FORMULA 1 - 2015

[MIKA27]

Lotus blames "over-exuberant" Ricciardo for crash

Romain Grosjean blamed Daniel Ricciardo for the accident that put both the Frenchman and Lotus teammate Pastor Maldonado out of the British Grand Prix.

Ricciardo made contact with Grosjean at the start of the race at Village, and the Lotus driver then hit his teammate, damaging both cars and putting them out of the race before the end of the first lap.

The incident is under investigation, and all three drivers have been summoned to see the stewards.

"That was a very short race for the team and I feel for everyone here at Silverstone and at Enstone," said Grosjean.

"Daniel must have thought his brakes and tyres would be able to slow him better than they did and the result was the end of both my and Pastor's race.

"No one likes to end a grand prix like that as so much effort goes into making and preparing the cars."

Lotus technical director Nick Chester said Ricciardo had been "over-exuberant".

"Both Romain and Pastor were the victims of over-exuberance at the start of the race meaning that both returned to the garage for a very short debrief after only a lap on track," he said.

"It's now a rapid return to Enstone to put everything we can into preparing the cars for Hungary and our next opportunity for a points haul."

[Orion21]

How the F%@K did Williams not even get on the podium!?!?!? Act like you've been there before Massa! The worst race management I've ever seen. It's like Williams went "HOLY S@IT we're winning a race! What do we do!?!?" Horrible!

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ARRIVABENE: WE HAVE A PROBLEM

Ferrari may be slipping back into old habits, concerned Italian media observed in several editorials after the British Grand Prix and the team’s boss Maurizio Arrivabene admitted in no uncertain terms that his team has a problem.

La Repubblica opined that Silverstone had been Ferrari’s “worst performance of the season”, while Tuttosport reported the “dream of the title is slipping further and further away”.

The question being asked now is whether Ferrari is being beaten in the all-important development race, not only by Mercedes but also Williams.

“The car was ok,” Kimi Raikkonen said after the British grand prix. “It just wasn’t fast enough.”

Teammate Sebastian Vettel returned to the podium at Silverstone, but he was thanking England’s tendency to rain unexpectedly rather than the SF15-T’s pace.

“This was a result that we really did not deserve,” the German admitted, “We definitely need to improve. If you look at the gaps, we were slower than in the previous races.”

Arrivabene agreed: “We have a problem and we need to analyse it now. On the straights we were quite slow but we were not winning any time back in the corners either.”

Hailing Vettel, the Ferrari boss added: “We had a great driver and a great strategy, but we also need a great car.”

Arrivabene said Ferrari not only struggles on tracks like Silverstone, but also with Pirelli’s harder tyres, “Unfortunately we may have afternoons like this (Silverstone) at Spa and Suzuka as well.”

“We need to work in every area, as Williams has found an excellent performance in recent races and I do not want them to become a problem. I want our problem to continue to be Mercedes.”

However, La Repubblica said one of Ferrari’s past mistakes was persevering for too long with a car that is patently not capable of winning the world title.

So is it time for the Maranello outfit to switch focus to their 2016 project?

“I have no desire to reopen old issues,” Arrivabene answered. “That said, to abandon this project would be in my opinion a mistake. The machine of 2016 and the one in 2015 are complementary and so to stop work on 2015 would result in the loss of important data.”

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ITALIAN MEDIA: VETTEL IS A GENIUS AND RAIKKONEN IS STUPID

The pressure is continuing to mount on Kimi Raikkonen, as his future at Ferrari is uncertain amid below par displays and an array of younger talent knocking at the Maranello door.

Amid swirling speculation about the Finn’s future, Ferrari team boss Maurizio Arrivabene departed Silverstone with the message: “What I want now is for Kimi to remain calm so he can do his job.”

But as far as the specialist Italian press is concerned, Arrivabene is only ramping up the pressure.

La Repubblica correspondent Marco Mensurati said: “Arrivabene made clear after the race that the strategic decisions in Britain had been made by the drivers. I understood it to mean: Vettel is a genius and Raikkonen is stupid.”

Sport Mediaset’s Giorgio Terruzzi agrees: “The intermediate tyre choice [made by Raikkonen] was wrong. Too bad, because until then everything was going well. The fact is, he [Raikkonen] already seems to be out of the house: unprotected and under constant fire.”

Former Ferrari boss Cesare Fiorio thinks it is time for the 2007 world champion to go and told La Gazzetta dello Sport, “Two years ago I raised question about his lifestyle and age. These doubts have been confirmed.”

And former F1 team owner Gian Carlo Minardi agrees: “Kimi is no longer delivering what Ferrari needs. I would put a young driver in his place. Maranello’s own academy has two promising youngsters: [Raffaele] Marciello and [Antonio] Fuoco.”

Raikkonen’s manager, Steve Robertson, commented: “We would like to know Ferrari’s decision before Monza.”

Pino Allievi, La Gazzetta’s veteran correspondent, said the obvious favourite is Valtteri Bottas, although many believe the Finn has been increasingly outperformed by Felipe Massa in 2015.

“If the Ferrari of the future must have a driver who has lost to the Ferrari of the past (Massa), it is better to wait and think before making a decision,” he said.

Fiorio agrees: “He [bottas] is the right age, but pretty inconsistent, and I think Felipe Massa really has the upper hand at Williams. I would like to see another top driver there, even if it causes problems with Vettel. Ferrari should try to get [Lewis] Hamilton, and if that fails, then [Nico] Rosberg.”

[MIKA27]

ALONSO: THE MESSAGE WAS MISUNDERSTOOD

Fernando Alonso has clarified his comments, after suggesting bored McLaren fans should turn off the TV until next year.

In the midst of McLaren-Honda’s abysmal 2015, the Spaniard at Silverstone warned fans who are frustrated that more of the same pain will be felt for the rest of the season.

“So whoever is bored, turn off the TV until next year, or at least until Japan or later because it is going to get worse than this,” said Alonso.

But after scoring his first point of 2015 in the British grand prix, the former world champion insisted he was in fact not urging his supporters to go away, but simply playing down expectations as the team gets up to speed.

“The message was misunderstood,” Alonso is quoted by the Spanish news agency EFE news agency. “I did not mean to turn off the TV, I just meant that there will be other races like this but also worse ones, because the car will not change overnight.”

And he insisted that “nobody” at the team is getting “tired” or preparing to “throw in the towel”.

Alonso said the three-week gap between Silverstone and Hungary – created due to the German grand prix axe – is “important” for McLaren, as it gives the team extra time to improve.

“Hungary has not so many straights so that will help us a little bit,” he acknowledged. “But we cannot expect that we will be with the leaders. It will be the same as here (Silverstone) — struggling to get past Q1 and scratching for a few points.”

[MIKA27]

MCLAREN ON TRACK STRUGGLES NEGATIVELY IMPACTING BRAND

McLaren have acknowledged that their lack of Formula One success is hurting commercially in terms of lost revenues and sponsor appeal.

The sport’s second most successful team have not won since 2012 and have scored five points in nine races of a new partnership with Japanese car giant Honda.

After British Grand Prix, the Woking-based team are now just a weekend away from equaling their dismal 1993-97 run of 48 winless races in a row.

“You establish a brand by your success and repeated success,” McLaren’s racing director Eric Boullier told reporters at Silverstone. “McLaren by the number of wins and championships has clearly established its brand as an excellent one.

Asked about their recent poor record, he said: “Commercially it does hurt because obviously a lot of people or companies are interested in joining us but some people in their organisations may question the lack of results,” added the Frenchman. “And I don’t think we can wait for very long any more.”

The last time Honda partnered McLaren, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, they enjoyed a dominant spell with Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna.

McLaren have won eight constructors’ championships – but none since 1998 – and 12 drivers’ titles, with the last coming in 2008 with Lewis Hamilton.

Since 1966, the team founded by New Zealander Bruce McLaren have won 182 times and taken more points than any team other than Ferrari, who have been competing unbroken in the championship since 1950.

But McLaren have lacked a title sponsor since 2013, when Vodafone left, and this season saw their worst start ever.

Formula One’s revenues are paid on a sliding scale, although McLaren also get extra in recognition of their importance to the sport.

They are currently ninth and, if the situation stays that way, some estimates have suggested they could be in line for $50 million less than last season, when they finished fifth.

“Like any partnership in the world, I am not going to tell you what we are telling each other behind the scenes,” Boullier said of relations with Honda. “We have to fight the world together as one team but the pain is real.

“So far we have a good forecast for the next years,” he said of the financial outlook. “But it (the lack of success) is going to hurt us in terms of revenue and we will have to find a way to cover this.”

[MIKA27]

BRITISH GRAND PRIX LIFTS F1 GLOOM EVEN IF ONLY FOR A DAY

Formula 1 has many problems, but Sunday’s British Grand Prix, a thrilling race won by tearful home hero Lewis Hamilton in front of a record 140,000 strong crowd, was not one of them.

“Crisis called off?” asked Mercedes motorsport head Toto Wolff, relieved not to be facing questions about domination, falling viewing figures and a lack of competition after his team took their sixth one-two finish in nine races.

The Austrian knows the answer is no. But with the sport divided about its future direction and a yawning gap between wealthy big teams and small ones struggling for survival, it was, for one afternoon at least, a good news story.

Mercedes still won, but it was no foregone conclusion as Williams took the fight to the champions and tricky conditions rewarded those who called it right on tyre choices and strategy.

There were collisions, there was close racing and Hamilton came roaring back from a poor start to become only the third British driver to win three times at home — and set a record for 18 successive races led.

“Sometimes these things just happen at the right moment and there was such a great crowd and a race with all the ingredients necessary for excitement,” said Wolff. “We still need to ask how we can make it better so that we can convince the critics that this is a great sport.”

Only two days earlier, his fellow team principals had discussed at length the negativity in the sport — with a finger of blame pointed at the media — and the need to show it in a more positive light.

Force India principal Vijay Mallya said then, with a turn of phrase that lit up social media, that commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone needed to work with the teams to help ‘uncrap’ the sport.

Earlier in the week, the core Strategy Group had discussed changes, some immediate and some for 2016 and 2017, to make the races more exciting and the cars faster, louder and harder to drive.

That debate will continue, with some leaks suggesting radical solutions, such as a sprint race on Saturday, that may never progress beyond the embryonic stage, but Sunday showed the sport was far from broken.

Retired triple world champion Niki Lauda, the non-executive chairman of champions Mercedes, said the critics need only look at Silverstone — in days of old renowned for antiquated facilities and traffic gridlock — for inspiration.

After a change of management last year, the circuit decided on a fresh approach by cutting ticket prices and selling far more of them, with children under 11 entering free with an adult. In the past, only children under two years old were free.

“They should look here, the people who always complain,” Lauda told Reuters after a race that had sun and showers, safety cars — both real and virtual — and surprises with Williams leading the first 20 laps.

“It’s a very simple thing. The children were free. Everywhere else they charge for children. So what does a family do with three children? They can’t come. And all these things here are done absolutely right.”

The next race on the calendar would normally be Germany, but that race, scheduled for the Nuerburgring, was cancelled for financial reasons so the sport now has a three-week gap before Hungary.

Hockenheim, who hosted last year’s race, declined to step in after drawing a crowd of just 55,000 on race day, despite it being a home event for Mercedes, title hopeful Nico Rosberg and four times champion Sebastian Vettel.

“To see what can be done, when organisers think how to attract people to come to races, copy Silverstone,” was Lauda’s verdict.

[MIKA27]

ASTON MARTIN: WE DON’T HAVE THE MONEY TO DO A DECENT JOB IN F1

Aston Martin have had plenty of approaches from Formula One teams wanting to bring the brand back to the sport but the chances of a deal are improbable at best, chief executive Andy Palmer told Reuters.

The former Nissan executive, who joined the classic British sportscar marque last year, recognised that speculation was running wild at British Grand Prix but said there were substantial obstacles to any involvement.

“The bottom line is that it would be very difficult for us. We as a company don’t have the kind of money to go into Formula 1 and make a decent job of it,” he said in a telephone interview.

“Unless I thought we could be challenging Ferrari in some way, shape or form I just wouldn’t contemplate doing it.

“The best I can tell you is that it’s improbable. I never say never but it’s improbable,” added Palmer, who was a key figure in the deal that brought the Nissan-owned Infiniti brand to Red Bull as title partner.

Hit by ageing models and weak investment, loss-making Aston Martin delivered 4,000 cars last year, well short of its 7,300 record in 2007. The company’s main shareholders are private-equity groups, Investment Dar of Kuwait and Italy’s Investindustrial.

The rumour mill was fired up by a report on Saturday at Silverstone that Aston Martin, who last competed in Formula One in 1960, were in talks with Red Bull about becoming a brand partner with Mercedes replacing Renault as engine supplier.

Mercedes have a five percent stake in Aston Martin, the car of choice for fictional British secret agent James Bond.

Niki Lauda, non-executive chairman of the Mercedes F1 team, dismissed the report as ‘rubbish’ while Red Bull principal Christian Horner said his team had contracts with Renault and Infiniti to the end of next year.

“Last week it was Ferrari, this week it’s Aston Martin, next week who knows? What happens at the end of 2016 is purely speculative,” the Briton, who drives an Aston Martin for personal use, told Reuters.

Palmer said he had connections around the paddock, including at Williams — another proud British brand with Mercedes engines — with whom Aston Martin are already involved on projects.

Red Bull technical head Adrian Newey is also helping Aston Martin with some aerodynamic work. Palmer added that Aston Martin were committed to GT4, GT3 and GTE sportscar racing “and at this stage at least there is nothing else out there.

“I think most of the teams in the pit lane at one moment or other since I’ve been here in the last nine months have approached me in some way, shape or form,” he added. “Not Ferrari or McLaren, for obvious reasons.”

Palmer said that while the Infiniti deal with Red Bull had worked well for that luxury marque, Aston Martin did not have any problem with brand awareness.

“Everybody knows Aston Martin. I have a job to do in terms of getting us back into the conversation amongst people that cross-shop sportscars, be it McLaren, be it Ferrari or Porsche. I need to be in that conversation,” he said. “But to get into Formula One, that’s serious money that I don’t have.”

Palmer watched Sunday’s race at Silverstone with the Mercedes-powered Force India team, whose co-owner Vijay Mallya is also a fan of the marque.

“I invited him and I told him I want to go up and see the Aston Martin factory,” the Indian told Reuters. “I’d love, actually, to buy one of their cars.

“All of us recognise it as a great marque with all of the sex appeal of James Bond and everything.”

Mallya said no deal had been proposed with Aston Martin “but it could be quite interesting, actually. If it was an option, I’d certainly be very interested in discussing it.”

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LOTUS F1 TEAM HAVE WINDING-UP PETITION ADJOURNED

A winding-up petition brought by creditors against the Lotus Formula 1 team has been adjourned for two weeks.

A spokeswoman for the Companies Court in London said on Monday that the claim against the Enstone-based team, title winners in a previous existence as Benetton and Renault, would be heard on July 20.

Lotus, who now race with Mercedes engines, have had financial problems although the signing of Venzuelan Pastor Maldonado has brought considerable backing from state oil company PDVSA.

The team’s chief executive Matthew Carter says Lotus are not for sale despite persistent paddock speculation linking them to Renault.

Carter told is adamant the case would have no bearing on their future, “A number of suppliers are feeling a little bit negative because of what happened to Caterham and Marussia and they felt they had to go down this process.”

He said in reference to the two teams that went into administration last season, Caterham eventually folded while Marussia lived to fight another day under new ownership.

“A resolution had already been found, that’s why the process has been adjourned. Things are being dealt with,” said Carter.

Lotus failed to score points at Sunday’s British Grand Prix after Maldonado and French team mate Romain Grosjean collided on the opening lap.

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RON DENNIS: EDDIE JORDAN IS F1’S VILLAGE IDIOT

McLaren supremo Ron Dennis has returned fire after his old contemporary Eddie Jordan slammed McLaren’s arrogance amid the team’s worst ever season.

Jordan, the colourful former team boss turned television pundit, had said it is not right that struggling carmaker Honda is getting all the blame for the McLaren “mess”.

“Ron Dennis sacked Martin Whitmarsh,” he said, “but Whitmarsh never did the job of running that team as badly as Dennis is doing it now.”

But at Silverstone, McLaren supremo Dennis hit back on Sky television: “I consider Formula 1 a family, and families live in villages. And villages always have a village idiot. He [Jordan] fits the bill perfectly.”

Jordan’s BBC colleague David Coulthard, however – a former long-time McLaren driver – said Dennis’ rebuke was not fair.

“It [McLaren’s situation] is incredibly frustrating and we can see tempers are starting to fray,” the Scot told the Telegraph newspaper.

“Eddie is many things but he is definitely not an idiot. I don’t expect Ron to like it but you fight fire with fire. What he’s done is fight fire with insults,” Coulthard insisted.

Fernando Alonso at least opened his points account on Sunday with a single point for tenth, but the Spaniard answered “No way” when asked if he will be celebrating.

“No. We want to be world champions,” he told Spanish reporters after the British grand prix. “By the end of the year we want to be at another level so that points are normal rather than news.”

For that, however, Honda might have to give in to McLaren’s pressure to hire some experienced engine-specialist engineers from outside the team, the Telegraph reports.

The newspaper said that until now, the Japanese marque has issued a “blanket refusal” to the request, despite increasing pressure from Dennis and Eric Boullier.

So Coulthard does not think the solution will come quickly, “It’s difficult to imagine they’re going to make inroads between now and the end of the year. As far as McLaren go we almost have to ignore them until they are anything like competitive again.”

[MIKA27]

TEAM ORDERS MAY HAVE COST WILLIAMS VICTORY AT HOME

After launching off past the Silver Arrows off the grid, Williams team were left to rue an opportunity lost in the British Grand Prix, in which they led for a substantial chunk of time.

Part of the reason the Silverstone race was so exciting was because Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas got a surprise jump on the two Mercedes at the start. But then came the ‘team orders’.

Williams told the charging Bottas to hold station rather than attack Massa’s leading car, even though some believe the Finn would have raced into the distance had he been free to do so.

“At the beginning I had good pace,” Bottas told the Finnish broadcaster MTV3, “and at one point I would have been able to get past (Massa) but the team told me not to.”

Ultimately, through the pitstops and the inclement weather, the white-clad pair finished not only behind the two Mercedes but even Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.

Bottas thinks the team may have made a clear tactical mistake, “We will have to look at whether we should have made different decisions. I don’t want to criticise team decisions as I guess there was a reason for it. I just don’t know what,” he added.

Bottas, 25, clarified to Turun Sanomat newspaper that he did not want Massa to receive a ‘team order’ to move over.

“That is not racing,” he said. “But it would have been nice to be able to overtake him when I had the opportunity.”

Pat Symonds, Williams’ highly experienced technical chief, said the early instruction was given to Bottas to “make sure we didn’t slow each other down

“Valtteri felt faster, and maybe he was,” the Briton acknowledged.

Bottas admitted: “I can see why the team wanted us to avoid fighting each other at that moment. We were in a strong position and fighting could have cost us time. That’s what they thought.

“For me it was disappointing, but of course it is easy to say that afterwards,” he added.

Team deputy Claire Williams agreed that hindsight is always perfect, “It is easy to look at the race afterwards and say what you would do differently.”

“We did what we thought would be best for the team. The guys on the pitwall are not sitting there thinking about how to destroy races.”

As for what might have happened if Bottas had been freed, Williams added: “I don’t know. What you do have to say is that the Mercedes is a great car that at the moment is faster than ours.”

[MIKA27]

MARKO: MAX HAS A MULTI-YEAR CONTRACT WITH RED BULL

Helmut Marko has hit back at reports suggesting that Red Bull could lose Max Verstappen to a key rival after just a single season in Formula 1.

Amid his meteoric debut this year at the unprecedented age of 17, young Dutchman Verstappen is already being linked with a sensational switch to Ferrari.

But Marko, boss of Red Bull’s driver programme, said: “It makes no sense to speculate like that.

“Max has a multi-year contract with Red Bull,” he told the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf. “The plan is that he will drive next year with Toro Rosso also.”

In fact, while the racing world gushes over Verstappen and also the 2015 Toro Rosso car, Marko is even slightly critical after the British grand prix weekend.

“Max was very good on Friday and on Saturday morning, but not so good in qualifying and the race,” said the Austrian.

“Yes he had bad luck on Saturday with a technical problem, but a lot also has to do with experience. It is not so important to be P3 on Friday morning for example. In general, I think at Toro Rosso they need to become better at building up over a weekend,” Marko added.

[MIKA27]

USA COULD SAVE FORMULA 1 CLAIMS ANDRETTI

Amid an intense period of turmoil and introspection in Formula 1, one of the main topics of debate has turned to whether a billionaire from the USA combined with a Qatari sovereign fund can save the sport.

The latest alarming quote has come from Martin Whitmarsh, the former long-time McLaren chief who thinks the pinnacle of motor sport will “crash and burn”.

But Mario Andretti, the 1978 world champion, thinks America is coming to the rescue.

“In America we have the mindset to make things happen,” he said, hot on the heels of news Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross is looking to take over the sport from Bernie Ecclestone and CVC.

Reportedly also involved in the $8 billion deal is Qatar’s sports investment arm, with Andretti telling the Guardian: “I can’t see any negatives. A solid investment would spell stability for the sport.”

Andretti said the move could be an answer for many of F1’s problems, including technical rules that are confusing and turning off a dwindling audience.

The teams, however, are currently in the dark, as the news has been leaked to several media outlets but not officially confirmed.

“It all sounds very speculative at the moment,” an unnamed team boss said. “Who will be in charge?”

F1 supremo Ecclestone has admitted the deal would see him sell his stake, but his former sparring partner Max Mosley insists the 84-year-old Briton’s role “won’t change”.

“There is nobody else who does the job as well,” the former FIA president told BBC radio.

[MIKA27]

FAN SURVEY TOO LATE FOR IMMEDIATE IMPACT

The GPDA Formula 1 fans survey commissioned by the sport’s drivers may have come ‘too late’ to make an immediate difference.

But Alex Wurz, the president of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, insists the data collected by over 200,000 fans from 194 countries is “worth gold”, he told the German broadcaster Sky.

So far, however, the results have not been discussed by the influential Strategy Group at its last two meetings, at which the future course of sweeping rule changes for 2016 and particularly 2017 have been discussed.

“I believe they (the survey results) came out too late for them to be discussed,” admitted Claire Williams, who attends the Strategy Group on behalf of the Grove team.

“Obviously we have an agenda set a couple of weeks in advance, so no, we didn’t discuss them in that meeting but that is the forum for those kinds of discussions,” she added.

Austrian Wurz, a former F1 driver, agrees that the results were too late for the most recent meeting, but he is sure a collaboration in the future is possible.

“This (the Strategy Group) is not an enemy group and they are really very interested in our cause,” he said.

“I got a lot of mail from the teams who are waiting for the data. For the current talks, the survey comes a little late perhaps, but better late than never.

“I told them that such a thing should have been done ten years ago, but basically everyone agrees that we want a better formula one,” Wurz, 41, added.

[MIKA27]

Silverstone win a good omen for Lewis

Winning at Silverstone has been a good omen for Lewis Hamilton in the past and he hopes his success this year will result in another title come the end of the season.

Hamilton won the British Grand Prix for a third time on Sunday and on the previous occasions when he tasted success at his home race in 2008 and 2014 he went on to win the Drivers' Championship.

He will be hoping to continue that sequence this year and it is hard to bet against him as his form is pretty good as he has won five out of nine races already this campaign and has started in pole position eight times.

"That’s the plan. That is what I am working towards," he told The Guardian. "I am told it’s been as strong a year performance-wise from me personally. Last year was exceptional for me and to think that I am doing it just as much as that but a little bit better this year, I didn’t think I could do that.

"So I am overall really happy with that and now as I go to Hungary. I am happy, it has come together since last year but I am definitely enjoying it more now. I am enjoying life and racing more than ever."

It is also no surprise that Hamilton is eager to head to the Hungaroring as his record there is very good, having won there in 2007, 2009, 2012 and 2013.

And he knows another victory in Budapest would set him up nicely for the summer break and the second half of the season.

"It has been a great track for me in my career, and I’m excited about that, and then we have the break," he said.

"I will be training like crazy over the break to make sure I am strong for the next part of the season. Generally in my career the second part of the season has been the stronger part for me."

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McLaren chassis one of the best on the grid - Dennis

McLaren chairman Ron Dennis believes the MP4-30's chassis is "a match for most cars on the grid", and just behind that of the dominant Mercedes.

The Briton therefore suggests the Honda engine is purely to blame for their poor results, despite third driver Stoffel Vandoorne telling stating "the whole package must improve" to be competitive.

Dennis, speaking to Sky Sports, said it was obvious to most, including drivers Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button, that the McLaren is a quick car through the corners but lacks the top speed required for the straights.

"It would be very, very easy for both of them [Alonso and Button] to be critical of McLaren - and they are not," he said.

"They are driving the car and they know that the car is extremely quick in corners.

"It is not quite the match of the Mercedes at the moment but it is in many of the corners and it is certainly a match for most of the cars on the grid.

"Everyone in Formula 1 knows that. Everyone can look at data and establish where we are quick and where we are slow."

Dennis is hopeful of a better end to the season as long as Honda can deliver in its promises.

"I believe step-by-step we will get there, we want to believe everything we are told by our partners, Honda, and if they deliver their promises then there is no question that we will be far more competitive in the next few races."

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Lewis Hamilton: McLaren's Formula 1 problems hard to watch

Former McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton says it is hard for him to watch the British team struggle to be competitive in Formula 1 at the moment.

McLaren supported Hamilton's career all the way from karting to Formula 1, and he raced for it from 2007-2012, winning his first world championship with McLaren in 2008.

Hamilton's departure to Mercedes coincided with a downturn in McLaren's fortunes, and the team has not won a race since he left.

It is currently enduring a difficult first season back with Honda power, which Hamilton said is tough to witness.

"We all know it's been difficult for them this year and it's definitely hard for me to see that," he said.

"It's such a great team, such a huge team, that's had such great success, and it's a team that I was a part of for many years.

"It feels very abnormal to see them in the position they're in right now."

However, Hamilton believes that McLaren has what it takes to turn its fortunes around.

"You've got the great Ron Dennis there, a lot of great engineers, and a team spirit which eventually I believe will pull through," he said.

"It's a dark place for them right now but hopefully there is light at the end of the tunnel."

McLaren driver Jenson Button, who spent three years alongside Hamilton at the team, said it's important for the squad to maintain the right attitude.

"We all fight to keep the smile - it's a difficult position for all of us," said Button.

"I have really crappy days, like all of us, and moments I'm not happy.

"There's no point being down now, because that's not going to help us improve.

"So it's about giving good feedback and trying to make the most of every situation. Smiling's better than frowning."

Button's team-mate Fernando Alonso added: "It's true the competitiveness we have now is not what we wanted or what we expect.

"We knew this is the first year [with Honda] and quite a difficult time, but I'm still optimistic and happy with the progress of the car.

"We need to fix some problems but we are definitely going in the right direction.

"With the current rules everything requires a bit of time because you are with tied hands for many things."

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Carlos Sainz Jr wants answers on Toro Rosso's first-stint problems

Carlos Sainz Jr has called on Toro Rosso to finally understand why his car fails to perform at the start of a Formula 1 race, when laden with a full tank of fuel.

The STR10 has recently looked strong through practice, to the extent that Sainz's team-mate Max Verstappen suggested only Mercedes showed stronger long-run pace during Silverstone's Friday running.

For the most part that form has continued into qualifying, but come the early stages of a grand prix the package has been found wanting.

Sainz has confirmed the car's handling characteristics are very different at the start with 100kg of fuel on board compared to when it is even at least 20kg lighter.

"Our first [race] stint is still our weakness. This is what we need to look into and improve," said Sainz.

"I don't know why. It's a shame because as soon as you're done with high fuel, you put on another tyre and you have 70 to 80 kilograms of fuel, suddenly the car starts behaving normally and we have very decent pace.

"We tested some things during the in-season tests in Barcelona and in Austria, but we still don't know exactly why this is.

"The only bit we struggle with is the first stint. FP1, FP2, FP3 and qualifying, we are always strong.

"But with tyres that haven't been warmed up correctly because the warm-up lap isn't ideal, our car looks to be out of the window and we don't know how to get it back."

Sainz has confirmed it is a personal feeling with the car, adding: "It's about how comfortable I am with the car.

"I know in qualifying I can do whatever I want, turning the car wherever I want because I have the rear support, I have the confidence.

"But with 100 kilograms I don't know if I'm going to oversteer on entry, understeer on mid.

"It's a bit strange."

[MIKA27]

ANALYSIS: DID STRATEGY COST WILLIAMS THE CHANCE OF VICTORY IN BRITISH GP?

The British Grand Prix was exciting once again, even more than the 2014 race, as there was a large element of unpredictability about it throughout. Mercedes lost the start to Williams and then rain came towards the end of the race, creating plenty of risk and reward.

It asked a lot of the drivers, but also of the strategists and Race Strategy was at the heart of why the race turned out as it did.

The key question we will address this week is, Could Williams have won the race with different strategy calls?

We will also examine the result of Sebastian Vettel, which also owed a lot to strategy.

Williams 1-2 at the start turns to Williams 4-5 at the end

There has been much speculation about how Williams conducted this race and whether they could have won, or at least collected a podium, given that they had a 1-2 in the early stages of the race. Felipa Massa rocketed between the two front-row Mercedes at the start and then, following a brief safety car period, Valtteri Bottas passed Lewis Hamilton for second place.

Williams had not won Silverstone since 1997 and this unexpected situation definitely presented an opportunity to get a great result.

What made the Williams cars so hard for the Mercedes drivers to overtake was the fact that they were running together, with Bottas the second car not only getting a tow from Massa, but also able to use DRS. Had they split up, with one car acting as a hare, it might have been a little easier for Mercedes to pick the Williams cars off individually.

But team ethos is strong at Williams; they usually refuse to impose team orders, of the kind that Ferrari has used in the past with Schumacher and Alonso.

It soon became apparent that Bottas was faster than Massa in that opening stint. Initially the call from the Williams pit wall was not to race each other, as the management was concerned that this would not only allow the Mercedes to close, it would also damage the tyres.

Bottas made several pleas to be allowed through. We have been here before with races in the early part of last year, like Malaysia, where Massa refused a rare Williams team order to let Bottas through.

Here, Williams did not grant Bottas’ wishes, but did relent on their ‘no racing’ policy and told him he was allowed to try to pass.

There was clearly quite a bit of discussion going on among key figures on the pit wall, compared to Mercedes’ set up, where one man makes all the Strategy decisions.

Had Williams been more cynical (and ambitious) here they would have instructed Massa to let his teammate through as soon as it appeared Bottas was faster and he would have been able to build a lead of over four seconds.

This gap would have protected him from Hamilton’s undercut, which eventually did for both Williams at the first stops. An undercut is where the car behind pits first and uses the performance of the new tyre to leapfrog the lead car when it pits on the next lap to cover the move.

This would have left Bottas ahead in the second stint of the race on hard tyres and would have obliged Hamilton to pass him on track, as it was a one-stop strategy.

Williams were in good shape for this; they had prepared for the hard tyre phase of this race very carefully. Part of their over-arching Strategy for the Silverstone weekend, based on learnings from Barcelona when these Medium and Hard tyres were last used, was to make sure they were as fast and consistent as possible on the hard tyre as this would be the weaker tyre for their main rivals Ferrari and would be used for the longest time in the race.

So that would have been Scenario A and it would have put Bottas in good shape to control the race before the rain came. But he then struggled in the wet as we will see.

Scenario B would have been for them to ask Bottas to hold Mercedes back in certain key points of the circuit, with delayed acceleration out of slow bends and such like, to allow Massa to build the four second gap.

By then pitting Bottas first, in that scenario, they could have protected Massa’s podium.

Massa would have found it harder to pull the gap, as he didn’t have Bottas’ pace, but it was another route they chose not to go down.

Mercedes goes aggressive at the first stop

As Williams did neither of the above scenarios, it made it easy for Mercedes to go aggressive on the timing of the pit stop. This was based on trying to force Williams to run a longer final stint on hard tyres than it might have wanted to. But it was more cunning than that; by timing it as they did on Lap 19, which is on the cusp of the two-stop and one-stop window, it created some doubt at Williams as to whether Hamilton might be planning to two-stop.

Once Hamilton stopped, Williams had to pit Massa and he lost track position, as did Bottas inevitably. So the advantage was lost.

This put Hamilton in the lead of the race, but Nico Rosberg was still stuck behind in fourth, as Hamilton had the priority as the lead car on the timing of the pit stop.

Mercedes asked Rosberg to pass the Williams and to be aggressive, but he could not due to the tow effect outlined above. Only when the rain began to fall did he progress past them and bring himself into play.

Splitting the risk: Rain takes away Williams’ podium chance

At this point, entering the final third of the race, Williams may have lost the chance of the win, but they still had the podium beckoning for Massa. The rain cost them that chance, but again, decision-making was central to what unfolded.

In normal dry running the pit stops are decided by the team strategist. When it is raining, the driver has to play a leading role.

There were two rain showers; the first persuaded Kimi Raikkonen to move to intermediates, but it was too early. He had already lost track position to his teammate Vettel.

The second shower was heavier and some teams had the added advantage of weather ‘spotters’ outside the track radioing in information about the timing of the weather moving in.

As the lead car Hamilton had the most to lose from making the wrong decision on when to stop for intermediate rain tyres. The falling temperature of his front tyres prompted him to stop on Lap 43 and it turned out to be exactly the right moment. Vettel had clearly been weighing up a similar move and when he and Ferrari saw the race leader going for it, they drew confidence and went for a stop on the same lap.

Mercedes had to inform Rosberg that Hamilton was stopping and as he had good pace still and there was no point in following Hamilton into the pits on the same lap, as it would offer no chance to win, he gambled on an extra lap on slick tyres. The rain fell more heavily and it didn’t work out for him.

So, in a situation of high uncertainty, Mercedes split the risk. Williams did not do that, instead missing the Lap 43 pit-stop opportunity and pitting both cars on Lap 44.

The gap back to Vettel as the rain fell, was coming down by 3 seconds per lap, so Williams was at increasing risk from him. They lost another seven seconds by doing the extra lap; Lap 44 and Vettel took third place off them.

Williams has had problems with tyre performance in wet conditions and Bottas suffered more than Massa on Sunday. He was faster in the dry, but slower in the wet.

Vettel had been nowhere in the dry conditions, but Raikkonen’s mistake in going too early to intermediates, followed by Williams mistake in not splitting the risk on its two cars, offered him a podium he gratefully accepted.

So, in conclusion, the most likely outcome for Williams, if they had played their cards differently, but without betraying their principles, would have been for Massa to finish on the podium.

Splitting the cars early on in a tortoise and hare strategy would have made the task of overtaking them easier for Mercedes and so it is likely that with a faster car and more aggressive strategy Mercedes would still have won the race, but the extreme scenario of getting Massa to yield to Bottas early on would have made the fight for the lead between the Finn and Hamilton very interesting.

The UBS Race Strategy report is written by James Allen with input and data from several of the leading teams’ strategists and from Pirelli

Race History & Tyre Usage Graphs, Kindly Supplied by Williams Martini Racing – Click to Enlarge

Note the substantial pace gap between the Williams cars and the Ferraris, their normal rivals, in the dry conditions (upward curved lines). Note also the reversal of that trend in the wet conditions after Lap 43, Bottas and Massa’s pace falls away while Vettel’s matches the Mercedes.

[MIKA27]

HONDA: WE DO NOT NEED HELP WITH TECHNOLOGY ISSUES

Honda F1 boss Yasuhisa Arai has played down the huge pressure being applied on the Japanese car giant by its works partner McLaren, and have turned down offers for increased technical input and assistance.

The words expressed by boss Eric Boullier are increasingly exasperated, as the McLaren-Honda collaboration that promised so much is still badly stuttering at the half-way point of the 2015 season.

Referring to Arai, Boullier said at Silverstone: “I tell him twice every day and three times for jet-lag – we need to succeed as soon as possible.”

It is believed McLaren’s obviously mounting frustration is because Honda and McLaren see their mutual project vastly differently.

While McLaren needs results quickly, for instance, Honda may be happily chipping away at a five-year plan.

So the Japanese carmaker is reportedly refusing McLaren’s advice to speed up the process by hiring engineers from outside of Honda, because it regards the project as an ‘HR’ exercise rather than an urgent need for instant results.

But in a rare interview, Arai told Globo Esporte that the relationship between McLaren and Honda is not breaking down, “We had great success together in the 80s. There is mutual trust. Of course there is pressure to improve, but we are discussing everything together.”

“It sometimes happens that we have one solution and the team another, but that is normal in this type of relationship,” explained Arai.

It is reported that McLaren’s frustration with Honda has grown because the car-maker is even resisting an offer to utilise the resources of the entire and vast McLaren Group.

But Arai responded: “We already work with McLaren Applied Technologies from the start of the project. They have developed software for our power unit, according to our requests. And they did a great job.”

When told, however, that the cooperation could be extended even further, he insisted: “We do not need help with technology issues. Good advice, of course, is always welcome, but we do not need technology solutions [from elsewhere] for our project.”

Globo correspondent Livio Oricchio, however, said the tension between Arai and Ron Dennis in particular is growing, as the McLaren supremo presses for the Japanese to be stepped down.

But Arai said he feels the pressure most from the “directors of our company” (Honda) and “the Japanese media”.

“I do not think that with another director, the results would be different. Both the management of Honda and McLaren trust me,” he insists.

“Every director thinks about how to make it better, and I’m no different. I think about it every day. It is a huge challenge.”

Asked, however, when Honda will finally break through and begin to perform adequately, Arai answered: “Soon, I promise. In the second half of the season. I hope from Spa-Francorchamps.”

“I would say that we have built a good foundation for development. It is in line with our planning and we advance step by step. The goals are being met.”

“Ok,” Arai continued, “I know that the results are not in line with the expectations of the fans, but we know what we are doing. Please give us some time. The second half of the season will be better, believe me.”

[MIKA27]

VIDEO: ALONSO IN REAL F1 SIMULATOR ACTION

In the aftermath of his first point scoring race of the 2015 season at the British Grand Prix, Fernando Alonso was feeling generous and decided to give Formula 1 fans a unique look at a professional racing simulator.

The two-time Formula 1 world champion jumped behind the wheel of the McLaren Honda simulator and completed laps around Silverstone circuit.

Alonso finished tenth at the same track featured in the video, resulting in his first points-scoring finish since switching from Ferrari to McLaren Honda.

[MIKA27]

LAUDA: HOW IS IT MERCEDES FAULT IF FERRARI MUCKS ABOUT WITH SPAGHETTI?

Straight talking Niki Lauda has defended Mercedes’ success in the current Formula 1 era, and questioned why Ferrari mucks around with spaghetti rather than make their cars more competitive.

Lauda reacted angrily amid claims about Mercedes making F1 ‘boring’ by dominating too easily, “How is it Mercedes’ fault if Ferrari mucks about with spaghetti rather than improve their car on the track?”

Reportedly after complaints from fans and the Maranello marque itself, however, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff, who is painstakingly politically correct, issued an apology on Lauda’s behalf.

“Everyone knows Niki’s special connection to Ferrari and his passion for formula one,” he said of the F1 legend and fellow Austrian. “That’s why he is sometimes very direct and says things that sound sharper than they were actually meant.

“We at Mercedes don’t want to offend anyone,” Wolff told Bild newspaper. “We respect Ferrari and look forward to exciting duels on the track. We take Ferrari as a challenger very seriously and have to work hard to defend our lead.”

And he concluded: “The fact that they don’t only muck about with spaghetti was made very clear to us in Malaysia.”

Lauda’s comments this week, however, were not limited just to Ferrari. The famous triple world champion was also asked about reports linking Mercedes with a supply of turbo V6 engines to arch-rivals Red Bull.

Lauda is quoted by Autosprint: “We can only give engines to four teams, and all have long-term contracts. Also, [Dietrich] Mateschitz has always showed some animosity towards Mercedes. I don’t know why but it’s the reality.”

[MIKA27]

END OF THE ROAD FOR MCLAREN AND BUTTON?

Amid a calamitous season for McLaren, media reports have emerged this week suggesting that Jenson Button’s future at Woking beyond 2015 is by no means a done and dusted deal, while the Briton may find it hard to motivate himself for another season of trials and tribulations with no reward.

A report by the British broadcaster Sky this week exclaimed that team supremo Ron Dennis “insists Jenson Button will stay at McLaren for 2016″.

The headline followed comments by Dennis at Silverstone last weekend, in which he declared: “Jenson Button has a two-year contract with McLaren. We are not even thinking about drivers at the moment.”

But Daniel Johnson, writing for the Telegraph, said 35-year-old Button’s future is actually as clouded now as it was for much of last year.

He said the popular Briton’s deal is actually not for two guaranteed years, but “one plus one” — one definite year and then an ‘option’ that McLaren must trigger.

Andrew Benson, the BBC’s chief F1 writer, agrees: “Let’s get one thing clear – Jenson Button is not guaranteed a seat at McLaren in 2016.”

He said Dennis’ quote is “both factually accurate and misleading”.

The Telegraph’s Johnson added: “[Dennis] has never been a master of communication. His latest comments on Jenson Button’s future … are just the latest example.”

Indeed, McLaren team boss Eric Boullier said at Silverstone: “Between now and let’s say September, which is more or less the time when we have to decide, maybe we have not sorted out the situation faster, they (the drivers) get frustrated, and they want to go, so it’s not in my hands.”

Another factor could be money with El Confidencial quoting Boullier saying, “So far we have a good prognosis for the coming years, but the lack of success is going to hurt us in terms of revenue, and we’re going to have to find a way to cover this.”

McLaren pays Button about $10 million a year, so switching to a promising junior like Kevin Magnussen or Stoffel Vandoorne could save the struggling team a considerable amount.

On the other side of the coin, Button himself a veteran of 16 seasons in Formula 1, including a world title in his pocket, may find it difficult to motivate himself for another season of back of the grid hardship and may find it an ideal time to call it quits as money is unlikely to be an issue.

MIKA: ...or Button can perhaps move over to Williams for one or two more seasons once Bottas leaves for Ferrari? In F1 terms he's getting old BUT, he's got great talent, same as Mark Webber who could have easily had another couple years. For Jensons career to end with a struggling McLaren, surely he can't quit like that but rather move over to even a midfield team and score a few more podiums.

[MIKA27]

SURER NOT BLAMING MERCEDES FOR BORING F1

Former Formula 1 driver Marc Surer says it is unfair to blame Mercedes for any of the sport’s current problems.

While many think formula one is currently ‘boring’ because a silver car has won 14 out of the last 15 grands prix, Swiss Surer says the sport has often been the same.

“There have always been teams that have dominated,” Surer, now a pundit for German television, said in an interview with Tages-Anzeiger.

“Before Mercedes, it was Red Bull with Vettel, Ferrari with Schumacher. We have to live with that, because so much depends on the technical side.”

Asked if the level of the dominance has changed, however, Surer argues: “I don’t think that has intensified in recent years. What has changed is the acceptance of the audience.

“But it has always been the exception if more teams are fighting for the title in the same season. The fundamental problem is the regulations,” Surer, 63, explained.

“It’s too complicated so the fans no longer understand. At the same time, the marketing is a disaster. For example, Mercedes is the only team using the term ‘hybrid’, and for everything else we have MGU-H and MGU-K and formula one is not selling that message.

“It is my belief that the transition to hybrid was a great thing, because that is the future of cars, but those in charge made a mistake with the complexity of it all,” Surer added.

[MIKA27]

F1 SPRINT STYLE QUALIFYING WOULD CHANGE NOTHING SAYS ZEHNDER

Changing qualifying to a sprint race concept is not the answer for Formula 1 according to the view of Beat Zehnder, Sauber’s highly experienced team manager.

His comments are in reaction to reports that the Strategy Group wants to spice up the sport with a radical shakeup of the race weekend format.

One apparent suggestion is that traditional qualifying is scrapped and replaced with a Saturday ‘sprint race’, with the finishing order to determine the grid for the main grand prix on Sunday.

Zehnder told Speed Week: “The discussion about a Saturday race is not new. But in the end, what would change if we had a sprint race as the basis for the grid? Because it would be the same as now, with Mercedes, Ferrari, Williams at the front.”

“To radically change something, you would have to implement the proposal of Flavio Briatore and reverse the grid,” Zehnder added. “But what does that have to do with performance and sport? Nothing at all. It would be artificial and against the basic idea of formula one.”

Sauber is not a member of the decision-making Strategy Group, but boss Monisha Kaltenborn says the Swiss team is supportive of changes to improve F1.

“Since we were not part of the discussion it’s difficult for me to go into specifics, but from reading what the Strategy Group decided it looks like it’s going in the right direction,” she said.

“To us, it is important that the competition is interesting again — that’s what the fans, the partners want and it seems to be going in the right direction.”