Formula 1 - 2017

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Vettel wants to be "wiser" in future F1 title battles

Sebastian Vettel says he hopes thinking "a bit wiser" will help him improve as a driver and add to his tally of four Formula 1 world championships in the future.
The Ferrari driver led the drivers' standings going into the summer break but ultimately lost out to Mercedes rival Lewis Hamilton, who clinched his fourth title.

His former team-mate Daniel Ricciardo said Hamilton's ability to keep a cool head was key to him beating Vettel this year.

Vettel lost a potential win in Singapore when he aggressively defended his position at the start while in Baku, he lost a victory when he was penalised for veering into Hamilton behind the safety car.

When asked if he enjoyed racing Hamilton this season, Vettel, who was speaking at an event to open the FIA's new Hall of Fame in Paris in which he was inducted, said: "Yes, definitely.

"There is no doubt about his skill and his speed. He's very quick and he doesn't do many mistakes.

"Jacques [Villeneuve] said [Michael] Schumacher was the best one and the hardest one to fight against.

"It's exactly that, if you fight against the best, it elevates you onto the next level.

"A lot of the things that I did back then, they were right, but today thinking a bit different or just a bit wiser, I hope so, to allow me to do better."

FIA president Jean Todt praised Hamilton, who did not attend the event, as a "great champion" but would not be drawn on whether he felt the Briton could equal Schumacher's record tally of seven world championships.

"We admire him what he has done," said Todt. "It's a combination of a man, team and machine.

"He had the best combination to be able to achieve that and use his natural talent. How many years he would like to do that? We don't know.

"One day you wake up and you feel it's time to do something different. Maybe he will not feel that. But I wish him well."

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Formula 1: Max Verstappen's maturity is earning him millions

Max Verstappen's new Red Bull contract is said by those in the know to make him the third best paid driver in Formula 1 behind Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel from next year.

The team will not reveal the exact amount but, by process of elimination, the Dutchman's salary for the next three years will be between £18-26m. Not bad for a 20-year-old who will be starting only his fourth full season in F1.

But the thing is, Verstappen is worth it.

Where exactly he stands in the hierarchy of best drivers in the sport is a matter for debate. But it's impossible to argue after this season that he is not in the discussion with Hamilton, Vettel, his Red Bull team-mate Daniel Ricciardo and McLaren's Fernando Alonso.

Red Bull have clearly come to the same conclusion. Verstappen's contract already ran to 2019. But when they believed Mercedes were sniffing around in the late summer, the team moved quickly to lock him down for another year.

It's easy to see why Red Bull were so determined to keep hold of Verstappen. In his first full season with the team, he has built on the outstanding impression he had already made in 2016, when he was promoted from junior team Toro Rosso after four races to replace Daniil Kvyat.

Last year, there were some outstanding drives - especially in the wet in Brazil, when Verstappen drove so well that he earned comparison with the best performances of Ayrton Senna - but on balance Ricciardo shaded him, especially in qualifying.

Not so in 2017. Verstappen out-qualified the Australian 13 times in 20 races and won two grands prix to the Australian's one.

This is not to denigrate Ricciardo. He flat beat Vettel when they were team-mates at Red Bull in 2014, is a world-class driver himself, and finished ahead of Verstappen in the championship.

As Red Bull team principal Christian Horner puts it: "We know Daniel is an unbelievable qualifier so it shows the level Max is operating at."

Ricciardo is the first to acknowledge how much his team-mate has stepped forward this year.

"Max improved this year compared to last year. The qualifying shows that," Ricciardo says. "His Saturdays were certainly good. Our Sundays - OK he has had two wins and I've had one, but generally my Sundays have been good, the racing and the race-craft.

"But the Saturdays I wouldn't say I was happy with myself always and he also improved. It was a good year for both Lewis and Max."

 

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MCLAREN SENNA ULTIMATE TRACK CAR BREAKS COVER

McLaren have unveiled a sportscar honouring the legacy of Ayrton Senna, the late Brazilian legend, who won his three Formula 1 World Championship titles while driving for the Woking outfit, with the British manufacturer claiming the car to be the most extreme road-legal car produced by the company to date.

Press release:

The McLaren Senna has been designed, engineered and developed with a single-minded purpose: to be the ultimate McLaren track-concentrated car for the road. Legalised for road use, but not sanitised to suit it, the new Ultimate Series deliberately compromises McLaren’s trademark breadth of supercar daily usability; instead, it provides the purest connection between driver and car, to deliver the most intense circuit experience of any road McLaren.

The technical recipe is classic McLaren Automotive supercar, a pedigree established and earned in the short time elapsed since the pioneering sports and supercar company was founded in 2010, but taken to another level entirely in the McLaren Senna. Ultra-lightweight construction, with carbon fibre chassis and body panels.

Mid-mounted, twin-turbocharged V8 McLaren engine. Rear wheel drive. Sophisticated race-derived suspension that delivers an unparalleled blend of control and dynamic balance. Electro-hydraulic steering that rewards accurate inputs and gives the purest feedback. And two seats – but with the absolute focus on the importance of the one that the driver occupies.

The carbon fibre Monocage III chassis that forms the core of the McLaren Senna is a further development of the structure that underpins the McLaren 720S and the strongest monocoque ever built by McLaren for a road-legal vehicle. Every body panel is made from carbon fibre, in line with a relentless focus on the weight of every individual component that has resulted in the McLaren Senna being the lightest road-legal McLaren since the iconic F1 road car, at just 1,198kg*.

With a maximum power of 800PS (789bhp), the McLaren Senna enjoys a power-to-weight ratio of 668PS per tonne. This statistic immediately underlines the performance credentials of the newcomer to the McLaren Ultimate Series, a product family introduced with the McLaren P1™ that is reserved for the rarest and most extreme McLaren cars.

Mike Flewitt, Chief Executive Officer, McLaren Automotive: “The McLaren Senna is a car like no other: the personification of McLaren’s motorsport DNA, legalised for road use but designed and developed from the outset to excel on a circuit. Every element of this new Ultimate Series McLaren has an uncompromised performance focus, honed to ensure the purest possible connection between driver and machine and deliver the ultimate track driving experience in the way that only a McLaren can.”

The indomitable spirit of Ayrton Senna has always been alive at McLaren and the McLaren Senna will further amplify his global legacy and link to the McLaren brand.

Bruno Senna, racing driver and McLaren Ambassador: “Our family is extremely proud of the naming of the new Ultimate Series McLaren Senna. This is the first project that really connects with Ayrton’s racing spirit and performance. The McLaren Senna honours my uncle because it is so utterly dedicated to delivering a circuit experience that allows a driver to be the best they can possibly be. There is an absolute, seamless connection between car and driver and this pure engagement, these sensory cues that a driver responds to and relies upon, ensure an experience so focused and immersive that you are left in awe of the depths of excellence the McLaren Senna possesses.”

Andy Palmer, Vehicle Line Director, McLaren Ultimate Series: “The McLaren Senna delivers true performance, all the way to the limit of a driver’s ability. With a truly astonishing power-to-weight ratio, this car is about performance that is accessible and attainable, yet at the same time exciting and challenging for the very best drivers in the world – and with an intense, sensory experience to match.”

“You commit yourself to such a level where there is no compromise. You give everything you have; everything, absolutely everything.” – Ayrton Senna

 

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BOTTAS: I DON’T THINK ABOUT THINGS LIKE THAT

Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas has shrugged off a poll of Formula 1 team bosses that rated him in only 10th place despite him winning three races this year and ending up third in the world championship.

The placing was one lower than the Finn had managed with Williams in 2016.

“There’s always all kind of polls and stuff,” Bottas, who joined Mercedes in January as a replacement for Nico Rosberg after the 2016 champion retired, told reporters at the governing FIA’s end-of-year prize-giving. “I don’t really think about it… if I’m under-rated or things like that.”

“Really what matters is how I perform on track: how many races I will be able to win in future. The main thing is within the team, that they know exactly my level of performance, that they know what I’m capable of doing.”

The Finn jokingly hoped his own team boss Toto Wolff had not voted him 10th in the poll. Bottas also took three pole positions and ended up on the podium 13 times but he also suffered something of a slump after the August break and in some races, he was comprehensively out-performed by teammate Lewis Hamilton.

Hamilton, who topped the poll by a huge margin, won nine times and took his fourth world championship.

The Briton has praised his teammate for bringing a new harmony to the team after a prickly time with Rosberg and emphasised how well the pair gets on.

“I think as a driver I’ve definitely learned a lot. I’ve felt that sometimes I had quite a hard lesson, I really struggled in some races with the car and my driving,” said Bottas.

“I really have to work on many of the issues and learn from those and get better. I think out of all the seasons I’ve had in Formula 1, this is the one where I’ve learnt the most.”

The Finn said ending with a victory in Abu Dhabi, in a one-two with Hamilton, was the perfect way to sign off for the year but he would have to raise his game in 2018 against a teammate who ranks as one of the all-time greats.

He was not worried about being categorised as a good teammate, rather than a potential champion.

“I know that this will be up to me,” he said. “We are able to race Lewis with equal machinery and equal terms, we are going to be allowed to race on the track so it’s up to me.

“If I can perform in qualifying, and well in the races pace-wise and in racing situations, then I can fight for the title if we have a good car.”

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F1 REPORTS BIGGER CROWDS IN 2017 WITH MEXICO BEST RACE

Formula 1 saw an eight percent increase in the number of fans attending races during the 2017 season, with 13 of the 20 races reporting bigger crowds, according to figures published by the sport’s commercial rights holder.

Monaco and Abu Dhabi reported no change while five, including two of the races with the biggest overall turnout, saw slight decreases on 2016.

Formula 1 said in a statement that the season’s global average attendance per three-day event was 203,570 and 76,722 on race Sunday.

The total attendance over the 20-race season was 4,071,400 and is set to grow next year with an extra race added to the calendar. The 2017 season was the first under new U.S.-based owners Liberty Media.

“An attendance of more than 200,000 per event means that for 20 weekends per year, the population of a medium-sized city visits a racetrack to watch a Formula One Grand Prix,” said commercial managing director Sean Bratches.

Canada reported the biggest overall attendance of 360,000, an increase of 60,000 in 2016, followed by the British Grand Prix at Silverstone on 344,500 and Mexico with 337,043. Formula 1 said the attendance figures were provided by promoters.

Azerbaijan saw the biggest percentage rise, up 58 percent with a reported crowd of 71,451. That was still the smallest of any race. Japan saw the biggest drop, down to 137,000 from a previous 145,000.

Malaysia, which has fallen off the calendar after this year’s race, pulled in a total of 110,604 – a 19.69 percent rise on 2016.

The Mexican Grand Prix was named the best race of the season for the third year in a row. The award is decided by Formula One management in consultation with teams and stakeholders.

“This is the first time ever that the same city gets three in a row,” race promoter Alejandro Soberon told Reuters at the governing FIA’s end-of-season awards in Paris.

“I think we are going to continue doing bigger and better every time,” added Soberon, president and chief executive of the CIE Group that hosts the race with government backing.

The Australia Grand Prix also won the award in three successive seasons but one of those was in Adelaide before the race moved to Melbourne.

Soberon said the award was all the more meaningful this year since the Oct. 29 race came after devastating earthquakes in September.

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HAMILTON CROWNED FORMULA 1 CHAMPION AT ROYAL PALACE

Lewis Hamilton was handed the Formula 1 World Championship winner’s trophy for the fourth time on Friday at a gala prizegiving ceremony in the sumptuous palace of France’s former monarchy.

With Formula 1 chairman Chase Carey looking on, newly-re-elected International Automobile Federation (FIA) president Jean Todt handed the 32-year-old Mercedes driver the silverware he won in Mexico with two races to spare.

“This has been an amazing year,” Hamilton told the audience of champions and FIA members gathered in the palace’s 18th-century opera.

“I hope that next year’s an even better year for all of you. I know for me that I‘m going to try to do better.”

Hamilton won nine of 20 races in 2017 and set an all-time record of 72 career pole positions as well as scoring points in every grand prix.

Asked earlier for his highlight of the season, Hamilton singled out his home British Grand Prix at Silverstone because of the support he received after the ‘negativity’ surrounding his failure to take part in an earlier London event.

He had also told reporters that while he did not like going to award ceremonies or being on stage, he enjoyed watching others succeed.

Mercedes won both championships for the fourth year in a row but team boss Toto Wolff said 2017 had been particularly difficult.

“We keep it now,” he said after being handed the constructors’ trophy by Carey.

Red Bull’s 20-year-old Dutch driver Max Verstappen beat a field that included Hamilton and his own Australian team mate Daniel Ricciardo to the ‘Personality of the Year” award for the third successive year.

The award is selected by permanently accredited media from all FIA championships.

“I always try to be honest and straightforward so I guess that gave me the personality again this year,” said the winner of two races in 2017.

“It was a hard season but I learnt a lot from it.”

Monaco’s Formula Two winner and 2018 Sauber F1 driver Charles Leclerc won the Rookie of the Year award while Finnish rally driver Esapekka Lappi won the ‘Action of the Year’ for a jump in the Rally of Portugal.

British teenager Billy Monger, who had his lower legs amputated after a horrific smash in a Formula Four race at Donington Park in April, was presented with an FIA president’s special award.

Monger, who has already returned to driving, walked out onto the stage on prosthetic legs to a resounding ovation.

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2017 MCLAREN ANALYSIS: AN UNMITIGATED DISASTER

Zero wins. Zero podiums. Zero hope. Thanks to an engine as underpowered as it was unreliable, the final year of the McLaren-Honda experiment was an unmitigated disaster.

Season Summary

After a brutal first season back with Honda in 2015, 2016 had shown marked improvement in the fortunes of McLaren – alas, 2017 turned out to be more like the former than the latter. Racking up the engine failures in a fashion that would be comical if it weren’t so sad, the once-great team couldn’t even muster half of last year’s points total. Whether McLaren had a chassis to compete for wins or not (and it certainly looked the part at high-downforce circuits like Monaco and Hungary), it was clear Honda’s development programme was fundamentally broken, and it came as no surprise when their divorce was announced at the Singapore Grand Prix in September. For 2018, the Woking outfit moves to a Renault supply and the hope that finally, their nightmare run is over.

Rating: 3/10

Driver Ratings:

Fernando Alonso

Undoubtedly still one of the best drivers in the sport, 2017 was a year in which Alonso was afforded few chances to show it. Sapped of any motivation amidst Honda’s struggles, the Spaniard still managed to impress by closing the season with three-straight top-ten finishes, showing his trademark ability to extract the most out of every car. Unfortunately, it doesn’t count for much when he’s still as far away from championship contention as he was three years ago. If all goes well, the Renault deal will breath new life into his fading F1 championship aspirations – otherwise at 36-going-on-37, he might start having to look elsewhere.

Rating: 8/10

Stoffel Vandoorne

His first full season in the sport, much of the promise the Belgian possessed seemed to be quickly curtailed by his car’s shortcomings. Even compared to his teammate Vandoorne seemed miserable, and while it was always going to be a tough ask, it would have been nice to see him match up more favourably with Alonso. Still, the 25-year-old had his moments – chiefly two consecutive P7s in Singapore and Malaysia – but you’d like to see more in 2018 from a driver purported to be the future of one of F1’s most storied franchises.

Rating: 5/10

The Stats

• 2017 WCC Position: 9th – 30 points
• 2016 WCC Position: 6th – 76 points
• Best Finish: 6th (Fernando Alonso, Hungary)
• Average Finish: 11.48
• DNFs: 13 (+ 2 DNS)
• Q3 Appearances: 14
• Engine Related Grid Penalties: 393

 

 

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ALONSO: NOBODY IN F1 CAN GUARANTEE ANYTHING

Fernando Alonso is adamant that no one can predict what will happen in Formula 1 next year, but is confident that with Honda a thing of the past and Renault power bolted on to the back of his McLaren anything is possible.

Speaking to Sky Sports Alonso said, “Nobody in F1 can guarantee anything. Not even Mercedes can know 100 percent they will be competitive.”

But added, “We can see what Red Bull are doing with the Renault power unit. Maybe they are not the quickest, but they are fighting for podiums and victories. That will be a very good step if we can achieve that.”

Before the start of the second McLaren-Honda era, Alonso was inspired by the partnership’s legacy from the late eighties and early nineties. The prospect of similar success is what convinced him to return to Woking, but the immense promise turned into bitter disappointment.

He reflected, “When l joined the project, I joined firstly because it was because Honda coming in. Some of my inspiration to be a driver was when l was a kid watching television and Senna and Prost were driving the McLaren-Honda.”

“It didn’t work, the performance wasn’t there and now we have split. I’m sad on one side and happy on the other because l think next year will be much better. This year has been a little bit better than the last two.”

“I have that impression from the fans and the people who I met, they seemed to have enjoyed this year and that’s because of Indianapolis. Those two weeks were definitely the highlight of the year, we were fighting for the front row of the grid, we were leading the race, we were competitive.”

“[In Formula 1] it was a little bit frustrating. Too many retirements, too many painful moments – in Russia we didn’t even start the race.”

Looking ahead Alonso sees the positives, “The last few years have taught us a lot. Sometimes when you are winning too easily you then one day find yourself with competition and you make mistakes because you have forgotten how to fight and maximise the package. But if we produce a good car next year, the whole team is ready.”

In 2018 McLaren will be powered by Renault for the first time in their history and hope they can return to the podium after an absence dating back to 2014. The team have not won since the Jenson Button triumphed at the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix.

Alonso has not won a Formula 1 since his victory at the 2013 Spanish Grand Prix, as a Ferrari driver, and was last on a grand prix podium 69 races ago also driving for the Italian team.

The Spaniard won his two F1 world championship titles, in 2005 and 2006, driving for Renault.

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HAMILTON: MATCHING FANGIO WOULD BE QUITE COOL

2017 World Champion Lewis Hamilton wants to equal Juan Manuel Fangio’s five Formula 1 world titles but is not so sure he will have the staying power to attempt to match Michael Schumacher’s all-time record of seven titles, but he did not rule it out entirely.

The Mercedes driver, talking to reporters in Paris before a gala awards evening at the Palace of Versailles on Friday where he will be presented with the champion’s trophy for a fourth time, said he wanted more.

“We definitely have more championships to win together,” said the most successful British driver of all time who won his first title with McLaren in 2008. How many more he might achieve remained an open question, however.

“It’s taken me 10 years to achieve this four. I currently still don’t have that desire to match it (Schumacher’s seven). Matching Fangio would be quite cool,” he said. “Given that I’m going to be here for at least another couple of years, that’s my goal. To try and at least get that.”

Fangio, who won all of his titles in the 1950s and died in 1995, was Formula One’s most successful driver until Germany’s Schumacher surpassed the Argentine great’s tally in 2003.

Hamilton said he would not be defined by the number of championships he had won, but more by how he had driven and raced over his career, what he had extracted from the car and reacted with the team.

“Who knows,” he added. “When I was younger I thought I would have a family at 28 and I got to 28 and it all shifted. So it’s difficult to say never.

“Maybe in a couple of years’ time, I’ll be like: Gee, I want to do another 10 years. I really hope that that’s not the case,” laughed the 32-year-old, “Because then I’ll be with you guys when you’re in Zimmer frames.”

At the same winner’s news conference a year ago, Hamilton’s then-teammate and 2016 champion Nico Rosberg announced that he was retiring.

Hamilton’s motivation to continue has often been questioned, even on Friday by FIA president Jean Todt, but there were no bombshells this time.

The Briton said instead that he appreciated every race, knowing that a time would come when he would no longer be competing.

“I love the racing. There’s definitely bits that I don’t love about some of the surrounding stuff,” he smiles. “But being in the car, and working with the team, there’s nothing quite like it.”

Hamilton enjoyed rare reliability in 2017, finishing all the races and winning nine while Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, the overall runner-up, took five after a late spate of mechanical failures and collisions.

The Briton said he expected the German, also a four-time champion, to raise his game next year and he would have to do the same, “I can’t expect him to make the same mistakes. I’ve got to make sure I’m even better next year to stay ahead of him.”

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PROST: BAN WIND TUNNELS BECAUSE BUDGET CAP WON’T WORK

Liberty Media recently revealed their vision for the future of Formula 1 engines, set to come into place from 2021 onwards, the proposal was met by opposition from Ferrari and Mercedes while Renault are also not terribly enthused by what is on the table.

Four times F1 World Champion and Renault ambassador Alain Prost has some pretty profound and set views on what the problems are that face the future of the sport.

“It’s good if engines get less complicated and cheaper,” acknowledged Prost. “I know some people would like to go back to eight-cylinder naturally aspirated engines. For an automaker that’s impossible to justify. We need the right compromise.”

As for a F1 budget cap, he said, “I do not see how that will work. When I had my own team, I would have liked a budget cap. I had 250 employees last. At McLaren, it was 550. The problem was that in France, I paid more for an employee than McLaren did in England.”

“First, you would have to treat each country individually. The next problem will be to lay off people when teams have to shrink.”

“I like the technology of Formula 1, except for the aerodynamics, that has become too extreme. We now spend a fortune in this area and as a result, aerodynamics is the difference between victory or defeat.”

“If you would free-up the aerodynamics in Formula E, then all the money would be spent there as well because it brings down lap times more effectively than improving the batteries.”

“If we want to save money in Formula 1, we should ban wind tunnels. That would simplify the aerodynamics. I’m open to limited budgets, but frankly pessimistic that it will work.”

Theoretically, cost caps could turn Formula 1 projects into profit centres for manufacturers, but Prost is not sure that this would transfer or work out in reality.

“It’s not about it being good or bad,” insisted Prost. “Of course it would be good. The question is, will it work? And if it does not work, it’s worse than before. The key is to give the small teams a chance to race near the front. At least every now and then.”

“The only way to make that possible is to change the technical and sporting rules, allowing more freedom in things that cost little money. Restricted freedom is expensive, like the aerodynamics.”

“We have to change the rules completely, otherwise it will be impossible for new teams to get into Formula 1. Established teams have by now accumulated so much knowledge that no one can enter and be competitive.”

“I have a clear idea in my head. Unfortunately, nobody wants to listen because everyone protects their own interests,” added Prost.

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Role for retired Massa in FIA shake-up

Felipe Massa has been appointed as the new head of the FIA Karting Commission following his retirement from Formula 1.

The Brazilian officially retired after the season finale in Abu Dhabi but was soon linked with a role within the FIA organisation as he still had a hunger and a passion for motorsport.

Massa has wasted little time in planning his next races and will take part in the Brazilian Stock Car Championship opener early next year and is strongly fancied to take a full-time seat in Formula E in 2019.

But, following the official announcement of Jean Todt staying on to complete a third and final four-year term as FIA president, Massa was revealed as one of the fresh faces joining the governing body.

Todt will lead a re-structured team with Brian Gibbons replacing Nick Craw as the new president of the Senate that looks after the federation's management and finances.

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Hartley reflects on ‘tough learning process’

Brendon Hartley has conceded that he has had a "tough" start to his Formula 1 career but believes the process will be "very important" if he wants to succeed in the sport.

Hartley made his debut at the United States Grand Prix with Toro Rosso, but it was part of a hectic schedule which saw him compete in the Petit Le Mans, 6 Hours of Fiji, US Grand Prix, Mexico Grand Prix, 6 Hours of Shanghai, Brazilian Grand Prix, 6 Hours of Bahrain and the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

"The learning process was steep and very important. It was tough. I’m not going to lie, especially with eight weekends on the trot," Hartley said at the FIA Prize Giving Gala in Paris.

"That was a good experience for me, to learn what that takes out of you and what areas you need to improve. 

"That was the perfect introduction into Formula 1 in terms of preparing a season, having some real racing experience to start next year.

Hartley is looking forward to a well-earned rest, but is encouraged by the early signs as Toro Rosso begin a new relationship with Honda and he begins his first full Formula 1 campaign.

He added: "I’m looking forward to having a bit of a break, recharging the batteries, and coming back strong next year.

I’m hearing a lot of positive things out of Toro Rosso and out of Honda. I can’t wait to work alongside them next year, and hopefully prove my worth in Formula 1."

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Vettel: Stop moaning about F1's lack of overtaking

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel says those who complain about a lack of overtaking should calm down and accept that some Formula 1 grands prix will be boring.
At the conclusion of the season, Pirelli has released data that showed the 2017 campaign was the worst for overtaking in the DRS era.

F1’s tyre supplier recorded 435 passes, which is a 49% drop from the 866 in 2016, when there was one more race.

“Wishes for next year is that everybody calms down,” said Vettel, who finished second to world champion Lewis Hamilton in the drivers’ standings. “Some races are boring, so what? I don’t see the problem in that.

"I don’t think we need another record, another record every race, to have more overtaking and more overtaking.

“It’s true that overtaking sometimes, especially if you're behind and you're fast and you can’t get past for those reasons, it annoys you.

“But then again if you make the move there is a massive reward inside the car, sometimes out the car.

“What I want to say is that overtaking should be an achievement and not handed to you.

“Sometimes just relax and calm down and accept a boring race or a boring two races in a row and then there will be another great race after that and another one.”

Following the dramatic changes to the F1 aerodynamic regulations, drivers have found it tougher at certain circuits to follow other cars and get close enough to pass.

"I think Seb’s right in some ways, that’s just the way it is and that’s the way some tracks are laid out," said Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo.

"I think the wider cars and all that look great and they’ve given us more downforce and grip but when they take up more space on the track you have less clean air to try to find so it does make following harder - so that one is good and bad."

Hamilton hopes tweaks can be made so that the possibility of overtaking increases, as he believes that will improve the show.

“On the racing side, I hope moving forwards, overtaking gets easier,” he said. “Not easier, but being able to follow each other is really what the sport needs.

"The more overtaking, the more fun it is for people to watch.”

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Force India outdeveloped us in 2017 - Williams

Williams technical chief Paddy Lowe has conceded Formula 1 rival Force India outdeveloped his outfit this season, after losing out in the battle for fourth.
Last year, Williams was ahead of Force India in fourth until Italy before being leapfrogged and falling back - but in 2017, Force India pulled away considerably earlier and Williams could not respond.

Retiring Felipe Massa has raced for Williams continuously since 2014 and said earlier this year that the team has not been able to develop its cars as expected for any of the past campaigns.

When asked where he felt Williams had lost out to Force India this term, Lowe said: "We started the season with a car that was generally quicker than theirs. We've ended generally slower.

"So we have lost ground to Force India on performance. We have both been developing through the season at a rate you don't see - and they've done a better job.

"It's our job to recover that and more over the winter. We need to make a bigger step with the new car than they make.

"Renault have also come through with better performance through the season."

Lowe also admitted Williams' didn't take its opportunities earlier in the year, particularly on rookie Lance Stroll's side of the garage.

While Massa scored in four of the first six races, Stroll retired from the first three races and did not score a point until the seventh race of the season in Canada.

"The first half of the season, when we had quite often the quicker car, we weren't scoring the points particularly on Lance's side, when the opportunities were presented," said Lowe.

"With Lance new to the sport this year, it was always going to be a more difficult first half than second half. Those two factors were enough for Force India to get a stronger tally."

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Leclerc forced to settle for third choice F1 race number

Newly-announced Alfa Romeo Sauber Formula 1 driver Charles Leclerc has revealed his 2018 race number of 16 was his third choice.
F2 champion Leclerc will make his grand prix debut next season with Sauber, having recently been chosen as one of the Swiss squad’s two drivers alongside Marcus Ericsson. 

The launch of the Alfa Romeo livery concept last weekend hinted that Leclerc had chosen 16 as his permanent race number, which was subsequently confirmed by the team.

Speaking at the FIA Prize Giving at Versailles on Friday evening, Leclerc revealed that 16 was in fact his third option, with his first two choices already belonging to Kimi Raikkonen and Pierre Gasly.

“I wanted number seven first, but Kimi had it, then I choose 10 but Pierre came to F1 and chose number 10,” explained Leclerc, who earned FIA's Rookie of the Year award.

“Then I wanted 16 because it’s my date of birth and I could not find anything better. And one plus six is seven, my favourite number."

Asked what a realistic target for his debut F1 season could be, Leclerc said it would be impossible to judge until the first pre-season test at Barcelona next February.

“Expectations in F1, it’s quite hard to make them before you actually put the car on the track and see what it’s really worth,” he said.

“In junior categories you can target something, expect something, but in F1 it’s a lot harder because the differences between cars are a lot bigger.

“The new power unit should be a big step. Hopefully we can do a step also with the car, but then it also depends how big the step of the other teams is. This we’ll have to see.”

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Hamilton vowed to never let Bottas get ahead after F1 Hungarian GP

Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton says he vowed after the Hungarian Grand Prix never to let Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas get ahead of him again.

Hamilton was outqualified by Bottas at the Hungaroring, but was allowed to overtake in the race to try to attack the leading Ferraris.

Unable to make progress, Hamilton handed third back to Bottas at the finish. Hamilton said that was a turning point partly for helping Mercedes' harmony, but also because it made him determined to prevent further team orders dilemmas.

"We did a great thing for the team that had a positive ripple effect," said Hamilton during Friday's FIA prizegiving.

"It was a really positive thing that I let Valtteri back past and finished fourth.

"I went into that break and mentally I was like 'I don't ever want to be in a position, or even put the team in a position where they have to decide whether we're first or second'.

"I was like 'from now on, I need to be ahead every single time' and then there'll never, ever be the question or whether Valtteri should let Lewis past and those kind of things.

"I made sure that I studied what I'd done at the beginning of the year and applied everything I'd learned to the second part."

The Hungary result left Hamilton 14 points behind Vettel, but he then won five of the next six races and ultimately claimed the title.

Hamilton also outqualified Bottas at every race after Hungary until his Brazilian GP qualifying crash.

At the 2016 FIA gala, Hamilton's previous team-mate Nico Rosberg had announced his shock retirement days after securing the title.

Hamilton said he had used that as a spur to be more "positive" in 2017.

"We lost a member of the team last year, obviously retiring, and I really wanted to make sure I brought a new positive, restructured me to the team and into this season and to really lead the team to the world championship, which I did," he said.

He reiterated that having an external title rival in Ferrari after three years of intra-team championship fights with Rosberg had been good for him and for Mercedes.

"It was just a much more enjoyable battle," said Hamilton.

"When you're fighting against another team, the energy within the team is so much different.

"When you meet all the engineers and you go round and see what they're working on and how they're doing, they ask you questions and they're like 'we want to beat Ferrari, we want to be the best we can be'.

"It's different to the previous year when you may have had an advantage and it was just between the drivers. Then it was like 'we don't really care who wins'.

"It's a different vibe. When their confidence is in you that you can potentially drive them to beat the other team, there's a different engagement from everyone.

"There was just a unified powerful force towards one goal."

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Horner: F1 teams could face two more years of falling prize money

Red Bull boss Christian Horner believes teams may go through two more years of falling prize money before an upswing in commercial benefit from Formula 1's new owners Liberty Media.

Liberty's recent revelation that the prize money pot for teams had fallen $43million for the last quarter compared to 2016, a result of extra spending to help make F1 more popular, caused alarm in certain sections of the paddock.

Horner says teams could face a longer spell of falling revenue, but is not worried about the situation and is willing to give Liberty more time to get a return on the investment it is making.

"You have to invest in the business to accumulate and I think Liberty has had a big learning year," he said.

"They have done a season now, they have applied the right specialists in the right areas, and they are forming their game plan for 2021.

"It's very easy to criticise on head count or spending, and it is just a different mentality to how Bernie [Ecclestone] operated.

"Bernie ran a very tight closed shop. He was the marketing department, he was the sales department, and it was very much a one man show.

"Liberty, having acquired the business, have put a structure in place. They're looking to put a bit more analysis into the future as well, and there is a cost associated with that.

"Inevitably there will be an investment which will have an effect on 2018 and probably even 2019, but you would expect to see a return for sure two years down the road."

Horner is convinced F1 needs a promotional boost to attract new sponsors.

"To attract sponsorship you've got to have an attractive product, and unless you have got an attractive product sponsors don't come," he said.

"There's a lot of cars out there.

"We have been able to attract great brands because of what we do off track as well as on track and I think F1 is not in anywhere near as rude health as it was 20 years ago when teams were making profits. There were some great brands on the cars.

"You only have to compare an end of season driver photo from 1997 to '17 and you will see the volume of companies involved is significantly less.

"We have to create a more attractive show to draw in sponsors that offer tremendous value from what F1 is."

Asked how the current situation compared to the circumstances teams faced in the wake of the global financial crisis of nearly a decade ago, Horner said: "I would say it's harder now because there's more choice as the world evolves.

"There are more platforms and the product we have at the moment isn't fantastic.

"A race like [Abu Dhabi] is not the best advert for F1. We're better than that. F1 is better than that.

"OK, it's only one chapter in 20 and there has been some great racing this year, but you've always got to learn."

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The key innovations behind Mansell’s F1 record-breaker

Nigel Mansell and the Williams FW14B delivered one of the most dominant seasons in Formula 1 history in 1992. Technical director Patrick Head explains what made it such a formidable machine.

Mansell won nine out of 16 races, clinching the drivers’ title with five races to spare, while Williams also dominated the constructors’ championship.

Patrick Head, Williams technical director in 1992 who designed the car along with Adrian Newey, explains the strengths of one of the team’s most successful cars.

Semi-automatic gearbox

"We raced this for the first time in 1991 but it wasn’t reliable at first and cost us a lot of points. But once we had solved those problems, it was
 a big advantage because you could change gear four or five times more quickly and it stopped engine over-revs."

Evolution not revolution

"The main difference between the FW14 [used in 1991] and the FW14B was the active suspension. It’s remarkable looking back on the programme now.

"In 2011, we were running the 12th model of the front wing by the end of the year, but on the FW14 the aerodynamic modifications were minimal. It was a good car from the word go with a lot of geometric relevance from the Leyton House cars because of Adrian’s presence."

Traction control

"The traction control system was similar to what we would have 10 years later, but less sophisticated. When it started off it was a relatively simple bit of software – a time benefit which didn’t require an awful lot of development and that in the wet was a big benefit.

"There was a lot of time when the driver was modulating the power of the engine and the automatic  control systems could do that slightly better than the driver." 

Driving style

"The active suspension system did have a predictive element in it, but it was essentially responsive. That meant that you didn’t have the same feel as the standard car in roll stiffness.

"There was a short period on entry to corners where the car had a floaty feel and then would stabilise. Nigel realised that on the other side of this few tenths of a second, there would be more grip, whereas [teammate] Riccardo Patrese always wanted more feel."

Renault engine

"It was certainly very good and stronger than the Honda that was powering the McLaren. The Honda was easily as powerful, if not more powerful, but it was immensely heavy.

"While the Renault was a lot heavier than the engines that were to follow it [the RS4 engine that was introduced in Hungary weighed just under 140kg], it was the best racing engine given the combination of power, weight, fuel consumption, installation and so on.
It was also extremely reliable."

Active suspension

"We had been developing active suspension since 1985, which started off by AP coming to us. They were developing a system for road vehicles, but they decided that they weren’t going to continue with it and rather than bury it, they contacted us as we were using AP brakes at the time.

"At first, it was purely mechanical, but we needed it in digital form so that we could control it electronically. It was basically aiming for target mean ride heights front and rear.

"As the programme went on, control became more sophisticated. We could alter the attitude of the car on track and if the driver complained of understeer here or oversteer there, we could overcome the problem."

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Steiner: Grosjean was moaning ‘too much’

Haas boss Guenther Steiner is hoping Romain Grosjean can continue to channel his frustrations in the right way next season after overstepping the mark in 2017.

The Frenchman increasingly frequent moans over team radio were a staple of seemingly every race weekend over the course of the season, but Steiner felt that he had to step in at the United States Grand Prix.

“In Austin he was getting too much,” Steiner said. “I told him we could hear him, but if you keep talking then we cannot talk to you.

“If you are on the radio all the time then how can we tell you what to do? So somebody had to stop him – and usually that is me.”

Steiner believes Grosjean has improved since Austin and allowed the team to give him feedback about the issues he is facing.

He added: “It is less, but I didn’t do a proper study on it. I think he has calmed down and realised it doesn’t help. Not that it is good or bad, just that it doesn’t help.

“So why get like this rather than working in a constructive way?

“He still has his outbursts but normally they are shorter. Unlike Austin, when we had a bad day.”

Steiner, though, conceded that the situation will never be fully resolved.

“Even if I did study it I can’t fix it anyway,”, he said.

“We speak sometimes about it but not about fixing it. More about what he thinks it does to help.

“He has calmed down but still he has peaks. I will not change that.”

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Axed Wehrlein ‘a potential World Champion’

Former Sauber team principal Monisha Kaltenborn has questioned the team’s decision not to pick Pascal Wehrlein as part of their 2018 line-up.

Wehrlein finds himself without a drive in Formula 1 for next season after Sauber opted to retain Marcus Ericsson and partner him with the Ferrari-backed and current F2 champion Charles Leclerc.

The German, who knew his fate was sealed at the Swiss team for quite some time, scored all five of Sauber’s World Championship points, but a lack of funding and the fact he is on Mercedes’ books means he has been put on the sidelines.

“I think his performance in 2017 is still not properly appreciated,” Kaltenborn said. “Without him, the team would have scored no points at all.

“I just hope that he will continue to get what he deserves in Formula One, which above all else is a cockpit.

“Pascal has the potential to become world champion with the right team. Anyone who has worked with him knows that.”

Wehrlein is considered an outsider for the last remaining seat on the grid at Williams and could find himself back in DTM with Mercedes for one final year.

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HIROTOSHI HONDA: I UNDERSTAND ALONSO’S GREAT DISAPPOINTMENT

Hirotoshi Honda, son of the founder of Honda Motor Company, has come out in sympathy for the plight suffered by Fernando Alonso over the past three years as the Japanese auto giant struggled to produce a fast and reliable Formula 1 engine.

Hirotoshi said in a recent interview, “I understand very well the reason for Alonso’s great disappointment. The professional life of a sportsman is very short and it is very stressful to lose three years at such an important time in his career.”

“Alonso is a young man, so intelligent and captivating. I understand very easily the reason for his great disappointment.”

Alonso was brazenly outspoken about the shortcomings of the Honda power units bolted to the back of his McLaren. When his patience ran out, notably towards the end of last season and most of this past year, he shot from the hip.

The word from the Honda factory, where pride has been severely dented by the Spaniard, is that staff are highly motivated to turn things around and ultimately show McLaren and particularly Alonso what they are capable of.

Hirotoshi warned, “I am sure of one thing: the Japanese have the culture of fighting in Formula 1. We are very well mannered, but we can fight.”

Asked what he felt went wrong with the Honda project, Hirotoshi explained, “Because I took away this guy!” (pointing to the man sitting next to him, Tomoyuki Hashimoto, president of Mugen and also a respected engineer.)

“I’m serious. He is an excellent engineer. He knows how to build an engine and the ones he has built testify to his technical expertise.”

Honda recently announced a major restructure to their Formula 1 programme, but Hashimoto does not feature among the new hierarchy.

In closing, Hirotoshi recalled the final days of his father Soichiro Honda, “He was a true fighter, he hated to be second and had to win. He always said, shortly before his death, when Ayrton Senna could no longer win with McLaren-Honda, my father complained about this situation from his hospital bed.”

“He died on 5 August 1991 (at the age of 84) and a few days later, on the 11th, Ayrton won the Hungarian Grand Prix wearing a black band on his arm. When we heard the news, my family and I cried,” revealed Hirotoshi.

For 2018 Honda will power Toro Rosso as McLaren chose to end their three-year ‘marriage’ and opt for Renault customer engines.

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MARCHIONNE: GIOVINAZZI IS A GOOD GUY

Ferrari have a dilemma on their hands as they vainly attempt to get their junior driver Antonio Giovinazzi on to the Formula 1 grid, however, the Italian team’s president Sergio Marchionne insists that it is merely a matter of time before the 23-year-old finds makes his breakthrough.

Meanwhile, Giovinazzi has been handed the Ferrari reserve role and a number of FP1 outings for 2018, while Chares Leclerc – Maranello’s other protege – has been placed with Alfa Romeo backed Sauber alongside Marcus Ericsson.

Marchionne said of the developments, “Giovinazzi is a good guy, and it’s just a question time. He should get his chance.”

And confirmed, “He will be Ferrari’s third driver and he has a programme of testing with Sauber. We understand his desire to race, but at the moment there are no vacancies.”

“The agreement with Sauber is a way to find an outlet for the youngsters in our Driver Academy, and it will take take time to streamline this system,” explained Marchionne.

Haas, also a Ferrari customer team with close ties to Maranello, were approached to accommodate the young Italian but the American team are remaining loyal to Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen while making it clear that there is no place for Giovinazzi in the team despite having had seven FP1 sessions with them in 2017.

When asked about Giovinazzi’s role with the team by Ekstra Bladet, Haas team principal Guenther Steiner said, “I don’t think it helped us or our drivers. I cannot say how negative it was, but it was not positive. We will see what we are doing next year, but we have not talked about it yet.”

He also confirmed an approach from Ferrari to run Giovinazzi, “They asked, but if you don’t ask you don’t get what you want. They did not pressure us. We quickly clarified that we have two drivers next year. It was pretty straightforward.”

It now appears that Ferrari will up the ante sometime soon and offer Haas a Maserati branding barter deal which could be worth an estimated $25-million. A deal similar to the Sauber Alfa Romeo arrangement.

Although team owner Gene Haas is hardly cash-strapped, that is a chunk of money that few can scoff at, thus if Giovinazzi does not secure a drive for 2018, he could well be in-line for a seat in 2019 with Maserati backed Haas.

Giovinazzi made a solid grand prix debut last year in Melbourne, replacing injured Pascal Wehrlein at Sauber, but had a torrid weekend in China crashing heavily in qualifying and then 24 hours later binned it again during the race, at the same place in full view of everyone in the pitlane.

It was a very expensive weekend for Sauber, and in Hungary, the crash-prone Italian was at it again when he seriously bent Kevin Magnussen’s car during FP1.

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RICCIARDO: TOO MANY DNFS AND INCONSISTENCY

Daniel Ricciardo has aimed a well-aimed barb at Renault when summing up his 2017 season which was plagued with problems, most of them engine related, and is hoping that next season he will have a more reliable car at his disposal.

The big smiling Red Bull driver finished fifth this season but recorded six DNFs, three of these in the last four races of the season and engine related.

Writing in his column, Ricciardo reflected, “It was a pretty grisly way to end the season, and when it finishes like that with no decent results from the last few, there’s a tendency to think it was average. But I went back through all the races in my head over the last week, and it was pretty good in parts, really strong at some stages.”

“I won a race, I had runs of five and three podiums in a row, held off Lewis to get third in Austria … there was some good stuff there.”

“It was very up and down though, and the DNF’s hurt both Max and me – we had 13 between us, Mercedes had just one with Bottas in Spain and Ferrari had five, and the crash at the start in Singapore was a big factor there. Too many for us, really.”

“There was too much inconsistency for me to call it an amazing season or a bad one. The reliability was inconsistent and for me, in qualifying – I put in some of my standard laps.”

“But there were other times where we were left scratching our heads like Mexico, where I was fastest on Friday and then a second off pole on Saturday. Still doesn’t completely make sense now, that one.”

The question of his future has grabbed a substantial chunk of column inches, especially in the wake of teammate Max Verstappen extending his deal with the team until 2020.

Ricciardo acknowledged, ” I guess Max re-signing with the team took the focus off him and sent it in my direction. It hasn’t been a distraction yet, but the longer it takes, the more people will ask the same questions 200 different ways – and I’ll need to come up with different ways to answer them the same way!”

“So where do things stand? The short answer is that there’s absolutely no rush, and things can take as long as they take – I’m not setting a deadline for anyone else’s sake, or just to get it done for me. I’m not just going to settle on something because I want it to be off my mind because there’s a lot at stake.”

“It’s a big decision for me, so if I need to take time to make it, I will. I’m planning on being in the sport for a long while yet, but in saying that, if I was to sign, say, a three-year deal, that’s a big chunk of the next part of my career.”

“I need to get it right, so it’s a big call – the most important one for me yet, I think. I’ll take as much time as I need to. It’s not going to be a distraction.”

“I’m 29 next year and the next deal will take me into my 30s, so it’s not like I’m the young unproven kid who’ll sign anything just to get on the grid, or at the other end of my career when I’m hanging on and doing things year by year.”

“You look at Lewis and when he did his Mercedes deal, he was the same age as I am now if I remember correctly. He was already doing very well where he was, but his career has really taken off since then. So, there’s a lot to consider.”

“Having the chance to be able to fight for something really meaningful – races, championships – that’s the absolute priority. It’s not even close.”

“Being in the position to make the decision is something cool, something unusual, and something where I feel like I’ll probably learn a lot. No matter what happens, it’ll be a growing experience for me because it’s something I’ve not been through.”

“It’ll be nice to stand on my own two feet and make some grown-up decisions. Maybe even act like an adult! It’s all part of the evolution, I’m told…” added Ricciardo.

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ABITEBOUL: SAINZ HAS BROUGHT LOTS OF ENERGY AND MOTIVATION

Renault had their eye on Carlos Sainz for most of this year and finally managed to get him into the team from Toro Rosso for the four last races of the season, in the short space of time the Spaniard impressed his new boss Cyril Abiteboul.

In an interview Abiteboul revealed, “[Carlos] has clearly brought lots of energy, he’s brought his motivation, his willingness to continue to progress and to continue to show what he’s capable of outside of the sort of Red Bull environment which is a very good environment but sometimes also a strong environment for a driver to cope with.”

“So he’s done that, he’s also scored some points. But also he’s shown some very useful directions for the development for next year because he’s coming from a different environment. He was capable of bringing some ideas, suggestions.”

“He’s got a very good understanding of the mechanics of the car, the fundamentals of the car – and it’s coming at a time when things were not complete for next year, so that’s very useful and we are happy to have made that decision.”

“Pit stops have been one of the two big problems for the team this year, as well as reliability. That’s one of the focuses of the winter. We are changing the organization a bit to really focus on that. The wheel nuts for next year are already designed because we don’t want any of that anymore,” added Abiteboul.

Indeed Sainz was forced to retire at the season finale when he was sent out after his pitstop during the race with a loose wheel.

Sainz’s loan deal with Renault runs for 2018, with Red Bull keeping their options open for the 23-year-old should Daniel Ricciardo decide to depart the energy drinks outfit at the end of 2018 when his contract runs out.

Should this be the case Sainz is likely to partner Max Verstappen at Red Bull for 2019 and beyond.

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Robert Kubica out of the running for Williams seat - Report

Robert Kubica's sensational Formula 1 return looks increasingly unlikely to happen, at least in 2018, with Williams now leaning toward Sergey Sirotkin.

It's believed Kubica is no longer in the running, meaning Williams are set to choose between Sirotkin, Paul di Resta and back-up Daniil Kvyat, though the former is very much the favourite option given the substantial financial backing the Russian brings.

Although Kubica had been the preferred option prior to his recent Abu Dhabi outing for the team, sources suggest the Polish driver doesn't meet the performance levels Williams expected, with Sirotkin outpacing him during the test.

It's believed Kubica's outright performance was also the reason Renault chose to chase Carlos Sainz as a late-season replacement for Jolyon Palmer, despite Kubica's multiple tests with the French manufacturer.

22-year-old Sirotkin, who most recently held a Renault reserve role, brings backing worth an estimated $20 million (£15m) from SMP Racing.

Kubica could now head back to the World Endurance Championship where he secured a seat before pulling out ahead of the season opener in order to chase his dream F1 return.