Formula 1's Latest Rumours, Talk: Manor's Esteban Ocon, Carlos Sainz Jr., More
After representing Mercedes and Renault in various test and practice sessions in the first half of 2016, Esteban Ocon will make his Formula One debut at the upcoming Belgian Grand Prix after joining Manor.
The Frenchman will compete in the final nine races of the season alongside fellow Mercedes protege Pascal Wehrlein following Rio Haryanto's demotion to a reserve-driver role, and the teenager has described his excitement for the weeks and months to come as he seeks a more permanent seat on the 2017 grid.
While Ocon rose to prominence after beating Max Verstappen to the FIA European Formula Three title, Carlos Sainz Jr. only began to attract serious attention when he matched the boy wonder in F1.
The Spaniard has emerged as Toro Rosso's team leader since Verstappen graduated to Red Bull, with technical director James Key revealing Sainz's stature has grown considerably in his second season.
Should Ocon perform well alongside Wehrlein for the rest of 2016, he may find himself partnered with Sergio Perez next season, with the Mexican known to be talking with Renault.
Force India have admitted they have no control over Perez's future, but the team have vowed to make his decision as hard as possible by finishing as the best of the rest behind Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari in the constructors' standings.
The Silverstone-based outfit sits 15 points behind Williams in the championship, and on the evidence of the comments made by chief technical officer Pat Symonds, fourth place could be there for the taking.
Symonds has revealed Williams have been left bemused by several ineffective aerodynamic upgrades in the first half of 2016, with the updates having a minimal effect on the performance of the FW38 chassis.
Closing our latest roundup is Marcus Ericsson, who has outlined why Sauber's future is looking bright after their recent change of ownership.
Esteban Ocon 'Thrilled' to Secure Manor Seat for Rest of 2016
1 of 5
Ocon has spoken of his delight after being confirmed as Haryanto's replacement at Manor for the final nine races of 2016.
After winning the GP3 feeder series last season, the Frenchman joined Mercedes' young-driver scheme and has combined a race seat in DTM touring cars with a reserve role at the Renault F1 team in 2016.
With Ocon making four free-practice appearances in Spain, Britain, Hungary and Germany, as well as representing Mercedes in the in-season test at Silverstone, the 19-year-old emerged as a leading contender to partner Wehrlein in the second half of the season when Haryanto's sponsorship funds ran out.
Shortly after announcing Haryanto's demotion to a reserve role on Wednesday morning, Manor confirmed Ocon will race for the Mercedes customer team, who hold a one-point lead over Sauber in the fight for 10th place in the constructors' standings, from the upcoming Belgian GP at Spa.
Ocon, who beat Verstappen to the FIA European Formula Three title in 2014, told the team's official website:
"I’m thrilled that I’ll be making my Grand Prix debut with Manor Racing later this month, and at Spa, of all circuits, which is the next best thing to my home race. I’m ready for this exciting step up, thanks to the experience I’ve gained as a Formula 1 Reserve Driver this season. I’d like to thank Renault Sport F1 Team and Mercedes-Benz for working together to make this happen, and to Manor Racing for the opportunity, which I’m going to grab with both hands. I’ve visited the Manor Technical Centre already, for my seat fit and to meet with the wider team, so we’ll be ready to hit the ground running after the summer break. They’ve done a great job this season and I’m excited that I’ve been tasked with helping them to build on that progress. I can’t wait to get started!
"
Manor racing director Dave Ryan told the same source how the team is "very pleased" to have secured the signing of a driver who is "clearly one of the rising stars of F1," suggesting Manor "have a very potent lineup with which to take the fight to our immediate competitors for the rest of the season."
As reported by Sky Sports' Matt Morlidge, Ocon was strongly linked to a full-time seat with Renault before joining Manor, and managing director Cyril Abiteboul has suggested a Renault drive could come his way if the youngster impresses alongside Wehrlein.
Per Manor's official website, Abiteboul said Ocon's nine-race stint with Manor will allow Renault to "evaluate him in a representative environment," adding, "I hope this experience will be of great benefit for him and for Renault in the near future."
From his official Twitter account, Haryanto wrote: "So I'm no longer a race driver in 2016 due to lack of funds. Thank you all for your kind messages. Looking forward for the next challenge."
Toro Rosso's James Key Pays Tribute to 'Very Focused' Carlos Sainz Jr.
2 of 5
Key has praised Sainz for his performances in the first half of 2016, suggesting the Spaniard has become more relaxed since Verstappen's promotion to Red Bull.
Sainz made his grand prix debut alongside Verstappen at the beginning of 2015, but despite regularly matching his team-mate for pace, he failed to attract the same recognition as the teenager.
As reported by Motor Sport Magazine's Mark Hughes, the relationship between the two youngsters became increasingly strained at the beginning of 2016 in light of Daniil Kvyat's struggles at Red Bull before Verstappen swapped seats with the Russian ahead of May's Spanish GP.
Since Verstappen's move, Sainz has established himself as Toro Rosso's undisputed lead driver, scoring points in six of the last eight races—including a career-best sixth-place finish in his home race at Barcelona.
Key believes Verstappen's move has brought out the best in Sainz, telling Autosport (h/t Eurosport):
"He has come on really well this year.
He is a really good guy to work with anyway, he always has been.
People in the team have huge respect for what he has done, even though it has been slightly under the radar for reasons we know.
But that reason has moved on now and that allowed him to perhaps be slightly less distracted by beating his team-mate and more on beating the other guys on track as best as he can.
He has been very focused recently, he's matured a lot this year and he's gained a lot of confidence in himself, so his approach to race weekends is more relaxed.
It is a bit more like a guy who has been doing it for a long time rather than a rookie who wants to prove himself. He's come on a long way.
"
Sainz told the same source "everything is a bit more open, everyone [has] started working a bit more together" since his "friction" with Verstappen disappeared.
However, the 21-year-old has insisted his upturn in form has had "nothing to do" with the midseason seat swap.
Meanwhile, Toro Rosso team principal Franz Tost has predicted the battle between Sainz and Kvyat will become increasingly feisty and "more complicated" in the second half of the season, according to Motorsport.com's Valentin Khorounzhiy, Jonathan Noble and Oleg Karpov.
Force India Hope to Make Sergio Perez's Decision as 'Difficult' as Possible
3 of 5
Deputy team principal Bob Fernley believes Force India can persuade Perez to remain with the team by finishing fourth in the 2016 constructors' standings.
As reported by Autosport (h/t Eurosport), Perez has a valid contract with Force India for 2017, but an "escape clause" in his deal means his future remains far from certain, with the Mexican's personal sponsors effectively set to decide his destination for next season.
Renault are hopeful of finalising a deal to sign Perez "in the coming weeks," while the driver's backers have also held talks with Williams, who hold a 15-point lead over Force India.
With Nico Hulkenberg certain to stay for 2017, Fernley has suggested finishing as the best of the rest behind Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari in the championship should prove Force India are the best option for Perez, who has claimed two podium finishes this season.
He told Motorsport.com's Noble:
"I think we have got to make that decision as difficult as it possibly can be.
We are keen to keep both drivers, so if we can haul in Williams and take fourth place, there are only three manufacturer teams ahead of us. So you are going to sideways or backwards.
The thing for us is to work hard and limit the choice.
It is a pretty straightforward process but it gets complicated.
The drivers are both contracted for next year. Then you are talking the commercial side, because we have significant commercial arrangements with Checo [Perez]'s supporters and sponsors.
Those are separate decisions and separate discussions. But in essence the decision to keep the driver pairing was there.
So I would dearly hope we can keep all of his people on board. But that wasn't the priority. The priority was to keep the driver pairing.
"
Perez recently told GPUpdate.net it is "going to be difficult" to realise his ambition of winning the world championship with a team of Force India's stature.
But he insisted the Silverstone-based outfit "will always be in [his] heart" for saving his F1 career at the end of 2013, when he was discarded by McLaren after a single season.
The 26-year-old told the same source: "I know that to become a World Champion in Formula 1 I need to move further up the grid. Whatever happens, whether the opportunity comes or not, who knows."
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
Williams Bemused by Ineffective Car Upgrades
4 of 5
Symonds has admitted Williams are struggling to understand why the upgrades made to the FW38 car have failed to have a noticeable effect on the team's performance.
After finishing third in the constructors' standings in 2014 and '15, the team arguably entered this season as the best of the rest behind Mercedes and Ferrari.
But having been overtaken in the competitive order by Red Bull, Williams are facing a challenge to cling on to fourth place in the championship, with fellow Mercedes customers Force India just 15 points behind with nine races remaining.
In their efforts to maintain their advantage, Williams have introduced several different variations of front wings in recent months, but such updates have had a minimal effect on the aerodynamic efficiency of the car.
And Symonds, the chief technical officer, has revealed the team are unsure why their upgrades are not working as predicted, telling Autosport (h/t Eurosport):
"In the last two years, we've been proud that we have brought things to the track that have performed as we anticipated. During that time, there was only one thing we brought that it didn't do what we hoped it would do so that is a pretty good record.
This year, we've had two quite major developments and they haven't delivered as much as we expected.
We have made a call to switch to next year's car quite early on. We've introduced fewer upgrades than normal and some of those haven't performed as well as we hoped they would. I'll be honest and say we're not completely sure [why] yet and we're having a big investigation into it right now. We will get to the bottom of it, it's the nature of the way we work at Williams, and we do go into things in a lot of detail so we will sort it.
"
Per the same source, head of performance engineering Rob Smedley previously hinted Williams' main weakness is their treatment of the 2016 Pirelli tyres.
He said: "As a team, I would feel more comfortable if we were more on top of tyres. It's a difficult subject for all of us and it's an area where I feel we need to put more resource into it."
As the midpoint of the summer break approaches, Williams' 2017 driver plans are still uncertain, and Valtteri Bottas has backed team-mate Felipe Massa to earn a new contract.
Bottas told Autosport (h/t Eurosport) how the Brazilian is "still quick" and "underestimated," adding, "It depends on Felipe [whether he wants to continue] but personally, I see no reason why he would not continue."
Symonds told the same source "one of the aspects I am happy with" is Williams' driver lineup, insisting Massa is "not losing anything" and remains "as quick as he ever was."
Marcus Ericsson Expects Sauber to Get 'Stronger' After Change of Ownership
5 of 5
Ericsson believes Sauber can look forward to a "good future" after the team's change of ownership was announced in July, suggesting they should aim to emulate the success of fellow independents Force India.
After arriving in F1 in 1993, Sauber established themselves as one of the pluckiest teams on the grid, competing for points and occasional podium finishes, but good results have been hard to come by in recent years, with the Swiss outfit failing to score a single point in 2014.
Sauber recovered to eighth place in the 2015 constructors' standings but remain without a point after the first 12 races of this year, when they have struggled financially.
As reported by Autosport (h/t Eurosport), the team were unable to pay their staff's wages on time for four months between February and May as team principal Monisha Kaltenborn searched for more backing, with Sauber losing high-profile engineers including technical director Mark Smith.
Ahead of the recent Hungarian GP, however, Sauber confirmed Swiss investment company Longbow Finance S.A. had purchased the team.
Ericsson has suggested the team, with their long-term future secure, will only improve under new ownership and has challenged Sauber to match the results of Force India, who have scored four podium finishes in less than three years.
He told F1i.com's Chris Medland:
"I think for the team Sauber will be hopefully getting stronger and stronger now. They have got something for the future which is looking a lot brighter. I can’t say a lot, we’ll have to wait and see, but I think it’s a much better option than it was looking two months ago, let’s put it that way!
[...]
I think as it is now everything is quite new and I don’t think many people in the team know much about what they want. All that I know is that it seems like [the new owners] are very serious about it and what to make this team good and profitable as well, with the whole business. I speak to Monisha a bit about and she seems really positive and thinks it is really good. I trust that and that’s the main thing.
[...]
I don’t see any reason why Sauber can’t be successful again. Successful means fighting for points consistently and better things. Force India have shown that they can score podiums with a small team and small budget and I don’t see why Sauber cannot do the same. So I think there is good potential here. I think the facilities they have in Sauber is really amazing—they have state of the art facilities—and now with the new owners they will use that for the development of the cars more. So I think there is a good future for Sauber.
"
Although the Swede is likely to remain with Sauber for a third season in 2017, Ericsson admitted he was trying to plot a route out of the team during the "very difficult situation," telling the same source his management "is constantly looking at other options and speaking to other teams."
Per Motorsport.com's Jamie Klein, Ericsson has expressed his excitement over the range of upgrades—including a revised front wing and floor—set to be introduced to the C35 car ahead of the Belgian GP, suggesting the improvements represent "a step in the right direction."
Meanwhile, Kaltenborn has admitted Sauber's change of ownership means they will have "no excuses not to be good" when the major regulation changes are introduced in 2017, telling Autosport (h/t Eurosport) the team will embark on a recruitment drive to build back up to full strength.
She added that a new technical director is at the top of her wishlist, suggesting it would make the team "more efficient" but admitting "it's not easy to find the right person."
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
