MINISTER WANTS TO DITCH F1 RACE TO HELP MALAYSIAN DRIVERS

Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin today expressed his support for a temporary halt to Malaysia hosting the Formula 1 races.

Addressing the matter via his Twitter handle @Khairykj, the minister said there were many compelling factors to support the idea, including high costs and limited returns. He said that when Malaysia first began hosting the F1 races in 1999, it was the first Asian country outside of Japan to do so.

On a question as to why the Singapore Grand Prix had in contrast enjoyed success, Khairy said the Singapore leg benefited from its novelty factor. “It’s a night race in the city (which is done) no where else in the world. Even then, (their) ticket sales are down,” he said.

Khairy maintained that Malaysia should continue to host the MotoGP, which has maintained a sellout crowd. The Moto 2 and Moto 3 races, he said, also has the added boost of having Malaysian riders. The minister said SIC could instead also spend more on development and increase public access to track days.

“Local racers such as Jazeman Jaafar (pictured above), Nabil Jeffri and Akash Nandy are having a tough time getting sponsors. A fraction of the F1 hosting fee can help them and more,” he said.

Jazeman is a driver with HTP Motorsports in the Blancpain GT Series and the Intercontinental GT Challenge. Nabil Jeffri races for Arden Motorsport in GP2.

With regards to the F1 grand prix Khairy insisted, “Now, there are so many venues. There is no first-mover advantage; it’s no longer a novelty,” he said.

Khairy cited reasons such as declining ticket sales and TV viewership figures, as well as foreign visitors now having the option of seeing the races in Singapore, China and the Middle East.

His comments came in the wake of the revelation by Sepang International Circuit (SIC) chief executive officer Datuk Ahmad Razlan Ahmad Razali, who said SIC is mulling the future of the race in Malaysia.

Razlan had said that a special meeting would be held this week with SIC’s major stakeholder, the Finance Ministry, with regards to the future of the sporting event in Malaysia. He said consistently declining F1 ticket sales and TV viewership figures were among the factors behind the move.

Meanwhile, Khairy engaged Twitter users on the subject, and fielded questions. He said SIC should bid for less costly races, like the Japan GT, in response to a query on what can be done to avoid turning the Sepang circuit into a ‘white elephant.’

ECCLESTONE: NOBODY IS GOING TO GET KILLED

Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone, no stranger to controversial comments, has suggested building walls on racetrack corners to add a greater sense of danger.

The remarks are unlikely to sit well with, or be treated seriously by, drivers and the governing FIA, who have worked for decades to improve safety in a sport whose past is littered with fatalities.

“In [the old] days — and it can’t happen again — people would come to a race and think somebody could get killed,” Ecclestone told The Times. “[They would think,] ‘He’s a bloody lunatic. He’s going to get it.’ Today they know they come to a race and nobody is going to get killed — which is good.

“But if somebody is running a circus and they have a high-wire act that is 15 metres up, people go there and say, ‘Crikey’. If it was a metre off the ground, they’d say, ‘I can do that.’

“You know why people like Max Verstappen? Because he is a racer. And when he races, people complain that he puts one finger up to his rivals, which is good. I told Jean Todt [the FIA president] that we should really head up our sporting regulations, ‘Don’t race because you’re going to get punished’.”

However, he suggested races were now in danger of appearing too safe, with drivers exceeding track limits without suffering any consequences.

“I wanted to build 40cm walls around the corners,” Ecclestone said. “They keep saying drivers mustn’t go off the road. I promise they won’t. They didn’t go off the road in Baku this year and I rarely see them go off in Monaco or Singapore. And if you think about it, they are probably some of the good races.”

Ecclestone said Formula One’s street races in Baku, Monaco and Singapore, with walls and metal fences, concentrated the minds and the racing was still good.

He said the current crop of quieter, turbo-hybrid cars also looked easier to drive than the noisy beasts of old and compared the situation to a circus high wire act that was 15 metres off the ground to one that was only a metre up.

Formula One is still feeling the pain from the death of Frenchman Jules Bianchi, who crashed into a recovery tractor at a wet Japanese race in 2014 and died in hospital of his head injuries last year.

Before him Ayrton Senna was the last fatality in 1994, an Imola weekend that also took the life of Austrian Roland Ratzenberger.

This season Spaniard Fernando Alonso walked away from a massive shunt in the opening Australian Grand Prix after his McLaren flew into the fence.

And in Austin, race director Charlie Whiting reminded drivers that, for safety reasons, they could not change direction suddenly in the braking zone when defending against a fully committed rival.

“What Fernando had in Australia … you wouldn’t think he was going to walk away,” said Ecclestone, before coming up with another provocative suggestion with no chance of being implemented.

“What we ought to do immediately that happens is have big sheets all the way around, bring the ambulance in … and take him away. He’s gone to the hospital and later on you announce that, thank God, he’s out. A bit of showbiz. People like that.”

Audi with new motorsport strategy: Formula E instead of WEC

Audi is realigning its motorsport strategy. The premium brand will terminate its FIA WEC commitment, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans, at the end of the 2016 season. Instead Audi is taking up a factory-backed commitment in the all-electric Formula E racing series.

Speaking to 300 employees of the motorsport department on Wednesday morning, Chairman of the Board of Management Rupert Stadler put this strategic decision in the context of the current burdens on the brand, pointing out that it was important to focus on the things that would keep Audi competitive in the years ahead. That is why the Board of Management had decided to terminate Audi’s commitment in endurance racing. In the future, Audi will be using the know-how and skills of the motorsport experts from Neuburg and Neckarsulm partially in motorsport and partially in production development.

“We’re going to contest the race for the future on electric power,” says Stadler. “As our production cars are becoming increasingly electric, our motorsport cars, as Audi’s technological spearheads, have to even more so.” The first all-electric racing series perfectly matches the strategy of offering fully battery-electric models year by year starting in 2018, Audi currently being in the greatest transformation stage in the company’s history. The commitment in FIA Formula E will already commence in 2017. It is regarded as the racing series with the greatest potential for the future. That is why Audi has intensified the existing partnership with Team ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport in the current 2016/2017 season. On the road toward a full factory commitment, the manufacturer is now actively joining the technical development.

The commitment in the DTM, where Audi will be competing with the successor of the Audi RS 5 DTM in 2017, will remain untouched. In mid-October, the premium brand won the manufacturers’ and teams’ classifications. In 2013, Mike Rockenfeller most recently brought the title of DTM Champion home for the four rings.

No final decision has yet been made concerning a future involvement in the FIA World Rallycross Championship (World RX). In the current 2016 season, DTM factory driver Mattias Ekström in his Audi S1 EKS RX quattro clinched the World Championship title early, competing against numerous factory teams. Up to now, Audi’s involvement has been limited to supporting the private EKS team. The brand is currently evaluating a possible extension of the commitment, the exciting topic of electrification being on the agenda in rallycross racing as well.

The departure from the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) marks the end of a successful era. For 18 years, the brand was active in Le Mans prototype racing. During this period, it scored 13 victories in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and set numerous technical milestones. At Le Mans, Audi clinched the first victory of a TFSI engine (2001), the first success of a race car with a TDI engine (2006), plus the first triumph of a sports car with a hybrid powertrain (2012). In the brand’s 185 races contested to date, Audi’s Le Mans prototypes have achieved 106 victories, 80 pole positions and 94 fastest race laps. On two occasions, Audi won the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) with the Audi R18 e-tron quattro race car. In addition, from 2000 to 2008, Audi, nine times in succession, secured the title in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS), the world’s most important racing series for Le Mans prototypes at the time.

“After 18 years in prototype racing that were exceptionally successful for Audi, it’s obviously extremely hard to leave,” says Head of Audi Motorsport Dr. Wolfgang Ullrich. “Audi Sport Team Joest shaped the WEC during this period like no other team. I would like to express my thanks to our squad, to Reinhold Joest and his team, to the drivers, partners and sponsors for this extremely successful cooperation. It’s been a great time!” Due to the LMP commitment, Audi has been demonstrating Vorsprung durch Technik and learning a lot for use in production.

SATO, MUNOZ, ALESHIN AFFECTED BY MAGNUSSEN LINKED TO INDYCAR MOVE

Should Renault fail to contract Kevin Magnussen, beyond 2016, the Dane could find himself plying his trade in the Indycar series with Andretti Autosport.

With Renault confirming Nico Hulkenberg, to spearhead their campaign for the next two years, Magnussen’s future is being questioned as the French team have made no secret that they are also targeting Valtteri Bottas and have an option on the services of young Frenchman Esteban Ocon.

In a speculative piece, Racer claim that Magnussen is a possible candidate for Andretti’s fourth car.

Racer report: “Given Honda’s clear appreciation for his talent, a driver of Magnussen’s caliber would fit the brand’s rededicated efforts to overtake Chevy’s all-conquering IndyCar program.”

Honda favorite, and former F1 driver, Takuma Sato is being considered for the team’s fourth cockpit should Magnussen remain in F1.

"Seeing rumours around about me in IndyCar," he tweeted. "I'm a big fan of IndyCar but those are really just rumours. Nothing to it.

"I feel confident my future is in F1 and there should be no doubt I intent to stay with Renault Sport F1 for many years if I can."

In 2014 and was retained as test and reserve driver for the Woking, UK marque until October 2015, was in talks with Bryan Herta's eponymous IndyCar team last winter.




However, talks foundered as Herta urged Magnussen to pursue his F1 goals and instead chose to put his team under the umbrella of Andretti Autosport.

Andretti-Herta Autosport instead signed another ex-F1 driver, Alexander Rossi, for the 2016 season and have retained him for '17.

Magnussen's Twitter feed continued: "Unfortunately there is nothing yet to announce regarding my future, but hopefully there will be soon. I too am getting impatient!"

Meanwhile, the Andretti Autosport team, which has retained Ryan Hunter-Reay, Marco Andretti and Alex Rossi for 2017, has several established IndyCar drivers under consideration for the #26 car in 2017.

One is AA incumbent Carlos Munoz, who has twice finished runner-up in the Indianapolis 500, while two others are believed to be Takuma Sato and Mikhail Aleshin. Andretti have not commented.

Concept artist Sean Bull has produced a vision of what Formula 1 could look like in 2017

The Mercedes F1 financial results - £22.3 million loss, a real bargain !

The Mercedes F1 results have been published in recent days and much has been made of a loss for 2015 of £22.3 million. From where I am sitting, this seems like a real bargain. Very few have written about actual sums spent by the team, which amounted to £239 million (which translates to $292 million, unless the Pound falls further by the end of this blog post). This is basically the money Mercedes spent running its race team in Brackley. However, to this one must add the money that has been spent at Mercedes AMG High Performance Powertrains Ltd (MAHPP) up the road in Brixworth, where the power units are designed and built. This operation turned a profit of £6.1 million on a turnover of £151.8 million, which means that Mercedes Benz’s F1 activities (not including advertising and local expenditure) was in the region of £390 million, including engine R&D spending of £79.7 million.

However, the accounts also show that Mercedes is making back most of the money from sponsors, prize funds and engine fees. If one adds the £6.1 million profit from MAHPP to the £22.3 million loss of the race team, plus a MAHPP dividend of £13 million paid to its parent company, one can see that the entire 2015 season cost Mercedes around £3.2 million, which is a pretty decent price to pay the technology developed and for the publicity that F1 brings to the company.

Is it any wonder that Mercedes wants to continue in the F1 game? Admittedly, getting to this happy situation has cost Mercedes a lot of money in terms of investment, but this is now paying off handsomely.

The biggest gain between 2014 and 2015 was an increase of £66.3 million in the race team’s turnover, thanks to higher sponsorship and more prize money. The team employed an average of 765 staff in 2014 but this rose to 807 in 2015, while MAHPP went from 538 to 550 people. Overall, therefore, the F1 programme now has staff in excess of 1345.

These are, of course, broad brush comments on financial figures about which we know only what we are told, but they are a good indication of how a successful F1 project can cost a car manufacturer very little, once the initial investment has been made.

Still, the word from Italy is that Ferrari’s F1 programme actually makes money for the company…

Source:  Joe Saward

Return of BP in F1 ?

October 14, 2016 by Joe Saward

It is more than 20 years since BP was involved in Formula 1 racing, but the word is that the oil major may soon rejoin the party, with rumours suggesting that Renault is the most likely target. McLaren has also been mentioned by the Woking team has a long and successful relationship with ExxonMobil, via its Mobil1 brand and it be a surprise if that were to change. Having said that, Renault has traditionally been involved with the French oil company Total (and its previous subsidiary Elf). This has changed of late, following the death of Christophe de Margerie in a plane crash in Moscow in October 2014. His role has been taken over by Patrick Pouyanné but Total seems to have switched much of its sponsorship to Renault’s rival PSA Peugeot Citroen since then. It has been clear that Renault was looking for a new partner oil company for some time.

It is a difficult time for the oil industry with firms having to adjust to the low price of oil. This fell from over $100 a barrel in mid-2014 to below $30 at the start of this year. The price is still volatile but is currently at around $50 a barrel. The problem has been oversupply, so the best way to drive profits is through winning more market share. BP has suffered badly in recent years because of the damage done to its reputation and the costs relating to the Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010 when one of its rigs off the coast of Louisiana exploded leaking an estimated 134 million gallons of crude oil into the gulf. The company has now dealt with all the necessary settlements and has sold off a lot of assets to help pay the bills, now it is looking to increase sales by promoting an image of advanced technology, proven expertise and environmental care through promoting more efficient machinery, all on a global scale. This is where F1 fits the bill because of its global penetration and its hybrid technology. It will be interesting to see if the stories come true, as this would be a good sign for F1.

RENAULT TARGET BOTTAS ALONGSIDE HULKENBERG

By: Paul Velasco

With Nico Hulkenberg all but confirmed to join Renault for a two or three year deal starting in 2017, it has now emerged that the French outfit is working hard to secure the services of Valtteri Bottas from Williams.

Although Bottas is tipped to stay at Williams, the Grove outfit want a long term contrcat while Bottas wants a one year deal and this sticking point may trigger his move to Renault who are desperate to sign two experienced drivers to spearhead their programme next season.

According to Auto Motor und Sport, Renault have presented Bottas with a long term deal which as a works team is an attractive proposition.

Bottas and Hulkenberg are the most effective and experienced pairing still available, although neither has won a grand prix as yet.

While Force India are publicly claiming that Hulkenberg would be foolish to leavethe Silvberstone based team, behind closed doors they are already shopping for a replacement to partner Sergio Perez next year.

Candidates with money include the likes of Felipe Nasr, Esteban Gutierrez, Jolyon Palmer as well as  the Mercedes-backed duo of Pascal Wehrlein and Esteban Ocon.

Sporting boss Otmar Szafnauer told Auto Motor und Sport, “It would be foolish to force a driver to drive for us if he doesn’t want to,But I think Nico would be ill advised to go. We are fourth in the championship — and where is Renault?”

For Hulkenberg a move to a works team is a no brainer, despite the fact that Renault are rebuilding. They have pedigree and a to be part of a two or three year plan with a factory outfit is a step up for the German whose career at Force India has stagnated.

Bottas on the other hand is keen for a one year deal as he is said to have an option to join Ferrari when fellow Finn Kimi Raikkonen departs at the end of 2017.

However if he is forced to choose between Williams and Renault, he too may opt for the latter for the same reasons Hulkenberg has chosen to do so.

BALDISSERRI: FERRARI ARE WORKING IN A CLIMATE OF TERROR

Ferrari are under performing this year because the team is working in a climate of terror, according to Formula 1 engineer Luca Baldisserri who worked with the team during the Michael Schumacher golden era.

Baldisserri told Corriere dello Sport, “Unfortunately neither [Sergio] Marchionne nor [Maurizio] Arrivabene have experience of racing.”

“Ferrari are no longer a team, but a group of frightened people. Inside the team there is a climate of terror, the boys do not invent, do not make decisions for fear of being expelled in disgrace.”

“The chain of command in Formula 1 has to be more vertical – it must be military style. The managers are there to show the way, to motivate people, to make decisions, and if mistakes are made not to be sent packing. This is what happened to Allison – a great loss.”

Asked what it will take for Ferrari to win again, something they have not done all season, Baldisserri said, “When the team achieves efficient organization and stability, with good ideas and their drivers do not make mistakes.”

“The money is there, but you win with stability. Those who are working hard should not be rushed. I understand that Marchionne wants to win right away, but in Formula 1 it does not work that way. It’s difficult to make it happen in less than three years.”

In the wake of Allison’s departure Mattia Binotta was promoted to Chief Technical Officer, Baldisserri has worked extensively with him and said of the appointment, “Mattia knows how to motivate people and he has great experience but he is not a technical director.”

“He knows he cannot design a [F1] car and does not have the deep knowledge with regards to the chassis, aerodynamics and mechanical elements. But I can see him doing very well as a team principal.”

In Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari have a formidable driving line-up, but this season they are struggling although the Iceman appears to have upped his game while the four times world champion is slipping up.

Baldisserri explained, “Raikkonen is better than he was in 2015, but Vettel is much worse. It is important Ferrari recover and that the drivers hold tight at least for the short term. [Vettel] was caught up in the vortex of exaltation last year [when he joined the fabled team].”

“But the problem is not the drivers,” added the Italian.

With four races remaining, Ferrari have yet to register a win this season and lie third in the Formula 1 constructors’ championship, 50 points adrift of Red Bull.

BRITISH MEDIA SLAM ‘PARANOID BRAT’ HAMILTON

Lewis Hamilton, once the darling of British media has now attracted the full venom of their wrath in the aftermath of the Japanese Grand Prix weekend where the world champion decided to go toe-to-toe with journalists.

Hamilton began the weekend by antogonising reporters of all nationalities as he turned the mandatory Thursday drivers’ press conference in to a Snapchat giggle. When his disrespectful behaviour was reported by these media outlets, he went on the offensive by cancelling scheduled media briefings at Suzuka.

As a result the serious Fleet Street journals and the yellow press tabloids have ganged up on the Mercedes driver .

Kevin Eason, F1 correspondent for The Times, wrote of the incident: “His overblown reaction revealed a delicate ego and a fragile mental state.”

“While Hamilton donned a tin hat and dug his solitary trench after declaring war on the world’s press, Rosberg kept himself to himself as he has all season; head down and focus on his mantra, he says. And it works.”

The Telegraph’s headline declared, “Hamilton hits the self-destruct button.”

Their correspondent Daniel Johnson writing that Mercedes “fear their lead driver is in meltdown at one of the most critical junctures of his career” while arguing that Hamilton is cracking under pressure from his team-mate who has won four of the last five races and after Japan leads the championship by 33 points.”

Hamilton has not won since July, and came under some heavy flack for hinting that he was sabotaged by Mercedes when his engine blew up while he comfortably led in Malaysia.

In Japan the Briton messed up his start and had to play catch up all day, toiling to turn the eighth place he was in on the first lap as the field roared into Turn 1, to third place at the end of the race which Rosberg won with ease.

Johnson added: “The extra few per cent which ensured in the last two years that Rosberg was left trailing have gone missing. More worrying are signs the apparent psychological fortitude he has built up can crumble so spectacularly under pressure from Rosberg.”

The Guardian’s Barry Glendenning focused more on Hamilton’s Snapchat shenanigans: “It is a testament to Hamilton’s apparently bottomless reserves of childishness that he somehow contrived to emerge from what should have been a relatively amusing wheeze looking utterly charmless.”

“Increasingly prone to conducting himself in the manner of a man who believes he is some sort of riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma, more often than not his attempts to appear brooding and inscrutable come across as the childishness of a paranoid brat.”

The Sunday Telegraph took offence at Hamilton’s decision to skip his obligaory press briefings and led with the headline: “Hamilton’s bizarre behaviour left Mercedes red-faced again.”

The Sunday Mirror’s headline was: “Berk in the Merc” while The Sun’s headlines on the world champion read “Lew-sing plot” and “Ham snaps”.

The Sun’s reporter Jonny Fordham wrote: “Lewis Hamilton was all snap and no chat,’ penned Jonny . ‘Hamilton was livid at the unsurprisingly negative reaction to his childish Snapchat antics.”

“Now the growing feeling among the paddock is that Hamilton does not just run Merc but the whole of Formula One and he has become untouchable.”

“But this is Hamilton’s world. A social media bubble where his die-hard fans worship motorsport’s Mr Marmite like a leader of a cult,” added Fordham in his report.

Mercedes management are playing down the affair, with team chief Toto Wolff explained Hamilton’s demeanour, “Let him do his talking on the track. His performances in the car justify some collateral damage.”

“After such a race, it is not right to really put the finger where it hurts. In my experience of the last few years, the situation often looks completely different after 24 hours,” he said.

“Our main goal is to help Lewis, but there are ten days until Austin so there is no need to hurry — unlike last week. At the same time, it is true that Lewis works best under pressure and when he has a target.”

“I have no doubt it will be a tough fight until the very end. We are still very far from being able to say that it is over.” added Wolff.

Mercedes F1 chairman Niki Lauda observed, “In Malaysia, Lewis dominated but then there was the engine failure which was not easy to cope with for him.”

“Then there were the repercussions related to the [Thursday] press conference, but I don’t think that affected him at the start of the race – that was a mistake. After that, he had a great race,” Lauda concluded,

VETTEL OR ARRIVABENE? ONE HAS TO GO

By: Paul Velasco

Strategy mistakes, bad luck, poor reliability and now internal strife between the team chief and their ace driver are all factors that are turning the 2016 Formula 1 season into an annus horribilis for the legendary Italian team.

After Malaysia, where Vettel crashed out on the first lap, in Turn 1, and was slammed by Italian media who (for the first time since his arrival at Maranello) are asking impolite questions of the German.

Then surprisingly, Maurizio Arrivabene whose position at the helm of the team is increasingly insecure, stuck in the knife by announcing to media that the four times F1 world champion is not guaranteed a seat beyond 2017 and he would have to prove himself worthy.

He also advised the German to stick to driving the car, sending him a clear message to not interfere with the running of the team.

That is a huge slap in the face of Vettel who apart from being the highest paid driver in Ferrari history, was brought in to galvanise the team and has been hampered by a seriously flawed race car.

Furthermore he has been an arch-supporter of Arrivabene even when the Marlboro Ma came under big pressure from all quarters for some of his team’s dubiouos decisions,

Even after Japan, when Ferrari tactics were again questionable and Arrivabene had already attacked, Vettel sprung to the defence of his team.

It apparently had not sunk in that he was ambushed in the political gamesmanshhip that is currently enshrouding the team. When he realises the intentions of the boss his next move will be interesting.

Every driver who joins Ferrari are enamoured by the legend of the team and all instantly swear their undying allegiance to the team – “this is where I will end my career” they all inevitably trumpet. Ask Fernando Alonso, Felipe Massa, Kimi Raikkonen (Chapter 1 of his Ferrari adventure) and many before them.

Eventually the rot creeps in and the place becomes a cesspool off back stabbing and intrigue, unless you follow the Michael Schumacher blueprint and bring in all your own people and keep the Italians away from the big decisions. Then you go on and win tons of races and numerous titles.

Vettel is nowhere near exercising such control. Maybe he has tried to get those that are their to raise their game. They have not and now is the time to follow Schumie’s example and go recruit everyone he wants.

If I was Vettel I would pick Ross Brawn and Adrian Newey, get Ferrari and Fiat to throw all the money these two want to get them to don red, recruit James Key and whoever else is a big guru in this era. Thuss build a dream team, and after a couple of years when everything gels win tons of races and numerous titles – like Michael, Jean, Ross and Rory all did at the turn of the century

Right now, behind closed doors it is known that Vettel is dealing with the reality of life at Ferrari. Until now he has been a team man through and through while controling his obvious frustrations in public

Occasionally he lets slip the odd remark over the radio and for sure his body language and demeanour suggests a man dealing with some sort of turmoil.

Things could change now that Arrivabene has shown his true colours and has pitted himself with the Italian media, questioning Vettel’s worth to the team. Perhaps inadvertently, but maybe not…

On track Ferrari has been dismal and they are heading for a win-less season despite having the services of two very good drivers.

Here is a synopsis of some of their races so far this season:

• Australia: The race is stopped due to Alonso’s accident. Seb leads at the restart, but Mercedes strategy is spot on and the German driver has to settle for third place, while Kimi retires for a turbo failure.
• Bahrain: Seb cames to a halt on the formation lap with smoke billowing from the engine. Kimi finishes second.
• China: Seb touches Kimi at the start thanks the an incident with Kvyat. Both Ferrari drivers pit for new nosecones. They finish second and fifth respectively.
• Russia: Seb qualifies second, but drops to seventh place for a gearbox change. Retires on the opening lap after being punted twice by Kvyat. Kimi finishes third.
• Spain: Ferrari endure poor qualifying with Kimi fifth and Seb sixth. Mercedes pair collide on the first lap, as Verstappen seizes the moment, defends from Kimi who finishes second with Seb third.
• Europe (Baku): Seb and Kimi qualify fourth and fifth, then go on to finish the race in second and fourth respectively.
• Austria: Seb qualifies fourth fastest, but lines up ninth on the grid f=due to penalty for replaced gearbox. In the race he retires when his tyre explodes. Kimi finishes third.
• Belgium: Kimi and Seb are tagged by Verstappen on lap one as they dive into the hairpin. Seb finishes sixth despite a spin, Kimi continues despite damage to his car and crosses the line in ninth.
• Singapore: Tie rod on the anti-roll bar of Seb’s car breaks and he is forced him to start from the last position. In race will recover to fifth place.
• Malaysia: First lap crash for Vettel and three place grid penalty for causing the incident. KJapan  compromised as a result.
• Japan: Faster than Red Bull in practice long runs and in qualifying trim, but on race day fourth is their reward for Vettel, who may have been victim again of a bad tyre strategy call.

Much was expected at the start of the season, Ferrari capo dei capi Sergio Marchionne was full of naive bluster and expectations. Interestingly he has gone quiet of late.

But he will need to generate some noise again and to interfere with the civil war brewing between the top men in the team. Will peace between the two suffice?

To outsiders the answer is clear: Arrivabene has not delivered and his so called vision for the team, based around internal promotion of home grown engineering talent will simply not cut it. The man is way out of his depth for the role he is in.

The departure of James Allison should only have impacted Ferrari next season, if at all, but it appears that his absence has already damaged the team.

Marchionne needs to react and in the end he must decide to back Vettel or Arrivabene. There is no alternative… Watch this space!