| By Lawrence Barretto and Ben Anderson | Wednesday, April 15th 2015, 11:19 GMT |
Lotus now has the fourth-fastest car on the Formula 1 grid after a strong showing in the Chinese Grand Prix, according to engineering chief Alan Permane
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| By Dieter Rencken and Jonathan Noble | Wednesday, April 15th 2015, 14:43 GMT |
Renault says Red Bull boss Dietrich Mateschitz's threats to quit Formula 1 do not add extra pressure to its troubled 2015 season because it has sufficient recovery plans in place
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| By Lawrence Barretto | Wednesday, April 15th 2015, 15:35 GMT |
Williams needs to understand why it has struggled to make Formula 1's soft tyre work if it is to challenge Mercedes and Ferrari, says performance chief Rob Smedley
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| By Lawrence Barretto and Ben Anderson | Tuesday, April 14th 2015, 13:21 GMT |
Romain Grosjean said the Chinese Grand Prix was a "breakthrough" for Lotus after he scored the Formula 1 team's first points of the 2015 campaign, and his first in 11 months
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| By Lawrence Barretto | Tuesday, April 14th 2015, 09:47 GMT |
Felipe Massa is currently driving better than at any other point in his Formula 1 career and is still improving, according to Williams performance chief Rob Smedley
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| By Lawrence Barretto | Tuesday, April 14th 2015, 14:37 GMT |
Daniel Ricciardo is hopeful there is "one magic button" which can transform Red Bull's Formula 1 fortunes after another difficult race in the Chinese Grand Prix
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| By Lawrence Barretto | Monday, April 13th 2015, 10:59 GMT |
Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas accept that Williams has now fallen back to being Formula 1's third-fastest team
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| By Lawrence Barretto | Monday, April 13th 2015, 10:58 GMT |
Mercedes non-executive chairman Niki Lauda says Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg are right to take a selfish approach to racing against each other in Formula 1
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| By Ben Anderson and Lawrence Barretto | Monday, April 13th 2015, 14:20 GMT |
Red Bull boss Christian Horner says Ferrari's transformation back into a race-winning Formula 1 team is proof his team can turn its fortunes around too
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| By Ben Anderson and Jonathan Noble | Sunday, April 12th 2015, 11:33 GMT |
Mercedes Formula 1 team boss Toto Wolff insists Lewis Hamilton did nothing wrong in his Chinese Grand Prix battle with Nico Rosberg and says the tensions have now cooled
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| By Ben Anderson and Matt Beer | Sunday, April 12th 2015, 10:54 GMT |
The Red Bull Formula 1 team believes the poor start that ruined Daniel Ricciardo's Chinese Grand Prix was the result of a procedure error by the Australian driver
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| Sunday, April 12th 2015, 10:49 GMT |
Chinese GP post-race press conference with Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel
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| By Ben Anderson and Lawrence Barretto | Saturday, April 11th 2015, 12:47 GMT |
Nico Rosberg says the Pirelli Formula 1 tyres will be "on the edge" in Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix, which could allow Ferrari to threaten Mercedes' chances of victory again
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| By Ben Anderson and Matt Beer | Saturday, April 11th 2015, 13:10 GMT |
Jenson Button was "puzzled" that the McLaren-Honda Formula 1 team was eliminated from Chinese Grand Prix qualifying in Q1 given the encouraging pace it showed in Shanghai practice
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| By Lawrence Barretto | Saturday, April 11th 2015, 14:22 GMT |
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff says the team must be prepared to be flexible with strategy calls in the future, in the wake of its defeat to Ferrari in Malaysia
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| Saturday, April 11th 2015, 05:02 GMT |
Lewis Hamilton completed a clean sweep of Chinese Grand Prix Formula 1 practice sessions by beating Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg on Saturday morning at Shanghai
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| By Lawrence Barretto | Friday, April 10th 2015, 11:07 GMT |
Security has been tightened at the Shanghai Formula 1 track after a spectator ran across the circuit during second Chinese Grand Prix practice
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| By Lawrence Barretto and Dieter Rencken | Friday, April 10th 2015, 11:14 GMT |
Nico Rosberg is unsure whether the Mercedes Formula 1 team's single-lap performance advantage over Ferrari in Chinese Grand Prix practice will translate into race pace
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| Thursday, April 9th 2015, 16:11 GMT |
Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz has reiterated that his company will quit Formula 1 if his teams cannot get a competitive engine
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| By Lawrence Barretto | Thursday, April 9th 2015, 15:02 GMT |
Roberto Merhi still does not know how long his deal for a Formula 1 race seat with Manor will last despite sporting director Graeme Lowdon backing his current line-up
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| Friday, April 10th 2015, 03:36 GMT |
Lewis Hamilton led Nico Rosberg in a commanding Mercedes one-two in the opening practice session for Formula 1's Chinese Grand Prix at Shanghai
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| By Edd Straw and Lawrence Barretto | Wednesday, April 8th 2015, 11:38 GMT |
Manor sporting director Graeme Lowdon says Ferrari's Formula 1 success in Malaysia will have a knock-on effect on his team when it launches its 2015-spec car later this year
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| By Ben Anderson | Wednesday, April 8th 2015, 09:19 GMT |
Sebastian Vettel's shock defeat of Lewis Hamilton in Malaysia helped re-invigorate Formula 1, but the focus now switches to if that momentum can continue
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| By Dieter Rencken and Lawrence Barretto | Wednesday, April 8th 2015, 15:40 GMT |
Formula 1 teams must better support race promoters to help improve the overall show for fans, according to Toro Rosso team principal Franz Tost
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| By Lawrence Barretto and Matt Beer | Tuesday, April 7th 2015, 09:36 GMT |
Ferrari Formula 1 technical director James Allison says his main influence so far has been to end a culture of short-term thinking and ease the pressure on the design team
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| By Lawrence Barretto | Tuesday, April 7th 2015, 12:04 GMT |
Force India has pushed back the introduction of its B-spec Formula 1 car until the Austrian Grand Prix in late June, according to deputy team principal Bob Fernley
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| By Edd Straw and Lawrence Barretto | Tuesday, April 7th 2015, 15:49 GMT |
Toro Rosso says its target is not to beat Red Bull in the constructors' championship but instead ensure a career-best fifth place in the end-of-season Formula 1 standings
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| By Ben Anderson and Matt Beer | Monday, April 6th 2015, 09:21 GMT |
Mercedes expects to bring forward some of its 2015 Formula 1 development programme to fend off the emerging threat from Ferrari
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| By Lawrence Barretto and Edd Straw | Sunday, April 5th 2015, 08:59 GMT |
Roberto Merhi's hopes of retaining his seat with Manor in Formula 1 this season have been boosted after sporting director Graeme Lowdon said he was happy with his current driver line-up
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| By Lawrence Barretto | Monday, April 6th 2015, 11:45 GMT |
Valtteri Bottas is expecting his back to be "100 per cent" fit for the Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix, following the injury he sustained during qualifying in Australia
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| By Lawrence Barretto | Friday, April 3rd 2015, 15:21 GMT |
Marcus Ericsson has described his Malaysian Grand Prix weekend as a "breakthrough" in Formula 1, despite spinning out of the race
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| By Lawrence Barretto and Edd Straw | Saturday, April 4th 2015, 14:04 GMT |
Renault made a "massive step" forward with its Formula 1 power unit in Malaysia compared to Australia, according to Toro Rosso technical director James Key
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| By Lawrence Barretto and Edd Straw | Sunday, April 5th 2015, 08:59 GMT |
Roberto Merhi's hopes of retaining his seat with Manor in Formula 1 this season have been boosted after sporting director Graeme Lowdon said he was happy with his current driver line-up
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| By Lawrence Barretto and Ben Anderson | Friday, April 3rd 2015, 13:26 GMT |
Lotus is "still finding our feet a little bit" following a troubled start to the Formula 1 season, according to engineering chief Alan Permane
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| By Lawrence Barretto | Friday, April 3rd 2015, 15:21 GMT |
Marcus Ericsson has described his Malaysian Grand Prix weekend as a "breakthrough" in Formula 1, despite spinning out of the race
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| By Lawrence Barretto and Edd Straw | Saturday, April 4th 2015, 14:04 GMT |
Renault made a "massive step" forward with its Formula 1 power unit in Malaysia compared to Australia, according to Toro Rosso technical director James Key
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| By Lawrence Barretto and Ben Anderson | Friday, April 3rd 2015, 13:26 GMT |
Lotus is "still finding our feet a little bit" following a troubled start to the Formula 1 season, according to engineering chief Alan Permane
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| By Lawrence Barretto | Friday, April 3rd 2015, 09:02 GMT |
Valtteri Bottas says the Williams Formula 1 team is missing "quite a big amount" of race pace as it fights to remain one of the sport's frontrunners
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| By Lawrence Barretto | Friday, April 3rd 2015, 15:21 GMT |
Marcus Ericsson has described his Malaysian Grand Prix weekend as a "breakthrough" in Formula 1, despite spinning out of the race
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| By Edd Straw and Lawrence Barretto | Thursday, April 2nd 2015, 10:08 GMT |
Ferrari's Formula 1 car is giving Sebastian Vettel "the feel that he needs" says his former team boss Christian Horner of Red Bull Racing
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| By Ben Anderson and Matt Beer | Thursday, April 2nd 2015, 09:41 GMT |
McLaren-Honda is already seeing a "massive difference" in its Formula 1 performance across the first month of the season, says the team's racing director Eric Boullier
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| By Lawrence Barretto | Thursday, April 2nd 2015, 14:32 GMT |
Williams driver Felipe Massa believes Ferrari's tyre affinity was the biggest factor in its Malaysian Grand Prix success, but admitted the Scuderia has improved more than its Formula 1 rivals
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| By Edd Straw and Lawrence Barretto | Wednesday, April 1st 2015, 14:40 GMT |
Toro Rosso boss Franz Tost believes "stupid people" who criticised Max Verstappen as too young for Formula 1 will have been silenced by his first two grands prix.
Verstappen, the youngest ever F1 driver at 17, became its youngest scorer as well when he finished seventh in last weekend's Malaysian GP, having qualified sixth in the wet.
Asked by AUTOSPORT if he felt Verstappen's critics were now answered, Tost replied: "I said this in October and November when all the people criticised: he will answer them on the racetrack because the answer on the racetrack means stupid people can understand."
Verstappen's team-mate Carlos Sainz Jr - also an F1 newcomer - has scored points in both the first two races of 2015, and Toro Rosso technical director James Key said the duo do not seem like rookies at all.
"I think the drivers did brilliantly in really difficult conditions," Key told AUTOSPORT.
"But they're both doing exactly what we want them to and the feedback in the race about the tyres is exactly what you want.
"It doesn't feel like they're rookies in many respects.
"There's no major drama behind, they just got on with the job."
Tost added that he has been particularly impressed by Verstappen's and Sainz's work ethic.
"I'm more than happy with both of the drivers," said Tost. "Both of them have done a fantastic job without any mistakes.
"They are open-minded and they want to learn until late at night.
"They want to see what is going on, what's being changed on the car and this understanding helps them perform well.
"They are also very high-skilled drivers."
| By Dieter Rencken and Lawrence Barretto | Wednesday, April 1st 2015, 11:09 GMT |
Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene believes Formula 1 needs to become "a bit more affordable" to safeguard its future, but thinks any proposals for standardised cars are too extreme.
The cost of competing in Formula 1 has been high on the agenda after Caterham and Marussia went into administration towards the end of last season.
Marussia required a last-minute rescue package to survive and now run as Manor, while teams including Force India asked F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone for support with their finances before Australia.
Force India deputy team principal Bob Fernley has repeatedly called for a reduction of costs so that independent teams can survive while making the sport more attractive to new entrants.
ARRIVABENE INTERVIEW: The new man in F1's hottest seat
And although Ferrari is among the wealthiest teams on the grid, Arrivabene agrees that something needs to be done.
He insists the situation is being looked at with sufficient seriousness.
"We have to do our best to make Formula 1 a bit more affordable," Arrivabene told AUTOSPORT.
"I have to say it is a work in progress at the moment and everybody - they are really committed."
One of the suggestions to reduce costs is for teams to run a standardised car, but Arrivabene believes that is a step too far.
DIETER RENCKEN explains the 'core car' proposal
"I think that was one of the proposals on the agenda," he said. "You know, sometimes somebody starts from an extreme, which is something else.
"Standardisation in certain parts of the car could be an interesting cost saving way. Of course, not in all of the parts in the car.
"We are Formula 1, not another series where all the cars look the same and there is no spectacle."
| By Lawrence Barretto | Wednesday, April 1st 2015, 16:48 GMT |
Red Bull development driver Pierre Gasly will drive a Formula 1 car for the first time when he gets behind the wheel of a Toro Rosso in Barcelona next month
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| By Ben Anderson | Tuesday, March 31st 2015, 12:01 GMT |
The Manor Formula 1 team insists there is no reason why it cannot run both its cars at the same time, following speculation over Will Stevens' Malaysian Grand Prix absence.
Having solved the software problems that prevented the revived F1 squad appearing in any of the sessions at the first race of the season in Melbourne, Manor took to the track for the first time in 2015 at Sepang.
But it only fielded Roberto Merhi in qualifying and the race after team-mate Stevens' car developed what Manor described as a "complex fuel system problem" in final free practice on Saturday.
The team said it had deliberately avoided running both cars simultaneously in practice to minimise the risk of making operational mistakes.
When Stevens - who had been its quicker driver in practice - failed to appear in Q1 or the race, there were rumours that Manor simply was not capable of running both cars at the same time.
But Manor sporting director Graeme Lowdon refuted these suggestions as "complete, utter nonsense".
"I can guarantee you if that car could have moved, it would have raced," Lowdon told AUTOSPORT.
"There is absolutely no question about it. And it would have qualified.
"The systems and the people were perfectly happy with the results of everything in [practice] one, two and three from that point of view, and if you look at the run plans we weren't going round and round and round in one, two and three because we had very specific tasks in ticking things off.
"Quali we had very clear run planning for both cars, and we would have definitely raced with two cars."
Lowdon said Manor was clearly doing everything in could to get both its cars into every race as the current high attrition rate meant there were big opportunities just for finishing.
"Look at Melbourne - why would you not want to be in a race at the minute?" he said.
"You would drag the car kicking and screaming.
"It's complete utter nonsense. Elvis is not alive on Mars and all the rest of it.
"We'll just keep our heads down, crack on with what we have to do, and keep moving forward."
Merhi finished 15 in the grand prix, three laps down, on his F1 race debut.
He had not lapped fast enough to mee the 107 per cent cut-off in Q1 but was given dispensation to start due to Stevens having lapped within that margin during practice.
| By Lawrence Barretto and Matt Beer | Tuesday, March 31st 2015, 13:38 GMT |
Valtteri Bottas believes he and Williams Formula 1 team-mate Felipe Massa have proved they can be trusted to race without team orders after their Malaysian Grand Prix battle.
Massa lost fifth to Bottas in their late dice at Sepang, which included near-contact at the first corner and ended when the Finn pulled off an outside-line move on the Brazilian through the long, fast Turn 5 on the penultimate lap.
Williams was involved in a team orders controversy at the same event last year when Massa declined to follow a request to let Bottas past to attack Jenson Button's McLaren for sixth.
But this year it allowed them to resolve their battle between themselves.
"It was really good to get the green light from the team to allow us to race," said Bottas.
"It was hard and fair. In the end there was no contact.
"In any situation, I think they can trust us that we can race hard but fair. That is nice."
Williams's performance chief Rob Smedley said it would be wrong to put limits on intra-team racing.
"We are not going to stop them racing," he said.
"It has to be clean, they have to not jeopardise any points for the team, but they are two great drivers, two professional drivers.
"They give each other a lot of respect and just enough room to race.
"It was good wheel to wheel racing, it's good for Formula 1 and we're not going to stop them doing it."
Massa said he had raced Bottas more carefully as they were team-mates, but he felt he had little chance of retaining his position anyway.
"I tried to fight but I had two laps older tyres than him," he said.
"I was fighting to keep my position but I had no tyres to fight.
"We race but you have to take care because if you have two cars out on the last lap of the race it would be not nice."
COMMENT: Ex-F1 designer GARY ANDERSON on the Williams battle: "The team allowed Valtteri Bottas to challenge and overtake Felipe Massa on the last lap of the race.
"That is criminal because they had everything to lose and nothing to gain, as fifth and sixth were assured.
"I am a Bottas fan but it was only Massa's experience that ensured they didn't both end up in the gravel trap."
Click here for Gary Anderson's full re-cap on the Malaysian GP weekend, and his take on the Ferrari revival
| By Lawrence Barretto and Matt Beer | Tuesday, March 31st 2015, 16:34 GMT |
Formula 1 must be wary of reverting to a harsher stance on collision penalties says Force India's Bob Fernley, after both his drivers were penalised at the Malaysian Grand Prix.
Last year the FIA decided to show more lenience over driving standards investigations from the British Grand Prix onwards.
Both Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez were given 10-second penalties in quick succession during last Sunday's Sepang F1 race after tangles with Daniil Kvyat and Romain Grosjean respectively, with both drivers feeling the stewards had been excessive.
While Fernley emphasised that Force India accepted the stewards' ruling, he said the decision appeared to be a throwback to the previous rules position.
"It's difficult because I can't see all the data," Fernley told AUTOSPORT.
"You need to look at all the angles the stewards can look at and I think we have to abide by the decisions of the stewards at the end of the day, because they are operating Formula 1.
"But some time ago we looked at it from the point of view that unless it was a blatant or dangerous manoeuvre, we would try to give the benefit of the doubt to racing incidents.
"I just think we have to be careful we don't go back to where we were.
"But equally, we accept fully the decision of the stewards.
"Let's just not air on the side of caution too much and let them race a bit because that's part of the excitement of racing."
Grosjean strongly criticised Perez's driving over team radio after their contact, which happened as the Lotus completed an outside-line pass on the Force India.
Fernley felt Perez had little option in the situation he was in.
"It's a fast corner, Romain was going around the outside, Checo [Perez] was obviously having difficulties in the corner," said Fernley.
"I'm not sure there were a lot of places for Checo to go. I didn't see it as necessarily dangerous.
"It was a strong move from Grosjean, I don't think Checo had a lot of room and it is what it is."
Perez suggested that he would raise his concerns over his Malaysia penalty with the FIA.
"I think we have to try to do something on that but it won't change anything," he said.
