Latest F1 news in brief

Toto Wolff

'Crisis off' after Silverstone thriller?
Did 'team orders' cost Williams the win?
Arrivabene wants 'calm' Raikkonen amid speculation
Dennis not fair to call Jordan idiot – Coulthard
Bottas hopes for future clarity by Monza
Ferrari's value to exceed $11 billion in IPO, Marchionne says

'Crisis off' after Silverstone thriller?
(GMM) A single exciting grand prix was the perfect antidote amid F1's so-called 'crisis'.

"Crisis called off?" Toto Wolff, boss of the dominant Mercedes team, said sarcastically after the British grand prix.

Amid calls for urgent change as the struggling sport bleeds fans, 140,000 spectators filled the Silverstone grandstands on Sunday as the Williams drivers surprisingly took on the Mercedes might.

And a sprinkling of rain gave the 'show' yet another excitement boost.

"Sometimes these things just happen at the right moment as there was a race with all the ingredients necessary for excitement," said Wolff.

The British newspaper The Times said even though it was a familiar winner at the end, Lewis Hamilton "wiped the scowl from the face of formula one".

And the correspondent for Germany's Suddeutsch Zeitung agreed: "140,000 spectators, one of the most challenging tracks, unstable weather, classic racing.

"The best remedy for crisis in formula one is to bring the race to the 'home of motor sport'," the newspaper declared.

But one good race does not mean F1 is instantly healed, as even Wolff acknowledged: "We still need to ask how we can make it better so that we can convince the critics that this is a great sport."

Even the beaming winner agrees with that.

"I think there's still some things … their (the critics') views are probably still valid in many ways but I guess it's an indication for us not to throw our toys out of the pram and say everything's wrong," said world champion Hamilton.

Bild newspaper, for instance, said that although Silverstone was an exciting race, the biggest problem is that the actual outcome is still 'boring' — with two Mercedes ahead of the rest.

Ferrari team boss Maurizio Arrivabene responded: "I would like to be as boring as Mercedes and always be first and second.

"They deserve to be where they are. But we are working hard so that the podium looks less boring in the future," he added.

Another new ingredient on Sunday was Hamilton deciding for himself to pit for intermediate tires, just as the rain was about to get heavier.

Der Spiegel called him a "Tactic-God"!

"Lewis decided for himself 'I'm coming in'," confirmed Mercedes team chairman Niki Lauda. "So we can see that if the driver takes it into his own hands, he can win."

And from the Belgian grand prix next month, drivers are going to be put increasingly in the spotlight, with the immediate banning of all such 'coaching'.

Hamilton would not even mind if reports F1 is set to replace qualifying next year with a 'sprint race' are true.

"For the nine years I've been here now it's been the same," the Briton is quoted by DPA news agency. "I would be happy if they freshen it up a bit and make it more exciting."

Sebastian Vettel, however, does not agree. "The grand prix should be the grand prix, and a qualifying race would take some of that away."

What is clear is that if there was a 'crisis' before Sunday, one race will not have solved it. Indeed, F1 should now be heading for the Nurburgring, but instead will take three weeks off because the German grand prix was axed.

But as Bernie Ecclestone observed to Die Welt newspaper: "It's a German problem, not an English problem."

Did 'team orders' cost Williams the win?
(GMM) After launching off the grid and into the lead, Williams was left to rue an opportunity lost in Sunday's British grand prix.

Part of the reason the Silverstone race was so exciting was because Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas got a surprise jump on the two Mercedes at the start.

But then came the 'team orders'.

Williams told the charging Bottas to hold station rather than attack Massa's leading car, even though some believe the Finn would have raced into the distance had he been free to do so.

"At the beginning I had good pace," Bottas told the Finnish broadcaster MTV3, "and at one point I would have been able to get past (Massa) but the team told me not to."

Ultimately, through the pitstops and the inclement weather, the white-clad pair finished not only behind the two Mercedes but even Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel.

Bottas thinks the team may have made a clear tactical mistake.

"We will have to look at whether we should have made different decisions," he said. "I don't want to criticize team decisions as I guess there was a reason for it. I just don't know what," he added.

Bottas, 25, clarified to Turun Sanomat newspaper that he did not want Massa to receive a 'team order' to move over.

"That is not racing," he said. "But it would have been nice to be able to overtake him when I had the opportunity."

Pat Symonds, Williams' highly experienced technical chief, said the early instruction was given to Bottas to "make sure we didn't slow each other down".

"Valtteri felt faster, and maybe he was," the Briton acknowledged.

Bottas admitted: "I can see why the team wanted us to avoid fighting each other at that moment. We were in a strong position and fighting could have cost us time. That's what they thought.

"For me it was disappointing, but of course it is easy to say that afterwards," he added.

Team deputy Claire Williams agreed that hindsight is always perfect.

"It is easy to look at the race afterwards and say what you would do differently," she said. "We did what we thought would be best for the team.

"The guys on the pitwall are not sitting there thinking about how to destroy races."

As for what might have happened if Bottas had been freed, Williams added: "I don't know. What you do have to say is that the Mercedes is a great car that at the moment is faster than ours."

Arrivabene wants 'calm' Raikkonen amid speculation
(GMM) If the British grand prix changed the course of Kimi Raikkonen's future, Maurizio Arrivabene is not saying.

Reportedly on notice that Silverstone and Hungary are his last chances to up his game or be ousted for 2016, the Finn duly had a stronger weekend in Britain.

He was on or above the on-form Sebastian Vettel's pace all weekend, only faltering on Sunday with a poor tire choice when the rain came down.

"It is obvious that in the case of rain, the driver works together with the team to make the call," said Ferrari team boss Arrivabene.

"What happened with Kimi is clear, as it is the driver who has to judge how the car is working on the track — Kimi decided to come in early, which was a wrong decision," he added.

Mild rebuke aside, the Italian would not be drawn on Raikkonen's future beyond 2015, amid swirling speculation about his likely successor.

"I do not want to talk about Kimi's future," Arrivabene insisted.

"There are still ten races to go and when the time comes, we will make a decision if we have to. Kimi knows what we expect of him.

"At the same time everybody has been talking about this since Bahrain, which is not good in terms of the pressure on him.

"Imagine being having to jump into the car and drive at 300 kilometers per hour and all these things are said in the public all the time.

"What I want now is for Kimi to remain calm so he can do his job.

"I want to leave this subject alone," Arrivabene added. "We have two drivers. Kimi's future is in his hands, which is what I've been saying all along.

"At the right time we will tell you the solution."

For his part, 35-year-old Raikkonen said even he is not turning his mind to what might happen if he is ultimately dropped.

"I have no idea what will happen with Ferrari or what my life could be like (afterwards)," he told the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag. "It was the same six years ago when I stopped for the first time.

"I could be here or I could be at home. I have basically been travelling around my whole life so it (staying home) might be nice," Raikkonen added.

Dennis not fair to call Jordan idiot – Coulthard
(GMM) Ron Dennis has returned fire after his old contemporary Eddie Jordan slammed McLaren's "arrogance".

Jordan, the colorful former team boss turned television pundit, had said it is not right that struggling carmaker Honda is getting all the blame for the McLaren "mess".

"Ron Dennis sacked Martin Whitmarsh," he said, "but Whitmarsh never did the job of running that team as badly as Dennis is doing it now."

But at Silverstone, McLaren supremo Dennis hit back on Sky television: "I consider formula one a family, and families live in villages. And villages always have a village idiot. He (Jordan) fits the bill perfectly."

Jordan's BBC colleague David Coulthard, however – a former long-time McLaren driver – said Dennis' rebuke was not fair.

"It (McLaren's situation) is incredibly frustrating and we can see tempers are starting to fray," the Scot told the Telegraph newspaper.

"Eddie is many things but he is definitely not an idiot. I don't expect Ron to like it but you fight fire with fire. What he's done is fight fire with insults," Coulthard insisted.

Fernando Alonso at least opened his points account on Sunday with a single point for tenth, but the Spaniard answered "No way" when asked if he will be celebrating.

"No. We want to be world champions," he told Spanish reporters after the British grand prix.

"By the end of the year we want to be at another level so that points are normal rather than news," Alonso added.

For that, however, Honda might have to give in to McLaren's pressure to hire some experienced engine-specialist engineers from outside the team, the Telegraph reports.

The newspaper said that until now, the Japanese marque has issued a "blanket refusal" to the request, despite increasing pressure from Dennis and Eric Boullier.

So Coulthard does not think the solution will come quickly.

"It's difficult to imagine they're going to make inroads between now and the end of the year," he said.

"As far as McLaren go we almost have to ignore them until they are anything like competitive again."

Bottas hopes for future clarity by Monza
(GMM) Even Carlos Sainz has found himself embroiled in the increasingly explosive 'silly season'.

His fellow rookie teammate Max Verstappen, although just 17, was already linked with a sensational switch to Ferrari to replace the struggling Kimi Raikkonen.

But also Valtteri Bottas, Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg's names have been mentioned, and now the impressive 20-year-old Sainz has been thrown in the mix.

"The truth is that it would not be right if I started to think about Ferrari," Toro Rosso rookie Sainz told the Spanish sports daily Marca.

"I'm in (the middle of) this season. Of course if the opportunity comes, you'd have to take it, that's for sure, but I'm just thinking about what I have to learn now."

In truth, Finn Bottas is surely the clear favorite in the event Ferrari does oust Raikkonen.

On the latest cover of the Italian magazine Autosprint, the Williams driver has even been 'photoshopped' in red overalls and cap.

When asked about that, Bottas smiled to Finland's Turun Sanomat newspaper: "There are all sorts of comments and pictures all over the place, but the fact is that there is still no certainty about the future.

"Hopefully, like last year, around Monza time at the latest I will know something," he added.

Ferrari's value to exceed $11 billion in IPO, Marchionne says
Sergio Marchionne, CEO of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, expects the company's Ferrari supercar unit to be valued “at least" at $11 billion (10 billion euros) in an initial public offering scheduled this year.

"There are clear expectations from ourselves as Ferrari brand is unique," Marchionne said Friday at the presentation of the new subcompact Fiat 500 in Turin, Italy. “There is also a scarcity value as we are just selling a 10 percent stake."

Fiat Chrysler announced plans last year to sell 10 percent of Ferrari and distribute its remaining 80 percent stake to Fiat Chrysler investors.

Piero Ferrari, the son of founder Enzo Ferrari, also owns 10 percent and plans to keep his holding.

Getting the most out of the listing is crucial for Marchionne’s plans to fund a 48 billion-euro investment plan aimed at lifting Fiat Chrysler's global deliveries to 7 million cars by 2018.

Fiat Chrysler shares have risen about 33 percent this year, boosting its market capitalization to 16.6 billion euros. Valued at 10 billion euros, Ferrari would represent about 60 percent of the value of the group.