Formula 1's Latest Rumours and Talk: Marussia Rejected, Bottas, Hamilton, More
Marussia's return has been thrown into doubt after at least one team on the Formula One Strategy Group voted against allowing them to use a 2014 car for the coming season.
Reports suggest Force India threw the fatal spanner into the works, but Bernie Ecclestone later revealed opposition existed elsewhere as well. Could it be the final nail in the plucky underdog's coffin?
Lewis Hamilton is also dealing with some bad news; his seven-year on-off relationship with Nicole Scherzinger is off again. The singer revealed this week the pair had separated, with reports blaming their hectic workloads.
Elsewhere, Valtteri Bottas has revealed he is open to a move away from Williams in 2016, Honda will have an upgraded engine for the next pre-season test and Caterham appear to have finally run out of time.
Read on for a full roundup of the top stories from the last few days.
Force India K.O. Marussia Return
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Marussia's attempted comeback has been blocked by the F1 Strategy Group.
BBC Sport's Andrew Benson reported Force India, newcomers to the group after finishing sixth in 2014's championship, voted against allowing Marussia—now known as Manor—to use a 2014 car to race this season.
"Force India vote no to block Marussia's comeback for 2015 http://t.co/rKL8Fpi9iF pic.twitter.com/ni2drVikFU
— BBCF1 (@bbcf1) February 5, 2015"
No reason was officially given by the team, but even if it had cleared the Strategy Group (on which six of the teams sit) opposition would have surfaced from teams not involved.
And unsurprisingly, it all comes down to money. Speaking to The Independent's Christian Sylt, Bernie Ecclestone later revealed:
"They wanted to come in with last year’s car and it didn't get accepted. It needed all the teams to agree and there were three or four of them that didn't agree.
The money that they should have got gets distributed amongst the teams that are racing. That’s a pretty good reason I suppose.
"
Other, perhaps more accurate ways of describing the reason are "pathetic," "short-sighted," "selfish" and "shameful."
But from a detached viewpoint, "understandable" works too. Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull, Toro Rosso (by virtue of being Red Bull's second team), McLaren and perhaps Williams are the only secure teams in F1.
The rest—Force India, Lotus and Sauber—face a constant struggle to stay afloat, crippled by rising costs and the lopsided way in which revenues are distributed. This inequity caused Marussia's initial demise and sent Caterham packing, too.
If Marussia's estimated £34 million prize pot is distributed equally, each will receive £3.78 million. That could be the difference between life and death for the smaller teams.
But at the other end of the pit lane, BBC Sport states Ferrari receive almost 15 times that much, before the revenue pot is split, just for being Ferrari. The other big teams get a substantial slice of extra cash, too.
Whoever blocked Marussia's return deserves a withering stare or two. But the real blame lies with those who created and grew fat from the current, grossly unfair revenue model.
Maybe they could put their hands into their very deep pockets and sort this mess out?
Lewis Hamilton and Nicole Scherzinger Split
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Lewis Hamilton and Nicole Scherzinger have split up again, and this time it could be for good.
The Sun newspaper reported on Wednesday the pair had gone their separate ways. On Thursday, Scherzinger told The Sun's Dan Wootton:
"I'm devastated that it didn't work out. It was the hardest decision we had to make, but we made it together.
I love Lewis and I know he loves me. We wish nothing but happiness and the very best for one another. I'm trying to stay strong in my faith right now.
"
Wootton added the couple had a number of arguments over the festive period, and that their hectic work schedules—which often saw them at opposite sides of the world—played a large part in the split.
Usually a driver's love life isn't especially newsworthy, but both have huge global profiles. In addition, at times in his career, Hamilton's on-track performance has appeared to be affected by events in his private life.
His worst season to date, 2011, coincided with personal difficulties, as reported by James Allen. If he's still in a bad place when the season starts, it could offer his rivals a chance to grab an early advantage.
Whichever way it goes, hopefully both can find some happiness in the future.
Valtteri Bottas Open to 2016 Switch
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Valtteri Bottas has hinted he would be open to a move up the grid in 2016.
The highly rated Finn had a breakthrough year in 2014, scoring six podiums and often being Mercedes' main competition in qualifying. He will race for Williams in 2015 but isn't committed beyond the end of the season.
Asked by Formula1.com about rumours he was being considered by Ferrari as a replacement for Kimi Raikkonen, Bottas said, "I don’t know anything about Kimi’s contract. All I know is that I want to be in the quickest car available. That’s all I can say."
Williams had a great 2014, but deep down Bottas must know that without a substantially higher budget, they will never make the leap necessary for him to fight for the world title.
A switch to Ferrari—presumably alongside Sebastian Vettel—would offer him more opportunities providing the Scuderia can find a way out of their current run of poor form, but that's not the only avenue he may explore.
Bottas has a management team which includes Mercedes boss Toto Wolff and former McLaren icon Mika Hakkinen. There's at least a remote possibility seats at both teams may open up for 2016.
Another good year in 2015 could put Bottas in contention for as many as three top seats.
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McLaren-Honda Will Have Upgraded Engine for Second Test
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McLaren will have an upgraded Honda engine for the second pre-season test, which is set to take place at the Circuit de Catalunya between 19-22 February.
The team struggled at the opening test at Jerez, completing just 79 laps. But Honda motorsport chief Yasuhisa Arai told Autosport:
"There are many difficulties that we had this week, but we will fix it before the next Barcelona test and get back to work again.
The new engine will be a step up, because we are taking things step-by-step. Some parts will be final [race] parts, but not all. There are several testing parts still, and we will take final confirmation on those just before Melbourne.
There was no major big trouble. Our package is very tight and skinny, but some points have been validated. It is a tight package, but we had no big trouble with it.
"
Teething troubles were expected for the new Honda power unit and McLaren managed just 12 laps on the first two days in Jerez. Fixes to the small issues affecting the engine were applied and on the third day, Fernando Alonso managed 32 laps before a loss of cooling water pressure ended his running.
Jenson Button did 35 laps on the final day, but he too had his session cut short—this time with an ignition problem.
Honda, as a new manufacturer, are free to make whatever changes they wish to their power unit before February 28. From this date, they will receive the average number of upgrade tokens rivals Mercedes, Ferrari and Renault have left.
These can then be spent on upgrades during the season.
Caterham Hope Finally Fades
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Caterham appear to have run out of time.
The team went into administration late last year, but managed to raise enough funds to attend the final race of the season and had been hopeful of attracting a rescue deal.
However, all hope now seems to have vanished. Auctioneers Wyles Hardy & Co released a statement on Thursday announcing the team's assets—including the cars and race equipment—would be sold. It read (h/t motorsport.com):
"Acting for the joint administrators Finbarr O'Connell, Henry Shinners and Anthony Spicer of Smith & Williamson, Wyles Hardy & Co have been instructed to realise the assets of the Caterham F1 race team.
A series of online timed auction sales will be held covering the race equipment, engineering facility, F1 memorabilia, IT and communications, office furniture and as well as private treaty sales for the race trailer fleet, the state-of-the-art race simulator, Dell HPC super computer and autoclaves.
The first auction will focus on the race support and pit lane equipment including the 2014 chassis' and show cars and is scheduled for early March.
"
With Marussia's hopes seemingly dashed as well, the announcement means we will almost certainly have an 18-car grid in 2015—per F1Fanatic, the smallest field for an opening race since 1966.
F1 generates huge revenues and is more than capable of supporting 12 or even 13 teams.
Sadly, self-interest and greed has taken the sport to a place where even legendary survivors Minardi could not endure.
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