FORMULA 1 - 2015

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RICCIARDO: DEPENDS HOW THINGS GO BEFORE I EXTEND WITH RED BULL

Big smiling Daniel Ricciardo is not yet committing to the increasingly crisis-struck Red Bull beyond the 2015 season.

In Barcelona, speculation that the troubled former champion team’s Australian lead driver had signed a new deal for 2016 and beyond did the rounds.

“We’re talking about it,” Ricciardo is quoted by Sky Italia, “but it depends on how things go this year.

“For sure myself and also the team are not here to fight for seventh place,” the 25-year-old said in Spain after another disappointing race.

Ricciardo, the only non-Mercedes driver to have won races last year, continued: “We will have to see what happens over the next few months and work hard to make sure we have better performance.”

After former team driver Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull won every title on offer between 2010 and 2013, Red Bull is now in a deep trough.

With Vettel now at Ferrari after a year where he was overshadowed by Ricciardo, it is ironic that the Australian (of Italian origin) is also being linked with a move to Maranello in the future.

Meanwhile Red Bull team boss Christian Horner admitted after the Spanish Grand Prix that 2015 is already “pretty much a write-off” for his team.

Much of the blame is being pinned on struggling engine partner Renault, who turned down the performance of its ‘power units’ in Spain to prevent another embarrassing spat of blow-ups. But Horner urged the French marque to simply “go for it”.

“Even if you end up using 20 engines,” he said, “it is far easier to make a fast engine reliable than a reliable car fast.”

But team official Helmut Marko said that even if Renault does take that approach, Red Bull is unlikely to be even close to a podium finish until “Maybe the last three races”.

Interestingly, the Austrian also told Kleine Zeitung newspaper that even though a major bodywork package “did not work on the track as it did in the simulator”, Red Bull’s drivers were also on the back foot in Spain.

“Our established guys need to look out,” said Marko, referring to the Red Bull duo of Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat. “Paradoxically, the more inexperienced ones did the better job.”

He is referring not only to the 17-year-old teen sensation Max Verstappen, but his rookie Toro Rosso teammate Carlos Sainz jr, who qualified an impressive fifth on Saturday.

“The two of them are something extraordinary,” said Marko. “I fought hard for Sainz. He did not have a lot of friends or supporters, but I’m used to that.”

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HAMILTON: MCLAREN UNDERESTIMATED HONDA SWITCH

Reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton says he is surprised how much his old team McLaren is struggling in 2015, and believes his former team may have underestimated the challenge of partnering with Honda to tackle the new Formula 1 era.

“When I saw them so lost in Australia, I thought to myself: How can that be?” the Hamilton said, referring to the British team.

Having been mentored and sponsored by Ron Dennis throughout his boyhood, Hamilton made his debut for the Woking team in 2007 alongside the reigning world champion at the time Fernando Alonso, winning his first title a year later.

Eight years on, the now-superstar Hamilton is dominating formula one with his new team, Mercedes, and speculating that McLaren “underestimated” the challenge of switching to works Honda power.

“When you think of their factory, their history, their potential, seems impossible,” Hamilton is quoted by El Pais newspaper. “They decided to change the engine and my experience tells me that in F1 it is quite common when challenges are underestimated.”

“For example, in 2009 when the double diffuser (introduced by Brawn GP) suddenly came into play, most people underestimated that. I love that Mercedes doesn’t underestimate anything,” Hamilton insisted.

“It made sense that McLaren would not be fighting to win. I am convinced that they will do so again, the question is when.”

Struggling with the Woking team in 2015 is Hamilton’s first McLaren teammate, Fernando Alonso, who Hamilton says deserves more than his career tally of two titles.

“You make the decisions you make, but you also need to be in the right place at the right time. Michael Schumacher won seven titles but I see Alonso on the same level as him in terms of talent,” Hamilton added.

“He (Alonso) made his own decisions but when you look at Ferrari now, how well they are going and you think that he left when he still had a contract, you think ‘My god!'” he said.

McLaren had a dismal weekend in Barcelona, including 30 laps for Jenson Button that he described as “the scariest of my life” due to handling problems.

“After today, I don’t think I expect points at all this year,” the 2009 world champion admitted.

Alonso, meanwhile, almost collected his front jack-man in the pits when his brakes failed. Five races into his new McLaren adventure, the Spaniard might be forgiven for finally showing some signs of frustration.

“It seems that many people want myself and McLaren to be frustrated,” he told Spanish reporters on Sunday. “The truth is that we were four and a half seconds behind in Australia and now it is two.”

“No team in history has recovered two and a half seconds in such little time. Before we were racing alone and now we are racing other teams,” said Alonso.

And Alonso says that despite the Barcelona blip, even more progress is looming, “We are a long way off so we need to make double steps, because everyone else is improving during the season too. This is a very challenging project, but we are recovering well and we need to keep it up.”

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ARRIVABENE: FIGHTING FOR THE TITLE I THINK IT IS TOO MUCH

After being thoroughly trounced by Mercedes at the Spanish Grand Prix, mixed messages have emerged from the Ferrari camp with Sebastian Vettel declaring he is still in the title fight while team principal Maurizio Arrivabene doubts his team are championship contenders.

Speaking after Ferrari finished third and fifth in Spain, Arrivabene said, “To fight for the championship, I think it is too much. The gap to Mercedes is there and we need to analyze our data to understand the reasons.”

At the same time Vettel was not throwing in the towel, and said after the race in Barcelona, “I am in the fight. We are able to improve our car. We have some steps coming. We need to start turning things around very soon but we are pushing hard to beat them.”

Ferrari had some major updates for their car at Circuit de Catalunya, but the impact on closing the gap to Mercedes was not evident.

Arrivabene admitted, “The numbers tell us that the new solutions are good, the reality shows that they are not good enough. We did make a step forward, but it was supposed to be a jump. I am not blaming anyone in particular, I am taking my own responsibilities. We need to work harder.”

Vettel was more positive than his boss in his assessment of the situation, “I think we have done a step forward as a team. It doesn’t really show here but I am quite confident we will be stepping up our game again in the next couple of races and I look forward to that.”

“If you take the average of the first five races you have the reality. Some tracks you are better than others. For some reason, we were not that competitive here even though we have improved the car.”

“I am not happy with the result in terms of the gap to the front but we can be happy with the points,” added the quadruple world champion.

His teammate Raikkonen had an out of sorts weekend and ultimately decided against using the new updates as he struggled to find the sweet spot. In the end he finished fifth in the race after qualifying seventh.

Vettel was asked if the latest updates to the SF15-T were a step forward, “It is a good question. If you look at the gap in the race, it was the biggest we had so far this season so the conclusion could be it is not good. But we are confident we are going in the right direction.”

“We have to find the reason for the gap. Either the track didn’t suit us or the conditions really suited Mercedes, I think it is one of them and I am looking forward to being a bit closer to them again in Monaco,” concluded the quadruple F1 world champion.

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ECCLESTONE PRAISES VW FOR INTEREST IN F1 PROJECT

Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone has added even more fuel to the ever-growing Audi-to-Formula 1 speculation.

Former Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo and F1 legend Gerhard Berger fuelled the rumours last week, suggesting Dietrich Mateschitz is pushing hard for the Volkswagen-owned marque to power or even buy his struggling team Red Bull.

Recently, arguably the biggest obstacle to VW’s involvement was removed when chairman Ferdinand Piech – no fan of F1 supremo Ecclestone – was ousted.

What followed was Audi chairman Rupert Stadler admitting that the Ingolstadt-based marque, already with Stefano Domenicali on the books, is “looking at” an F1 foray.

When asked about the Volkswagen Group, Ecclestone has now told the Austrian news agency APA: “It would be great if they came in” to F1.

Should a VW brand like Audi enter F1, it might end all the speculation about Red Bull – currently struggling with Renault power – quitting the sport.

“They (Red Bull) won’t leave,” Ecclestone said. “I want to avoid that.”

The 84-year-old also said he understands Red Bull’s frustration with the current ‘power unit’ rules, “I can understand that and I’m not happy about it either.”

But as for whether a full or part-sale to Volkswagen is the solution for Red Bull, he answered: “I don’t know that — you would have to ask them.”

Ecclestone did, however, urge Red Bull not to over-analyse its struggle to sell as many tickets for its forthcoming Austrian grand prix this year.

Pointing to the F1 rules crisis, Helmut Marko had revealed in Barcelona that ticket sales for the late June race at the Red Bull Ring are down on 2014.

“In the second year that is quite normal,” Ecclestone insisted. “In the first year, when something is new, it is always easier.”

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Lotus: No clear blame

Lotus' Alan Permane is refusing to blame his drivers' clash on one or the other, saying he just hopes it doesn't happen again.

Fighting for position in Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix, Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonaod touched at Turn Three with the end result being the latter's rear wing was broken.

The Venezuelan driver soldiered on but later retired because of the damage.

And although Maldonado's initial response was that "he broke my rear wing", Lotus' trackside operations director says it's impossible to blame one or the other.

"Obviously having your drivers touch is not ideal and I can't say it was one or the other's fault, honestly," Permane told Autosport.

"We've been through it all and had a look at the video. Everyone has got a slightly different opinion of it.

"I've said, 'let's not let it happen again' as it could have been avoided I think, so that's never nice."

As for Maldonado's broken wing, Permane explained that the FIA asked Lotus to sort out the flapping piece before it flew off the car.

"The FIA came on the radio and said they weren't happy with the bit flapping around and I can understand that.

"If that had come off it could have really hurt somebody - so we pulled that off.

"But then after the second pit stop there didn't seem a lot of point in continuing really."

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No Spanish test for Alonso

Fernando Alonso's work in Spain ended with his brake failure on Sunday as the McLaren driver won't take part in this week's two-day test.

The double World Champion suffered a miserable exit from Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix when he was forced to retire after his brakes failed.

But Spanish fans hoping to see more of their local drivers this week will have to be content with Carlos Sainz as McLaren have confirmed Alonso won't run.

Instead test driver Oliver Turvey will take his place on Tuesday before handing the MP4-30 over to Jenson Button for the second and final day.

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Wolff hails 'headstrong' drivers

Toto Wolff has applauded his drivers' mental strength, saying whether it's a good race or a bad race, they "come out strong."

This past weekend in Spain, Nico Rosberg pulled one back against Lewis Hamilton both in qualifying and the grand prix.

The German claimed his first pole position of this season, ending Hamilton's run, and then used it to launch a successful victory bid.

That too was Rosberg's first of this season while Hamilton's three-stop strategy meant he finished second, although 17 seconds down on his team-mate.

"Both our drivers are very headstrong so whatever happens – a bad weekend or a big defeat – they come out strong again," Wolff told the official F1 website.

"After the debrief is over they concentrate on the next race, so you could say that to have a short term memory helps (laughs).

"Remember last season it was a similar situation when Nico had a run.

"Two drivers who try to outperform each other – that is a dream situation for a team if you handle the rivalry in the right way. It lifts the performance of the whole team; it's actually the best-case scenario!"

The Mercedes motorsport boss also weighed in on his team's gap to Ferrari on Sunday, which saw Rosberg cross the line 45 seconds in front of Sebastian Vettel.

Asked whether Mercedes can now look forward to a season of 1-2 finishes as a 'standard procedure', the Austrian said: "We are always sceptical if something sounds too good to be true. These 'gaps' can turn against you pretty fast if you don't stay on your toes.

"In the last couple of weeks we have not looked left or right: we only concentrated on our performance and bringing the necessary updates to the car, and I have to say some really impressive jobs have been done on the engine side and on the chassis side.

"But I am far from getting carried away by over-optimism believing that it will continue this way forever. It is easy to be caught out - we've seen that in Malaysia!

"There is no such thing as a silver bullet that makes a car paramount over all the others for a long period. Take this weekend: a number of cars have been almost equally fast in sector one and two, but we managed to have a really strong car in sector three, the crucial sector of the track."

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Kimi was 'prepared' to take the hit

In hindsight, Kimi Raikkonen concedes it would "maybe" have been better to run Ferrari's upgraded aero package in Sunday's Spanish GP.

Although Raikkonen trailed the new parts in Friday's practices, he swapped back to the 'old' aero package ahead of Saturday's qualifying.

He finished that in seventh place before going on to complete the grand prix P5 having chased down Valtteri Bottas but been unable to find a way through.

"We learned a lot," stated the 2007 World Champion. "In the race we gained a few places, but I was not very comfortable with my car, as it was sliding around.

"Besides that, and for whatever reason, we are able catch the Williams but it's very difficult to overtake them: they are very fast down the straights and once we get behind them, our car starts to be difficult to handle, much more than when you’re following other lapped cars."

As for his decision to revert to the old aero parts, the Ferrari driver says it was a good learning experience for the team even if it "maybe" wasn't the best choice for him.

"About the choice of going back to the 'old' aero package, I think it was good for all of us to be able to compare them on the circuit and I was prepared to run the risk.

"Maybe it would have been better with the new bits, that is probably the case, but at least now we know about it.

"So, for the next races, we have to do a better job and we need to have more clean weekends, without any issue, even a small one, to make sure that everything works. We know where we have to improve."

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Rosberg is ninth different Spanish GP winner in a row

Nine different drivers have won the last nine Spanish Grands Prix – with Nico Rosberg the most recent to add his name to the winner’s trophy.

This unusual streak began with Felipe Massa in 2007. All bar one of the different winners are still racing in F1 today (see table).

The only missing winner is Mark Webber. Coincidentally, Rosberg’s ninth career victory in yesterday’s race means he has now won as many F1 races as Webber.

It also means Rosberg has finished all five races this year in the position he started. But winning from pole position is far from unusual at the Circuit de Catalunya – 13 out of the last 15 pole sitters went on to win the race.

Rosberg’s pole position was the 16th of his career, putting him level with two other drivers currently racing in F1 – Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa – as well as Stirling Moss. It was Mercedes’ 40th pole position too.

However Lewis Hamilton kept Rosberg from taking a hat-trick by setting the race’s fastest lap. That was the 23rd of his career, giving him as many as Juan Manuel Fangio and Neslon Piquet.

Hamilton also extended his streak of consecutive podium finishes to 12. This is the third-best in F1 history: Michael Schumacher holds the record with 19 (from the 2001 United States to 2002 Japanese Grands Prix) and Fernando Alonso managed 15 (2005 Turkish to 2006 Canadian Grands Prix). This was Hamilton’s 75th career podium.

Hamilton’s run of leading the last 14 races in a row is also the third-best ever seen in F1. The record for this is 45 years old: Jackie Stewart led 17 consecutive races from 1968 to 1970. Hamilton needs one more to equal Schumacher’s best of 15. However next on the calendar is Monaco, where Hamilton hasn’t led a lap since his sole F1 win there in 2008.

Only the Mercedes and Ferrari drivers have led races so far this year. That same quartet have also accounted for all bar five of the laps drivers have spent in second place this year. Surprisingly, the only other driver to have run in second this year is Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg, during the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Mercedes drivers have now spent more than 2,000 laps in the lead of F1 races. But they’ve a long way to go to reach record-holders Ferrari on 13,726.

Carlos Sainz Jnr scored the best qualifying result of his career with fifth. With team mate Max Verstappen sixth – matching his best from Malaysia – Toro Rosso had their best starting positions since Sebastian Vettel and Sebastien Bourdais lined up first and fourth for the 2008 Italian Grand Prix (though the luckless Bourdais was unable to start from that position in the race due to a problem with his car).

Jenson Button made his 100th start for McLaren, which should have occurred at the last race which he failed to start due to a problem with his car’s electrics.

Year Winner

2007 Felipe Massa

2008 Kimi Raikkonen

2009 Jenson Button

2010 Mark Webber

2011 Sebastian Vettel

2012 Pastor Maldonado

2013 Fernando Alonso

2014 Lewis Hamilton

2015 Nico Rosberg

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Red Bull say they will quit F1 unless Audi join forces with them

Red Bull say they will pull out of Formula 1 if they cannot get a competitive engine or Audi do not join forces with the team.

Red Bull are frustrated with partner Renault's failure to master the hybrid engines introduced into F1 last year.

Motorsport adviser Helmut Marko said Red Bull were interested in doing a deal that would see Audi enter F1.

"If we don't have a competitive engine in the near future, then either Audi is coming or we are out," said Marko.

But he denied Red Bull had already been in formal talks with the German company, which is part of the Volkswagen Group.

Marko told BBC Sport: "There are so many rumours. Officially there was no request or talks. The VW Group first has to sort out who will be the new chief of support, who will run the brand of VW, and when they have sorted all these things maybe then they can think about what they are doing in motorsport.

"I was on the phone but not to the people you think."

Like all teams, Red Bull have a contractual commitment to race in F1 until 2020. They also have a contract with Renault at least until the end of the 2016 season.

Marko's remarks are a reference to a power struggle taking place at the very top of the VW Group, which also has Porsche, Lamborghini, Bugatti, Skoda and Seat among its brands.

Ferdinand Piech, who had led the German giant for more than 20 years, resigned as chairman last month.

The 78-year-old was a staunch opponent of any of VW's brands entering F1, partly because of his personal antipathy towards F1 commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone.

Uncertainty continues to surround the senior management of Audi as a replacement for Piech has not yet been announced. His two nieces were appointed to the board to replace him and his wife, who resigned at the same time.

Senior sources in the German car industry believe Audi chairman Rupert Stadler is keen on an F1 entry, but that idea was vetoed in January by Piech.

The team had further trouble with their Renault engines at the Spanish Grand Prix last weekend.

Reliability problems mean Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo has already used four engines this season - which is as many as each driver is allowed to use throughout the year.

Red Bull, whose other driver Daniil Kvyat has also suffered engine failures, know it is inevitable they will be hit by grid penalties for using extra engines.

Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, by contrast, have used only one engine for all five races so far.

Marko said: "I hope the reliability issues are solved pretty soon because it is really depressing how much we are losing on the straights."

He added: "Renault see the problems themselves and we have to try and find out these problems together. It is not only reliability, it is also that we did not run most of the practice sessions because of other issues. It is also a quality problem. "

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Visor tear-off to blame for Alonso's brake failure

McLaren have identified the cause of Fernando Alonso's Spanish Grand Prix brake failure which caused him to overshoot his pit-box by several metres.

A visor tear-off was lodged in the rear brake duct of his MP4-30, causing it to overheat and eventually fail, leaving the Spaniard with only his front brakes operational as he entered the pits.

"It was a tear-off, and we have video footage that shows this," racing director Eric Boullier told Autosport.

"It went straight into the brake duct, obstructing the airflow, so there was no more cooling and that was why, in two laps, the temperatures went through the roof.

"The brake fluid boiled and we lost the brakes, so it was a complete fluke the tear-off should get lodged in there."

A similar thing happened to Kimi Raikkonen at the 2013 Belgian GP when a visor tear-off blocked his front brake duct, causing him to retire from that race.

Boullier is therefore concerned that it could repeat itself in future, and with Alonso's front jack-man narrowly avoiding injury, the Frenchman says it needs looking at in future.

"Obviously the drivers need them, but we need to maybe think about how and where we throw them. Maybe we need to think about something for the future."

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Paddock Nights: Spanish Grand Prix

After the opening four flyways, Formula 1's return to Europe brought with it the return of motorhomes, some evening fun and some familiar faces.

The start of the European season means one thing and one thing only for members of the Formula 1 circus: and it's not the end of jet lag.

Early morning budget flights lead to more exhausted faces than flyaways spent travelling in the semi-luxury afforded to frequent flyers.

More than one person at the Spanish Grand Prix could be overheard asking how they'd managed to get jet lag without changing time zone.

It is in fact the return of the team motorhomes that puts a spring in the step of even the most hardened F1 cynic. The mobile hospitality units mean a chance of breakfast, lunch, and the occasional post-work cocktail.

As has become tradition, Red Bull kicked off the summer season in style with a Saturday night Sunset Station, a chance for media and teams alike to relax in the warmth of the Catalan sun, enjoying an impressive selection of tapas while speculating on the likely outcome of the following day's race.

Less traditional but still very welcome was Force India's Mexican cook-off on Thursday night.

Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg dished up a storm under the guidance of celebrated Mexican chef Ruben Boldo Villegas, and the press pack resembled a plague of locusts as it hoovered up the delicious results.

New kids on the block

Despite rumours of visits from the likes of Neymar, the Barcelona paddock was rather bereft of celebrity faces familiar to anyone ignorant of Spanish television.

But for those who regularly scour the business pages, the Spanish Grand Prix was a hotbed of big hitters with a role to play in motorsport.

Gene Haas and Gunther Steiner could be found doing the rounds of the paddock ahead of the 2016 arrival of Haas F1, and the sport's incoming American team boss was accosted at almost every turn by journalists keen to pass on their advice for F1 success.

Haas Automation also took over a sizeable hospitality suite in the corporate boxes in the main grandstand, a gentle reminder of the future entrant's budgetary potential.

Elsewhere could be found familiar faces in the form of ex-Mercedes vice president Norbert Haug, Daimler chairman Dietrich Zetsch, and former Minardi boss Giancarlo Minardi.

The Mexican Grand Prix contingent was out in full force too, and with them could be found an impressive roster of the country's most influential businessmen.

Also representing the world of businessmen seeking to expand their involvement in Formula 1 was Canada's Lawrence Stroll, the retail billionaire father of F3 driver Lance Stroll and a man often connected with rumours of buying both F1 teams and the sport itself.

Secret meetings

Inside the corridors of power it was a weekend of alliance-building, with unlikely relationships being formed in advance of this week's F1 Strategy Group meeting.

Team principals and finance directors could be spotted having 'covert' meetings in the spaces behind motorhomes, as those with no influence in the meeting pleaded their cases with those in a position of power.

Before the weekend was out it was clear that the fifth engine plan was set for the scrapheap, that proposals to allow the teams to choose their own tyres were both unlikely and ill thought, and that the notion of a wind tunnel ban was far from being dead in the water.

With the big decisions still to be made, the discussion and speculation that surrounded the FIA's clarification of fuel-flow monitoring proved a welcome respite for those influencers keen to avoid giving too much away to a curious press...

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Williams F1 team believes it is making up ground on Ferrari

Williams performance chief Rob Smedley believes his Formula 1 team has closed the gap to Ferrari after a strong result in the Spanish Grand Prix.

Valtteri Bottas held off Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen in the final stint of the race to finish fourth while he team-mate Felipe Massa recovered to sixth having qualified ninth.

"It was an important weekend for us that we were able to see that we could primarily keep pace with everybody," said Smedley, whose team brought an updated bodywork package to Barcelona.

"We have kept the gap with Mercedes and arguably moved closer to Ferrari, at least in this race.

"We are also a little bit further ahead of Red Bull.

"This is not a circuit we expected to suit us particularly well, so I think it's been a good result overall."

Bottas finished 14 seconds behind the leading Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel at Barcelona and he believes Williams is close to matching the Scuderia's pace.

"We're not too far away," said Bottas. "I think we closed the gap here a little bit.

"If we still want to fight with them in the race, we need more updates to the car.

"But they are on the way and we just need to make sure we improve more than them."

Despite closing the gap on Ferrari, Bottas conceded that catching pace-setter Mercedes will be tricky.

"They are still clearly number one and they are still in a very strong position," said the Finn.

"This year they are going to be really tough to get.

"Of course we will do everything we can to improve the car but I think this race indicates that they are still number one at the moment."

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BARCELONA TEST DAY 1: ROSBERG WAY AHEAD

Fresh from victory at the Spanish Grand Prix, on Sunday, Nico Rosberg was back in the cockpit of his Mercedes for the first day of testing in Barcelona and simply out gunned everyone by a large margin on the day.

Rosberg completed 146 laps and in the process set a best time of 1:24.378 in the morning stanza, which by the end of the day was two seconds faster than the next best.

Mercedes along with Ferrari, Red Bull and Toro Rosso were on duty for Pirelli and testing various experimental options for the tyre supplier.

Second fastest at the end of the day, despite a delayed start to his programme, was Marcus Ericsson in the Sauber, with 98 laps to his credit.

Next up was Ferrari development driver Raffaele Marciello, who did FP1 duty during the race weekend, with a best time of 1:26.648 and 125 laps on his chart.

Daniel Kvyat was fourth in the Red Bull, with Pierre Gasly seventh fastest on his F1 debut for Toro Rosso – the Renault powered duo completing 101 laps and 131 laps respectively.

Another debutant was Nick Yelloly who was drafted in to replace Pascal Wehrlein at Force India, the latter feeling unwell. Yelloly completed 109 laps, finishing the day in sixth and only a tad slower than Pastor Maldonado in the Lotus – both cars powered by Mercedes.

Felipe Massa did 54 laps in the Williams, setting the eighth best time before the team packed up early content that they had fulfilled their programme for the day.

McLaren were slowest of the nine teams in action with Oliver Turvey’s best time of 1:28.542, set late in the day, was over four seconds down on Rosberg’s top lap time.

Manor are the only team opting not to partake in the test at Circuit de Catalunya this week.

Barcelona Day 1 Best Times

1. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1:24.374, 146 laps
2. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber, 1:26.624, 98 laps
3. Raffaele Marciello, Ferrari, 1:26.648, 125 laps
4. Daniil Kvyat, Red Bull, 1:26.904, 101 laps
5. Pastor Maldonado, Lotus, 1:27.338, 60 laps
6. Nick Yelloly, Force India, 1:27.396, 109 laps
7. Pierre Gasly, Toro Rosso, 1:27.639, 131 laps
8. Felipe Massa, Williams, 1:27.911, 54 laps
9. Oliver Turvey, McLaren, 1:28.542, 68 laps

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FERRARI LOOKING FOR ANSWERS DURING BARCELONA TESTING

Ferrari will be looking for answers in Formula 1 testing this week after champions Mercedes were more dominant than ever in the recent edition of the Spanish Grand Prix.

The race at the Circuit de Catalunya marked the start of the European season and Ferrari had hoped updates to their car might put them closer.

Instead, Mercedes took their third one-two in five starts with Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel finishing third and 45 seconds behind race winner Nico Rosberg.

“The gap with Mercedes is there. Now we need to analyse all the data to understand,” team principal Maurizio Arrivabene told reporters.

“What is clear, because we are not blind, is the fact that in the last sector we were losing half a second. I am not escaping from the reality, it is there.

“So we need to understand and find out how to improve the new package. But the new package is better than the old one,” he added.

Arrivabene said the team would use the test on Tuesday and Wednesday at the Barcelona circuit to determine how much of the deficit could be attributed to the track characteristics and how much to the car.

“At the moment the numbers that we have in terms of comparison are telling us that the solution is good. But the reality is telling us that it’s not good enough,” he explained.

“I said at the beginning of the year that I don’t want to point the finger on aero, engine and all of this. Otherwise we are creating the usual mess where everybody is freaking out left, right, up and down.

“We need to calm down, look at the numbers and to take a decision. I promise you that if we are making a mistake we are going to tell you,” said the Italian.

Ferrari are firmly established as Mercedes’ closest rivals, with Vettel winning in Malaysia to deny them a clean sweep of victories and appearing on the podium four times so far.

However Arrivabene said a championship challenge looked too far away, even if he still believed Ferrari could win three races this year.

“I don’t really care about being on the podium,” he added. “Now every race weekend we are on the podium. But what I care about is the gap because if we want to win two or three races we have to be able to be there. At the moment we are not.”

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ALONSO BACKS BUTTON AFTER BARCELONA CRITICISM

Fernando Alonso has defended his teammate Jenson Button, after the British driver let his positivity slip after the Spanish Grand Prix.

McLaren-Honda’s drivers and team management have been the epitome of positive energy so far in 2015, despite their disastrous level of performance and reliability.

But after the Barcelona race, Button admitted it had been the “scariest” grand prix of his life due to the evil handling of his MP4-30.

“After today I don’t expect points at all this year,” he said.

It was the very first sign of public negativity from the ‘graphite grey’-coloured camp in 2015, but Spaniard Alonso said his teammate should be forgiven.

“It was a tough race for us,” he told Spanish media on Monday. “Since February, we have sent a thousand positive messages, and yesterday he gave a small negative phrase that had a lot of impact. So we need to understand that.”

“For both of us it was a hard, uncomfortable race but then in the team meeting Jenson was much more constructive in his views,” he insisted.

Alonso might also be forgiven for expressing his frustration five races into 2015, particularly as he could have been racing Ferrari’s resurgent car this year.

But the 33-year-old insists he still has no regrets about leaving Ferrari, as he believes beating the likes of Mercedes requires a project like McLaren-Honda’s.

“To beat them (Mercedes), you need to take an innovative and aggressive approach because their advantage is great,” said Alonso.

“Mercedes is still winning everything except the race (Malaysia) won by Ferrari due to the circumstances,” he added. “So we decided to go this way, but it needs time.”

As for Button’s claim that McLaren may go the entire season without a single point, Alonso said he doesn’t necessarily agree.

But he also said: “To me, in this part of my career, to be sixth or seventh in a race doesn’t change my life. What matters is to win, I just want to win, and for that you need a solid long-term plan.

“Do I miss fighting for wins? Of course I do, but I have to live with that for now.

“I’ve been here (in F1) for years, in December of last year I was voted the best driver of the decade, so I am missing a trophy or two at home but I have other more satisfying recognition,” Alonso added.

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LOTUS: A POSITIVE DAY

Lotus F1 Team commenced the first of two days testing at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya with race driver Pastor Maldonado on driving duties. The team enjoyed a full and productive morning, but ran less in the afternoon due to a loss of power requiring a precautionary end to the day’s running in order to replace the fuel system. Pastor completed sixty laps, with a best time of 1min 27.388secs.

Fast Facts:

• Track: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Spain, 4.7km
• Chassis: E23-03
• Weather: Hot and sunny. Ambient 19°C – 30°C Track 26°C – 52°C
• Programme: Various aero evaluations and set-up configurations
• Laps Completed: 60
• Classification: P5, 1:27.338
• Interruptions: Loss of power investigation and precautionary replacement of fuel system.

Pastor Maldonado: “The car was in good shape and we ran through a lot of our programme in the morning. We made strong progress with some positive conclusions about the parts we ran which is encouraging for the future. Track conditions today were better than in the race here two days ago in terms of the wind and level of grip which was beneficial to us. We did do some work for the next race in Monaco so we hope to be fighting strongly there.”

Alan Permane, Trackside Operations Director: “We enjoyed a productive morning in very hot conditions and were able to run though a significant number of tests of new parts as well as configurations of parts and different set-ups, all of which has been very promising. Our running in the afternoon was curtailed somewhat as we stopped running early as a precautionary measure to replace the fuel system ahead of tomorrow’s running, but it has still been a positive day.”

What’s Next?

Jolyon Palmer will take to the wheel of the E23 Hybrid for Day 2.

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MCLAREN REPORT FROM DAY ONE OF BARCELONA TEST

McLaren report from Day 1 of testing at Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona, Spain.

• Date: Tuesday May 12 2015
• Drive: Oliver Turvey
• Location: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya (4.655km)
• Laps/km: 66/307km
• Best lap-time: 1:28.542s

Programme For the first of this year’s two in-season tests (the second takes place after the Austrian Grand Prix, in June), test driver Oliver Turvey got behind the wheel of MP4-30 for the first time to conduct a day of evaluative work for McLaren-Honda.

The morning’s programme was focused on aero correlation. However, the day didn’t start smoothly, and some sensor issues delayed progress until lunchtime.

In the afternoon, Oliver ran through a trouble-free suspension programme, as well as undertaking a correlation and validation programme aimed at improving our simulation work.

What’s next? Jenson takes over the reins for the second and final day of the test. He’ll be focusing on suspension geometry and aero work.

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WILLIAMS: WE COMPLETED EVERYTHING WE HAD PLANNED

Williams report from Day 1 of testing at Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona, Spain.

• Driver: Felipe Massa
• Chassis / Engine: FW37-01 / PU106B Hybrid
• Location: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, 4.655km
• Objectives: Aero and chassis work
• Weather: Hot and Dry
• Air & track temps: 19 – 31 ºC / 26 – 52 ºC

Rod Nelson, Chief Test & Support Engineer: “We had a good day with development work on this and next years’ cars. The conditions are similar to the weekend so we had the chance to get straight on with our programme. We completed everything we had planned and made good progress with the focus on tyre degradation. We have had no issues throughout the day which has given us a lot of data to get through tonight whilst we prepare the car for Alex tomorrow.”

Felipe Massa: “It has been a productive day and we got through the programme without any issues. In the morning we looked at aero work so I had a lot of equipment attached to the car. We then looked at set-up work in the afternoon. We had data from the weekend to start off with as a base and could move forward from there. There was a little less wind today than the last few days hence why lap times are a bit quicker. I will now turn my focus to Monaco which I am really looking forward to.”

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FERRARI CRITICISED FOR BARCELONA TEST LINE-UP

The only team missing from the post-race Barcelona Formula test this week is Manor, but Ferrari have raised eyebrows by sending both their drivers home and handing testing duties to their reserve and development drivers.

“There is nothing to test,” Britain’s Times newspaper quoted deputy boss Graeme Lowdon as saying before the struggling backmarker left the Spanish grand prix venue.

The two-day test, at which every team present must field at least one rookie, kicked off on Tuesday morning.

For Ferrari, it will be an especially crucial hit-out, after the Italian team’s run of resurgent form appeared to hit reverse in its 2015 title fight with Mercedes.

“Ferrari needs to work hard, as Mercedes is much stronger,” said the Italian daily Tuttosport after the Spanish grand prix.

La Gazzetta dello Sport, therefore, criticised Ferrari’s decision to send both of its race drivers home after Sunday’s race.

At the test this week, Mercedes is fielding Nico Rosberg alongside reserve Pascal Wehrlein, while other top teams are also pairing their rookies with a regular race driver.

Ferrari, however, is giving Mexican reserve Esteban Gutierrez a run in the SF15-T, alongside the cream of Ferrari’s development programme, Raffaele Marciello.

“It is really difficult to understand why Ferrari is not fully exploiting this chance to test,” said correspondent Andrea Cremonesi.

“(Sebastian) Vettel and (Kimi) Raikkonen’s experience would have made an important contribution in this phase of development.

“It is all the more a wasted opportunity when you see that Mercedes, Williams, Red Bull and McLaren will have Rosberg, Massa, Kvyat and Button.

“The only plausible explanation is that Ferrari’s choice is determined by the contracts of its reserve driver (Gutierrez),” he added.

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GPDA TO LAUNCH F1 DRIVERS’ FAN INITIATIVE IN MONACO

Formula 1 drivers are hoping to give more back to their fans, at a time when unfavourable comparisons are being made with other series, with a new initiative to be presented in Monaco next week.

Alex Wurz, the chairman of the Grand Prix Drivers Association (GPDA), told Reuters that more details would be presented on the Friday rest day before the race in the Mediterranean principality.

The Austrian said the drivers had unanimously agreed the move at a meeting at last weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona.

“To make sure this sport remains at the pinnacle and gets ever more popular, we would like to engage more with the fans,” said the former Formula One driver who now competes in the world endurance championship and is a two times Le Mans winner.

“How we are doing this I don’t want to go into because this will be announced in Monaco in great detail. I hope it’s cool. The fans will tell us if they like it or not and that’s what we want…we want to give a little bit back and communicate with the people who love the sport equally to us,” said Wurz.

Social media is expected to feature largely in the plans, with many drivers already attracting a large number of followers.

“Great GPDA meeting today! At the Monaco GP we will announce big plans on how to properly connect with you, the fans,” Lotus driver Romain Grosjean told his 438,000 followers on Twitter after last Friday’s meeting.

Mercedes double Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton has 2.74 million followers on Twitter, more than 3.0 million likes on Facebook and 1.2 million followers on Instagram.

However the sport still has a reputation for being exclusive and inaccessible compared to series like the world endurance championship, where fans have much more access to the paddock and drivers during race weekends.

Formula One’s commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone has been critical of social media, although Formula One has revamped its official website this season and now employs a number of staff to develop this area.

“I’m not interested in tweeting, Facebook or whatever this nonsense is. I tried to find out but in any case I’m too old fashioned,” the 84-year-old Ecclestone said last year. “I couldn’t see any value in it.

“You’re right that we should use social media to promote Formula One. I just don’t know how,” he added.

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Toro Rosso impressed with Gasly

Pierre Gasly earned praise from Toro Rosso having showed the "right approach" as he made his F1 debut at the Barcelona circuit.

The 19-year-old Frenchman tested for Toro Rosso on Day One of the two-day post-Spanish Grand Prix test.

Covering 131 laps and without a single mistake, he posted a best time of 1:27.639 and impressed those in the garage.

"Pierre acquitted himself very well, showing that he had the right approach, building up speed gradually. He did a professional job all day, completing a lot of laps," said chief race engineer Phil Charles.

"A very productive day, during which we managed to complete the full programme we had planned. We started the day doing some runs to check aero data and also ran a tyre programme. In the afternoon, we did some brake testing while continuing to work on tyres."

The GP2 driver, who just days ago was lapping the track in a GP2 car, was delighted his F1 debut.

"It was a wonderful day," he said. "This morning, getting into a Formula 1 car for the first time was something special. The feeling you get from the car is unbelievable.

"Everything is almost perfect, with elements like the power steering for example and of course there's much more power than in the other formulas and you have more grip too.

"I really enjoyed the experience and I made the most of it, doing a lot of laps. All drivers dream of driving a Formula 1 car and having now done it, I am even more determined to reach my goal of racing in this category.

"It was awesome and I can't wait to try it again. Thank you Red Bull and thank you Toro Rosso."

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Alonso vindicated by Ferrari form

Fernando Alonso feels Ferrari's inability to challenge Mercedes for the win in Spain has given credence to his decision to swap to McLaren.

Although the double World Champion failed to finish Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix, during his time out on track it was clear that McLaren-Honda have taken a step forward.

The same, though, may not necessarily be said about Ferrari.

Although Sebastian Vettel brought his SF15-T home in third place, he was more than 40 seconds behind race winner Nico Rosberg and that was despite Ferrari racing a whole host of updates.

"I am very happy with the move," Alonso told Sky Sports News HQ. "I was in the Ferrari last year half a minute, a minute behind Mercedes and on Sunday they were 43 seconds behind in Barcelona.

"Nothing has changed – and that is one of the reasons why l moved. I saw nothing change for five years and l didn't want a sixth or seventh."

As for McLaren's form, rather than be disappointed by his lack of points in Spain, Alonso says he is movitated to score his team's first of this season at the next outing in Monaco.

"I am very fully motivated. If we can be competitive soon it will taste sweet because we have started from zero and I think we will get points in Monaco.

"From now on we will be on the limit for tenth places for the next two or three races. Hopefully after Canada and Austria we will be more secure – seventh l hope. That is the target.

"In the final part of the championship, even if l am optimistic, hopefully we will be close to the podium."

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New Fittipaldi filmmakers seek crowdfunding

The team behind the acclaimed documentary film '1: Life on the Limit' is using Kickstarter to fund a new project about the life and career of Emerson Fittipaldi.

The idea for the film The Name is Fittipaldi emerged after the Brazilian proved such an interesting interviewee for the earlier film, which focussed on the development of safety in the sport over the past decades.

Announcing the new project the producers, Flat-Out Films and Diamond Docs, said it “tells the story of one of history's most charismatic, influential and successful racing drivers.

“It's a character study, a personal tale about the meteoric rise of a sporting legend, a story about family, fearlessness and brilliance, success and failure, and ultimately about life and death. It will be cinematic, charismatic, tense and inspiring.”

Acclaimed production team

The team of director/editor Paul Crowder, writer Mark Monroe and producer Michael Shevloff have made several successful documentaries, includingAmazing Journey: The Story of The Who. Monroe was also the writer of The Cove, which won the 2010 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

Shevloff said: “It's being made with Emerson's full cooperation and is going to be a very different film to '1'. It's going to be a much more intimate character piece that really gets inside the mind of a champion.

“It's a film that covers Emerson's two careers, three wives and 'nine lives'. We have already started the research and writing, and are now aiming to start our interview process this summer.”

Fittipaldi is providing home movies and other footage he has collected over the years, but the team is happy to hear from any one who might have material.

More information on how to get involved can be found here:https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/219637747/the-name-is-fittipaldi

The film also has a Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Name-is-Fittipaldi/408202839364426?fref=ts

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Spain F1 in-season test: Kvyat warns to expect ‘no miracles’ from Red Bull

Daniil Kvyat says Red Bull's progress going forward will be 'step-by-step', warning that it will not be producing miracles in its quest to return to form.

Using the in-season F1 test at the Circuit de Catalunya to work on bringing the RB11 up to speed following a lacklustre start to the season, Kvyat was content with the progress made despite a hydraulic problem limiting him initially.

Eventually completing more than 100 laps, Kvyat is certain Red Bull can learn something from the day, even if the Russian emphasises that the team is unlikely to make a single leap any time soon.

“We had a positive afternoon and I think we got some important things done for ourselves, for myself. Let's see what we can learn form today and hopefully it will help us in the next races.”

“I think there are no miracles but we will try to learn something from today and we will try to put it all together step-by-step. Hopefully we will get there. I think we shouldn't expect massive steps from ourselves, I think we should take it building things up together step-by-step.”

“[The engine] is not a one day fix. So today from Renault's side everything's been OK as far as I know, so I think it will be important to see the same progress now in future races.”