Formula 1 BLOG

Red Bull chief Christian Horner has admitted his team’s sub-par performance at the German Grand Prix has acted as a “reminder” that the drivers and constructors championships weren’t quite in the bag yet.

Mark Webber has failed to win in the last five races he has secured pole for, culminating in his third place finish at the Nurburgring having beaten Lewis Hamilton into P1 on Saturday, while Sebastian Vettel recorded his worst result of the season as he scrapped his way to 4^th place after a series of mishaps, including a dramatic spin on lap nine that threatened to end his race.

Horner now admits that that his team can no longer count upon the earlier season dominance they enjoyed in the first seven races of the season, and said they would have to continue to push their development hard or face being overthrown by McLaren and Ferrari.

“I think if you look at Valencia, McLaren was down a bit there as well and Ferrari was up a bit, but for sure they are both great teams and they are both pushing very hard,” said Horner.

“We have managed to be competitive at many, many different types of track. We have had pole position at every single GP this year; we have won six out of 10 and been on the podium at every single race, so it is far from a disaster.”

“But for sure this race is a reminder that we cannot back off, and not any member of the team is backing off at the moment. Everybody is pushing flat out.”

Red Bull remain favourites to win the constructors championship while Vettel is leading the way with those who get free bets to retain his world crown.

The German is also being backed by those who bet with paypal for next week’s Hungarian Grand Prix, and should be able to take advantage of the warmer conditions that hindered them in Germany.

Robert Kubica will recover fully and return to formula 1 insists his manager Daniele Morelli.

The Pole had a near fatal crash in February in a rally car and had to undergo four operations, including one to reattach his almost completely severed right hand.

Kubica was replaced by Nick Heidfeld for the 2011 formula 1 season amidst doubts he would be forced to retire from the sport because of his injuries. While some doubts still remain over his ability to race, free bets have backed the 26-year-old to appear in a formula 1 car next year.

However Morelli told Finnish newspaper Turun Sanomat that the Renault drivers progress has been good and there is a chance he may be fit to return before the final race this season.

“He is getting better all the time,” Morelli said.

“His condition has improved significantly. We should be finalising the rehabilitation plans in August, and with the right training, the physical weaknesses will have been treated.”

“For the future, we are positive. The specialists believe that Robert will recover completely, and his enthusiasm for racing is the same as before. He is closely following F1 as well as rallies.” He added.

Meanwhile, Renault team principal Eric Boullier admitted that losing Kubica before the start of the season mean that the French team have lacked a leader this season.

“Robert was able to manoeuvre into a leadership role. He is demanding and knows in himself what he wants from the team. If he sees that things are not going well, he hits his fist on the table hard. But Robert is not here now.” He commented.

The Canadian Grand Prix gets underway on Sunday, with Renault a free bet outsider to break their winless streak that stretches back to 2008.

Red Bull’s chief engineer has revealed he almost quit the sport in the aftermath of Ayrton Senna’s death 17 years ago – and said he believed the accident was caused by a puncture to the Brazilian’s right rear tyre.

Newey designed the Williams car that Senna crashed at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix, and was charged with manslaughter along with Williams technical director Patrick Head.

The Briton has gone on to be one of the most successful engineer in the sports history, designing cars that have won 119 races, seven constructors titles and six drivers championships, but admits his success could have been cut short after he considered stepping away from the sport in the aftermath of the accident.

“The little hair I had all fell out in the aftermath. So it changed me physically. It was dreadful. Both Patrick Head and myself separately asked ourselves whether we wanted to continue in racing.”

“Did we want to be involved in a sport where people can die in something we’ve created? Secondly, was the accident caused by something that broke through poor or negligent design? He added.

Head was controversially found guilty of manslaughter in 2007, but Newey has his own theories of what caused the fatal accident.

“The right rear tyre probably picked up a puncture from debris on the track. If I was pushed into picking out a single most likely cause, that would be it.” He commented.

“The honest truth is that no one will ever know exactly what happened. There’s no doubt that the steering column failed and the big question was whether it failed in the accident or did it cause the accident? It had fatigue cracks in it and it would have failed at some point.

“There is no question that its design was very poor. However, all the evidence suggests the car did not go off the track as a result of steering column failure.”

The engineer went on to describe Sebastian Vettel’s championship win along with the constructor’s championship for Red Bull as the “most satisfying” of his career, and dismissed complaints over the design of this season’s car, which has dominated the early stages of the season, as “boring”.

Red Bull are eyeing up a fourth win of the season and are clear free bet favourites for the next race in Spain this weekend.

Free bets have put Vettel ahead of team-mate Mark Webber for the race, with Newey’s former team McLaren just behind them.

Bernie Ecclestone has spoken out again on the rumours that Rupert Murdoch and the world’s richest man Carlos Slim are set to launch a takeover bid of formula 1.

Reports emerged last week that the pair would lead a consortium bid to take over the sport and had already spoken to one team, thought to be Ferrari, about the possibility of buying a controlling stake in the sport from CVC, who own the commercial rights for Formula 1, and who Ecclestone operates on behalf of.

The 80-year-old immediately dismissed the speculation as “rubbish”, before his stance softened somewhat, suggesting he would “have to be sure the people (who end up owning F1) are people I would like to work” to the Sunday Times.

Now the former team owner has expressed his cynicism over the origins of the story, insisting it was entirely fabricated.

“It’s media driven,” he said. “It looks very much like someone who is trying to see if they can make (money).” He told Reuters.

“All of these people that get involved with these things, they get some victims and say ‘We can make this happen, I’m sure we can do this’ and then all they do is keep pumping fees in.” he added.

A major stumbling block of any potential takeover bid led by Murdoch whose News Corp group partially runs BSKYB which operates the Sky Sports subscription service, is Eccelstone insistence that the sport must remain on a free-to-air channel, something unlikely to happen if Murdoch were to take control.

Asked if the sport would have to remain free to watch, Ecclestone responded: “Definitely, 100 per cent. If, and I think the chances are close to zero, but if Murdoch was to buy certainly he’d have to broadcast some free to air like it is now.”

f1 live is currently shown free-to-air in the United Kingdom on the BBC which pays around £40 million for the right to broadcast Formula 1 on TV, radio and online. The corporation are rumoured to be considering dropping the sport however as part of a money saving exercise.

McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh has insisted that Lewis Hamilton will not leave the team when his current deal expires at the end of next season, but revealed that they were in no rush to extend his contract.

Speculation regarding Hamilton’s future has been rife of late, with the 26-year-old linked repeatedly with rival team Red Bull. He added fuel to the fire after suggesting that “loyalty had its limits” a perceived acknowledgment that he would leave the team if McLaren could not deliver him a championship winning car.

Hamilton will remain focused on reeling in Sebastian Vettel after his victory at the Chinese Grand Prix two weeks ago, and will now look for back to back wins when the Turkish Grand Prix gets under way in just over a weeks time.

Those who watch formula 1 live will hope for a contest to match the race in Shanghai, which is being billed as one of the greatest races of modern times ah Hamilton searches to reduce Vettel’s championship lead even further.

Whitmarsh has now moved to quash the rumours that Hamilton could switch to the team he is enjoying a battle with this season, and insisted that Hamilton’s future was with the Woking-based outfit.

“Lewis has a long career ahead of him and I think he’s intelligent enough to realise that the environment he has here is good for him and plays to his strengths,” said the McLaren team boss told the Daily Mail.

“Lewis has made it clear to me he wants to stay in the team and I’ve made it clear to him I want him to stay.” He added.

Whitmarsh also went on to say that there was no rush to sign a new deal, stating that the trust felt between the two parties meant they could take their time.

“At some point, we need to get a contractual agreement that reflects that, of course.”

“But I don’t think – despite the media interest – that either of us thinks we have to get to a contract in three months or six months. I trust him and I think he trusts me.” He commented.