| By Jonathan Noble | Saturday, November 8th 2014, 21:10 GMT |
Formula 1 teams have failed to reach an agreement on a lifting of the engine freeze after talks collapsed in a meeting at the Brazilian Grand Prix on Saturday
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| By Jonathan Noble | Saturday, November 8th 2014, 21:28 GMT |
Bernie Ecclestone has promised Formula 1's smaller teams that he will speak to the sport's owner CVC about their financial problems
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| By Ben Anderson | Saturday, November 8th 2014, 21:51 GMT |
The Williams Formula 1 team says a fuel pressure problem compromised Felipe Massa's final run in qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix
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| By Matt Beer | Friday, November 7th 2014, 19:44 GMT |
Jenson Button says McLaren is "nowhere" after Brazilian Grand Prix practice, though he believes it can be competitive if it goes back on changes made on Friday
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| Friday, November 7th 2014, 20:04 GMT |
Fernando Alonso said Ferrari had half-expected the fiery engine failure that ended his Friday practice running at the Brazilian Grand Prix
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| By Jonathan Noble | Friday, November 7th 2014, 20:49 GMT |
Sergio Perez is staying at the Force India Formula 1 team next year, his team boss Vijay Mallya said on Friday
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| By Jonathan Noble | Thursday, November 6th 2014, 18:58 GMT |
The FIA is continuing to monitor developments at Caterham and Marussia to ensure they will be capable of a Formula 1 return, as both appeared on the 2015 entry list
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| By Ben Anderson | Thursday, November 6th 2014, 19:33 GMT |
Romain Grosjean hopes to announce his 2015 Formula 1 plans during the Brazilian Grand Prix, saying he is "close" to confirming a deal
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| By Jonathan Noble | Thursday, November 6th 2014, 19:54 GMT |
Lewis Hamilton says he holds 'no fears' about the prospect of losing the 2014 Formula 1 world championship through double points
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| By Ben Anderson | Wednesday, November 5th 2014, 15:41 GMT |
Felipe Massa says defeat to Red Bull at the US Grand Prix shows Williams needs to strive for perfection in order to consistently challenge the top teams in Formula 1
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| By Jonathan Noble | Wednesday, November 5th 2014, 16:35 GMT |
Sauber has hit back at claims from Ferrari boss Marco Mattiacci that Formula 1 does not need struggling smaller teams
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| Wednesday, November 5th 2014, 23:50 GMT |
The Sauber Formula 1 team has signed Williams test driver Felipe Nasr to a race deal for the 2015 season
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| By Jonathan Noble | Tuesday, November 4th 2014, 12:23 GMT |
Lotus owner Gerard Lopez is confident Formula 1's cost crisis can be sorted out without a need for the small teams to do anything 'drastic'
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| By Gary Watkins | Tuesday, November 4th 2014, 12:59 GMT |
Audi has no plans to enter Formula 1 in the short-term
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| By Ben Anderson | Tuesday, November 4th 2014, 17:18 GMT |
Fernando Alonso reckons the Ferrari Formula 1 team must raise its game over the final two races of the season to avoid getting dragged into a fight with McLaren
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| By Jonathan Noble | Monday, November 3rd 2014, 13:07 GMT |
Formula 1's big teams have made it clear that they are not willing to accept sacrificing their own commercial rights income to help the smaller outfits
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| By Jonathan Noble | Monday, November 3rd 2014, 15:00 GMT |
Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff is worried that his team's Formula 1 success could be overshadowed by double points in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix season finale
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| By Ben Anderson | Monday, November 3rd 2014, 17:10 GMT |
Ferrari Formula 1 boss Marco Mattiacci says Kimi Raikkonen is under "positive pressure" to raise his game, after another disappointing race in the US Grand Prix
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| Monday, November 3rd 2014, 01:07 GMT |
US GP: Post-race press conference with Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg and Daniel Ricciardo
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| By Jonathan Noble | Monday, November 3rd 2014, 01:00 GMT |
Nico Rosberg has revealed that an ERS error was key to allowing Formula 1 title rival Lewis Hamilton to overtake him for victory at the United States Grand Prix
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| By Ben Anderson and Edd Straw | Monday, November 3rd 2014, 01:03 GMT |
Jean-Eric Vergne has lost his ninth-placed finish in the US Grand Prix after being penalised for colliding with Formula 1 rival Romain Grosjean
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DRIVERS
1 - Nico ROSBERG (Mercedes)
2 - Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)
3 - Valtteri BOTTAS (Williams)
TV UNILATERAL
Nico, a very strong pole position, a big margin for you. How do you feel about that? And hings are really hotting up, I guess now, with just three races to go?
Nico ROSBERG: Yeah, great day, very happy. It worked out really well, you know. Together with my engineers I really arrived at a car in the end in qualifying that I was happy with, the balance was good. Because it was quite a challenge, because the wind was changing and then this morning the conditions were quite different, a lot colder, so the track was changing all the time and it wasn't that easy to get everything right but in the end we got to a great set-up, a great car, so I'm pleased with that. So first place of course today is awesome but you know the race is what counts, so I still need to focus fully on tomorrow and to to bring it home.
Well done. Coming to you Lewis, fastest in practice, fastest in Q1, but from Q2 onwards it seemed to be a bit of a troubled session for you, particularly with braking, in Q2 and again in Q3 I think?
Lewis HAMILTON: Yeah, absolutely. Obviously, Nico did a great job today. I really struggled with braking, yeah. When you look at the brake temperatures, the left brake was always around 100 degrees less than the right front brake. It just kept catching. No matter what I did, even if I braked earlier and tried to save it, it would still lock. So that was perhaps where I was losing a lot of the time. But even if that wasn't the case I think Nico was perhaps too quick today.
Is that an issue for you for the race, with that set of tyres?
LH: Potentially, yeah, so I need to try to see... maybe they can scrub them down or something and try to fix it overnight.
OK, thank you for that. Coming to you Valtteri: your sixth time in the last eight grands prix that you've qualified in the top three. That's some run of form.
Valtteri BOTTAS: yeah, a pretty god qualifying again. I'm really pleased with the couple of good laps I got in Q3 today actually. It's been a difficult weekend from my side for some reason, to get to a good rhythm and then finally during the qualifying I could really trust the car, like you should do. Really happy for us as a team, again, we locked the second row. It's a good starting position for tomorrow's race because we have still important three races to try to keep a good position in the constructors' championship.
Very well done. Coming back to you again Nico, this track, particularly from the start, one of the characteristics here at the Circuit of the Americas has been the difference between the clean side and the dirty side off the grid. You must be pleased you're on the right side of that tomorrow?
NR: I haven't thought that far yet, but if you say it then yes, that's great, another extra advantage for the clean side of the grid, you know, starting first. Of course the start is going to be important, need to make the most of that and stay ahead.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: So Nico, that, I think, is the sixth Mercedes front row lock-out in a row, which is certainly a statement about the dominance you've got in the car and the way you continue to stay ahead of everybody. Margin of nine-tenths to Valtteri today, it was four-tenths in Sochi - but you too haven't been immune from brake problems this weekend, have you? Is this something worrying you at all going into the race?
NR: We've had a few issues in general on the car this weekend, on both cars and so yeah, we need to try to get it all right for tomorrow - but personally I'm not worried about that at all because if I would start worrying about that, it's not going to be good for performance. So I'm very confident the team's going to get the job done and just concentrate on what I can influence on my driving. I'm not worried.
Q: Lewis, I don't know if you know but tomorrow is six years to the day since you won your world championship: November 2nd 2008. So I'm sure you'll be hoping to channel the Interlagos spirit into tomorrow's grand prix - but how much is that vibration on those tyres going to cause you a problem? Can you drill down a little bit more into that for us?
LH: Well the vibration isn't that bad. It's a minor flat spot. They'll rebalance it and hopefully won't feel too much with it. The issue is just locking. If I can't fix that left brake, then that will be a continuing issue throughout the race. And obviously flat spots lead to blistering so I've got try and make sure we can fix that this evening.
Q: Coming to you Valtteri, you got your first points in Formula One here 12 months ago. Tell us about the race in prospect for you and also why you were behind Felipe pretty much the whole of today and how you managed to nail him when it got to the business end of qualifying.
VB: Yeah, it should be an interesting race. I think especially the guys behind us are going to be really quick and we're now in a good position in the team's championship and it's going to be an important race for us to get good points with both cars. It's not going to be easy. So we will really need to try to get everything right tomorrow. Really look forward to the race here, it's always good fun. In qualifying and in general from the practice, I managed to improve myself a lot during every session and really got the car to a good setup only just before the qualifying and for the qualifying - so I could really trust the car a bit better in the qualifying and get those lines right and get every corner right. I knew that Q3 is the one which is going to matter, and I needed to get everything right and be on the limit and then that's when I tried to squeeze everything that there was - and I feel I managed to do so.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Paolo Ianieri - La Gazzetta dello Sport) Nico, where did you also find those tenths that you found in your Q3? Quite impressive pace after always being behind Lewis during the practice.
NR: What was the reason? I finally got there on setup, together with my team. We just continued to improve the car all the time and just got it right and I felt comfortable in the end. I was able to push and it felt good balance. Nailed the lap, got the lap really well, so it all worked out.
Q: (Dan Knutson - Auto Action / National Speedsport News) To the two Mercedes guys, when you have troubles like you did today, little troubles, does it frustrate you or does it motivate you in a way, to say 'I'm going to beat this and get on top of it and go even faster'.?
NR: Neither of the two really. It's always a bit frustrating to have something like that in the moment but then, I've learned to move on to just accept and concentrate on the things that I can influence and just keep on it. That's what I tried to do today and it worked out well.
Lewis?
LH: The same.
Q: (Ian Parkes - Press Association) To all three of you, you may or may not be aware that there is a very real threat tomorrow - It's not speculation, it's not hearsay - of three teams, Force India, Sauber and Lotus, opting to boycott this race. What impact do you feel that would have on Formula One?
Nico?
NR: No comment. Because I have not heard anything about this and it would not be the right thing for me to even comment on something like that.
Lewis?
LH: Same.
Valtteri?
VB: Same. No comment really. I don't know anything about this situation so I can't really say much.
| By Jonathan Noble | Saturday, November 1st 2014, 22:49 GMT |
Formula 1 championship leader Lewis Hamilton will change managers next year, after deciding not to renew his deal with Simon Fuller's XIX Management company.
Hamilton confirmed on Saturday that discussions with Mercedes over a fresh deal beyond 2015 would likely be handled by somebody else.
When asked about the situation, Hamilton said: "There is not really much to say. The contract expired and I am going to be doing something different.
"I don't know what yet, but I will decide at the end of the year."
Hamilton signed up with XIX management at the start of 2011, having previously had his career looked after by his father Anthony.
XIX played a key part in helping secure Hamilton's move to Mercedes at the start of 2013. His current deal with the team runs until the end of next year.
| By Jonathan Noble | Saturday, November 1st 2014, 22:38 GMT |
Bernie Ecclestone says top Formula 1 teams are going to have to make sacrifices to solve the cost crisis, and admitted financial structures he had put in place were wrong.
In a surprise confession that commercial arrangements agreed with teams had contributed to F1's current woes, he said that only assistance from the big outfits could now help him sort matters out.
"The problem is there is too much money probably being distributed badly - probably my fault," said Ecclestone in a lengthy media briefing at Austin on Saturday.
"But like lots of agreements people make, they seemed a good idea at the time."
When asked if he regretted the deals in question, he replied: "If the company belonged to me I would have done things in a different way because it would have been my money I was dealing with.
"But I work for people who are in the business to make money."
REDISTRIBUTION OF MONEY
One idea Ecclestone mooted is for the big teams to contribute a share of their prize money towards a fund for the smaller outfits.
"We have to open the eyes of those people in a position to turn the lights on and off to what they need to do," he said.
"I wouldn't want to be in a position where I was too strong, F1 disappears and someone says it is because of you it disappeared.
"I said to people getting a chunk of money that I would like to take a percentage of their performance-related payment.
"I would put that money together to divide among the three or four we know are in trouble but are not going to run away with the money, and then I will put in the same amount of money."
However, Ecclestone admits that getting such a fund together would not be easy because F1 rules allow teams to block such changes.
"We have to decide the best way to sort this whole thing out. Frankly, I know what's wrong but don't know how to fix it.
"No one is prepared to do anything about it because they can't. The regulations have tied us up.
"We can't all sit back nicely relaxed and think the problem will go away. It's not like having the flu and taking a few tablets and it will disappear.
"I think the situation is such that if enough people want it resolved, we can resolve it. It's a case of the people that are involved in the sport will have to want to look after the sport and be prepared to make some sacrifices.
"I would tear all the contracts up. Take all the money, pay all the teams' debts that should be paid so people haven't suffered because of Formula 1."
NO BOYCOTT THREAT
Ecclestone denied there was a threat of a boycott this season, even though Force India's Bob Fernley repeatedly suggested it was an option.
"Forget all that crap," Ecclestone said. "I promise they will be racing. They will be racing, I give you a guarantee - but I worry if they will be racing next year."
He also played down the possibility of three-car teams.
"Forget third cars," he said. "Nobody can afford two cars."
| By Ben Anderson | Friday, October 31st 2014, 23:08 GMT |
Romain Grosjean says the experimental nose run on his Lotus Formula 1 car produced "positive" results, even though he was slowest in first free practice for the US Grand Prix.
Lotus tried running with a 2015-specification short nose on Grosjean's E22 at Austin, in place of the usual twin-tusk design, as the Enstone team ramps up an early development programme for next year's car.
Can Lotus 'do a Williams'?
The Franco-Swiss driver said his two runs with the new nose in FP1 produced encouraging results, despite the fact he lapped 3.288 seconds off the pace and nine tenths adrift of the conventional E22 of team-mate Pastor Maldonado.
"It was quite interesting: more consistent in a few corners, a bit more tricky in others," said Grosjean, when asked by AUTOSPORT about his experience of the new nose.
"We were supposed to do one run with it, I did two because I thought it was interesting to give it a go on the second run and see where it was going.
"We knew it was down in performance on the [conventional] E22, but what we really wanted to see was if it reacted as we thought, and the vortex and everything on the technical side was in the right place.
"I think the CFD, windtunnel and my comments all goes in the same direction, which is quite positive.
"We didn't keep going because it's not done for that car, but the problems we had with this nose on this car is what we expected."
NO FONDNESS FOR TWIN TUSKS
Grosjean revealed during September's Italian GP that Lotus had abandoned development of the E22 to focus on next year.
He said the team would still be at a disadvantage with its new nose design compared to the top outfits that have already been working with this type of design during 2014.
"I think it's working up nicely, but we're starting a long way down," Grosjean added.
"If you look at Mercedes and Ferrari they already have the low nose.
"It's certainly going to be better next year.
"The [Mercedes] engine will help and I'm sure there are a few [other] areas where we can improve."
Grosjean said he wouldn't be sad to see the back of this year's twin-tusk design, which is being effectively outlawed for next year by a change in regulations.
Grosjean said: "No I'm not sad. Three more races with this car and then send it to the bin!
"I'm sorry, but it's certainly not a car I will keep in my living room."
| By Jonathan Noble and Ben Anderson | Friday, October 31st 2014, 23:46 GMT |
Formula 1 drivers have given a preliminary thumbs up to the new 'virtual safety car' system that is being used to improve safety under yellow flag conditions.
The FIA ran two tests of the new concept at the end of each of the two Friday free practice sessions at the United States Grand Prix.
It has come as a response to the lessons learned from Jules Bianchi's horrific crash at the Japanese GP, when he ran off the circuit under double yellow flag conditions and struck a recovery vehicle.
At Austin, a sector of the track was deemed to be yellow and drivers had to drive to a specific delta time through it.
The aim of the concept is to slow drivers down without recourse to a safety car.
Although all drivers and the FIA agree that tweaks will be needed before the system can be introduced fully, they were happy with how the first tests had gone.
Sebastian Vettel said: "I think I had a short glimpse at the end there. It does what it is supposed to do. It needs some finetuning, but it works."
Romain Grosjean said that one of the issues that needed perfecting was making it obvious to drivers how slow they needed to be.
The Frenchman said he found it difficult to keep to the delta time during the afternoon test.
"It was very, very difficult," he said. "The delta time goes plus nine tenths, minus six tenths, plus three, then minus two.
"I found it very difficult to follow how you have to open a bigger gap, like two or three seconds, but when it goes green it's lost.
"I only did it in FP2, so I didn't have much training in it, but I found it quite hard."
But Pastor Maldonado said the use of audio tones to inform drivers if they were going too fast meant it was no problem for him to judge his speed.
"You get a dashboard display that you need to follow if you are plus and you are on the target, or you have a tone in the earpieces if you need to drop a little bit.
"It's very easy. If you are plus it's OK and if you are up you just slow down so it is very easy to manage."
The FIA will assess the feedback from Austin and will likely continue testing the system over the final races of this year.
| By Jonathan Noble | Saturday, November 1st 2014, 00:56 GMT |
Formula 1's bigger teams admit that there is no easy way to cure the sport's financial woes, as smaller outfits spoke out on Friday about the need for action.
The collapse of the Caterham and Marussia teams has highlighted how big F1's cost problems are, and has prompted fresh calls for action to be taken before other outfits fall off the grid.
But despite an acceptance that the costs issue needs addressing, it became clear during a lengthy press conference on Friday that teams remain at odds over what needs to happen.
Smaller teams are pushing for a fairer distribution of revenues, cost cuts and a budget cap, while their larger rivals believe that such changes will not solve the problems, and could actually cause further trouble like mass redundancies.
Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff said: "The teams in F1 today should stay in F1 and they should all look at the situation and come up with a short-term plan, how to have a healthy grid, and a long-term plan.
"We are talking about money distribution which is an issue for the commercial rights holder, and I don't have a solution.
"I can come up with many ideas which can be short term solutions but it comes back to the principle that whatever you give to the teams they are going to spend."
McLaren racing director Eric Boullier added: "There is a wake-up call maybe for everybody to make sure we can act altogether and we will try."
SYSTEM NEEDS CHANGING
Lotus owner Gerard Lopez believes that there were aspects of F1 that he found unacceptable, as he singled out the bonuses that Ferrari gets for competing.
"Now is the time to say things as they are," said Lopez. "Number one: the distribution model of revenues is completely wrong.
"When you've got teams showing up to the championship that get more money just for showing up than teams spending a whole season then something is entirely wrong with the whole system, and so that cannot be allowed to happen."
Lopez also singled out the dramatic jump in engine costs this year - which had forced budgets higher - as a key factor in hurting smaller teams.
FINDING A SOLUTION
The anger of the smaller teams at the situation is clear, especially with Force India's deputy team principal Bob Fernley hinting at hidden agendas from the big teams.
And although suggestions of a potential United States Grand Prix boycott by Sauber, Lotus and Force India have been played down, those three teams are likely to do all they can to try to force change.
Speaking about if there was a serious threat to not race, Lopez said: "I've just found out about the story now, so my answer is no.
"I've had a meeting with them about the cash distribution and so on, and that's it.
"I'm not aware of this. I don't even know where this comes from, and that's the whole point."
But he did admit that things had to change quickly, and action had to be forthcoming.
"I don't think there is an agenda - I sure hope there is none - but things have to drastically change in the next couple of weeks," he said.
"Not because teams are going to be driven away, but because if you don't take a situation like this one seriously, to change something, then you are never going to do it."
F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone spoke briefly on Friday about the costs crisis, but reckoned a bigger issue for him was not the potential demise of other teams but changing the engine rules.
"We need to get rid of these engine regulations because they don't anything for anybody - they are not F1," he told Sky, while not ruling out the grid shrinking to 14 cars. "We are going to try for sure."
