Formula 1's Latest Rumours and Talk: Sebastian Vettel, Bigger Tyres, More

Sebastian Vettel has visited Maranello for the first time in 2015. The German was apparently summoned to the factory by new team principal Maurizio Arrivabene—an honour usually reserved for drivers facing the boot from Formula One's oldest team.

But all is well, and despite lacking any personal social media accounts, Vettel was happy to pose for a selfie with his new colleagues.

Things are not so rosy for the Nurburgring. The circuit had been due to host the 2015 German Grand Prix but comments by CEO Carsten Schumacher suggest it was unwilling to pay what was being asked. The race will instead be held at Hockenheim.

Elsewhere, Pirelli motorsport boss Paul Hembery has expressed enthusiasm for chunkier rear tyres, the quieter engines are going down well with younger sections of the audience and the FIA is considering giving Honda a break in the row over engine upgrades.

Read on for a full roundup of the top stories from the last few days.

Sebastian Vettel Summoned to Maranello

Dan Istitene/Getty Images

Sebastian Vettel has paid his first visit of the year to Maranello.

The four-time world champion visited the factory and met staff before taking a selfie of himself inside what appears to be a very clean part of the base. It was posted to the team's Twitter feed:

"

Sebastian #Vettel in Maranello http://t.co/HTVqYZ1oGn pic.twitter.com/hKOl6zgVMi

— Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) January 15, 2015"

Vettel avoided having to wear the somewhat unflattering head cover but did at least wear a white coat. A Ferrari website statement on Thursday said:

"

Today, at the request of Team Principal Maurizio Arrivabene, Sebastian Vettel came to Maranello to visit the Gestione Sportiva. The purpose of the tour was to allow the four times World Champion to visit all the departments and to get better acquainted with everyone he will be working with this season.

"

All well and good, but did Vettel really need to be summoned by his new boss? One would have thought he'd be so keen to get involved and spend time with his new team that the security staff on the gate would be sick of the sight of him.

German Grand Prix to Remain at Hockenheim

Jens Meyer/Associated Press

Hockenheim will host the German Grand Prix for a second successive year after the Nurburgring seemingly dropped out.

The race was supposed to alternate between the two venues; however, F1 commercial rights chief Bernie Ecclestone told Alan Baldwin of Reuters:

"

It's going to be at Hockenheim, we're in the middle of doing something with them. It can't be Nurburgring because there's nobody there.

We've got a contract in place [with Hockenheim], we just have to amend the years of the contract. It was alternating with Nurburgring so we'll just take that out. Providing the contract goes through as we expect it to, we'll be in good shape.

"

The problem appears to stem from the troubled recent ownership history of the 'Ring. After it ran into financial difficulties, Ecclestone himself attempted to buy the circuit but was outbid by Capricorn Automotive.

They were unable to pay, and Bloomberg reported in October that Russian businessman Viktor Kharitonin had agreed to buy a majority stake. However, his pockets do not appear to be bottomless.

On Wednesday Nurburgring CEO Carsten Schumacher told crash.net:

"

The Formula One is welcome at the Nurburgring. It provides worldwide television pictures, a positive image and would bring high sales to the region.

However, the Formula One has to remain affordable. We don't comment ongoing conversations. We will communicate this, if there is a concrete result.

"

The affordability reference there is to the cost of hosting fee—what the race organisers must pay for the privilege of holding a grand prix. Forbes' Christian Sylt reported the average in 2011 was $27 million and rising by 10 percent per year.

The only way organisers can make that money back is through ticket sales and on-site concessions. Without state/private support or large crowds, hosting a race isn't financially viable—and that appears to have been the sticking point for the Nurburgring.

When announcing the alternating deal in 2013, the Nurburgring website stated Hockenheim had agreed to host the race should the 'Ring be unable to do so. That has come to pass, perhaps far earlier than either party expected.

But it's not quite a done deal just yet. After the news broke of Ecclestone's comments, a Hockenheim spokesperson told GP Update: "We are available for further negotiations, but nothing is fixed yet. We do have a contract for 2016 and 2018, [but] a statement as to whether we will host the German Grand Prix annually would be pure speculation at the present time."

Hopefully finalising the deal is just a formality. We couldn't not have a German Grand Prix...

Pirelli Enthusiastic About Wider Formula 1 Tyres

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Pirelli motorsport boss Paul Hembery has thrown his weight behind a push to widen the tyres on F1 cars.

The move was suggested as a way to make the racing more exciting and the cars more attractive. Wider tyres would in theory allow the drivers to push harder due to the increased levels of grip—and most likely make the cars more physically demanding to drive.

In addition, should plans for 1000 horsepower engines come to fruition, a wider tyre would be more capable of coping with the extra power.

Speaking to Autosport, Hembery said:

"

Wider tyres? That appeals. I think when you see the images of the 1970s cars, it's not so extreme that you think dragster, but you do think 'wow look at that.'

At the moment, the tyres are quite small from many points of view. We are open to that discussion—we just need a little bit of advance notice. But we will do what whatever is needed to make the sport what it needs to be.

"

He added such a change would not be possible for 2016 and indicated a preference for tyres wider than 400 millimetres—they're currently 245 millimetres wide on the front and 325 millimetres on the rear.

Increasing mechanical grip—that is, grip produced by the wheels touching the tarmac—should reduce the cars' reliance on aerodynamic grip and allow them to follow closer together.

A decade and a half ago the FIA chose to do the opposite and cut mechanical grip in order to lower cornering speed, mandating grooved tyres on narrower cars. This helped usher in the era of aerodynamic dominance and cars became increasingly difficult to follow closely.

The grooves have now gone but the cars remain narrower than they were in 1997. There remains a huge reliance on aerodynamics and the contact patch of the tyres remains relatively small. Drivers still find it very difficult to follow a rival and gimmicks such as DRS are necessary to avoid processions.

With any luck bigger, beefier tyres would allow more close following—and maybe even make DRS redundant.

FIA May Make Allowances for Honda in Engine Loophole Row

Mark Thompson/Getty Images

The FIA may give some engine-development allowances to Honda after it emerged the other three manufacturers would be allowed to make in-season changes to their power units.

BBC Sport's Andrew Benson reports Honda, along with engine partner McLaren, met with the FIA on Monday to air their concerns that this situation is unfair.

After the meeting, an FIA spokesman told BBC Sport, "The meeting went well and we are discussing matters that arose."

The issue arose due to a loophole in the F1 technical regulations. All engines were meant to be homologated (approved by the FIA) on or before 28 February. However, the relevant document does not explicitly state this should happen in 2015—only 2014.

Ferrari, Renault and Mercedes are therefore allowed to homologate their 2015 power units after this time, spending their 32 development tokens when they see fit.

Honda are not eligible to do this because, as a new supplier, they do not have an existing power unit and are not working under the token upgrade system. They can do unlimited work on their engine but must "freeze" it no later than February 28.

The BBC article suggests Honda could be given 32 tokens to spend after homologating their engine at the end of February. However, this would seemingly give them too great an advantage because the other manufacturers will have probably spent most of their tokens before then.

An alternative solution could be to give Honda a smaller number of development tokens to spend after the cut-off date. Maybe the same number as the highest-spending rival manufacturer has left at that time.

For example, if Mercedes have spent 25 and have seven left, Honda would get seven tokens.

But that's pure speculation, and no indications have been made at all that this may be done. We'll have to wait and see what, if anything, the FIA comes up with.

Quieter Engines Making Formula 1 More Family-Friendly

Daniel Maurer/Associated Press

The new, quieter engine sounds are attracting new fans, according to Sepang circuit boss Razlan Razali.

He admitted being apprehensive after hearing negative comments over the engine sound, but when F1 arrived in Malaysia for the season's second race it wasn't all bad news.

He told Reuters:

"

We were concerned after the feedback from Australia. Very concerned. When it finally came to Malaysia, I didn't like it. It was simply too quiet.

But what I noticed in the grandstands is that you get families with kids watching and enjoying Formula One better.

I can remember in the past where a dad would put headphones on the kid and hold it. Or a kid would be too scared and start crying, wanting to go home. I think it attracts a new breed of fanbase now. And that's what you want.

"

This writer has experienced a similar thing when watching on TV; a friend who hated the more in-your-face sound of the V8s can now tolerate watching it. Sadly, she doesn't want a Rolex.

Razali also revealed the start time for the race may return to 3 p.m. following recommendations made after Jules Bianchi's crash at the Japanese Grand Prix.

In recent years, the Malaysian Grand Prix has started at 4 p.m. local time to fit in better with European viewing habits, but the FIA Accident Panel advised race start times be at least four hours before sunset.

Local sunset at nearby Kuala Lumpur on the date of the 2015 race is 7:22 p.m. Therefore, a 3 p.m. start would be in line with the recommendations.