FORMULA 1 - 2015

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RED BULL FROM BLACK & WHITE BACK TO COLOUR

Red Bull has dropped the RB11’s camouflage test livery which the team has been running in a novel black and white colour scheme designed to throw rival teams’ spy photographers and designers off track.

But the livery also proved highly popular among the fans, prompting calls for Red Bull to use it at the grands prix too.

“It’s not the first alternative livery we’ve used and doubtless it won’t be the last,” the team said on Monday.

“But we’ve made our mark in the last ten years in dark blue, and in dark blue we’ll remain,” Red Bull added, revealing photos on Twitter of the race-spec livery, along with the hashtag ‘Back in colour’.

“Those are the racing colours in which we’ve achieved great things,” the team said. “We’re not the most traditional of F1 teams, but like the rest of the sport, we value heritage.”

Although the final winter test ended on Sunday, Red Bull is running the newly-liveried RB11 at Barcelona on Monday, for filming purposes.

MIKA: What a bummer, I loved the camouflage, no doubt sponsors complained as their logos were probably not as visible...?

I agree with you Mika, i thought that camo RB was stellar, fantastic to look at. I guess it was meant for testing all the time. They should have kept it.

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ARRIVABENE: WE HAVE REACHED OUR OBJECTIVES

The revolution at Ferrari appears to have rejuvenated the sport’s most iconic team, helped by the fact that their 2015 Formula 1 challenger appears to be a handy piece of kit and thus for newly instated team principal Maurizio Arrivabenne the ‘winter season’ is a case of mission accomplished.

Before leaving Circuit de Catalunya, Arrivabene summed up the situation at Ferrari, “Now, I can say that we have reached our objectives. The SF15-T is behaving as we’d expected.”

“Kimi, who drove last last year’s car, sees an improvement and Sebastian, who is driving today, is also happy. But we all have our feet on the ground, because we know the other teams aren’t sleeping.”

“It’s clear that Mercedes is there, but we have to concentrate on ourselves. At the moment we have a rough idea of our position relative to the opposition, but we know everyone follows different test programmes.”

“Therefore, we are following ours, with concentration and discipline, which I believe are the keys to success. I have spoken to the team and I have made this clear,” concluded Arrivabene.

The arrival of quadruple world champion Sebastian Vettel is clearly one of the factors that has lifted spirits at Maranello and the German himself is relishing the situation but at the same time is remaining realistic.

“From a performance point of view, it’s clear that Mercedes is still ahead by quite a way, but right behind there is us, Williams and Red Bull, all very close,” ventured Vettel.

And added, “We will know more in a couple of weeks. Meanwhile we must move forward one step at a time, looking above all at what we are doing ourselves.”

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and on another not i wont be surprised if F1 only has 5-6 teams on the grid in melbourne...

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HONDA ENGINE NOW FULLY HOMOLOGATED

After a troubled winter, 2015 Formula 1 newcomer Honda has now locked in McLaren’s power unit for this year’s campaign.

It has completed only a fraction of the running of frontrunners like Mercedes over the Jerez and Barcelona tests, but on Saturday, the FIA’s deadline fell and the Japanese marque duly presented its turbo V6 package for homologation.

Perhaps putting a brave face on McLaren-Honda’s obvious winter troubles, Honda chief Yasuhisa Arai insisted the base of the 2015 power unit is good.

“We have solved many things and it is fully homologated,” he confirmed.

The keyword now, however, is tokens as 2014 manufacturers Mercedes, Renault and Ferrari have each been allowed 32 performance ‘tokens’ by the FIA that can be deployed at will throughout 2015.

But whether or not those tokens are spent before Melbourne will directly affect Honda.

That is because the FIA has said Honda can also join the 2015 ‘unfreeze’, but only in a limited way. If the average amount of tokens unused by the 2014 suppliers in Melbourne is 10, Honda will have 10 tokens to deploy this season.

“We do not know what tokens we will have, because we do not know yet what the others have used,” Arai confirmed.

According to sources, Mercedes is definitely travelling to Melbourne with at least a handful of tokens left in the bank.

“Most likely,” Renault’s Remi Taffin commented in Barcelona, “Mercedes and Ferrari will have a similar approach. I cannot imagine that they have used up all the tokens in two months.”

Meanwhile, Honda’s Arai played down suggestions the Japanese carmaker might now be rethinking its new commitment to F1, after the troubled winter with McLaren and the road car airbag scandal that cost president Takanobu Ito his job.

“The new president is fully committed to Formula 1,” he insisted, “which is in the DNA of Honda.”

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and on another not i wont be surprised if F1 only has 5-6 teams on the grid in melbourne...

One never knows bud, but it seems Bernie has agreed to release prize money to the cash strapped teams... We will wait and see as Bernies word is never solid as Oak.

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SEVERAL DRIVERS IN LINE FOR SECOND MANOR SEAT

Hopeful candidates are now beginning to look seriously at Manor’s for a place on the 2015 Formula 1 grid..

Although the former Marussia team’s 2015 revival is not yet guaranteed, a growing staff at Dinnington is scrambling to complete the cars, have them crash-tested and then packed up for Melbourne — all by this Friday’s looming freight deadline.

One driver, the British rookie Will Stevens, has already been signed. And given the continuing technical collaboration with McLaren, two obvious candidates to be his teammate are Kevin Magnussen and Stoffel Vandoorne.

“I can’t rule that out,” Dane Magnussen, now the official McLaren reserve, said as the final Barcelona test concluded, “but it is not the focus.

“Of course my goal is to return to racing, but I want to ensure it is the best opportunity. My future is with McLaren,” he insisted.

So for now, Magnussen’s programme is to travel as reserve to all the grands prix this year with McLaren, even if he would have liked to have formed a father-son pairing with his father Jan at Le Mans.

“I did ask my father to check with Corvette if they have a place free,” he smiled.

Another candidate, according to the Turun Sanomat correspondent Heikki Kulta, is Giedo van der Garde.

The Dutchman spent last year as Sauber’s reserve, and reportedly agreed a race deal for 2015 before the Swiss team signed Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr.

Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport claims van der Garde is still chasing Sauber in the courts.

But he is now reportedly in the running at Manor, presumably with his sponsor McGregor in tow.

The Spanish sports daily AS, meanwhile, is linking the vacant Manor race seat with Roberto Merhi, who last year took some backing to struggling Caterham in exchange for some Friday morning practice outings.

“AS can reveal that the Spaniard is in advanced negotiations with the team,” the report claimed.

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Vettel: Three-way fight behind Mercedes

Sebastian Vettel is expecting a three-way tussle for the best of the rest title as Mercedes are still "quite a way" ahead of the chasing pack.

Last week's final pre-season test saw Mercedes finally bolt on a set of soft tyres and go for a performance run.

Rosberg crossed the line at the Barcelona circuit with a 1:22.792 to clock the week's best lap time while his team-mate Lewis Hamilton did a 1:23.022 the following day.

What will be a concern for Mercedes' rivals is that the week's third fastest time, a 1:23.063 set by Valtteri Bottas, was done on what should be the slightly quicker supersoft rubber.

So it is no wonder that Vettel, who posted his fastest time on Sunday of a 1:23.469, reckons Mercedes are yet again the team to beat.

"It's difficult to say on March 1, in two weeks we will know more, but it's clear that Mercedes is in front by quite a way," he told ESPN.

The German, though, reckons Ferrari will at least get involved in the battle for best of the rest, joining Williams and Red Bull in that fight.

He added: "After that there seems to be a bit of a gap and then it is a lot closer with many teams.

"It's difficult to say who is right behind, but I think it's probably very close between Williams, Red Bull and ourselves."

Pressed as to which teams would take the front three rows of the grid at the season-opening Australian GP, Vettel said: "The first two is easy unless they have some issues, it's the Mercedes unfortunately. Then I hope two Ferraris and then I don't care."

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Williams welcome Manor's entry

Williams technical head Pat Symonds has welcomed news that, "against all the odds", it appears as if Manor will race in Australia.

The backmarker outfit missed the last three races of the 2014 season when the team went into administration because of financial problems.

Manor, though, was revived last month, reportedly with the financial backing of Stephen Fitzpatrick and the involvement of former Sainsbury boss Justin King.

The team has already announced Will Stevens as one of its drivers while last week the FIA confirmed Manor Marussia's entry into the 2015 Championship.

"I am so pleased. I think it's great to see them back," Symonds told Reuters.

"John (Booth) and Graeme (Lowdon) are two great guys, real racers. I started 35 years ago at Toleman and Toleman was not as professional as Marussia.

"But the seed of that team produced Benetton and Renault and now Lotus. (Designer) Rory Byrne, all his wins, my career. There is such a place for teams like that, they are so important to the sport."

He added: "Against all the odds it looks like they are going to be in Melbourne, which is fantastic."

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Felipe Nasr aims to score points on Formula One debut

Sauber's F1 rookie has targeted registering right from the start in the Australian Grand Prix in less than two weeks' time.

The Brazilian, who finished third in GP2 last year, will be making his grand prix racing debut after joining Sauber for the 2015 season.

Nasr has had an encouraging pre-season with the Swiss squad, which struggled last year and failed to score a point for the first time since it entered the sport.

The rookie feels Sauber has managed to turn its fortunes around since the end of last year.

"I'm feeling confident," said Nasr after wrapping up his pre-season at Barcelona.

"I have to say realistically we made some good improvements over the winter and compared to last year's car it looks a lot more promising.

"And I think were are going to be in the mix. So I'm hoping with the opportunities we have to score our first points in Melbourne."

Nasr was the second busiest driver of the pre-season – only behind Mercedes' Nico Rosberg – with nearly 650 laps covered.

The Brazilian says that has given him the confidence to feel ready to go racing.

"The mileage I had in the car, I couldn't have asked for more. I feel comfortable, I feel ready. I can't wait to get to Melbourne and get everything done."

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MICK SCHUMACHER MOVES UP TO FORMULA 4

Mick Schumacher, the 15-year-old son of seven-time Formula 1 world champion Michael Schumacher, will make his car-racing debut this season in the ADAC Formula 4 Championship in Germany.

Schumacher will race with Van Amersfoort Racing, the Dutch team that propelled Max Verstappen - son of Schumacher Sr's 1994 Benetton F1 team-mate Jos - to prominence in Formula 3 last season.

The ADAC F4 Championship, Germany's new series for Tatuus-Abarth cars run to the FIA's new F4 concept, kicks off at Oschersleben on April 25-26, by which time Schumacher will be 16.

He has competed in karting under the names Mick Junior and Mick Betsch (his mother Corinna's maiden name) in order to deflect attention.

Last season was his most successful, as he finished runner-up to Briton Enaam Ahmed in both the CIK-FIA World and European KF Junior championships (pictured below).

His maiden test in a racing car was in a French F4 Championship machine, and he got his first taste of an ADAC F4 Tatuus with Jenzer Motorsport in the pre-Christmas sessions at Valencia, where VAR was running its Formula 3 cars.

Team boss Frits van Amersfoort said: "We have seen his skills in testing and we are looking forward to a successful season.

"In the last couple of years, it has become a tradition for us that we offer the runner-up from the German junior karting championship a test session in our simulator.

"This is handled by the DMSB, the German motorsport authority, and that is how we first got in touch with Mick Schumacher last autumn.

He spent a full day in the simulator at our headquarters in the Netherlands, then we witnessed him during a test session at Valencia and, eventually, we reached an agreement to compete together in this year's ADAC Formula 4 series."

Schumacher is the first recruit for VAR's F4 team, and comes despite his uncle Ralf Schumacher having a heavy involvement with Mucke Motorsport, which also has an ADAC F4 squad.

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ALONSO WILL NOT RACE AT AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX

Fernando Alonso will sit out next weekend’s season opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.

McLaren announced the news on Tuesday, despite insisting the Spaniard has been checked by doctors in the wake of his Barcelona testing crash and four days in hospital.

The doctors found Alonso “asymptomatic of any medical issue,” McLaren said in a media statement, “they see no evidence whatsoever of any injury; and that they therefore describe him as entirely healthy from neurological and cardiac perspectives alike”.

But, as swirling controversy and speculation surrounding the circumstances of the mysterious crash and Alonso’s loss of consciousness and memory continues, the 33-year-old will sit out Melbourne.

The newly Honda-powered team said doctors want Alonso to avoid the possibility of a second concussion, or so-called second impact syndrome, “as is normal medical procedure when treating athletes after concussions”.

McLaren said: “In order to limit those environmental risk factors, specifically, his doctors have advised that he should not compete in the imminent Australian grand prix meeting”.

“Fernando has understood and accepted that advice, and the two McLaren-Honda cars will therefore be driven in Australia by Fernando’s teammate Jenson Button and the team’s test and reserve driver Kevin Magnussen,” the team announced.

McLaren added that Alonso, already feeling “fit and well”, has returned to physical training and is eyeing a return to the MP4-30 in Malaysia later this month.

His “doctors are supportive of that ambition,” the team said, “satisfied as they are that he sustained no damage whatsoever during his testing accident”.

Statement issued by McLaren: “Fernando’s doctors have recommended to him that, following the concussion he sustained in a testing accident on February 22nd, for the time being he should seek to limit as far as is possible any environmental risk factors that could potentially result in his sustaining another concussion so soon after his previous one.”

“[This is] to minimise the chances of second impact syndrome, as is normal medical procedure when treating athletes after concussions. In order to limit those environmental risk factors, specifically, his doctors have advised that he should not compete in the imminent Australian Grand Prix.”

“Fernando’s doctors acknowledge that he feels fit and well, and that he regards himself as ready to race. And, that being the case, they are comfortable with the fact that he has already recommenced physical training, with a view to preparing for a return to the cockpit of his McLaren-Honda car for the Malaysian Grand Prix.”

“Indeed, his doctors are supportive of that ambition, satisfied as they are that he sustained no damage whatsoever during his testing accident on February 22nd.”

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BERGER: ALONSO WILL WIN F1 WORLD TITLE WITH MCLAREN

Gerhard Berger has played down McLaren-Honda’s testing troubles, and predicts the historic pairing will bounce back rather sooner than later, much like their ‘injured’ driver Fernando Alonso will.

The Austrian who was part of the first McLaren-Honda era, as he was famously paired with Ayrton Senna between 1990 and 1992, knows the combo well and is familiar with their star driver too.

When asked if Alonso would win the world title with his new team, Berger told BBC, “Yes – he is a complete driver. He should have more championships because he is a big champion. The way that he drives, the killing instinct that he has, he’s capable of winning more than two championships.”

He also tipped Alonso to bounce back from his testing crash and eventually win titles for McLaren-Honda.

“Fernando is such an experienced driver, he will deal with it [the crash] in a good way and I don’t think it’s going to have any effect on him,” he told the BBC. “He will be ready to go racing again.”

However according to him, 2015 will be a “learning year” for the reunited British-Japanese team, but Berger knows from personal experience that both sides are “extremely competent”.

“I don’t think it should matter if tests at the moment are not great or if the first races are not great. It’s normal,” said Berger. “It would be more of a surprise if Honda were competitive from day one.

“I think once he [Alonso] signed up for McLaren-Honda, he knows there is going to be a learning period. I’m sure that he is going to be part of this learning,” the 55-year-old added.

“Once this is done, I’m sure he wants to take all the fruits from the learning period. Alonso has some extreme high talent in certain areas, not just in driving skills but in the way he runs the politics,” Berger said.

Looking back on his time as a driver for the Woking outfit, during their first Honda era Berger said, “In my time together with McLaren and Honda, it was extremely professional, extremely competent. There was a big hunger for success so I think this is the culture of Honda.”

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TOTO WOLFF: FORMULA 1 IS A SHARK TANK

Formula 1 as a ruthless ‘shark tank’ is alive and well, according to Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff .

But he insisted there are limits to his appetite as a Formula 1 shark, especially in the quest for survival of cash strapped smaller teams such as Manor.

“We are in favour of Marussia staying,” said Wolff. “But F1 is a shark tank even in the fight against the small teams. If one disappears, more is left for the others.

“This is unpleasant,” he admitted. “We are talking about a team of real people feeding their families with their income. We need secure jobs, and everything else is secondary.”

The Mercedes chief, however, undoubtedly plays the role of one of the sharks, particularly when it comes to the FIA’s recent McKinsey report that showed costs for the struggling smallest teams could be effectively halved.

Wolff told Sky that F1 must remain at the very highest level, “Formula one is not only for the fastest drivers, but also the best engineers. You are entitled to seek the highest possible technical advantage.”

Indeed, since the turbo V6 era dawned last year, the German marque has utterly dominated in that sphere.

So it is no surprise that Mercedes is a strong proponent of the status quo, while other major teams are arguing equally strongly for radical change.

“It’s always like that,” Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg told La Gazzetta dello Sport. “If you’re ahead, your rivals try to slow you down. It happened when Red Bull dominated; when Ferrari dominated. There are these struggles even at the political level.”

Wolff, however, insists Mercedes is not just arguing for the status quo – also when it comes to the issue of cost-cutting – for purely selfish reasons.

“The cars are a lot more efficient than two years ago,” he marvelled, “but almost as fast. It’s all about innovation, technological revolution and the transfer to road cars, and for that you need a (high) budget.”

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AFTER CRASHING ALONSO THOUGHT HE WAS STILL A FERRARI DRIVER

Ralf Bach, a respected German correspondent claims on his blog that speculation of Fernando Alonso’s accident during Barcelona testing being caused when he suffered an electrical shock in the cockpit are still doing the rounds, despite McLaren’s denials.

He said electrocution victims are often confused and suffer memory loss, adding that immediately after Alonso’s impact, and according to those at the scene, the Spaniard thought he was still a Ferrari driver.

Bach reports that while Mercedes and Renault have five electrocution fail-safes built in for the drivers, Honda’s new ‘power unit’ only has three. An electric shock, he added, may also not be seen in the telemetry.

As a result, Autosprint report, the FIA now wants to make the use of functioning on-board cameras mandatory not only at grands prix, but also during testing which would need to be ratified by the World Motor Sport Council.

Currently article 27.2 of the rules dictates that cars must be fitted with a crash ‘black box’ at all times, in order to collect data “relevant to an accident or incident”.

“At any time following an accident or incident competitors must make the data recorder available and accessible to the FIA,” the regulations demand.

In the case of Alonso’s still-mysterious testing crash in Barcelona recently, that data alone may be proving insufficient.

McLaren argues that a strong gust of wind blew the Spaniard off the track, but strong paddock rumours continue to suggest that Alonso fell unconscious before he hit the wall.

Certainly, the impact data suggests Alonso – whose helmet was reportedly not at all damaged – did not hit the wall overly hard.

The car recorded a significant 30G hit, but the accelerometer in the driver’s ear showed a value about half of that.

Indeed, Sergio Perez says Alonso’s crash was “not comparable” to his similarly-lateral hit in Monaco 2011, as “mine had an impact of approximately 60G”.

“I wish him the best and hope he will be back soon,” said the Mexican.

The lack of a widely-accepted official version of Alonso’s testing crash means speculation continues to prosper.

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WOLFF: GERMAN FANS HAVE FORMULA 1 HANGOVER

Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff believes that Formula 1 as a sport has taken a back seat in Germany, because fans have been used to success of first Michael Schumacher and more recently Sebastian Vettel.

Days ago, the Mercedes team boss said he would “try” to save the country’s endangered grand prix, as promoters and Bernie Ecclestone reach the eleventh hour in their negotiations over a commercial contract for 2015.

“The problems are all home-made,” Mercedes team chairman Niki Lauda told Austria’s APA news agency.

Formula 1’s controversial new rules have been blamed for a general decline in public interest, but Lauda said the all-important volume of the engines has been increased for 2015.

“It goes in the right direction,” he said. “What matters now is that the race promoters do it well.”

Wolff, however, has some sympathy for Germany’s struggling circuits, “In Germany there is a saturation; one could almost speak of a hangover.”

Wolff said German fans have been de-energised by overwhelming success in the past two decades, with Schumacher and Vettel winning a combined eleven titles.

“Now there are other sports that inspire the masses,” Wolff told Der Standard newspaper.

He denied that the annual calendar spot for Germany is in danger due to Ecclestone’s recent legal troubles in the country.

“That plays no role,” Wolff insisted. “Ecclestone’s interests are exclusively commercial. He must generate the revenue – that’s his job.”

But at times, that job appears at odds with the very tradition of grand prix racing, as races in the sport’s European heart continue to decline.

“The historic tracks are important,” Wolff acknowledged, “but that the rights owner wants to maximise the revenue is understandable.”

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FEMALE F1 DRIVER JORDA SLAMS JEALOUS RIVALS

Formula 1’s new female signing Carmen Jorda has hit back at her critics who question her appointment by Lotus.

Although she finished last year’s GP3 season just 29th overall, 26-year-old Spaniard Jorda has been signed up as a development driver by the Enstone team.

Some of her former on-track rivals were unimpressed with the news, suggesting it was more about her gender, appearance and marketability than her talent and results.

Rob Cregan, her GP3 teammate in 2012, said on Twitter: “Carmen Jorda couldn’t develop a roll of film let alone a hybrid F1 car.”

Jorda, however, dismissed the criticism telling Bild, “Formula one is full of jealousy. There are few cockpits, so only a few can make it. Rob is obviously jealous that I’m here and he is not.”

“I wish him all the best, that’s all I can say,” Jorda added.

Lotus has said she will work on the simulator, attend grands prix this year and even drive the E23 car at some point.

“First I must understand how the team works,” Jorda insisted. “What happens here cannot be compared with GP3.”

She also said the matter of a F1 super licence can wait for now, as she takes the leap into the highest category of motor racing “step by step”.

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Tost sets tough target for Toro Rosso’s junior duo

The team

Toro Rosso has always been referred to as Red Bull’s junior team, and this year the emphasis is very much on ‘junior’.

However their role has gained further importance as they are the only other outfit using Renault’s engines. They can therefore make a useful contribution to the development of the Energy F1 power unit.

Nonetheless, this isn’t an F1 racing team in the conventional sense, merely the last rung on Red Bull’s driver development ladder. That at least ensures them the financial support of one of F1’s biggest spenders, but at the same time the knowledge they aren’t playing to win the big prizes.

Given that, team principal Franz Tost’s target of fifth place in the constructors’ championship is extremely ambitious. Can the team which ended last year a distant seventh beat Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren or one of the Mercedes-powered teams? Realistically they’ll have to tick at least three of those boxes.

What’s more, they’ll have to do it with a brand new driver line-up. Not only that, one which has a total of zero F1 starts between them and is the youngest pairing the sport has ever seen.

The drivers

33. Max Verstappen

A remarkable amount of ill-informed ageist drivel has been spouted by those with next to no knowledge of Verstappen’s junior career. Leaving aside the fact of his record-breaking youth, a stellar 2013 campaign in karts followed by an outstanding first year in Formula Three clearly marked him out as an F1 driver of the future.

Now Red Bull have made him an F1 driver of the present, and hopefully everyone can start paying attention to how good he is instead of how old he isn’t.

55. Carlos Sainz Jnr

The son of two-times World Rally Champion Carlos Sainz has been a curiosity in Red Bull’s Junior Team. Despite being the first of their drivers to win the Formula Renault 3.5 championship – a feat neither Daniel Ricciardo nor Jean-Eric Vergne achieved – his faltering progress clearly did not inspire a cast-iron certainly that he is Formula One material.

It wasn’t until Sebastian Vettel’s sudden departure from Red Bull opened up an extra vacancy that he seemed likely to make the jump.

The car

It is clear the STR10 is a more conservative vehicle for Renault’s upgraded 2015 power unit than its Red Bull cousin. It certainly ran more reliably from the off when testing began.

The general impression gleaned from testing was that Ferrari has made greater gains than Renault in this area. If that is indeed the case, it’s not hard to image how Toro Rosso could find themselves bringing up the rear in Australia, particularly as neither of its drivers have raced there before.

However the team got its Melbourne-specification aerodynamic kit on the car early at the final test and Sainz was pleased with the outcome. That at least raises hopes they will hit the ground running in Australia.

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Melbourne fight too close to call - Coulthard

Former Formula One star David Coulthard thinks the battle for Australian Grand Prix victory is too close too call despite Mercedes having dominated winter testing.

Although Mercedes, the dominant force in 2014, has been tipped as a clear favourite for the season-opening race, Coulthard reckons the nature of the Melbourne circuit makes reading too much into testing times almost irrelevant.

"I think it's actually too close to call," Coulthard told the Australian Associated Press.

"I don't think we've seen the final 'spec' of the cars the teams will run.

"We've come off the back of Barcelona, which is a true aero circuit and you need a lot of high speed lateral stability.

"Melbourne is a different race track that requires different balance from the cars."

Ricciardo praise

The Scot, a former Red Bull driver, also admitted he was very impressed by Daniel Ricciardo's performances during the past season, after dominating teammate and four-time champion Sebastian Vettel at Red Bull.

"The thing that really stood out for me is his racing ability, the wheel-to-wheel instinctive feel," Coulthard said. "That was something about him that I hadn't appreciated.

"I knew he had great speed at Toro Rosso and he was the right man to get promoted into the big team at Red Bull, but just the way he handled the adversity of a new regulation change, the difficulties of hardly doing any laps in pre-season testing, then the high of being on the podium in Melbourne before seeing it taken away.

"He really was the team leader last year and a four-time world champion in Sebastian Vettel didn't really seem to have an answer for him."

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Force India braced for early regression

Force India Deputy Team Principal Bob Fernley says the squad is braced for a slow start to the 2015 campaign following the late introduction of its new car.

Force India began the 2014 season strongly, with Nico Hülkenberg claiming top five finishes and Sergio Pérez finishing on the podium in Bahrain, to sit third in the Constructors' Championship after the flyaway races, having accumulated over 50 points.

But Force India's VJM08 only hit the circuit for the first time last Friday and, while it ran reliably, the team is aware that it has to make up ground compared to its rivals.

"Unfortunately we will make a step back," Fernley told Sky Sports. "We will be behind at the start but hopefully we will reverse our recent trend and have a good second half of the season instead."

"We have had cash-flow issues, there is no question about that, our suppliers were very badly hit by the demise of Caterham and Manor – and are still suffering. We have a very high expenditure at a time of low incomes."

Force India voted against Manor's alleged proposal to use its 2014 car during the early stages of the season, amid suggestions that the Silverstone-based team would benefit financially.

Manor is still striving to make it to the Australian Grand Prix with a modified 2014 car – alongside continued work on a 2015 machine – and Fernley denies that Force India's vote was driven by money.

"Between 2014 and 2015, the changes are safety-based and if you want to compromise safety you need to have a good reason to do it," he said.

"Heaven forbid if the unthinkable happened, how would we cope if we ran an unsafe car? We are very supportive of Manor. Manor are now going down the proper route and we welcome them. The last thing we want is for teams to fall out of Formula 1."

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PIRELLI ANNOUNCE TYRE CHOICES FOR FIRST FOUR RACES

Pirelli has nominated the tyres that will be used in the grands prix of Australia, Malaysia, China and Bahrain: the first four races of the 2015 season.

In Australia, Pirelli will bring the P Zero White medium and P Zero Yellow soft compounds: well-suited to the varied demands and wide range of potential weather conditions experienced at the semi-permanent Albert Park facility in Melbourne.

The Sepang circuit in Malaysia is well known for its abrasive asphalt and high ambient temperatures, making the P Zero Orange hard and P Zero White medium the best choice for the second race of the year.

The P Zero White medium and P Zero Yellow soft tyres are nominated for China: the best choice for the comparatively high degradation expected as a result of the demanding track layout, which leads to close racing and plenty of strategy.

P Zero White medium and P Zero Yellow soft will also be used in Bahrain: a varied circuit that is tough on the rear tyres, where the grand prix now starts in the late afternoon and ends in the evening. This leads to falling ambient and track temperatures as the race goes on.

Although the P Zero range has evolved from 2014, with a new rear construction designed to distribute forces and temperatures more evenly, these nominations are in fact the same as those made by Pirelli for the equivalent races last year.

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SILVERSTONE REDUCE PRICES EXPECT MORE RACE FANS

While Germany’s Formula 1 Grand Prix hangs in the balance, hit by dwindling crowds and rising losses, Britain’s Silverstone circuit believes it can make money and attract more fans by charging less.

The ‘Lewis Hamilton effect’ has helped boost British Grand Prix ticket sales, with home fans eager to see their champion in action, but organisers say the decision to cut prices is as significant.

A promotion offering 1 000 Sunday general admission tickets for 99 pounds ($150) each was sold out in 22 minutes. So great was the demand that the offer was kept open for a day and 6 000 tickets sold — many then upgraded to grandstand seats that were also reduced in price.

The circuit’s newly appointed managing director Patrick Allen told Reuters that making the race more accessible was the focus now.

“We were asking families to pay over 1 000 pounds to come for a weekend. I don’t think that’s accessible,” he said.

“I was horrified when I came in that a family from Britain could get on a plane, go to Spa, watch the race and fly back again for less than they can come to our home grand prix.”

Allen said Silverstone had also revamped the policy for children, with under-11s now coming in free with an adult compared to under two in the past.

“We had 18,000 calls into the call centre for tickets…63 percent said ‘We weren’t going to come but now I can bring my family I’d love to come’,” he reported.

“The criticism I had was that we’d lost margin…but we can afford it because of the new people. They buy food, they drink, they spend money on camping and merchandise. We were inundated with people thanking us for making it more accessible.”

For next year, Allen said, Silverstone was thinking of emulating budget airlines with an escalated pricing model.

“It’s a bit like if you are buying an advance rail ticket to go to London or a Ryanair ticket. The earlier you buy it, that’s a great deal. If you buy on the day, it’s expensive,” he said.

“We’ll make money,” he said of the new approach. “For me, not to have a British Grand Prix is unthinkable. There are ways to make it work and you don’t make it work by keeping putting the prices up.”

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RED BULL EYES RB11 NOSE-JOB FOR MELBOURNE

Red Bull is working frantically to give its 2015 car a nose-job before its Australian Grand Prix race debut next weekend.

Unlike most of the other major teams, the 2014 runner-ups ran in Barcelona for the final winter test last week with only minor upgrades for its RB11.

Auto Motor und Sport reports: “The planned major upgrade stayed in the pits, because the short nose had failed the team’s internal crash test.”

Indeed, after the field of 2015 was launched, the paddock consensus was that a Williams-style ultra-short nose would be widely copied this year.

Red Bull duly designed its first major upgrade for the RB11 around a new short-nose concept, but the solution is reportedly more troublesome when it comes to satisfying the FIA’s mandatory front impact tests.

So if the nose cannot for now be raced, “It did not make sense to modify the rest of the car”, Auto Motor und Sport added. “The new package is based entirely on the ultra-short nose.”

If Red Bull can get the nose through the crash test before Melbourne, “sources claim it will be a big step forward” for the RB11, the report said.

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Magnussen can't wait to go racing

Although disappointed with the circumstances that led to his opportunity, Kevin Magnussen admits he is excited to take part in the Australian GP.

The Dane has received a "second chance" after Fernando Alonso was ruled out of the season-opening race following his shunt during the second test in Barcelona on 22 February.

Doctors have assured that the double World Champion is "asymptomatic of any medical issue", but they have advised him to skip the race on 15 March "to limit as far as is possible any environmental risk factors that could potentially result in his sustaining another concussion so soon after his previous one".

With Alonso absent, McLaren turned to Magnussen for the first race while Jenson Button will be in the other car.

"Shame about the circumstances but still I'm so excited to be racing in Melbourne. Can't wait!!" Magnussen, who claimed a podium in his maiden race in Australia last year, tweeted.

The 22-year-old, of course, was dropped by the Woking squad in favour of Alonso for the 2015 season, but he has already had a taste of the MP4-30 as he stood in for the Spaniard in the final test in Barcelona.

He previously admitted that it would be a tough ask to race in Melbourne.

"I think it would be difficult because I've not really had my own team of engineers and mechanics to talk to all winter," he said after the Barcelona test.

"I've kind of been on the sidelines a little bit. I've followed what was going on and kept up to date with it but it's different when you have your own team and you can go there every day and work with them and prepare like that. So it would be difficult but, if I have to, then I would be very happy to do it."

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Manor Marussia reveals financial saviours, targets Melbourne

Rescued team finally confirms Stephen Fitzpatrick as new investor and Justin King as chairman.

Manor Marussia F1 has confirmed that it intends to be at the Australian GP – and has formally named its new "principal investor" as Stephen Fitzpatrick.

The team's cars are yet to pass the mandatory FIA crash tests.

Fitzpatrick is the CEO and founder of UK company Ovo Energy. A longtime racing fan, he was a guest of Williams in Monaco last year, and considered an involvement with Formula E – a logical fit with his core business – before deciding to focus on F1.

He also took a look at Caterham when the team was still a going concern last year. He is rumoured to have had around £40million to spend.

Former Sainsbury's boss Justin King, father of GP2 racer Jordan will be the interim chairman, while Graeme Lowdon is president and sporting director. John Booth remains team principal.

A Manor statement noted: "The team has been preparing the cars with which it will begin the 2015 season and which comply fully with the 2015 regulations. Later in the season it will introduce a new 2015 specification car as per the designs initiated last year."

"We've all worked incredibly hard to get the car ready for Melbourne and the season ahead," said Fitzpatrick. "Our fans have given the team amazing support for many years and we want to restore Manor to the very best of racing in the future. I have a lifelong passion for Formula One and can't wait for the season ahead, with Manor and the team."

Lowdon said: "I want to thank all of the teams, the FIA, Formula One Management, our suppliers and staff and of course all of the fans for the support we've received over the past six months. It has been a challenging period for all of us but we've come through it and now we just want to go racing again.

"With formidable new business leadership in Stephen Fitzpatrick and the board presence of Justin King we are now in a great place ahead of the new season. This is a fantastic and very rewarding moment for all those involved with the team."

"I know from the years I spent at Sainsbury's that with the right people, the right values, and sheer hard work, you can turn any business around," said King. "In Graeme and team principal John Booth we have all three and I'm fully confident that we can help Manor be competitive at the highest level of racing."

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VETTEL: I HAVE BEEN TALKING WITH FERRARI SINCE 2008

Sebastian Vettel has admitted that his first hint of a future Ferrari deal came many years ago, and was not a knee jerk action reaction amid a torrid season for the quadruple world champion last year.

In 2012, the German was in the glowing midst of his title-winning run at Red Bull, but the “dream” of one day wearing red was already strong.

“In the winter between 2012 and 2013 I went in secret to Maranello to talk with [Luca di] Montezemolo,” Vettel told La Gazzetta dello Sport.

But he said the first informal “approaches” by Stefano Domenicali had come as long ago as 2008 – when he raced for Toro Rosso – and again in 2010.

“By the middle of last year, [stefano] Domenicali was gone but the contact continued with Marco Mattiacci and I spoke again with Montezemolo,” he added.

“The deal went ahead and I asked the opinion of Sabine Kehm, Michael Schumacher’s manager. Unfortunately I could not talk to Michael,” said Vettel.

But he had spoken with his great friend and mentor in the past about one day joining Ferrari.

“Oh yes,” confirmed Vettel. “A while ago I told him [schumacher] about the possibility offered by Domenicali and he said that if I agreed I would find a nice atmosphere and a great enthusiasm in Maranello.”

The romance of his Ferrari switch aside, however, Vettel admitted that although he has had a strong winter, it is Mercedes looking set to dominate again in 2015.

“It’s 50-50 between them,” he said, referring to world champion Lewis Hamilton and his teammate Nico Rosberg.

“Last year I didn’t expect Rosberg to be so strong, especially in qualifying. Then in the races he was always really close to Hamilton.”

Vettel has won 39 grands prix in 139 starts, scoring his maiden win at the 2008 Italian Grand Prix driving a Ferrari powered Toro Rosso.