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Mercedes confirm drivers free to race and discipline Rosberg

Mercedes has confirmed that their drivers Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton will remain free to race without any team orders, following their collision during the Belgian Grand Prix. They have also confirmed that Nico Rosberg has been disciplined by Mercedes after he “acknowledged his responsibility for the contact” with Lewis Hamilton at Spa.

Rosberg made contact with Hamilton on the second lap of the race, causing a puncture for Hamilton, ending the Brit’s race, and ultimately putting their relations under further strain. Rosberg is now also 29 points clear of Hamilton heading in to the Italian Grand Prix.

In a post race interview, Hamilton said that Rosberg had deliberately not backed out of the move and went as far as saying that Rosberg did it to prove a point, while Rosberg maintained that it was a racing incident.

The two were summoned to a meeting with Mercedes chiefs Toto Wolff (who described the incident as “unacceptable”) and Paddy Lowe to discuss the collision at the Belgian Grand Prix and the repercussions.

In a statement issued by the team after the meeting, Mercedes made it clear that it would not be imposing team orders in order to avoid a repeat scenario.

Instead, the team will maintain their policy of allowing Rosberg and Hamilton to battle it out, but stressed that further collisions between the two team mates would not be tolerated. Further, the statement indicated that Rosberg has accepted responsibility for the crash and that he had apologised for the incident.

“During this meeting, Nico acknowledged his responsibility for the contact that occurred on lap two of the Belgian Grand Prix and apologised for this error of judgement,” the statement read.

The statement went on to say that, “Suitable disciplinary measures have been taken for the incident.”

The full statement reads:

“Toto Wolff, Paddy Lowe, Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton met today in the boardroom of Mercedes AMG Petronas headquarters in Brackley to discuss the events of the Belgian Grand Prix.

“During this meeting, Nico acknowledged his responsibility for the contact that occurred on lap two of the Belgian Grand Prix and apologised for this error of judgement.

“Suitable disciplinary measures have been taken for the incident.

“Mercedes-Benz remains committed to hard, fair racing because this is the right way to win world championships. It is good for the team, for the fans and for Formula 1.

“Lewis and Nico understand and accept the team’s number one rule: there must be no contact between the team’s cars on track.

“It has been made clear that another such incident will not be tolerated. But Nico and Lewis are our drivers and we believe in them.

“They remain free to race for the 2014 FIA Formula 1 world championship.”

Photo credit: Mercedes AMG Petronas

August 29, 2014
McLaren are pushing to hire Vettel or Alonso

According to Autosport‘s Jonathan Noble, the McLaren F1 Team are in a final push to hire either Sebastian Vettel or Fernando Alonso to lead the team in their new Honda era.

Noble reported that Eric Boullier and Ron Dennis are hard at work to secure the two top-rated F1 drivers as soon as possible.

Vettel is still under contract and commited to Red Bull until the end of 2015 and Alonso remains under contract until the end of 2016, but this has not seemed to deter McLaren at all. As a matter of fact, Autosport reports that the team has told them that it is willing to wait until 2016 or even 2017 if necessary as long as they get a firm commitment now.

The team clearly need the commitment now so that they can finalise their shorter term plans. Thusfar, McLaren has refused to finalise their 2015 line-up until Vettel and Alonso’s longer term plans are clear. This has left their current drivers, Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen hanging around on the sidelines and very unsure of their futures. Button has even indicated that he may be facing retirement in the near future.

McLaren racing director Eric Boullier told Autosport in an exclusie interview that the team was doing all it could to win over Alonso and Vettel and that they will not give up until both drivers have categorically declined accepting a deal with the team.

On being asked about the chances of getting one two drivers, Boullier told Autosport, “I will try any driver that will suit our strategy for the future.

“We are still pushing and we will take the time we need. We don’t want to do a mistake – we have one shot and we don’t want to miss it.

“McLaren is a top team, a big team, with a lot of history and we want to be back where we should be.

“So if we can afford to take the time to think and to prepare our strategy then we have to do it.”

McLaren is expecting to get an answer from Alonso and Vettel very soon and plans to sort out their 2015 driver lineup before the final flyaway races get underway with the Singapore Grand Prix next month.

Boulier would not elaborate any further on when exactly a decision could be expected but apparently made it clear that McLaren would not wait until the winter before deciding on their line-up for next year.

“It will be soon, a few weeks,” he said.

Photo under Creative Commons License

August 28, 2014
Video: The Funny Side of F1

Who says F1 needs to be serious all the time. Here are some of the more lighter moments from the sport.

August 28, 2014
Video: Watch an F1 car doing thermal donuts. It’s INSANELY cool!

This is one of the coolest F1 videos you’re going to see in a very long time.

We all know how cool doing donuts in an F1 car is. We also all love the thermal cameras we get to see glimpses of during a Formula One race weekend. Combine the two together and it’s just sheer thermal donut magic!

Infiniti Red Bull Racing teamed up with thermal imaging company FLIR to gather some info on how the RB10 F1 car’s various parts and components heat up and cool off so that the team could work on better managing temperatures and improve reliability.

Clearly Red Bull realised how insanely cool their cars look in infrared so they sent the RB8, the team’s 2012 car, to the Gamma Racing Day in the Netherlands earlier this month to show off a few thermal donuts. The results are so much of cool. Bits of molten tyre flying around feel almost volcanic. This is by far the best thermal F1 video we’ve ever seen!

August 28, 2014
No FIA investigation into Rosberg-Hamilton Spa incident

The FIA has confirmed that there will be no investigation into the Nico Rosberg-Lewis Hamilton collision at the Belgian Grand Prix.

The accident occured on Lap 2 of the Belgian Grand Prix as Rosberg clipped the rear of Hamilton’s Mercedes when the two rounded Les Combes. Hamilton sustained a puncture and ultimately retired from the race after struggling to make any progress through the field.

The Spa-Francorchamps race stewards decided not to investigate the collision at the time, classifying it as a racing incident. However, talk emerged that the FIA may well take action against Rosberg after Hamilton claimed that during a post-race team meeting, Rosberg admitted to deliberately crashing into him.

“He said he did it on purpose, he said he could have avoided it. He said ‘I did it to prove a point,” Hamilton said.

The FIA has however confirmed that they will not intervene in the issue and that there will be no further investigation into the incident unless any “new element” was officially submitted that could justify opening an investigation.

FIA communications boss Pierre Regent confirmed, “The FIA will not intervene in this issue. Only a ‘new element’ that would have appeared after the results became final could justify us opening an investigation. A comment alleged to have been made in an internal briefing and later denied by the team itself does not constitute such a ‘new element’.”

Naturally, Mercedes are not going to submit any application to launch an investigation into an incident involving the two team mates, so the matter is considered a closed case.

Video: Nico Rosberg’s Post-race reaction
Video: Lewis Hamilton’s Post-race reaction

Photo: Screengrab of SkySports F1 footage

August 26, 2014
Whitmarsh Officially Leaves McLaren

Former McLaren Team Principal, Martin Whitmarsh has officially left the Woking based outfit.

Whitmarsh was relieved of his position as McLaren Team Principal earlier in the year and the former Lotus Team Principal, Eric Boullier was appointed in his position. This all took place after Ron Dennis returned to the Group CEO position.

Despite Boullier being in charge of the Formula 1 team, Whitmarsh was still under contract. Following discussions with Ron Dennis over the past few months a final settlement was reached. McLaren would not disclose any details about the settlement but have revealed that Whitmarsh and McLaren have parted amicably.

August 26, 2014
F1 2014: Belgium GP – Rampant Ricciardo Wins Again

No matter whom you’re a fan of in Formula 1 it’s never a hardship to see Daniel Ricciardo take the top step of the podium. The highly likeable Aussie snapped up his third career victory in brilliant style and is still the only driver to have beaten Mercedes to the chequered flag.

The Mercedes team management had given their driver’s only one rule: do not crash into each other. By the second lap of the Belgium GP the temptation proved too great for Nico Rosberg who’s eyes must’ve lit up as he chucked his car around the outside of Lewis Hamilton into Les Combes; Nico, you rebel you. Rosberg’s front wing damage was far less dramatic than Hamilton’s puncture which dropped the Brit completely out of contention.

What Nico Rosberg did was effectively catapult an atomic bomb of tension right in the middle of the Mercedes garage. Rosberg has since declared his unwavering belief in his relationship with Lewis Hamilton and believes this hullaballoo will blow over. It may, and although the two rivals may make pretty for the cameras there is no doubt that Hamilton will be a bit silent-ragey about this for quite a while. Not least of all because Hamilton revealed, post-race, that Rosberg admitted to “doing it on purpose” and though he could’ve avoided the collision he wanted to “prove a point.” Hamilton wasn’t making it up either as Mercedes management confirmed that Rosberg had indeed made these astonishing statements during the team de-brief.

It doesn’t seem that far-fetched to be honest. Fact is that Nico has been quite reserved when it came to overtaking other drivers. In Hungary he virtually set up camp behind Jean-Eric Vergne and in Spa he barely showed a wheel to Sebastian Vettel before scaring himself off the road at the last chicane. It could’ve been a case of him wanting to show that he has the pluck to overtake. He may want to do a bit more cleanly next time though.

Whatever point Rosberg was so desperate to prove will be irrelevant to race fans. He is now a driver who has admitted to deliberately colliding with a fellow competitor. Rosberg has earned praise this season for his relentless consistency and for delivering some wonderful victories. After this, he hasn’t only had to put up with some booing but more importantly might just lose some respect.

As the Merc boys were swapping carbon fibre Daniel Ricciardo sailed into the lead of the race and masterfully controlled his drive. The Red Bull driver again underlined his class by holding off a monstrously fast Rosberg in the closing stages. As long as this Aussie bloke keeps that superstar talent churning we can’t help but be giddy about the future of F1.

Kimi Raikkonen ran as high as second place in the race but being a sitting duck in the straight bits of the circuit doesn’t make defending very easy. A relatively comparable pace to the frontrunners, at least for some part of the race, kept the Iceman in touch but the podium proved a bridge too far. The weakness of the Ferrari power unit was well and truly on display as a straight-line speed deficit of thirty odd kilometres to the Mercedes powered Williams of Valtteri Bottas meant Raikkonen was relegated to fourth place on the day. Although Raikkonen is highly unlikely to be gushing about fourth place it is the Finn’s best result of the season.

Kevin Magnussen’s race wasn’t too shabby either. The Dane more than held his own against a determined Fernando Alonso in a stonking wheel-to-wheel battle with the Spaniard and his teammate Jenson Button. Regrettably, the stewards took a severe view on some of his racing and slapped him with a twenty-second penalty which results in a twelfth place finish. All the same, the on-track performance won’t have done K-Mag’s contract negotiations any harm at all.

The fall-out of the Rosberg/Hamilton incident may have far reaching consequences, so says Mercedes’ Toto Wolff. The consequences referred to was probably of an internal nature but if they’re not careful the now sixty-five point gap to Daniel Ricciardo may not be as insurmountable as they may think.

August 25, 2014
Ricciardo eyeing title challenge

Belgian Grand Prix winner, Daniel Ricciardo, says that he intends to keep fighting for the Formula One Drivers’ Championship title until it is mathematically impossible after claiming his third victory of the season this past weekend.

Ricciardo took his spot in the pound seats after a collision between Mercedes team mates Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg and notched up the maximum 25 points, moving to within 64 points of Rosberg.

When asked whether he considers himself a title contender, Ricciardo said, “If I’m within 50 coming into Abu Dhabi then yeah, but there’s still a few races to go. While it’s still mathematically possible we’ll keep fighting. Today was a big day for that.

“To come and steal some points on a circuit where let’s say we weren’t supposed to is nice but I think what’s important, looking ahead, is to capitalise on the circuits that we should be strong on and if we can take maximum points, let’s say, at a couple of those then it’s never over.”

Ricciardo believes he’s exceeded expectations after winning three of the season’s 12 races.

“Obviously for me it’s great, it’s what I wanted to achieve, to get some race wins,” he said.

“To have three in 12 races I think has exceeded a few expectations. Let’s say the in-team battle has gone really well. Obviously I’ve showed speed throughout qualifying and also races now.

“I’ve demonstrated good racecraft and good consistency so I think let’s say the team has been really pleased and I’ve been pleased so we’re in a good place. I’m enjoying it more than ever. Each race that goes on I’m having more and more fun so yeah, just having a good time.”

Ricciardo is the only driver so far this season to have beaten a Mercedes driver having been there to capitalise on any slip ups from the silver team.

“It couldn’t have gone better, considering everything, particularly pre-season. It’s been awesome – I’ve enjoyed every moment of it. I’m happy to keep it up like this and let it continue. Monza will be challenging but then we’ve got Singapore and Suzuka which should be fun for us. We’ll just keep going and if they [Mercedes] slip up then we’ll be there to capitalise.”

August 25, 2014
Video: 2014 Belgian Grand Prix: Lewis Hamilton Post Race Reaction

Lewis Hamilton gives his version of events after his incident with his team mate Nico Rosberg on Lap 2 of the Belgian Grand Prix

August 24, 2014
Video: 2014 Belgian Grand Prix: Nico Rosberg Post Race Reaction

Nico Rosberg gives his view on the booing of the fans and his take on the 2nd lap incident between himself and team mate Lewis Hamilton

August 24, 2014