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Posted on Monday, January 6, 2014

Lauda says Mercedes 'ready' for 2014 challenge

Niki Lauda says Mercedes is on track for the start of official 2014 testing, despite the huge challenge of the all-new turbo rules. Germany's Auto Motor und Sport reports rumours that world champion team Red Bull's boss Christian Horner had floated the idea of delaying for a week the start of winter testing late this month. "Nothing is being moved," Mercedes team chairman Lauda insisted. "The plans are going ahead for late January. "The task of big for everybody." The report said the German squad […]

Posted on Friday, December 20, 2013

Ricciardo thinks Vettel yet to peak

Sebastian Vettel's new teammate thinks the reigning quadruple world champion is still getting better. Australian Daniel Ricciardo is replacing Mark Webber at Red Bull, but he said recently he hopes to be more competitive alongside Vettel than his retiring countryman. "As strong as Mark is," 24-year-old Ricciardo is quoted by Brazil's Totalrace, "Seb was better. "That was evident in the last two years. "He (Vettel) is still very young, so we can ask the question of whether they were both at their peak when they […]

Posted on Thursday, November 28, 2013

Webber deletes criticism of Red Bull colleagues

Comments in which Mark Webber was highly critical of his former Red Bull colleagues have been removed from the Australian's official website. It has been no secret that Webber, who has left the world champion team and Formula One to lead a more relaxed life with Porsche, has been enduring strained relationships with bosses Christian Horner, Dr Helmut Marko and teammate Sebastian Vettel. Once very close friends and even sharing ownership of a GP3 team with the 40-year-old Briton, Webber admitted in the deleted comments […]

Posted on Friday, October 25, 2013

Red Bull will not axe da Costa says Marko

Antonio Felix da Costa has not been dropped by Red Bull, despite failing to impress enough to secure the Toro Rosso seat for 2014. Portuguese da Costa, 22, was the hot favourite all season to move into the energy drink company's second Formula One team next year. But, with Daniel Ricciardo moving to Red Bull, the F1 paddock was surprised to learn that 19-year-old GP3 driver Daniil Kvyat ultimately got his job. Is it because Russian Kvyat - although arguably the most impressive compared to […]

Posted on Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Capitalising on Qatar link 'my last big wish' says Williams

Reaping the fruits of the collaboration with Qatar is Sir Frank Wiliams' "last big wish", he admitted on Tuesday. A couple of years ago, the British team partnered with the soverign Arab state to establish the Williams Technology Centre in Qatar, to develop and commercialise F1-bred technologies. Williams, 71, is still the Grove based team's boss, but he has handed over many of his responsibilities to his new deputy Claire, his daughter. But Frank Williams told Germany's Auto Motor und Sport that he still deals […]

Posted on Thursday, October 10, 2013

New chassis for Webber after Korea fire

Mark Webber will be using a new Red Bull chassis in Japan this weekend, after his crash and subsequent fire days ago in Korea. Ahead of his fifth-to-last grand prix before switching to Le Mans for 2014, Australian Webber said the fire in Korea did not faze him. "We're used to bushfires in Australia. No problem," he smiled to Germany's Auto Motor und Sport. Some had even suggested Webber seemed particularly uninterested in getting the marshals to quickly put the flames out. "I pressed for […]

Posted on Thursday, October 10, 2013

Pirelli and McLaren to test near Rome

Pirelli has decided to test tyres for the 2014 season at Vallelunga, near Rome. After some teams vetoed the tyre supplier's plans to head to Austin with McLaren and one of the British team's 2011 cars, we reported that Aragon, Spain, had been earmarked as a likely alternative venue. But Auto Motor und Sport on Thursday said Pirelli has in fact decided on Vallelunga, and has invited other teams to attend as well. A new date has also been decided -- 11 and 12 November, […]

Posted on Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Pirelli to be 'very conservative' for 2014 says Hembery

The days where grands prix are spiced-up by deliberately heavily-degrading tyres could be over. Since the tyre-exploding crisis earlier this season, and the mid-year shift from steel to kevlar-belted tyres, Pirelli has also been taking more conservative compound choices to the races. Very recently, it has culminated in less exiting grands prix, and runaway championship leader Sebastian Vettel's now tight grip on the second half of the season. And for 2014, despite the radical engine rules shift, little will change on the tyre front. "We […]

Posted on Thursday, September 26, 2013

Red Bull tyre-change lobbying 'unfair' - Force India

Force India has hit out at the mid-season tyre specification change that, according to technical director Andy Green, was a terminal setback for the Silverstone based team. And, as Ferrari now turns its full attention to the 2014 challenge, the Italian team has also lamented the move from the original steel-belted 2013 Pirelli tyres to last year's kevlar specification. The move was ostensibly made on safety grounds, but Ferrari and Force India argue that it hurt their performance badly. "We started the season in a […]

Posted on Wednesday, September 25, 2013

No more 'passive DRS' for Lotus in 2013

Lotus will no longer use the 'passive DRS' system that has often appeared on the black and gold E21 in 2013. "No, it probably won't be seen again this season," said the team's trackside boss Alan Permane. "We have not given up on it, but it still doesn't work perfectly," he told Germany's Auto Motor und Sport. "And we simply don't want to spend any more time on it. "Our technical department is now working more or less exclusively on the car for next season," […]

Posted on Thursday, September 12, 2013

Ferrari said no to Hulkenberg via text message

Nico Hulkenberg's manager has expressed disappointment with how Ferrari broke the bad news to the German driver this week. It has emerged that Hulkenberg was seriously considered by the Maranello based team as the replacement for Felipe Massa. But when Ferrari ultimately signed Raikkonen, the Italian squad let Hulkenberg know in the form of a mere text message, the German driver's manager Werner Heinz has revealed. "After two months of negotiations, I expected at least a phone call," he told Germany's Auto Motor und Sport. […]

Posted on Saturday, September 7, 2013

Vettel snubbed Webber's Monza farewell party

Sebastian Vettel on Friday did not attend a farewell party to mark teammate Mark Webber's last grand prix in Europe. Germany's Bild newspaper said the reigning world champion sat downstairs 'playing with his iphone' while, just 16 steps above in the Red Bull motor home at Monza, much of the F1 fraternity paid tribute to Webber as the Australian's 12-year career draws to a close. Helping Webber celebrate were figures like Ross Brawn, Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton and even Sir Frank Williams, who was carried […]