FORMULA 1 - 2015

[MIKA27]

Verstappen raising the bar

Max Verstappen revealed that he is targeting a podium finish for the 2016 Formula 1 season.

The Dutchman made history at the Australian Grand Prix earlier this year, when at 17 years of age, he became the youngest world championship grand prix driver.

The Toro Rosso driver impressed by scoring points in his second race and by notching up two fourth placed finishes. He would go on to finish a respectable 12th in the drivers' standings.

For his efforts, Verstappen picked up three awards at the FIA's season ending gala on the weekend.

However, next year, Verstappen has set his sights on the champagne of the podium.

"I want to do better than this year in every way," the 18-year-old told his website, verstappen.com.

"I want to qualify better, score more points and finish higher. I’m raising the bar a lot so I'm aiming for double the amount of points and a podium.

"As a driver you always want to learn, but you also want to show your speed. I think that I managed to find the right balance, but you can always improve, in every area and it's never done.

"I can still develop as a driver as well as physically but experience is the most important. The latter builds up over time but then it's a case of using it."

[MIKA27]

Haas not racing to make up the numbers

Haas team principal Gunther Steiner is adamant the American outfit is not entering F1 to "be last" on the track.

While many new teams have struggled on their Formula 1 debuts lapping at the back of the field, there is a general belief that Haas could score points in their debut season.

Team owner Gene Haas deferred his outfit's entry for a year to ensure they are ready for Formula 1 which meant more time to work on their package in the wind tunnel.

Haas will race a Dallara chassis powered by a Ferrari engine while Romain Grosjean has been signed as the lead driver and Esteban Gutierrez his team-mate.

"We are not here to be last," Steiner told USA TODAY Sports.

"It sounds almost arrogant, I don't want to be arrogant, but we will not (be) happy being last. Just participating is not what Gene or the team wants to do."

[MIKA27]

Hamilton set for uncomfortable winter after wake-up call

Nico Rosberg has given team-mate Lewis Hamilton a wake-up call following the German's winning spree at the tail end of the season, according to Mercedes technical chief Paddy Lowe.

Whilst Hamilton won ten of the opening 16 races, Rosberg went on to win the final three in dominant fashion, and even claimed six consecutive pole positions.

That has given Hamilton a lot of work to do over the winter to understand why he's suddenly lost his advantage.

"I think Lewis has been given a bit of a wake-up call in the last three races with Nico absolutely on top form," Lowe said on Monday.

"That's given Lewis a bit of an uncomfortable winter."

Lowe continued to praise the job the team have done, in particular their two drivers whose performance he described as faultless.

"What Lewis and Nico do is absolutely tremendous," he added. "The team produced a fantastic car and a fantastic power unit and what Lewis and Nico have done to exploit that has also been tremendous.

"They do an amazing job and the results this year show an incredibly low error rate from the drivers.

"I've worked in the business a long time and know the greatest make mistakes. Those two haven't this year and that is credit to them."

[MIKA27]

Verstappen targets Schumacher’s championships record

Max Verstappen says he aims to reach Michael Schumacher’s record of seven world championship titles.

[MIKA27]

Jordan: F1's manufacturer teams have "too much control"

Former team boss Eddie Jordan believes Formula 1 chiefs should do more to help protect the independent teams.

Against the backdrop of concerns that the influence of the manufacturers in F1 is too significant and is holding back much-needed change, FIA president Jean Todt and commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone have been given a mandate to potentially overhaul grand prix racing.

And Jordan, who delivered race wins with his own private outfit, thinks that more needs to be done to ensure that the needs of smaller outfits are taken into consideration.

“I don't like what is going on,” said Jordan on stage at the Autosport Awards. “I think, with due respect to Mercedes and Ferrari, they have got far too much control.

“Give the control back to the people who love the independent teams because that is the lifeblood of our sport.”

He added: “Bernie Ecclestone, with Brabham and all the things that he did, whether he is loved or hated, I promise you, he knows how to run a grand prix series and a season.

“No disrespect to those great manufacturers, but they do come and go – and it is the independent teams, the likes of Williams, they are our sport. In ten years' time, it is the independent teams that will bring us back.”

[MIKA27]

Brundle: Verstappen reminds me of Schumacher

Former Grand Prix driver Martin Brundle says Max Verstappen possesses the same kind of skills that made Michael Schumacher a Formula 1 star.

Verstappen earned high praise for his debut season over the weekend - picking up three trophies at the FIA prize gala on Friday and being voted Rookie of the Year at the Autosport Awards on Sunday.

And Brundle, who presented Verstappen with the latter trophy, says there are similarities between the Dutchman and his former teammate Schumacher.

"What has impressed me about Max is his confidence," said Brundle on stage at the Autosport Awards.

"He has had a few crashes and some difficult times and somehow he has just rebounded from that.

"It has reminded me of Michael Schumacher crashing Nelson Piquet's spare Benetton at Suzuka [in 1991]. I thought, 'okay, now we will see how good Michael is.'

"Piquet was livid that he had crashed his car and the next lap through 130R, Schumacher was flat out. He was even faster that lap in his own car.

"It is that confidence, self belief and sheer speed - that is what I see in this young man and many others on track."

Brundle added that Verstappen's potential has marked him out as a championship contender in the very near future.

"The feel he has got with the car and the brake pedal - you see his overtaking moves and you think, I wish I had that on my CV. And he is just a teenager!

"I've said he will be in a world championship winning car by the time he is 20 years old, but I think I may have to revise that a little bit.

"I am sure there are a lot of top teams chasing his autograph on a contract."

Risky moves

Verstappen said that the best of his overtaking moves - including the pass on Felipe Nasr at Blanchimont that earned him an FIA award - were down to the fact he did not have the straight line speed to do passes on the straight.

"You need a bit of luck with the positioning and you need to give each other room but it is very difficult to explain how you do it," he said.

"You see the gap and you try to go for it. Some are a bit more risky than others, but if you look at the one from Spa it was very risky.

"But if I had to do it again I would certainly try again. With the top speed we had this season I would try to overtake in the corners."

[MIKA27]

Analysis: Could Amazon be F1's saviour?

Declining television viewing figures are not a new thing for F1, but as alarm bells begin to ring, Jonathan Noble wonders if the answer is delivering the content to the audience in a different way.

Formula 1's season ended more with a whimper than a bang, as the lack of an intense title battle took the edge off the finale in Abu Dhabi.

Indeed, it was another weekend where there seemed plenty more excitement in the paddock than there was on the race track.

The latest Renault developments, Red Bull's engine scenario, the Ferrari/Haas controversy and some Ron Dennis comments about Fernando Alonso and Kevin Magnussen set the gossip machines into overdrive.

Against the backdrop of the short-term intrigue, though, emerged more comments about the overall state of F1, as television viewing figures set some alarm bells ringing about whether or not F1 needed a bit of a wholesale rethink.

In the UK, overnight figures suggested the BBC coverage averaged just 2.21 million viewers, with Sky getting a mere 399,000 for the race slot.

While it was never going to reach the highs of a title showdown, this was the lowest season finale in a decade, and one of the lowest ever races that had taken place in a European timezone.

Germany did not do much better, with reports that audiences there on free-to-air have declined this year – from an average 5.28 million per race in 2013 to 4.2 million now. Abu Dhabi drew less than four million – two million less than 12 months ago.

Against the backdrop of that decline, some in the paddock were murmuring of a sport in crisis. And Alonso himself certainly added to that view when he suggested that the FIA should worry more about declining fan interest than handing out driving penalties.

Red Bull boss Christian Horner said that things were not quite so alarmist, but did concede that a time for action was looming.

"Crisis is a strong word," he said. "There are things that need sorting out for the future. We need strong leadership at any time of uncertainty.

"That is vitally important and we need strong leadership from the commercial rights holder and the governing body, to plot the path of the future that addresses what the fans need and what the fans want to see.

"Because without them, there is no F1. And F1 ultimately has to be a show. It has to be entertainment and it has to appeal to a broad spectrum of fans and spectators."

A new audience

Falling television viewing figures in F1 are nothing new. But what has always been hard to work out was how much of the decline is because fans are bored of watching F1, and how much is simply down to people no longer watching television per se.

It is hard to be exact when separating the two. But, judging by the growth of website audiences in recent years – some of which draw as many unique visitors a month as TV channels get tuning in on Sunday – there would be evidence to suggest that the audience is not disappearing: it just wants its content in a different way.

Indeed, the boom of internet coverage shows that F1 is a sport that can still attract the audiences, albeit ones that log on via laptops, phones and tablets rather than ones to pop down to the newsagent for a newspaper and magazine, or switch on their television religiously.

The challenge that F1 faces therefore is turning that web interest and engagement into the revenue that can sustain and even expand the sport longer term. For it is the old television business model that is still paying the big bucks, and the Internet is in effect still wild west territory: delivering no help for the bottom line.

And however much fans would love to be able to log on to the official F1 website and watch live HD streaming coverage, with exclusive interviews, onboards and analysis, to do so would be a business folly for Ecclestone.

He cannot breach exclusive rights that networks have in some territories, and it makes no sense for him to give away content that people will pay for.

It would be like running an expensive restaurant, and then wondering why your top-dollar paying customers are getting upset that you have suddenly decided to give away food for free out the back.

New opportunities

The media marketplace is changing though, and F1 is going to have to plot cleverly how it transitions from its current television business model, where revenues are going to decline over the next few years, to the new era of a full-scale digital platform across all devices.

One paddock insider with good knowledge of that media landscape suggested that the game changer longer term is delivering F1 broadcasts straight to the consumer, without the need to do deals with television networks in individual countries around the world.

"Direct to consumer will open up a huge door," he said. "It would allow a massive amount of information to be delivered direct, and viewer content for that would be massively engaging."

In the perfect world, of course, this would entail F1 fans paying a small monthly subscription to FOM to get access to a new world of digital grand prix entertainment.

This would include next generation HD television coverage on all devices, on-boards from all cars, instant live timing, the best GPS coverage, analysis, second and third screen coverage, and a host of other interactive elements that can draw in a new younger generation of fan.

On the back of that, with FOM in control of its own destiny of coverage, it would have no qualms about being able to unleash the most effective social media content, knowing full well it won't breach anyone else's rights, because it owns them all anyway.

Provide all of that for £2 per month, multiply that by the 400 million viewers F1 has, and suddenly we are into game-changing territory.

The direct-to-consumer concept must certainly be a long-term vision, but it is hard to work out how F1 goes about shifting to that model quickly enough to not make huge losses early on.

First of all, timing out the current television deals will not be so easy because many are staggered, so finish in different years – scuppering the means for a straightforward handover.

Plus, move too quickly to a direct-to-consumer model and the paying audience may not be ready. We have already seen the reluctance of audiences to embrace the pay-TV model in many countries.

What FOM needs in the middle term then is a worldwide digital media platform that is already omnipresent.

One too that has the financial clout and technical capability to deliver the best coverage to an audience that is already there, and one that has consumer already used to paying a small monthly fee for content.

Something exactly like Amazon.

New model

As the world has already seen with Jeremy Clarkson's move away from Top Gear, it was not one of the BBC's television usual rivals that successfully got his signature on a contract. It was Amazon Prime: exactly the kind of global video subscription service that F1 would love to have.

Amazon is already ready for all devices, is already in people's homes, has a global footprint and would be able to roll out in different regions over the long term, while ensuring that rights restrictions are not breached in certain territories.

With the potential numbers it has too, Amazon could easily deliver F1 with the kind of income needed to take it to the next level, replacing that which has come from traditional broadcast rights. More income for FOM equals more income for the teams too.

So what chance, when the big television rights deals – especially in America and the UK – come up for renewal again over the next few years, will it not actually be television networks fighting it for the new deals?

In fact, how much would Ecclestone love a bidding war between Amazon, Netflix and Google for a next generation digital rights deal?

Don't rule it out.

[MIKA27]

How Ferrari returned to the front: A changing of the guard

In the first of three features, let's look at how Ferrari turned its fortunes around this season, starting with the change in personnel and management since 2014.

On paper Ferrari's 2015 season was not spectacular. Three wins, second place in the constructors' championship and several thrashings at the hands of Mercedes is hardly the stuff of Maranello folklore. But statistics don't tell the whole story. Changes at Ferrari since the start of 2014 have been deep and decisive, and crucially those changes have put the team in a position to win races again.

It's easy to forget just how disastrous 2014 was for Ferrari. In a year when a major regulation change pushed engine technology back to the forefront of the sport, Maranello's motoristi got it very wrong. Ferrari's first ever hybrid V6 turbo was hamstrung by packaging demands from the team's aerodynamicists and was estimated to be 50bhp down on the class-leading Mercedes power unit. When the lap time advantage promised in the wind tunnel failed to materialise on track, Ferrari spent most of the season scrapping over minor points rather than podium positions. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari's last world champion, returned to the team ahead of 2014 and was the first to test the car on track. He was somewhat underwhelmed.

"Every year you go out for the first few laps and you get on the power and test the turn-in and you know if it feels right or not," he told ESPN. "After one lap and a few corners you can tell if it's going to be good or, erm, not so good.

"You have numbers and this and that, and no team will come and tell you 'By the way we built a bad car', but sometimes it doesn't work out as they hoped and as the numbers say. We knew that it would not be as good as we hoped at that first test and obviously with the new engines and everything it was also more complicated to correct everything in the right amount of time."

Key to turning the situation around was another returning Ferrari employee, new technical director James Allison. He had worked for the team during the height of its success in the early 2000s with Michael Schumacher, but the car he found upon his return was a far cry from the championship-winning Ferraris of the previous decade.

"It was very clear that even if you made ridiculously optimistic assumptions about what the opposition were doing on those opening days, we were still well behind," he explained. "So from the opening day of winter testing it was clear that we had a lot of work to do. It took us a little bit longer to work out roughly what we should do."

Above Allison in the command chain, Ferrari did not hold back in making changes. The team went through a period of blood-letting, relieving several members of senior management from their positions. No one was sacred and over the year Ferrari parted company with its head of engine design, head of engineering, head of aerodynamics, head of tyres, two team principals (within an eight-month period) and its president of 23 years, Luca di Montezemolo. From the outside it looked like Ferrari was in crisis, but behind the scenes Allison was given the authority to make crucial changes for 2015.

"It was urgent," Allison explained. "It was a very a complicated period because we were busy trying to race a car that was itself struggling and get as much performance into that as we could, but knew that a normal approach of carrying on doing what we were doing was not going to hit it.

"I guess things really took off and really gathered momentum from around May or June of 2014, which was when there were some personnel changes on the Ferrari side."

Allison focused the technical side on rectifying relatively obvious issues with the power unit while breaking new ground with the car's cooling and aerodynamics. With most of the technical changes well underway, the charismatic Maurizio Arrivabene was brought in as team principal to rally the troops at the end of the year. After a season of intense work and nothing but a distant fourth-place finish in the constructors' championship to show for it, Arrivabene's arrival was a breath of fresh air. Raikkonen, who experienced both managements old and new, says it created the basis for the team's success this year.

"All teams are different, they all have a different way of doing things and different characters, but I think this year is the best it has been at Ferrari. It was very good in the beginning when I was last here [between 2007 and 2009], but if I compare it to last year the team is more together, more open and more clear.

"We work as one team with one goal and it's not like one person only wants to be in front of the other. Of course you always want to beat your team-mate, but sometimes you have to look at the big picture and we want to get to the front and when we get there it will be the best driver that wins."

Ultimately the stopwatch does not lie. Over the course of 2014 the fastest Ferrari in qualifying was an average of 1.22 seconds off the fastest Mercedes. This year it has been an average of 0.67s off. In F1 terms it's still a significant chunk of time to be missing, but comparing 2014 to 2015 shows the progress Ferrari has made in a sport measured in thousandths of a second.

"There have been a lot of changes in the team, but changes for the right reason," says Raikkonen. "It's not that we've just changed this and that, it's been done smartly and we are starting to get the benefits from that."

The gap to Mercedes is still big but, under the flamboyant leadership of Arrivabene and working toward Allison's precise targets, the foundations to narrow it are now in place.

The story of Ferrari's season continues tomorrow with a look at how the team dramatically improved its engine performance this year.

[MIKA27]

Perez: Force India could have fought Red Bull and Williams with B-spec

Sergio Perez feels if Force India had begun the 2015 Formula 1 season with the B-specification car it could have fought with Red Bull and Williams for a shot at third in the Constructors' championship.

The Mexican and his team-mate Nico Hulkenberg enjoyed a rapid rise in form since receiving the VJM08B chassis halfway through the year at Silverstone and despite a slight hiccup in Hungary, where Hulkenberg suffered a dramatic front wing failure and Perez was forced to retire on safety grounds, the Force India drivers consistently notched up points finishes.

Perez in particular benefitted from the new car with eight top ten finishes in 11 races, including the highlight of third place at the Russian Grand Prix, and his end of season consistency saw him match the results of Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen and both the Red Bull and Williams drivers.

Based upon his results, Perez feels his team may have had a chance at catching the likes of Red Bull and Williams in the Constructors' championship if they had the B-spec car for the entire season.

Force India missed a chunk of pre-season testing and were forced to start the year with a modified version of its 2015 car due to financial issues.

“I think Williams was generally strong but we would have had a better shot with them and Red Bull,” Perez said. “We spent two races learning about the new specification when you normally have this in winter testing, which wasn't ideal but it is nice to look back and realise that with the tools we were offered we still managed to feel fifth in the championship.

“I am proud of the year and my team. Next year is our big opportunity for the team to move forward.”

With both drivers re-signing with the team for 2016 Perez hopes it can build upon the foundations laid over the second half of 2015 which secured Force India's best ever campaign in F1.

“When you look at what we have done in the second half of the season since the summer break,” he explained. “We have been one of the cars that has scored most of the points, so we could be fourth or fifth if we takes the races after the summer break. I hope we can take the momentum into next year.”

[MIKA27]

Ghosn comments cast doubt on Renault line-up

Pastor Maldonado and Jolyon Palmer may not want to get too comfortable in Renault garb for 2016, if comments attributed to the brand's CEO are to be taken literally.

Maldonado was confirmed as staying with the Lotus team several months ago, with Palmer announced as the replacement for Haas-bound Romain Grosjean ahead of the US Grand Prix. However, with Renault this week confirming that it will take up the Enstone-based team's place on the grid next season, Ghosn appears to have cast doubt on its line-up.

Renault's return as an entrant in its own right – as opposed to being merely an engine partner to the likes of Red Bull Racing – has been a long time coming, with rumours starting earlier in the season but only morphing from tentative confirmation into something more concrete at the start of the week. Ghosn confirmed that there had been a lot of detail to be ironed out before the announcement could be made, but hinted that some of the things Lotus had put in place may not be carried forward – including its drivers, despite both Maldonado and Palmer bringing useful sponsorship to the previously cash-strapped outfit.

"[The deal] required several months of reflection, discussion and negotiation with partners and stakeholders of F1," Ghosn told the French Le Figaro newspaper, "Now we will wait a few weeks… I refer to a meeting in January 2016, when we will explain the organisation, goals, strategy and we will also talk about drivers and partners."

It is far from certain that either Maldonado or Palmer would be replaced, but Ghosn's comments came in response to questions about the inclusion of French talent in the line-up, something the team lost with Grosjean's decision to move to US-based newcomer Haas after the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The former GP2 champion is currently the only Frenchman on the grid, but the likes of Jean-Eric Vergne remain in the wings, the former Toro Rosso star having been linked to the Haas project prior to the confirmation of Esteban Gutierrez as Grosjean's team-mate.

MIKA: Please replace Maldonado!

[MIKA27]

Fernando Alonso should not take F1 sabbatical - Mika Hakkinen

Mika Hakkinen does not believe it would be a good move for McLaren driver Fernando Alonso to take a year out of Formula 1.

At last month's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, McLaren CEO Ron Dennis raised the possibility of Alonso taking a sabbatical in 2016 with the Spaniard confusing the situation by giving conflicting answers on his plans.

Alonso has since said that he will be on the grid with McLaren at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix and added he had spoken to Dennis about the comments and clarified his position.

Hakkinen, champion in 1998 and 1999, decided to take a year's sabbatical from McLaren after slipping down the competitive order in 2001, but he ultimately never returned to F1.

Based on his experience, Hakkinen believes it would be "very difficult" for Alonso, who has just completed the first season of a three-year deal with McLaren, to take a temporary break from F1.

"I personally had the possibility to come back after my sabbatical year but then I recognised that's it, I'm done, I'm happy," said Hakkinen.

"I finished my career winning races and that's a good way to finish your career.

"In Fernando's case, I don't think it's a very good move. You have to keep fighting.

"Once you start the game, you have to keep fighting.

"I think it will be very difficult to go and take a year out."

Hakkinen eventually returned to racing in 2005, beginning a three-year stint in the DTM with Mercedes that included three race wins.

He made one more appearance in contemporary F1 machinery, testing for McLaren in November 2006.

However, he ended that day slowest of the 18 cars in action and three seconds off the pace, and while he was keen for more outings, he opted to concentrate on his DTM programme.

[MIKA27]

BRIATORE: RENAULT NEEDS TO BE COMPETITIVE BECAUSE F1 IS DYING

Flavio Briatore has called on Renault to be ready to make an immediate impact on the “dying” sport when they return to Formula One in 2016.

The French outfit announced last week they had purchased the Lotus F1 Team in preparation for making their re-entry to Formula One in time for the 2016 world championship.

It is believed the French manufacturer hopes to be successful in the world drivers’ championship within three years.

But in an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport, Briatore said that is too long in a sport that is currently “dying”.

After Sebastian Vettel’s four-year domination with Red Bull, Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes have been a class apart the last two years.

“Three years is too long, Formula One is dying and Renault needs to be competitive before then,” said Briatore, who was forced to resign from the ING Renault F1 team in 2009 due to his involvement in race fixing at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.

“In saying that, they need to rebuild everything: reinforce the team’s technical structure in Enstone, where there’s a lot of good people, as well as the engine department at Viry-Chatillon. It won’t be easy.”

Renault’s planned driver line-up for 2016 sees Briton Jolyon Palmer, son of former Formula One driver Jonathan Palmer, succeeding departing Frenchman Romain Grosjean alongside Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado.

Renault chairman Carlos Ghosn said last week: “Renault had two options: to come back at 100 percent or leave. After a detailed study, I have decided that Renault will be in Formula 1, starting 2016.”

Briatore gave the move his backing, adding: “If Ghosn has decided to take this step, it obviously means he will put adequate resources into the project. It’s certainly good news for Renault, and for all of Formula One.”

Associated with the sport since 1977, Renault has two drivers and constructors titles to its name when Fernando Alonso won back to back championships in 2005-06.

[MIKA27]

RENAULT SET TO HONOUR MALDONADO AND PALMER CONTRACTS

Renault’s takeover of Lotus is unlikely to affect next season’s contracted driver lineup of Pastor Maldonado and Jolyon Palmer, the Formula One team’s current chief executive Matthew Carter said on Monday.

Venezuelan Maldonado, who brings substantial sponsorship from state oil company PDVSA, and Britain’s Palmer were both signed before Renault last week publicly confirmed their plan to return as a constructor.

“The contracts have been agreed with Renault,” Carter told Reuters after attending a High Court hearing involving Lotus and the British tax authorities.

“No decision has been made on a third driver, so whether or not they have someone French maybe lined up for that role I don’t know,” he added.

Palmer served as reserve this season and will replace Romain Grosjean in the race seat after the Frenchman moved to the new U.S.-based Haas F1 team.

When announcing the French carmaker’s decision, Renault’s chief executive Carlos Ghosn said that more details about “the aims, the drivers, the strategy and the partners” would be revealed in January.

That was interpreted in some quarters as raising a doubt about the existing lineup but Carter doubted that was the intention.

“As we all know, contracts can be broken if parties particularly want to, but they have both got contracts and therefore I think in January it’s just going to be an announcement of everything,” he said.

“I think there’s going to be team name, driver lineups, colours of car or sponsors etc.

“Pastor and his funds are part and parcel of Renault’s plans certainly for the next 12 months. I think the two drivers will be as we think,” he added.

[MIKA27]

Ecclestone expecting F1 sale ‘in the next few months’

If current F1 owner CVC Capital Partners is to exit its involvement in the sport, Bernie Ecclestone expects the decision to come ahead of the 2016 season.

While there have been similar rumours of a change of ownership in the past, the F1 supremo appeared more confident that ever as he told German business publication Handelsblatt that there were several prospective replacements waiting in the wings.

"I think [CVC] will make up their mind in the next few months, and I hope that, before the start of the 2016 championship in March, we will have decided if we sell -- or not," Ecclestone said, confirming that, with a reported $8bn price tag, the market was a limited one, "There are probably only four people who could buy it - only they have the amount of money."

The report listed Miami Dolphins' owner Stephen Ross, clothing industry billionaire Lawrence Stroll – whose son, Lance, recently signed on as a development driver with Williams – international broadcast/telecom giants Sky and Liberty and Qatar's sports investment arm as potential suitors for CVC.

CVC currently holds a controlling stake of 35.5 per cent stake, with US investment groups BlackRock and Waddell & Reed, and Norway's Norges Bank, as well as Ecclestone himself among the other shareholders. Ecclestone remained tight-lipped on whether he would be looking to off-load his 5.3 per cent stake, or whether he would be looking to retain the overseer role he has held in the sport for the past four decades.

[MIKA27]

WOLFF: HAMILTON’S LIFESTYLE IS NO PROBLEM AS LONG AS HE PERFORMS

Toto Wolff has rubbished reports it could be Lewis Hamilton’s off-track lifestyle that costs the triple world champion his seat at Mercedes.

The Times newspaper quoted an unnamed team principal as warning that Mercedes also has deep misgivings about Hamilton’s off-track lifestyle.

“They (Mercedes officials) don’t like what they are seeing at the moment,” the boss, who has reportedly known Hamilton since he was a child, said. “One senior executive told me no one is irreplaceable”, the unnamed chief added.

Wolff, however, scoffed at the suggestion that Hamilton’s extravagance, constant continent-hopping and increasingly ‘rapper’-like lifestyle will be the trigger for the Briton’s exit.

“We tend to put people in a box and you try to imagine how a perfect racing driver should be, how they should be in bed at 10 o’clock and not partying or flying around,” he told the Times. “As long as he performs in the car, there is not a problem.”

However the Mercedes team boss warned after the Abu Dhabi finale recently that the constant bickering and ill-feeling between Hamilton and teammate Nico Rosberg either stops or the team will have to rethink its driver lineup.

Wolff reiterated his stand-point to Sky, “If it were to become detrimental to the team that would mean that we would not maintain the long-term set-up in the team with the drivers.”

“It’s very important to keep the spirit within the team, and the competition between Nico and Lewis has been very fierce, very competitive at times. It’s understandable because they are fighting in a car that is capable of winning the championship against each other,” added Wolff.

Hamilton wrapped up the 2015 F1 world title with three races to spare, but since then he has failed to win a race while Rosberg has bagged three in a row which has only served to further fuel the animosity that prevails between the pair.

[MIKA27]

BOTTAS: I WAS NOT VERY HAPPY WITH MY SEASON

Williams driver Valtteri Bottas has admitted that he is “not very happy” with how his 2015 season panned out.

In the end, the Finn out-scored his teammate Felipe Massa for the second year running, but many believe it was the back-in-form Brazilian’s performance alongside Bottas that deterred Ferrari from signing him up.

“I was not very happy with my season, honestly,” the 26-year-old admitted to UOL Esporte. “I had bad luck in several races and I often could not extract 100 per cent from the car. In the last few races it improved, some things changed and I started to feel better in the car.”

He said he has learned he has an important role to play in helping to set the direction of car development, “As a driver, I have to be as honest and direct as possible with my feedback. I have to push the team to always improve, telling them clearly what I think is the best.

“But things do not happen from one moment to the next and I’m still willing to help the team improve, because I think next year we will have a much stronger car and a much better performance than this season,” he added.

However, Williams – as in 2014 – still finished a laudable third overall in the constructors’ championship behind only Mercedes and Ferrari.

But Mika Hakkinen, who is involved in Bottas’ management, thinks Bottas is justified in being disappointed with 2015.

“It is clear that a driver is disappointed when he does not improve compared to the previous season,” said the former double world champion.

“The competitiveness of Williams was not quite as good as last year,” Hakkinen told his sponsor Hermes in an interview, “but the third place in the constructors’ championship was nice for the team.

“I know that Williams is more than satisfied with Valtteri’s work,” he added. “Patience is a virtue and for him it will be rewarded.”

[MIKA27]

ALONSO WILL NOT DROP MCLAREN FOR RENAULT MOVE

Former team boss Flavio Briatore has dismissed suggestions Fernando Alonso might be considering a sensational return to lead Renault’s latest works effort in F1.

The Enstone based team Lotus has already announced its driver lineup for 2016, with the heavily sponsor-backed Pastor Maldonado and Jolyon Palmer all signed up. But that team has subsequently been bought by Renault.

Earlier in serious financial trouble, Lotus chief executive Matthew Carter faced a London court on Monday where the team risked being placed into administration over unpaid tax bills.

The Morning Star newspaper said the judge gave Lotus a two-week adjournment, with Renault pledging to complete the buyout by next Wednesday.

The carmaker will then pay off Lotus’ other debts, which could mean the team is no longer so reliant on the backing brought by Maldonado and Palmer. Not only that, Renault might want different drivers at the wheel.

“We will wait a few weeks,” Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn told Le Figaro newspaper. “I refer to a meeting in January 2016, when we will explain the organisation, goals, strategy and we will also talk about drivers and partners.”

Speaking outside court on Monday, Carter – whose own Renault-branded future is in doubt – said he thinks the contracts with Maldonado and Palmer will be honoured.

So amid recent reports that Spaniard Alonso’s future at struggling McLaren-Honda is not certain, rumours had then emerged that he may now return to Renault, where he won his back-to-back titles a decade ago.

But Briatore, the former Renault team boss who remains involved with Alonso’s management today, told La Gazzetta dello Sport, “Right now I rule that out. We have a contract with Honda.”

“Fernando will not be happy with the way the season went but I think only Hamilton and Rosberg are. And looking ahead to next year, I think it will not be easy for Renault,” Briatore added.

Having said that, Briatore played down claims Ghosn – known in the industry for being a hefty cost-slasher – will not put adequate resources into Renault’s new works project, “When I was there our every request was met.”

Briatore did however express some alarm at Ghosn’s claim that returning to the very top in F1 will take three years, arguing that “This F1 that is dying needs a very strong Renault before then”.

“It is true that everything must be rebuilt, including the technical structure at Enstone,” Briatore added. “It will not be easy.”

The biggest problem, the Italian continued, is Mercedes’ huge advantage with its power unit, “Renault was the big proponent of this new formula and they underestimated the impact.”

“The trouble is that Mercedes has a great advantage and I fear that next year the championship will follow the same pattern as the one just ended,” predicted Briatore.

[MIKA27]

MERCEDES SUES F1 ENGINEER FOR ESPIONAGE

Formula 1 world champion team Mercedes on Tuesday confirmed reports that they are suing an engineer for passing on information to Ferrari.

The Bloomberg news agency claimed the engineer Benjamin Hoyle, working for the German marque’s F1 engine facility, took documents and data as he prepared to move to Ferrari.

Hoyle, who intends to join Ferrari after December, saved a 2015 Hungarian grand prix race report, engine data and code to decrypt race data, the report said.

“Mr Hoyle and potentially Ferrari have gained an unlawful advantage,” a filing, echoing an earlier espionage scandal in F1 involving McLaren and Ferrari, reportedly reads.

Mercedes is seeking to stop Hoyle’s move to Ferrari or any other team.

Mercedes confirmed: “Legal action is underway involving Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains Ltd and an employee. The company has taken the appropriate legal steps to protect its intellectual property.”

[MIKA27]

PEREZ EXPECTS HAAS TO CHALLENGE FORCE INDIA

Sergio Perez has backed Force India to rise to the “huge task” of continuing to raise its game in Formula 1, but admits he is wary of the threat from the new Haas F1 Team.

Teammate Nico Hulkenberg may have been the high-profile Le Mans winner, but it was Mexican Perez who shone the brightest in 2015 for the Silverstone based team. Force India finished the championship an impressive fifth overall.

“That we were fifth even before the debut of the B car, when Lotus was better than us, strengthened my confidence in the team, which is why I decided to stay,” Perez told Auto Motor und Sport.

He also said he raised his own game in 2015, “In 2012 I was on the podium three times, which was special, but I was much more consistent this year than I was then.”

So what can Force India, with one of the smallest budgets on the grid, do next?

F1 business journalist Christian Sylt wrote in the Express newspaper that owner Vijay Mallya is “negotiating and discussing” a new naming rights deal with Aston Martin, the iconic luxury British carmaker. And Perez says the team wants to keep getting better.

“This is a huge task for a small team like us, to take on teams like Williams and Red Bull. I also expect more from some of our other opponents next season. McLaren, for example, and Toro Rosso, and we also must not underestimate Haas,” he said.

“This [Haas] is not really a new team. With their connection to Ferrari, they will be a challenger from the beginning,” said Perez.

[MIKA27]

Button impressed by Hamilton season

Former World Champion Jenson Button said Lewis Hamilton’s performance during the 2015 Formula One season was noteworthy, primarily because he had been consistent throughout the campaign.

Hamilton won ten races in 2015 and was crowned the World Champion with three races to spare. Hamilton’s performances were emphatic and he did not lift his foot off the pedal, for one moment – pun intended.

“This year he’s just been touchable. He’s driving the quickest car, but when you look at his consistency this year he has done an unbelievable job,” Button told Sky Sports F1.

“That is just confidence in himself, confidence in the team and certain drivers need different things to go quickly and be consistent,” added Button, acknowledging Hamilton’s achievements this season.

During his tenure at McLaren, Button raced alongside Hamilton, after a move which he said was sparked by the desire to compete against the best that the sport had to offer at the time. While Button felt he was better than Hamilton in certain facets of the sport, he does acknowledge that his compatriot’s talent was most apparent even then.

“Our years together were interesting because he was still unbelievably quick, but I could beat him in many ways because I was stronger in many ways out of the car and also in the car,” explained Button.

“So it was interesting to watch him over those three years and also see how he has changed since,” said Button.

One aspect in which Button might feel he is better perhaps is establishing relationships fellow Formula 1 drivers.

“In terms of Lewis as a person, I don’t know him really well and I don’t think there are really any drivers that know Lewis that well,” said Button, suggesting that it was not necessarily a bad thing, considering the nature of the sport that they are in.

“He’s quite a private person in terms of with us. Every time we talk he is very nice, very friendly, as he should be, we are doing the same thing and we are at the pinnacle of what we love.”

[MIKA27]

Track limits, more testing and other changes among new 2016 rules

Among the changes in the F1 regulations for the 2016 season are tighter rules on track limits and a provision for more tyre testing.

The FIA has published the sporting regulations for 2016 which include a major overhaul of the tyre rules described previously.

In a further change, in order to give Pirelli greater scope to test new tyres for 2017, the FIA now has the power to arrange up to six two-day tests during the season “for the sole purpose of providing the [tyre] supplier with the chance to test improvements to the design of their tyres”.

Also from next year drivers will have to treat F1 run-off areas with more respect. The rules now require them to “make every reasonable effort to use the track at all times” and states they “may not deliberately leave the track without a justifiable reason”.

Drivers who cause a delay forcing an extra formation lap will have to start from the pit lane. When a race is resumed following a stoppage, drivers will be allowed to overtake behind the Safety Car to re-establish their original starting position except if they were moved into the slow lane after the 15-second signal.

A further change to the race weekend sessions concerns the Virtual Safety Car, which can now be used in practice sessions (including qualifying) as well as the race.

Power units and safety innovations

F1’s power units have been the focus of further rules changes intended to allow teams to pre-2016 engines next year, as Toro Rosso will do.

“Any manufacturer who homologated a power unit during the 2014-2020 period may also apply to the FIA to re-use such a power unit in a given team, to the same specification, and without going through the re-homologation process,” notes the 2016 rule book.

Two new steps are being taken to improve the quality of data gathered in the event of a crash. Each car will be fitted with a special high-speed camera which must be used at all race weekends and all multi-car tests. Drivers will have to wear FIA-specified in-ear accelerometers to measure the forces they are subjected to.

The race weekend curfews will be extended as needed to ensure that the amount of unrestricted time available is never more than nine hours. Provisions have also been made for the summer factory shutdown to be reduced from 14 days to 13 if the period between two consecutive races falls from 24 days to 17 – potentially paving the way for a shorter summer break.

[MIKA27]

Tech Analysis: First look at F1's 'fastest ever' 2017 cars

Formula 1's 2017 cars are set to deliver more downforce than any other time in the sport's history, according to early data produced by the teams.

Motorsport.com's technical editor Giorgio Piola has drawn the above impression of what the new cars will look like – featuring the wider wings and tyres that have been a hallmark of the concept.

Early indications suggest that the cars will produce around 30 percent more downforce than the current 2015 challengers – which are already close to delivering at historic peaks.

It is estimated that drag levels will only increase by 10 percent too – contributing to the step forward in speed that was the key motive for the new design.

Wider machines

Although some details of the cars may yet be changed, the basic dimensions have been agreed by teams following months of discussions.

The tyres will be wider, going up to 300mm at the front (from 245mm) to 400mm at the rear (from 325mm).

The overall width of the car will increase from 1.8 metres to 2m, with the nose of the car being 20 centimetres longer.

The front wing will be 180cm and more rounded, with the rear wing widening from 80cm to 95cm – and being lowered to just 80cm from the ground.

Downforce will also be boosted by a much larger diffuser, which goes back to the kind of performance that was delivered prior to the 2014 regulations.

The flat bottom will end 33cm in front of the rear axle – rather than in line with it as happens now. It will also be deeper – 22 centimetres high rather than the 12.5cm we have now.

There will also be more scope for design innovation around the sidepods, with strict rules on the floor dimensions.

Harder to drive

The ultimate aim of the design is not only to make the cars faster, but also much more difficult to drive.

Williams performance chief Rob Smedley said recently that he was in no doubts the current cars were not challenging enough for drivers.

“They are a lot easier to drive, without a doubt. They are significantly easier to drive,” he said.

When asked if the challenge of harder cars was vital, he said: “I think it is important probably from a sport entertainment point of view.

“If the cars are too easy to drive, then perhaps we don't see the difference between the naturally talented driver and a mediocre driver.

“They are not as physically demanding, the braking points are a lot earlier, corner speeds and techniques are slower and easier respectively.

"So I think whether or not it is a good thing or a bad thing, you have to answer from that point of view. Are we seeing the difference between the drivers we should be seeing?”

[MIKA27]

How Ferrari returned to the front: The engine

In the second of three features on Ferrari's 2015 season, let's look at how the team unlocked a big improvement in performance from its engine.

In order to fully appreciate the progress Ferrari made with its power unit this year, it helps to understand the importance of efficiency under the current regulations. Formula One's V6 turbo hybrids have been criticised since they first started testing in 2014, yet they are remarkable pieces of engineering. After years of running high-revving, naturally-aspirated V8s and V10s, F1 took on the challenge of making something more frugal. What it ended up with was some of the most efficient engines ever made in terms of power per fuel consumption.

"Generally speaking, if you want to find efficiency in a combustion engine you tend to look at diesel engines on huge ships that go at 100rpm or something," Ferrari technical director James Allison explained to ESPN. "They are so slow that they have very little friction and they are so steady in the way that they operate that they can be set up to work on one cycle for optimum efficiency. They work like that for days on end without anyone touching them and they have great big heat recovery plants the size of a house.

"That's the sort benchmark for a thermally efficient internal combustion engine and we've got these little screaming V6s that don't just sit there at 100rpm, they zap up and down, go round laps and fight with one another on the track. Yet they are as efficient, in fact you could argue more, than this one-purpose, solely-designed-for-fuel-efficiency engine that has got, on the face of it, a lot more in its favour than what we do. It's very, very impressive that these little racing engines can achieve that level of fuel efficiency."

Of course, beating a ship engine for efficiency is not what Ferrari set out to do over the winter, its target was to close the 50 bhp gap to rivals Mercedes. Yet the strict fuel flow limit in F1's regulations means the only way to unlock more power is to get more energy from the fuel at your disposal.

"It's a really strange formula to get your head round," Allison adds. "I've often seen non-F1 engineers look at me like they don't believe me when I tell them this, but everyone thinks more power means more fuel consumption, but this set of rules is absolutely not set up that way. More power means less fuel consumption in this sport. The way you get more power is by making a power unit that has less fuel consumption.

"Everybody's fuel flow is limited to the same value and every single car on the grid is going down the straight with their fuel pump pumping at exactly the same number of kg per second, so with that fixed fuel flow, the more efficient the engine is the more horsepower you deliver to the wheels.

"The more horsepower you deliver to the wheels, the less time you spend on the straight because you get to the end of the straight quicker and that means the less time you spend at the full fuel flow on the straight and the less fuel you consume.

"So fuel efficiency delivers you lap time in two ways, it both gives you the normal thing of extra horsepower at the wheels but also you the added benefit that you use less fuel. That means at some of the races that are very tough on fuel consumption, you are not having to lift off at all.

"A less powerful engine, a less efficient engine, will have to lift off at the end of the straight to save fuel, whereas a car with an efficient engine can keep the foot planted until the end of the straight. This formula is all about efficiency and that is what it was designed to achieve."

Early in 2014 Ferrari already knew where its power unit's inefficiencies were. A decision to prioritise aerodynamic packaging at the rear of the car meant the team compromised some aspects of the engine, including the turbocharger and the MGU-H part of the energy recovery system. It had been a conscious decision in an attempt to maximise downforce, but it did not pay off and left the team a long way off the pace at most circuits.

A ban on in-season engine development in 2014 meant Ferrari was stuck with its decision all year, but it could start making sure it rectified the issues for 2015. Alongside improvements to the internal combustion engine, a larger turbocharger was fitted, which in turn produced more energy for the MGU-H to recover. More energy for the MGU-H meant more power to deploy on the straights, thus shortening the time spent on full throttle and saving more precious fuel. In short: Win, win, win.

But in order to maximise the advantage of its new, more efficient engine and energy recovery system, Ferrari needed improvements from fuel supplier Shell. Although fuel is at the very core of the upward spiral of efficiency explained above, Allison admits the team overlooked the importance of its partnership with Shell in 2014.

"The new leadership on the Ferrari side was very keen to bring the power of all their technical partners and the engineers inside Ferrari to try to make sure that we were competitive in 2015," Allison says. "I think Shell were always waiting for us to be involved in that way and the change was on our side to open our doors."

In total Ferrari and Shell claim the performance gain from fuel upgrades alone to be worth 0.5s a lap and an average of 30 seconds per race. In the fight against Mercedes those are big numbers and worth roughly 25% of the overall performance gain Ferrari has made with its power unit this year. Pinpointing exactly when Ferrari levelled up with Mercedes is harder. The opposition points to Maranello's big combustion upgrade at the Italian Grand Prix.

"Since they introduced the updated engine at Monza, I would say that they matched us in terms of power and efficiency," Mercedes' team chairman Niki Lauda said towards the end of the season. "The 20bhp advantage we had is now gone. Now we are at the same level of power. We know for certain because of the reference we have."

But Allison insists it was a gradual improvement from all sides of the engine programme rather than one single step.

"Monza wasn't the magic bullet in the season, it was several steps, all of which were very useful. We would have made a step forward without this, but Shell's input was very useful."

And that is the best way to look at Ferrari's progress this year. The realisation that it had got its priorities dramatically wrong at the start of the new engine formula in 2014 triggered the need for change that snowballed through the winter to deliver a big step change in performance for 2015. From there constant progress has been made with the efficiency of the power unit to level up with Mercedes by the end of the year. The next step, and undoubtedly the hardest yet, will be to move ahead in 2016.

The final part of of the analysis of Ferrari will assess the team's chances of closing the gap to Mercedes next year.

[MIKA27]

Sauber F1 team explains why it asked for cash advance

Sauber followed Force India in asking Bernie Ecclestone for an advance on its Formula 1 championship payments to prevent its rival gaining a competitive advantage, according to Monisha Kaltenborn.

Force India made its request, which is believed to have been accepted, in October with Sauber and Manor following suit when they were made aware of it.

The requests require unanimous consent from the other teams before Ecclestone can facilitate them.

"We saw some of our competitors had done that and that can give you a direct competitive advantage," Sauber team boss Kaltenborn told Autosport.

"So we felt that when our competitors had done it, it would definitely make our life easier, so that's why we did it.

"If you can make your liquidity easier, of course it helps the company.

"We are not in a position where you can say it doesn't matter at all."

Teams receive payments from Formula One Management on a monthly basis based on their historic status and their constructors' championship position from the previous season.

These are paid from February through to November, leaving a cash shortfall for December and January when key production takes place.

"We're approaching a time which is very cost-intensive and where there is no income coming from FOM, which is a major source of income for teams," added Kaltenborn.

When asked if she was confident Sauber would have its request accepted, she said: "I don't see why anybody would be against it considering other teams have got it.

"It would not be a nice thing among teams if suddenly one team says no for no reason."

[MIKA27]

Theodore Racing concern evaluates return to Formula 1

An evaluation has started that could result in the Theodore Racing name returning to Formula 1.

Theodore founder Teddy Yip sponsored cars in F1 in the 1970s before fielding a series of his own chassis, firstly in '78 and lastly in '83.

His son Teddy Yip Jr is now team principal of GP2 Series team Status Grand Prix, and brought the Theodore Racing name back as a sponsor of Prema Powerteam at the Macau Grand Prix - with which his father's team was synonymous - beginning in 2013.

Alex Lynn took victory in Macau in Theodore colours that year, with Felix Rosenqvist taking the honours this season.

Status managing director David Kennedy, who won races in the 1979 British Formula 1 Championship in a Theodore-run Wolf, told Autosport: "If there are sensible opportunities it's worth evaluating what's available.

"Formula 1 is in such a state of turmoil at the moment, and if they can't manage it at the top end what's it going to be like at the bottom end?

"But we're just putting the pieces into place for a successful motorsport business.

"The Theodore legacy continues and it's still incredibly strong in Asia, and our brand has a high prestige value in China.

"In a few years since coming back with Teddy and Theodore we've been at the sharp end. Now we've started a junior programme in Asia, which can get to the younger generation, and the obvious follow-on is how high does this elevator go?

"In Asia the highest is Super Formula, then after Super Formula and GP2, you scratch your head and ask, 'What's next?'"

The Status GP-run Team Ireland won the 2008-09 A1GP title shortly after Yip became involved.

Status has been ever present in GP3 since that series started in 2010, although it withdrew at the end of this year, and contested the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2012/13.