Joey Logano's confidence grows with title chances

Source: http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/09/06/3170444/joey-loganos-confidence-grows.html

Phil Cade Alex Caffi John CampbellJones

LIGHTS: Chaves handed Lights pole

Gabby Chaves has been handed pole position for this weekend's Indy Lights season-opener at St Petersburg after qualifying was cancelled due to bad weather.

Source: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/113182

Michael Andretti Keith Andrews Elio de Angelis

Lewis Hamilton: “It’s too hot for the tyres…”

A

Source: http://adamcooperf1.com/2014/03/28/lewis-hamilton-its-too-hot-for-the-tyres/

Frank Armi Chuck Arnold Rene Arnoux

Williams need dry weather to be competitive | 2014 Malaysian Grand Prix

Rain during qualifying left the Williams team frustrated as they were unable to exploit their car's dry weather performance.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/f1fanatic/~3/tD3naaQZvDI/

Kevin Cogan Peter Collins Bernard Collomb

FP2 - Rosberg tops tightly contested session in Malaysia

Nico Rosberg moved to the head of the pack in Sepang on Friday afternoon, as Mercedes underlined their impressive pace in FP2.

In an incredibly close session, Rosberg finished just ahead of Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen and Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel as the top 11 cars were separated by less than a second

Source: http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2014/3/15615.html

Peter Collins Bernard Collomb Alberto Colombo

Kevin Magnussen Q&A: Podium is a dream come true

On Sunday in Melbourne, Danish rookie Kevin Magnussen went a long way towards rewarding the faith that McLaren have placed in him by taking a hugely impressive third-place finish.

After the race the 21-year-old could understandably barely contain his delight

Source: http://www.formula1.com/news/interviews/2014/3/15583.html

Karl Gunther Bechem Jean Behra Derek Bell

Sebastian Vettel Q&A: We've made a step forward from Melbourne

Sebastian Vettel's title defence got off to the worst possible start two weeks ago in Australia with an early race retirement. But things were looking much more promising after the first day of running in Malaysia with the Red Bull driver much closer to the front running pace.

On Friday evening Vettel spoke about his Melbourne frustrations and his hopes for this weekend in Sepang

Source: http://www.formula1.com/news/interviews/2014/3/15617.html

Peter Collins Bernard Collomb Alberto Colombo

Sergio Perez Q&A: No repeats of Melbourne qualifying

It's not been the easiest start to 2014 for Sergio Perez. His first outing for Force India saw him qualify a disappointing 16th and then - thanks only to Daniel Ricciardo's exclusion - pick up just a solitary point in Melbourne. To add insult to injury, the team who dropped him at the end of last year - McLaren - have reversed their miserable 2013 form to become frontrunners once more. So how is Perez's head going into this weekend's Malaysia round

Source: http://www.formula1.com/news/interviews/2014/3/15609.html

Alex Blignaut Trevor Blokdyk Mark Blundell

Chandhok closing on Campos seat

There is increasing speculation that Indian GP2 driver Karun Chandhok will be named as a Campos driver ahead of the weekend

Source: http://en.espnf1.com/hrtf1/motorsport/story/9610.html?CMP=OTC-RSS

John Cordts David Coulthard Piers Courage

Lewis Hamilton move would not be a huge surprise

If Lewis Hamilton does move to Mercedes from McLaren for next season, as Eddie Jordan believes he will, it would be a massive shock but not a huge surprise.

There has appeared no urgency from either Hamilton or McLaren to sort out a new contract for 2013 and at the same time there have been signs of unease in the relationship.

The 27-year-old's management team have approached all the big teams this summer and they got short shrift from Red Bull and Ferrari.

Mercedes's reaction has been warmer, and negotiations are known to have taken place, but the issue is complicated by Michael Schumacher's situation.

Lewis Hamilton is on the verge of leaving Mclaren to drive for Mercedes next season. Photo: Getty

Schumacher has not exactly been setting the world on fire this season, with the notable exception of qualifying fastest in Monaco, but at the same time Mercedes cannot be seen to be sacking him because of his status, particularly in Germany.

The German legend is of huge promotional value to Mercedes but the company is split on whether he should continue.

From a marketing point of view, he is a dream - and as he is considered untouchable in Germany any decision to move aside must appear to have come from him.

But those who see the F1 programme from a performance point of view would rather Schumacher stepped down and made way for someone younger and faster.

If they can replace him with someone of the highest calibre - someone such as Hamilton, for example - then that helps, too, as the decision is more easily understandable.

And it is clear after an increasingly uncompetitive season that the team could benefit from employing Hamilton, who is one of F1's 'big three' alongside Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel, neither of whom are available.

The attraction Mercedes might have to Hamilton is less clear, given their current struggles, but perhaps the continuing frustrations of his time at McLaren have convinced him it is time for a change.

McLaren struggled by their own high standards in 2009-11, during which time Hamilton did not have a car competitive enough to mount a full-on title challenge.

They came closest in 2010, but it was always a battle against the generally faster Red Bull and Ferrari.

And although McLaren started this season with the fastest car - and have it again after a brief mid-season dip in form - operational errors earlier in the season hit Hamilton's title bid.

Money may well also be an important factor. Hamilton made some cryptic comments in Belgium last weekend about his future move being a "business decision".

Equally, there have been signs of friction between him and McLaren.

In certain quarters of the team, they are uncomfortable about Hamilton's approach to his job and his mindset. And the disconnect was made public this weekend with his ill-advised behaviour on the social networking site Twitter, on which he posted a picture of confidential team telemetry.

Where does that all leave McLaren, Mercedes and Hamilton? Time will tell.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/09/lewis_hamilton_move_would_not.html

Jorge Daponte Anthony Davidson Jimmy Davies

2013 Car Launches: Force India launch VJM06 at Silverstone (+Pictures)

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/F1InsightAFormula1Blog/~3/GLjDQOSVcFE/2013-car-launches-force-india-launch.html

Enrico Bertaggia Tony Bettenhausen Mike Beuttler

RALLYX: Pailler to join two World RX rounds

Frenchman Fabien Pailler will race a brand new Pailler Competition Peugeot 208 Supercar at the British and French rounds of the new-for-2014 World Rallycross Championship

Source: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/113079

Luiz Bueno Ian Burgess Luciano Burti

Red Bull submit appeal over Ricciardo exclusion

Red Bull have formally submitted their appeal to Formula One racing's governing body, the FIA, over Daniel Ricciardo's exclusion from the race results in Australia.

Ricciardo lost his second-place finish in Sunday's race in Melbourne after stewards decided his car had run with too high a fuel flow rate - a breach of Article 5.1.4 of the 2014 technical regulations

Source: http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2014/3/15590.html

Rene Arnoux Peter Arundell Alberto Ascari

Raikkonen favourite to taste victory in Belgium

At Spa-Francorchamps

In this remarkable season of unpredictability and uncertainty, of seven winners in 11 races, of the most open title battle in years, Formula 1 is still waiting for one big result.

A victory for the revived Lotus team has looked inevitable since the start of the year. And as the world championship re-starts in Belgium this weekend following a month-long summer break, the expectation is that this could be their race.

The car, from the team formerly known as Renault that won two world championships with Fernando Alonso in 2005-6, has been fast all season. Its best result has been four second places. But the momentum seems to be with them.

Kimi Raikkonen's Lotus pushed Lewis Hamilton's winning McLaren all the way in Hungary five weeks ago. The Finn has a stunning record at the stunning Spa-Francorchamps track that hosts this race and Lotus have been working on a technical trick that could give them a key advantage on the demanding track that swoops and twists around the contours of the Ardennes mountains.

Kimi Raikkonen has won the Belgian Grand Prix four times. Photo: Getty

The 32-year-old Finn seems to have a special affinity with the circuit regarded as arguably the biggest test for a racing driver anywhere in the world. He has taken four victories here - and either won or retired from every single race he has competed at Spa since 2004.

Raikkonen's all-action style, based on fast corner entry in a car with good front-end bite, seems perfectly suited to Spa's cascade of long, fast corners.

Two of his wins - for McLaren in 2004 and Ferrari in 2009 - came in years when his machinery was otherwise uncompetitive. The other two were dominant victories from the front in 2005 and 2007.

But Raikkonen's position as arguably the favourite for victory this weekend is not founded just on his renowned Spa specialism. He is widely expected to have the car to do the job.

Lotus have come agonisingly close to victory twice already this year - in Bahrain in April and at the last race, in Hungary at the end of July.

Both times it was Raikkonen who challenged only to just fall short, behind Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel in Bahrain and Hamilton in Hungary. But the Finn, who returned to F1 this season after two unproductive years in world rallying, has actually been Lotus's weaker driver for most of the year.

His team-mate, the Franco-Swiss Romain Grosjean, who is in his first full season, has generally had a marginal advantage - to the point that around the European Grand Prix in Valencia at the end of June there were murmurings of dissatisfaction with the Finn, who won the world championship for Ferrari in 2007.

Raikkonen ultimately finished second to Alonso in Valencia, but had been off the pace of Grosjean all weekend - indeed the younger man was pushing the Ferrari hard when his alternator failed late in the race.

When, following the race, Raikkonen expressed his frustration at it taking so long for Lotus to win, one team member privately expressed the view that he would be better focused on beating Grosjean before moaning about not winning yet.

Since then, though, Raikkonen has upped his game and in the race in Hungary he was fantastic, the middle stint there that lifted him from fifth place to potential victor one of the most impressive pieces of driving all season.

Had Raikkonen not made a mess of qualifying, and taken the front row slot he should have earned rather than the fifth place he did, he might well have won. The same can be said of Bahrain, where a decision to save tyres for the race left him down in 11th place on the grid and with too much to do.

Grosjean, too, must be considered a potential Spa winner. Despite making too many errors, he has been all confidence and commitment this year.

He has looked a different driver on his return to F1 in 2012 from the haunted figure who was demoralised by Alonso during his first half-season at Renault in 2009, after which he was dropped.

The high expectations for Lotus at Spa are partly based on the car's inherent qualifies - a factor in its general competitiveness this year has been strong performance in fast corners, and Spa is full of them.

As well as that, though, is that innovation mentioned earlier. In Hungary, and in Germany the week before, Lotus trialled a clever system aimed at boosting the team's straight-line speed without compromising its performance in other areas.

Like the DRS overtaking aid featured on all the cars, the Lotus system affects the rear wing to reduce drag.

It works by channelling air from scoops behind the driver's head to the rear wing, which this extra air then 'stalls', reducing the downforce the wing creates and therefore its drag, boosting straight-line speed.

What is not clear is when exactly the Lotus system comes into play.

Is it independent of the DRS, as some believe, and therefore active above a pre-set car velocity and usable at all times, including in the race when DRS use is restricted to a specific zone?

Or is it, as BBC F1 technical analyst Gary Anderson believes, linked to the DRS and simply an extra boost to the car's speed when that system is employed, like the system Mercedes have been using but without the inherent compromises that team have discovered?

Either way, it could be a significant boost to Lotus's chances in Spa. Lotus have yet to use the system outside free practice, and this weekend they will again try it out on Friday before making a decision whether to race it.

For all the talk of Lotus, though, a win for them is a very long way from a foregone conclusion. Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren will be as strong as ever on a track that should suit all their cars.

In fact, it will be a particularly interesting weekend all round.

Which teams have made best use of the mid-season break to develop their cars?

Have Ferrari made the step forward in performance they seemed in Hungary to need if Alonso - unquestionably the stand-out driver of the season so far - is to hang on to his championship lead?

Can McLaren maintain the upward momentum they showed in Germany and Hungary after a brief slump?

Will Red Bull finally unlock the potential of what has looked, on balance, overall the fastest car?

The climax of one of the sport's greatest seasons, a hyper-intense period of nine races in three months, starts here.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/08/raikkonen_favourite_to_taste_v.html

Erwin Bauer Zsolt Baumgartner Elie Bayol

Kevin Magnussen Q&A: P4 grid slot the 'icing on the cake'

Danish rookie Kevin Magnussen is already living his dream by making his F1 debut with McLaren. On Saturday in Melbourne dream turned to fairy tale as he put his MP4-29 fourth on the Albert Park grid, while veteran team mate Jenson Button failed to even make Q3

Source: http://www.formula1.com/news/interviews/2014/3/15573.html

Louis Chiron Joie Chitwood Bob Christie

Hamilton saga nearing endgame

Only Lewis Hamilton truly knows where he wants to drive next season - and perhaps not even he does just yet. But the signs are that the saga that has been occupying Formula 1 for months is nearing its endgame.

Hamilton has two competing offers on the table for his future - one to stay at McLaren and one to move to Mercedes.

The word at the Singapore Grand Prix - for what it's worth - was that he is leaning towards staying where he is; one McLaren insider even suggested that a deal could be inked within days.

At the same time, there may be a complication. There are suggestions that earlier this year Hamilton signed something with Mercedes - a letter of intent, a memorandum of understanding, perhaps - that he would need to get out of before he could commit to McLaren. His current team have heard talk of this, too. Hamilton's management deny this.

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The conventional wisdom is that Mercedes are offering Hamilton more money and that the deal is sweetened further by greater freedom over personal sponsorship deals. Those are highly restricted at McLaren because of the team's breadth of marketing tie-ups.

But BBC Sport understands it is not quite as simple as that.

For one thing, some sources say the figures quoted for the Mercedes offer in the media so far - of £60m over three years - are significantly larger than what is actually on the table.

Of course, in theory, as one of the largest car companies in the world, Mercedes can afford to pay almost any figure it wants.

But the board's commitment to Formula 1 has been in question all year. While it is understood that the company has now reached an agreement with the sport's commercial rights holders defining the financial terms under which they have committed for the next few years, F1 is not a money-no-object exercise for them.

McLaren believe their offer to Hamilton is broadly similar to Mercedes', and that in terms of total remuneration he could actually end up earning more money if he stays where is.

How so? Well, it seems the headline salary figures may not differ that much - although I understand Mercedes' offer is larger.

Mercedes offer greater freedom in terms of new sponsorship deals with which Hamilton can top up his income, and out of which his management group - music industry mogul Simon Fuller's XIX - would take a cut that some sources say is as great as 50%, a figure XIX say is wildly exaggerated.

McLaren, by contrast, have strict rules around their driver contracts - they do not allow any personal sponsorship deal that clashes with any brand owned by a company on their car.

So deals with mobile, fashion, household products, perfumes, oil and so on are all out. Jenson Button is allowed to have his deal to endorse shampoo because it was signed before McLaren had GlaxoSmithKline as a partner.

McLaren, I'm told, have loosened some of their restrictions in an attempt to give Hamilton more freedom.

And in their favour is that all contracts contain clauses that define bonuses for success; in McLaren's case for wins and championships. These amount to significant amounts of money and on current form Hamilton would earn more in bonuses with McLaren than with Mercedes.

Financially, it is in XIX's interests for Hamilton to move to Mercedes - that is where they will earn most money.

But that may not be the case for Hamilton, which of course begs the question of whether the driver and his management group actually have conflicting interests.

While Hamilton has steadfastly refused to discuss his future with the media, he has been consistent in one thing. As he put it at the Italian Grand Prix earlier this month: "I want to win."

He knows exactly how good he is and it rankles with him that he has so far won only one world title.

In which case, the last few races will have given him pause for thought.

McLaren started this season with the fastest car in F1, the first time they have done that since at least 2008 and arguably 2005.

But Hamilton's title bid was hampered by a series of early season operational problems that prevented him winning until the seventh race of the season in Canada. Was it during this period that he signed that "something" with Mercedes?

After a slight mid-season wobble through the European and British Grands Prix in late June and early July, though, McLaren have come on strongly.

Upgrades introduced at the German Grand Prix gave them a big step forward, making the McLaren once again the fastest car.

Progress was disguised in Hockenheim by a wet qualifying session, which allowed Alonso to take the pole position from which he controlled the race.

Even then, though, with Hamilton out of the reckoning after an early puncture, Button ran the Spaniard close.

Since then, it has been all McLaren. Hamilton won from pole in Hungary and Italy; Button the same in Belgium. Then in Singapore Hamilton lost an almost certain victory, also from pole, with a gearbox failure.

Meanwhile, Mercedes have floundered. And while rival teams agreed that a big upgrade to the silver cars in Singapore did move them forward a little, Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher only just scraped into the top 10 in qualifying and were anonymous in the race until Schumacher's embarrassing crash with Toro Rosso's Jean-Eric Vergne.

Undoubtedly, Mercedes will have given Hamilton the hard sell.

They'll have pointed out that they have won the world title more recently than McLaren - in their previous guise of Brawn in 2009.

They'll have said they are a true works team backed by a huge car company, whereas McLaren are from next year paying for their "customer" Mercedes engines.

They'll have argued that, in team boss Ross Brawn, Mercedes have the architect of the most dominant dynasty in F1 history - the Ferrari team of the early 2000s - who is determined to do it again. Triple world champion Niki Lauda, who is expected to be given a senior management role at the Mercedes team, has also been involved in trying to persuade Hamilton to join the team.

And they'll have said Hamilton has relative commercial freedom with them to make as much money as he wants.

What they won't have said is that the 2009 world title came about in rather exceptional circumstances and that at no other time has the team looked remotely like consistently challenging the best - whether as BAR, Honda or Mercedes.

And they won't have said that McLaren - for all Hamilton's frustrations over the cars he has had since 2009 and the mistakes that have been made in 2012 - have a winning record over the past 30 years that is the envy of every team in F1.

Of course, the past does not define the future, but the future is built on the past.

It's possible that the near future of F1 is one of Mercedes hegemony, but it would be a hell of a gamble to take for a man who professes he just "wants to win".

If the latest indications about his mind-set are correct, perhaps that is what Hamilton has now realised.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/09/hamilton_saga_nearing_endgame.html

Bill Cantrell Ivan Capelli Piero Carini

Rookies shine on record-breaking F1® debuts

McLaren's Kevin Magnussen and Toro Rosso's Daniil Kvyat both enjoyed record-breaking starts to their Formula One racing careers in Australia.

Magnussen, who came home in third place, became the first Danish driver in F1 history to score a podium finish and the first rookie since Lewis Hamilton in 2007 to reach the rostrum in his debut race

Source: http://www.formula1.com/news/features/2014/3/15584.html

Philippe Alliot Cliff Allison Fernando Alonso

Ricciardo upbeat despite Australia disqualification

Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo says he has only positives to take away from the season-opening race in Australia, despite losing his maiden podium finish to disqualification.

Ricciardo was excluded from second place in Melbourne after stewards determined that his car had exceeded the maximum fuel flow rate of 100kg per hour permitted under the 2014 technical regulations

Source: http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2014/3/15593.html

Paolo Barilla Rubens Barrichello Michael Bartels

Ricciardo upbeat despite Australia disqualification

Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo says he has only positives to take away from the season-opening race in Australia, despite losing his maiden podium finish to disqualification.

Ricciardo was excluded from second place in Melbourne after stewards determined that his car had exceeded the maximum fuel flow rate of 100kg per hour permitted under the 2014 technical regulations

Source: http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2014/3/15593.html

Roberto Bussinello Jenson Button Tommy Byrne

Rosberg crushes opposition in Australia

Nico Rosberg dominated the first grand prix of Formula One's new turbo era, winning from Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo by 24.5s on a day when Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel failed to make the finish

Source: http://en.espnf1.com/australia/motorsport/story/149475.html?CMP=OTC-RSS

Edgar Barth Giorgio Bassi Erwin Bauer