Your future is with us; Brawn tells Button to stay
Formula One team boss Ross Brawn has advised world champion Jenson Button he would do best to stay with him next season rather than jumping to rivals McLaren.
“Negotiations (with Button) are continuing and the reports that he has already agreed to terms with McLaren are not helpful,” he told the Independent newspaper. “I would be amazed if that was the case.”
“His best future is with our team, where he has a good group around him and there’s a lot to be said for that.”
“The logical thing would be for him to stay with us but, of course, logic doesn’t always prevail.”
The paper said Brawn last spoke to the 29-year-old Briton at the weekend, after he had toured the McLaren factory with his manager.
The driver, who is out of contract with Brawn and wants a significant pay rise, has since had further discussions with McLaren who are said to have offered him a three-year deal worth at least six million pounds a year.
Although the Guardian newspaper reported on Tuesday Button had agreed terms with McLaren, the team would not confirm that.
If Button were to join McLaren, he would almost double his current salary and partner compatriot Lewis Hamilton in all-British line-up of world champions.
However, he would also be stepping into a team the 24-year-old Hamilton has made his own, having been nurtured by McLaren for more than a decade.
Hamilton has already seen off one world champion teammate, Spain’s Fernando Alonso, and would be a tough partner for Button even if the team assured them equal status.
“In the past they (McLaren) have had a history of really being able to only fully support one driver,” former McLaren racer Martin Brundle told BBC radio. “It’s Lewis Hamilton’s patch, it’s his territory and he’s made it his own. He knows everybody and knows where all the green buttons are to press.
“Whereas at Brawn, he (Button) is the king of the castle and they will all be fully behind him. But we don’t know all the details, we don’t know why Jenson would absolutely want to leave Brawn,” he said.
“You wouldn’t turn a McLaren drive down, would you? And I think Mercedes moving out of McLaren will be disruptive for both teams in some respects. I think generally the feeling of many is that Jenson ought to stick with what he knows.”
Massa aims to return for Brazilian GP
Ferrari driver Felipe Massa planned on returning to action in October’s Brazilian Grand Prix following his life-threatening injuries in Fomula One’s Hungary stop.
The Brazilian told local media Globo TV late Sunday that he plans to be back in action for the October 18 race if his weekly test results are good.
Massa said his left eye had not yet fully healed.
The 28-year-old crashed into the tyre wall and sustained multiple skull fractures at the Hungarian Grand Prix on July 25 that left him hospitalized for nine days.
He is resting in Brazil after released from hospital and undergoes weekly tests to monitor the progress of his injuries.
Before the crash, Massa was seventh in the drivers’ standings with 22 points. His best result had been a third-place finish at the German GP on July 12.
Barrichello finds Massa in fine form
Ferrari’s Felipe Massa is recovering well from his accident in Hungary last month and is waiting for doctors to give him the go-ahead to race again, his fellow Brazilian Formula One driver Rubens Barrichello said yesterday.
“I spent the afternoon with Felipe … he is fine and exactly the same person as before, thank God,” Barrichello, who visited Massa at his home, said on his Twitter.
Barrichello’s Brawn car lost a spring weighing almost one kilo that struck Massa on his helmet just above his left eye during qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix last month.
Massa, who fractured his skull and suffered concussion in the accident, spent more than a week in a Budapest hospital before returning to Brazil early this month to rest and continue with his recovery at home.
“On Felipe’s comeback we need to be patient … he has to be 100 percent before driving again … He doesn’t lack the will,” added Barrichello. “I loved the afternoon … he was so well and in good spirits.”
Seven-times world champion Michael Schumacher had intended to come out of retirement to take Massa’s place but that plan was scuppered because the German has not recovered from a neck injury sustained in a motorcycling accident in February.
Ferrari have instead turned to experienced Italian test driver Luca Badoer to take Massa’s seat in the European Grand Prix in Valencia on Aug. 23.
No timetable has been given for Massa, world championship runner-up last year, to return to Formula One.
Renault appeals over European GP ban
Renault’s appeal against its suspension from the European Grand Prix was to start later today, with the French team hoping to overturn the decision so that two-time world champion Fernando Alonso can take part in yesterday’s Formula One race.
Motorsport’s governing body suspended Renault from the European GP in Valencia after the team allowed Alonso to leave pit lane with a loose wheel during last month’s Hungarian GP.
The case, lodged by the French Motorsport Federation, is being heard by the FIA’s International Court of Appeal at its Paris headquarters with a decision expected tomorrow.
The FIA reprimanded Renault for allowing Alonso to leave the pit lane with his wheel not securely fastened to his car during the Hungarian GP on July 26. The wheel dislodged from Alonso’s car as he rounded turn No. 9 after 13 laps of racing, and bounced wildly down the track.
The incident came the day after Brazilian driver Felipe Massa was hospitalized with life-threatening injuries after being struck by an object dislodged from another car during qualifying. Massa had surgery on his skull and is recovering.
FIA stewards said Renault knowingly released Alonso’s car from the pit stop position “without one of the retaining devices for the wheel-nuts being securely in position”, adding that Renault failed to inform Alonso of the problem.
The decision to suspend Renault was made after the FIA reviewed film and radio recordings from the race at the Hungaroring circuit on the outskirts of Budapest.
The incident prompted further concerns over the safety of the sport.
The previous week, F2 driver Henry Surtees – the son of former F1 champion John Surtees- was killed after losing consciousness and crashing into the barrier after a stray tire hit him.
Schumacher again tests 2007 Ferrari before Spain race
Seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher will again test Ferrari’s 2007 race car in preparation for his return to Formula One.
Ten days ago, Schumacher had a one-day test in the 2007 Ferrariat the circuit near Florence.
“Schumacher has set up the test with the Italian car manufacturer’s F1 Clienti department and is understood to be paying for the private session himself,” said the official Formula One website.
It added that the German had arranged a two-day test at the Italian track, Mugello, from Tuesday.
The all-time F1 legend will replace the injured Felipe Massa for the Ferrari team at the European Grand Prix in Valencia on Aug. 23.
However, he cannot try out the F60 car because track testing is banned during the season.
No lucrative bonus on way for Button after takeover
Formula One champion Jenson Button cannot expect to cash in from the Mercedes takeover of Brawn even though the team wants him to stay, Brawn chief executive Nick Fry said on Monday.
“We’ve had discussions with Jenson on what we think is a sensible salary and this is not going to change anything in that respect,” Nick Fry told BBC radio after the takeover was announced.
“I hope Jenson will be with us next season, we’ve worked together for a good few years now and succeeded in winning a world championship together,” he said. “We want Jenson to be with us but we have to recognize that F1 is not divorced from the rest of the world. We work within a budget and if we spend the money in one area, we can’t spend it in another.”
Britain’s Button took a hefty pay cut to stay with the team this year and ensure its survival after former owners Honda pulled out in Dec, 2008.
He now wants his pay restored to a level more fitting to a world champion, even though salaries are coming down throughout the sport, and has been talking to McLaren about joining compatriot Lewis Hamilton at that team.
Nico Rosberg looks sure to join Mercedes as one of team’s drivers, with speculation that the team could have an all-German line-up with Nick Heidfeld available as his teammate now BMW have left the sport.
“Clearly Mercedes have been planning for some time to buy in to Brawn and of course they are looking for two German drivers,” former team owner turned pundit Eddie Jordan told BBC radio after Monday’s announcement.
“So if that’s a German team, that opens the door for Jenson to go somewhere like McLaren and create this wonder team of British stars.”
Mercedes motorsport vice-president Norbert Haug said in a conference call that such talk was wide of the mark.
“This will be an international team like Mercedes is a global player,” he said.
“If you look back in our history we very often have been criticized for not having a German driver so we were always open and we took the driver decision always together with McLaren. And this will be the same in the future.
“We want to have the best ones and we definitely do not want to have the pure German team or whatever. It is an international Silver Arrows team.”
Dieter Zetsche, chairman of Mercedes’ parent Daimler, said Mercedes “certainly would not be opposed if one of them would be German but that is not a pre-requisite that we would give the team”.
“Ross Brawn is the boss of the team and it would not be smart for us to dictate to him anything like a driver decision,” he said.
“We will talk and listen to what he wants to do and typically agree.”
Haug accepted there would be speculation but hoped there could be an announcement on drivers soon.
“I would rather hope next week but don’t kill me if it is a couple of weeks longer,” he said. “But I would like to say definitely this year.”
Raikkonen leads Ferrari one-two
Kimi Raikkonen won the Spanish Grand Prix yesterday, leading Ferrari to a third straight Formula One win.
Raikkonen, the defending world champion, captured his 17th race after starting from pole position. Teammate Felipe Massa, who was coming off a win at Bahrain three weeks ago, came second.
“We didn’t have the perfect start, but it was good enough to stay in front,” Raikkonen said.
Lewis Hamilton of McLaren was third. Teammate Heikki Kovalainen was taken to hospital after a high-speed crash. The Finn was in stable condition.
Robert Kubica of BMW Sauber was fourth and Mark Webber of Red Bull rounded out the top five.
Raikkonen, who won at the Circuit de Catalunya outside Barcelona in 2005, leads the overall standings with 29 points, nine more than Hamilton. Massa is next on 19.
Jenson Button of Honda was sixth, followed by Kazuki Nakajima of Williams and Jarno Trulli of Toyota in the final positions to earn points.
Raikkonen led from start to finish for the sixth time to record his second win of the season. He won the Malaysian GP last month.
The 28-year-old Finn topped both of Friday’s practice sessions before taking his 15th career pole. That makes it eight straight winners at Montmelo to have won from pole.
Ferrari’s one-point effort at the season-opening Australian GP – its worst start for 16 years – is now a distant memory with the Italians winning all three races since.
McLaren said that a loss of pressure caused Kovalainen’s front left tire to explode and send him skidding into the wall at turn No. 9. Stewards needed almost 10 minutes to pry his mangled car out.
The Finn was rushed to a Barcelona hospital by helicopter after being evacuated from the track wearing a neck brace, but he gave a thumbs-up sign to spectators.
Nine drivers retired due to mechanical problems or accidents.
Hamilton, who finished more than four seconds back from Raikkonen, returned to the podium for the first time since winning the Australian GP.
Two-time champion Fernando Alonso of Renault, who started second, retired with engine problems after 34 laps. “The motor broke, I think,” said Alonso, who won his home race two years ago. “It’s tough because we’re here in Spain. But I think in the next race we can do a better performance.”
Alonso almost didn’t make the start after running off the track while working his tires on the formation lap. Alonso had to attack from the start to have any chance of victory in front of 132,000 fans – including Spain’s King Juan Carlos. But Massa moved past him on the straightaway leading into the first corner to leave Ferrari in control.
Hamilton passed Kubica into fourth place to trail Alonso, his former McLaren teammate, after being pushed up the inside.
All cars were immediately behind the safety car after Adrian Sutil of Force India and Sebastian Vettel of Toro Rosso collided. Vettel failed to finish one lap for the second straight race.
Sebastien Bourdais of Toro Rosso rammed into Nelson Piquet Jr. as the Renault driver tried an inside move. Both retired after banging front wheels 10 laps in.
F1 champion Button seals McLaren move
Newly crowned Formula One world champion Jenson Button has sealed his move to McLaren, said the Woking-based team in a statement on Wednesday.
The 29-year-old signed a multi-year deal with McLaren and joined fellow British Lewis Hamilton for next season’s race.
According to previous day’s report on Guardian, the contract covers three years and is worth 6 million pounds (about 10.10 million U.S. dollars) a year.
If the details are right, Button could double his current salary.
His previous team Brawn GP, which wished to keep the driver but refused to give him a raise on salary, was taken over by German carmaker Mercedes on Monday.
Grosjean replaces Piquet at Renault
Frenchman Romain Grosjean has replaced Brazilian Nelson Piquet at the Renault Formula One team and will make his grand prix debut in Valencia this weekend.
The 23-year-old will partner Spain’s double world champion Fernando Alonso for the rest of the season, the team said in a statement today.
“We are happy to give Romain the chance to start racing with the team,” said Renault principal Flavio Briatore.
“He is an impressive young talent and we expect him to show his skills driving alongside Fernando as we take an aggressive approach to the second half of the season.”
Grosjean, who will be France’s only driver on the starting grid after Toro Rosso sacked Sebastien Bourdais last month, welcomed the chance.
“I’m looking forward to driving the R29 and helping the team get the best results possible,” he said.
“It’s also an honour to be Fernando’s team mate and to make my Formula One debut alongside a double world champion is especially motivating.”
Swiss-born Grosjean, who had two victories in the GP2 series this season, was Renault’s test and reserve driver and the appointment had been expected after Piquet revealed two weeks ago he had been dropped after failing to score a point in the first 10 races of the season.
The Brazilian, whose father and namesake was a triple world champion, lashed out at Briatore in an astonishing statement earlier this month, describing the Italian, who also acted as his manager, as his “executioner”.
He also complained about his treatment compared to that of Alonso, the clear number one.
“The conditions I have had to deal with during the last two years have been very strange to say the least — there are incidents that I can hardly believe occurred myself,” said the 24-year-old.
Renault said on Tuesday that Piquet’s departure followed a “mutual agreement that this course of action is in the best interests of both parties.”
Briatore also thanked the Brazilian “for his contribution” and wished him the best for the future.
Brazilian Lucas Di Grassi will take over the reserve driver slot while also racing in GP2.
Renault fined, Alonso to race
Two-time Formula One world champion Fernando Alonso was cleared to race at the European Grand Prix in his native Spain after Renault won its appeal yesterday to overturn a one-race suspension.
Motor sport’s governing body had suspended Renault from Sunday’s race in Valencia after the team allowed Alonso to leave the pit lane with a loose wheel during last month’s Hungarian GP.
But the French Motor Sport Federation overturned the suspension before the FIA’s International Court of Appeal at the FIA’s Paris headquarters yesterday. Renault was instead fined US$50,000.
None of the F1 drivers were present at the hearing yesterday. Also representing Renault were engineering director Pat Symonds and technical director Bob Bell, while F1 race director Charlie Whiting represented the FIA.
Renault team manager Steve Nielsen had previously spoken of Alonso’s importance to the race in Spain. “The reason there are two races in Spain is largely because of Fernando’s involvement. People in Spain were not so interested in F1 until he got involved,” Nielsen said.
Carlos Gracia, the president of Spain’s motor sport federation, and vice president Joaquin Verdegay had asked for leniency.
Before the verdict, Verdegay said Spanish racing fans would be “deprived of their main reason for attending” if Alonso could not race.
The FIA reprimanded Renault for allowing Alonso to leave the pit lane with his wheel not securely fastened to his car during the Hungarian GP on July 26. The wheel dislodged from Alonso’s car as he rounded turn No. 9 after 13 laps of racing, and bounced wildly down the track.
The incident came the day after Brazilian driver Felipe Massa was hospitalized with life-threatening injuries after being struck by an object dislodged from another car.
FIA stewards said Renault had knowingly released Alonso’s car from the pit stop position “without one of the retaining devices for the wheel-nuts being securely in position”.
The decision to suspend Renault was made after the FIA reviewed film and radio recordings from the race in Hungary. Renault argued that it did not realize there was a problem with Alonso’s car, so there was “no moral responsibility” on their part, barrister Ali Malek said.
But a lack of communication between the two mechanics working on Alonso’s car and the chief mechanic who authorized him to leave the pit does not excuse the error, countered FIA’s barrister, Paul Harris, before the four judges.
