| By Jonathan Noble | Wednesday, February 4th 2015, 16:56 GMT |
McLaren insists it knows how fast its Honda-powered 2015 Formula 1 car is capable of going and is not bothered by the compromised Jerez test laptimes
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| By Edd Straw and Jamie Klein | Wednesday, February 4th 2015, 17:28 GMT |
Lewis Hamilton admitted he was to blame for the spin that interrupted Mercedes' test programme on the final day of the first pre-season Formula 1 test at Jerez
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| By Ben Anderson and Matt Beer | Wednesday, February 4th 2015, 18:25 GMT |
Sauber has not been doing low-fuel 'glory runs' in a bid to chase Jerez Formula 1 testing headlines, insists Marcus Ericsson
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| By Jonathan Noble | Tuesday, February 3rd 2015, 19:49 GMT |
Renault has revealed that its Formula 1 testing efforts at Jerez have been hurt by reliability worries over what it calls a "stupid part" on its engine
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| By Ben Anderson | Tuesday, February 3rd 2015, 19:14 GMT |
Felipe Nasr reckons his Mercedes-powered Formula 1 rivals were "hiding" some performance, after his Sauber-Ferrari ended up topping the third day of pre-season testing at Jerez
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| By Dieter Rencken and Jonathan Noble | Tuesday, February 3rd 2015, 20:48 GMT |
Force India's new Formula 1 car is now unlikely to run until the final Barcelona test later this month, AUTOSPORT has learned
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| By Jonathan Noble | Sunday, February 1st 2015, 18:34 GMT |
McLaren will change the livery of its Formula 1 car, says chief Ron Dennis, but only when big sponsors come in to justify the switch.
The silver, black and red colour scheme that features on the new Honda-powered MP4-30 has been met with a lukewarm reaction from fans - who have complained that it is not enough of a departure from the team's Mercedes days.
Speaking about the matter on the opening day of pre-season testing at Jerez, Dennis explained that he was not willing to embrace a bold change of colours simply for the sake of it.
"We have had the same [discussions about livery] inside the team: all of these people were saying, why don't we make it orange - because that was the old colour of McLaren?" he said.
"Well, I say, 'you just said it - it was the old colour of McLaren. Why the hell do we want to go backwards?'
"So what do you do? Do you create an aesthetically pleasing design? But for what purpose?
"This is the livery of McLaren. It has always been a combination of these colours - and it will only change for commercial reasons.
"It won't change just to make a few people in the company happier because they want it orange or they want it yellow."
Dennis said he fully understood the complaints about the colours, but reckoned in the longer term it will result in a better situation when big sponsors come on board.
"It will be far more recognised if we suddenly come out with a lime green car for the following reason: you will all know that we have a great deal of money coming in. So why would you react to Twitter [complaints]?" he said.
"Yes we could change colour. Yes we could do something more daring. Yes we could do all these things. But give me a reason why?
"If it is just to make something more aesthetically pleasing, that is not enough reason for me.
"Don't worry - it will change. But I will not say when."
| By Edd Straw and Matt Beer | Sunday, February 1st 2015, 18:31 GMT |
Mercedes' Toto Wolff says he is trying to avoid over-confidence, but that his team's first day of 2015 Formula 1 testing at Jerez was the best start he has experienced.
Nico Rosberg completed 157 laps - 84 more than any of Mercedes' rivals - on the way to the third-fastest time on Sunday.
Asked if he could have predicted such a high mileage tally, Wolff joked: "You've discovered our secret project: it's Le Mans, we're doing endurance testing.
"No, I don't want to sound arrogant or over-confident. We need to stay humble.
"It was a really good first day. For me it was the best one I've seen in terms of mileage and reliability.
"We didn't push the limits in terms of the car and its systems.
"But for a first day we were very solid. Nico says it's one of the best first days he's had.
"Does it mean a lot? No. But it's better to have a good first day than a bad one."
Rosberg also urged against over-confidence despite Mercedes' strong performance.
"Are we ahead of the game? No. But we got off to a good start for ourselves," he said.
"Not comparing with anyone else, because it's not possible to compare at the moment.
"We can only judge in terms of what we wanted to achieve today, and we managed to achieve that.
"The laps that we wanted to do, the pitstop practice at the end, for us it was a good start."
The 2014 F1 runner-up added that the new W06 felt promising in its handling as well as its reliability.
"I can just say that I have a good feeling," said Rosberg.
"There is no reason for it, there are no numbers for it, it's just a feeling.
"It's been reliable, no major problems, and the car balance feels more or less decent.
"Of course it's not perfect, and there's still some work to do, and I look forward to that work, starting tonight."
| By Ben Anderson and Matt Beer | Sunday, February 1st 2015, 19:07 GMT |
Valtteri Bottas is already convinced that the 2015 Williams Formula 1 car is a step forward from last year's FW36 after the first day of testing at Jerez.
Although a delay with the arrival of final components meant the FW37 took to the track later than planned on Sunday, Bottas was able to complete 73 laps and he was very encouraged with how things went.
"We had some delays yesterday. Some parts were a bit late and everything was a little bit on the limit to get ready for the first day," he explained.
"But after we got running, everything went really well.
"The initial feeling was good. I feel it's a good base to build on."
Asked if he already felt the car was a step forward over the 2014 machine that took Williams to third in the championship, Bottas replied: "It is, yes. I know that.
"And this is only the first day and we will improve massively during the testing and during the season as well.
"The car was behaving really consistently. I could do really consistent times on the long runs.
"Immediately after the first few laps I had a good feel of the car.
"We were not really trying to set any laptimes. We were just going through the programme and experiencing the new car, and that went really well."
The Finn highlighted aerodynamics as a clear improvement.
"They're a bit more consistent through the corner," he said.
"So that was a nice thing to feel, because you get more trust in the car.
"The car was already good last year, but it feels better already.
"We still have lots to do to unlock more performance, but we don't need to do it here, we still have plenty of time."
Bottas's tally of 73 laps was still 84 behind the amount Nico Rosberg achieved in the Mercedes, but the Williams driver shrugged off the comparison.
"We never planned 150 laps anyway because we had some changes to make which took some time," he said. "Maybe they had a different target."
| Friday, January 30th 2015, 12:05 GMT |
Sebastian Vettel thinks his relationship with Kimi Raikkonen at Ferrari will be more "straightforward" than most Formula 1 team-mate partnerships
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