FORMULA 1 - 2015

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MEXICAN GRAND PRIX: ROSBERG POWERS TO FAULTLESS VICTORY

Nico Rosberg powered to a faultless victory in the Mexican Grand Prix after a tense duel with his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton who kept the German honest all afternoon in front of a capacity crowd at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

Rosberg simply did not put a foot wrong, from the moment he blitzed off the line winning the drag race to the end of the long start straight and from then on had Hamilton in his mirrors throughout the 71 laps race. But not even a Safety Car period,deployed when he led by around three seconds, could derail the German’s quest for victory at a circuit which last held a grand prix back in 1992.

It was Rosberg’s fourth victory of the season and 12th of his career and the tenth 1-2 by Mercedes so far this year.

On the podium in the middle of the baseball arena grandstands, heaving with chanting fans, Rosberg told MC Nigel Mansell, “Amazing day, a great battle with Lewis, who drove really well. I’m really happy with the win, what a place to do it. An absolutely awesome crowd. This is the best podium of the year. What a place to win!”

For most of the race the Mercedes drivers traded fastest laps, but Rosberg did just enough to keep Hamilton out of DRS range, and the only contentious moment came when Rosberg pitted for a second time and Hamilton was reluctant to do so relented a couple of laps later after questioning the decision.

He questioned the pit call, “Can I ask why?”

And was told, “It is down to wear on the tyre. They are down to the canvas. It is down to safety reasons. Box this lap.”

To which Hamilton replied, “You need to check his [Rosberg’s] tyres, but mine feel good.”

As he pulled out of the pits, after his pitstop, he reminded his engineer again, “Check those tyres and let me know.”

After the race, on the podium, Hamilton acknowledged, “Nico drove a fantastic race. Just fantastic to be here in Mexico. This crowd is like being at a football game. The fans have been amazing. I’ve never seen anything like this. It was fun. I was pushing so hard and I was giving it everything I had. I had more pace than him.”

The Safety Car period car was prompted by Sebastian Vettel who crashed his Ferrari in to the wall in Turn 7 on lap 52, bringing an end to his error strewn race for the German, which began with a Turn 1 coming together with Daniel Ricciardo’s Red Bull and resulted in a puncture for the Ferrari driver. Thereafter he spun once and had a number of near misses before the wall beckoned.

Vettel reflected, “I had a bad start. These things happen it is racing,. The race was pretty much lost. I tried to come back, but two mistakes did not help. The last mistake was my mistake, so I’m not proud of it. We were very close to Mercedes in terms of pace, as close as we have been for a while. We were forcing it.”

This left the Mercedes boys alone up front with no real challenge from the rest, of which the best ended up being Valtteri Bottas, in the Williams, who this time survived a wheel-to-wheel skirmish with fellow countryman Kimi Raikkonen in the Ferrari, to claim the final step of the podium.

Bottas said, “A big thanks to the team, we did a mega job. We were racing like a race-winning team.”

And of the Raikkonen incident, he added: “There was nowhere for me to go, it is a shame it ended like that.”

Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat, who at one stage ran third, finished fourth ahead of Ricciardo in fifth, who managed to fend off Felipe Massa in the Williams.

Force India pair of Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez were seventh and eighth respectively, the local hero getting cheers throughout the day from the enthusiastic fans.

Max Verstappen in the Toro Rosso was ninth and the best rookie, with Romain Grosjean grabbing the final point in tenth after a race long battle with teammate Pastor Maldonado who crossed the line in 11th.

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RED BULL SEEK HELP FROM TODT AMID F1 ENGINE CRISIS

Red Bull is now looking to the most powerful man in global motor racing to help solve its Formula 1 engine supply crisis.

Just as Red Bull magnate Dietrich Mateschitz’s self-imposed end-of-October deadline expires, FIA president Jean Todt showed up in Mexico City for an ultra-rare F1 paddock appearance.

The Frenchman admitted the fact Red Bull Racing and Toro Rosso are currently without power units for 2016 is “frustrating”.

“There is always a reason why certain things happen,” said Todt. “But we should give all the assistance we can so that they are at the start next year with a homologated engine.”

That is not quite the sound of a firing engine, but it is music to the ears of Dr Helmut Marko, who is Mateschitz’s right-hand man on F1 matters.

“It’s a difficult situation,” Marko admitted to Bild am Sonntag newspaper in Mexico.

After it emerged McLaren had vetoed a last-resort deal between Red Bull and Honda, Eric Boullier explained to Auto Motor und Sport: “Honda and us are partners with a common approach.

“It is not about Ron Dennis and (Yasuhisa) Arai-San saying yes. The fact is that Red Bull put itself in this situation and we are not a welfare organisation,” he added.

Marko continued: “Everything is very tedious. But Jean Todt is here in Mexico so hopefully we will soon know some more about the new engine,” added the Austrian.

Todt was also quoted as saying: “I am sure the people of Red Bull are working diligently to find a solution. And Bernie Ecclestone has offered to help.

“I am optimistic that Red Bull Racing and Toro Rosso will contest next year’s world championship. But that’s all I can say for now.”

MIKA: I'm really tired of this topic, sorry for posting but it still lingers on!

As far as I'm concerned, RBR have done this to themselves, so if there are no engine options (And there are they just don't want to take it) then tough luck. The only upset in all this is the grid and the drivers from RBR and Toro Rosso. Horner, Mateschitz and Marko several months ago were bagging the hell out of Renault, now they have their hat in their hands asking for help.

I can understand as a winning team for several seasons they expect perfection and continuing to win BUT in Formula 1, every success must come to an end sometime which is what makes this sport so great. They should have respected Renault a great deal more whilst also expressing their opinions on this seasons spec engine which agreed, is pretty bad, but not forget, Renault gave them 4 seasons of WDC and Constructors championships. Funny how respect can be lost in less than a season.

No surprise Renault do not want RBR's business...

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Hamilton will end his career with Merc

Mercedes will be Lewis Hamilton’s final F1 team with the Brit revealing that he’ll extend his stay for one more “three or four years” contract.

Last Sunday Hamilton again wrote his name in Formula 1 history books as he claimed his third Drivers’ Championship title.

In doing so he became the first Brit to win back-to-back crowns while his 43rd race win moved him up to third on the all-time list.

It has been an incredible two seasons for Hamilton and Mercedes, the team where he intends seeing out his F1 career.

“I honestly can’t see myself anywhere else,” he said in Mexico.

“I’ve got a contract for another three years. I imagine beyond this three years there could be one more contract of three or four years I will commit to and that would be it for me.”

The Brit ruled out the possibility of still racing in Formula 1 at the age of 43 like seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher.

He told Reuters: “For every year that he (Schumacher) stayed … because he could stay and he enjoyed it, that’s one less seat for someone else that potentially could have come along maybe.

“Maybe there wasn’t anyone good enough at the time but I just remember how it happened for me in 2006. If they had not moved maybe I would not be in this position today, I would be somewhere else.

“I’ve got a friend also who had a chance to be in Formula One but it got missed and he never got the chance again so I am conscious I don’t want to hog it,”

As for a move to Ferrari, that also won’t happen.

“There was always that talk of driving another car and I have done that. Ticked that box off. I have been driving with Mercedes since I was 13 so I can’t honestly see myself anywhere else,” he said.

“I don’t like to say never, but I think it would be pretty awesome to finish my career with this team.”

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Perez: McLaren ruined Magnussen’s career

While Sergio Perez has no “bad feelings” towards McLaren, he reckons their politics have ruined drivers’ careers.

After punching above his weight at Sauber, Perez joined McLaren in 2013. That, though, was to be his only season in Woking.

McLaren struggled for form with neither Perez nor team-mate Jenson Button managing a single podium result never mind a race win.

McLaren called time on Perez’s stay at the end of the year, dropping him in favour of Kevin Magnussen.

But after just one season the Dane was also ousted from a race-seat, demoted to a test driver role.

Speaking of his own year with McLaren, Perez told Telegraph Sport: “That year was very political. It was very difficult for the people.

“With Martin [Whitmarsh] and Ron [Dennis], there were big fights. Very political. Martin was blaming the engineers, the engineers were blaming Ron. It was just a big hole going around.”

But while Perez went from McLaren to Force India, Magnussen has found himself out in the cold with the Mexican driver stating that McLaren are to blame for ruining the Dane’s career.

“You saw with Kevin. He came in and they ruined his career unfortunately. It’s not like McLaren does that on purpose it’s just very political. Especially when I arrived in McLaren.

“I don’t have bad feelings. I look back and feel proud I drove for such a historic team.

“I really hope in the future I can get my big chance with a top team, because it’s what I’m here for. I’m very confident I’ll get the chance. I’m getting better and better through the experience, and I see no reason why I cannot do that.”

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Mexican GP: Rosberg strikes back with dominant victory

Nico Rosberg won the first Mexican Grand Prix for 23 years at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, beating Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton by 1.9s.

Rosberg bounced back from his horror show in Austin last weekend by leading almost every lap, with the only controversy coming when both Mercedes drivers were ordered to make a second pitstop – a decision that Hamilton challenged, and briefly ignored.

Williams's Valtteri Bottas finished third – only his second podium of the season – but had a late safety car to thank for moving him within range of Red Bull's Daniil Kvyat, whom he passed at the restart.

Story of the race

From pole position, Rosberg led Hamilton, who immediately tucked into his tow on the run to Turn 1. Hamilton looked to the outside, with a fast-starting Kvyat grabbing third from Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo, who touched at the first corner.

"He gave me no room at all," complained Ricciardo.

"He just put his front wheel into my tyre," countered Vettel. "He had no chance to get past me anyways."

Stewards decided to take no action over the incident.

Behind that contretemps, Bottas got past Massa for fifth, but Max Verstappen's Toro Rosso managed to intersect the Williams duo, having jumped Felipe Massa's Williams as a slowing Vettel balked the pack, with local hero Sergio Perez running eighth.

Vettel got a puncture from contact with Ricciardo, and crawled back to the pits.

As soon as DRS was enabled, Bottas got right on to Ricciardo's tail, as Massa did likewise with Verstappen. Hamilton got into DRS range of Rosberg by lap four, but the high altitude appeared to be going a long way to negating its effect.

Bottas pitted early, on lap eight, to switch to the preferred medium-compound tyre, and Massa followed suit a lap later along with Force India's Nico Hulkenberg.

Rosberg extended a 1.4s lead over Hamilton by lap 10, with Kvyat over 5s behind the Mercedes duo. He doubled that over the next 10 laps, but the gap was back to 1.8s when Rosberg pitted on lap 26, told that his tyre degradation was down to "10 percent".

Hamilton stayed out to try and 'overcut' his teammate, but his pace wasn't good enough and he pitted on lap 28. He rejoined 3.5s behind.

Hamilton carved into Rosberg's lead initially on his fresh mediums, but the gap stabilized at 3s.

Mercedes switched its strategy to a two-stop race once it was a pitstop ahead of Kvyat. Rosberg duly pitted as instructed on lap 46, but Hamilton stayed out – despite his pitcrew being ready to receive him.

Hamilton radio-ed in: "Can I ask why?"

He was told: "We are worried about wear with these tyres, we're down to the canvas. Box for safety reasons."

Hamilton argued: "My tyres feel good," before he was instructed to pit for a second time. After the stop, he said: "Please check those tyres and let me know the feedback on them."

Rosberg was 4.2s clear after Hamilton's stop, having benefited again from stopping first for new rubber.

The safety car for Vettel's exit made it a 13-lap sprint to the finish, Rosberg extended a 1.5s lead straightaway, despite going off in the Esses and thwacking over the kerbs as he rejoined. Hamilton too had a moment at Turn 12.

Although Hamilton pushed hard in the closing stages, Rosberg kept him out of DRS range to score his 12th career F1 win.

Disaster for Ferrari

Kvyat had already pitted from third on lap 21. He rejoined ahead of Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen – up to sixth from 19th – but Kimi was being attacked by Bottas…

After Raikkonen fended off Bottas through the opening corners, Bottas clattered into his right-rear corner at Turn 5, punting him off much in the fashion that Raikkonen had hit him on the final lap at Sochi. Stewards decided no action was required on that incident either.

Vettel's fightback after his early setback got him past Carlos Sainz's 12th-placed Toro Rosso on lap 16, but soon after he passed Button for 11th, he spun at Turn 7 – the first left-hander of the Esses – dropping him back to 15th again.

"The flatspot is pretty bad, I can continue but it's not great," he said.

Vettel took a second set of mediums on lap 36, which put him a lap down. He even had the ignominy of having to slow down to let Hamilton past to avoid a blue-flag penalty, despite pointing out "I'm quicker than him".

Vettel then crashed out on lap 52 at the Esses. "I crashed, again Turn 7. Sorry."

Battle for the places

Ricciardo dropped behind the Williams duo after his pitstop, but was sticking to Red Bull's one-stop plan. At half distance, Bottas was 2s behind Kvyat and 4s ahead of Massa, with Ricciardo a further 4s back.

Ricciardo closed right up on Massa by lap 50, and passed him under braking for Turn 1 on lap 51.

The safety car for Vettel's crash set off a flurry of pitstops for Kvyat, Ricciardo and Massa, and although Bottas missed the first opportunity, he retained his fourth place nevertheless. Both Red Bulls switched to the soft tyre, with the Williams pair taking mediums.

Bottas passed Kvyat into Turn 1 at the restart to grab third. Although Kvyat had DRS, his Renault power unit was powerless to respond to the Merc-powered Williams, and Bottas pulled clear to nab a podium that was highly unlikely without the safety car.

Kvyat finished fourth, ahead of Ricciardo and Massa. Hulkenberg ended his poor run of results with a fine seventh, ahead of Perez.

Earlier, Sainz undercut his way past Perez, but the Spaniard outbraked himself at Turn 4 and totally shortcut Turn 5. Sainz wisely elected to let Perez past, doing so in the 40,000-seat baseball stadium section.

Perez passed the other Toro Rosso of Verstappen for eighth on lap 50, after Max ran wide at Turn 12.

Verstappen finished ninth, ahead of the Lotuses of Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado, the latter almost shaving the wall at Turn 12 in the closing laps.

Marcus Ericsson finished 12th, ahead of Sainz and McLaren's Jenson Button.

In Manor-land, Alex Rossi passed Will Stevens in the final 10 laps to finish 15th.

Besides the crashing Ferraris, Felipe Nasr's Sauber went off in the baseball stadium soon after the restart following a brake fire.

Fernando Alonso retired on the opening lap with an MGU-H failure.

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Alonso always braced for early exit

Fernando Alonso says his retirement from the Mexican Grand Prix came as no surprise, the Spaniard confirming that he knew about an MGU-H problem and expected to retire after a lap.

Alonso was the first retirement of the race, his McLaren-Honda pulling into the pits and out of the race at the end of the first lap.

The problem was related to the MGU-H, Alonso claiming that he knew it would lead to an early exit from the race - but chose to take to the grid anyway to please the fans.

“I had an MGU-H problem. We spotted it yesterday night, and this morning confirmed it,” he said.

“There was no time to replace it anymore, so the possibilities were not starting the race, or trying to do as much as we could – knowing that maybe one lap was the maximum.

“For the respect of the fans we tried to race, and the first lap it was enjoyable, at least the first three corners.

“It’s a shame, one of the best races of the year and we could not even nearly participate.

“I will go the airport, and try and forget this race as quick as I can.”

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F1/Le Mans clash was "not possible" to avoid, says Todt

The clash between next year's European Grand Prix in Baku and the Le Mans 24 Hours was "not possible" to avoid, according to FIA president Jean Todt.

The most recent draft of the 2016 Formula 1 calendar has the European GP scheduled for the weekend of 18-19 June, creating a direct clash with Le Mans.

This means that Nico Hulkenberg will be unable to return to defend his crown in the French endurance classic, while Jos Verstappen has also revealed that his plans to return to Le Mans have been dashed.

But Todt insisted that the realities of having to craft a calendar to accommodate every major FIA discipline meant clashes between categories were inevitable.

"The calendar as an exercise is a very tricky job because you have 21 races in F1, you have 10 races in Formula E, you have 10 races also in WEC," said Todt. "You have 14 rallies next year.

"So to make one calendar without any conflict is simply not possible."

"We cannot do better"

Owing to the three-hour time zone difference, the Baku race will start after the finish of Le Mans, allowing fans to watch both in full - and Todt said that this was the best the governing body could manage.

"For Le Mans, I am quite confident that having Baku, the start will be at midday, the finishing of Le Mans is at 3pm," added the Frenchman.

"So maybe for one driver or two drivers, it will not allow them to do it. But I am sorry to say that we can not do better."

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McLaren justifies Red Bull/Honda deal veto: "We are not a charity"

McLaren has made clear there is no change in its stance of not wanting Honda to supply engines to Red Bull next year – insisting that it is not a "charity".

Honda motorsport boss Yasuhisa Arai suggested in Mexico on Friday that discussions with Red Bull were "ongoing" about opening up a customer supply deal for the team.

It comes after Bernie Ecclestone revealed at the United States Grand Prix that a Honda deal for Red Bull was being blocked by Ron Dennis through a veto the team has on such a plan.

When asked by Motorsport.com about McLaren's position, racing director Eric Boullier said: “As a partner, I will repeat myself, we have to agree on the strategy.

“This is not a question of saying Ron says 'no', and Arai-San says 'yes'. There is no debate on this.

"Clearly there is an issue at Red Bull, which was created by Red Bull, and not by anybody else. We are not a charity foundation, so we are not here to help.

“We are not going into this kind of debate. Today there are discussions, but I think the position of McLaren-Honda has been clear.”

FIA president Jean Todt has said that the governing body will do what it can to help keep Red Bull in F1, but it is unclear what can be done.

Although Honda had an agreement with the FIA and FOM to supply two teams in 2016, it is understood to have been superseded by the McLaren deal that laid out the veto.

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Infiniti Red Bull Racing F1 Showrun - Mexico City

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Ferrari's decision to exercise its veto was immoral

Nearly a century ago, the German sociologist Max Weber defined politics as the pursuit of power over the state.

In Politics as a Vocation Weber asserts that "[t]he state is seen as the sole grantor of the 'right' to physical force. Therefore, 'politics' in our case would mean the pursuit for a portion of power or for influencing the division of power whether it is between states, or between groups of people which the state encompasses."

Formula One is a world of its own, and it is one in which the pursuit of a portion of power is as important as the pursuit of pace.

Following the publication of a press release in which the FIA confirmed that Ferrari had exercised its veto over the concept of a cost cap on power unit supply (among other components), the Friday team principals' press conference in Mexico City saw much debate on the fairness of both that decision and of the Scuderia's right to a veto.

There can be no denying that Ferrari's veto power is a legitimate exercise of authority the team was granted over a given territory (that of F1 regulations). But legitimacy and morality are very different, and for those concerned about the health of Formula One as a whole Ferrari's decision to exercise its veto was seen as immoral.

Thanks to the recent flotation of Ferrari on Wall Street, more information on the state of the Scuderia's finances has been made public than ever before. While any F1 fan deserving of the label knows that the Italian team receive historic payments before the prize fund is divided among the teams -- as gratitude for its nearly seven decades of support for the championship -- recent filings have established that Ferrari's financial arrangements effectively allow the manufacturer to run an F1 team for free.

As a company, Ferrari are in rude financial health. Stock sales from the IPO valued the Italian automotive giant at $9.8 billion (£6.3 billion), and the brand value - defined as "the financial value of having customers who will pay more for a particular brand" - in 2015 is $4.7 billion, a 16.17 percent increase on 2014's brand value of $4 billion. Ferrari is not a company on a downwards trajectory.

Given that the racing team are hardly in the position of scrabbling between sofa cushions to find the spare change needed to stay afloat - unlike several of their on-track competitors - it was difficult to swallow Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene's press conference comments regarding his use of the veto as a business decision made inevitable by the need to protect the bottom line.

"Concerning the veto, it is quite easy," Arrivabene said. "We exercised our veto in line with our legitimate commercial right to do business as a power train manufacturer. There is nothing else to add."

Asked by this writer how he could morally justify the use of the veto in light of the F1 team's strong financial position, Arrivabene initially avoided the question: "I repeat it. I have to repeat again! The rules are done by the Federation and it's fine but we just exercise our commercial right as a powertrain manufacturer. This is the reason why."

The response was classic Weberian traditional authority, defined as "a form of leadership in which the authority of an organisation or a ruling regime is largely tied to tradition or custom. The main reason for the given state of affairs is that it 'has always been that way'."

When pushed to provide a moral justification given that the Ferrari team principal had not answered the question posed, the former marketing man appeared flustered.

"Why do we have to justify it more? Here we are talking about commercial right. We are not talking about budget, we are not talking about anything else. If somebody, they are asking you, they give you a specification to produce apple, OK you produce apple in line with the specification. That somebody, they're asking you, OK, we want to impose you the price of the apple', what are you going to do? This is the principle. It has nothing to do with the rest."

Later on in the press conference Arrivabene expanded on his position.

"I totally agree with [our use of the] veto," he said. "It is not a position against the other team. It is a decision that is defending a commercial principle. For the rest we are open to finding any other solution. You have in a public company, as we are now, but also in a company as Mercedes is, you have research and development costs that somehow you have to recover. I don't find any commercial entity all around the world that is giving their product out to the market for free - or at cost. So this is the principle."

How easily the Ferrari man could have side-stepped the questioning had he only referred to another extract from Politics as a Vocation: "One cannot prescribe to anyone whether he should follow an ethic of absolute ends or an ethic of responsibility."

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Michael Schumacher is ‘still fighting’ - Todt

FIA President Jean Todt says Michael Schumacher is 'still fighting' the battle against his injuries, almost two years after the skiing accident that left him with damage to the brain.

The 46 year-old was seriously injured in a skiing accident in the French Alps in December 2013. After several months in hospital, he has been continuing his rehabilitation at home, though his exact condition has never been officially communicated.

Indeed, with his family and management maintaining privacy, relatively little is known about Schumacher's condition today.

However, Todt – who enjoyed immense success with Schumacher as his Ferrari team principal – says he visits Schumacher and his family regularly, revealing he is 'still fighting' the serious injuries that are believed to have left him confined to a wheelchair.

"Michael is a close friend, his family is very close to me, I am very close to them as well,” Todt said. “I see Michael very often, and Michael is still fighting. We must keep him fighting for the family."

"It was interesting last week after Lewis was world champion for the third time. You saw the figures (number of titles). I was very proud of what Michael did, and some people tend to forget what Michael achieved.”

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Anyone else think karma was served with the kimi-bottas crash?

Bottas says no need for Raikkonen talks after crash

Valtteri Bottas says there is no need for he and Kimi Raikkonen to talk following their second collision in three Formula 1 races during the Mexican Grand Prix.

The two Finns collided at Turn 5 when fighting for position, after Bottas had attacked Raikkonen around the outside of Turn 4.

Raikkonen then tried to turn in for the Turn 5 right-hander, but Bottas was still partly alongside and they made contact, putting the Ferrari driver out of the race with suspension damage.

In Russia the pair collided when fighting over third place on the final lap, with Raikkonen the one trying to make a pass on that occasion.

"It's a shame it had to end like that, but that's racing," said Bottas.

"It was big contact, but it was just unlucky that we got together again.

"There is not anything to speak about for me, we were racing hard obviously."

Bottas believes there was enough space through the tight left-right sequence for two cars to get through side-by-side.

"Normally what I'm used to in those situations is that there is enough space for two cars when you go into a chicane," he added.

"Of course, I'm not going to back off, I'm fighting for positions.

"I thought it was a decent possibility to get through but it ended up like this.

"There was just no room. I was on the inside and we touched, but I had no space to go [into]."

Bottas took third place from Red Bull's Daniil Kvyat after a late-race restart, and he praised Williams for choosing the harder tyre while Kvyat was put on the softer compound.

"It was a really good call from the team - the medium is a low-range tyre, and it seemed to work," he said.

"I saw Daniil sliding it in the last corner and I managed to get close enough and get through.

"It was a really good race, and we did a great job, especially with the strategy."

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Vettel takes blame for race ending crash in Mexico

Sebastian Vettel has accepted responsibility for his crash, which ended his race and brought out the Safety Car at the Mexican Grand Prix.

The German endured a tough race, saying he'd done a "**** job" over team radio, which began with a puncture following contact with Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo, dropping him from third to last.

He later span at the Esses and then crashed at the same corner later in the race.

He admitted it wasn't a problem with the car that caused toe crash, but his own mistake.

"I saw the replay of my crash, because I wanted to understand it, but there was nothing wrong with the car," he explained. "I went in with more or less the same speed as usual but lost the car suddenly.

"It was similar to the first time I lost control [and span]. We know it has been tricky all weekend but I cannot blame the conditions or the circuit.

"In the end it was my mistake, probably just asking a bit too much and once you lose the grip, depending on where it happens, it can be very costly."

Had his race gone a little smoother, he reckons he could have kept pace with Mercedes, but beating them would have required another couple of tenths per lap.

"I think our pace was closer to Mercedes thanks to the conditions of the track. It could have been a very good race, but, in the end, it wasn't.

"I don't know if there was anyone that could have put them under pressure, we maybe needed another couple of tenths. When I was with them, one lap down, we had a similar pace and it looked like they were pushing."

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Kvyat gutted to miss out on podium

Daniil Kvyat has lamented missing out on a podium finish in Mexico, saying he was in control of third place before the safety car was deployed.

The Russian made an excellent getaway at the Autodromos Hermanos Rodriquez on Sunday as he shot past Sebastian Vettel into third place once the lights went out and then built a reasonable gap over his Red Bull team-mate Daniel Ricciardo following Vettel’s pit stop.

Although Valtteri Bottas from Williams managed to get ahead of Ricciardo, Kvyat kept the gap steady at over two seconds to the Finn.

However, the safety car was deployed late on after Vettel crashed his Ferrari into the barriers and most of the front runners pitted for a second time.

While the Red Bull drivers opted to switch to the soft tyres, Bottas went for another set of mediums and it meant Kvyat was a sitting duck once the race resumed as there was no heat in his tyres.

Bottas overtook him at the restart and Kvyat had to settle for fourth place.

When asked if he deserved a podium, he told Motorsport.com: "I think so. I don't know how Bottas was going on his prime tyres, but I was controlling him before the safety car quite easily. It's a shame, but this is life."

He added: "We had no pace on the straight whatsoever. Williams went full banana and they could pass us quite easily.

"I was very gutted, but it's still a very solid race for us as a team. Very solid points. We could have been on the podium today, we deserved it, but we can't complain."

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Wolff: Hamilton right to question orders

Toto Wolff has downplayed Lewis Hamilton's discussion with the Mercedes pit-wall after being asked to make an extra pit-stop during the Mexican GP.

Both leader Nico Rosberg and Hamilton were told to come in after a suitable window to third place Daniil Kvyat allowed them to make a free stop without losing position.

The tyre change was essentially a precautionary one, after the team inspected the option tyres that came off the cars at the first stop.

One of Hamilton's showed excessive wear – actually 10 percent higher than had been predicted – and that prompted concerns about the life of the primes that the drivers had expected to run to the end.

Hamilton opted not to come in at the first time of asking, and he ended up losing time to Rosberg, who had two laps on fresh rubber with which to extend his lead.

“It's emotions and a race driver in a car,” Wolff told Motorsport.com.

“He needs to question and needs to ask, it's perfectly reasonable. We have the overview out there. We were down to the canvas on the option tyre [from the first stint], we had the gap, and this is why we decided to do it.”

Hamilton's questions to his engineer showed that he clearly didn't understand why the team wanted him to pit.

“That's why it's perfectly reasonable to have the discussion,” added Wolff.

“Do I want to have a robot in the car? No. I want the best racing driver. That's how it is.

“He questions things, and we saw that with [sebastian] Vettel. It's no problem as long as the team keeps the overview. No issue at all for me.”

Meanwhile, Paddy Lowe admitted that Hamilton was at fault in not coming in when asked.

“Technically it's incorrect not to come in when we said,” Lowe told Motorsport.com.

“Just looking at it from his point of view he clearly didn't understand why we were doing it. When a guy is driving around at 350kph you can't really give them a technical explanation that takes a couple of minutes.”

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Perez questions Force India strategy call

Sergio Perez has questioned his Force India team’s decision not to bring him for a pitstop behind the safety car during the Mexican Grand Prix.

Having managed to stretch his opening stint on option tyres longer than most of his rivals, Perez had worked his way up to eighth place when the safety car was called for Sebastian Vettel’s crash on Lap 52.

Force India chose to keep Perez out, believing this would allow him to gain track position, but the Mexican would remain eighth, and came under pressure from Max Verstappen at the restart.

Although Perez would manage to hang on to the place, he said after the race that not stopping for a second time along with his rivals was the wrong call.

“It was one of my toughest races, I tell you,” said Perez. “In the end when the safety car came out and I find out the people in front had new tyres, the people behind had new tyres and I was like ‘Why didn’t we pit?’

“I think we had some kind of confusion of how we were measuring things, because we thought we could have gained a position to [Nico] Hulkenberg and [Felipe] Massa.

"But I was not even close to that, so there’s a lot to analyse after the race.

“In the past we’ve been lucky with safety cars, but today we were not.”

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Daniel Ricciardo: No way to avoid Vettel contact at turn 1

Daniel Ricciardo said there was nothing he could do to avoid Sebastian Vettel after making contact with his former team-mate at Turn 1 in Mexico.

A slow getaway from Vettel at the start saw him drop behind Daniil Kvyat and then come under immediate pressure from Ricciardo in the other Red Bull. Ricciardo got the inside line but appeared to make contact with Vettel as the Ferrari driver, who was paired with him at Red Bull last year, took the corner.

The incident gave Vettel a puncture and forced a pit stop, taking the German out of podium contention and leaving him upset with Ricciardo's driving. However Ricciardo said he was right on the apex and Vettel left him nowhere to go.

"I was just there and wasn't necessarily making a move or anything, but at the start you're all sort of bunched up," Ricciardo explained. "I was just there on the inside, I didn't feel like I could go anywhere else and he just basically took the apex as if I wasn't there. I don't really know what else I could have done."

Though Vettel vented his frustration over race radio the race stewards took no further action and absolved either driver of blame. Having seen a replay after the race Vettel admitted there was little Ricciardo could have done but remained confused by what the Red Bull driver wanted to achieve.

"I've seen the accident at the start on TV," Vettel said. "Initially I was pretty angry because I had a puncture and the race was lost, but having seen it, given it was the start of the race I think it was correct not to take any action. I don't think Danny had anywhere to go, but, equally, he was trying but there was no gap there.

"It's a difficult judgement to make, I saw him at the last second and moved over to give him more room but it was too late, as he was too quick for the line he was trying to take. We touched, but you cannot give anyone a penalty for something like that because no one does that on purpose. I'm not blaming him but it was a shame for us."

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F1 Mexican Grand Prix: Raikkonen refuses to shame Bottas for latest clash

Kimi Raikkonen says he is unconcerned that Valtteri Bottas escaped punishment for their coming together in the Mexican Grand Prix, their second collision in three races.

The Finns controversially clashed on the final lap of the Russian Grand Prix last month, with Raikkonen tagging Bottas' right-rear to spin him out of the race. The Ferrari driver would then go on to be penalised with a 25secs post-race penalty.

In their latest clash, however, it was Raikkonen that would come off worse, Bottas' attempt to get down the inside of turn five prompting contact that would break Raikkonen's rear suspension and put him out of the race. With stewards quickly declaring it as a race incident, Bottas went on to finish third.

Despite the disparate stewards' decisions in the two clashes, Raikkonen was refusing to dwell on his second consecutive DNF, accepting the outcome and suggesting Bottas will 'feel better' about their Sochi coming together now.

“Obviously everybody has their own view, but in the end that's racing and that's what happened. We have different Stewards all the time and, like I said, if you take ten people, five will see it one way and the other five will see it another way. It's part of the game and we came off worse out of it. That's life, nothing is going to change anymore, our end result doesn't change.

“What has happened, has happened. Maybe now he feels better about what happened in Russia, I have nothing against anybody.”

Even so, Raikkonen feels Bottas could have avoided the contact had he taken more kerb on the inside of the corner.

“There was not much room, but if he'd gone a bit more over the kerb on the inside there would be enough room. It was a racing situation, he's done what he's done and now it won't change anything to talk about it.”

Bottas, meanwhile, doesn't feel he needs to clear the air with Raikkonen, despite another controversial incident

“No, I don't know if there is anything to really speak about. For me we were racing hard obviously and what I am used to in those kind of situations when there is enough space for two cars go into a chicane for them to get through like that but this time there wasn't.

“Of course I'm fighting for the position and was calculating the risk and there a possibility to get through but it is not like this. I don't think there is anything to speak about.”

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F1 Mexican Grand Prix: Button powerless to stop passes in ‘painful’ Mexican GP

Jenson Button has described his Mexican Grand Prix as 'painful' as McLaren-Honda's top speed deficit was again made plainly clear down the home straight at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, even if he remains encouraged by the chassis potential.

Starting from the back of the grid after failing to make it out for qualifying, though Button fared better than team-mate Fernando Alonso – who retired on the opening lap – by reaching the chequered flag, he was never in top ten contention.

Made to look particularly slow down the 1.2km home straight, as cars behind used DRS and deployment to ease past with a '45kph advantage', Button says McLaren-Honda's work is far from done.

“[The race was] Painful,” he said. “I was on the harder on the start but it was just waving goodbye to everyone at the start. The straight line speed they have is phenomenal. We are still doing 345kph on the straight, but they are 20kph quicker than us. So when they have DRS and full deployment they are 45kph quicker than us.

“It is a massive difference in speed, I couldn't hold people behind me even if I was in front of them, not that was very often unless they were pitting or lapping me. We have a lot of work to do.”

Despite this, Button did take some positives from the car's performance in the twisty sections of the track, saying he was passed by a Williams at the end of the home straight and was able to keep up until they came back around again.

“The interesting thing is, compared to a Williams or the middle of the pack cars we are quicker in the last sector. The last sector is unbelievably slow, but the car was working better there.

“When Bottas lapped me, I dropped back 1.5secs then caught him for the DRS zone. Those sort of sectors the car is working pretty well.”

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AMID CRISIS MCLAREN DEFIANT OVER ENGINE SUPPLY TO RED BULL

Struggling McLaren have created a crisis by blocking a deal between their team’s engine suppliers Honda and Red Bull that could be the key to keeping the former champions in Formula 1.

After another humiliating display by McLaren at the Mexican Grand Prix where two-time champion Fernando Alonso was forced to retire after one lap and Jenson Button finished a distant 14th, it emerged that Honda are keen to supply Red Bull, but unable to do so because team boss Ron Dennis holds a right of veto.

A Honda deal with Red Bull would also be welcomed by the sport’s commercial ring-master Bernie Ecclestone and, many believe, help the Japanese company develop speed and reliability faster than by remaining a single-team supplier.

Red Bull have given notice they are ending their deal with Renault and have failed to reach agreement with both Mercedes and Ferrari for a supply of engines for next year.

Red Bull boss Christian Horner said: “I haven’t spoken to anybody from McLaren other than Ron Dennis, who is the one guy who has the right of say there and his views were quite clear.

“Honda are very keen, but unfortunately they have a contractual status that is between them and McLaren that’s nothing to do with us. It’s for them to decide among themselves what they want to do.”

In the wake of another wretched weekend that saw Button given massive grid penalties – 70 places – for his power unit changes, one seasoned and highly-respected commentator, former British F1 driver Martin Brundle, said it was no exaggeration to say the team was “in crisis”.

Honda motorsport boss Yasuhisa Arai told reporters in Mexico that their situation towards Red Bull was “open”, but McLaren team manager Eric Boullier moved swiftly to quash this.

He said: “As a partner, we have to agree on the strategies. This is not a question of Ron saying ‘no’ and Arai-san saying ‘yes’ – there is no debate on this. Clearly there is an issue inside Red Bull, created by Red Bull and not by anybody else, and we are not a charity foundation . So, we are not here to help.”

Asked to sum up his experience in the race, Button, who missed Saturday’s qualifying session due to another engine failure, said: “Painful, I think, is the word.

“The straight-line speed that other cars have is just phenomenal It’s a massive difference and I couldn’t hold people behind me, even if I was in front of them – not that I was very often, unless they were pitting or lapping me.”

Spaniard Alonso said he opted to start the race, knowing his engine would fail, out of respect for the Mexican crowd.

“We had two possibilities, retire the car without even starting, or try our maximum, knowing that maybe one or two laps was the maximum we could achieve,” he said.

“We did one lap, for respect of the fans because they were amazing all weekend. It’s frustrating not even participating. Even if you are last – at least you are on the track.”

McLaren have won eight constructors’ world championships and 12 drivers’ titles since they first entered Formula One at the 1966 Monaco Grand Prix.

They have not won in 55 races dating back to the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix and have scored only one podium finish in that time.

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MATESCHITZ: THIS IS NOT A SOAPBOX DERBY

Billionaire F1 team owner Dietrich Mateschitz has confirmed that his end-of-October deadline for a resolution of Red Bull’s engine crisis has been extended.

The deadline came and went during the Mexican grand prix weekend, as frenzied negotiations with Honda appeared to hit a wall.

Team boss Christian Horner admitted he has had some talks with Honda as well as Ron Dennis, but the McLaren team boss seems determined to veto any deal.

“Honda are very keen,” he said, “but unfortunately they have a contractual status that is between them and McLaren that’s nothing to do with us.”

FIA president Jean Todt and Bernie Ecclestone are now involved in resolving the crisis, and so Red Bull magnate Mateschitz has confirmed he is willing to wait a little longer.

“We have extended the time again for two or three weeks,” he confirmed to Speed Week, a Red Bull-linked German language publication.

The Austrian businessman acknowledged, however, that Red Bull’s earlier plans for a fully “competitive engine” for 2016 are likely to come to nothing.

“The factory teams fear and know that we would be faster than them. Everyone sees that,” said Mateschitz.

And so the search for a power unit of any description is still on and not finding one will have consequencesas Mateschitz confirmed, “Without an engine we will go. This is not a soapbox derby.”

There are reports that the relationship with Renault could be patched up, or that Red Bull could perhaps run an unbranded turbo V6 supplied by the French marque.

On the topic of Renault, Mateschitz was clear: “We have cancelled the contract.”

He also described another option – that Renault might abandon its plans to buy Lotus and instead buy Red Bull – as “unthinkable”.

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BUTTON: PUT ME IN SAME CAR AS LEWIS AND HE WOULD NOT BE SO CONFIDENT

Jenson Button has moved to temper Lewis Hamilton’s run of ultra-high confidence, amid comments made by the triple F1 world champion.

Hamilton has just sealed up his third drivers’ world championship – the second on the trot – declaring to his defeated teammate Nico Rosberg that being paired with him at Mercedes must be the “worst thing”.

“Did he really say that?” said Button, who when paired with Hamilton at McLaren in 2011 actually had a better season than his fellow Briton.

But not only that, Hamilton was quoted by a German newspaper at the weekend as declaring that his rivals only have a chance of beating him when he makes mistakes.

And British newspapers have quoted Hamilton in Mexico as comparing himself to Muhammad Ali, Usain Bolt and Tiger Woods as sportsman who stood out in their respective fields.

Button tried to put the brakes on that sort of runaway conviction when he told Globo, “Lewis is undoubtedly very talented. But if you put myself or Vettel in the same car as him, I think Lewis would not have quite as much confidence as he has today.

“He’s in a very comfortable situation,” Button added. “There are many very capable drivers in Formula 1, but I think at the moment he has such a fast and balanced car and without too much competition from inside the team either.”

That sounds like a jab at the performance this year of Nico Rosberg, but Button said the German – who dominated in Mexico – could mount a tougher challenge in 2016.

And Ferrari is also expected to be fully competitive next year, “which will mean Mercedes has to look at how it goes about the races completely differently than it does now, in terms of strategy”, Button added.

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KVYAT WILL KEEP SEAT IF RED BULL STAYS IN F1

If Red Bull is on the 2016 FormulA 1 grid, it will be Daniil Kvyat lining up with Daniel Ricciardo again.

“He (Kvyat) is doing great,” team boss Christian Horner told BBC in Mexico, amid speculation Max Verstappen might be promoted from Toro Rosso. “So as long as we’re here, he (Kvyat) will be in the car next year.”

‘If’, however, seems to be the operative word. Team owner Dietrich Mateschitz’s end-of-October deadline for a solution to the engine supply crisis has come and gone.

Asked if the deadline has now been extended, Horner answered: “Obviously it has to be.”

Eventually, however, even a team as well resourced as Red Bull will simply run out of time to get a car designed around a ‘power unit’ – whatever it will be – for 2016.

And the time factor for the smaller team Toro Rosso is even more crucial.

Earlier, Bernie Ecclestone sounded confident a solution would be found. But when asked in Mexico if he can guarantee that Red Bull will be there in 2016, he told Auto Motor und Sport: “There is no guarantee, no. But I would be very surprised if it didn’t work itself out.”

However, Red Bull’s options are drying up. Mercedes is refusing to reverse its decision, and the relationship with Renault appears broken beyond repair.

“Our car was excellent in sectors 2 and 3,” Horner said in Mexico, referring then to the ultra-long main straight. “I think you can clearly see in sector 1 what our weakness is.”

It appears that only two options are still on the table. The first is Honda, with the Japanese carmaker willing to supply power units for 2016 but McLaren’s Ron Dennis wielding a veto and refusing to budge.

“He has a veto and he doesn’t have a veto,” Ecclestone said cryptically.

It is believed he is referring to the fact that Honda, while granting the veto to Dennis – who was absent in Mexico – also promised the FIA to start supplying customers from 2016.

And it is believed Ecclestone has won the support of FIA president Jean Todt in trying to enforce that promise.

If they fail, however, the final option for Red Bull could be a last-resort 2015-spec supply of Ferrari power, amid rumours the Italian marque’s president Sergio Marchionne has had a favour called in.

The only question is whether Ferrari has the actual physical ability to supply two teams with a quality service at such late notice, whilst also working with customers Sauber and Haas in 2016.

“It may well be the case. I might agree with you,” Horner said a week ago when asked about the Ferrari option. “At the moment everything is open.”

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ALONSO TOLD KING OF SPAIN HE HAS NO ENGINE

Fernando Alonso admitted his feelings about his Honda engine to the former King Carlos of Spain.

It was one year ago when 77-year-old Juan Carlos spilled the beans on fellow Spaniard Alonso’s then-unknown future, revealing that he is heading to McLaren-Honda for 2015.

Now with Alonso firmly at struggling McLaren, as Carlos attended the Mexican grand prix, it appears the pair had another confidential conversation.

“He told me that he has no engine and he can’t do anything,” the former King told the Spanish broadcaster Movistar.

It seems Alonso may have been referring to a terminal engine problem that had been discovered aboard his car before the race.

Indeed, Alonso admitted afterwards that he knew he would break down after one lap, but he wanted to at least line up on the grid “out of respect” for the hordes of passionate Mexicans.

Alonso and his fellow champion teammate Jenson Button are having to stumble through the last few grands prix of the season with a firm eye on a much better 2016. Alonso has said he holds out faint hopes even of race victories.

“Will we win races? I don’t think so,” Button told Brazil’s Globo Esporte in Mexico, “but I think we will fight for the podium. Hopefully a win.

“But I am feeling especially excited about 2017, when I think McLaren-Honda will be able to fight for the title. There are big changes coming for the regulations and Honda will be much more experienced by then,” he added.

Button admitted Mexico, strewn with more grid penalties for the McLaren drivers and with Honda dozens of kilometres per hour down on the fastest cars, was “painful”.

But he says a lot of those problems can be eliminated for 2016, “The power unit we will have next year will be quite a lot different to what we have now. We will not have the problems generating power from the hybrid side, which everyone knows is our biggest issue.”

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No blame in Raikkonen and Bottas clash, says Ferrari's Arrivabene

Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene said neither Kimi Raikkonen nor Valtteri Bottas were to blame for the duo's collision in the Formula 1 Mexican Grand Prix.

Bottas tried a pass for sixth place at Turn 5 and the two collided, putting Raikkonen out of the race with suspension damage while the Williams continued to finish third.

It was the second time in three races the pair have collided, with Raikkonen trying to make a pass in Russia and Bottas coming off worse when he ended up in the barrier.

In Mexico, Bottas said he believed there was enough space for two cars to get through the tight left-right but was left no room but Raikkonen said his fellow Finn could have avoided contact.

When asked about the incident, Arrivabene said: "It is a racing accident.

"In Russia it happened, it has now happened here - it's Formula 1.

"The most important thing is no one got injured.

"It's an accident, it's part of the show. I don't want to blame anybody."

It was a disappointing race for Ferrari, with Sebastian Vettel crashing out to seal the Scuderia's first double retirement since the 2006 Australian Grand Prix.

It meant Vettel dropped behind Nico Rosberg into third in the drivers' standings, 21 points adrift of the Mexican GP winner, while Raikkonen fell to fifth, three points behind Bottas.

"You can always have a bad day," Arrivabene added. "This does not change our targets for the season.

"Seb can still catch Rosberg in the standings and Kimi can do the same with Bottas."