FORMULA 1 - 2015

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Kimi laments another poor Q3 display

Kimi Raikkonen was left bemoaning another wasted opportunity in qualifying as he will only start P6 in Shanghai on Sunday.

The Ferraris are no doubt the fastest cars behind Mercedes in terms of one-lap pace as Sebastian Vettel will start P3 as he was the only driver within one second of pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton's time in Q3.

Many would've expected Raikkonen to line up next to his team-mate on the grid, but the Finn had a sloppy session and will start behind the Williams cars of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas.

"It is just how difficult it was in the first three corners in the last try," the 2007 World Champion is quoted as saying by Autosport.

"I lost so much time in corner three basically that I was a bit surprised. The car had been behaving very well and in the last run it was not so easy there for some reason.

"The laptime was pretty much done there - you couldn't catch up."

It is the third time this season that Raikkonen has been outqualified by his team-mate Vettel and it was quite a disappointment as he was second fastest during FP2 on Friday.

Raikkonen fears there is a bad trend developing.

"Obviously it was different from yesterday but I don't know what happened," he said. "I got a loose car and lost an awful lot of time from that corner to the next corner.

"Maybe it is my fault. Maybe it just happened. But it is disappointing anyhow. It is not a complete disaster, but it seems to become a habit. I would rather get rid of it.

"For the race we have a good car. It has been behaving well all weekend. Today was not ideal with the last set of tyres, but we will do our best for tomorrow and see where we end up."

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WILLIAMS: WE HAVE GOT OURSELVES INTO A GOOD POSITION

Williams were once again the "best of the rest" in qualifying at the Chinese Grand Prix on Saturday, but Valtteri Bottas admits they need to work on their race pace.

Having finished the 2014 season as the second fastest team behind Mercedes, Williams have slipped back, especially in qualying as they found themselves behind the likes Red Bull and Toro Rosso last time out in Malaysia.

However, they hit back strongly at Shanghai with Felipe Massa fourth fastest and Bottas just behind him.

The Finn, though, says he had one or two issues during the final qualifying session.

"It was quite a close qualifying, although I suffered with the rear of the car throughout the final session, which made it a bit harder," Bottas said.

"We know we need to work on our race pace, but we should be closer than we were in the first two races. The cars in front look strong so we have to concentrate on tyre degradation."

Both Williams cars will start ahead of the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen, who was only sixth fastest, and Massa hopes they can push on on race day.

"I am really happy with my lap. I managed to get the best out of the car and showed we are still in the fight with Ferrari," he said.

"The car has improved throughout the weekend and we had the set-up correct for qualifying. Tomorrow is when it really counts so I hope we can have a strong race and get the most points on offer from the car."

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Hamilton Races To Shanghai Win

Lewis Hamilton's lead was never once under threat as he raced from lights to flag to his fourth victory in the Chinese GP, a race that ended behind the Safety Car.

The reigning World Champion had a near perfect weekend in China, topping all three practice sessions, taking pole position, setting the race's fastest lap and claiming the race victory.

Holding off Rosberg at the start, even placing his car pointing inwards on the grid to get the better line, Hamilton always seemed to have the advantage and extra pace in the bag.

Rosberg held on through the opening two stints, roughly two seconds down on his team-mate and even told Mercedes to make him hurry up as if he got "closer [to Hamilton], I destroy my front tyres."

However, just before their second pit stop Hamilton asserted his dominance, easily pulling away from the German in a spate of fastest laps.

With three laps remaining he was almost six seconds up the road from Rosberg when the Safety Car was brought out for Max Verstappen's smokey retirement on the main straight.

As marshals struggled to get his car behind the wall, the Safety Car started the final lap and Hamilton's victory, which was never under threat, was guaranteed.

Rosberg was second while Vettel, who was the first of the front runners to pit as Ferrari hoped to give him some advantage over the Mercedes drivers, completed the podium, his third top-three result in three races for Ferrari.

Kimi Raikkonen was fourth for the second race in succession as Ferrari again edged the Williams drivers for the best of the rest title.

Felipe Massa was fifth ahead of Valtteri Bottas, who were some 30 seconds behind the Ferraris when the Safety Car came out.

Romain Grosjean brought his E23 home in seventh place ahead of Felipe Nasr and Daniel Ricciardo while Marcus Ericsson completed the top ten.

As for McLaren, Fernando Alonso was P12 as he made it through the carnage as Jenson Button and Pastor Maldonado collided while fighting for 13th place.

Button, looking for a line through, tried to go up the inside of Maldonado but misjudged the braking as the Lotus driver turned in for the corner. It had been a great battle between the two up to that point.

Both Button and Maldonado were initially able to continue before Maldonado pulled it the pits, retiring his Lotus.

There were three other retirements. Nico Hulkenberg was the first on lap 11, his DNF due to a gearbox failure, while Daniil Kvyat retired on lap 17 with an engine failure and his car "on fire, on fire, on fire".

Verstappen was the last, three laps from the end, as his Toro Rosso came to a smokey halt on the main straight which brought out the Safety Car.

Times

1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:39.42.008s

2 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 0.714s

3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 2.988s

4 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 3.835s

5 Felipe Massa Williams 8.544s

6 Valtteri Bottas Williams 9.885s

7 Romain Grosjean Lotus 19.008s

8 Felipe Nasr Sauber 22.625s

9 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 32.117s

10 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1 Lap

11 Sergio Perez Force India 1 Lap

12 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1 Lap

13 Jenson Button McLaren 1 Lap

14 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1 Lap

15 Will Stevens Marussia 2 Laps

16 Roberto Merhi Marussia 2 Laps

17 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso 4 Laps

Retirements

Pastor Maldonado Lotus

Daniil Kvyat Red Bull

Nico Hulkenberg Force India

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HAMILTON VERSUS ROSBERG WAR ERUPTS AGAIN

The Chinese Grand Prix appears to have re-ignited the war between Mercedes teammates Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, with the latter accusing the race winner of using questionable tactics to compromise his race.

Shortly after the podium ceremony Rosberg went on the offensive, claiming, “[Hamilton] compromised my race massively at the time because the best possible race for Lewis was to back me off into Vettel so that Vettel would try to undercut me with an early pit stop.”

“Then I would have to cover him and then I would have such a long stint at the end of the race that I would be without a chance. That was very frustrating that Lewis was taking at easy as that on the tyres at the beginning of the stint,” lamented Rosberg.

The German was referring to Hamilton’s pace shortly after the first stops, at which point he was asked by his race engineer to up his pace with Rosberg a couple of seconds adrift and being chased hard by third placed Sebastian Vettel in the Ferrari. At this point less than four seconds separated the top four, with Kimi Raikkonen in fourth.

“It was always very close with Sebastian Vettel coming out of the pits and that was completely unnecessary risk to put me in because we had a pace advantage over him.”

“But we were taking it so easy in that stage of the race that he (Vettel) was right behind me, putting me under pressure and went to try to get me in the pit stops.

“It didn’t compromise the team result but put unnecessary risk to the one-two and we went through that scenario before the race, which is frustrating. We’ll have a discussion and see how it goes. I’ll let you know,” promised Rosberg.

The two drivers who have competed against each other since their teens in karting, and prior to last year were good friends, drifted apart last year as they went head-to-head for the world championship title.

The biggest flash-point coming during the Belgian Grand Prix where Rosberg tagged Hamilton and with it sparked the animosity that has simmered ever since, with Rosberg vilified at the time for his role in the incident.

Many paddock insiders feel that a dollop of internal strife is perhaps exactly what is needed to derail the Silver Arrows juggernaut, and that it comes so early in the season will have rivals rubbing their hands in anticipation, because that at this point Mercedes’ worst enemy is themselves.

It would be interesting and highly entertaining to be a fly-on-the-wall at the Mercedes post-Shanghai team debrief. Watch this space…

MIKA: This is the first and last I will post on Hamilton vs Rosberg on track B**ching.

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FERRARI: WE ENDED UP WHERE WE WERE SUPPOSED TO BE

Come the end of the third round of the Formula One World Championship, Scuderia Ferrari saw its drivers finish in third and fourth places. Sebastian Vettel made it to the bottom step of the podium and, having started sixth, Kimi Raikkonen came home fourth, thanks mainly to an excellent start.

Both drivers set off on new Soft tyres and ran a two-stop strategy. Lewis Hamilton won ahead of his Mercedes team-mate, Nico Rosberg.

Maurizio Arrivabene: “Today we ended up where we were supposed to be, so we can say we achieved our target. I never promised we’d be making miracles to anyone. Our strategy was to get as close as possible to Mercedes, getting ready to take advantage of any mistake from them. It was no surprise to see that they were strong. Temperatures were different from Friday’s long runs, and this affected the behavior of the tyres. I am very happy for Kimi and, above all, I’m happy for Seb’s third podium finish in a row. The boys in the garage did a splendid job, today it was easier to get things wrong than to make the right thing. I don’t have the crystal ball and I can’t tell what our competitors will do in the next races. But I do know that we’ll try our best”.

Kimi Raikkonen: “Considering that my position on the starting grid today was not ideal, fourth place is a good result. My start was ok, I had quite a good jump off the line, and at the first corner I decided to go inside and at the end of the corner I was in the right place and managed to take the Williams under braking – my car is really good at that – and managed to pass them. The car was quite good today; the first set of tyres was a bit tricky, but I think it was the same for everybody, and then the next two sets were ok. Towards the end of the race I was catching up, I knew I had the speed and I thought I still had good tyres. I could still have had a chance to try and fight for podium but the safety car came in and we know we cannot change that. Today we got close to the podium, from the next race on we have to have a better weekend, doing everything right in qualifying, and we’ll do our best. As a team we scored the maximum today, we know we are behind Mercedes, but we have to be happy with the result. From tomorrow on we have to make another step to be able to challenge them every weekend; we’ll keep working hard as we have done since last year. We trust the way the team is working: now we have to be patient”.

Sebastian Vettel: “All in all we can be really happy. It is only race three and the steps we have made so far are really impressive. Third and fourth place for the Team, makes me really happy, I would have obviously loved to put more pressure on Mercedes: after the first and second stop we were able to be right there, but in the last stint they were able to pull away quite a lot. Basically we are closer than four weeks ago, which is positive, but there is still a lot to do. But what’s very positive is also the fact that we stayed ahead of all the other Teams. Second for us was not really possible today, you have to accept that our opponents were quick. For Bahrain, we hope to get again a bit closer. We have a strong car no matter which condition, that is the feeling”.

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BUTTON HANDED TIME PENALTY FOR MALDONADO COLLISION

McLaren’s Jenson Button was handed a time penalty that cost him 13th place in Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix after accepting responsibility for a collision with Lotus driver Pastor Maldonado.

The 2009 Formula One world champion, who dropped to 14th as a result of the extra five seconds added to his time, also picked up two penalty points for the turn one collision.

“I thought there was room on the inside,” the Briton said of the incident that led to Maldonado’s retirement for the third race in a row. “Just a misjudgement, I guess.”

Maldonado, who had already had problems with his car’s brakes and spun earlier, chalked it down as a racing incident.

“It was a fantastic battle with Jenson and we were passing each other very cleanly…unfortunately, it looks like he got his braking point wrong and went into the back of me,” said the Venezuelan.

“This can easily happen when you’re fighting for position…so it’s just one of those things.”

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SAUBER: WE CAN BE VERY HAPPY WITH THIS RESULT

Strong result for the Sauber F1 Team in the Chinese Grand Prix on the Shanghai International Circuit.

Felipe Nasr and Marcus Ericsson started the race from ninth and tenth and finished eighth (Nasr) and tenth (Ericsson).

With this result the team was able to have both cars in the points, the same as in the first race of the season in Australia. With a total of 19 points, the Sauber F1 Team was able to strenghten its fourth position in the Constructors‘ Championship.

Marcus Ericsson: “First of all, another great achievement for the team. Our target was to get both cars into the points, and in the end we managed to achieve that objective. My race was quite tough with a lot of fights all through it. I hoped our race pace would have been a bit stronger. I was struggling a bit to get the front tyres to work properly, so I could not maintain the pace the way I wanted to. Nevertheless, there were some great fights out there. I think I had a good race, and I am really happy to have finished in the points.”

Felipe Nasr: “It was a great day for the team, as both cars scored points. I am very pleased for everyone. It was not an easy race for us, we were fighting against Lotus and Toro Rosso, and they seemed to have a better pace than us. For myself, I extracted everything I could from the car and also the strategy, so we can be satisfied with this result.”

Monisha Kaltenborn, Team Principal: “We can be very happy with this result. We started the race in a promising position, however, it was a tough Grand Prix. The drivers had to deliver a lot and fought very hard, and this was also against competitors who were faster over this weekend. A big compliment to the drivers and to the whole team who did a great job. We started the race from points positions, and we were able to bring both cars home in the points. It’s great that we achieved our goal today.”

Giampaolo Dall’Ara, Head of Track Engineering: “I think we can be satisfied with the result. We were targeting having both cars in the points and we finally achieved it. The race was not an easy one. The tyre strategy was open until the end, so that’s why we decided to go for a split second stint. The drivers drove well and maximised the result. It’s a good feeling for the whole team to be back in the points with both cars.”

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MCLAREN: REAL POSITIVE WE MANAGED TO GET TWO CARS TO THE FINISH

McLaren-Honda got both cars safely to the finish in today’s Chinese Grand Prix, Fernando and Jenson finishing 12th and 14th respectively.

Both drivers started on the Option tyre, but then ran constrasting two-stop strategies. Fernando switched to Primes at his first stop, which made his car oversteer, before fitting Options for the run to the flag. Despite a longer-than-planned stop (to clear debris from the rear wing), the softer tyre enabled him to make up significant ground to the cars in front.

Jenson, switched to a second set of Options at his first stop, setting a string of competitive midfield times, before ending the race on the Prime. He struggled with a lack of rear grip on the harder tyre, which dropped him into the sights of the Lotus of Pastor Maldonado, with whom he enjoyed a spirited tussle for many laps.

Into the closing laps, the action between Jenson and Pastor intensified, the pair passing and re-passing each other before colliding on the high-speed entry to Turn One. Pastor was pushed into a spin, and the contact broke off Jenson’s right-hand front-wing endplate. With his car’s balance not too badly compromised, Jenson made it to the finish line in 13th, but was later given a five-second penalty for his role in the Maldonado accident, which cost him an extra place.

The incident enabled the closely following Fernando to move cleanly past. When a late-race Safety Car period neutered the race, he came home 12th.

Fernando Alonso: “This wasn’t the easiest race for us. We weren’t very competitive at the beginning, then we had a few issues with the aero behaviour of the car, which slowed me down in the middle stint, but I was able to push a bit harder on the soft tyre at the end of the race. We still need to learn a lot more about this car in order to extract its maximum, but an afternoon like today was extremely useful for us as it enabled us to better understand the car. It was a useful race for me too: my longest stint during winter testing was 12 laps; in Malaysia, I did 22; and here I completed the race, so this is a step forward. Hopefully, we can improve again for Bahrain.”

Jenson Button: “Today wasn’t too bad – we’re still fighting at the back of the field, which is a shame, but it’s positive to see that we’re progressing.

“My middle stint on the Option tyre wasn’t too bad – I don’t think our pace was too bad at all on the softer tyre – but the Prime was a bit trickier in those closing laps. A lot of that was due to all the blue flags and traffic I encountered – they meant the tyre temperatures dropped off quite a bit through the stint. It wasn’t easy. Regarding the collision with Pastor, I thought there was room on the inside – a collision is something you never want to see happen. It was just a misjudgment, I guess. Still, we go to Bahrain hoping for more progress, although the circuit configuration doesn’t suit us, so heading to Europe will hopefully work out a little bit better for the team. We need to improve at every race because we’re quite a way back.”

Eric Boullier, racing director, McLaren-Honda: “First, it’s a real positive for the entire team that we managed to get two cars to the finish with no issues whatsoever during the race. I think that’s a great reward for Honda, and we should congratulate them – today’s double-finish is the result of an enormous amount of hard work, much of which goes unappreciated, so I want to personally thank everybody working in Woking, Sakura and Milton Keynes for their efforts. It’s great that we’re starting to make solid progress. Second, our race pace showed further improvement: Jenson drove strongly in the middle stint, and Fernando was reasonably quick relative to the others in the final stint. Fighting towards the back of the pack still isn’t where we want to be. We know we’re not in a position to fight for points yet – but, little by little, we’re getting there. And we must keep pushing to ensure there are improvements coming for every race.”

Yasuhisa Arai, Honda R&D senior managing officer – chief officer of motorsport: “After today’s result, it finally feels like we’ve left this long period of winter testing behind us, and started the season proper. To get both cars to the finish of the race is one more item off our list, and we’ll now continue to push forward race by race to achieve the targets that we’ve set for ourselves. It may appear that we’ve only achieved a minor objective, and we know there’s a lot of work ahead, but the whole team deserves credit and thanks for all of their hard work.”

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TORO ROSSO: WE’VE NOT HAD ICE FAILURE PROBLEM BEFORE

Toro Rosso report from the Chinese Grand Prix, Round 3 of the 2015 Formula 1 world championship at Shanghai International Circuit.

Carlos Sainz: “It was a very difficult race for us today. We started on Prime tyres, but the track was very green and dirty at the beginning, so we immediately suffered a considerable lack of grip. While I was really pushing hard to be on top of Force India for the first stint, unfortunately I made a mistake. It’s a real shame! From then on, as soon as we put the Soft tyres on, the balance came back and I was feeling comfortable with the car. Unfortunately we had an issue with the gearbox, which we still have to investigate, which made us lose more time. Without that problem I think we could’ve been in contention for points.”

Max Verstappen: “It’s a disappointing way to end what was being a great race! To be running in the points positions but then have to stop the car so close to the end of the race is very frustrating. I’m obviously not happy with the final result but as a team we did the best job possible today. The car was performing well and even though we are lacking some top speed, the braking and the downforce we have on the car is really good and that helped me to complete some good overtakes, which I enjoyed a lot.”

Franz Tost (Team Principal): “The strategy with Max, who started on the Option tyres, worked very well and he had a very strong first lap where he was able to overtake a few rivals. From then onwards he drove very competitively and showed a great performance by overtaking and controlling his direct competitors. Unfortunately, with four laps to go, we had an issue with the drivetrain which meant he had to retire. We now have to investigate what the exact reason is. Regarding Carlos, it was a pity to see him spin after his good start. Later on, he lost some more valuable time because his gearbox went into neutral and we now have to find out why this happened. For sure the race result is quite disappointing for us because the team showed a good performance and I think that we would have deserved to finish at least with Max in eighth position. But this is Formula 1 and this is part of the game. As we know that we have a fast car, we are now looking forward to the Bahrain Grand Prix next week, where we will hopefully have a successful race weekend.”

Cedrik Staudohar (Renault Sport F1 track support leader): “Until the race we had had a relatively good weekend. We had not made the most of qualifying, but Max’ race pace was very impressive and he was able to catch and overtake several cars and move up into the top ten. Carlos had a spin early on in the race and struggled to recover with the traffic. Max’ problem appears to be an ICE failure that happened suddenly. We’ve not had this problem before in either the dyno or on track and need to look into it for Bahrain.”

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WILLIAMS: WE NEED TO CONTINUE WORK ON THE PACE OF THE CAR

Williams report from the Chinese Grand Prix, Round 3 of the 2015 Formula 1 world championship at Shanghai International Circuit.

Race Notes

Felipe Massa finished fifth and Valtteri Bottas sixth in today’s Chinese Grand Prix.

Valtteri had a good start to overtake Felipe in the opening corners, only be retaken by Felipe before the end of the first lap as the pair battled with Kimi Raikkonen who was able to jump both cars.

For the remainder of the race both drivers managed their tyres and the gaps to their rivals before the race concluded under the safety car.

Rob Smedley, Head of Performance Engineering: “The team did a great job and maximised the performance of car. Fifth and sixth is accurate of the pace we had today. The pitstops were excellent and our race strategy was very good. We just need to continue working on the pace of the car.”

Felipe Massa: “We had a good race today and I managed to get the most out of the car. The team performed very well but we just don’t have the raw speed to catch the cars in front. I will work on my start as that is really the only thing that went wrong for us. We have scored the most amount of points available to us today.”

Valtteri Bottas: “It was a lonely race for me today. I struggled for race pace throughout, but as a team we got the best result we could have achieved. I would have liked to have kept Kimi behind for longer after getting in front of him at the start, but he made a good move on me to retake the position. There is quite a bit of work to do to catch the cars ahead, but it’s only race three, so there is plenty of time.”

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LOTUS: IT FEELS GREAT TO GETS POINTS ON THE BOARD

Lotus F1 Team scored their first points of the season after Romain Grosjean came home in a strong seventh position in the Chinese Grand Prix.

It wasn’t so plain sailing for Pastor Maldonado who, despite a very strong start, suffered from braking issues and late race contact from Jenson Button, eventually retiring from the race with seven laps to go.

Romain started from P8 on the grid on his qualifying soft tyres, changing to new medium tyres on laps 12 and 32.

Pastor started from P11 on the grid on his new soft compound tyres, changing to new medium tyres on laps 11 and 33. He retired from the race on lap 49.

Romain Grosjean: “It’s the best we could do today and it’s satisfying to have achieved the team’s first points of the season. I’m proud of everyone at Enstone and at the track. It wasn’t an easy circuit for us, with a lot of front limited corners that we don’t particularly like, but we had a strong start, and most of the stints were good too. We’ve made a good job improving the car race after race and it’s great to finally score points. The next race could be promising too!”

Pastor Maldonado: “I made a great start and we were running strongly early on however later I had a braking issue which made it harder to battle. We also have to understand why the brakes locked-up so easily coming into the pits. We lost a lot of time here and it compromised the rest of my race. It was a fantastic battle with Jenson and we were passing each other very cleanly; a good, fun, exciting battle. Unfortunately, it looks like he got his braking point wrong and went into the back of me. This can easily happen when you’re fighting for position, braking off-line and using DRS, so it’s just one of those things. Certainly our race pace is good, if we qualify a little higher we should be set for a very good time in Bahrain.”

Federico Gastaldi, Deputy Team Principal: “It feels great to gets points on the board and get that particular monkey off our back. Romain performed strongly all weekend and his seventh position is just reward. It wasn’t such a good race for Pastor. He made a fantastic start, but suffered later in the race with braking and also racing contact from Jenson. The team is buoyed by Romain’s result and we’re looking forward to increasing our tally in Bahrain.”

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director: “That was a solid race from us which illustrates where we expected to be fighting from the start of the year. Both cars were looking in very good shape for a seventh and eighth finish, and it was a great result from Romain meaning our first points on the board. We achieved our target of overtaking the Red Bull and both of the Saubers with Romain, who delivered everything required. Pastor had a much more difficult race despite a strong start and clearly had potential to finish comfortably in the top ten too.”

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RED BULL: A FRUSTRATING AFTERNOON FOR US

Red Bull report from the Chinese Grand Prix, Round 3 of the 2015 Formula 1 world championship at Shanghai International Circuit.

Daniel Ricciardo: “We got into anti-stall on the start, which hasn’t happened before; we have to look and see what happened. It’s frustrating, that shaped the race and in the traffic we struggled to get by. At least some positives are that we learned a few areas where we need to improve and the smart guys in the team can find a solution. I had a little battle with Daniil, I don’t know if I was optimistic in trying to get past, we were on different race strategies but we’ll sort it out in the debrief. We underachieved today, but hopefully we find something in the next few days and have a better result in Bahrain.”

Daniil Kvyat: “This weekend has been a bit tricky, and not the happy ending we would have liked. I saw a lot of smoke coming from the rear of my car, I am not sure what happened but the team are investigating. It’s not an easy situation, but we have to stay strong, I am with the team and we will all work on it together, and we’ll keep our heads high heading into Bahrain.”

Christian Horner, Team Principal: “It was a frustrating afternoon for us. Daniel had a poor start which put him in the back of the field. Daniil had a reasonable start; we took the different strategic option to start on the hard tyre which struggled to warm up in the early laps, and then his race was unfortunately cut prematurely short with an engine failure. Daniel recovered reasonably well to finish ninth after making some decent overtaking moves, but today’s results were not what we were looking for.”

Thierry Salvi, Renault: “Obviously a difficult weekend reliability-wise. Daniil had an ICE problem that is under investigation as we need to fully understand the issue before the next race. Daniel worked hard to recover from a very bad start. We have to stay focused on the reliability first to fix our issues as quickly as possible.”

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FORCE INDIA: WE LEAVE CHINA WITH MIXED FEELINGS

Sahara Force India just missed out on points today with Sergio Perez finishing the Chinese Grand Prix in P11. Teammate Nico Hulkenberg retired on lap 10.

Sergio Perez: “We raced very hard today, but in the end it wasn’t quite enough to come away with some points. With the strategy we looked at all the opportunities and switched to three stops quite early in the race, which was the right decision. I was able to push hard all the time with the aggressive strategy and fight with the cars ahead of me. In the final part of the race I was catching Ericsson, but he was just too far ahead to make up the ground. We are still not where we want to be in terms of competitiveness, but there are definitely some positives to take because we made an improvement compared to our performance in Malaysia.”

Nico Hulkenberg: “It is disappointing to end the race early, especially considering our previous record of solid reliability. It would have been interesting to see how our race would have developed because I made some good progress on the opening lap when I went around the outside of a few cars and then got a good run at Kvyat, which put me up in P12. We had the pace to keep up with the Toro Rossos and Saubers, so it was positive to see our pace being more competitive. It is still too early to say what caused my retirement: the engineers are looking at the issue and still investigating. All we know at this stage is that I lost drive and had to park the car.”

Robert Fernley, Deputy Team Principal: “We leave China with mixed feelings after a busy race. Sergio performed really well and was unlucky not to see his performance rewarded with a point. He was in a number of battles and was able to compete on more or less an equal footing with some of our direct rivals, which offers an encouraging view for the coming races. It was a shame to lose Nico due to a technical issue, especially as he had made very good progress in the first part of the race. Like Sergio, he was showing some really good pace and it would have been interesting to see where he would have finished had he continued. Throughout the weekend, there have been some encouraging signs regarding our performance and we can build on these as the development of the VJM08 continues.”

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Ricciardo admits engine penalties are 'inevitable'

Daniel Ricciardo has admitted that he'll soon face an engine penalty after using his third power unit this weekend in China.

Renault has struggled for reliability this season and suffered a poor weekend with both Daniil Kvyat and Max Verstappen's races ending with power unit failures.

Whilst Ricciardo was able to finish the race, he had to use a third engine this weekend and, with drivers limited to just four before incurring a penalty, the Australian admits it likely won't be long until he's slapped with one.

"We're going to get copped with at least one," he said. "We've already gone through two of the ICE (Internal Combustion Engine), or whatever, so eventually we are going to have to serve penalties but hopefully the reliability improves.

"For my car today it was fine but obviously Daniil and Max went up in smoke so still some work to do but we've just got to keep our head up and keep pushing."

Ricciardo finished ninth after suffering a terrible start which saw him drop from seventh to 17th on the opening lap where he had to battle his way through the pack.

"The start was obviously what shaped our race," he added. "We got into anti-stall and I'm not sure why so I'll have a look at that.

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Alonso: My rivals are enjoying McLaren struggles

Fernando Alonso has told Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari to enjoy its current ability to beat McLaren in a thinly-veiled dig at his old team.

Vettel took over Alonso’s seat at Ferrari at the end of last year and duly won the second race of the season in Malaysia as the Scuderia made a significant step forward this year. Alonso says he will not grow impatient at McLaren despite failing to reach Q2 in China, claiming Ferrari's approach will not help it beat Mercedes to the title while also all but naming Vettel as someone he sees to be enjoying his current struggles.

“I was happy and was pushing [Ferrari] even when we had an uncompetitive car to fight for the championship until the last race, so that was probably thanks to my passion, my motivation and my way to motivate a team, even in difficult moments,” Alonso said. “For many years I showed that and I’m now in a new project trying to build up something important.

“To beat Mercedes you need to do something different, you need to take some risks, thats what I decided last year to do. As I said [on Thursday], I was second in the world championship three times in the five years I was with Ferrari. I could continue for two more years there and maybe finish second again for two more years but that was not enough.

“I preferred to risk it. Now I’m out in Q1, so it’s time for many to enjoy this moment. But I don’t think they’re fighting against me because some of the ones who are enjoying it are third, one second behind. So they are beating me but not beating Mercedes, that at the end of the day is my goal. So it’s time to enjoy for the others, hopefully soon it will be time to enjoy for me.”

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The Ants Are Still Dead

Source: Sam Smith - Wired

One of these guys is among the best drivers on the planet. The other guy is me

When I was in elementary school, someone gave me an ant farm for the holidays. I felt like a god, but then all the ants died because I was a dope who didn’t take care of them. It was a nice moment, until it wasn’t. I had that feeling again driving a Ferrari F12berlinetta around Ferrari’s test track in Italy. I felt like a god.

Then I rode in it with Kimi Räikkönen.

Maybe that name means something to you. Maybe it means nothing. But if you watch Formula 1, it means everything.

Kimi drives for Scuderia Ferrari, a team that was founded in 1929 and is synonymous with the sport. He is 35, a former world champion, and one of the best drivers on the planet. This is the least of his appeal. In a sport as image-conscious and rigidly managed as F1, Kimi is wonderfully, gloriously irreverent. He is known for doing decidedly off-message things like racing powerboats while wearing a gorilla suit, drunkenly falling off yachts, and napping before a race. He says what he thinks—often in a barely intelligible mumble—and has little patience for being managed. Former F1 team owner Eddie Jordan once called him “the most bizarre grand-prix winner.”

Even this is not what makes him great. What makes him great is how damn good he is and how easy he makes it all look, even to an experienced club racer like myself. Someone once asked him what it’s like to drive at 185 mph. “Normal,” he replied. Normal. Kimi is a driver of freakish talent who is far better than the often unreliable or mediocre cars he is given would suggest. And he may well be the best thing about a sport that has lost its way.

Formula 1 has been odd lately. Some might say boring. A raft of changes over the years, each meant to rein instratospheric budgets, promote fuel efficiency and somehow make F1 relevant to road cars, has brought the grid closer to parity. Turbocharged hybrid drivetrains cut fuel consumption but robbed races of the raucous sound of engines at full tilt. “Push to pass” energy recovery systems increased overtaking but introduced false drama. The past few seasons have been processionals, first behind Red Bull and now Mercedes-Benz. Audiences are shrinking and graying, and Bernie Ecclestone, the sport’s patriarchal billionaire dictator, never wastes an opportunity to show how little he cares.

All of which makes it easy to forget you’re watching some of the greatest talents on earth duke it out at 200 mph. It is grueling work. The cars generate 4Gs during braking and cornering, never mind the ferocious acceleration. The strain is so great that friends who’ve gotten behind the wheel report being unable to hold their heads up after a few laps. And guys race these things, playing chess inches apart for hours at a time. The great shame of F1’s drama is that it pulls you away from caring about the skill on show.

I was reminded of this several months ago when Ferrari invited a handful of journalists to Maranello to drive the 731-horsepower F12berlinetta on its Fiorano test track. Some have called the car too fast, too difficult to control. Ferrari hoped to prove otherwise. (The F12 isn’t homicidal. It is, however, absurdly potent, happiest when sideways, and something like having sex in a free-falling elevator.) At the end of the day, Ferrari PR trotted Kimi out for hot laps. He was late and visibly tired—quiet, fidgety, grinning awkwardly. He wore rumpled jeans and Pumas. When we lined up for photos, he posed like a man impersonating a mannequin: frozen grin, stiff arms, dead eyes. It was comical and more than great. I was giddy.

Kimi Räikkönen, aka The Iceman, in his element. You can tell he’s happy—he’s almost smiling

It’s worth noting here that Fiorano is incredible. Designed to develop competition and road cars, the 1.8-mile track is hidden in an industrial park, behind high walls. It has a bridge overpass, shockingly narrow pavement, and eight turns. Company namesake Enzo Ferrari ordered it built in 1972, across the street from the factory, as a laboratory. Each corner is engineered for a specific task. Turns 1 and 6, for example, assess engine flexibility on corner exit. The long, fast Turns 2 and 3 test maneuverability and the effects of centrifugal force on fuel systems. Sprinklers allow engineers to soak the track in minutes for wet-weather testing. An F1 car laps the track at an average of 118 mph and can hit 180.

Standing in the garage, you can’t help but think of all that’s come before: Michael Schumacher, Gilles Villeneuve, Niki Lauda. You can almost hear howling V-12s and flat 12s, smell hot rubber and cooked brakes, and see Enzo in his office, there in an old farmhouse just a few feet from the track.

If you can feel the history, it’s by design. Enzo died in 1988. There is either such reverence for his legacy or such cynicism toward Ferrari’s image that his wood-paneled office remains just as he left it. The books on the shelf, the ancient telephone on the desk, the 1970s furniture. It smells old and funky because it is. It’s a metaphor for F1’s great strength and weakness: history provides gravitas, but also an inertia that resists change.

The track’s garage is inches off the main straight. At 100-plus mph, the Doppler shift off an accelerating F12 isn’t so much a shift as a whip-crack ripping of air. It’s percussive, almost painful, like someone snapping a wet towel at your head and somehow landing the thing inside your ear. Whap!

There are three F12s lined up in the garage, and another out back. Each is the same color, black. As each is started and allowed to idle, its 6.2-liter V12 emits a gurgling, seductive thrum. This is what being one of the world’s best drivers earns you: Ferraris stacked four deep, waiting to be abused.

I climbed in. As we pulled out of the garage, I looked over. Kimi was nonchalant, calm and stony.

“How often do you do this sort of thing?” He shrugged, almost imperceptibly, as we left pit lane. “Once, twice a month. It varies.” A few throttle stabs. Stability control was off, so the car immediately lit up its tires and spit sideways. I saw smoke in the mirror. The engine sounded like an orchestral brass section, on meth, attempting to play as loud as possible. “There are worse things,” he said. We plunged into a fourth-gear left, sliding, at 120 mph.

That’s the pace he set. No warm-up, no polite chit-chat, just a headlong dive into Someone Else Bought These Tires. Precisely $318,888 worth of carbon fiber and aluminum and leather and sex was immediately and mercilessly railed on. I noticed his shoulders were looser, and he was smirking. He’d woken up.

People will tell you a Ferrari F12 dances between understeer and oversteer—sliding the front, then the rear, then the front again—because this is what it feels like in unpredictable conditions if you don’t know the car. An F12 is a lot to handle on the street. Give it room to stretch its legs, though, and it is neutral and polite. All four tires slide evenly if you simply tell the car what you want. It’s essentially a super-sized Mazda Miata, with enough power to light Milwaukee.

And the man drove it like it a $500 beater. Constantly loose and unhinged, looking out the side window. He appeared to have no regard for the brakes, or the tires, or anything else. Every 10 laps or so, he’d roll into the pit. Here you go. This one’s done. They’d bring out a fresh car, and off he’d go. Modern Ferraris are relatively durable, capable of taking epic beatings from people with far more money than skill. Rarely do they protest. A few laps with Kimi, though, and I caught whiffs of the clutch, the brake pads, maybe differential fluid. Cooking.

“The tires, brakes,” he said halfway through our laps. “Eh, they are a little …” He smiled and shrugged, his words trailing off. The word he probably wanted was “done.” The cornering arcs were getting larger and more fluid. Most people would back off. Oh no. In some of the faster corners, Kimi actually sped up.

At this point, you may be thinking, Dude hooned a Ferrari that wasn’t his. Big deal. That makes him good? That is not the point. That is scene-setting. Here’s the amazing part: It was deeply, abidingly clinical. I have ridden with a lot of professional drivers—everyone from pro drifters to former F1 drivers and Le Mans winners. They fall into two camps: Guys who leave you thinking, “I could do this, given enough training and practice” and guys whose innate ability runs so deeply you can only think, “I will never, ever drive like this, not in a million years.”

This was that. And of the 10 or 15 guys I’ve ridden with who have that otherworldly talent, Kimi was atop them all. By a wide margin.

That kind of frightening precision is borne of a life spent in some of the fastest earthbound things we can build. He sensed the car’s movements well in advance. Modern braking systems let you stab the pedal like you’re waving a shiv, but every brake zone was a brush against ABS intervention, then a modulation to hold it at the brink, before the computers kicked in. It was pitch-perfect and predictable enough to set a watch by. Kimi seemed bored by it. His arms were slow, making microscopically precise snips and cuts. There was nothing reactive. They never moved more than 15 or 20 degrees off center-lock. (Most road racers have big, snappish hands when sliding.) After two laps, I realized he was purposely repeating a long, 115-mph drift with the outside tires just clipping the grass. Over and over, every lap, the same corner, the same few inches of grass. It seemed an idle exercise, just seeing how sloppy and sharp he could be at once. I remembered that F1 cars have been known to go sideways in places like Spa at more than 150 mph. I suddenly wanted to put Kimi and ten guys just like him in F1 cars with bald tires. I wanted to see that kind of control in the heat of battle.

I looked over at him. “Is that all?” I asked. “Is there more crazy?”

“I guess,” he replied, shrugging.

And then he turned it up. More. Faster. Nuttier. Wilder. I heard myself laughing. I may have even applauded. When I looked over—and there is video of this—Kimi was smiling. I have watched most of this man’s career on television, years of it, and I have seen him smile maybe five times. But there in that car, on that track, he was alive, he was ebullient, he was everything you never see in an interview or meet-and-greet. He was in his element, in a way I never will be.

I’ve been fortunate enough to drive some amazing cars in some amazing places. I’ve club raced for years. I own a vintage open-wheeled race car. All of which is to say I am nothing special but at least competent. I thought I’d done well in that Ferrari. Then I rode with Kimi and I knew.

Figuratively speaking, the ants were still dead. They always had been. And I couldn’t have been happier to find out.

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RENAULT: NO PISTON FAULT SOLUTION FOR NEXT SIX WEEKS

A fault with the piston design of Renault’s 2015 power unit has been identified, according to the French broadcaster Canal Plus but the bad news for Red Bull and Toro Rosso there is no quick fix to the problem.

Problems across both Renault-powered teams marred the French marque’s weekend in China last weekend, after which Cyril Abiteboul said he hoped a fix could be identified and put in place in time for Bahrain, despite the turnaround of mere days.

But the latest news is alarming, as Canal Plus reports that the issue is in fact a fundamental flaw with the actual piston. Abiteboul is quoted as saying there can be “no solution within the next six weeks”.

Ferrari technical director James Allison commented: “Problems with the power unit are the last thing you want, because the production time of the parts is so long.”

As for improving the actual lagging performance of the engine, Abiteboul insisted Renault must be wise in spending its remaining ‘tokens’ this year.

“Engine technology,” he said, “is not something you can change overnight after a bad race. We have a plan for the use of our tokens this year, so we should not rush headlong into decisions that may not be the best for the long term.”

Interestingly, the heat appears to have gone out of Red Bull’s earlier stinging criticism of Renault, as the parties knuckle down to improving in 2015.

“As Ferrari has shown, you can turn things around when you have clear goals and direction,” team boss Christian Horner is quoted Tuttosport.

“If you look at the facts, it is not a great moment for us,” he acknowledged, “but Renault is a great company with capable people and a long history of success in formula one.

“At the moment something is not working, but we will help Renault to understand what the problems are — at the moment this is the highest priority.”

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ARRIVABENE: I DO NOT WANT TO HEAR ABOUT TEAM ORDERS

Team principal Maurizio Arrivabene has ruled out boosting Ferrari’s title hopes with the help of team orders, a tactic often employed by the Reds during past management regimes.

After just three races, Sebastian Vettel is not only splitting the two Mercedes drivers in the championship, but he has scored more than double the points of his teammate Kimi Raikkonen.

It has raised suggestions that, if German Vettel is going to have any chance of taking on Mercedes with an inferior car, Ferrari will have to adopt its former approach of designating clear ‘number one’ and ‘number two’ driver roles.

But team boss Arrivabene said there is no doubt that Finn Raikkonen will continue to enjoy full equality.

“We will give him all of the necessary support,” he is quoted by Autosprint, “and I do not want to hear about team orders.

“When I arrived at Maranello I saw the old rules of engagement, and I made some changes in the presence of both drivers and their race engineers – so that everybody is informed.

“The only rule in force is that of mathematics,” Arrivabene insisted.

La Gazzetta dello Sport also quotes the Italian as explaining: “As long as both of them are in the [title] battle, Seb and Kimi are free to fight each other, but not cause problems.”

During the Stefano Domenicali led era team orders were employed with Felipe Massa ordered to make way for Fernando Alonso, and in the Jean Todt era Michael Schumacher was always favoured above his teammates.

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BOULLIER: ALONSO IS HAPPY AT MCLAREN

McLaren is standing firmly behind its new star driver Fernando Alonso as following his high-profile switch from the now-resurgent Ferrari to struggling McLaren-Honda, the Spaniard has been taking flak in recent days.

A presenter for Sky Italia, for instance, has reportedly been suspended for issuing an insulting ‘tweet’ that caused Alonso to ignore the broadcaster in China last weekend. McLaren says it fully backs its driver.

“We were astonished and disappointed by Ms [Paola] Saluzzi’s tweet, which we regarded as rude, inaccurate, inappropriate and gratuitous,” a spokesman for the Woking based team said, “and we are pleased that it has been deleted. We are aware that Ms Saluzzi has apologised for it, and rightly so.”

But doubts remain about the health of the McLaren-Alonso relationship, particularly after the Barcelona testing crash saga and his infamous falling out with the team in 2007.

“Alonso is happy at McLaren,” team boss Eric Boullier insists to La Gazzetta dello Sport. “I don’t know how many times I have to say it. People want to create problems between us, but there are none.

“Although he raced here seven years ago, the team and the people around him are new and while it takes time for everyone to grow together, I can tell you I am very happy with the atmosphere in the team and the way it is working. Things will improve gradually as the season goes on,” the Frenchman predicted.

His last comment is undoubtedly about the current performance of the McLaren-Honda package, and the likelihood Alonso and teammate Jenson Button will struggle on the ‘power circuit’ of Bahrain this weekend.

After that, though, comes Barcelona, and Boullier is quoted by Autosprint as saying that in Spain “We will have another evolution of the engine. We know that the power unit has ample room for improvement, but the MP4-30 will also progress.”

“We will have a major aerodynamic package [for Barcelona] on a track that is traditionally one of the places most indicative of whether you are doing a good job or not,” said Boullier.

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HAMILTON UNDER FIRE FOR SQUIRTING PODIUM HOSTESS

Race winner Lewis Hamilton has ruffled feathers for more than one reason during the Chinese Grand Prix weekend.

On Sunday, he enraged Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg for allegedly compromising the German’s race strategy by driving too slowly in the lead.

Then, on the podium, a photographer captured the moment when Briton Hamilton, the reigning world champion, celebrated by squirting champagne in the face of a cringing Chinese grid girl.

“We think Lewis Hamilton should apologise for his actions and think carefully about how he behaves in the future,” Roz Hardie, chief executive of anti-sexism campaigners Object, told the Daily Mail.

“It is unfortunate that a great victory has been marred by what appears to be selfish and inconsiderate behaviour. We would hope people in the industry would be respectful to these women,” added Hardie.

Hamilton was not done offending as he broke protocol by counting himself out of the running for the 2015 Laureus World Sports Award, despite being nominated.

Ahead of the actual ceremony that will take place on Wednesday night, Laureus chairman Edwin Moses – a guest of Laureus sponsor Mercedes – attended the Chinese grand prix and even appeared on the podium.

But Hamilton has already revealed that, among fellow nominees Cristiano Ronaldo, Novak Djokovic, Marc Marquez and others, he is not going to be the winner.

“Unfortunately I’m not too excited,” said the 30-year-old Briton, “because I know I haven’t won it. I’ll keep pushing so that at some stage I do get it.”

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KOLLES BLAMES STUBBORN TODT FOR FORMULA 1 PROBLEMS

Former team boss Colin Kolles has pointed the finger squarely at Jean Todt, president of F1’s governing body over a “massive regulations problem” within the sport.

Kolles, formerly in charge at Force India and most recently HRT, agrees with Bernie Ecclestone that formula one needs to urgently rethink its engine rules.

The current turbo V6 ‘power unit’ regulations are highly controversial: unpopularly quiet and complex, expensive for struggling teams, and restrictive in helping uncompetitive Renault and Honda catch dominant Mercedes.

“I think we have a massive regulations problem,” Kolles told the Austrian broadcaster Servus TV. “I was at many meetings, if not all the meetings, that were about this engine.

“The current FIA president was warned about the problems we have now,” Kolles charged, referring to Jean Todt. “He just refused to listen.

“Mr Ecclestone tried for years to stop it, but the FIA was stubborn in what is actually now a massive problem for everyone in Formula 1,” he added.

Kolles also blasted Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff for “denying and blocking everything” as proposals did the rounds about how to react to the problem. But his most hefty criticism is saved for Frenchman Todt, the FIA chief.

“Today’s FIA president intervenes hardly at all with Formula 1 – he has other priorities,” said Kolles. “I think somebody needs to speak up.”

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RAIKKONEN APPEARS ON TRACK FOR 2016 FERRARI DEAL

Kimi Raikkonen is on track to securing a deal to stay at Ferrari beyond the 2015 season.

When he rejoined Maranello from Lotus for 2014, the Finn signed a two-year contract.

Raikkonen, 35, struggled last year but is happier with this year’s car alongside his new teammate and friend Sebastian Vettel.

“I could not imagine a better driver pairing,” team boss Maurizio Arrivabene said in China last weekend.

It is believed Raikkonen’s current Ferrari contract includes an ‘option’ for 2016 that must be triggered by Ferrari.

According to the Ferrari insider and blogger Leo Turrini, the Maranello team is currently considering doing just that.

And the F1 broadcaster Sky Italia is reporting similarly, adding that “the final decision will be taken on the basis of the next few races”.

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BRIATORE SLAMS ALESI FOR MOCKING ALONSO

Flavio Briatore has blasted former F1 and Ferrari driver Jean Alesi, who mocked Fernando Alonso during the Chinese Grand Prix last weekend.

Media reports say Frenchman Alesi joked that Alonso “fainted again” when he was lapped by the two Ferraris on Sunday.

Briatore hit back: “In five years, Fernando finished [the championship] second three times, losing one time due to someone else’s error. Alesi got no results for Ferrari.”

Former F1 driver Emanuele Pirro, however, told RAI radio it is no coincidence that Ferrari’s resurgence happened straight after the departure of Alonso, “Two decisive changes by Ferrari were the engine, and the driver.”

“Alonso had become more of a problem than an asset because he was always dissatisfied,” said Pirro, a former Benetton driver.

“Now a young and enthusiastic driver who is always smiling [sebastian Vettel] has come and he is driving so well. In Bahrain, where it will be hot, the Ferrari will be very good again,” he added.

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HANS STUCK SLAMS ECCLESTONE FOR GERMAN GP DEMISE

Racing legend Hans-Joachim Stuck has slammed Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone over the demise of the German grand prix.

Stuck, a former F1 driver and now chairman of the German sanctioning body DMSB, admitted to the Austrian broadcaster Servus TV he is angry with the F1 supremo for ruling out a 2015 race at either the Nurburgring or Hockenheim.

The blank weekend in July will be Germany’s first F1 absence in the history of the modern world championship.

“Ecclestone got to where he is now thanks to many German manufacturers, suppliers, sponsors,” said 64-year-old Stuck, “but he let the grand prix go over a matter of two, three million (euros).”

It is believed Stuck was personally involved in the talks between the Nurburgring and Ecclestone, with the German claiming that a “really good sum” was turned down as a proposed race fee by Ecclestone.

“The answer came in his typical style,” said Stuck.

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Mercedes issue warning to feuding duo

Toto Wolff has warned Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg that Mercedes won't hesitate to make an "unpopular call" and "manage them more" if they feel a victory is at risk.

Theres tension in the Merc camp threatened to boil over again at the Chinese Grand Prix after Rosberg accused his team-mate of gamesmanship, which he believed put him at risk of being overtaken by the Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen.

The German felt Hamilton backed up the field unnecessary, but the defending World Champion hit back and said Rosberg wasn't really putting enough pressure on him in P1, saying "if I was in second, or third, I would have done everything. I wouldn’t have sat back two seconds to make it to the end of the stint".

Although both drivers have since calmed down, Mercedes motorsport boss Wolff has made it clear they won't "risk losing a race".

"It may be if we are risking a win against Ferrari we would make an unpopular call, not to freeze everything, but manage them more," he told Press Association Sport.

"Our number one objective, which is what we have decided with the drivers, is we have a big responsibility to the team and the brand.

"It's not just about those two guys - it's about the thousand people working on those cars.

"If it gets to the point where we have to interfere between the two of them because we risk losing a race win, then we would do that.

"We don't have the gap that we did last year where we can just let them push each other until the very end. We need to manage the gaps."

This isn't the first public spat between Hamilton and Rosberg as the duo also had a go at each other in Bahrain last year and despite threats to implement team orders after that incident, Merc also "managed" the situation.

Wolff says they are not in favour of going down the team orders route.

"We have seen in the past a clear team order that has stated 'you are not allowed to overtake' even though the driver behind may be faster, for example," he said.

"This is not something I can honestly see happening.

"I can understand why teams in the past have done it because they were under threat of losing a Championship.

"Knock on wood, we haven't been in that situation. But managing the situation more, without making such a drastic call, is a possibility now."