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Alfa Romeo F1 deal makes Sauber 'much more attractive'

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Sauber's Formula 1 partnership with Alfa Romeo has made it "much more attractive" to sponsors and staff, according to team principal Frederic Vasseur.

Though Alfa has retained a minor link to F1 through small sponsorship tie-ups with sister brand Ferrari in recent years, its Sauber deal marks its first major grand prix racing role since 1985.

Asked by Autosport to explain the benefits of the Alfa Romeo deal compared to the one Sauber has struck with Ferrari as an engine supplier and technical partner, Vasseur described it as "much more a partnership so far".

"We have to develop the collaboration," he said. "For us it's a very important step because it's an iconic brand.

"We are much more attractive for the sponsors, much more attractive for the guys you have to work with.

"It was a bit tough in the past and when we did the announcement we received much more [interest] than the last 12 months.

"We have the feeling that the project is motivating the team. It's a big step forward."

Vasseur took charge of Sauber in the middle of last season and has been tasked with moving the Swiss team forward from the back of the grid.

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He said having positive influences like the Alfa deal would create a snowball effect and gradually allow the team to rebuild.

"If you want to have a look at three years - 2021, something like this - the target for us is to get back into the pace, and we are far away," he said. "But we were very far away last year.

"The first step is to catch up the field because that will get an extra motivation and also because with the comparison [to rival teams] you will go faster.

"We will be more and more attractive, more and more attractive for the engineers, for the drivers, for everybody.

"If you have a look at the other projects that there were, Red Bull 10 years ago or Mercedes seven years ago, it took time for them to be able to fight for the championship and to win.

"And in Mercedes' case they took over Brawn who was world champion! It took five years to become world champion again."

Vasseur said he was "realistic" and not expecting Alfa or Ferrari support to launch Sauber into contention for wins and podiums in the coming seasons.

"We are starting from the back and far away at the back," he said. "I know perfectly that it will take time to deliver and to improve.

"We have to be better next week than today, and we have to be better in Bahrain than in Melbourne.

"It can be the only philosophy of the development of the team."

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AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX TECHNICAL PREVIEW

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The season-opening Australian Grand Prix provides teams with a unique challenge in a number of areas as it is the first time that they work with their new cars at a race weekend, under the time-pressured running allowed, in sharp contrast to the long testing days.

Additionally, the track is hard on the brakes, containing a number of large stops which pose a reliability challenge. With the race taking place in the early evening, and trees surrounding the circuit, the track temperature can fall rapidly, creating difficulties with tyre temperatures.

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Downforce vs Drag

Albert Park is not a track with the extremes of Monaco or Monza, in terms of downforce and drag. While there are a number of straights, they are not particularly long, so teams are reluctant to take too much downforce off the car for drag reduction.

Additionally, this track is notoriously one on which overtaking is difficult, so qualifying is particularly crucial, favouring higher downforce. Hence, teams will probably tend to set-up the car with a little more downforce than average, and as a result, a little more drag.

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Car Strengths Needed

If anything, Melbourne places a greater role on car balance and mechanical grip than outright downforce through Aerodynamics. Corners are generally short and sharp, in contrast to the sweeping turns of Barcelona, where pre-season testing took place. An adaptable car is also of importance – this means a car with a wide operating window, such that set-up changes can be made to tune it to the particular conditions and the driver’s feel.

Key Corners

There are three corners of particular importance at Albert Park. Two of them, Turns 11 and 12, make up a quick corner complex, which will be taken in seventh gear and with Turn 12 perhaps being flat-out. Additionally, this sequence is one of the more Aerodynamically dependent on the track, meaning a good car through here is a positive indicator for the rest of the season.

Secondly, the penultimate corner, Turn 15, is a tricky one to navigate without locking up in qualifying, which can force the car wide. This not only loses time on the spot, but also compromises the line through the final corner and reduces top speed on the pit straight. This corner is also vital to any overtaking attempts at the start of the next lap, so is one to watch during the race.

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Tyres & Strategy

Tyres are almost as much of an unknown going into this season as they were at the same point last year. Pirelli’s mission was to make the tyres one step softer than previously, while also adding the HyperSoft and SuperHard to bookend its 2017 range. However, in practice, the delta between the Medium, Soft, SuperSoft and UltraSoft compounds appears to be smaller than expected and the data provided by Pirelli post-testing will not be wholly reliable, with the only running done so far being on the newly re-laid Barcelona track.

Last year, it was possible to do a one-stop race, starting on the UltraSofts and finishing on the SuperSofts, relatively comfortably – indeed, race-winner Vettel ran on used UltraSofts until Lap 23. Therefore, it would be reasonable to expect an UltraSoft-Soft one-stop would be possible in 2018, if not an UltraSoft-SuperSoft strategy, although the cooler and cloudier conditions could force teams on to the latter.

This is because of the new working range limits for the tyres in 2018 – Pirelli has now designed the tyres such that the softer the tyre, the lower the working range, which was part of the reason McLaren favoured the softer compounds in the cold pre-season testing conditions. As such, the Softs will have a higher working range than the SuperSofts which could cause problems late in the race, as ambient/track temperatures tend to drop off.

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Overtaking/DRS

As discussed above, overtaking is difficult, although a new feature has been introduced this year at Albert Park, namely a third DRS zone. In reality, this is unlikely to make any difference given the short straight between Turns 12 and 13, with the high-speed complex prior to this preventing any cars from following each other closely. This extra DRS zone may push teams to run higher downforce set-ups since they can achieve a higher top speed on one of the power dependent areas of the circuit.

Weather

Friday’s running is set to take place in sunny, hot conditions, very different to those expected for the rest of the weekend, with a high probability of rain for qualifying before cool, dry conditions for the race. This will make it difficult for the teams to collect long run and tyre data on Friday that will be relevant to Sunday’s conditions, increasing unpredictability.

Form Guide

Predicting a new season is always very difficult given the different tyre compounds, fuel loads, power modes and set-ups run during pre-season testing. Further to this, many teams bring substantial upgrade packages to the first race, further mixing up the order (Force India and McLaren are such teams this year). Nevertheless, what is clear is that the top three teams are unchanged from 2017, albeit with a shifted order.

It appears as if Mercedes could end up further ahead than last season, having fixed the difficult set-up characteristics of the W08, while Red Bull may have jumped ahead of Ferrari, although both are set to bring upgrades to Australia. The midfield is almost impossible to predict, but Haas, Renault and McLaren look to be leading it, with Sauber still at the back, although much closer than last year.

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BRAWN: BY MID-SEASON EVERYONE WILL KNOW WHERE WE WANT TO GO

Ross Brawn

As the Formula 1 world welcomes in its 68th world championship season with this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix, a key issue looming large in the background is the future of the sport as plotted by Liberty Media, a saga that is likely to unravel by mid-season

Of the triumvirate that leads the sport at the moment, Ross Brawn is tasked to oversee the development of new Formula 1 regulations which will come into effect in 2021, however, the opposition to the preliminary vision presented to the teams late last year is formidable.

Dissenter in chief is Ferrari whose president Sergio Marchionne has  the iconic team from the sport if the ethos of Formula 1 does remain intact. Mercedes team chief Toto Wolff has more than once backed Marchionne’s stance, warning against provoking the Maranello boss. An alliance of sorts has clearly been reached by the sport’s two leading teams.

Ahead of the season-opening weekend in Melbourne, Brawn spoke to Auto Motor und Sport at length about his vision for the sport while inadvertently revealing that much is going on behind the scenes which not even the best-connected media are privy to.

The question everyone wants an answer to is when the new rules will become a reality, to which Brawn replied, “By mid-season, everyone will know where we want to go.”

With regards to the nature of the rules, Brawn explained, “These rules have clear objectives. One is that the races have to be more entertaining, another that Formula 1 is economically viable for all involved. We want a field with ten to twelve healthy teams.”

“Costs have increased dramatically in the last five or six years, starting from a level when costs were already incredibly high. We have to agree operating budgets that still make Formula 1 the premier class in motorsport but still financially feasible for all.”

“We need cars with which can race together well and in which a driver can show his talent. All our surveys and analysis have shown that Formula 1 drivers are extremely important because most fans are fascinated by the drivers.”

When asked to assess his first season at the helm of the sport, Brawn recalled, “Exactly one year ago, Chase Carey, Sean Bratches and I sat in a small rented office. There was nothing but the three of us. We first had to get to know each other and also the size of the task that was ahead of us.”

“Much has happened in the last twelve months. We now have an organization of around 300 people. We have collected information, analyzed processes and rules, and developed an understanding of what works and what does not. There is an incredible energy in this group to tackle new ideas and projects for the future.”

“I’m optimistic that we now have an infrastructure that can handle this task, even though it might stumble a bit here and there because everything came together so quickly.”

Nevertheless, Brawn acknowledged that his optimism is not shared by all in the F1 paddock, “Of course, the teams, organizers, and TV companies want to know where this journey is heading.”

“The more they hear about our plans, the more they begin to share that optimism. We have had good and open discussions with all parties, something that did not exist before. Everyone sees where our investments are going.”

“That’s the big picture. In detail, we have started to manage the sport so that it continues to flourish in the future. Now that the foundation is laid, it’s up to us to show what we can do,” added Brawn.

He downplayed the initial backlash and said, “Ferrari and Mercedes have told us that they want to see the big picture first. The engine regulations are only part of it. It’s about the business plan, the rules and the rule-making. They are not ready to agree unless they know what our roadmap looks like.”

Formula 1 has two distinct camps in the paddock: The Haves and the Have-Nots, the gulf between the teams is ever increasing to the point that the difference in performance has divided the sport into two clear divisions. Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull in the top flight and the rest of the teams fighting for scraps.

Brawn suggests a budget-cap of sorts is on the agenda, “We need to create an attractive environment for the [smaller teams]. The last team to say goodbye was Manor. Nobody wanted to buy it, which means something is wrong here.”

“We must create a framework that helps teams survive if they are reasonably business savvy. Teams must have enough income and the costs must be within a structure that allows teams with modest sponsorship income to do a good job.”

“We want the cars to look attractive and spectacular. This requires appropriate technical and sporting rules. We do not want the outcome of the race to be predictable.”

“An example is that cars seldom break down these days. A great technical achievement, certainly but unfortunately that does not make for good stories. Remember the heartbreaking scenes when a car stopped on the final laps? It was a sporting tragedy, but you always remember it. That’s sport.”

“It’s important to have cars that can race well with each other. The car has to also look good on the track. Whether the cars are two seconds faster or slower, no one notices. They will still be the fastest cars out there. Speed is difficult to fathom, for instance, a MotoGP bike is 30 seconds slower than a Formula 1 car but it looks really fast.”

“Hardly anyone knows that the difference in the lap time is so great. The impression that remains is that the MotoGP motorcycles look spectacular, that riders can always take their machines 100 percent to the limit and do not have to pay much attention to tires, brakes and engines and they can fight each other.”

“In Formula 1 we have had some great wet races. Did anyone complain that the lap times were 15 seconds slower?”

When asked to outline his personal preferences for Formula 1, Brawn explained, “The main reason for the spectacular lap times is because of aerodynamics. The grip is incredible.”

“Some argue that you should strip cars of their aerodynamics and simply put on fat tyres. I would not go that far because aerodynamics are not all bad, but at the moment it is very difficult to follow another car.”

“We believe from our analysis that this effect can be reduced with certain regulations. The proposals will be presented to the teams after completing our study.”

“We have to also integrate the halo better into the design of the car so it does not look like an add-on.”

F1 cars today all appear very similar, without liveries they would be hard to tell apart, Brawn wants this to change, “We want a Formula 1 car that inspires people, one that stands for its era. The current cars are certainly not the most elegant designs. The aesthetics could be significantly better.”

He blames this on rulemaking methods of the past, “We have written rules without first thinking about how the cars might look. We also never had a chance to change things quickly when things got out of hand.”

“In future, we need faster decision-making processes to make it easier to correct obvious mistakes. We had the airbox winglet that nobody wanted, but lived with it for two or three years before we could get rid of it.”

As for the profile of teams they want in the series, Brawn said, “Part of the magic of Formula 1 is the mix between manufacturers and private teams.”

“We have to find a good middle ground, especially in the engine regulations. If we still had the V8 engines, would we have new manufacturers in the field? I do not think so. No one builds high-revving naturally aspirated engines anymore.”

“On the other hand, the highly complex technology like the MGU-H keeps many manufacturers away. We are fortunate to have four car companies at the moment. That’s a good number.”

“While on the one hand, we have to respect the investments of the current manufacturers, on the other hand, we must think about how we can attract more.”

“With the current engine rules, we see no chance of attracting new manufacturers, not even an independent manufacturer with the help of a sponsor.”

“The MGU-H is up for discussion. Seven years ago, when it was first baptized, it seemed to be a relevant technology, but it has not been adopted by the car industry,” added Brawn.

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HARTLEY: HELMUT, I’M A DIFFERENT MAN

Marko, Hartley

Toro Rosso rookie Brendon Hartley revealed how Red Bull special advisor Helmut Marko broke his career and then revived it again by giving the New Zealander the biggest break of his life and a crack at Formula 1 again after he came so close several years ago.

In an interview with the official Formula 1 website, Hartley looked back on his relationship with Red Bull over the years.

Brandon reflected on how in his teens he and his minders made contact with Marko in a quest for backing to contest the Toyota Racing Series for single seaters in New Zealand, “We eventually stumbled across Helmut Marko’s email address. We sort of knew who he was, we just didn’t quite know how big of a deal he was.”

“So we sent him an email. I think we asked for $10,000 in sponsorship money – we were desperate. We had seen some Red Bull helmets around at some races and figured he might be watching.”

“He was. Or someone at Red Bull was. Because a few weeks later we received a contract in the mail. At 15, I was flying to Estoril, Portugal, to test with other kids to be part of the heralded Red Bull Junior Program.”

Hartley appeared set to climb the ladder to Formula 1 and won the 2007 Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 championship. In 2009 he was appointed Toro Rosso reserve and looked set for a Formula 1 call-up.

The racing and reserve role meant a great deal of travel for the New Zealander, and ultimately his performances suffered. The decline was clearly noted by Marko.

But at that the time the call that came from Marko was not good news, “When Toro Rosso’s F1 seat opened up in 2009 my downward spiral had been ongoing for a while. Red Bull noticed, and they gave the seat to Jaime Alguersuari.”

“I’ll never forget that phone call with Helmut when he gave me the news. He said: I’m sorry, we’re putting Jaime in for the race seat.”

“A man of few words. It was heartbreaking. To be that close… I mean, I was the reserve driver. I was next in line. But my results weren’t good enough. I understand it now, but back then, I handled it so poorly. My confidence was shot.”

“My mind went to a dark place … I didn’t know what to do. Less than a year later, Red Bull pulled my funding, and all of sudden I had no money and no team to race for.”

Nevertheless, Hartley persevered and since then things have turned around dramatically. He forged a hugely successful sportscar racing career with Porsche and is a double WEC world champion and 2017 Le Mans winner.

Last year Porsche announced they would pull the plug on their endurance programme and triggered an inspired phone call by Hartley to Red Bull’s kingmaker, “Helmut, I’m a different man than I was eight or nine years ago, and if there’s ever an opportunity, my hand’s up and I’m ready to go.”

“Helmut didn’t say anything – radio silence. I pushed again, telling him where I was at in life and all of these other things. He cut me off: O.K. I got the message…”

“A man of few words. I hung up the phone thinking that if I was going to be a Formula 1 driver, it hinged on the results of that call.”

“I didn’t hear anything for a few months. Then, my phone rang, my heart rate picked up and I was on my way to the UK to drive in the Red Bull racing simulator. And two weeks after that I was in Austin for the US Grand Prix. Finally, a Formula 1 driver.”

“Those last few weeks of the F1 season were a blur. I tried to learn as much as I could and acclimate as fast possible. I’m so incredibly thankful to Red Bull and Toro Rosso. From Helmut to the people in the factory in Faenza, everyone has been so supportive.”

“Last year, I never had time to decompress and actually poke my head up out of the clouds and see where I was. This off-season, I’ve been able to do that. To be the first Kiwi in F1 since 1984 is a tremendous honour. It still, in some ways, doesn’t seem real, you know?”

“Brendon Hartley, F1 driver. Even now, I have to read it a few times before I believe it.”

“I’m not taking any of this for granted. I know exactly how hard it is to get here and what a seat in this series means. I hope I can bring pride to my family, my wife and everyone who was there for me when I needed them, proud.”

“And to my Toro Rosso team: Let’s go have some fun. I know I’m going to. I am a rookie after all,” added Hartley.

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AUSTRALIA PREVIEW: HAMILTON VS VETTEL ON CENTER STAGE

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The first instalment of what Formula 1 fans hope will be a genuine season-long battle kicks off on Sunday as four-times champions Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel lock horns at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

This year marks the first that two quadruple champions are competing in the same season and their battle to see who joins Argentine legend Juan Manuel Fangio in second place on the all-time list with five titles promises to light up the series.

Michael Schumacher leads the way on seven world titles.

Hamilton emerged well on top for Mercedes at the end of 2017 after Ferrari’s Vettel made the early running, but their rivalry added plenty of spice, the pair banging wheels on the track in Azerbaijan and exchanging threats off it.

Hopes are high for more tense duelling to spark interest in a championship that has generally proved a procession for the Silver Arrows, who have swept the drivers’ and constructors championships in each of the past four years.

Much will depend on whether Ferrari’s SF71H can keep German Vettel within striking distance of Hamilton in his Mercedes W09, which the Briton raved about during pre-season testing. On that score, the jury is out.

Lap times at testing can be misleading but there remains a conviction that Mercedes will head into Sunday’s race at Albert Park, as always, the team to beat.

“We know that Mercedes is a little bit ahead of everyone and is dominating the sport for the last four years,” McLaren’s twice world champion Fernando Alonso told Reuters on Wednesday. “And they are the big favourites again to start the new season.”

Mercedes are eager to see what the W09 can do at the lakeside circuit in Melbourne, with technical director James Allison saying it would “blow away” the W08 which garnered 12 race wins in 2017 and a fourth consecutive constructors’ title.

Hamilton, however, was guarded about their opening weekend prospects, believing Red Bull could be as much a threat to the Silver Arrows as Ferrari.

“I think at this time of the year everyone is trying to hype someone else up and we are the perfect target because we are the world champions,” the Briton said at a Melbourne event with sponsor Petronas on Wednesday.

“From what I understand, I think Red Bull and Ferrari are very close. Potentially we are either level, just behind or maybe just ahead of the Red Bulls as far as I’m aware.”

There will be fingers crossed in the McLaren garage as Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne put the new Renault-powered car through its paces, the once formidable outfit having split with Honda after three miserable years.

Albert Park will see a number of debuts, with Formula Two’s Monegasque champion Charles Leclerc and Russian Sergey Sirotkin having their first races for Sauber and Williams respectively.

The much-maligned halo, a cockpit head protection system, will also make its race debut along with ‘Grid Kids’, aspiring young drivers who have replaced the female models who paraded on track in seasons past.

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RICCIARDO: IT FEELS LIKE WE ARE IN A BETTER PLACE

Daniel Ricciardo

Daniel Ricciardo faces a pivotal year in his Formula 1 career with expectations of a much-improved Red Bull performance and  over his future and where he will drive next season.

The 28-year-old Australian, who embarks on his eighth F1 season under the suffocating pressure and hype of competing at a home Grand Prix in Sunday’s opener in Melbourne, endured a frustrating 2017 campaign.

He retired from three races with engine-related problems – including the misery of failing to finish in last year’s Melbourne race – and amassed 70-places-worth of grid penalties stemming from the unreliability of the team’s Renault engines.

But Ricciardo is considered a championship threat with Red Bull’s new RB14 car expected, along with Ferrari, to threaten the Lewis Hamilton-led Mercedes’ domination.

The optimism comes from winter testing in Barcelona when Ricciardo consistently registered fast lap times, suggesting Red Bull may have overcome the teething issues of last year.

“It feels like we are in a better place than we have been the last few seasons,” he said ahead of the new season. “We seem solid. Soon we’ll know on one-lap pace where we are, but I don’t think we are far off.”

Reliability will be crucial if they are to mount a serious challenge to Mercedes and Ferrari.

Red Bull had lifted four straight drivers’ and constructors’ world titles when the Australian was promoted from Toro Rosso in 2014, but have not claimed another since with Ricciardo winning five races for the senior team.

“We’re certainly relying on the reliability to improve, and we have made a pretty good step with that,” Ricciardo said. “I think we are obviously still not going to be on Mercedes’ level.

“But in any case, to win a championship you need to be finishing races, let alone winning, and once we can finish we can start taking points away and do our thing.”

Adding to the intoxicating mix is the threat from ambitious 20-year-old Dutch teammate Max Verstappen, who while outscored by Ricciardo on race points last year, regularly topped the Australian in qualifying.

Ricciardo said both of them desperately wanted to win, “You need that in a way and it’s not being a bad sport, it’s not cheating; it’s just that ruthless streak that every winner has in them. I think Max and all the top guys in the sport have that in them.”

Ricciardo will become a free agent in 2019, raising speculation about where he will be next season given the contracts of Valtteri Bottas at Mercedes and Kimi Raikkonen at Ferrari are also due to expire at the end of the year.

“It’s nice to be in a position to plan my next two or three years to see what I want in the sport and where I plan on pitching it,” he said.

“It will be interesting, I will go through some conversations that will be new to me and I’m kind of looking forward to that experience.

“I think they (Red Bull) are keen to keep me, obviously they’ve got Max but I think they are keen to keep me and Max together. But yeah, we’ll see.”

Ricciardo is seeking to become the first home driver to win the Australian Grand Prix since it became part of the world championship calendar in 1985.

Alan Jones was the last to top the podium in his home grand prix, in 1980, a year when he also was the last Australian to win the Formula One world championship.

“Starting the F1 season in Australia means there is so much hype and so much build-up, now with me being the only Australian on the grid there is extra attention, extra questioning and expectation,” Ricciardo said.

“It’s a lot but it’s fun, it’s cool but it does mean I usually leave that weekend needing 48 hours of pure serenity and quietness.”

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ALONSO: TOP FOUR IS DEFINITELY A TARGET

Fernando Alonso

After three years in the doldrums, McLaren driver Fernando Alonso is optimistic that in 2018 his team can challenge for fourth place in the constructors’ championship, as the Woking outfit begin their Renault powered era, the manufacturer that took the Spaniard to two Formula 1 titles over a decade ago.

Despite a troubled preseason testing in Barcelona, Alonso is upbeat and told Reuters, “I think we should be optimistic. I think we had some reliability issues in testing but all of them are fixed now and the team did an amazing job in the past two or three weeks to have the car 100 percent for Australia.

“I think being in the points, being close to the top five, I think that will be the best thing we can do to start the season. We need this good result to motivate the team and to keep working for the rest of the season.”

McLaren, dominant in the late 1980s and early 1990s with Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost, have not won a race since 2012. The fallen giants’ last title was with Lewis Hamilton, who has won three world championships since at Mercedes, in 2008.

The Honda engine’s struggles with power and reliability led to McLaren announcing the split last September. The striking papaya orange and blue MCL33 is the team’s first to be powered by Renault, whose engines took Red Bull to three race wins last season.

Since crossing to McLaren, Alonso has been stuck on 97 podium finishes, his last with Ferrari at the Hungarian Grand Prix in 2014.

He was bullish about his chances of reaching the milestone 100th podium during the coming season and felt the team should also have big ambitions in the constructors’ championship.

“I think so. I think top four is definitely a target for us and we know that Mercedes is a little bit ahead of everyone and is dominating the sport for the last four years,” said Alonso, who will also race for  in June and in the full World Endurance championship.

“And they are the big favourites again to start the new season. But then we have Red Bull, we have Ferrari and definitely McLaren has to the next team on that order.”

With Mercedes having dominated the past four seasons, sweeping both the drivers’ and constructors titles, Alonso agreed that the Silver Arrows’ rivals needed to lift their game to keep fans interested in a series that has been criticised for becoming predictable.

He said, “It’s always important to have some competition in any sport. I think competitions and close fights will attract more people and will make the championship more interesting but I don’t think that’s any problem with Mercedes’ dominance. They did a better job than the others in the last couple of years because they deserve (it).”

“So it’s up to us to improve and to race our game and hopefully beat them very soon. And McLaren is probably one of the teams that can do that in the future, in the near future. And hopefully, that near future is soon and even this year,” added Alonso.

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Third DRS zone added for Australian Grand Prix

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A third DRS zone has been added to the Albert Park circuit for this weekend’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

DRS has been in use in Formula 1 since 2011, with the majority of Grand Prix venues featuring two zones, where free use is available during qualifying, and permitted when within a second of a rival in race trim.

The activation of the device alters the angle of the rear wing flap, reducing drag, and therefore providing a brief straight-line speed advantage.

Previously, a single detection point on the entry to Turn 14 has been followed by two zones, one along the pit straight and the other between Turns 2 and 3.

FIA adds third DRS zone for 2018 F1 season opener

These areas have been retained, but a new zone – with its own detection point – has been added for the first round of the 2018 campaign.

The new detection point has been placed 170 metres before the fast left-right chicane at Turn 11/12, with the activation point 104 metres after Turn 12.

Drivers are then permitted to use DRS through to the 90-degree right-hander at Turn 13, regarded as one of the best overtaking opportunities at the circuit.

It marks the first time that a third zone has been introduced at a Grand Prix.

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F1 returns to CCTV in new China TV deal

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Formula 1 will return to China’s predominant state broadcaster CCTV this season.

In a new multi-year deal, all qualifying sessions and races will be shown on CCTV, with over 100 hours of live coverage expected.

“We are very happy to bring back Formula 1 on CCTV,” said Formula 1 Director of Media Rights Ian Holmes.

“CCTV is the dominant broadcaster in China, with more than 1.1 billion people watching its channels each year, offering our sport an extraordinary opportunity for Formula 1 to engage with mass audiences.”

China is regarded as an important market for Formula 1 due to its population and its current growth.

The Chinese Grand Prix has been held at the Shanghai International Circuit since 2004 and it current contract runs through 2020.

In announcing the new TV deal, it was also confirmed that Shanghai will host a multi-day fan festival in the build-up to this year’s Grand Prix.

“China is a key market for Formula 1 where we have an ambitious plan to significantly grow the fan base and deepen engagement with our sport,” said Yath Gangakumaran, Formula 1’s Director of Strategy.

“Increasing the reach of F1 through this agreement with CCTV is a crucial component of the plan.

“Alongside this, to engage more on-the-ground, we will launch F1’s first ever multi-day fan festival, taking place in Shanghai ahead of the15th edition of the Chinese Grand Prix.

“And in the coming months, there shall be more announcements related to the China growth strategy.”

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Ferrari engine gets 10HP boost – report

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Ferrari have reportedly made performance gains with their engine just in time for the Australian Grand Prix this weekend.

According to Autosport, the Scuderia have unlocked an extra 10HP on the power unit, despite initially aiming to have at least the same power as they had at their disposal last year.

With engine technical chief Corrado Iotti at the helm, a focus has been put on boosting performance at low and medium speeds, and number of new features have been developed with a lighter turbocharger system now in place.

Ferrari are also looking to bring more noticeable performance with further specifications of their engine, especially now there are just three power units available to use before penalties are enforced.

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Lauda: Mercedes first, Red Bull behind…then Ferrari

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Niki Lauda reckons Ferrari are currently third in the pecking order ahead of the 2018 season opener in Melbourne this weekend.

Mercedes are the clear favourites to land a fifth consecutive World Constructors' Championship and even though Lauda does not pay too much attention to the odds, he does believe Mercedes are still ahead of the field.

More surprisingly, he thinks Red Bull are the nearest rivals to the Silver Arrows on the basis of pre-season testing.

"I am not a bookmaker and have no idea how they get their odds," Lauda told Kronen Zeitung newspaper.

"I see us a maximum of two tenths ahead, behind Red Bull. Then comes Ferrari."

Lauda also played down the complete lack of hypersoft running from Mercedes at winter testing, saying reliability was number one on the agenda.

"The hypersoft was never part of our programme," he added.

"Our main focus was reliability, because only three engines are allowed the whole season.

"Our preparation was better than in was in recent years so I can go to Australia with confidence. But I see ourselves with Red Bull and Ferrari on a similar level."

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Mercedes targets most powerful 'party' mode for 2018 engine

Mercedes targets most powerful 'party' mode for 2018 engine

Mercedes has targeted having the most powerful ‘party’ mode for Formula 1 qualifying this year, despite the need for engines to last longer.
F1’s manufacturers have spent the winter focusing on improved reliability in 2018 now that the number of engines each driver is allowed for the year has been reduced to three.

But while Ferrari and Renault are said to be satisfied that their longer life power units have hit the same performance levels as last year’s version, Mercedes says its ambition has been to hit new power peaks.

And with Lewis Hamilton suggesting he cannot wait to unleash Mercedes’ qualifying maps – which he has nicknamed ‘party mode’ – for the first time in Melbourne, the German car manufacturer is clear that it will not allow the three-engine rule to compromise its performance push.

Speaking to Motorsport.com during a promotional event with Mercedes’ fuel and lubricants partner Petronas, its F1 engine chief Andy Cowell said that changes to its power unit for 2018 were aimed at helping the car’s packaging – as well as lifting its horsepower.

“It’s more elegant, it fits better within the aerodynamic constraints of the car," he said. "We’ll know in Abu Dhabi if it lasts longer than the previous one – and there’s been a continuous push to make sure our qualifying mode and our race modes are stronger than previous years.”

f1-australian-gp-2018-mercedes-amg-f1-w09-bodywork.jpg Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes-AMG F1, Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes-AMG F1, Toto Wolff, Mercedes AMG F1 Director of Motorsport Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes-AMG F1, Andy Cowell, Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains Managing Director

Although both Renault and Honda have stressed they started the season with an initial focus on engine reliability, Cowell thinks that holding back on power is the wrong approach.

“The most positive way of looking at the championship is you’re going to produce a power unit that’s capable of doing seven races and making sure that as it crosses the line at the end of the seventh race you’ve got good confidence," he said.

“But what you mustn’t do is turn the power down. We need our qualifying mode to be better than ever before, we need our race mode to be better than ever before.

“We need the life to be strong enough that you can set the car up well on a Friday – you mustn’t start cutting mileage. Our approach is to go in with that as our premise. If something happens, if a quality issue occurs, then we’ll react and adapt.”

Hamilton suggested that Mercedes’ pace in Barcelona testing had not been boosted by using the qualifying modes – and said he was relishing the chance to fully unleash what his car was capable of in Australia this weekend.

“Our quali mode is the most fun mode – it should be the ‘party’ mode,” said the world champion. “It is the most power and has the most juice, and it’s when we hit the highest speeds.

“I think Andy and the team have definitely tested it already on the dyno and I look forward to using it on the few occasions we do in the season.”

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Brown to skip Japanese GP for the Bathurst 1000

Brown to skip Japanese GP for the Bathurst 1000

McLaren's executive director Zak Brown will skip the Japanese Grand Prix later this year so he can attend the Bathurst 1000.
As has been the case in recent years the Suzuka and Mount Panorama races clash on the first weekend of October. However, Brown has already decided that he'll skip Japan and make the long trek to Bathurst to watch over the Walkinshaw Andretti United squad that he part-owns.

The primary motivation, according to Brown, is a long-held desire to check out Australia's biggest Touring Car race.

"I'm gonna do Bathurst. I'll miss the Japanese Grand Prix, I'll go to Bathurst," he confirmed.

"It's obviously the biggest [Supercars] race, a lot of our commercial partners will be there. To me, Bathurst, Le Mans, Indy 500, Monaco, it's of that calibre.

"I've always wanted to go to Bathurst and I think McLaren will survive without me for the weekend.

Zak Brown, Executive Director, McLaren Technology Group James Courtney, Walkinshaw Andretti United Holden Zak Brown, Team principal United Autosports

"They're very comfortable with my racing involvements. McLaren always comes first, but on a race weekend, my role is a leadership role, a commercial role. I'm not helping them make faster pitstops."

Brown added that he plans on getting to a handful of races this year, singling out the Gold Coast 600 despite that it clashes with the Austin F1 race.

"I'm going to hope to get to 3-4 races, and I think Michael [Andretti] is going to get to three or four races. So between the two of us hopefully we'll make half of them," he said.

"Probably Gold Coast, and then maybe one other. [I'm going to] kind of wait for the team to tell me which one they think I can be most useful at."

Andretti and Brown followed Roger Penske's lead and bought into the Aussie Touring Car series last year, teaming up with the former factory Holden squad run by Ryan Walkinshaw.

Andretti has already made an appearance Down Under this year, joining WAU for the season-opener in Adelaide three weeks ago.

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ALONSO: WE ARE MCLAREN SO WE SHOULD BE THERE

Fernando Alonso

In the wake of a problem packed Formula 1 preseason testing in Barcelona, McLaren driver Fernando Alonso is confident his team will be closer to the frontrunners by the second half of the season when he hopes to pull off some surprise results.

Alonso told reporters ahead of the season-opening Australian Grand Prix weekend, “I understand that we are not at the level of Mercedes now or the level of Red Bull or Ferrari – or that’s what we think after winter testing – so we are not in that leading group yet.”

“But we should be there in a couple of races time or in the second part of the championship or something because we are McLaren so we should be there.

“In 2012 [Ferrari] were not in that group either and we were leading the championship in the last race so we will see what happens this year.”

The early season pecking order will unravel during the course of the three days in Melbourne and Alonso cautioned, “This weekend will be our lowest level. We will be the team that will progress [the most] relative to other teams, just because the integration to a new power unit will require time.”

“The chassis has been designed and the season programmed with many updates that will come very soon, in the first couple of races. What we see here is going to be important, yes, but we will be better and better. I expect the second half of the season, for example, a very strong McLaren.”

Teething problems during testing with their new Renault power unit package resulted in less mileage for McLaren than any other team over the course of the eight days does not concern the Spaniard, “I think it didn’t change anything in Barcelona.”

“We had some up and downs in testing, some reliability issues on a couple of days, all of those issues are now fixed. They are not difficult solutions but you need time at the factory, the cars are new in February.”

“The test I think is wrong because there are two consecutive weeks of testing, so if you have something to re-design on parts of the car, you have to wait until after the test. So that’s what we did.”

“We tried to do all the programme in Barcelona and then in the factory fix some of the things we discovered in testing. We should be ready and the feelings I had before Barcelona, or the feelings I have now, are the same.

“It should be a good season for us, getting back to the positions we enjoy a bit more. Hopefully, 100 percent in Q3, regularly in the points, fighting in the top five, hopefully, close to the podium in some races.”

“We saw last year one Williams took a podium in Baku, the Force Indias were close to a couple of podiums in the year so we know the opportunities will come and in those opportunities, we will deliver hopefully,” added Alonso.

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F1 START LIGHTS MOVED TO COMPENSATE FOR HALO

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Formula 1 has changed the positioning of race start lights to ensure drivers can see clearly around the new halo head protection system that makes its debut at this weekend’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.

The halo, a titanium structure fixed at three points with a central upright in front of the driver’s vision and an overhead loop, has been introduced to protect against the risk of bouncing wheels and other debris.

Some drivers have expressed concern about seeing the start lights, depending on where they line up on the grid.

“With the halo, what we’ve asked every circuit to do is to make the lights at a standard height above the track,” the governing FIA’s race director Charlie Whiting told reporters on Thursday. “We’ve also put a repeat set of lights, in this case off to the left, over the verge.”

The repeat set were introduced around 2009 when higher rear wings made it harder to see the lights, but aerodynamic changes have now fixed that problem.

“Now the wings have been lowered, there’s no need for those (lights) halfway up the grid so I’ve decided to utilise them somewhere else,” said Whiting.

“Pole position seems to be the worst case scenario with the halo there – maybe the driver can’t quite see the lights, or see only half of them, and he might have to move his head too much.”

The new arrangements will be tried out on Friday after the two practice sessions at Albert Park, with drivers allowed to rehearse starts on the grid.

Whiting also played down fears that the halo would make it harder for fans to see drivers’ helmets as a means of identifying who was at the wheel.

Haas’s Danish driver Kevin Magnussen has said he feared fans were “not going to have a clue who is who”.

Whiting said driver numbers had already become much more prominent on cars last season.

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HAMILTON: ROSBERG NEEDS TO GET HEADLINES

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Lewis Hamilton has dismissed criticism from former Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg as the product of someone seeking “headlines” ahead of the new Formula 1 world championship season.

Rosberg, who beat Hamilton to the 2016 world championship before retiring, told Sky Sports this week that the his former teammate was “almost unbeatable” when on song but his “weakness” was lacking a “.”

Hamilton, whose long-standing relationship with Rosberg grew strained during their four years together at the Silver Arrows, viewed the German’s remarks dimly three days before Sunday’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

“I think I’ve proved that that’s not the case last year,” champion Hamilton told reporters at the pre-race news conference on Thursday, referring to his nine wins on the way to the 2017 title. “I think there’s a lot of people who need to get headlines and that’s one way of doing it.”

“The goal this year is to be even more consistent than last year. I think consistency is the main reason I won the world championship last year.”

Hamilton conceded the early running in the 2017 title race to Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel before the German’s challenge fell away in the second half of the season.

The Briton is favourite to win a fifth title and draw level with Juan Manuel Fangio, who is second on the all-time list behind Michael Schumacher’s seven championships.

Although 33 and having admitted to thinking about life after racing during the last campaign, Hamilton felt he had yet to reach the peak of his powers.

“I hope not,” said Hamilton, who made his Formula 1  debut for McLaren at Albert Park in 2007 and won at the lake-side circuit in 2008 and 2015.

“I’m sure there is a peak for a driver when their fitness level gets harder to reach the fitness level that we do today,” he added.

“When your interest starts to decline and your drive starts to decline, I guess that’s when you’re over your peak but I definitely feel I’m not at that (stage).”

“I’m definitely in a good range right now and that’s where I need to continue to try to extract the most I can,” added Hamilton.

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RICCIARDO CATCHES THE MELBOURNE DRIFT

Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo took a decidedly sideways view of his home grand prix preparations, blasting his way around Melbourne’s Albert Park circuit alongside drifting legend ‘Mad’ Mike Whiddett.

“It was kind of cool!” said Daniel after his first-hand lesson in letting it all hang out from one of drifting’s biggest stars.

“Because there are a lot of right-left and left-right combinations you can actually join the drifts pretty well through a lot of the corners. I feel like a lot of the track is built for drifting! It was sick, a lot of fun,” he added.

“It was completely different to our aim which is getting around as fast as you can, but we still got around pretty quick sideways.”

For ‘Mad’ Mike the session was a unique opportunity to showcase his skills at the wheel in front of the sternest critics in the business.

“This track is so gnarly, it’s so fast! It was an honour to bring drifting here and have the F1 teams be amazed, and to be respected in that manner was really cool,” said the Kiwi.

“It’s such a different discipline of driving. With drifting, it’s explosive, it’s scary; it’s fun. It’s intensified so much because it’s judged and you’ve got three or four corners so one little mistake and you’re back on the trailer.

 

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VETTEL: ULTIMATE SATISFACTION TO WIN TITLE WITH FERRARI

Sebastian Vettel

Sebastian Vettel says he is searching for the “ultimate satisfaction” of winning his fifth Formula 1 world championship title driving for Ferrari ahead of this weekend’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

The single-minded 30-year-old German, who strung together four F1 world championships with Red Bull before switching to Ferrari in 2015, is looking for his third Australian Grand Prix win in Melbourne on Sunday.

Vettel is in a duel this season with defending Mercedes world champion Lewis Hamilton as they chase 1950s Argentine legend Juan Manuel Fangio’s mark of five world titles – second only to Michael Schumacher’s seven in the all-time list.

Vettel, who finished runner-up behind Hamilton in last year’s world championship, is confident he has the car to take down the Englishman and said it would be even more special to do it with Ferrari.

“After you’ve won a little bit it becomes a bit special to win against the best,” Vettel told a media conference on Thursday. “Now I am searching for the ultimate satisfaction to win with Ferrari, which is the greatest team in history.”

Hamilton and Vettel have dominated F1 over the last decade with four world titles each and are expected to again fight out this season’s championship with the Red Bulls of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen vying to make it a three-way battle.

“That’s my ultimate target now…(to) win for Ferrari and win against the best, which arguably Lewis is one of them.”

Vettel, who trumped Hamilton in last year’s Melbourne GP, has won 47 of his 199 GPs going back to his F1 debut with Toro Rosso in 2007.

“It’s a long season. If it’s one race that’s a different story, but there are a lot of races,” Vettel said. “Based on winter testing I would say we are in good shape and could be in better shape, but it’s always like that.”

Vettel said it was far too early to talk about equalling Fangio’s five world crowns heading into the first of the 21-race season.

“Certainly, if it did happen then you would start to realise, but now I don’t see the point of thinking ‘what if?’,” he said.

“I think nowadays the times are different, they are very different times to what Fangio achieved. Every era has its own challenges, certainly they were different back then. It’s not in my mind now.”

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RICCIARDO KEEN TO END AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX CURSE

Daniel Ricciardo

For Daniel Ricciardo, his home Australian Grand Prix has been an exasperating mix of desperately willing fans and mostly unwilling cars, coupled to statistics that show that an Aussie has never won his home race since it became part of the F1 world championship in 1985.

This year, however, the Red Bull driver feels a record of frustration could end with a long-awaited podium at Albert Park on Sunday.

Red Bull were buoyed by pre-season testing and Mercedes’ four-times champion Lewis Hamilton has tipped them as possibly the team to beat.

It’s a refreshing feeling for 28-year-old Ricciardo, whose pride at flying the flag for Australian racing at his home track has been spiked with anxiety over his car’s reliability in the last three years.

“Yep, we had a good winter, I think it’s all there in front of us now,” Ricciardo told reporters at Albert Park on Thursday.

“I think we’re still the top three teams. Merc (Mercedes) and Ferrari and us. I think we’re still going to be leading the pack for now, so, yeah, hopefully, we’re deep in that front group and have a chance to stand on that podium.”

Ricciardo has already stood on the podium at the lakeside circuit once before and soaked up the adulation from fans after crossing the line second behind Nico Rosberg in his debut race for Red Bull in 2014.

The joy was short-lived, however, as he was disqualified soon after for a mechanical infringement that was no fault of his own.

He just missed out on a maiden podium for a home driver in 2016 when he finished fourth, while he could not wait to be shot of the place last year, having suffered a crash during qualifying before retiring midway through the race.

“It has to be more fun (this year),” said Ricciardo, who started last year’s race from the pit lane after his car stopped prior to the formation lap.

“Not starting last year wasn’t fun at all… I missed a lot of the Sunday buildup which was not fun. So for sure this preparation is going to mean more fun this weekend and then we’ll see where that fun takes us.”

Ricciardo, who claimed his fifth win at Azerbaijan last year, will engage in another intriguing intra-team battle with 20-year-old Dutchman Max Verstappen, who many have tipped as a future world champion.

The Western Australian will have additional motivation to start the year positively, with his contract finishing at the end of the season.

Red Bull have said they want him to stay but champions Mercedes and Ferrari, the sport’s most successful team, both have drivers whose contracts expire at the end of the year.

“I feel like I’ve answered already so many contract talks (questions) and we haven’t even got the first race of this year done, so I’m just going to put all those talks on hold for a while,” he said.

“This is a year which our prep’s been well and good, and I really, really hope Lewis is right that we will have a chance to fight for a title and that will ultimately make me very happy and… take my time and see what happens. Ask me in six months’ time,” added Ricciardo.

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FORMULA 1 DELAYS START OF TV STREAMING SERVICE

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Formula 1 has pushed back the start of a new television streaming service which it had hoped to launch at this season’s opening Australian Grand Prix weekend.

A spokesman said the over-the-top (OTT) product would be tested over in Melbourne with an aim to start delivery as soon as possible after that, “We will do an intense stress test this weekend, with people connecting from all over the world to test functionalities.”

The product was announced during testing in Barcelona last month with Formula One saying fans would be able to watch races in a different way, including from their favourite driver’s perspective.

F1 TV will give access to cameras mounted on the cars of the 20 drivers as well as the traditional broadcast feed, with viewers able to split the screens of their mobile device or smart TV. That would allow viewers to watch the action from two cars as their drivers battled for position.

Formula 1, controlled by U.S.-based Liberty Media since January last year, had planned to offer the service initially in some 43 countries with new or renegotiated television deals.

They include most of Latin America, France, Germany, the United States, Turkey, Belgium, Hungary, Poland and Austria. Monthly charges for the premium version will be in a range from $8-$12, with an annual deal around $100, with prices varying by market.

Frank Arthofer, Formula 1’s head of digital, told reporters earlier this month that the revenue possibilities were significant with an estimated 500 million Formula 1 fans worldwide.

“If even conservatively one percent of that customer base is a super-avid hard-core fan, that’s a five million addressable audience to sell this product to, who would be potentially willing to pay the incremental fee,” he said.

Arthofer added, however, that the immediate pressure was to deliver a “stable, technical experience” for fans and the immediate rollout would be desktop only.

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Sebastian Vettel suggests drivers should have personalised F1 halo designs

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Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel has suggested that drivers should be allowed their own personalised halo design, in order to aid identification.

Formula 1 has introduced the head protection device this year, with the system wrapping around the cockpit in the form of three struts.

Teams have taken different approaches regarding the aesthetic implementation of the halo, with some – such as Ferrari and Force India – colouring it the same as their livery, while others have left it black.

McLaren, meanwhile, has signed a flip-flop manufacturer for Australia, a nod to the manner in which the shape of the device resembles the footwear product.

One element that arose during pre-season testing was the difficulty in identifying the occupant of a car, due to the halo acting as a shield to a driver’s helmet.

Vettel reckons drivers “should be allowed to design the halo.

“Obviously we can’t negotiate the position of the halo, we can’t put it at the back of the car.

“I don’t know, maybe it should be up to us to design the halo, I don’t know. That could be an idea, just to add an element to what makes it different from the rest.”

Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo echoed the sentiments of his ex-team-mate.

“The only thing I could think of was putting something on the halo to distinguish team-mates,” said Ricciardo.

“On the T-camera sometimes one driver has yellow so you can kind of tell a little bit there so maybe [we should] do something between team-mates with the halos, just to give fans a little bit of an idea who’s behind the wheel because yeah, you don’t really see the helmet now?

“We are pretty hidden. Yeah, that’s all I can think of for now short term.”

Reigning World Champion Lewis Hamilton added: “It’s almost pointless of us painting the helmets nowadays so I’m probably going to get rid of my paint on mine. It saves weight.  

“I don’t really have a suggestion for it. I’m sure they’ll come up with something.”

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