Latest F1 news in brief

Kubica must have a bigger check than we originally thought

Williams not only option for future – Kubica
Vettel not giving up on 2018 title
Lauda still old self after Wolff hospital visit
Ferrari not ready to sign for 2021 – Camilleri
Honda poised to pass Renault for power
Strategy Group to discuss plan for more standard parts
Latifi handed Sochi FP1 run in place of Sergio Perez
Russian Grand Prix drivers' tire selections

Williams not only option for future – Kubica
(GMM) Robert Kubica says he is not fixated on Williams as his only option for returning full-time to the F1 grid.

Currently the British team's reserve driver, the Pole has been named by Williams as the most likely replacement if Lance Stroll switches to Force India this year.

But Kubica says he is more focused on the future.

"From my perspective, nothing much changes," he told Sokolim Okiem.

"I think the coming days or weeks are important as I decide what to do next year. I may be wrong, but I think Williams has different priorities than I do. I do not know why people only associate me with this team," Kubica added.

Indeed, Dr Helmut Marko recently said Kubica could be an option for Toro Rosso.

"It's news to me," Kubica, 33, told Turun Sanomat. "I have not heard from Dr Marko, so I'm really not aware of such a possibility.

"But he knows where to find me if he wants to come and talk."

Kubica admitted, however, that there are "fewer and fewer places" available elsewhere. He said he expects to know his fate before the end of the season.

"Today I am still bound by the deal with Williams, but we will see what happens," he said. "From their perspective they can take forever, but I will not be here automatically.

"My approach is the same as it was three months ago, three weeks ago, three days ago. If one of Williams' seats is vacant, I will be ready. Whether this happens or not is not up to me."

Kubica said he is therefore not ruling out looking beyond the F1 paddock.

"Yes, I want to understand what will give me the most satisfaction," he said.

"I want to find a goal that will be the most satisfying, not necessarily in the short term but also the long run," Kubica added.

Vettel not giving up on 2018 title

Psst……it's over

(GMM) According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, the highly influential Italian sports daily, Sebastian Vettel said "Ciao Mondiali" to his hopes in Singapore.

It means goodbye to the world championship, but neither the German driver, his Ferrari boss, or his former chief at Red Bull agree that it's quite over yet.

Vettel fell a full 40 points behind Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton in Singapore, but Ferrari boss Maurizio Arrivabene said that with six races still to go, the Maranello team won't give up.

"Nothing is lost," he insisted. "We'll be calm and determined for the last races and fight to the end."

Christian Horner, Vettel's former boss at Red Bull where he won all of his four previous titles, agrees with Arrivabene about the German driver's fighting qualities.

"I think he was 40 points down in 2012," the Briton is quoted by Brazil's Globo.

"Ferrari has a very fast car and there are 150 points available. Obviously it looks as though Lewis is in charge, but Seb is very good under pressure and certainly will not give up," added Horner.

Vettel confirmed that hypothesis, telling Germany's Sport Bild that he has not forgotten how he won his earlier four world championships.

Asked how he can win again in 2018, Vettel answered: "First, because I can. I've proved it four times.

"Second, because we have a car that is on par with Mercedes.

"Singapore didn't help. It's disappointing if you can win races and you do not. But I still think we can only beat ourselves.

"I can still become world champion with my own power and so I'll continue to fight," he said.

Some think Vettel loses his head or is too aggressive in the heat of a world championship fight, but the 30-year-old insists that is not the case.

"My driving style has given me four world titles and 52 victories," Vettel said.

"Everyone is afraid to fail, and I'm as aware as anyone that sometimes when you risk, it goes wrong. But you can't let it paralyze you.

"Ayrton Senna said that if you don't go for a gap anymore, you're not a racing driver, and I agree. The same applies to risky strategies as we saw in Singapore. I will always defend my team," he insisted.

Vettel told Auto Bild: "If we win every race from now on, we are safe. That must be the goal from now on."

Lauda still old self after Wolff hospital visit

Niki Lauda

(GMM) According to Toto Wolff, F1 legend Niki Lauda is still his old self as he recovers from life-saving lung transplant surgery in Vienna.

Lauda, the triple world champion and Mercedes team chairman, is not likely to be seen in the paddock for the rest of 2018, but his friend and colleague Toto Wolff says Lauda is at least on the road to recovery.

Wolff, the Mercedes boss, said 69-year-old Lauda was even in a joking mood when he visited him in hospital.

"I was very worried to see him after his gigantic operation," Wolff told RTL.

"I went in and the first thing he did was smile. I thought I should continue where we left off and I said 'You've looked better'.

"He mouthed 'asshole' to me and I knew then that Niki is on the right path," Wolff added.

Ferrari not ready to sign for 2021 – Camilleri

Louis Camilleri

(GMM) Ferrari is still a long way from agreeing to stay in formula one beyond 2020.

That is the view of Ferrari's current CEO Louis Camilleri.

The 63-year-old took over recently following the death of Sergio Marchionne, who had warned that as Liberty Media looked to make technical, financial and governance changes for 2021, Ferrari's signature was not guaranteed.

"Discussions are underway regarding the technical, financial and governance aspects," Camilleri told La Gazzetta dello Sport.

"We believe there is a basic consensus on the principle objectives that will define the future, but the precise vision as to how to get there is still quite far away.

"Progress has been made," Camilleri added, "but we are still far from an agreement that includes everything and can be signed by all the participants.

"I remain optimistic that an agreement will be reached in time, but I would like to add that as Ferrari, we continue to insist that it cannot be to the detriment of F1 remaining as the top technical competition in motor sport.

"There are obvious conflicts of interest," he explained. "Liberty wants to make more money and the teams do too, so we are all waiting a bit."

Honda poised to pass Renault for power

But Abiteboul made the bold claim that Renault will surpass Mercedes and Ferrari in power

But Renault's Abiteboul made the bold claim that Renault will surpass Mercedes and Ferrari in power

(GMM) Honda could be poised to overtake Renault and cease having the least powerful engine in F1.

Auto Motor und Sport (Germany) and Marca (Spain) report that in Russia, the Japanese carmaker will introduce the third version of its 2018 power unit.

The publications say that Honda's Spec 3 engine will be 35 hp more powerful than its current one, relegating Renault to last place in the power stakes.

Toro Rosso's Pierre Gasly and Brendon Hartley will take penalties for fitting the new engines at Sochi, but that will leave them clear to push for better grid positions at Honda's home Japanese grand prix a week later.

Reports in Italy recently said Ferrari has broken through the 1000 hp barrier with its latest engine, a full 27 hp ahead of Mercedes with its 1005 hp power unit.

Renault then currently stands at 950 hp, compared to 930 for Honda.

Red Bull is switching from Renault to Honda power for 2019, joining the junior team Toro Rosso in using the Japanese-designed power units.

"They are pushing hard — we have confidence in what we see," said Red Bull boss Christian Horner.

"The investment that we see going into the program, the quality of personnel that are involved, things are very much moving in the right direction.

"Only time will tell, but I think you'll inevitably see more changes this year which is all part of the development process for 2019 and beyond," he added.

Strategy Group to discuss plan for more standard parts

Word is Ferrari wants to make their camera blocking engine cooling fan a standard item for teams

Formula 1’s Strategy Group will discuss increasing the use of specification parts as a cost-cutting measure during its meeting today, RaceFans has learned.

At present car parts are designated either ‘listed’, which teams must produce themselves, or ‘non-listed’, which they can source from a rival team, as Haas does with Ferrari.

Under the proposal from 2021 a third category, specification parts, will be added. These must be made to a specific design but can be produced by a team in-house or sourced from another team or supplier.

Formula 1 technical director Pat Symonds has said the sport wanted to allow teams to continue developments of significant ‘performance differentiators’ such as power units, aerodynamics and vehicle dynamics, but reduce wasteful expenditure in “areas that fans don’t see".

“In other areas we want to try and bring a little bit more prescription into it," he explained in July. “[Fans] don’t care whether a wheel nut is made out of aluminum or titanium or steel. So let’s get rid of this game that is going on there."

Selective use of prescription parts could also make collaboration between teams more difficult. For example, if gear seats are prescribed but gear box casings are listed parts, then it would be impossible for teams such as Haas and Force India to source complete rear ends from Ferrari and Mercedes respectively.

Today’s Strategy Group meeting in Geneva will also continue discussions around the 2021 power unit regulations. The formula is expected to remain largely unchanged, but with new sporting regulations aimed at curbing costs.

Formula 1 motor sport director Ross Brawn explained last month how this could work: “My feeling is that there’s still quite a lot we can do on the engine side in terms of sporting regulations," he said in an interview for the Belgian Grand Prix race program, “such as limits on dyno test time, number of upgrades during a season, consistency of specification to all customer teams, etc…"

However at least one team is expected to press for the cap to be linked to the number of races that are held.

Mercedes is believed to be pushing for a reduction to 15 rounds if the cap is set at $150 million, with the number of races teams will compete in increasing as the cap rises. There are 21 grands prix on this year’s schedule and on the 2019 F1 calendar. racefans

Latifi handed Sochi FP1 run in place of Sergio Perez

Nicholas Latifi

Force India tester Nicholas Latifi will have his third Formula 1 practice outing of 2018 at next weekend’s Russian Grand Prix.

Latifi joined Force India as back-up to Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon this year and piloted the VJM11 during FP1s in Canada and Germany.

Force India confirmed on Wednesday that Latifi will replace Perez for the opening 90-minute session around the Sochi Autodrom.

Latifi also sampled Force India’s 2018 car during in-season running in Spain and Hungary, having previously held a test driver position with Renault.

The Canadian holds ninth position in this year’s Formula 2 championship, having picked up his first win of the campaign in Belgium last month.

Latifi is set to be the second current F2 racer in action during Friday's session, with Artem Markelov poised to run for Renault.

Russian Grand Prix drivers' tire selections
Mercedes have again picked fewer sets of hyper-softs than any of their rivals for the next round of the world championship.

The silver cars will have only seven sets of hyper-softs each for the Russian Grand Prix. No other drivers will have fewer than eight sets. Lewis Hamilton’s championship rival Sebastian Vettel has picked nine.

Renault has selected the most sets of the softest tire available, with 10 sets each for Nico Hulkenberg and Carlos Sainz Jnr.

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