FORMULA 1 - 2016

[CoffeeGeek]

On 6/9/2016 at 5:01 PM, MIKA27 said:

VILLENEUVE: FORMULA 1 IS NOT GLADIATORIAL ANYMORE

MIKA: I NEVER agree with JV but in this article, I completely do. 

I almost always agree with JV (grin) and I love the guy (and his Dad before him, RIP Gilles), but really appreciate you posting this interview segment. I totally agree with him on where F1 is these days too. 

Mind you, the upcoming Azerbaijan F1 looks to be very, very interesting.  

[MIKA27]

6 hours ago, CoffeeGeek said:

I almost always agree with JV (grin) and I love the guy (and his Dad before him, RIP Gilles), but really appreciate you posting this interview segment. I totally agree with him on where F1 is these days too. 

Mind you, the upcoming Azerbaijan F1 looks to be very, very interesting.  

You're welcome and welcome to the forum and thread.

[avaldes]

I loved it in '97 when Jacques came to F1. Instantly competitive in the Williams, it made for one heck of a season! He's also right about today's F1. It is so sterile. Break an engine, go to the back. Run through too many tires, go to the back. It just doesn't have the bleeding edge feel that it once did. I loved wondering if someone's engine would make it to the end of a race. And I LOVED having a qualifying setup with uber-soft tires. It was also interesting to see fuel and tire strategy work together, although I admit that sub 3 second pitstops are very cool:) I guess more than anything I miss hearing 19,000rpm engines.

[skalls]

Qualifying was interesting.  The merc boys shredded the course.  Red Bull looks competitive.  Vettel may have had the pole had he not had that 1 bad turn.  Kimi was unremarkable though

[demer]

anyone know if the Canadian GP is going to be on NBC rather than NBCS in the US?

[MIKA27]

MONTREAL QUALIFYING: HAMILTON PIPS ROSBERG TO POLE

Lewis Hamilton swept to his fifth Canadian Grand Prix pole position on Saturday and piled more pressure on his championship-leading Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg.

The triple Formula One world champion will seek to win in Montreal for the fifth time on Sunday, knowing he will retake the title lead if Rosberg draws a blank. The German is 24 points ahead after six of 21 races.

Hamilton’s love affair with the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, where he took his first pole in 2007, continued as he seized the top slot with a time of one minute 12.812 seconds and beat Rosberg by 0.062.

Two weeks after lucking into his first win of the season in Monaco, thanks to a Red Bull pitstop bungle, Hamilton provided further evidence that his campaign is fully back on track after a start plagued by misfortune.

Rosberg’s second place brought him a 13th consecutive front row start, with Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel third fastest and 0.178 behind Hamilton.

Australian Daniel Ricciardo qualified fourth for Red Bull, with 18-year-old team-mate Max Verstappen fifth and Kimi Raikkonen sixth for Ferrari.

Fernando Alonso will start 10th after Spain’s two-time world champion signalled McLaren’s steady if unspectacular progress by reaching the final qualifying session for the third race in succession.

Compatriot Carlos Sainz become the first driver to fall victim this weekend to the feared ‘Wall of Champions’, hitting it in the second phase.

The Toro Rosso driver got too close to the wall at the final corner and he paid the price, forcing the session to be red flagged. He qualified 16th.

Danish driver Kevin Magnussen did not take part in qualifying with Renault unable to repair his car in time after his crash late in final practice.

The first session to decide grid spots for Sunday brought more disappointment for Renault, with Britain’s Jolyon Palmer missing the cut in 17th place.

Rain also made the track very greasy, and Manor’s Rio Haryanto lost the back end of his car.

The Indonesian damaged the rear as he clipped barriers on both sides of the track to finish 21st, missing the chance to take a qualifying lead over German team-mate Pascal Wehrlein.

The highly-regarded Wehrlein also failed to make the cut in 18th spot but has now outqualified Haryanto four times to three.

[MIKA27]

HAMILTON: MASSA TELLS ME TO FOCUS AND THEN CRASHES IN TURN 1

Prior to engines being fired up in anger for the Canadian Grand Prix weekend, veteran F1 driver Felipe Massa had a dig at Lewis Hamilton’s high profile social life before crashing heavily during the first free practice session in Montreal.

Speaking ahead of the race weekend in Canada, Massa said of Hamilton, “He is preparing for his second life after Formula 1 and it can be a problem for his career.”

“It can maybe take some concentration away. He needs to think about his lifestyle, he needs to concentrate,” he added.

Massa went on to crash out of FP1 when the DRS failed on his Williams.

This prompted Hamilton to comment at the end of the first day, “What was really interesting was some comment from Felipe Massa about me having to focus on my driving – and then he went out on Turn One!”

“I think it shows that I am super focused on my job and I am going to continue to do so,” added the triple world champion.

Massa, meanwhile, explained the cause of his crash, “The accident was nothing to do with me, it was a problem with the rear wing, the DRS.”

“When I braked I even switched it off myself before the braking zone, but it didn’t close so when I braked the DRS was almost 100% open and I had no grip on the rear so that is why I crashed.”

“So it was also the first time we tried this rear wing so we are analysing what actually happened,” said the Brazilian.

 

MIKA: Oh SNAP!  Hamilton is right, stick to your own job and business really. Agree or disagree with Hamilton, I think he's happy and that's what matters. Massa is too vocal on everyone else often, I know, I post his stuff.  

[MIKA27]

RICCIARDO: WE CAN BE AHEAD OF FERRARI

Although Ferrari appear to have a strong car in Canada, Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo believes that with some choice tweaks to the RB12 his team can get the better of the Maranello squad in Canada.

“I don’t think we quite got everything out of it. I think if we put the right work in we can be close to Ferrari, or ahead of them,” the Australian told media at the end of the first practice day in Montreal.

“Mercedes had a good buffer on us, but I feel like we’ve got a lot to come from a lot of areas. If we’re within half a second tomorrow that would be good, and we’ll see what happens in the race.”

Monaco and Spain obviously still weigh on Ricciardo’s mind, as he quipped mischievously, “I had a good knock of the wall on probably my third or fourth lap =, so I was still probably letting off some steam.”

And added, “I’ve always enjoyed driving around here, pushing the limits and jumping over the kerbs.”

A day earlier Ricciardo, who is apparently at the top of the Ferrari driver shopping list, signaled his intent, “To be honest, the only interest I have is in a world title.”

“If Red Bull said: We can’t give you that for the next few years, then the only other place I would want to go is somewhere that could say: Yeah, you can fight for a world title with us.”

“That’s all I want to fight for and I’m not interested in being with someone for an image – it’s results,” declared Ricciardo who scored his first win at the Canadian Grand Prix in 2014 with Red Bull.

[MIKA27]

CLAIRE WILLIAMS: THIS OBE IS A TREMENDOUS HONOUR

Williams announced that Deputy Team Principal and Commercial Director, Claire Williams, has been appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the Queen’s 2016 Birthday Honours List.

Claire has been awarded the honour in recognition of her services to Formula One.

In her role as Deputy Team Principal, Claire has been instrumental in the successful restructuring of the Williams Group over the past three years.

The team has returned towards the front of the grid in Formula One, moving from ninth in the Constructors’ Championship in 2013 to third place in 2014 and 2015, and has successfully diversified through the continued growth of Williams Advanced Engineering.

Since stepping into her Deputy Team Principal role, Claire has used her position as a female in a traditionally male dominated industry to encourage more women to consider careers in engineering and technology.

In addition to this, she has recently been appointed Vice President of the Spinal Injuries Association, a charity extremely close to her heart.

Speaking about the honour, Claire said; “Today is a very proud day for me, but this is also a bit of a surprise. To be recognised in this way is a tremendous honour but one everyone at Williams can take credit for. I’m extremely lucky that I get to do a job that I love.”

“To be able to play a role in a family legacy is an enormous privilege and one I don’t take for granted. Formula One, and Williams, are great success stories for the UK.”

“I will continue to use my role to help showcase what a great sport Formula One is, what a brilliant platform for this country’s expertise in high class engineering it is, as well as a place that welcomes women across all of its disciplines.”

[MIKA27]

FIA HAS EYE ON FERRARI AND RED BULL FLEXING BODYWORK

Some flexing bodywork on the 2016 car has caught the eye of some rival teams, and is being watched closely during the Canadian Grand Prix weekend at the high speed Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal.

Auto Motor und Sport reports that at high speed the rear wing and ‘monkey seat’ of the red car flex, providing a likely aerodynamic advantage.

Not only that, correspondent Michael Schmidt said details on Red Bull’s front wing is also attracting attention, even though both the team and Ferrari are passing all of the current FIA flex tests.

He reports that the FIA is aware of the issue and could invoke Article 3.15 of the technical regulations that forbids any part of the car to move for aerodynamic gain.

[MIKA27]

ALLISON MAY DEPART FERRARI AND RETURN TO RENAULT

This year’s Formula 1 ‘silly season’ is not just about the drivers, it also includes the possible movements of key team personnel.

Italy’s authoritative La Gazzetta dello Sport suggests that James Allison, who is Ferrari’s highly rated technical director, is eyeing a return to his native Britain.

The 48-year-old took an extended break recently following the shock death of his wife. Allison’s three children live in Britain, while the respected engineer travels between the UK and his factory-based role at Maranello.

La Gazzetta now claims that mainly due to his three grieving children, Allison could accept the advances of Renault and accept an offer to return to the Enstone team he left in 2013 when it was then known as Lotus.

Also recently linked with a potential move in the near future has been James Key, the highly-rated technical chief at Toro Rosso.

But he said: “I’ve got a contract with Toro Rosso for some time to come, and there’s a lot of work to do still. So I’m not thinking about anything else at the moment.”

In 1991 Allison joined the aerodynamics department of Benetton. In 1993 he moved to Larrousse as Head of Aerodynamics before returning to Benetton as Head of Aerodynamics in the mid-1990s

In 2000, he moved to Ferrari for five years, before returning to Renault (which had taken over the Benetton F1 operation) in 2005 as Deputy Technical Director.

In 2009 Allison became the team’s Technical Director. In 2011, Renault F1 became Lotus Renault GP before becoming Lotus F1 in 2012.

In July 2013 Allison returned to Ferrari as Chassis Technical Director.

[MIKA27]

VETTEL SET FOR 2020 FERRARI CONTRACT EXTENSION

Although his current contract runs until the end of next year, but Sebastian Vettel is already in talks to extend his Ferrari deal.

That is the claim of  Auto Bild, with the report claiming a new three-year deal is in the works for the 28-year-old, which would take his tenure through to 2020.

“I don’t just want to be world champion again,” Vettel is quoted as saying. “I want to be world champion with Ferrari.”

And Sport Bild quotes Vettel adding: “Whether we succeed, no one can know. But the journey is the reward.”

Auto Bild said the value of Vettel’s three-year extension could be an incredible EUR 100 million, including a number 1-style clause allowing him a say on who his teammate is.

[MIKA27]

TORO ROSSO TO USE RED BULL PARTS IN 2017

Toro Rosso will move a big step closer to Red Bull’s premier F1 team in 2017, boss Franz Tost has revealed.

Once regarded as effectively a ‘satellite’ team with a very similar car, Faenza based Toro Rosso had to steer away from Red Bull Racing some years ago due to tighter customer car rules.

But with the new American team Haas leaning heavily on Ferrari for parts this year, and Toro Rosso switching back from Ferrari to Renault power for 2017, Tost indicated that the second Red Bull team will change tack next year.

“The main reason we decided to go back to Renault is to use more synergies with Red Bull Technology,” he explained in Montreal.

“We can get nearly the whole rear part from Red Bull Technology — the gearbox, hydraulics and also suspension systems, and this will help us make another step forward,” added Tost.

More uncertain for Toro Rosso heading into 2017 is the driver issue.

Next year would be a rare third in a row at Toro Rosso for Carlos Sainz, who has been linked with a move to a bigger team, while Daniil Kvyat has been making noises about wanting to leave the Red Bull family altogether.

When asked about drivers for 2017, team boss Tost answered: “I don’t know yet.

“This is a decision that will be made by Red Bull at the end of the season. So far, I must say that Daniil has recovered very fast (after being dropped by Red Bull Racing) and I expect a very good second half of the season from him.”

[MIKA27]

BUTTON WILL CONSIDER TV PRESENTING FUTURE

Veteran Jenson Button has admitted he is still interested in a future in television when his career at the pinnacle of the sport comes to an end.

Last week, an episode of the new format of BBC’s popular Top Gear motoring programme went to air that featured the British driver, who according to current speculation could lose his McLaren-Honda seat to Stoffel Vandoorne for 2017.

According to British reports, viewers of the Top Gear episode remarked that Button might make a better new lead host for the show than Chris Evans.

“Hopefully after a few shows people will get into it, because I enjoyed it,” Button said, defending the new format.

The 2009 world champion told Sun newspaper: “I don’t know what I am doing in the future and whether Top Gear would be an option anyway. But I would be interested in doing some TV.

“I am lucky because I am in a position where I can choose what I do in the future and I want to choose something fun and I enjoy doing,” Button, 36, added.

[MIKA27]

WOLFF SAYS TEENAGER STROLL MORE MATURE THAN VERSTAPPEN

Lance Stroll, the young Williams development driver, has caught the eye of Mercedes’ team boss Toto Wolff.

Canadian teen Stroll is currently leading the highly-competitive European F3 season, combining that race seat with a role at Williams.

The 17-year-old said this week that he is eyeing the reportedly expiring contracts of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas, but he may not have known that Wolff also has an eye on him.

“He works extremely hard,” Wolff said of Stroll, “but his intelligence and maturity is something else as well.”

Wolff said that when it comes to Stroll, he is even more impressed with his maturity level than he is with F1 sensation Max Verstappen’s — who is a year older.

“Max behaves more like a youngster,” Wolff told La Presse newspaper. “Max is a teenager. In the car he is extremely good, but when you are with him, he’s a boy. But Lance’s maturity is surprising at just 17 years old.”

Wolff, referring to Lance’s billionaire father Lawrence, also told the Canadian newspaper The Star: “I think for this is the next Canadian kid in formula one and it has nothing to do with his father’s wealth. It is because the boy can drive.”

[MIKA27]

Carlos Sainz 'closed my eyes and went for it' before F1 crash

Carlos Sainz Jr has admitted his crash in Canadian Grand Prix qualifying was a result of him "closing my eyes and going for it" to make Q3.

Sainz clipped the renowned 'wall of champions' at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on his first flying lap in Q2, and he felt it would probably have been good enough to have pipped fellow Spaniard Fernando Alonso for a place in the top 10 shootout.

Alonso made Q3 with a lap of 1m14.260s, and will start 10th in his McLaren, while Sainz's accident means he will line up 16th.

"He took my place. I handed it to him," said Sainz.

"I'm disappointed because I've been strong all weekend, so do that mistake, sorry, but it sucks.

"We were very strong in FP3, but immediately when I started doing laps in Q1 I saw we were a bit far off.

"I was a bit gutted because we were not there.

"I wanted to be in Q3, so I closed my eyes and went for it, and after three or four corners I was flying.

"So I thought it might be the lap to take me into Q3, to keep doing what I was doing and go for it, and it was perfect until the last 200 metres.

"I clipped the wall, it was a miscalculation and avoidable because I thought I had enough space.

"But then I saw the replay and I saw the car was sliding and the rear wheel was touching [the wall] while my front was not at all.

"I risked it because I thought maybe I wouldn't be able to repeat the lap on the second run."

Suggested to Sainz he was living on the edge, he replied: "I've been living on the edge the whole weekend.

"If you saw the replays from yesterday I was pushing hard the whole weekend, and the situation in Q1 made me push that tiny bit extra.

"In Q1 it was a disappointment for me to be so far off, so I thought I would try something extra.

"Sometimes it works, sometimes I am the hero when one day it works, but today it didn't."

[MIKA27]

Lewis Hamilton says Canadian GP F1 qualifying laps 'weren't great'

Canadian Grand Prix Formula 1 polesitter Lewis Hamilton said his qualifying laps "weren't that great" after he edged out Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel.

The reigning world champion finished just 0.062s ahead of Rosberg after the first run and failed to improve on his second run as he lost time in the middle sector.

"Qualifying wasn't great for me in terms of laps," said Hamilton.

"My pole lap was definitely at the lower end of pole laps I've had.

"As that is the fact, I'm pretty happy I'm still on pole.

"In practice, there was a much bigger gap and today, I didn't have the pace I had yesterday but clearly it was enough."

Rosberg said he was pleased with his first run but conceded he pushed too hard in the second, where he made a mistake at Turn 1.

"The first lap in Q3 was good, but not quite enough to beat Lewis," he said.

"The next one tried to pull out of bag and it didn't work out.

"Second place, it's a good team result to show we're still the fastest.

"Everything is possible tomorrow, the weather forecast is all over the place."

Vettel, who lost time at the hairpin on his final run to finish 0.178s adrift in third, felt he had the speed to get pole.

"Going into qualifying, I thought it [pole] was possible," said the German, whose Ferrari team is running an updated turbocharger this weekend.

"As a driver, you always feel there is a bit more in it. The last lap, I was happy with it in general.

"I was maybe a bit greedy out of [Turn] 10 and I was not greedy enough into Turn 6.

"I wanted to get below 1m13s as I knew it would be close and I did that but only by a hundredth.

"Overall, we have a good car and we did a step and I'm happy with the weekend so far."

[skalls]

Interesting race.  Lewis has had crap starts.  Tire manager master (45 laps on the softs).  Benefited by some bonehead strategy.  But a win is a win.

 

Sucks that the Firestone 600 keeps getting rain delayed.

[MIKA27]

CANADIAN GRAND PRIX: HIGH FIVE FOR HAMILTON IN MONTREAL

Lewis Hamilton scored his fifth victory in Montreal when he claimed victory at the Canadian Grand Prix, dedicating the victory to the late Muhammad Ali.

“Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. That’s for Muhammad Ali,” said Hamilton on the team radio on his slow down lap.

Hamilton said on the podium, “I had another really bad start, not sure why – possibly overheated the clutch. Feel very grateful that Nico and I didn’t damage our cars. Then I had fun chasing down this guy (Vettel). We got the set-up right. I won my first grand prix here in 2007 and it feels such a blessing.”

The reigning F1 world champion also took a large chunk of points out of Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg’s championship lead as the German endured several incidents, including a puncture late in the race, which resulted in him finishing fifth.

The first of which was when the two Mercedes drivers rubbed wheels through Turn 1 on the opening lap, with Hamilton sticking to his line and Rosberg wide on to the grass and down the order. He was ninth at the end of the first lap, Hamilton was second at that point.

Rosberg summed up, “I nearly ran out of fuel and that’s why I couldn’t attack Max at the end. When I did, he defended really well. At the end it went completely pear-shaped but I managed to get it back. Frustrating race.”

Sebastian Vettel, made a bullet start off the line and drove around the sluggish Mercedes pair to take the early lead and appeared to have good pace, but once again dubious strategy calls from the Ferrari pit wall may have cost them victory. Kimi Raikkonen was sixth.

Ferrari team chief Maurizio Arrivabene admitted, “We overestimated the degradation of the tyres. That’s the reason we brought [Vettel] in and it’s the wrong decision.”

Vettel said afterwards, “Lewis was a bit too quick, that was the issue. We had a great weekend, a fantastic start. It was very windy today, I maybe struggled with the wind behind.”

“We committed fairly early to a different strategy and probably Lewis’ tyres lasted better than we expected. It was a really fun race,” he added.

Valtteri Bottas was third in the Williams, ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in fourth with Daniel Ricciardo sixth.

Bottas said, “I’m really pleased with today. As a team it was a really strong one from us, a really good strategy and pit stop and I felt on it today. I want to thank Williams – thank you guys, everyone did a really great job.”

Nico Hulkenberg was eighth in the Force India, ahead of Carlos Sainz who came home ninth for Toro Rosso and Sergio Perez in the other Force India claiming the final point in tenth

[MIKA27]

LAUDA: ROSBERG’S DEAL WILL BE DONE IN A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME

Gerhard Berger says the ball is in Mercedes’ court over Nico Rosberg’s negotiations for a contract beyond 2016, while team chairman Niki Lauda has revealed that he expects a signed deal soon.

There have been reports the talks have hit a snag because while Rosberg wants a multi-year deal, Mercedes is only offering him a contract for 2017 only in order to leave the door open for Pascal Wehrlein’s debut the year after.

“Everything is going according to plan,” Berger, who is conducting Rosberg’s negotiations on his behalf, told the German broadcaster Sky.

“Both sides have the same goal – to see Nico at Mercedes for many years. There are only a few points on which we need to come to an agreement.”

Mercedes team chairman Niki Lauda agrees that, amid the current talks, he is optimistic, “I can reassure everyone. The negotiations are going very well. In a relatively short period of time, everything will be done.”

It has been reported that, with Rosberg wanting three years but Mercedes only offering one, a two-year compromise contract is now being discussed.

“The ball is now in Mercedes’ court,” Berger confirmed to Auto Bild.

The former Ferrari and McLaren driver suggested that Mercedes would be wise to stick with Rosberg, given the less stable lifestyle enjoyed by the team’s other driver, Lewis Hamilton.

“When you hear how many times he [Hamilton] jets between America and Europe between races, and think of the effort and energy that 1000 people put into a race weekend, it is important that they have the perfect balance in the team,” Berger told Bild am Sonntag newspaper.

“In Rosberg, they have an equally good driver from the sporting point of view and also highly reliable,” he added.

Speculation is that, should the parties not agree, Rosberg is open to speaking with Ferrari. Berger believes that the Reds need another top driver alongside Sebastian Vettel.

“Both Red Bull and Ferrari have come to understand that you need to drivers of the calibre of Hamilton and Rosberg to be constructors’ champion,” he said.

“That’s why Red Bull has put Verstappen in there so quickly, so Ferrari must react quickly. And they will.”

But would the very Italian Ferrari really pair two Germans together in 2017? “Bernie Ecclestone would say that Nico is from Monaco,” laughed Berger.

[MIKA27]

FERRARI TOLD HANDS OFF PEREZ AND RICCIARDO

Red Bull and Force India have issued a firm ‘hands off’ amid speculation Ferrari is shopping around to replace Kimi Raikkonen.

Team boss Maurizio Arrivabene recently declared that Raikkonen alongside Sebastian Vettel is an “ideal pairing” for the Maranello team, but the 36-year-old notably struggled in qualifying for the Canadian grand prix.

It will only magnify speculation that Daniel Ricciardo, who drives for Red Bull, and perhaps even Force India’s Sergio Perez, might be in line to succeed the 2007 world champion.

Ricciardo was not halting the speculation in Montreal when he suggested he might not be loyal to Red Bull forever.

“The only place I want to be is somewhere they can say ‘Yep, you can fight for a world title with us’,” the Australian said. “That’s all I really want.”

However, Ricciardo’s boss says the on-form 26-year-old is going nowhere.

“Ricciardo will definitely be with us until 2018,” Helmut Marko told Auto Motor und Sport. “We have a contract with him.”

Issuing a similar ‘hands off’ is Force India’s sporting director Otmar Szafnauer, amid suggestions Monaco podium-getter Sergio Perez might get a second chance at joining a top team.

“Sergio is ours,” Szafnauer insisted. “If Ferrari want him, they would have to pay us a lot of money.”

[MIKA27]

BERGER: FERRARI IS BACK TO ITALIAN CONFUSION

Two former Ferrari drivers are not sure when the great Maranello team will rise to the very top of Formula 1 once again, and are not convinced that the team has the stability to become a force it was in the Michael Schumacher era

Gerhard Berger raced for the Italian marque in the era immediately preceding the heady Schumacher days, where the German won five consecutive world championships in the first half of last decade.

When asked if Sebastian Vettel can now do the same, Berger told Bild am Sonntag: “In Formula One, you never known. It may happen quickly, or it may not happen at all.”

“What I do know is that I worked at Ferrari for many years and I was in exactly the same situation as Vettel is now — sometimes I won, but mostly I did not.

“There is always a lot of pressure from above,” Berger explained. “Jean Todt managed to lead a team with Michael Schumacher and Rory Byrne and Ross Brawn that shielded this pressure from top to bottom and so it was a very successful time.”

“But it seems to me as it Ferrari is back where it was with me: Italian confusion,” he added.

Another driver who knows the highly political Ferrari of the pre-Schumacher days well is Alain Prost, who joined in 1990 but a year later was fired for criticising the car and team.

When asked by Minute-Auto.fr about Ferrari’s current struggle to return to the top in F1, Prost said: “I can sum it up in one sentence: real stability at Ferrari is very difficult. We see that when there is this nervousness, this is not a team that manages it in the best way.”

“This is a team that needs confidence to move forward and become again the steamroller that it was in the time of Todt, Brawn and Schumacher,” said Prost.

[MIKA27]

Alonso's F1 Canadian Grand Prix 'not good fun' because of strategy

Fernando Alonso says his Canadian Grand Prix was "not good fun" because of his strategy and the fact McLaren-Honda lacked pace on the power-dependent Montreal F1 track.

Alonso finished the race 11th, one place outside the points, after committing to a one-stop strategy that required a 53-lap final stint on soft tyres.

The Spaniard asked to make a late stop for fresh rubber, but was told to stay out in case any of the cars ahead dropped out of the points.

"It was a tough race, we didn't have the pace today to be competitive," said Alonso.

"It was a lonely race at the back of the pack and not lucky with no rain at all, no safety car, nothing that put us again in a fight.

"The people around me were doing two stops so they were three seconds [per lap] faster, it was not good fun to be out there.

"There was nothing wrong, it was just very old tyres - I was the only one doing that kind of stint.

"When you have to save fuel, when you are two seconds off the pace and when you have 55-lap old tyres the fun of driving is quite poor."

Alonso said he accepted McLaren's strategy, as it represented his best chance of grabbing a points finish.

"It was the quickest way to go, so we chose that," he said. "The strategy was right.

"We tried to get the maximum points. We were P11, we had the possibility to score.

"It was the quickest way to arrive to the end but it was a difficult race - people around us were always with newer tyres because they did two stops.

"I said maybe we could stop [near the end], to put some quick laps and have some fun but we were close to the points, and anything could happen.

"We were very close, so we had to stay out, but it didn't come."

[MIKA27]

Nico Rosberg was 'pissed off' with Lewis Hamilton in Canadian GP

Nico Rosberg has revealed he was "pissed off" with Mercedes Formula 1 team-mate Lewis Hamilton making contact with him at the first corner.

After Sebastian Vettel jumped into the lead, Hamilton was on the inside line into Turn 1 with Rosberg on the outside into the left-hander.

They continued round the corner but Hamilton understeered into Rosberg at the exit, forcing Rosberg to take to the runoff area and drop to ninth after rejoining.

"Sebastian had a great start and I had a decent one and Lewis had a really bad one and my position was on the outside," Rosberg told Sky Sports F1.

"In Barcelona, I gave it a go around the outside of Lewis and it worked out really well.

"I went for the same today and he did a really hard racing manoeuvre and we touched and I was off.

"I was very pissed off in the moment, but that's racing and it's my job to make sure I'm in front after a battle like that next time."

Hamilton blamed a lack of front-end grip in the left-hander for the incident.

"I got to Turn 1 and had understeer," said Hamilton.

"It was very close with me and Nico. It was non-intentional.

"Fortunately, neither car was damaged."

Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff agreed it was a hard move by Hamilton and was disappointed with the ground that was lost as a result.

"It was a hard manoeuvre," said Wolff.

"Lewis said that he had an understeer, [and] that's what I would say.

"From the team's perspective, you are starting one and two, you come out of Turn 1 two and nine that is not pleasant.

I have a deja vu, we are having these discussions after every race."

However, Wolff did add that the driver on the inside can dictate the corner.

"Turn 1 in Canada is a difficult one, there is a concrete runoff area," he said.

"If there would be a wall, probably we wouldn't have the discussion.

"But then if you are on the inside, you dictate the line."

[MIKA27]

Haas F1 team suffers fourth front wing failure of 2016 in Canada

Romain Grosjean says Haas must solve the problems that are affecting its front wing after the Formula 1 team suffered its fourth failure of the season in Canada.

The Frenchman pitted for the third time on lap 46 to get a new front wing and ultimately finished 14th, one place behind team-mate Esteban Gutierrez.

The failure comes after similar ones were sustained in pre-season testing and the Bahrain and Spanish GPs, with the latter being traced back to a manufacturing error rather than a design flaw.

"We lost the front wing which is a bit annoying," said Grosjean. "It's the fourth time this year.

"There was a touch at the beginning, maybe that didn't make life easier, but we need to sort it out.

"That third pit stop definitely cost us everything we had been working for."

When asked by Autosport if the problem was similar to any of the previous problems, he said: "I didn't check. I lost it, I shouted on the radio and I came in."

Grosjean remained upbeat but conceded the team has a lot of work to do.

"There have been a lot of positives," he said. "The first stint before the virtual safety car was very good.

"I was catching the Force India and McLaren quite quickly.

"Then the VSC happened, we lost the temperature of the tyres and that is our struggle.

"There are plenty of other areas where we can improve but, generally, the more we do, the more we understand the car and the better things get.

"I'm sure the next race will be another step, and if we learn more, the better we'll get."