Mercedes taking legal action against Ferrari-bound engine engineer, Ecclestone insists 2016 US GP is on, Alonso swaps four wheels for two
F1 Gossip Column
Mercedes taking legal action against Ferrari-bound engine engineer, Ecclestone insists 2016 US GP is on, Alonso swaps four wheels for two
Mercedes are suing one of their engineers for allegedly taking confidential documents and data as he prepared to join Ferrari, according to Bloomberg.
Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains are suing Ferrari-bound Benjamin Hoyle, who is alleged by the team to have searched for and saved files including a race report from the 2015 Hungarian GP, mileage and damage data relating to Mercedes’ F1 engines and files containing code required to decrypt raw race data files.
Hoyle informed the world champions last May that he would resign when his contract expired at the end of 2015, with Mercedes later learning that he intended to join rivals Ferrari. Mercedes are reportedly seeking the return of all documents and information, payment of legal fees, and wants to block Hoyle from joining Ferrari or any other F1 team until after the 2016 season.
"Legal action is underway involving Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains Ltd. and an employee," Mercedes said in a statement. "The company has taken the appropriate legal steps to protect its intellectual property." (Full story – external site).
Lewis Hamilton took in a Toronto Raptors NBA game against the LA Lakers on Monday night.
Bernie Ecclestone has told Sky Sports News HQ that the United States GP will go-ahead at the Circuit of The Americas in 2016.
The race appeared on the FIA’s official calendar with an asterisk, marking it as provisional and “subject to agreement with the promoter and the ASN” after the circuit lost some of its backing from the Texas State government.
However, Ecclestone told Sky’s Craig Slater: “It will be. For sure. They will sort their finances out.”
Fernando Alonso has admitted he has been caught by surprise by the warning issued to Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg by Mercedes given the team have such an advantage at the front of the grid.
“It’s difficult for us to comment on things with other teams because we don’t know the situation on the inside but they have been dominating the sport for the last two years so it is a little bit strange they are having any issues,” the McLaren driver told Sky Sports News HQ. “I would have expected them to have more issues when they are not winning but right now they should enjoy and keep everything as it is because they are dominating the sport.”
Mercedes are ‘torn’ on reconciling the perceived ‘baggage of Lewis Hamilton’s off-track behaviour with his peerless driving on it, according to a report in The Times.
The newspaper quotes an unnamed team principal explaining:
“Lewis is a complicated mix of self-confidence and insecurity. He has this incredible focus, so that whatever he is doing outside, he can turn up, get in the car and do his job.
“But he drives for a team that is torn now between what he does on the track and what he does off it. There is a Teutonic streak of correctness at the highest levels in Mercedes and they don’t like what they are seeing at the moment. One senior executive told me no one is irreplaceable – and that includes Lewis.”
Fernando Alonso swapped four wheels for two at the weekend at the Honda owned Twin Ring Motegi, the venue of the Japanese MotoGP.
The Spaniard was attending 'Honda Racing Thanks Day 2015' and was joined by MotoGP starts Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa. Alonso also drove the 1991 McLaren-Honda MP4-6.
Renault aim to complete their takeover of Lotus by December 16 and pay creditors, including Britain's tax authorities, by the end of the year the High Court heard on Monday.
The Lotus v HMRC case was thus adjourned for a further two weeks. (Full story)
World champion Lewis Hamilton was conspicuous by his absence from the Autosport awards despite being crowned Winner of the International Racing Driver of the Year and Winner of the British Competition Driver of the Year.
His cited reason for missing the event?
An audience with United States of America President Barack Obama...
Nico Hulkenberg enjoyed a successful evening at the Autosport Awards in London on Sunday night...
Former Williams chairman Adam Parr has savaged the FIA’s decision to ratify Ferrari’s engine deal with Toro Rosso for 2016 in which Red Bull’s junior outfit will be supplied with a year-old supply of Scuderia power units. ‘Now it is official. F1 power brokers can supply year-old engines,’ tweeted Parr. ‘They decide who gets to compete. How is this a sport?’
Lewis Hamilton was officially crowned F1 world champion for 2015 when he collected his winner's trophy at the FIA's prizegiving gala in Paris on Friday night
Max Verstappen was awarded 'Rookie of the Year', 'Action of the Year' and 'Personality of the Year' at the FIA's prizegiving gala
Toro Rosso have confirmed they will use 2015-spec Ferrari engines in 2016 and that Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz will be retained as their drivers.
'Because of the last minute nature of the decision relating to our power unit supply for next year, the team will use the very last specification used in the 2015 season,' said the team. 'We can also count on Carlos and Max who, after being confirmed for the 2016 season, will be able to translate all this year's learnings and experience into additional valuable feedback throughout the season.' (Full story)
Will Renault be able to match their F1 achievements from the past in their third stint as a team owner?
Having insisted that his relationship with Nico Rosberg wasn’t causing any problems at Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton has put a new slant on intra-team relations at the world champions by accusing his team-mate of complaining too much.
“You have seen [Rosberg] complains about a lot of things but you let it go over your head because that’s the way he is,” Hamilton told the BBC.
Hamilton has also suggested that the pair’s contrasting driver styles are a product of their upbringing.
“It’s kind of the different background we come from, I guess. You can’t be nice out there and go, ‘Hey, here’s some space’.
“I mean business. I’m not here to make friends, to finish the race and say ‘Hey, that was a lovely race, chap’. You were so friendly with me, you let me win.’”
The first pictures from the year-closing tyre test at Abu Dhabi have been released. (Full story)
After months of anticipation, Red Bull have confirmed they will run TAG Heuer-branded Renault engines next year with their car to be called the Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer RB12. (Full story)
Lotus' drivers of the immediate past and future have reacted positively to confirmation from Renault they will be returning to F1 as a full works outfit by buying the Enstone team.
'Bienvenue Renault! Fantastic to be a part of Renault's return as a factory team. The work starts now to get back to the glory days!' tweeted Jolyon Palmer.
And the driver Palmer is replacing, the Haas-bound Romain Grosjean, also gave the news a social media thumbs-up:
'Really happy for all my friends at Enstone.... Great news for the team!' the Frenchman told his Twitter followers. (Full story)
Lewis Hamilton revealed he removed the clause in his Mercedes contract prohibiting him from taking part in 'dangerous sport' in order to take part in more activities outside of F1, such as skiing.
"I took the dangerous sport clause out of my contract and I try to do it with a nice balance," he told BBC Radio. "I don't want to go through my whole Formula 1 career only driving, but of course I don't want to be sitting watching someone else drive my car. So I am very, very cautious when I do that, but I am crazy."
McLaren have revealed pictures of the MP4 - X concept car.
'It looks visually striking, but it is beneath the skin where the changes are most apparent,' say McLaren.
'MP4-X is designed to harness alternative power sources; the chassis changes shape to adapt to different aerodynamic demands; and it can communicate in the event of a failure or a problem'. (Full story - McLaren website)
Former BAR boss David Richards was a guest on the F1 Midweek Report this week and says he isn't interested in a return to the paddock as a team principal.
“I’ve done my stint in Formula 1.
“I don’t rule out being involved in some form or other, but you look at the number of races next year, you look at the commitment you have to make in terms of the travelling…
“I always describe Formula 1 to someone by saying ‘well, I can imagine turning the clock back to the crusades and if it’s as if you went off on your horse in January and February and came back in December from the Middle East, and wherever you’ve been for all that period of time, and you came back to the wife and kids’.
Is this a hint from Red Bull about how their Renault engine will be branded next year?
With a message of 'Swiss Engineering to close the gap next season. @TAGHeuer #DontCrackUnderPressure' on their Twitter account, the former world champions have posted this picture on their official account:
The FIA have confirmed a mammoth 21-race calendar for 2016. The season is bolstered by the return of Germany and a new race in Azerbaijan dubbed the European GP. However, there is uncertainty over the US GP, with the race listed as provisional. (Full story)
Toto Wolff has warned Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg they could be dropped by Mercedes unless they improve their behaviour with the Silver Arrows boss wary of the discord between his warring drivers hurting the team. (Full story)
Pirelli have confirmed they intend to hold another tyre test, focusing on wet-weather running, at the Paul Ricard circuit in France on January 25 and 26. Meanwhile, Manor have calculated that following Tuesday's year-ending test at Abu Dhabi, their two cars completed a total of 44,798 kilometres on track this year.
Daniel Ricciardo couldn't hide his excitement at the end of the 2015 season, bursting into dance. Instagram
McLaren chief Ron Dennis says Kevin Magnussen was dropped by the team after failing to reach the targets he had been set. (Full story)
Mercedes reserve driver Pascal Wehrlein will test for GP2 newcomers Prema Power Team in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday. The German won the DTM title in 2015 and previously told Sky Sports he hoped to secure an F1 seat in 2016. GP2 could be an option for Wehrlein next year as the calendar would make it easy for him to continue with his reserve role with Mercedes.
Elsewhere, Formula Renualt 3.5 champion Oliver Rowland will also be in action at the test, driving the ART car with which Stoffel Vandoorne won the GP2 title this year. (Full line-ups - external site)
Red Bull’s Christian Horner says the name of the team’s engine in 2016 will anger McLaren boss Ron Dennis.
The former champions are expected to run a base Renault unit and develop it themselves. However, it is unlikely the engine will be badged as a Renault.
“I know that I have an agreement for a supply of an engine next year,” Horner told the BBC.
“Wait and see what it is called, it will be something quite good, I don’t think Ron Dennis will be too happy, but then he has not been very happy recently.”
Current sponsor Infiniti have been mooted as a potential engine name. The company are owned by Nissan, who in turn are part owned by Renault, and as a Japanese firm that would see them competing against Dennis’ Honda engines at McLaren.
However, another possibility that could anger the McLaren chief further would be badging the engines as Tag. The watch firm’s Chief Executive Jean-Claude Biver told Swiss magazine L'Hebdo that the long-time McLaren sponsor had signed a deal with Red Bull. Porsche engines were badged as Tag when McLaren won Constructors’ Championships in 1984 and 1985.
Ferrari are expected to radically alter the suspension configuration of their car for 2016.
“Now that Caterham aren’t around, Ferrari are the only team in the pitlane to have the pull-rod front suspension,” reported Ted Kravitz during Sky F1’s coverage of the Abu Dhabi GP. “There are plenty of people thinking ‘well, if it was such a good idea then it would be copied – and it’s not.’ The strong rumour is that Sebastian Vettel supports a return to a push-rod front suspension which he had – and enjoyed – at Red Bull. But it does mean re-engineering the whole of the rest of the car because the way Ferrari had the pull-rod was for aerodynamic reasons and worked with the back of the car as well.”
Sky F1’s Anthony Davidson also explained the difference between the two set-ups:
“Pull-rod is for aerodynamic benefit but you sacrifice mechanical stability and isn’t traditionally the way you would design a car. The push-rod is the classic design but isn’t as aero-friendly.”
Lewis Hamilton spent the night partying following the Abu Dhabi GP with comedian Kevin Hart and rappers Christopher Bridges aka Ludacris and Trey Songz.
McLaren chief Ron Dennis has confirmed he told Red Bull counterpart Christian Horner to 'suck it up' during a feisty exchange at last week's meeting of the F1 commission.
"Those were the words," Dennis acknowledged to Sky F1. "Some of what Christian has been experiencing at the moment is self-inflicted. He's obviously been lobbying hard, as you would expect him to, along different paths to achieve a better position for him and the Red Bull team.
"I understand that, but the real issue is what the teams have to do to make the future of grand prix racing better and we all have, as do the manufacturers in F1, a very strong desire to try and address some of the issues.” (Full story)
Kevin Magnussen will test for the Mercedes DTM team at a three-day test in Jerez this week.
The former McLaren reserve driver was released from his contract earlier in the season and test for the Porsche LMP1 team in Bahrain following the WEC season finale.
He will be joined at the Spanish track by Ferrari junior Raffaele Marciello who has driven for the Scuderia and Sauber in 2015. The 20-year-old will also test the Mercedes-AMG C 63 DTM.
Christian Horner has confirmed that Daniil Kvyat will remain a Red Bull driver in 2016. The Russian made a slow start to life at the senior team, but bounced back to beat team-mate Daniel Ricciardo in the 2015 Drivers' Championship.
“He is under contract and he will be a Red Bull Racing driver," Horner said.
So will Fernando Alonso take 2016 off or won't he? Not so according to Ron Dennis while the Spaniard, having sounded pretty equivocal on the subject when questioned after qualifying for the Abu Dhabi GP, seems to have firmed up his line. “I will be racing [in 2016], 100 per cent,” The Independent quoted the Spaniard after he finished 17th in Sunday's race. “If I had to choose a sabbatical year, I would choose this one.”
Alonso seemed that way inclined during the race, when – running last after being penalised for a first-corner collision with Pastor Maldonado - he threatened to retire his car. “If we don’t have a Safety Car, I will retire the car," he chuntered, albeit without making good on his promise.
One hundred per cent he might be, but Alonso's assertion won't stop all eyes focusing on the first pre-season test of 2016, at Barcelona in February, and the performance of next season's McLaren-Honda. New world endurance champion Mark Webber, for one, said at the weekend that his old mate is a 'ticking bomb'...
Negotiations between Bernie Ecclestone and Renault around the Abu Dhabi GP weekend are believed to have ended positively, heightening expectations that the group will complete their long-awaited takeover of Lotus this week. The anticipated deal had been cast in fresh doubt over a dispute between Renault and Ecclestone about heritage payments, with the F1 supremo reputed to have lowered the payment in response to learning Renault had increased the fee Red Bull will pay for engines from the current fee of 24m euros this year to 30m euros next season.
"The good news about Lotus is that it looks like Renault have come to some sort of agreement with Bernie Ecclestone,” Sky F1’s Ted Kravitz reported during his post-race Abu Dhabi notebook. “What was looking very dodgy at the beginning of the weekend now looks a bit better. The top man from Renault was on the grid giving the thumbs up to Dr Dieter Zetsche from Mercedes.”
According to German publication Auto Motor und Sport, the latest round of talks between Ecclestone and Renault board member Jerome Stoll ended with a ‘compromise’ offer which is expected to be rubber-stamped by chairman and chief executive Carlos Ghosn this week.
McLaren boss Ron Dennis has reiterated Fernando Alonso will partner Jenson Button next season, despite comments he made before qualifying in Abu Dhabi that a sabbatical for the Spaniard was a possibility if their new car didn't represent significant progress.
Speaking to Sky Sports F1, Dennis confirmed: “Fernando’s in the car next year. Somebody asked me whether it was feasible he could have a sabbatical year and I said anything’s feasible; we talk about it being one of the options but the same journalist forgets that I said at the end of it ‘but Fernando and Jenson are driving next year’." (Full story)
After completing his last race for Lotus, the departing Romain Grosjean handed over the keys to his replacement at Enstone Jolyon Palmer. Grosjean will new-comers race for Haas in 2016. Hang on since when did an F1 car have keys?
The Abu Dhabi GP stewards have delivered their response to Mercedes' questions seeking to clarify F1's wind tunnel rules and parts sharing. Essentially, the stewards agree with Mercedes points and have given a tighter interpretation of the rules.
Naturally, it's quite a complex response, but there are a couple of salient lines from the FIA - including the belief that no team has been doing anything wrong.
- "Teams are not allowed to circumvent the purpose or intention of the restrictions by using a third party to carry out aerodynamic testing."
"The stewards confirm that there is no evidence that competitors have not compiled with the requirements of Appendices 6 and 8 as they were interpreted prior to today's date."
- The clarification won't be applied retrospectively.
The definitive decision on whether Fernando Alonso will drive for McLaren during the 2016 season is expected to only be made in late February after the Spaniard tests next year’s McLaren-Honda.
‘All eyes will be on Barcelona on February, when pre-season testing starts,’ states The Mail on Sunday. McLaren chief Ron Dennis hasn’t ruled out the possibility of Alonso taking a year off if the new McLaren-Honda is uncompetitive but according to the newspaper ‘it is probable that Alonso’s sabbatical would turn into retirement’.
Alonso failed to categorically rule out sitting out 2016 during an intense media briefing on Saturday night in Abu Dhabi.
"My aim and plan is to race next year", said the Spaniard before admitting: "I've discussed many ideas, crazy ideas, but not at this point of the year." (Full story)
Jenson Button has admitted he considered walking away from F1 and McLaren when the team’s lack of competitiveness was laid bare earlier in the season.
“There was a moment I thought, ‘I don’t know if l want to do this any more and be where we are’”, Button has conceded to Sky F1
But the Englishman has been persuaded to stay on after McLaren exercised the option on his services for 2016.
The collapse of the long-awaited takeover of the Lotus team by Renault was only averted by last-ditch talks in Abu Dhabi.
Writing in The Sunday Times, Sky F1 analyst Mark Hughes states: 'At the meeting of the F1 commission, Bernie Ecclestone is understood to have withdrawn his agreement to provide Renault with 'historic' bonus payments based upon their world championship titles of 2005 and 2006. This was after it was to revealed to him that Renault plan to charge Red Bull 30m euros for an engine supply in 2016 (up from 24m euros this season). With the bonus payment in jeopardy, Renault were on the verge of pulling out of the Lotus purchase. An announcement to that effect was averted and negotiations continue.'
McLaren boss Ron Dennis has told reporters that it is possible Fernando Alonso could take a sabbatical in 2016 if next year's car isn't an improvement. McLaren are yet to officially confirm Alonso as one of their drivers for next season despite announcing Jenson Button would be staying on two months ago.
"I’m pretty sure that if Alonso sits in that car at the first tests of next year and it isn’t any faster then he won’t be too interested in doing another season," reported Sky F1 pundit Martin Brundle during commentary for qualifying of the Abu Dhabi GP.
But when asked by Sky F1 if he would consider taking a year out, Alonso replied: "No, not really."
In a media briefing later on Saturday night, Alonso also failed to deny that he had previously discussed taking a sabbatical in 2016 with Dennis (Full story)
Red Bull boss Christian Horner has confirmed that the new engine deal the world champions have signed is for one year only
Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene has hinted that Ferrari would be open to reducing the cost of their customer engine supply.
“The customer engine proposal was already rejected by the F1 commission,” he told Sky Sports F1.
“Concerning the future we had a meeting this morning, but we are all in business. Ferrari are in business, Mercedes are in business, Renault are in business, it is not a question of friendship, it is a question of business.
“What we are discussing is to try to reduce the cost of the engine and make the engine of the future more affordable, but in the meantime more effective and powerful to enhance the show.”
Force India have told Sky F1 they expect to know in the next "ten to fourteen days" whether their proposed partnership with Aston Martin will go ahead.
Mercedes have written to the stewards at the Abu Dhabi to seek clarification over what they consider to be a "number of ambiguities" regarding the rules over wind tunnel and CFD testing and outscoring of parts to a third party.
The issue, which will be heard on Saturday, comes amid Haas' technical link-up with Ferrari ahead of the American team's debut in the sport next season. Paddy Lowe wrote to the FIA's Charlie Whiting on October 15 to raise a number of questions regarding the Sporting Regulations, with the FIA race director subsequently saying the matter fell within the jurisdiction of race stewards.
Mercedes spoke with the stewards on Saturday afternoon ahead of final practice, while other teams were also able to make submissions on the matter. "The stewards will endeavour to hand down their decision on the specific matters prior to the start of the race on Sunday," a 33-page document read. (Full story)
Pirelli aren't ruling out the prospect of having to use an F1 car up to 10 years old to carry out their tyre testing for 2017 next season. Ahead of plans to introduce wider tyres and faster cars for the season after next, F1 is currently assessing how best to allow Pirelli to simulate the expected loads which will be produced by the new generation of cars:
"We have information from some teams that believe there are cars from the past years of Formula 1 that would be actively representative in terms of aero loads you can find a solution, although obviously you'd have to change suspension geometry," Pirelli cheif Paul Hembery told reporters in Abu Dhabi.
"Nothing over ten years [old]. There are a few other discussions going on with other solutions, but it's too early to give indications what those are. The first step is the next meeting on the 17th [of December] when there should be a clearer indication of the changes that are going to be made."
Niki Lauda and Toto Wolff have responded to fresh claims that the former world champion is set to leave Mercedes at the end of the season by walking hand-in-hand through the Abu Dhabi paddock (Take a look for yourselves! External site)
The public show of affection between the pair was made after The Daily Telegraph had claimed that a 'widening split between Lauda and Toto Wolff' was poised to result in Lauda quitting the team.
Will Stevens believes he is closing in on a seat with Manor for 2016. "They are the last two seats left on the grid and we are pushing hard to be in one of them. Everything is moving in the right direction," he told Sky Sports F1. (Full story)
“Lewis is a complicated mix of self-confidence and insecurity. He has this incredible focus, so that whatever he is doing outside, he can turn up, get in the car and do his job.
“But he drives for a team that is torn now between what he does on the track and what he does off it. There is a Teutonic streak of correctness at the highest levels in Mercedes and they don’t like what they are seeing at the moment. One senior executive told me no one is irreplaceable – and that includes Lewis.”
'Really happy for all my friends at Enstone.... Great news for the team!' the Frenchman told his Twitter followers. (Full story)
"I understand that, but the real issue is what the teams have to do to make the future of grand prix racing better and we all have, as do the manufacturers in F1, a very strong desire to try and address some of the issues.” (Full story)
"The good news about Lotus is that it looks like Renault have come to some sort of agreement with Bernie Ecclestone,” Sky F1’s Ted Kravitz reported during his post-race Abu Dhabi notebook. “What was looking very dodgy at the beginning of the weekend now looks a bit better. The top man from Renault was on the grid giving the thumbs up to Dr Dieter Zetsche from Mercedes.”
According to German publication Auto Motor und Sport, the latest round of talks between Ecclestone and Renault board member Jerome Stoll ended with a ‘compromise’ offer which is expected to be rubber-stamped by chairman and chief executive Carlos Ghosn this week.