Monaco: Formula One tyre supplier Pirelli warned teams on Thursday that they will quit the sport at the end of the season if a new contract from 2014 is not agreed soon. Motorsport director Paul Hembery did not hide his impatience when he told reporters at the Monaco Grand Prix that time was running out for the Italian company to design and test tyres suitable for radically different 2014 regulations.
"Apparently on September 1 we are meant to tell them (the teams) everything that they need to know for the tyres for next season. We are now mid-May so you can imagine how ludicrous that is when we haven't even got contracts in place," he said. "So maybe we won't be here anyway..."
Asked how much of a maybe that was, and how seriously Pirelli were considering walking away, the Briton added: "At a certain point somebody has got to make a decision. "Things are getting, as far as we can see, extremely serious because the changes next year are so substantial that the sport has to make a rapid decision."
Formula One is switching to a new 1.6 litre V6 turbocharged engine with energy recovery systems next season and the tyres will also have to change to cope with the new unit's characteristics. Hembery said the indications were that the power delivery and top speed would be very different, the aerodynamic loads would change and even the size of the tyres was to be decided....
11:24 PM, May 23, 2013
Monaco: Kimi Raikkonen would much rather be left alone but he is happy to admit that sometimes he does not know what he is doing. Social media is never going to be the Finn's thing and the Lotus driver has never hidden his distaste for interviews but he overcame his reluctance and spoke to Reuters at the Monaco Grand Prix - albeit stressing: "That's not the reason why I am...
09:05 PM, May 23, 2013
Monaco: German driver Nico Rosberg posted the fastest time in both practice sessions for the Monaco Grand Prix on Thursday. Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton was second fastest in the afternoon's second practice run ahead of the Ferrari pair of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa. Rosberg has taken pole position in the last two GPs, and Hamilton clinched pole position the race at the Chinese GP. Mercedes also secured a 1-2...
07:39 PM, May 23, 2013
Monaco: Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg posted the fastest time in the first practice session of the Monaco Grand Prix on Thursday. The German driver has been on pole position for the last two races and clocked 1 minute and 16.195 seconds to finish 0.087 faster than Ferrari rival Fernando Alonso. Alonso won the Spanish GP two weeks ago and is looking to become the first driver to win in Monaco...
06:00 PM, May 23, 2013
Monaco: Red Bull sound like sore losers for complaining about the Formula One tyres, Ferrari's Fernando Alonso suggested on Wednesday. The Spaniard, winner in China in April and Barcelona this month, told reporters at the Monaco Grand Prix that it was up to the champions to explain their comments but offered a theory of his own anyway. "We know that Barcelona was a good race for us and not so...
11:44 PM, May 22, 2013
Monaco: As a race, Mark Webber loves Monaco. As a place, he would much rather be somewhere else. Red Bull's gritty Australian racer has won the most glamorous event on the Formula One calendar twice in the last three years and counts doing so as one of the greatest thrills of his career. The great outdoors remains his favourite surroundings, however, and unlike most other drivers he has shunned the...
11:30 PM, May 22, 2013
Monaco: Adrian Sutil appeared reluctant to forgive and forget on Wednesday after Lewis Hamilton had hoped for a thaw in their frozen friendship. The two Formula One drivers, team mates in junior series and the best of friends until Sutil was involved in a nightclub fracas in China two years ago, were asked about their damaged relationship at a Monaco Grand Prix news conference. "Things are definitely different," said Hamilton,...
10:47 PM, May 22, 2013
Monaco: The Monaco Grand Prix should be less about tire degradation and more about pole position, as Formula One returns for its showcase race on a street circuit that is notoriously difficult to overtake on. That will be good news for Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel, but less so for Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen. Vettel, the three-time defending Formula One champion tops the championship standings by four points from Raikkonen, who...
05:05 PM, May 22, 2013
Monaco: Words and hats may have to be eaten along with the usual canapes and caviar if Lewis Hamilton wins the glamour race of the Formula One season in Monaco this weekend. The sceptics who doubted McLaren's 2008 world champion would stand on top of the podium this season after his move to Mercedes face a moment of truth with Hamilton's team arriving in the Mediterranean principality on the back...
01:17 PM, May 22, 2013
Monte Carlo: Adrian Sutil says the VJM06, launched for the 2013 season, is the best car he has driven for Sahara Force India and it would suit the street circuit for Sunday's Monaco Grand Prix, here. Asked if the current car is the best Force India has come up so far, he replied, "I think so, yes. Wherever we have gone so far the car has looked competitive and that...
07:01 PM, May 20, 2013
London: Pirelli's decision to change the Formula One tyres after just six races penalises those who have done a better job than others in getting the existing ones to work, Lotus principal Eric Boullier said on Thursday. "Just imagine for a moment that because a football team can't run as fast as its opponent, the dimensions of the pitch are changed at half time," the Frenchman said on the team...
09:46 AM, May 17, 2013
London: Formula One world champions Red Bull could benefit from changes to be introduced at next month's Canadian Grand Prix that will make tyres tougher and longer lasting, supplier Pirelli recognised on Tuesday. The Italian company's motorsport director Paul Hembery hoped that would not be the case, however. "There have been concerns from some of the teams that the changes will favour one team or another, but we don't think...
08:21 AM, May 15, 2013
London: Formula One must allow in-season testing to avoid the risk next year of tyres lasting only a handful of laps and races being cut short, according to Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery. Under fire for the quick-wearing 2013 compounds that led to a blizzard of pitstops in Spain on Sunday, Hembery warned that a current testing ban made it harder for the Italian company to meet significant technical challenges...
07:12 PM, May 14, 2013
London: The first European race of the Formula One season provided a boost for Ferrari and Fernando Alonso, with Lotus and Kimi Raikkonen also smiling, but left plenty of other former champions feeling the pain. While Red Bull retained their lead in both championships, they struggled with similar tyre problems to others in Barcelona on Sunday with triple champion Sebastian Vettel finishing off the podium with his lead over Raikkonen...
10:22 PM, May 13, 2013
Barcelona: Barcelona: Tyres shredded like paper, rubber flew everywhere and cars flitted in and out of the pit lane like supermarket shoppers in a car park. On a frustrating day for drivers and fans alike, nearly 80 pit stops were made during Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix, again highlighting what has become a major concerns for Formula One teams five races into the season - the vulnerability of Pirelli's tyres. And...
07:24 PM, May 13, 2013
Barcelona: Mercedes urged their many Formula One technical boffins to "think outside the box" and consider the unconsidered after a Spanish Grand Prix that left the team baffled by their cars' lack of race pace. Despite scorching to their third pole position in a row, with Germany's Nico Rosberg notching up his second in succession, Mercedes flopped when it mattered most at the Circuit de Catalunya. Lewis Hamilton went from...
05:20 PM, May 13, 2013
Barcelona: Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton were right to be cautious after their Saturday Spanish Grand Prix high turned into another Sunday slump for Mercedes. "It's got to go down as one of the worst races I've had for a long, long time," said 2008 Formula One world champion Hamilton after starting on the front row of the grid and struggling to 12th place and out of the points with...
10:13 AM, May 13, 2013
Barcelona: Paul di Resta added six more points to Sahara Force India's kitty with a seventh-place finish at the Spanish Grand Prix of the Formula One Championship, while team-mate Adrian Sutil finished 13th here on Sunday. Starting from 10th place on the grid, the Scot raced brilliantly as he had an exciting tussle with pole sitter Nico Roseberg for the sixth place but eventually settled for seventh. He had moved...
11:44 PM, May 12, 2013
Barcelona: Fernando Alonso won the Spanish Grand Prix by nearly 10 seconds in a dominant performance in front of his jubilant home fans on Sunday to close the gap on championship leader Sebastian Vettel and get right back in the Formula One title race. Finnish driver Kimi Raikkonen finished second for the third straight race, with Alonso's Ferrari teammate Felipe Massa in third spot as most drivers chose a four-stop...
07:20 PM, May 12, 2013
