Formula 1's Latest Rumours, Talk: Ferrari's Engine, Nico Rosberg Contract, More

Only three races of the 2016 Formula One season have been completed, but it seems Ferrari are already beginning to panic.

After witnessing Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen run into each other at the beginning of the recent Chinese Grand Prix, Ferrari chairman Sergio Marchionne told Sky Sports' James Galloway how the "clock is on" for the team to return to winning ways.

Despite challenging Mercedes in Australia, Bahrain and China, Ferrari are without a victory since September 2015, and Vettel is already some distance from the summit of the drivers' standings.

And in response to their slow start, the Prancing Horse are reportedly set to fast-track an engine upgrade to this weekend's Russian GP in a move that could make or break their campaign.

The challenge facing Vettel and Raikkonen at the Sochi Autodrom, of course, is to end Nico Rosberg's streak of six consecutive victories, which began at last year's Mexican GP.

Rosberg has already established a 36-point lead over team-mate Lewis Hamilton, and Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has suggested the German is on course to earn a new contract beyond 2016.

The championship leader has undoubtedly benefited from plenty of luck in the early stages of this season, but one driver who has suffered lots of misfortune is Esteban Gutierrez, who has suffered several reliability niggles upon his return to the grid with Haas.

While the results have been hard to come by thus far, the Mexican has explained why he is now a better driver after spending 2015 on the sidelines.

Gutierrez's car problems have frustrated Haas team principal Guenther Steiner, who believes new teams should be allowed to conduct more testing than their more established competitors.

Closing this week's roundup is Pat Symonds, who has explained why Williams may gain an advantage by helping Pirelli's preparations for the 2017 regulation changes.

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Nico Rosberg feels engine age will hamper Abu Dhabi victory hopes

Nico Rosberg feels his chances of victory in Abu Dhabi will be hampered by using an older engine than Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

The German set the pace in Practice Two at the Yas Marina Circuit, outpacing Hamilton by around two tenths of a second.

However, Rosberg's worry stems from being forced to take his fourth and final penalty-free engine of the season earlier than Hamilton after his upgraded unit suffered unreliability problems at the Italian GP.

Rosberg's fourth power unit was used in Singapore and Japan, two races before Hamilton's final engine was introduced at the Russian GP.

"It's been a good start to the weekend even though Lewis didn't show his pace on one lap," Rosberg told Sky Sports News HQ.

"In general it's going to be difficult because I have an extremely old engine, as a result of having lost my fourth engine of the year.

"I have a lot of miles on, and that's definitely costing straight line speed. It's going to be a difficult weekend as a result but I'll just have to go quicker in the corners."



In an interview with Ted Kravitz to be aired in Sunday’s race build up, Lewis Hamilton explains what he would like to see changed on F1 cars.

Despite finishing Friday slower than Rosberg, Hamilton is confident he can deliver when it matters on Saturday and end the German's run of five successive pole positions.

"I didn't really get the best out of the tyres," he told Sky Sports F1. "I feel good. I've made some changes to the car and so far it feels relatively good.

"I'll make some more tweaks tonight and hopefully tomorrow it'll feel even better."

Watch the Abu Dhabi GP live on Sky Sports F1. Race-show coverage begins at 11:30am on Sunday with lights out at 1pm.

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Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix: Nico Rosberg wins, Daniel Ricciardo finishes fourth

Sebastian Vettel raged against the Mercedes-Benz machine but came up short at the finish of an action-packed Australian Grand Prix.

The four-time world champion ended where he started for Ferrari, in third, but only after a massive crash involving Fernando Alonso and Esteban Gutierrez destroyed his plan to use super-soft Pirelli tyres to pressure the silver arrows into an error.

He did everything he could after a jack-rabbit start that put him into the lead, and was still fighting to take second from Lewis Hamilton when he made a slight mistake with two laps to the flag.

“Sorry guys,” Vettel radioed to his crew.

Nico Rosberg eventually scored his 15th career win, and his second in three years in Melbourne, with a solid drive as Hamilton recovered from an awful start for second.

Dan Ricciardo was one place higher than his pre-race prediction in fourth for Red Bull, and also set the quickest lap of the race as he stormed through the final laps.

 

The result was the 1-2 for Benz that most people expected, but no-one predicted the Ferraris to be first and second from the start, that Fernando Alonso and Esteban Gutierrez would be involved in a monster crash, that the race would then be red-flagged with cars stopped in the pitlane during the clean-up, or that Raikkonen’s Ferrari could catch fire after an engine failure.

“I went for it. We tried to go more aggressive, ultimately it didn’t work,” Vettel said.

Rosberg was ecstatic after taking maximum points from the first race of the season.

“The sizzle was there, for sure. It was a great fight. It’s a good kick-start to the season,” Rosberg said.
“I’m just happy to have won the race and beaten everyone else. That’s what I’m ecstatic about.”
Hamilton was grumpy and deflated but did his best to disguise it.

“I want to say it was a great, great race. I loved the fact that we had to come from far behind,” Hamilton said.

“I did the best I could with a difficult start.”

Outside the leading pack, the surprise result was sixth place for the rookie Haas F1 team from the USA, scored by former Renault racer Romain Grosjean.

Nico Rosberg celebrates his win. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

The 2015 running of the AGP was action packed even before the start, as Dani Kvyat’s Red Bull broke down - for the second straight year - on the formation lap.

Once the delayed start was underway it was Vettel who jumped both Benzes and, when Rosberg drifted wide and took Hamilton with him, Raikkonen was through into second.

Rosberg was first to stop and switched his super-soft Pirelli tyres for the medium compound, as Vettel gambled a lap later on a second set of super-softs.

The race was tipped upside down in every way on lap 18 when Fernando Alonso pole-vaulted his McLaren-Honda over the back wheel of Esteban Gutierrez’s Haas at turn three. The Haas was badly damaged but Alonso’s car was absolutely trashed and the field was stopped in the pitlane during the clean-up.

“We are both OK and happy now. That’s the real important part,” Alonso said.

The race resumption saw Rosberg stalking Vettel and, when the Ferrari driver’s tyres gave up, the win went to Mercedes-Benz.

Daniel Ricciardo passes Felipe Massa. Picture: David Caird

PROVISIONAL RESULTS
1. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes
2. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
3. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari
4. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull
5. Felipe Massa, Williams
6. Romain Grosjean, Haas
7. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India
8. Valteri Bottas, Williams
9. Carlos Sainz, Toro Rosso
10. Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso

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Mercedes deny favouring Nico Rosberg over Lewis Hamilton

Mercedes have rejected accusations they are favouring Nico Rosberg over team-mate Lewis Hamilton this season.

In an open letter to fans posted on their website, the team address "the haters, the naysayers and the conspirators" following criticism on social media.

Mercedes also say it was a "miracle" Hamilton's car finished Sunday's Russian Grand Prix as the engine had zero water pressure for the last 16 laps.

They admit they have not met their own "expectations on reliability" in 2016.

The letter comes in the wake of four troubled races for Hamilton at the start of this season that have left him trailing Rosberg by 43 points - the equivalent of a win and a second place.

And the issues have left the world champion exposed to the likelihood of further difficulties later in the season.

The engine problems suffered by Hamilton mean he is likely to have to take grid penalties for using more than the permitted number of parts at some stage.

But the letter amounts to an impassioned plea to fans who have accused the team of trying to engineer a championship for Rosberg to reconsider.

"Performance-wise we are right on the money," the letter says, "but there is work to be done. Our goal is not simply to be fast but bulletproof, too. Not just to manage the problems but to understand them, fix them and ensure they are not repeated.

"We are working tirelessly to do just that and will continue to do so every step of the way.

"But there are no guarantees. This is a mechanical sport, balancing on the knife-edge of performance and endurance. You have to push the boundaries and failures can happen."

Mercedes say the entire team is "baffled and gutted" at the fact Hamilton has suffered identical failures in his engine's hybrid system in the past two qualifying sessions in China and Russia.

But they add they made a "monumental effort" to fly spare parts out to Russia overnight so Hamilton could start from 10th on the grid rather than the pit lane.

The letter explains in detail the engine problems both cars suffered in the race on the way to their one-two finish.

It says they saw "some alarming behaviour" from Rosberg's MGU-K - the part of the hybrid system that recovers energy from the rear axle - shortly after his pit stop.

"We spent a number of laps reassuring him he had a good gap over Lewis and could ease off before the FIA gave us the all-clear to tell him to switch to a setting that would control the issue".

Hamilton's water-pressure issue, they said, arose shortly after this at a time the Briton was setting fastest laps and closing on Rosberg.

"We needed to await confirmation from the FIA of what we could tell him over the radio (as a result of this season's restrictions on communication between team and driver)," the letter said.

It said that, with no water pressure for what amounted to nearly a quarter of the race, "the job he did to nurse the car home and still retain second place was truly remarkable", adding: "We genuinely aren't sure by what miracle the car limped across the line."

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Lewis Hamilton & Nico Rosberg crash as Max Verstappen wins in Spain

Red Bull's Max Verstappen became the youngest winner in F1 history as Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg crashed out of the Spanish GP.

Hamilton and Rosberg came together on lap one as the world champion tried to pass his team-mate, leaving Red Bull and Ferrari to dispute the race.

Verstappen, 18, held off Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen after team-mate Daniel Ricciardo took a three-stop strategy.

He made his two-stop strategy work to seal a thrilling race near Barcelona.

It was a stunning end to a remarkable race, which started with the unthinkable.
Hamilton, who had taken a superb pole position on Saturday, made a decent start but Rosberg's was very slightly better and the German was able to draft him down the straight and and pass around the outside into Turn One.

A determined Hamilton was much faster through the fast Turn Three, as a result of Rosberg being in the wrong engine mode, and was closing quickly.

Hamilton dived for the inside on the exit of the corner as Rosberg came right across the track to defend his position. Hamilton did not lift, went onto the grass and lost control, collecting Rosberg's car as he spun back on to the track and taking both out.
Now what happens?

The race stewards looked into the incident after the race, but decided to take no further action.

"Did that just happen?": Hamilton looks despairingly into the distance following the crash

However, the fallout will continue within the Mercedes team.

Mercedes non-executive chairman Niki Lauda called the incident "stupid" and blamed Hamilton for being "too aggressive".

But Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff said: "It is a very difficult situation, a very difficult incident to analyse.

"It is definitely not clear-cut so I wouldn't want to blame any of them at that stage.

"Lewis had much more speed, Nico closed the door, Lewis was too wide on the inside and lost the car. It is definitely not a 100% pro one and zero the other."

Whatever the rights and wrongs of the incident, the result of it plays into Rosberg's hands. He retains a 43-point lead over Hamilton but the Briton now has one fewer race - 16 - to close it down.

Verstappen has beaten the previous youngest winner record - held by Sebastian Vettel - by three years
A dream debut

The son of ex-F1 driver Jos, Verstappen - only 18 - had Raikkonen within a second of him for the last 22 laps but did not put a wheel wrong to take his first win on his debut for Red Bull, following his promotion from junior team Toro Rosso before this race.

"To win in the first race is such an amazing feeling," Verstappen said. "My dad helped me a lot to achieve this, this is amazing."

But Ricciardo may feel hard done by after he led the first 28 laps of the race from Verstappen only for Red Bull to pull him in on lap 38 and put him on a three-stop strategy, which was calculated to be the slower one before the race.

Out of media player. Press enter to return or tab to continue. Formula 1: Up close and personal with Max Verstappen

That put Verstappen into the lead and demoted Ricciardo to third behind Verstappen and Raikkonen.

That became fourth within a few laps because Ferrari followed suit with Sebastian Vettel on the next lap and then made the German's final stop before Red Bull to get him ahead of Ricciardo.

Ricciardo made his final stop on lap 43 - six laps after Vettel - and caught him with 10 laps to go.

The Australian made an aggressive but ultimately fruitless dive down the inside of Turn One on lap 59 with seven laps to go.

Max Verstappen's father Jos drove in F1 during the 1990s - his highest ever finish being third for Benetton

The move incurred Vettel's wrath as he had to take avoiding action before Ricciardo slid wide and off the track, allowing Vettel to edge back ahead.

"If I don't avoid him he goes straight into my car," Vettel screamed over the radio. "What are we doing, racing or ping-pong?"

Ricciardo kept trying, but Vettel was able to hold him off until with two laps to go Ricciardo suddenly lost pace with a left rear puncture and dropped back.

But he had enough time to make a pit stop for fresh tyres and retain fourth ahead of Williams' Valtteri Bottas.

"Well, that was quick!": Red Bull's Dr Helmut Marko, left, was the man who dropped Daniil Kvyat and put Max Verstappen in a Red Bull little more than a week ago

Vettel was furious with Ricciardo's attempted pass towards the end of the race

Verstappen is the first Dutch winner of an F1 race

Hamilton still trails Rosberg by 43 points in the drivers' title

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