FORMULA 1

[MIKA27]

MCLAREN: WE’VE RUN RELIABLY ALL DAY

A very positive and productive day of running at the fourth and final day of the first 2018 pre-season test at Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona.

Track conditions started very wet from heavy rain overnight, which made early-morning running tricky and meant a slower-than-usual start to the programme. As the track dried out Stoffel was able to quickly and efficiently run through a comprehensive test plan, which included key correlation, component and aero tests that necessitated all-important mileage.

As the track was kept green throughout the traditional lunch break, Stoffel continued consistent running into the mid-afternoon, when the team handed the reins over to Fernando at around 16:00hrs, giving him the opportunity to make up for some of the lost track time yesterday due to bad weather.

Stoffel completed a solid 110 laps and posted the second-fastest time of the day, while Fernando did 51 and finished fifth on the timesheets, bringing McLaren’s total for the final day of test one to 161 laps.

Stoffel Vandoorne: “Today was a very productive session for me. The day started off a little bit slowly with the bad weather conditions and it took a long time for the track to dry up, but even with that to deal with we still completed a lot of mileage and got a good understanding of the car. It feels good to get a good amount of laps on the board after we missed out a bit over the past few days. When the track started to dry I did some very good running and completed a lot of set-up changes, trying to understand our package and how everything works together, and the feeling was positive. I finished today with 110 laps and it’s been a long time since we’ve been able to do this. We had time to put Fernando in the car too for the final part of the session, so altogether a very productive day.”

Fernando Alonso: “I’m very happy with what has been an impressive day from the whole team in the garage and at the factory to put that amount of laps on the board between Stoffel and myself. The car ran perfectly all day. We did some interesting runs with some set-up changes, and we keep discovering more about the new package each time, especially with the integration of the Renault engine that was previously unknown for us. It was a very productive day for all of us and I’d like to say well done to everyone for working hard to get through a very full and comprehensive test programme today.”

Eric Boullier, Racing Director: “Today we’ve run reliably all day, which is a very positive way to end the first week of testing. We had some small glitches in the first two days which caused us to lose a disproportionate amount of track time, and the weather didn’t help any of us yesterday, but today everything fell into place. I’m happy we’ve finally been able to run a full test programme today and follow our plan, which has given us some solid data and feedback from the factory. Being ‘winter world champions’ on the timesheets is not of interest to us – the important things are mileage and learning – and today we’re very satisfied with what we have managed to achieve. Recovering mileage was our top priority in order to get back on schedule, and now we can regroup and use the data we’ve gathered to redefine our test programme for next week. Now we have the initial test programme done and under our belt, the objectives for test two are running a race distance and practising pitstops – we’re giving the latter more focus and new equipment this year, so that will be the key.”

[MIKA27]

RENAULT: NICO AND CARLOS GAVE POSITIVE FEEDBACK

Renault Sport Formula One Team concluded the first week of pre-season testing with both Nico Hülkenberg and Carlos Sainz returning to driving duties at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

Nico started his day on a damp but drying track using Pirelli’s wet, intermediate and then the Soft compound dry tyres. Running into the cancelled lunch-break, Nico completed 49 laps with a best time of 1min 22.507secs. Carlos ran later in the day in improved conditions, completing 60 laps with a best time of 1min 20.940secs, the sixth fastest of the day.

Fast Facts:

• Track: Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Spain, 4.7km.
• Chassis: R.S.18 – 01.
• Weather: Damp to cool conditions. Ambient 9°C – 16°C Track 9°C – 19°C.
• Programme: Wet weather tyre assessment, set-up and aero evaluations.
• Laps Completed: 109: Nico 49, Carlos 60.
• Classification: Nico: P11, 1:22.507, Carlos P6 1:20.940.
• Interruptions: Driver changeover.

Nico Hülkenberg: “We struggled to get some clean running and temperature into the wet and intermediate tyres this morning so it wasn’t as productive as we’d like. The track did take a long time to dry out, with the new surface and still pretty cool conditions, so I only managed one dry, but still damp, run at the end of my time in the car today. Next week we’re hoping for much better from the Spanish skies.”

Carlos Sainz: “There was a pretty good window this afternoon where I could do a couple of long runs and start to get a feel for the R.S.18. Obviously, there’s still work to do to get the car fully to my liking after this week’s weather delays, but at least we could complete some interesting mileage through long runs today and because of that, I’m pretty pleased with how it went. I’m looking forward to next week where we can really get into testing and explore set up directions.”

Cyril Abiteboul, Managing Director: “This week we’ve seen the first glimpse of the Renault R.S.18’s potential on track, albeit in very cold, wet and unrepresentative conditions. We managed the majority of our running on the first morning and then the final afternoon, with a lot of rain, sleet and even snow in-between, so it hasn’t been a normal week of testing for anyone. Obviously, it’s very early days in our understanding of the car, but both Nico and Carlos have given positive feedback. Our teams back at Enstone and Viry-Châtillon have worked tremendously hard on this car and their attention to detail has been illustrated by our positive lap tally when conditions allowed. Next week we are targeting a significantly higher lap tally.”

What’s Next?

Stripping and rebuilding of the R.S.18 ahead of next week’s second test commencing on Tuesday 6th March. Both drivers are scheduled to drive on each day of the test, with Nico taking to the wheel first on the morning of Tuesday.

[MIKA27]

BOULLIER: MCLAREN NEEDS TO WIN THAT’S WHERE WE BELONG

McLaren motorsport chief Eric Boullier is adamant that his team are ready and up to tackling the no small task of adapting to a new engine ahead of the 2018 Formula 1 World Championship and insists that despite a couple of hiccups in testing the team are confident.

Asked by AS if McLaren were now out of excuses and ready for their new era with Renault, Boullier replied, “No, no, no. There are no excuses. Ready? Yes, as prepared as we can be. This is the reason why we are also trying to discover and clarify the last details, so we have a couple of things that we must correct, modify and change. But it is the same for everyone.

Changes have been aplenty at Woking in recent years, Boullier explained the progress, “I think that as an organization, we always improve things. The last four years, we have changed a lot the way we worked before, the organization itself has changed a lot.”

“[We are] more linear, more agile, more collaborative. So yes, I mean I like the current McLaren because I can see that every year it is becoming more powerful not in terms of money or people, just the way it works better and better.”

Much has been written about McLaren star driver Fernando Alonso’s World Endurance Championship campaign alongside his Formula 1 commitments with opinions split on the benefits of such a programme.

Boullier is happy with the arrangement with the Spaniard, “Drivers used to test all the time, during the weekdays and weekends. This is what it was ten years ago and nobody complained that he was busy.”

“So I’m happy with what Fernando is going to do, in fact, it will help him to be even smarter and better. Because he will enter a routine that will be the same week after week and will help him to be very focused on his job as a race driver.”

Finally, asked if McLaren will return to the top step of the podium again this year, Boullier responded, “We’ll see… I do not know. I do not want to give any expectations. We do not know yet…

“I want to win. Nothing else. But if you want to win someday, you always need to offer the right expectations, this will lead you to build the right goals and not make any mistakes by going too fast or too far. So I want to win, we want to win, McLaren needs to win because that’s where McLaren belongs.”

“But this year, let’s evaluate how competitive we are. Let’s see how the others are. Our first goal is to try to fight Red Bull and Renault, and then we will see it.”

“The Renault-McLaren package is good enough, maybe we can take it further. We’ll see, we do not even know what the other teams are doing. We’re just going to wait for the first race,” added Boullier.

[MIKA27]

Pierre Gasly happy to rack up mammoth mileage to end first test

Pierre Gasly was thrilled with his day's work after completing a tremendous 147 laps in the Toro Rosso-Honda on the final day of the first test in Barcelona.

Having managed to work through numerous programmes and help the team continue to understand the STR13 with still four days of testing to run, the Frenchman is confident the team can make the improvements needed ahead of the first race.

"I think it's really satisfying to have done so many laps," Gasly said. "It's only the second day for me testing in the car, fourth day for the team, so we're still learning many things about the car.

"We'll have to go through everything in the coming days before the second test, but it was a really positive day overall."

"At the moment we're just testing different things. I would say the first feeling with the car, it's pretty positive. At the moment we still need to improve a couple of things, but about the chassis, we're pretty happy, about the engine same thing.

"We just need to go through all the data, all the testing we have done. We should have a couple of upgrades for next week as well, so it's the same process. We're trying to improve the car day by day, but at the moment we're looking at some good improvements."

With no reported issues so far from the team regarding the new Honda power unit, Gasly was happy to prove the relationship between the Japanese manufacturer and Toro Rosso is working well and will continue to improve as the year goes on.

He added: "I think today we have shown that the engine is fine. Toro Rosso is working really hard with Honda in terms of communication to have the best package possible.

"We have a common target. We are working as a team altogether, not as two different teams. I think it's something really positive.

"We still need to improve a lot. There are still a few things we need to improve, I guess like every team. But so far, it's been great working with them.

"They are pushing really hard. That is always nice."

MIKA: I already called it last week, but look out, Toro Rosso is impressive thus far, also noting it has a HONDA engine. 

[MIKA27]

Racing Grand Prix cars in the snow...

Testing in February and March is, of course, not ideal when one is in Europe, as seen in the past few days, but going somewhere hotter costs a great deal more money and while the big teams would be happy to do that, it’s not really fair for those struggling with budget restraints.

The launches have revealed a relative paucity if sponsorship across the board in F1 and the problems look like getting worse when one hears that Williams is going g to lose Martini at the end of the year. It was never a big deal in financial terms, compared to other sponsorships, but it looked good.

The problem seems to be that F1’s switch to more pay-TV has reduced the number of eyeballs and so the sport is less attractive to sponsors. It probably didn't help that F1 has a reputation for burning money, which sponsors don’t like, and it’s failure to engage with social media has certainly not helped matters. Liberty Media is in the process of revamping the sport and while some teams are going to object, no one is bigger than the sport and if some of the big teams have to do, then so be it.

All sports need to be fair, Formula 1 needs to be fair and patently it is not.

I gave up watching cycling and athletics because you just didn't know whether some of the players were drugged up to their eyeballs. Any new Ferrari-led series would obviously be the same because why quit a very successful sport if you’re going to be going to one where you get less? And that’s Ferrari’s problem. In order to do something else they would need to invest a ton of money (and shareholders are not going to be keen on that). It could not be a World Championship and the FIA cannot afford to break its 100-year commercial deal because the damages would put it out of business. A new championship would not be up and running until years after Sergio Marchionne retires and who is going to support all the teams in the interim? It’s all poppycock and anyone with the vaguest clue knows it is not possible. We went through this whole process in F1 38 years ago and things have become much more difficult since those days. Bernie Ecclestone says Ferrari is serious, but he knows it cannot work. So why is he saying anything? Just to be troublesome? Or just to be in the newspapers and not to feel like a man who is no longer powerful in the sport he built. He’s got his money (unless HMRC can prise it from him) and it would be so much wiser to go and enjoy retirement and not have to go through the Sunset Boulevard scenario. If people would stop wasting their energy on all this crap and would instead focus on what the sport needs to do, everyone would be better off in the longer term, because F1 might become sexier again and bring back the sponsors.

In the meantime, I'd like to point out a little history from the 1930s which today's F1 heroes (HALOS and all) might like to remember.

It was Pau in 1933, which was held in mid-February. It was snowing but the drivers got together, had a meeting and decided that if the track could be cleared they should go racing, with a little bit of salt sprinkled around to prevent any ice. The snow quickly turned to slush and with the salt, the drivers found themselves being sprayed with the stuff, which was fairly unpleasant, but they battled on through the snow storm although the snow stopped after about 25 laps. The strange thing was that the race saw two Algerian-born drivers Marcel Lehoux and Guy Moll, both in Bugattis, finish 1-2.

The result remains the best ever international Grand Prix result for an African country and ironic, when one considers that most of Algeria is covered with hot desert.

[MIKA27]

Verstappen already feeling "big difference" with new Red Bull

Max Verstappen says he can already feel a "big difference" with Red Bull's new Formula 1 car, even though he has yet to unleash its full potential.
Having started pre-season testing last year on the back foot, Red Bull has been more encouraged by its start this time around after Daniel Ricciardo topped the opening day of action.

And although Verstappen endured a tricky final day of running on Thursday – which included an off into the gravel – the Dutchman says he has seen enough to feel bullish about where his team is at with the RB14.

"It's a big difference, the way the car is handling, and I think it's in a positive way," he said.

"We didn't do any performance laps but when you have conditions like this, which are not ideal, it's good to make sure everything is working well in terms of the data you get from the car compared to what is happening in the wind tunnel."

It was a wind tunnel correlation problem that hindered Red Bull in the early stages of last season, and having promising feedback on that front, rather than quick laptimes, is viewed as key to the signs of progress that Verstappen feels.

"Looking at lap times now doesn't make sense," he explained. "This track with the new surface, it takes a long time until you get a lap time out of it. We have only done runs of two laps.

  

"I'm not too worried yet. You know Mercedes and Ferrari are going to be strong anyway. I'm quite happy with the car so far. In the second week maybe we'll show a bit more."

As well as losing time with his off because he suffered a gearbox glitch as he tried to reverse out of the gravel, Verstappen was earlier hit by a fuel leak which hampered his progress as it was sorted in the garage.

However, he was far from annoyed at a day that was also impacted by the weather.

"We didn't want to run when it was that wet. It didn't make sense for us," he said. "When the track was drying out, we went out on the intermediates.

"Everything seemed to work well. We did our own programme, just checking the car on the slick tyres on very short runs.

"When we wanted to go for longer runs, we had a little hiccup, we had a leak, so we were just checking the whole car. It took longer than expected.

"Once we went out again. I had a moment at Turn 12, then reversing, something happened with the gearbox, but those things happen. Anyway, the conditions this week were not great."

[MIKA27]

McLaren says "£2 problem" caused loss of track time

McLaren sporting director Eric Boullier says that the team's running in Barcelona was compromised by a "£2 problem" after a bolt holding the exhaust in place failed on Tuesday.
The MCL33 suffered some fire damage when the bolt failed and the exhaust came loose when Stoffel Vandoorne was driving, leading to a lengthy period of downtime.

On Thursday the car has suffered a different issue, with high temperatures at the rear damaging the bodywork due to a hole in a heat shield, although it was cosmetic and not much time was lost.

However, the car continued to run with the same burn-damaged engine cover due to a lack of a replacement.

"It's a stupid bolt that broke in the exhaust," said Boullier of the first issue.

"So it was a £2 problem which cost us a lot of track time, because everything was burned after in the back of the car, so we had to rebuild the gearbox and the back end.

"So nothing else than this. It didn't cost us much to revise the design, it's more about the track time we lost.

"As you can see the design is still the same and the car is still running."

Regarding today's problem, he added: "Cooling is the first matter that every team is managing in the first week of testing.

"In a case where you have a new engine partner, you might have some sort of heat soak pocket in the car. Nothing else, to be honest.

"We can see on the bodywork there are a couple of stripes, but this is just because we have to make sure there are some proper heat shields in place, consider all the heat soak pockets as I said, and make sure we can modify and change the cooling inside the bodywork."

Despite the issue better weather allowed the team to make some good progress with the car today.

"Finally we got rid of bad weather and mechanical glitches in the car so we could follow our programme.

"We obviously adjusted our programme, we have compressed it since three days to give some priorities to some items, but today we are now starting to gather data on aero, and even work on some mechanical changes now.

"So it's a learning process actually, so we'll try to learn as much as we can now."

Unexpectedly McLaren has done a lot of running on Pirelli's new hypersoft tyres, which only be seen at a few races this year.

"It's just because tyre models predicted that if it's too cold this is the only tyre that you can work with," Boullier added.

"It turned out that everybody tried soft or ultrasoft or hypersoft or whatever it is, the one that also worked very well is the medium tyre."

Boullier says the team has clear targets for next week's second test.

"First to do a race distance, and obviously bringing also some live pitstops, which obviously we've given more focus this year, so we have some new equipment and stuff to try.

"So a race distance will be the key next week."

[MIKA27]

Karting on snow with Kimi Raikkonen

Over the winter break, Shell put together a driving day like no other at a closed track in the Swiss Alps with Scuderia Ferrari driver Kimi Räikkönen. Lucky fans and aspiring racers were flown to Switzerland to test Shell’s products first-hand in sub-zero temperatures, with a twist. Their mission? To hold off the Ice Man himself for just two laps in a unique go-kart race on ice. The experience was designed to recreate the extreme test bed of motorsport Shell uses to develop its Shell V-Power fuels and Shell Helix Ultra synthetic motor oils for the road, made possible by the Shell Innovation Partnership with Scuderia Ferrari, one of most long-lasting and recognised relationships in the world of motor racing.

[MIKA27]

VETTEL: MERCEDES ARE THE FAVOURITES

In the early war-of-words Sebastian Vettel has struck first by claiming Mercedes are the 2018 Formula 1 World Championship favourites, but at the same time adamant that he wants to return title glory back to Ferrari.

Speaking to reporters in Barcelona, Vettel said, “I want to make sure that I can bring that championship back to Maranello. That is our big ambition and that is our target.”

With disrupted running during the four days of testing in freezing conditions, a pecking order of any kind would be pure speculation.

Nevertheless, Vettel fired his first salvo when he declared “Mercedes are the favourites, but if we can be close, very close, and closer than last year, that will be great.”

“It is a long year. It is only March now, but we will keep going until the end of November when the season ends.”

The four times world champion reflected on the past four days at Circuit de Catalunya, “It has been a difficult week with cool conditions but it affects everyone.

“It is tricky when everybody is so excited because you have a new car but you are unable to tick all the boxes and find the answers to all the questions you have.”

“Anything is possible this year, but I don’t know the answers yet. So far, things have looked OK but there has been limited running for everyone so it is difficult to judge and compare to the others,” added Vettel.

Testing returns to the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona for another four days starting on 6 March, ahead of the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on the weekend 23-25 March.

[Baccy]

At least Ferrari made the Halo look halfway decent but painting it to match the rest of the car and smoothing out the lines... I still hate it though!

[ayepatz]

Lewis fastest.

Again.

Sorry Seb. ?

[MIKA27]

MANY UNANSWERED QUESTIONS AFTER FIRST FORMULA 1 TEST

Lewis Hamilton declared his new Mercedes to be the big sister of last year’s temperamental title winner but Formula 1’s first pre-season test of 2018 still left plenty of room for conjecture.

The four-times F1 world champion, who can expect to start the campaign in Australia on March 25 as a favourite, said bad weather, a resurfaced and smoother track and heavier cars had made comparisons tricky.

Hamilton was fastest over the opening four days at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya with a lap of one minute 19.333 seconds on Thursday, after snow and rain blew out Wednesday’s track action.

The time was quicker already than anything the Briton did in 2017 pre-season testing, when Mercedes were behind only Ferrari, and not far off the 1:19.301 that team mate Valtteri Bottas produced on day six of last year.

And he did it on the medium Pirelli tyres, slower than the ones used by Ferrari — whose best lap was a 1:19.673 by Sebastian Vettel on softs on Tuesday. But plunging track temperatures made it hard to get heat into the tyres.

“The track is quicker than it was in the past, much smoother. A lot more grip,” offered Hamilton by way of explanation.

“It´s difficult to say whether the car’s that much better or how much of that is the track and how much is the grip. And how much of that is the tyres. So over the next days, I guess next week, we´ll get a better understanding.”

The second, and final, four-day test in Barcelona starts next Tuesday.

Hamilton felt the new W09 seemed a much better car than last year’s ‘diva’, a nickname bestowed on it early on by team boss Toto Wolff for its sometimes twitchy and temperamental behaviour.

If he felt ready to race in Melbourne, he recognised there was still plenty of work to lay the “building blocks for a title fight”.

“But we have no idea where people are,” he added. “It looks like Red Bull´s quite quick, looks like the Ferrari´s quite quick but no-one really knows anything.”

One certainty is that the cars are heavier to handle as a result of the new halo head protection device, which adds at least another seven kilograms.

However, teams test with a variety of fuel loads and settings, which makes a comparison of the times fairly meaningless.

Other take-aways from the track were that Honda had moved on from their failed partnership with McLaren and made a big step up in reliability after switching to Toro Rosso, who did more laps than anyone.

McLaren appeared to be settling in well with new engine provider Renault, whose works team has been tipped by Wolff to make the biggest step up of any this year. Force India completed the fewest laps, just behind Haas.

[MIKA27]

CAREY: LONG TERM VALUE NOT A SHORT-TERM BUCK

Formula 1 CEO Chase Carey has commented on the 2017 Formula One Group financial report released this past week and is adamant that his organisation is in the sport for the long haul while affirming that the intention of his organisation is not to merely earn a quick buck.

Speaking after figures revealed that the money kitty from which teams are paid annually (in terms of the existing Concorde Agreement) will be short $47-million in 2017 compared to what they received in 2016, the final year of the autocratic Bernie Ecclestone era.

Carey explained how the relatively new organisation is evolving and with it comes appropriate staffing for future needs, “We’ve settled into our new London headquarters. With headcount currently around 120, expecting to settle around 150 by mid-to-late 2018.”

This is a far cry from the one-man show (plus a few minions) that characterised the ‘workforce’ of the Ecclestone era. The new Liberty Media staffing acquisition has invariably impacted on profits.

Carey explained, “Overall we expect the associated incremental step-up in overhead to be $50-million annually compared to 2016, excluding marketing and development expense tied largely to new initiatives.”

The moustachioed new F1 supremo added, “A year ago we had over $4-billion in external gross debt, and today we’re at $3.2-billion, with approximately $115-million in annualised interest savings and an improved tax structure. We also eliminated the potential overhang in prior share sales from prior F1 owners.”

Carey and his team are enthused by the support they have received from the sport’s major players and commercial partners, “We were positively surprised by the excitement from existing partners to expand and grow their relationships with us, and the level of interest from new commercial sponsors.”

“There’s real enthusiasm from new potential sponsors, promoters and video entities to engage with F1. Many of these will take time to develop in the right way, and our priority again is building long-term value, not a short-term buck,” added Carey.

[MIKA27]

FORMULA 1 HIRES RAMBO COMPOSER FOR NEW THEME

Formula 1 has hired the award-winning composer – of several “Fast and Furious” franchise musical scores and soundtrack for the likes of “Rambo” – to write a new theme tune for the motor racing organisation.

Brian Tyler, an Emmy-nominated American has made music for Avengers: Age of Ultron, Iron Man 3, Thor – The Dark World as well as the Fast and Furious movies and also wrote theme music for ESPN’s National Football League (NFL) shows.

Tyler, who was a guest at last year’s United States Grand Prix, wrote on Twitter:

Quote

What an honor to be chosen to compose the Formula 1 theme! This is a life long dream come true as I am a massive #formula1 fan. Thank you #F1!

Formula 1 launched a television streaming product, F1 TV, last Tuesday with the goal to modernise Formula 1’s global image which began on the night of the season finale in Abu Dhabi last year with the unveiling of the sport’s new logo

“Within the context of looking at ways to bring fans closer to Formula One, we are exploring all avenues to refresh the look and feel of the show,” said a Formula One spokesman.

“Music is a key component of the emotion of sport and we are engaging with top international talent in order to develop a new signature tune for F1.

“This is a process in development and we will make a formal announcement at the right time.”

As of November 2017, Tyler’s work has featured in films that have grossed $12-billion worldwide which puts him into the top 10 highest-grossing film composers of all time.

Most recently Tyler produced “Heroes United” which debuted during the 2018 Winter Olympics United Airlines Campaign.

 

[MIKA27]

HAMILTON: I WILL DO WHAT I CAN TO STOP VERSTAPPEN WINNING

Lewis Hamilton has in the past pointed to Max Verstappen as a champion of the future, but the reigning Formula 1 World Champion is adamant that as long as he is with Mercedes he will be doing everything in his power to keep the young Dutchman from winning races.

After four weather-affected days in Barcelona, it was clear that Hamilton was in a talkative mood on a variety of subjects including the amazing W09, wasted money on track resurfacing, boasting he can beat anyone and now giving Max a piece of his mind.

After topping the fourth day of F1 testing at Circuit de Catalunya last week, Hamilton was asked if 20-year-old Verstappen will be world champion at some point, to which he replied, “I think it is very difficult to say, he definitely has the potential to be a world champion as we’ve all seen that and that is why he has such a great following.”

“We’ve seen the way he drives and he has great potential and is in a great team. I think he is in the perfect place to continue growing. He has a long time ahead of him even with a good few seasons under his belt. I still hadn’t even had my first season at 21 so he is even further ahead than me and a lot of the drivers.”

Verstappen is committed to Red Bull until the end of 2020 and it is clear the energy drinks outfit believe the youngster can lead them to world title glory once again.

But not if 33-year-old Hamilton can help it. “While I’m here I am going to be doing what I can to stop him winning. People won’t particularly love that but that is what we are here to do, we are here to battle and I am looking forward to having some really positive battles with him – hopefully this year.”

[MIKA27]

SIROTKIN: I’M SURE I WILL PROVE MY CRITICS WRONG

Sergey Sirotkin was the surprise choice by Williams to fill the seat vacated by Felipe Massa, the Russian has no race experience but he is adamant that he will prove the many critics that he deserves to be in Formula 1 and if he fails to make the grade he will be the first to admit it.

Speaking after his first official test as a Williams grand prix driver, Sirotkin told reporters, “I know my level, I know what my weaknesses are. I know the areas in which I can and I must improve.”

“I won’t hide, I’ll be the first to recognize it and say: Sorry guys, you were right. I don’t deserve to be here. But I’m sure I will prove my critics wrong.”

Sirtokin came on to the scene in 2014 as a Sauber reserve driver with whom he made a single FP1 appearance at the inaugural Russian Grand Prix, his home race.

In 2015 he was appointed Renault reserve and since then has done six FP1 sessions with the French team who apparently rate highly.

Of his time with the two teams, Sirotkin revealed, “With Sauber, it was not really a full focus on [getting into F1]. It came as quick as it disappeared, to be honest. I was still doing my career in World Series and GP2.”

“It was not something I put all my life into. I was still racing, and winning the racing, and hitting my own targets. That’s what I was trying to continue to do.”

“It was a bit more difficult with Renault last year. It was the first season I didn’t race when I was fully dedicated to the team and I worked hard for them.”

“When you realise it’s not going the way you expected it to be going, it’s definitely not the best feeling,” he said. “It’s a period that ended up being much more difficult than I imagined it to be

“But I learned from it and I maximised it. And I need to thank them as well for making me the driver I am now, and getting me where I am.”

Now with Williams, he has secured a race seat with a team steeped in Formula 1 pedigree while teaming up with teenager Lance Stroll making them the youngest teammates on the 2018 Formula 1 grid. An interesting combination which should provide an entertaining subplot to the season.

Sirotkin reflected on the first four days of F1 testing at Circuit de Catalunya, “We haven’t got the full picture of the car yet but I think we can see some strong points. I believe we can make them even stronger, as well as correct the weaker parts.”

“We collected as much data and knowledge as possible about the car. I got some feeling for the car with quite a good amount of consistent wet running, so a reasonable amount of information about the car and myself.”

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SAUBER ANNOUNCE A PARTNERSHIP WITH GARAGE ITALIA

Sauber have announced a partnership with Garage Italia, a Milan based company well connected with Ferrari whose president is Lapo Elkann, the grandson of the late Italian industrialist and FIAT patriarch Gianni Agnelli.

Press Release:

We are delighted to announce that the Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team is partnering with Garage Italia, a creative company with its headquarters in Milan, that offers customization services for cars, motorcycles, airplanes, helicopters and boats.

In addition to becoming Promotional Partner of the Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team, Garage Italia will feature their logo in the position of the chin on Charles Leclerc’s helmet for the 2018 FIA Formula 1 season.

Frédéric Vasseur, Team Principal, Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team: “We are pleased to announce our partnership with Garage Italia, an exclusive company specialized in creative customization. Working together with such an innovative company will not only be inspiring to our drivers, but to our whole team, and we look forward to working together in 2018.”

Lapo Elkann, Founder, President and Creative Director of Garage Italia: “Racing in Formula 1 represents the dream of every professional driver. I can only imagine the excitement that driving a single-seater brings to young talents. I strongly believe in giving youth a chance to demonstrate their skills, and am fully convinced we will see great success from the drivers of the Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team in the upcoming season. Entering the world of Formula 1 alongside the iconic Alfa Romeo, a brand very dear to my heart, makes me very proud, and thrilled to be part of this journey. I look forward to our collaboration: together we will accomplish many challenging and amazing things.”

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Hamilton: Barcelona F1 character lost since 'waste of money' resurfacing

Reigning World Champion Lewis Hamilton believes that character has been lost from the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya since its resurfacing during the off-season.

The circuit has acted as the home of the Spanish Grand Prix since 1991 and has emerged as Formula 1’s exclusive pre-season testing venue across the past few years.

Officials opted to resurface the entire track during the winter months, amid complaints from MotoGP riders over its bumpiness, and tweaks to spectator areas have also been made.

Hamilton, winner of the Spanish Grand Prix in 2014 and 2017, reckons the new surface has removed some of the character from the venue.

“This track has been resurfaced and there are no bumps,” said Hamilton.

“I’m not quite sure why they did a resurface as I think it is a waste of money in general because the older the surface the more character there is in a circuit.

“They’ve smoothed a lot of it out so it has lost a lot of its great character like a track like Barcelona has.

“They’ve done it at many circuits and I guess it has something to do with MotoGP, so we have that fight, I love MotoGP but they hate us because we make it bumpy and we hate them because they keep getting us to have these big run-off areas!”

A handful of Formula 1 circuits have been resurfaced in recent years, but Hamilton believes that older, bumpier tracks should be retained, in order to enhance the challenge for drivers.

“When you go to a brand new circuit it’s got no history, you don’t have the greats that have driven it in the past,” he explained.

“But I like a track that’s a bit more dated in terms of surface.

“Drivers in the drivers’ briefings are constantly complaining about bumps but you have to manoeuvre around the bumps, you can brake a little more off-line or you can brake after or slightly before them [the bumps].

“You have to set the car up to be a little bit better in terms of ride height, but that’s where the character of a circuit is. If you flatten it all out you’ve got corners but it’s missing something.”

“It’s harder, it’s trickier [with bumps]. When you are going through a corner the car starts moving a little bit more. you have to be a little more responsive and I like that challenge.

“When you are smoothing it out you are making it easier. I would say this track is much easier, driving it was the easiest it’s been in all of the 10 years that I’ve been driving.”

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Sergio Perez is wary of Renault and McLaren threat for fourth

Sergio Perez says Force India faces a substantial threat from both Renault and McLaren if it is to finish fourth in the Constructors' standings for a third straight season.

The Silverstone-based team has finished in fourth place across 2016/17, behind only Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull, and in front of more prestigious operations, most notably Renault and McLaren.

Renault has been expanding its workforce since returning to Formula 1 two years ago, while McLaren has now switched to using the French marque's power units, following three uncompetitive seasons with Honda.

"I think McLaren is one definitely to watch out for and also Renault as they’ve been improving a lot," said Perez.

"I also strongly believe in Force India so it is going to be a tough battle in the midfield and hopefully we can race a lot closer to the top three teams this season and we can have a more enjoyable F1 for all of us."

Perez had numerous clashes with team-mate Esteban Ocon in 2017, most notably in Azerbaijan and Belgium, where collisions cost the team potential strong results.

When asked if there was any contact over the winter he added: "No. Not at all. I didn’t send flowers to him, let’s put it that way! There was not a lot of communication and everyone wanted to have a quiet time.

"We both know we are not like best friends but we both respect each other and we want to work well for the benefit of the team.

"Now he has experience we have to push the team forward together to get the best possible result because it is going to be a massive year for Force India as there are big teams coming and big teams that are going to push us very hard. I believe it is going to be a hard year for us."

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Sky slashes cost of its F1 package in response to F1 TV

Sky has slashed the price of its Formula 1 package in the UK following the announcement of Formula 1's own F1 TV Pro, a new streaming service from Liberty Media, which is set to launch this year.

F1 TV Pro will show all practice sessions, qualifying and races live through a dedicated service in a select number of countries – that list doesn't include the UK due to the existing broadcast deal in place witk Sky, which will have exclusive rights from 2019 to 2024.

However on Friday, Sky slashed the cost of its F1 Season Pass – covering all 21 races – which will now cost just £150 on its Now TV platform, or a little over £7 per race weekend.

Previously the season pass cost more than double that at £33.99 a month, or £305.91 (covering the nine-month season).

Fans in the UK wanting access to F1 TV Pro's in-depth coverage, which includes exclusive camera angles and onboard streams from all 20 drivers, may not have to wait until Sky's current deal expires in 2024, with F1's director of digital and new business Frank Arthofer saying they would be open to working with existing broadcasters.

"In the markets where we haven’t carved the [digital] rights out, like the UK as an example, we’re very open to working with our partners to consider a path to up-selling this product to our broadcast partners’ customer base."

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Williams: Age of drivers no factor in Martini's F1 decision

Williams has insisted that its decision to field two young drivers this year played no part in Martini’s decision not to remain on board as its title sponsor beyond 2018.

The iconic Martini brand returned to Formula 1 with Williams in 2014, on a five-year deal, but it was confirmed last week that it would not renew, and is set to depart the sport altogether.

Martini has preferred Williams to have drivers over 25, which remained the case from 2014 through 2017, with Felipe Massa ever-present, off-setting the presence of 18-year-old Lance Stroll last season.

However, Williams will this season field Stroll, 19, and 22-year-old rookie Sergey Sirotkin, who will form the youngest line-up on the 2018 grid.

Williams, though, has denied that Martini’s impending departure from the team was related to its choice of drivers for the upcoming campaign.

“I talked quite a lot last year about making sure we had drivers who were able to activate from a marketing perspective because of Martini’s 25 year age limit,” said Williams.

“Going into this year it is hard to find drivers over 25.

“They [Martini] were fully supportive of us bringing in Sergey and it played no part in their decision-making process moving forward as they were fully aware of ours plans and supportive of it.

“I suppose next year it gives us the freedom to do what we want without having to worry about age limits.”

Williams claimed back-to-back third places in the standings 2014 and 2015, but fell behind fellow Mercedes customer Force India through 2016, slipping to fifth, and repeated the position last year, albeit further adrift of its rival.  

Williams is wary that retaining fifth position will be a tough proposition, in light of expected improvements from Renault and McLaren this year.

“Our goal is never to maintain fifth in the championship, our goal is to win,” Williams outlined.

“It is to make progress too. We weren’t happy with fifth place last year as anyone would imagine.

“Force India did a fantastic job and we are really hoping we’d get fourth but hey they did a much better job than us.

“We have a lot of exciting things happening in our team at the moment, not at least with Paddy Lowe’s involvement in our team, as he didn’t or couldn’t have much of an impact on the team’s car last year as he joined at the start of the season when the car was already done.

“The pressure is on him and his engineering team to deliver for this year but it is going to be tough with more challenges out there with Force India and McLaren with their Renault engine plus Renault are looking strong this week.

“I think it will be difficult but we have to make progress and that is what we are always fighting for at Williams every single day.”

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Honda reliability not a surprise says Toro Rosso's James Key

Toro Rosso Technical Director James Key says that a "super smooth" first week with Honda is not a surprise, after the operation enjoyed a productive week of testing in Barcelona.

Honda endured fraught pre-season testing programmes with McLaren, particularly in 2015 and 2017, having introduced new power unit concepts in both seasons.

At the respective opening four-day tests in 2015, 2016 and 2017, McLaren-Honda managed 79, 257 and 208 laps respectively at Jerez (2015) and Barcelona (2016/17).

Toro Rosso, meanwhile, amassed 324 laps across the four-day period, despite the bulk of this week’s test having been compromised by unseasonably cold weather, with Wednesday’s running all but abandoned.

Key, though, downplayed suggestions that Toro Rosso’s mileage came as a surprise.

“I think if we looked at the situation last year it’s a bit of a surprise, but having worked with them [Honda] for a while now it’s less of a surprise," Key said.

“I think looking at the facilities that they’ve got and the desperate will that they’ve got to make it work, it’s less of a surprise to me now. 

“But obviously you never know until you hit the track and I have to say – touchwood – there hasn’t been any major issues at all. 

“Any minor stoppages we’ve had have been on our side. 

“They’ve just been super smooth to work with, we’re very inclusive so they attend all our meetings and all that sort of thing so we all know what’s going on, and we’re working together with them on optimising everything. 

“So it’s been very, very smooth so far and I’m sure that will continue.”

However, Key was nonetheless frustrated by the relative lack of useful running due to the poor conditions across much of the test.

“There’s a lot we haven’t been able to do obviously,” he said. 

“One of the first things you want to do is tyres, which is very difficult in these conditions so we’ve had to adapt the programme a bit. 

“I think we’ve been able to do some set-up work, with the length of time it’s taken to get the tyres in we’ve done a bit of durability in a sense as well because some of the runs have been quite long. 

“I can’t really make an assessment on things like cooling systems in these conditions so still a lot work to do but some of the basics have been covered and we’ve done some initial things.”

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Magnussen won’t be ‘any more friendly’

Kevin Magnussen says while he will be looking to avoid penalties this season, he won’t be any more “friendly” on the track.

Last year the Haas driver made headlines when he clashed with Nico Hulkenberg, the tussle spreading into a post-race interview.

When Hulkenberg confronted Magnussen about his driving, the Dane responded with a “suck my balls.”

But while his rivals weren’t happy with his driving, Magnussen only had one penalty from the stewards who felt he was within the lines.

And he has promised to dish out more of the same this year.

“I look at it like this,” he told BT newspaper. “If I get a penalty, then I’ve made a mistake.

“But with regards to racing against rivals, I only got one penalty last year. I need to learn from that.

“So this year, I’m going to try to drive just as hard without getting any penalties.

“That doesn’t mean I’m going to be any more friendly on the track. I hope to be even harder – just without any penalty.”

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"Ugly, awkward" halo could cause Eau Rouge problem - Magnussen

Formula 1's halo is still annoying, ugly, awkward and distracting, says Haas driver Kevin Magnussen, and could cause problems at corners such as Eau Rouge.
This week's Barcelona test was the first time the halo had been in mandatory use. While some former critics said they were now grudgingly accepting of it, Magnussen remains frustrated.

"It's very annoying. Ugly. Difficult to get into the car, difficult to get out of the car, difficult to get the steering wheel on and off, just awkward and annoying," he said.

Though he ruled out any problem seeing start lights, Magnussen suggested there were some types of corner where the device could prove a distraction.

"Once you get into the corner it's fine because you look to the sides and left and right of the pillar in the middle so it's not a problem visually to see the corner," Magnussen said.

"But it distracts your eye obviously when you change direction like chicanes and you have to move your vision across the pillar.

"It's a little bit distracting but it isn't any concern as such."

  

Asked if it could prove problematic in wheel-to-wheel racing, Magnussen said corners with elevation change such as Spa's famous Eau Rouge were his main concern.

"If you're chasing someone in Eau Rouge you won't be able to see if he makes a mistake at the top and spins if you're down the middle part," he said. "You won't know if he's in the wall or not.

"I guess the same at Austin Turn 1 where there's big elevation, but we'll see."

IndyCar has diverged from F1 and is trialling a windscreen as a halo alternative, but Magnussen said he would be little happier with that.

"It looks a lot nicer but I'm not even really a fan of that," he said. "It's better than our halo but I just don't think there should be anything.

"In my opinion, Formula 1 is an open car and shouldn't be closed. I think it's wrong for Formula 1."

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Wolff denies Mercedes targeted by F1 engine parity ruling

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff believes the push for equal treatment of Formula 1 engine partners is not targeted at the Stuttgart manufacturer, as it has "never" limited the modes and parameters available to customers Williams and Force India.
In January, the FIA sent a technical directive to all F1 teams reinforcing the existing requirement for engine suppliers to give identical hardware to their customers by insisting that henceforth all cars will also have the same software and operating conditions.

Customer teams now also have to receive identical fuel and oil specifications as works cars, unless they have opted out by choosing a different supplier, for example because of commercial reasons

Some paddock insiders have suggested that the FIA’s move is aimed more at Mercedes than Renault or Ferrari, with Red Bull boss Christian Horner even telling the media to “ask Claire Williams” where the impetus for the clampdown came from.

However, Wolff is adamant that neither Williams not Force India have lobbied the FIA on the subject.

“I don’t think any of our customers was pushing for it,” Wolff told Motorsport.com.

  

“It’s not relevant for us, because the rules have been in place for a while that you must supply the customers with the same hardware and software from a power unit standpoint, and we’ve always done that.”

Wolff insists that Force India and Williams have always had the same operating conditions as the works team, such as access to special qualifying modes.

“Identical modes for the customers and us. There has never been any difference. They have the same mileage allowance as the works team, there is no difference whatsoever.

“That’s why we have no problem with that. If there is any suspicion out there, it certainly wasn’t anything that would have any consequence for us.

"We have the belief that sharing modes and engine calibration among six cars triggers a steeper learning curve for us than running different engine specifications between the customers and the works team.”

Wolff also insisted that the customers are never a step behind on Petronas fuel specifications.

“No, never. It’s the same philosophy again. We’re all using the same fuels, because we’re calibrating our engines on one spec of fuel.”