.

Rosberg knows that he has a real chance, even if he may have lost some of the momentum after suffering his first retirement of the season in the previous race at Silverstone – which was won by team mate Lewis Hamilton.

The German is still four points clear of the Briton and hungry for his first home win – if Monaco, where he grew up and lives, is excluded from the reckoning.

“I lost a lot of points and the championship battle is very close but I’m feeling good,” he said this week.

“Hockenheim is a crucial race for all of us, it’s the home grand prix for Mercedes-Benz and a second home race for me after Monaco, so I’m really focused on getting a top result this weekend.

“It’s actually the circuit I’ve won the most races at during my career through all the junior categories, so I know it suits my driving style,” he added.

It also suits Hamilton, with the Briton winning there in his 2008 title season, and a repeat will see him regain the overall lead – with Hungary, where he won last year, next up.

“It is always good to beat others on their home turf. It will be great to win in Germany,” he told reporters after Silverstone. “This is a fresh start, the second half of the season, and this is really when it is going to be tough.”

Red Bull’s quadruple champion Sebastian Vettel was a home winner last year at the Nurburgring while Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso has won the last two races held at Hockenheim under the current alternation agreement.

“The last 2 times we had the race in Hockenheim, 2 victories,” the Spaniard tweeted this week, before posting a mock-up of himself as Superman. “This weekend should be a bit more difficult but still, I have a good feeling.”

How much competition Red Bull and Ferrari provide for Mercedes remains to be seen, with a rule change since Silverstone leaving question marks hanging over Hockenheim.

Race Director Charlie Whiting warned teams that the governing FIA considered their front and rear interconnected suspension (FRIC) systems to be illegal.

Such systems, which stabilise the car through corners, have been in use for some years but the FIA believes that they have now developed to the point where they are aerodynamic devices.

While the FIA offered teams the chance to keep using them until the end of the year, the necessary unanimous agreement appears to be lacking with some smaller teams eager for any opportunity to close gaps.

The question now is, if teams strip out the FRIC systems for fear of possible exclusion, who could suffer most and whether the pecking order might undergo a subtle shift.

Mercedes have the dominant car, and significant resources to improve it, but rivals will be watching closely for any signs of their considerable advantage narrowing.

“There are maybe a couple of teams who have been extreme and obviously who could be potentially in trouble to switch back to a non-connecting system,” McLaren Racing Director Eric Boullier told reporters last week. “But for most of the teams, I think it won’t be a game-changer.”

Williams have had Valtteri Bottas on the podium in the last two races and can expect to be competitive again while Alonso’s record – he has won three times at Hockenheim – means the Spaniard is always in the reckoning.

Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg will be aiming to continue his record as one of only two drivers to score in every race this season while fellow-German Adrian Sutil is still seeking his first points of 2014, with Sauber.

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GERMAN GRAND PRIX: THE BIG PREVIEW

Following an enthralling grand prix at Silverstone, the 2014 Formula One season this weekend reaches its midpoint, with round 10 of the championship – the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim.

The Hockenheimring presents teams with a number of tricky challenges, especially in terms of this year’s new technology. While the long, power hungry, forest straights of the old circuit were consigned to history in 2002, the current layout, which see the cars reach over 280 km/h on three occasions in the opening section alone, continues to provide a stern test for powerplants.

In F1’s last outing here in 2012 drivers were at full throttle for two-thirds of every lap, meaning that power units are likely to be severely tested here.

Fuel consumption could also be a concern this year. Not only are cars at full throttle for long periods but the heavy braking needed for the hairpin and the twisty nature of the infield section mean that the circuit is a thirsty one. With drivers limited to 100 kg of fuel for the race and a flow limit of 100 kg/hour, clever race management could be crucial this weekend.

2013 German Grand Prix podium

That shouldn’t mean a lack of excitement, however. The track has two inviting overtaking points at the hairpin (Turn Six) and Turn Eight and with two DRS zones in place at the circuit for the first time, this year’s grand prix could prove to be action-packed.

As the season reaches the halfway mark, the battle for the drivers’ title is delicately balanced. Lewis Hamilton’s win on home soil in Britain brought him to within four points of team-mate and championship leader Nico Rosberg. The German will be hoping to emulate his team-mate’s Silverstone feat and re-establish a gap at the top of the standings with a home win for himself and Mercedes.

Hamilton, buoyed by his fifth victory of the season will be doing everything in his power to claim that home Silver Arrows’ win for himself.

Hockenheim from the air

Hockenheimring Circuit Data

• Length of lap 5.574 km
• Lap record 1:13.780 (Kimi Räikkönen, McLaren, 2004)
• Total number of race laps 67
• Total race distance 306.458 km
• Pitlane speed limits 80 km/h in Practice, Qualifying and the Race
• A one-metre wide strip of Grasscrete has been laid next to the track surface on the approach to Turn One.
• In order to prevent further damage to the grass verge at Turn 15, a 50 mm high combination kerb has been laid behind the kerb on the apex.
• Drainage has now been provided in the drag strip around the outside of Turn 17, This should prevent the accumulation of water there.
• There will be two DRS zones. The detection point of the first is 110 m before Turn One, with the activation point 60 m after Turn One. The second detection point is at the exit of Turn Four, with the activation point 260 m after Turn Four.

Michael Schumacher has won more German Grands Prix than any other driver

German Grand Prix Fast Facts:

• This will be the 61st German Grand Prix of the Formula One Championship era.
• It will be the 34th time the race has been run at Hockenheim. Two other circuits have hosted the grand prix. The Nürburgring has staged the race 26 times across a number of periods (1951-’54, 1956-’58, 1961-’69, 1971-’76, 1985 and in alternate years from 2009 onwards). The only other venue for the race was Berlin’s AVUS circuit, which hosted a single grand prix, in 1959. That race is unique in that the grand prix was run as two heats, with victory awarded on aggregate performance. It resulted in an all-Ferrari podium, with Briton Tony Brooks victorious ahead of Americans Dan Gurney and Phil Hill.
• Hockenheim made its Formula One calendar debut on August 2, 1970. The race had been switched to the Baden-Württemberg circuit due to safety concerns about the Nürburging and was won by Jochen Rindt. It was his final F1 win before his tragic death, five weeks later, in practice for the Italian Grand Prix.
• When Niki Lauda’s crash at the Nürburging brought to an end the Nordschleife’s time as a German Grand Prix venue, Hockenheim took over, hosting the race from 1977-1984 and then in an unbroken run from 1986 until 2006. No German GP was held in 2007 and when the race returned in 2008, Hockenheim staged the first race of an event-sharing agreement with the Nürburgring.
• Michael Schumacher has the most German GP wins, all coming at Hockenheim (1995 for Benetton and in 2002, 2004 and 2006 for Ferrari). Five drivers have won this event three times: Juan Manuel Fangio, Jackie Stewart, Nelson Piquet, Ayrton Senna and Fernando Alonso.
• Despite the race-sharing agreement of the past seven years, all three of Alonso’s German victories have come at the Hockenheimring. He took his first here with Renault in 2005 and won for Ferrari in 2010 and 2012.
• Lewis Hamilton is the only other multiple winner in the current F1 driver line-up. He won here in 2008 and at the Nürburgring in 2011.
• Only three German drivers have won their home grand prix. As mentioned, Michael Schumacher won four times. His brother Ralf took victory for Williams-BMW in 2001 and Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel won at home, at the sixth attempt, last year.
• German drivers have, however, won a total of 148 F1 grands prix. Michael Schumacher’s 91 wins are complemented by wins for Wolfgang von Trips (2); Jochen Mass (1); Heinz-Harald Frentzen (3); Ralf Schumacher (6), Sebastian Vettel (39) and Nico Rosberg (6).
• Since the debut of the redesigned circuit in 2002, Hockenheim has staged the race eight times. Five have been won from pole position. The 2006 and 2010 events were won from second and just one win has been scored from off the front row – Alonso, from third in 2005.

German fans have their favourites

Reuters Facts & Statistics:

• Last year’s race was at the Nurburgring.
• Lap distance: 4.574 km, Total distance: 306.458 km, 67 laps.
• 2012 pole (Hockenheim): Fernando Alonso (Spain) Ferrari, One minute 40.621 seconds
• 2012 winner (Hockenheim): Alonso
• Lap record: Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) McLaren 1:13.780, 2004.
• Start time: 1200 GMT (1400 local)
• Tyres: Soft (Yellow), Super-soft (Red)
• Mercedes have won all but one race so far this season. The exception was Canada, won by Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo.
• Red Bull’s quadruple world champion Sebastian Vettel has 39 career wins, Fernando Alonso 32, Lewis Hamilton 27, Kimi Raikkonen 20 and Jenson Button 15. Championship leader Nico Rosberg has six.
• Hamilton’s victory at Silverstone took him level with triple champion Jackie Stewart in the all-time list of winners. The only British driver to have won more is 1992 champion Nigel Mansell (31).
• Ferrari have won 221 races, McLaren 182, Williams 114 and Red Bull 48. Mercedes have won 21.
• McLaren have not won for 28 races, a run that dates back to Brazil 2012.
• Ferrari’s last victory was in Spain in May 2013 – the last time a team other than Mercedes or Red Bull won.
• Mercedes and Williams are the only teams to have started a race on pole position this year.
• Hamilton (Australia / Malaysia / China / Spain) and Rosberg (Bahrain / Monaco / Canada / Britain) have four poles each for the season so far. Brazilian Felipe Massa was on pole for Williams in Austria.
• Vettel has 45 career poles. Hamilton has 35 – more than any other British driver in the history of Formula One.
• Ferrari’s last pole was in Germany with Alonso in 2012.
• Caterham, who came into the sport in 2010, are the only team on the grid who have yet to score a point.
• Ferrari have finished a record 76 successive races with at least one car in the points, a run that dates back to the 2010 German Grand Prix.
• Rosberg’s retirement at Silverstone means that only two drivers have now scored points in every race this season – Alonso and Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg.
• Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat is Formula One’s youngest point scorer aged 19 years and 324 days.
• Sunday will be the 61st German Grand Prix since 1950, and 34th at Hockenheim.
• Alonso has won the last two grands prix at Hockenheim (2012 and 2010) and was also the winner in 2005 with Renault. Hamilton won in 2008.
• Germany has four current drivers – Vettel, Rosberg, Nico Hulkenberg and Adrian Sutil.
• Vettel is the last German driver to have won at home (at the Nurburgring in 2013).
• The last time a works Mercedes team won the German Grand Prix was at the Nurburgring in 1954 with Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio at the wheel.
• Three German drivers have won the German Grand Prix since the championship started in 1950 – Michael and Ralf Schumacher and Vettel. Michael Schumacher won four times, once with Benetton and three times with Ferrari.
• The last German to win his home grand prix in a German car was Rudolf Caracciola in 1939 for Mercedes. Ralf Schumacher won for Williams in 2001 when they had BMW engines.
• Five of the eight races to date at the redesigned Hockenheim (since 2002) have been won from pole. Only once has the winner started from behind the front row (Alonso from third in 2005).
• Germany marks the half-way point in the championship, the 10th race of 19 this season.

Fernando Alonso won the last German Grand Prix at Hockenheim in 2012

German Grand Prix Race Stewards:

• Garry Connelly has been involved in motor sport since the late 1960s. A long-time rally competitor, Connelly was instrumental in bringing the World Rally Championship to Australia in 1988 and served as Chairman of the Organising Committee, Board member and Clerk of Course of Rally Australia until December 2002. He has been an FIA Steward and FIA Observer since 1989, covering the FIA’s World Rally Championship, World Touring Car Championship and Formula One Championship. He is a director of the Australian Institute of Motor Sport Safety and a member of the FIA World Motor Sport Council.
• Italian-born Vincenzo Spano grew up in Venezuela, where he went on to study at the Universidad Central de Venezuela, becoming an attorney-at-law. Spano has wide-ranging experience in motor sport, from national to international level. He has worked for the Touring y Automóvil Club de Venezuelasince 1991, and served as President of the Sporting Commission since 2001. He was president for two terms and now sits as a member of the Board of the Nacam-FIA zone. Since 1995 Spano has been a licenced steward and obtained his FIA steward super-licence in 2003.Spano has been involved with the FIA and FIA Institute in various roles since 2001: a member of the World Motor Sport Council, the FIA Committee, and the executive committee of the FIA Institute.
• Born in Bavaria in 1946, Jochen Mass graduated to Formula One after winning the 1972 European Touring Car Championship. He made his grand prix debut for Team Surtees at the 1973 British Grand Prix. In total he made 104 grands prix start between 1973 and 1982, racing for teams such as McLaren, ATS, Arrows and March. He secured eight podium finishes and one victory, at the 1975 Spanish Grand Prix. After calling time on his F1 career, Mass made a successful switch to endurance racing, winning the 1985 Circuito del Mugello 1000km and the 1987 12 Hours of Sebring, alongside Bobby Rahal. His 1989 Le Mans win ranks as the high point of his career in sportscars as he secured just the second win for Mercedes at the race, the previous one being in 1952.

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ROSBERG TO CHANGE HELMET AFTER FIFA BAN

Formula One championship leader Nico Rosberg has had to abandon plans to wear a special helmet decorated with the World Cup trophy at his home German Grand Prix due to copyright issues after FIFA intervened.

Rosberg, who drives for German Football Association sponsors Mercedes, had shown his 712,000 followers on Twitter a picture of the planned helmet in the German colours with four stars and the golden trophy on top.

“This will be my Hockenheim World Cup special edition helmet with the FIFA trophy. How do you like it?,” the German had asked fans still celebrating Germany’s 1-0 triumph over Argentina in the final in Brazil last weekend.

The helmet infringed world soccer body FIFA’s copyright however and Rosberg’s spokesman Georg Nolte confirmed that the image of the trophy would not now appear.

A new version, shown to reporters, featured one big star with a 14 inside it and three smaller stars denoting Germany’s four world championships.

“All the things you have to think about, It’s amazing,” commented Rosberg. “Even a trophy has its trade mark or whatever.

“That was a surprise but of course I fully understand,” said the German. “It was a pity because it looked really cool with the trophy on top. Now it has a big star and nobody can take that away. The star is ours.”

Car manufacturer Hyundai – who are one of the official sponsors of the world cup tournament – was behind the complaint according to Auto Motor und Sport.

Rosberg, who signed a contract extension with Mercedes earlier this week, leads British team mate Lewis Hamilton by four points ahead of Sunday’s race – which marks the halfway point in the season.

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WILL ANY TEAM LODGE FRIC PROTEST AT HOCKENHEIM?

The big question ahead of the German Grand Prix weekend, at Hockenheim, is whether any team will lodge a protest against rivals running FRIC suspension systems.

It is believed that Thursday’s scrutineering session is the preferred deadline for any protest to be lodged, after teams failed to reach a unanimous position on the technology of which the legality has been questioned by the FIA.

Top teams like Mercedes, Red Bull and McLaren have resolved simply to remove the systems from their cars ahead of the German Grand Prix.

Others are likely to follow suit, like Force India, who according to Auto Motor und Sport are leaving key developments in the cupboard for Hockenheim due to the FRIC controversy.

But according to the Silverstone based team’s technical boss Andy Green, there could be another way, “Every team can ask the stewards for their opinion. That would be not a protest, but a clarification. That way you would know where you stand.”

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Vettel: Unsafe release penalties too harsh

Sebastian Vettel has equated penalising a driver for an unsafe release to "going to prison for stealing a chocolate bar".

This season Formula 1 decided to take a strict approach to any team releasing their driver in an unsafe manner.

However, the best way to penalise a team is to penalise the driver and that's exactly what the new punishment does.

Not only is the driver hit with a penalty during the grand prix but they also incur a 10-place grid drop for the next race.

Vettel feels it is too harsh.

Speaking in Thursday's press conference in Germany, he said penalising a driver for an unsafe release is "like going to prison for stealing a chocolate bar.

"It's too harsh for the drivers, it's more for the team."

However, as he added, "it is what it is."

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Massa wants Ferrari tussle

Felipe Massa says while Williams set about holding off Force India and McLaren, his new team also needs to chase down Ferrari.

Williams, powered by the Mercedes V6 engine, have made a stellar start to this season and are fourth in the Championship after nine races.

The team has scored 103 points, a staggering number when one considers that last year they managed just five. 15 of those points came through Valtteri Bottas' third place finish at the Austrian GP.

And although Massa is pleased with his team's progress, he has urged Williams to continue their fight against F1's heavy-weights such as Ferrari.

"We always need to think about getting better," Massa told GPUpdate.net.

"We have improved step-by-step. We haven't brought pieces that make the car completely different. We're doing a good job on the development.

"In the last three races we were stronger than Red Bull and Ferrari. So if we are better than them in terms of pace, why can't we fight with them?

"At the moment we are a few points behind Ferrari and a bit ahead of Force India and McLaren.

"We need to fight to stay ahead of them but also Ferrari - Red Bull is maybe a bit far but you never know."