Formula 1's Latest Rumours and Talk: Wolff/Nasr, McLaren Woes, Manor, More

Susie Wolff and Felipe Nasr are blaming each other for the testing crash which saw both miss out on vital track time.

The Williams tester and Sauber rookie collided at the entry to Turn 5, with both cars ending up in the gravel trap. Wolff called the incident "stupid," while Nasr felt Wolff should have seen him coming.

Hopefully some footage of the incident will emerge in the coming days.

There were problems at McLaren too, Jenson Button having his day ended after just 21 laps due to a faulty MGU-K seal. It's yet another minor issue which cost the team valuable testing mileage; it will be Saturday before the problem is permanently fixed.

Elsewhere, Mercedes suffered a driver shortage on Thursday, Manor have taken a key step toward returning to the grid and Daniel Ricciardo wants more from Renault before the start of the season proper.

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

Susie Wolff and Felipe Nasr Blame Each Other for Testing Shunt

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The cars are returned to the pits.

Susie Wolff and Felipe Nasr blamed each other after their crash on the opening day of the second test.

Both drivers ended up in the gravel at Turn 5. Nasr's Sauber appeared to come off worse, as images posted on Twitter show.

"

A few more @octanephotos images of the Wolff & Nasr incident, considerable damage to the rear of the Sauber #F1 pic.twitter.com/qdq62zTf9C

— Jack Leslie (@JackLeslieF1) February 19, 2015"

Both teams' mechanics were able to fix the damage, but the two drivers lost a lot of running time. Speaking to press at the circuit afterward, Wolff was in no doubt Nasr was to blame. She said (h/t Sky Sports):

"

I stayed completely on my line, I didn’t expect him to move across as aggressively as he did and he hit my front-left [tyre] with his rear. For me it was an unfortunate incident but not something I could have avoided.

I went straight over to him and said ‘what the hell went on’? He was a bit speechless and to be honest with you I was also a bit speechless because it was one of those things that happened and you said to yourself ‘how the hell did that just happen?’ It’s stupid.

"

Nasr had a different view, telling press:

"

I was clearly on the braking zone already, a few metres after the braking zone, and suddenly I felt a big hit.

I was committed to the move because I saw she was enough to the right and had given up the room for me, but I don’t know how much she was aware of my car coming. The only thing I asked was if she saw me and she said no she didn’t see me coming.

"

Video of the incident has not yet reached the public domain (and maybe never will), so drawing our own conclusions is impossible. But Wolff did show a small group of journalists at the circuit a video provided to her by race control.

One of them, Luke Smith, was in no doubt where the blame should lie.

"

Susie Wolff just showed us the footage of her crash with Nasr. 100% Nasr's fault. Wolff stayed on line, he veered. Silly move.

— Luke Smith (@LukeSmithF1) February 19, 2015"

Hopefully we'll get to see the footage ourselves sooner rather than later.

Mercedes Suffer Driver Shortage on Thursday

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Mercedes were forced to take Pascal Wehrlein back from Force India after both their race drivers were unable to take a full part in the opening day of testing.

Lewis Hamilton was scheduled to be in the car all day, but the reigning world champion was forced to stop after 10 laps due to a fever. Nico Rosberg was present but did not take over the W06 due to an inflamed nerve in his neck. Fortunately, it had recovered enough for him to return to the cockpit on Friday morning.

But on Thursday, having pulled some strings to put Wehrlein in the Force India, Mercedes had no choice but to bring him back.

"

An unplanned stoppage keeping us off track at the moment. @LewisHamilton is unwell and not able to continue driving today... (1 of 2)

— MERCEDES AMG F1 (@MercedesAMGF1) February 19, 2015"

"

... so we're just adjusting the car for Pascal #Wehrlein to take to the track this afternoon. #MusicalChairs

— MERCEDES AMG F1 (@MercedesAMGF1) February 19, 2015"

Wehrlein, therefore, drove two different cars. The German did 32 laps in the 2014 Force India, setting a best time of one minute, 28.329 seconds. He followed this with 48 laps in the new 2015 Mercedes, but failed to improve on his best time—his quickest in the W06 was a 1:28.489.

By comparison, Lewis Hamilton's pole-position lap at the 2014 Spanish Grand Prix at this circuit was 1:25.323—beaten on the opening day of 2015 testing by Pastor Maldonado's Lotus.

Mercedes are clearly sandbagging (deliberately masking true speed). We may have to wait until the final test—and maybe even Melbourne—before we get a real idea of how quick their car is.

McLaren Encounter More Honda Troubles

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It looks a bit like Alice the Goon from Popeye, doesn't it?

McLaren made a promising start to the second test. Jenson Button set a time of one minute, 28.182 seconds in the morning and it looked, for a moment at least, that the team may have made a step forward.

But as has been the case all winter, their Honda power unit had other ideas.

After 21 laps, a faulty MGU-K seal brought Button's day to an early end. Though in itself a relatively minor part, it nonetheless necessitated a full power unit replacement—and the issue will not be properly fixed until Saturday.

Honda motorsport chief Yasuhisa Arai said on the McLaren website:

"

We had to stop running this morning after discovering a faulty seal on the MGU-K. That faulty part then caused an issue that requires full replacement of the power-unit—and the time needed to make those changes effectively ends today’s programme.

We’ll need to run a re-designed component to avoid a potential repeat of the problem. Unfortunately, we won’t be in possession of that updated part until Saturday, which means that we may face the same problem when we run again tomorrow.

Such issues are all part of testing, but we’ll make the best changes we can overnight, and will plan for a productive day of running—with Fernando behind the wheel—tomorrow.

"

Outright panic is unlikely to have set in at Woking just yet, but it has to be edging closer. With five days of testing behind us and just seven to go, McLaren are yet to have anything even close to a proper day's testing.

While Button's lap is encouraging compared to their efforts in Jerez, the team have done almost no proper setup work and have not pushed the car hard at all.

But maybe the bookies know something we don't. Per Oddschecker, nearly all of them still list McLaren as second favourites for the constructors' title in 2015.

Manor Take Another Step Toward a Racing Return

Mark Thompson/Getty Images

Marussia finished ninth in 2014 thanks to Jules Bianchi's ninth place at Monaco.

Manor moved a step closer to a fairytale return on Thursday as they exited administration.

The team's creditors agreed Manor—who entered as Marussia in 2014—could enter a Company Voluntary Agreement (CVA). This arrangement will see the team directors resume control from administrators FRP Advisory Group.

A UK Government website states a CVA "must be approved by creditors who are owed at least 75 percent of the debt." It will see Manor pay back at least some of their debts on an agreed timescale.

Joint administrator for FRP, Geoff Rowley, said in a statement (h/t BBC Sport):

"

We are pleased that the financial restructuring of the company has been progressed after creditor approval of the CVA.

With new investment and a continuity of the respected management, the business has the ideal platform from which it can accelerate the operational rebuilding already underway to get a team back racing.

We shall complete our statutory duties as administrators with the necessary filings needed in order to formally exit the company from administration over the next few days.

"

The team looked almost certain to disappear after entering administration near the end of the 2014 season owing, per Sky Sports, around £60 million. A £31 million part of this was to trade creditors, including Ferrari (£16.6 million) and McLaren (£7 million).

Some of their assets were sold at auction in December and a final sale was set for 19 January. However, this was cancelled as a last-minute rescue bid gave the team fresh hope.

In order to claim their prize money for finishing ninth in 2014, the team need to have a car ready for the fourth race of the season—the Bahrain Grand Prix on 19 April.

The Times' Kevin Eason tweeted that the wheels are already turning.

"

2015 cars are under construction and staff being recruited. For once, a good news story in #F1. Let's hope #F1 doesn't get in the way

— Kevin Eason (@easonF1) February 19, 2015"

Good news indeed—hopefully the two months the team have is enough time to see them back on the grid.

Daniel Ricciardo Seeking Renault Improvements

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Daniel Ricciardo says Renault are still behind with their power unit and need to make improvements—but is confident they will come good eventually.

McLaren have taken most of the trouble-related headlines, but Red Bull are also struggling with reliability. The team managed just 166 laps in Jerez—350 fewer than Mercedes—and were the second-slowest team on the time sheets.

Speaking after a slightly more promising first day of the Catalunya test, Ricciardo told journalists at the circuit (h/t Autosport):

"

We are still fine-tuning definitely, we are not where we want to be yet with engine and driveability. But at the same time we didn't expect to be there yet.

We knew it would take a bit of time, so I think we are where we thought it would be. Some others are a bit further up for now, but come Melbourne we will be there.

"

He added that although things were not perfect, Renault were moving in the right direction—especially with regards reliability:

"

I think the bigger problems seem to be solved today. It is now just fine tuning and getting it a bit more driveable, getting power down when we need it.

In terms of global problems it is OK. We didn't do 100 laps, but we didn't have to go through any engine change like we faced in Jerez. So we are definitely making progress on that front.

"

Renault's engine chief Cyril Abiteboul has been bullish about his company's chances in 2015, even going so far as to tell Autosport he felt they may do well enough to be able to hold onto some tokens until the end of the season to improve their chances in 2016.

But with Ferrari looking like they've made significant steps and Mercedes certain to once again produce the goods, it's difficult to be overly optimistic about Red Bull's chances.

Ricciardo will draw the best possible results out of the RB11, but Daniil Kvyat is still raw and very much an unknown quantity.

Like McLaren, Red Bull need to get more, better-quality track time in before the start of the year.