FORMULA 1 - 2015

[MIKA27]

Jenson Button: McLaren-Honda has best shot at Mercedes F1 team

Jenson Button is adamant that McLaren-Honda is the team best able to topple Formula 1 dominator Mercedes in the long term.

McLaren suffered a poor beginning to the 2015 season, with Kevin Magnussen unable to start the Australian Grand Prix after his Honda engine hit trouble before the race and Button the last-placed finisher in 11th.

But Button remains convinced that the longer-term potential of the McLaren-Honda alliance is higher than any of Mercedes' other rivals.

"This could be great in the future," he said.

"This is what we need in the sport, someone that is going to challenge those Mercedes that are out in front.

"I really do think that this is the team that can do that.

"I know that we are a long way off right now but it was always going to be very difficult."

McLaren has a mountain to climb in closing the gap to Mercedes, with Button's best lap in Q1 in Melbourne 4.5 seconds off the first flier set by Lewis Hamilton in similar conditions at the start of Q2 when the track was not significantly faster.

FAITH IN CHASSIS PHILOSOPHY

Honda has plans to make major strides over the course of the season, while Button believes that a fundamental change in the design philosophy of the car means that McLaren is in good shape chassis-wise.

This follows the recruitment of Peter Prodromou from Red Bull as chief engineer. He has spearheaded a shift in the aerodynamic philosophy of the team.

"The way the car is is very different to anything I've driven that has had a McLaren logo on it," said Button.

"In terms of aerodynamics, the design philosophy behind the airflow of the car, it's very different.

"This will be, in the future, a very important car for McLaren and Honda in terms of direction.

"There are areas we need to work on of course, but the basic car is good and hopefully we can keep adding downforce and performance to this car."

Button contrasted the car favourably to last year's McLaren, which did not offer a sound foundation for development.

"When you have a good base, it makes a massive difference," said Button.

"Last year's car, for example, we could extract a good lap from it but in a race it made it very difficult because the car was very on the nose on initial turn in.

"[At the] apex you would get washout at the front; it was very dirty in the way the aerodynamics worked.

"This is different. It's very clean and we can build on what we have.

"You will see big progress form us this year, but don't expect us to gain two seconds at the next race."

[MIKA27]

Horner denies Mercedes complaints are hypocritical

Christian Horner says he can understand why his calls for the FIA to step in to prevent Mercedes from walking away with the 2015 Formula 1 World Championship could be seen as hypocritical, but insists the Red Bull was continually pegged back when it was winning.

Red Bull clinched four world titles between 2010 and 2013 with Sebastian Vettel at the wheel, but has failed to mount a consistent challenge to Mercedes since a change in the regulations introduced V6 hybrid power units.

With Red Bull suffering a poor start to the year as its Renault engine struggles for pace and reliability, Horner has called on the FIA to introduce equalisation measures to stop Mercedes – which scored a 1-2 by more than half a minute – from walking away with a second consecutive crown so easily.

However, while Horner's calls have been met with cynicism from some corners of the paddock given the way Red Bull ruled the order for four seasons, the man himself insists he is not being hypocritical now that he isn't winning, suggesting his team was pegged back on numerous occasions.

“I can understand that [the hypocrisy suggestions], but when we were performing, we never had the level of dominance we are seeing, nowhere near. At any point in time that we did show a bit of form, rules changed.

“We had to adapt to that, we had to adapt from fuelling, to no refuelling, to bodywork change, double diffuser to no double diffuser, blown diffuser, engine mapping changes mid-season you name it. We are set for a season with quite a broad running order.”

Indeed, Horner says the struggles currently being experienced by Honda suggest the current rules have become too complicated to make racing competitive.

“I think they have a very reliable and a very together car. The power unit is so complicated. Looking at a company the size of Honda and the preparation time they've had, to come here and be so far off the pace at the back of the grid – it demonstrates how hard it is.

“Maybe these things are just too complicated. We've made life complicated and off the back of that is cost and off the back of that is why teams are in trouble – Manor couldn't even start their car. How right is that?”

Toto Wolff has already dismissed Horner's suggestions for equalisation, urging him to get his head down and work on a solution to Red Bull's problems.

[MIKA27]

‘No money, no honey’ Arrivabene warns Manor

Maurizio Arrivabene says Ferrari is happy to assist Manor in its efforts to get back on the F1 grid, but says it should adhere to its new agreement or face losing its engine supply.

In its former Marussia guise, Manor slipped into administration towards the end of the 2014 season, with engine supplier Ferrari being named as its biggest creditor. At the time, it was noted that the team owed upwards of $16 million to Ferrari out of a total $60 million.

Despite this, Ferrari has reached an agreement with the newly revived Manor F1 set-up to, for the time being, supply it with 2014-specification engines. Indeed, though debts are still to be paid, Arrivabene says he is happy to be dealing with a 'new company', but says it will simply stop supplying if payments aren't maintained.

“We don't have to mix up things,” he said. “Last year, we deal with one company, and we are still working to get back our money as everybody knows. Now we are dealing with a new company so it's a completely different story.

“We are doing our job now to support them, also because they showed to us they stick to what is agreed into the contract and they are serious on the project. Otherwise, I said to Graeme [Lowdon] in a very simple way, and he remembers, I think: “guys, we are more than open to help you, but no money, no honey.”

[MIKA27]

ALONSO GOOD DAY BACK AT WORK PREPARING FOR MALAYSIA

McLaren’s Fernando Alonso put in a day’s work in the team’s Formula 1 simulator on Wednesday ahead of his expected return to the racetrack in Malaysia next week after his crash in pre-season testing.

“Great day today. Lots of meetings and simulator work,” he told his more than 2.2 million followers, after a day focused on operational work, practising qualifying and race procedures.

Alonso missed last weekend’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix, his first race back with McLaren after leaving Ferrari, on doctors’ orders after crashing and suffering concussion in Barcelona at the end of February.

He must still satisfy the FIA that he is fit to race but expects to be driving again at Sepang and has posted photographs of himself swimming and working out. He will undergo medical tests conducted by the FIA on Sunday.

McLaren made a dismal start to the season and their new partnership with Honda, Jenson Button and stand-in Kevin Magnussen qualifying on the back row of the grid in Melbourne.

Magnussen did not even make it to the grid on Sunday after his car’s engine blew while Button, the last driver to win a race for McLaren back in 2012, finished 11th and last after being lapped twice by world champion Lewis Hamilton.

[MIKA27]

BOTTAS IN RACE AGAINST TIME TO GET WELL FOR MALAYSIA

Williams driver Valtteri Bottas is recovering from his back injury and undergoing physio-therapy in Indonesia in what is a race against time to be fit for the Malaysian Grand Prix weekend.

The Finn had to sit out the Melbourne season opener last Sunday after suffering a torn disc in his back during the qualifying hour.

Reports said he subsequently travelled from Australia to Indonesia to prepare for the time-zone and heat of Malaysia, even though his participation in the second round of the world championship is not yet guaranteed.

According to the Finnish newspaper Turun Sanomat, Bottas is working in Indonesia with his fitness coach Antti Vierula and a physiotherapist.

“We are doing everything we can to help the process of getting him back to full fitness,” a spokesman for the British team told the Daily Mail.

Turun Sanomat said it is likely Bottas will eventually need surgery to completely heal the injury, just as Kimi Raikkonen did at the end of 2013.

“The driver’s lower back gets really heavy loads on it because of the braking,” former double F1 world champion Mika Hakkinen told Ilta Sanomat newspaper.

[MIKA27]

NEW RULES MADE FOR RIGHT REASONS WILLIAMS

Williams deputy team boss Claire Williams is a supported of the direction in which Formula 1 is moving by endorsing the controversial rules introduced last season.

After Mercedes’ dominance of the Melbourne opener, Red Bull was so critical of the new-in-2014 turbo V6 formula that it threatened to quit the sport. But so far, no team has come out to back Red Bull’s strident stance.

“The changes were made for the right reasons,” Williams told Forbes. “From my perspective as a commercial director, the change in the engine regulations has definitely alleviated pressure talking to companies that look at formula one as a sport and are put off by the environmental questions around it.”

The journalists claim Williams’ estimated increase of almost $55 million in sponsorship over the past year is more than any other F1 team.

“I think we need to tell the story around these new engines,” Williams continued. “I don’t think it is a story that has been told enough yet and I think that would do us more favour if we did. But I do believe that from an environmental perspective it was the right way to go.”

[MIKA27]

HAMILTON BUYS $1.4 MILLION LAFERRARI SUPERCAR

Reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton has had contact with Ferrari, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff has admitted.

Paddock rumours in Australia suggested that, as he conducts his own negotiations for a new contract beyond 2015, the British driver had been in touch with Ferrari. Wolff doesn’t deny it.

“Sure, Lewis has had contact with Ferrari,” he confirmed to Sport Bild, before grinning: “He has just bought a LaFerrari.”

LaFerrari is an ultra-rare Ferrari supercar, so it is interesting that Hamilton – the reigning world champion for Mercedes – has so openly bought one.

Indeed, long before Sebastian Vettel’s move from Red Bull, the German bought a Ferrari road car but had to keep it a secret.

But Wolff said of Hamilton’s purchase: “We have no problem with that.”

Indeed, both sides say they are now close to agreeing terms for a new Mercedes contract for 2016 and beyond.

But if Hamilton were to leave Mercedes, the most coveted cockpit in F1 would open up and Wolff has already said Fernando Alonso is in pole position to fill it.

Eric Boullier, boss of the struggling McLaren-Honda team, told Spain’s El Pais newspaper he is “not at all” worried the Spaniard could jump ship to Mercedes after just a single year.

[MIKA27]

Fernley has 'no sympathy for Horner'

Force India deputy team principal Bob Fernley hopes Mercedes' current dominance serves as a wake-up call to Red Bull team principal Christian Horner and the rest of the F1 community.

Having made a clean sweep to the titles last year, Mercedes continued where they left off at the 2015 opener in Australia with Lewis Hamilton leading home a 1-2 and Sebastian Vettel from Ferrari more than 30s off the pace in third place.

It led to calls from Horner on the FIA to use an equalisation measure to reduce Mercedes' gap at the front and F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone has backed the calls.

Fernley, though, doesn't have sympathy for Red Bull, who dominated the sport from 2010 to 2013, as Force India have been raising concerns about the state of F1 for a quite a while now.

"It's a shame it's taken him (Horner) so long to work it out!" he told Press Association Sport.

"I've no sympathy for where he is because how long have we been saying there are issues? It is one that has been progressively growing worse and we identified 18 months ago.

"The four big teams, including Red Bull, were adamant nothing needed to be done, and now Red Bull are getting squeezed a bit, and probably coming under pressure from their owners.

"Even at the last F1 Commission meeting they were not prepared to yield anything, and that was only a month ago.

"The reality is now setting in - welcome to the real world.

"They've needed to wake up, and maybe Christian has now woken up because this problem has been there for some time, it's not new."

Following the demise of Caterham and Marussia at the backend of the 2014 campaign, Force India, Lotus and Sauber led calls on the powers that be to make changes but Fernley fears nothing will be done in the immediate future.

"We have to keep plugging away, we've programmes we're working on, and hopefully common sense will prevail at some point," he said.

"But you can't blame Mercedes for doing a good job. Everybody else has the same opportunity.

"Clearly Ferrari stepped up their game over the winter.

"With Red Bull is it entirely Renault? Their 'sister' car (Toro Rosso) performed reasonably well and with two young guys in the car.

"You look at Sauber (who have a Ferrari power unit), even they were a better car on the day than Red Bull, so it cannot all be engine related."

[MIKA27]

Booth: Bianchi's points saved Manor

Manor team boss John Booth has paid a heartfelt tribute to Jules Bianchi as without him, he says, the team "would not be here."

Five months after his horrific accident at the 2014 Japanese GP, Bianchi remains in a French hospital having yet to regain consciousness.

The 25-year-old suffered a traumatic brain injury when he crashed into a recovery vehicle that was in a gravel trap to recover a rival's car.

Weeks later, his team went into administration and missed the final three grands prix of the season.

The team fought back thanks to new investors and joined rivals in Australia last weekend for the season-opening grand prix.

Booth told Aubo Hebdo: "I think of Jules almost every day.

"I think of Jules and I think he should have been with us in Melbourne to share our joy.

"We were not able to put the cars on the track but we nonetheless won our fight.

"What I would like if for Jules to also win his."

The team boss admitted that without Bianchi's two points at last year's Monaco Grand Prix Manor would never have made it back into F1.

"Without him, without the two points he went looking for in Monaco last year, we would not be here.

"In the end that is what convinced the new investors of the potential of the team.

"I think of Jules, and I also think of Philip, his father, who told me in the corridors of the hospital in Nice we had to find a way to continue.

"Being here, it's our way of saying to Jules that the race is not over until the checkered flag has not fallen."

He added: "I will not say that Jules is an inspiration to us because he has always been and will remain so.

"The way he led his life, he behaved and in which he overcame trials speaks for him.

"His fight is ours, as ours was his. Together we have experienced the greatest joys and greatest sorrows.

"We are the first to emerge from the worst ordeal Manor has ever known, and I have no doubt that Jules will succeed too.

"What we were able to rebuild during the winter shows that faith can move mountains, there is always hope as long as we believe in it. I believe in, Manor believes.

"Jules, your team is with you!"

[MIKA27]

Nasr: More to come from Sauber

Felipe Nasr says there is more to come from Sauber this year, although he concedes that the Swiss team will need to spend more in order to fulfil the potential of the car.

The Brazilian was one of the stars of the Australian Grand Prix, as he charged to fifth place after what had been an extremely difficult weekend for the team.

"It's a boost for everyone in the team," said Nasr. "I think it's motivation for everyone, all the mechanics.

"It just shows the team made a good progression over last year, and I still think there is margin for more – if we are able to invest more in the car, I think there I still more potential to come."

Nasr, making his grand prix debut, admited the result was a surprise to him.

"I didn't expect that to be honest. But in the end it's a big relief for everyone, for myself, for the team. I'm just so happy that everything came together in this race, because we know how things can be, especially in a first race, it can be quite chaotic.

"It's incredible, I have to say. I think no one was expecting that. It was such an exercise for myself as well mentally, to keep everything under control, and to be able to focus when I was in the car.

"It shows the team was ready as well, I think they never gave up. It only shows the motivation of the guys, they knew the potential, and they were able to deliver it.

"I'm just so pleased it was a clean race, we had no issues on the car, the pit stop went well, the strategy went well as well. It's difficult to get days like this, being realistic. As I said we were ready for it, and we took the opportunity home."

[MIKA27]

Pirelli expects lap records to tumble this year

Pirelli is predicting lap records will be broken this year thanks to the new rear tyre construction introduced for the 2015 season.

Laptimes during the Australian Grand Prix last weekend were around two seconds quicker compared to 2014.

The weekend's best lap in 2014 was a 1:29.375 - set in final practice with soft tyres - while the quickest lap last weekend was a 1:26.327, over three seconds quicker.

The fastest lap in the race was 1.5 seconds quicker than last year.

Pirelli's motorsport director Paul Hembery believes the trend will continue throughout the season, and he reckons new benchmarks will be set.

"These figures underline what we expected to see following pre-season testing: a significant reduction in lap times, with cars that will only get faster as the year goes on," said Hembery.

"We could even see some new lap records on certain circuits.

"With this in mind, we have introduced evolutions to the rear structure of all our 2015 tyres this year, in order to give them greater capability in handling the extreme demands placed on them."

MIKA: Lap records will tumble....? Even if their claim of 1:26.327 is accurate, that's still rather shy of Michael Schumachers lap record of 1:24:125 back in 2004 at the Australian GP.

I hope it's true, but will wait and see.

[MIKA27]

Hulkenberg ‘sad’ at German Grand Prix demise

Nico Hulkenberg says he is 'sad' there will reportedly be no German Grand Prix in 2015 as hopes for the event continue to fade.

As negotiations continue to stall between the Hockenheimring's new owners and F1's commercial rights holders, the likelihood of a German Grand Prix in 2015 appears increasingly slim now the new season in underway.

The move has been met with disappointment from the likes of Nico Rosberg and Hulkenberg, the latter expressing his disappointment that he will have no home race to compete in in 2015.

Should the German Grand Prix not go ahead, it will be the first time since 1955 that F1 has not featured a race held in Germany and comes at a time when Mercedes is dominating the sport and – despite dwindling audience figures – remains a key market for the sport and its manufacturers.

[MIKA27]

HOW 2015′S FORMULA 1 ROOKIES FARED ON THEIR DEBUT

Amid all the press surrounding the Giedo van der Garde court case, the size of the grid, recriminations about Renault’s performance, question marks about Honda’s progress and Valtteri Bottas’ injury, the debut grand prix of this year’s rookies largely went missing. That though, tells its own story, for when new kids make the headlines it’s either because of outstanding achievement or spectacular failure. So how did this year’s trio of first-timers get on…

Felipe Nasr – Sauber

Amid all the negativity surrounding Sauber’s opening race weekend of 2015 it was all to easy to ignore the more than solid performance put in by Felipe Nasr in Australia. Despite good showings in testing, the suspicion lingered that Sauber’s real pace would see them drop down the order once the competition began for real but after missing FP1 due to the team’s court wrangles with Giedo van der Garde, Nasr did the right thing in FP2, feeding himself into the weekend in sensible fashion, finishing the session in P11, with a time of 1:30.755. It was three seconds off the pace set by Nico Rosberg but the firmly in the mix of the times set by those the Brazilian could realistically hope to be fighting on track – Force India, Lotus and Toro Rosso.

He repeated the process in final practice, claiming tenth fastest time, this time finishing nine tenths off the back of sixth-placed Kimi Raikkonen but also more than half a second clear of team-mate Marcus Ericsson.

In qualifying he again dismissed Ericsson. The Swede exited the session in Q1, while Nasr scraped through in P15. He then put in an excellent Q2 lap to claim 11th in qualifying, missing out on a Q3 berth by just eight hundredths of a second. That became 10th on the grid when Valtteri Bottas was ruled out of the race.

Nasr made a good start on Sunday but it put him in trouble when he got embroiled in the fight between Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen. That in turn put the Brazilian into the path of Pastor Maldonado.

The Venezuelan came off worst, however, and Nasr was able to carry on. From there he drove an impressive first race, eventually claiming a well deserved fifth place when Raikkonen was forced to retire after trouble in his second pit stop. During that mid-race period Nasr also comfortably fended off a challenge from Daniel Ricciardo who had been told by race engineer Simon Rennie that the Brazilian was there for the taking. He wasn’t.

Nasr, who finished third in GP2 last year, has been dogged by ‘pay driver’ claims since he moved to Sauber from his reserve role at Williams, taking his valuable sponsorship dollars with him. His debut race result was the perfect opportunity for Nasr to issue a rebuttal.

“I think it’s a good answer to put results on track,” he said. “I don’t know where this pay driver thing came from because I’ve always had people investing in my career, my family never had the money to do it.

“What’s the difference between being supported by Red Bull paying for your drive, and having sponsors that want to be with you?”

Embattled Sauber boss Monisha Kaltenborn was fulsome in her praise too. “I’m very impressed by his performance,” she said.

“You always have the fear with a rookie in certain situations because he actually lacks the experience – you can’t even blame him for that – and mistakes will be made.

“But he didn’t do that. He just managed it all so well, he remained so calm, so focused about it, very rational and that’s the most impressive part for me.”

Carlos Sainz Jr – Toro Rosso

The signing of 17-year-old Max Verstappen, and the subsequent furore surrounding that, effectively gave Carlos Sainz the sort of low key entry into F1 many drivers would kill for, but even more so when that driver is the son of a two-time world rally champion whose critics would otherwise have been quick to cry favouritism. After all, Sainz Sr had long been close to the energy drinks brand through VW and his Dakar Rally activities.

Sainz, though, had on-track pedigree to match his blood ties. The youngest ever Formula Renault 3.5 series champion last year, Sainz’s trajectory has been one of consistent victory right through the junior categories.

All eyes were on Verstappen, though, so as with Nasr it was easy to miss Sainz’s solid weekend amid all the flashbulbs popping in the direction of his team-mate.

Sainz was a potent fourth in FP1, though just five hundredths of a second ahead of the preternaturally capable Verstappen. That gap widened in FP2, though Verstappen only turned six laps during the session. Sainz’s pace was confirmed in FP3 when he ran just under a tenth faster than his team-mate.

He was more comfortable in qualifying too, making it through to Q3 to claim eighth place, while Verstappen was relegated in Q2.

The Spaniard made a good start, though he admitted to being “too optimistic” in the melée of the opening corners and said “he had learned a lesson” there. He settled into eighth but then his race was compromised by a bungled pit stop that cost him huge amounts of time. The mistake dropped him to 13th and from there had to fight his way back through the field. He was quick to do that, climbing to 12th by lap 33 and by lap 45 he was up to eighth.

He couldn’t hold off Marcus Ericsson’s charge late in the race, but in all it was an impressive drive from the Toro Rosso driver, who picked up two points on his debut. It might have been higher save for that fluffed pit stop and a range of other software and settings issues that Chief Race Engineer Phil Charles had caused Sainz problems in the race, especially in his battle with Ericsson.

Max Verstappen – Toro Rosso

It can’t have been easy being Max Verstappen in Australia. For any driver a debut grand prix is a pressure-cooker environment but for a 17-year-old the task of balancing a first real working race weekend at a new team with enormous media attention and the knowledge that any mistake will be seized upon by critics was surely a daunting task. Not that any of that was apparent in what was a remarkably assured performance from the teenager.

Verstappen barely put a foot wrong all weekend and any issues he did have were by and large car related.

Like Sainz, he got off to a flying start on Friday finishing sixth in the first session. His progress was hampered in the afternoon by a battery problem that restricted him to just six laps. His qualifying performance was solid too. His first Q2 run had been hampered by something in the car had been pressing into his back but Verstappen was candid in admitting that the failure of his second flying lap to secure a Q3 slot had been all his own fault. “I made a mistake out of Turn Four, where I went a bit too wide and lost the rear, but I can’t change that now,” he said.

He made up for the error with a cool-headed start and rapid progress into the points positions on race day. He would most likely have stayed there too had his Renault engine not let go. The record for becoming F1’s youngest ever points scorer slipped away then, but with a couple of years to go before he passes Daniil Kvyat’s age when the Russian scored his first points last year, and with a decent looking car under him, it’s surely only a matter of time before Verstappen sets a benchmark that given the impending Superlicence rules, is unlikely to ever be beaten.

[JohnS]

I feel sorry for Giedo van der Garde. Okay, he got a 15 million Euro payout but his F1 dream is over.

Meanwhile, no German Grand Prix this year!

http://www.news.com.au/sport/motorsport/german-grand-prix-cancelled-fia-confirms-19-race-season-after-nurburgring-hockenheim-impasse/story-fnec578q-1227272401033

[MIKA27]

WILLIAMS EVALUATING OPTIONS IF BOTTAS NOT FIT FOR MALAYSISA

Williams are keeping quiet on a possible substitute driver should injured Valtteri Bottas fail to be declared fit in time for the Malaysian Grand Prix, but the team do admit they are considering a variety of options for a replacement should the need arise.

Although Bottas is reportedly recovering well from his back injury, described by the team as “soft tissue damage in his lower back” which forced him to sit out the Australian Grand Prix. The worst case scenario for Williams is that he will not be passed fit for the race at Sepang which would require Williams to find a substitute.

The problem is that Williams do not have a designated reserve driver, although Susie Wolff is their test driver and Alex Lynn their development driver.

However Claire Williams appeared to rule out Wolff as a replacement when she told media in Melbourne, “Susie Wolff is our test driver not our reserve driver.”

When asked about who would replace Bottas should he not be fit to race next weekend, a spokesperson for the team said, “We have a variety of options available which the team is evaluating. However we are committed to doing everything we can to help Valtteri be back in the car in Malaysia and this is our primary focus.”

When pressed they added, “We have no comment on this subject. As you can appreciate our focus is on Valtteri. If we have anything else to announce we will do. Susie is our test driver, Alex Lynn is our development driver.”

[MIKA27]

Lotus want points on the board

Lotus took plenty of positives from the first race in Australia, but they want to deliver points in the next race at Malaysia.

The Enstone squad looked set for a solid Sunday at Albert Park as both Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado qualified in the top 10, but the lights were barely out before both were out of the race.

Maldonado was hit in a first-lap collision while Grosjean suffered a technical problem and was forced to retire.

Deputy team principal Federico Gastaldi says they have moved on from their Melbourne disappointed and are "ready to deliver" at Sepang.

"We should build on the work in Australia. Yes, our race was very short there, however we’ve demonstrated the first step of our 2015 fightback by qualifying in the top ten with good race pace potential," he said.

"There’s nothing to say Sepang should not suit us, so we’re ready to deliver. Points. That’s what we’re here for. We want to see progress from the start we made at Albert Park and it would be fantastic to have both cars greet the chequered flag with a good clutch of points stashed away.

"Of course, this is what every team is trying to do, but we’re battling hard at Enstone to make this happen."

Grosjean, who scored Lotus' eight points in 2014, says scoring points regularly is the team's main target his year and they need to reach that target as soon as possible.

"Our target for the early races is to be regularly in the top ten," he said. "We certainly demonstrated that in Albert Park and our race pace simulations were good so if we’d remained in the race we should have finished strongly. There’s nothing to suggest this can’t be the case in Malaysia and we really want to start scoring points.

[MIKA27]

FIA CONFIRM GERMANY DROPPED FROM 2015 F1 CALENDAR

It is indeed a very sad start to the 2015 Formula 1 season as Germany, officially, will have no Formula One grand prix this year for the first time since 1960 after the sport’s governing body issued a revised calendar on Friday without the July 19 round.

With Hockenheim and the Nuerburgring unwilling to host the race, the International Automobile Federation (FIA) confirmed Germany had been dropped and there would now be 19 rounds with a three week gap in July.

“The German Grand Prix has been withdrawn as the commercial rights holder and promoter did not reach agreement,” the FIA said.

The decision comes five days after the season started in Australia but had been expected, with both circuits making their positions clear, despite Germany being the home of world champions Mercedes.

The Nuerburgring had been due to host the race under an alternation agreement with Hockenheim, who hosted it last year, but the circuit has changed ownership and baulked at paying the hosting fees.

Hockenheim, which has a contract for 2016, suffered poor attendances and substantial losses last season after only 52,000 people turned up on race day.

That circuit’s officials were approached by commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone but made clear they were not willing to host the race three years in a row unless they received outside assistance.

Germany has had a grand prix every season since 1960, and during Michael Schumacher’s heyday enjoyed two races a year with the Nuerburgring home to the European Grand Prix while Hockenheim hosted the German GP.

The retirement of seven times world champion Schumacher at the end of 2012, after an unsuccessful comeback with Mercedes, led to a drop in attendances that Sebastian Vettel’s four titles in a row with Red Bull failed to reverse.

The high price of tickets to cover the hosting fees demanded by commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone, and the return of Austria to the calendar last year have been been blamed as contributory factors for the dwindling crowds.

Germany was one of the sport’s historic races, even if the Nuerburgring and Hockenheim have changed substantially since the early years of the sport, and the country’s absence will be felt by traditionalists.

Monza, Monaco, Spa and Silverstone remain but the championship is increasingly looking to lucrative new markets in Asia and the Middle East.

Azerbaijan, with a race in Baku, is due to debut in 2016 while Russia made its first appearance in 2014 with a grand prix in Winter Olympic venue Sochi.

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ARRIVABENE: SEBASTIAN AND KIMI ARE WORKING VERY WELL TOGETHER

With Maurizio Arrivabene at the helm, Ferrari appear to have become a happier place and the harmony between their star drivers Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen is key to the new atmosphere that permeates around the Maranello outfit.

Ferrari team principal Arrivabene told media, “The two guys are working very well together and my job is to keep the right balance and to make Kimi confident.”

“I repeat to him many times: Kimi, you are like a hammer, you were pushing like hell and your timing was good. We need two drivers scoring constructors’ points not one and Kimi can do his job properly.”

“Seb of course was happy because his dream came true. To get the podium with Ferrari is something that is really special for a Formula 1 driver,” reflected Arrivabene after Vettel’s third place finish at the season opening Australian Grand Prix.

The other side of the Ferrari garage in Melbourne was not quite as happy a place, after Raikkonen was forced to park his car as a problem with the left rear wheel resulted in an unsafe release.

“Concerning Kimi, I was going straight away to talk with him and what you need to do with a driver is to understand and keep him up. Otherwise, if you just celebrate with one and ignore the other it doesn’t work,” said the Ferrari team boss.

On the plus side, going by evidence in Melbourne, Ferrari have jumped up the pecking order and look to be on par (if not ahead) of Williams.

Arrivabene acknowledged, “Our goal was looking forward to Williams and Red Bull and now we need to be a bit more convinced about ourselves to reduce the gap to the guys with Mercedes cars.

“It’s just a question to continue like this with the right methodology, work and respect the programme without panicking and keeping up the spirit of the team,” added Arrivabene.

[MIKA27]

ALONSO WILL RACE IN MALAYSIA CONFIRMS MANAGER

Fernando Alonso’s manager says the McLaren-Honda driver will be back in action in Malaysia next weekend.

“Fernando will be in Malaysia,” Luis Garcia-Abad announced to the Spanish press early on Saturday.

It is known that the 33-year-old driver, who sat out the Melbourne season opener last weekend after his mysterious Barcelona testing crash a month ago, will undergo official FIA medical tests on Sunday.

A representative of Garcia-Abad was quoted by AS sports newspaper: “Fernando is well and he will pass the tests for sure, it is a mere formality.”

He was speaking to the press at an event in Asturias, Alonso’s home town, along with the double world champion’s father, Jose Luis.

[MIKA27]

Mercedes tried to save German GP

Mercedes offered a "significant contribution" to save the German Grand Prix, however, even their financial offer was not enough to sweeten the deal.

Although the Nurburging was scheduled to host this year's grand prix, the circuit's new owners failed to reach an agreement with F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone.

And with Hockenheim declining the race, the FIA announced on Friday that there would be no German GP in 2015.

Motorsport's governing body stated that "the German Grand Prix has been withdrawn as the CRH and promoter did not reach agreement."

And that was despite Mercedes trying their best to sweeten the deal.

For the reigning World Champions the German GP marks one of their two home races as it also does for driver Nico Rosberg.

As such, Mercedes offered to help finance a race at Hockenheim. That, though, was turned down.

A Mercedes spokesman told the Observer: "The organisation of the race calendar and of individual events is a matter for the FIA, the commercial rights holder and the individual promoters.

"In principle, we do not believe it is the job of the competing teams to provide financial support for individual events and we do not believe this is a sustainable model for the future.

"Nevertheless, the German GP is a core race on the Formula 1 calendar and we have a significant interest in this race taking place.

"Mercedes-Benz has participated in discussions and offered a significant contribution to support a successful German GP, at the Hockenheimring, in 2015.

"This offer was, unfortunately, not accepted."

[MIKA27]

Nasr refutes pay driver claims

Felipe Nasr says his P5 on debut is a "good answer" to those who accuse him of being a pay driver with the Sauber team.

Nasr was signed to Sauber ahead of this year's Championship and brought with him significant sponsorship from Banco Do Brasil.

That has led to some saying he is just another pay driver in Formula 1.

However, that's a claim disputed by the Brazilian who hopes his fifth place in Australia shows the world that he deserves a place in F1.

"This is a good answer [to the pay driver claims]," he told Crash.net. "That is all I work for, to put the results on track. I am not a guy that gives excuses.

"I don't know where this pay driver call came from because I have always had people investing in my career from the beginning. I never had to put any family money on my career, my family have never had the money to do it."

He added: "What is the problem with having a sponsor on my car? What is the difference being supported by Red Bull and they will pay for your drive than having a sponsor that wants to be with you.

"I prefer to have many sponsors that want to be with than to be stuck with only one, so I am happy to work with all the companies, especially Brazilian companies.

"When I was 16 or 17, I already had a salary, so I don't see where people get this impression I am a pay driver."

[MIKA27]

Symonds denies engine inequality

Despite Felipe Massa questioning Mercedes' engine equality, Pat Symonds is confident Williams are racing the same-spec as the Merc works team.

Following the Australian GP, in which he was beaten to the final podium position by Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel, Massa raised doubts about whether Williams were running the same engine specification as Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.

"If we don't have the same engine - which I cannot say 100 percent because it's very difficult to say - but if we don't have it then we want to have it because it's not nice that we don't have it," said the Brazilian.

However, Williams chief technical officer Symonds has rubbished that speculation, adamant the Grove team's cars are powered by the engines that are in the W06.

"We have no doubts over the parity of the engines from Mercedes during the Australian Grand Prix," he told Autosport.

"We have a great working relationship with all the team at Brixworth and know how hard they pushed things to the limit to bring the best performance to Australia.

"HPP are constantly checking the data and all the power units are exceptionally close in performance.

"Our aim now is to continue developing the car to ensure we can fight Ferrari."

Force India's deputy team boss Bob Fernley was also asked about engine parity and revealed it was part of his team's contract with Mercedes.

"Yes, and the contract states that," he told the publication. "All fairness to Mercedes, they have always been straight with us."

[MIKA27]

Oil pressure blamed for Kvyat DNS

Red Bull have revealed that overheating was the cause of Daniil Kvyat's gearbox failure, which put him out of the Australian GP.

The Russian driver was unable to take to the starting grid for the season-opening race in Melbourne after his RB11 came to halt on his out-lap.

Initial reports in the media suggested that it could have been an engine vibration that damaged his car's gearbox.

Red Bull, though, have now confirmed that a lack of oil pressure led to to the gearbox overheating.

Paul Monaghan, Red Bull's chief engineer, confirmed: "After investigating post-race, we found that the reason Daniil’s gearbox overheated and was unable to select a gear on the way to the grid was due to a lack of oil pressure.

"As a factory we have been working hard to make sure it doesn’t happen again."

Monaghan is also confident that Red Bull came bounce back from their disappointing start to the Championship.

He said: "Last year the progress we made from the third test to the first race was significant and one of our strengths is our development rate.

"We have the best team in place to repeat our success and we are working as hard as we can to improve as much as possible ahead of Malaysia."

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Olivier Panis: Red Bull should put its own house in order

Former Grand Prix winner Olivier Panis thinks Red Bull should not “bite the hand that feeds it” by publicly criticizing engine supplier Renault.

Following the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, in which one of its cars broke down on the installation lap and the other was lapped by the race winner, Red Bull’s motorsport advisor Dr Helmut Marko complained of Renault: "We wanted an improvement and we have taken a step back. The gap to the top now is frightening."

But Panis, speaking exclusively to Motorsport.com, doesn’t think such a public display of dissatisfaction is helpful.

“I do understand that Horner and Helmut [Marko] are disappointed,” said Panis. “But I find it a bit easy to blame Renault. Red Bulls used to be at the front with the same engine, so they should rather put their own house in order, then look at things.

"Barely acceptable"

“When you have won four titles with a constructor, you can’t straightaway bite the hand that has been feeding you. I find it barely acceptable, even though everyone is defending their own interests, which I respect, but I find it borderline.”

Panis also doesn’t agree with Red Bull’s tactic of lobbying the FIA to equalize the engine rules, to rein-in the dominant Mercedes power unit.

“Horner might be complaining, but when he was World Champion four times and dominated, he did not ask others whether it was fine with them,” added Panis.

“There’s a point when you need to put things back into their context: they’re having a hard time, okay, but when you’re a team, you stick together and you move forward.”

[MIKA27]

How much will fans really miss the German Grand Prix?

Friday’s news that neither Hockenheim nor the Nurburgring would stage the German GP in 2015 dismayed many – but not all including myself..

Germany can boast one of the strongest economies in Europe, and Angela Merkel’s approach to money management throughout the recent years of global financial chaos has seen the country take on the role of the EU’s economic watchdog.

Despite this, the German Grand Prix has been removed from the Formula 1 calendar for 2015, with neither Hockenheim nor the Nurburgring able to stump up the necessary funds to host the race this year, even with an offer of some financial support from Mercedes.

Is this event still a classic?

Much ink has been spilled bemoaning the loss of yet another classic European circuit, but – frankly speaking – how long has it been since either the Hockenheimring or the Nurburgring could lay claim to being classic racetracks?

Both venues share the names of real racers’ circuits, but the Grand Prix circuit in the Eifel Mountains is hardly the Nordschleife, the fearsome ‘Green Hell’ still spoken of in awed tones. As for Hockenheim, quite frankly, the track has been a shadow of its former self since it was shortened by 2.3 kilometres.

While the on-going pursuit of safety in Formula One is admirable, it has had the unfortunate side effect of stripping the heart and soul out of those circuits traditionally viewed with rose-coloured glasses as being the venues which separated the men from the boys, safety be damned.

Safety should never be damned, of course, but improved standards have led to a situation where there is an outpouring of sentiment for places that no longer deliver much in the way of decent racing.

Despite seemingly endless German dominance this century, either through Michael Schumacher’s glory years at Ferrari, Sebastian Vettel’s string of titles for Red Bull, and the current period of Mercedes’ power unit supremacy, audiences at the German Grand Prix have seen a period of steady decline since the Red Baron hung up his helmet for the first time.

A commercial disaster zone

The 2014 race at Hockenheim was a catastrophe. Despite a promotion giving ticket buyers a 11 euro discount for every goal scored by Germany in the FIFA World Cup semi-final against Brazil – a 77 euro discount after the Brazilian team’s humiliation, there were few takers. After the sell-out success that marked F1’s return to neighbouring Austria the previous month, it was a stark contrast indeed, with the bulk of the audience having elected to turn up at the Hockenheimring disguised as empty seats.

In the wake of the losses suffered that weekend, it is little surprise that the Hockenheim race organisers did not feel able to take on the additional financial commitment of an additional grand prix that it was not their turn to host. At the time of writing, there is nothing to suggest that the 2016 German Grand Prix will not take place at Hockenheim as scheduled.

The Nurburgring, meanwhile, has been embroiled in political and financial chaos for years, with EU investigations into funding irregularities, local government officials cancelling the lease held by NAG, and sale after sale falling through.

The current owners could not balance the books in a way that would see anything other than additional losses accrue as the result of hosting the race, and it would take a true optimist to predict a return to the Eifel mountains in the near future.

That Germany will not host a race this year despite laying claim to the defending constructors’ champions, 15 percent of the drivers on the current grid, and nine of the drivers’ titles secured since 2000 is certainly a reason for F1 to take a serious look at its current problems.

For a rich European country steeped in motorsport heritage, the loss of the grand prix is deeply symbolic and rather shocking.