Formula 1's Latest Rumours and Talk: Lewis Hamilton, Force India Struggles, More

Force India have appealed for financial assistance as fears mount over their future in Formula One. They were late debuting their 2015 VJM08 in testing, and now questions are emerging over whether they will last the season.

Deputy team principal Bob Fernley also claimed rivals Lotus and Sauber are struggling to make ends meet.

Lewis Hamilton has problems too, but his are related to his contract. The world champion is yet to sign a new deal with Mercedes, and team boss Toto Wolff was forced to deny the Brit had asked for £1 million a week to stay.

The issue of his driver number is more clear for Hamilton—he's keeping 44, and has dismissed the traditional world champion's No. 1 as "irrelevant."

Elsewhere, new Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene took his team to the fans as he called for more fan access in the paddock and McLaren believe in the MP4-30 despite its low lap count in testing.

Force India Appeal for Financial Assistance

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Force India are seeking financial aid from F1 commercial rights chief Bernie Ecclestone amid fears they may not make it to the opening race of the season.

The team were late getting their 2015 challenger built and ready for testing. Deputy team principal Bob Fernley confirmed on Sky Sports F1's Ask Crofty that this was partly down to cash-flow issues.

Now, Fernley has revealed his team may need extra assistance to get to the grid in Melbourne. Asked by Autosport if Force India had requested an advance in prize-money payments, he said:

"

We have not had any help to date, but hopefully we will get some help. We are in discussions on it.

Bernie has been extremely understanding. He's a racer. He understands from his days how difficult it is. I think he realises this is serious.

"

He added that Force India would do all they could to get to the first race, and that other teams were in similar situations:

"

It's going to be very tough, but as always we will get through. At this point, we are working through the build of the second car. Everything is getting there but it is not going to be easy, it hasn't been easy all the way through the winter.

We have made it clear to the commercial rights holder that we have problems, as have Lotus and Sauber. It's not isolated to one team.

"

Both the teams Fernley named indicated they would be at the opening race.

That even a relatively successful mid-grid team could seemingly be close to failure should be enough to send a shiver down the spine of fans all over the world.

Losing Force India would, even if Manor do make it, reduce the field to 18 cars. This doesn't sound so bad, but if all the teams in financial difficulty failed—and there's a very real chance all could—there would only be six teams left.

Of them only three (McLaren, Ferrari and Williams) could be counted on to remain a part of the grid in the long term.

The smaller teams are in difficulty because the revenue-sharing system governing F1 is broken, illustrated by Joe Saward's revealing diagram.

Vast sums are siphoned out of the sport and into the pockets of shareholders, while larger teams are awarded a disproportionate share of the pie; smaller squads are left to feed off the scraps.

There's enough money in F1 to support a grid of 24 to 26 cars. Sadly, it seems the self-interested and greedy are more concerned with feathering their own nests in the short term than they are with the sport's future.

Mercedes Boss Toto Wolff Rubbishes Lewis Hamilton Contract Rumours

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Toto Wolff has brushed off claims Lewis Hamilton was seeking £1 million per week to remain with reigning world champions Mercedes beyond the end of 2015.

The Times' Kevin Eason reported Hamilton was seeking a three-year, £150 million deal. However, speaking to Sky Sports' Rachel Brookes, Wolff said:

"

I think [with] these numbers you must question where you get your drugs from. I don’t want to even comment on this nonsense.

We are in really good discussions with him, he wants to stay with the team and we want him to stay and we are in good spirits. Contract negotiations are something which takes time and we are positive so this is pretty normal business.

Don’t forget it is the start of the season and everyone is expecting a contract to be signed soon and they are putting pressure and for us this has no influence in our discussions.

"

The £50 million annual figure did look a bit silly, so it's no surprise Wolff responded the way he did. But Eason is an experienced journalist and The Times is not known for tabloid-style exaggeration.

That we're still talking about this particular contract suggests the two parties are some distance apart in negotiations which had previously looked set to conclude a long time ago.

Autosport reported in August 2014 that both sides had agreed to put talks on hold until the end of the season so they were not distracted from the title race. The season duly ended and per the Daily Mail, Hamilton described talks over a new deal as "pretty much a formality."

Yet December and January came and went without any sign of progress. Now February has also passed without a contract being signed.

With the start of the season less than two weeks away, the speculation machine will go into overdrive if a deal is not done soon.

Lewis Hamilton Dismisses No. 1 as 'Irrelevant'

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Though his contractual issues remain unresolved, Lewis Hamilton is sure of one thing—he's very happy to keep his own racing number in 2015.

The world champion is eligible to use No. 1 on his car but, unlike Sebastian Vettel in 2014, has declined to do so. He told reporters in Spain (h/t Reuters):

"

Everyone can use No. 1 when they win the championship but it's irrelevant for me. Forty-four means more to me than No. 1. It doesn't mean I'm not number one.

The 44 is my family number. It's the number I had when I first started racing. I won my first [karting] championship with 44. It means something to me.

The No. 1 itself, Vettel's had it, [Michael] Schumacher's had it, all the champions have had it. None of them had 44. Forty-four is mine.

"

Reigning champions have carried No. 1 on their car since 1975; drivers to have used it in this manner include Ayrton Senna, Niki Lauda and Nelson Piquet. The last season without a No. 1 on the grid was 1994, as reigning champion Alain Prost did not defend his title.

Hamilton's No. 44 has a slightly less illustrious history. It was last used in the sport's early days when driver numbers were not allocated on a seasonal basis, instead given for each race.

Among those to use No. 44 back then was Maurice Trintignant, who carried it he won the 1955 Monaco Grand Prix.

Maurizio Arrivabene Makes Point About Fan Access

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Maurizio Arrivabene and Esteban Gutierrez.

Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene took to the stands during testing in an effort to improve the sport's accessibility to fans.

The new boss, test and reserve driver Esteban Gutierrez, sporting director Massimo Rivola and a sponsor representative sat with spectators on Saturday.

"

.@ScuderiaFerrari boss Maurizio Arrivabene & @EstebanGtz have been enjoying #f1 with the fans this afternoon #bbcf1 pic.twitter.com/Goagpvkvgo

— BBCF1 (@bbcf1) February 28, 2015"

Arrivabene later revealed why he had done it. He told press (h/t ESPN):

"

I heard that in Australia there will be more restrictions in terms of passes [for the pit lane] and I think this is not acceptable. So I said to the guys 'OK, if we are going to have a situation where the paddock is going to be empty, it's better if we start training to go to the people and we sit in the grandstands'.

"

He added that he felt F1's desire for exclusivity did not necessarily mean fans had to be pushed back even further:

"

It was a kind of provocation but I love to do this kind of provocation. I said we need to take Formula One close to the people. We were sitting in the middle of the people. And I don't like to see now and in the future the paddock empty, it's not the right way.

Nothing is decided yet but we have certain communication that the number of passes is going to be reduced. Normally when you have certain rumours in Formula One, they become reality. So I sit in the stands before it is becoming reality. Exclusivity doesn't mean having an empty paddock. This is my clear statement.

"

Arrivabene has been something of a revelation since taking charge of Ferrari in November 2014. The team has taken a significant step forward in apparent performance under his direction and, per Sky Sports F1, the atmosphere in the team appears much improved.

Fan access has long been a bone of contention, an area in which F1 compares unfavourably with series' such as NASCAR.

Some, including the Globe and Mail, even say the closed-off nature of the sport had been a factor in its failure to gain a foothold in the United States.

F1 could not offer the same level of interaction as NASCAR, and doesn't need to.

But it wouldn't hurt if a way could be found to make the drivers and perhaps even the cars more accessible to race-going fans.

McLaren Retain Belief Despite Another Disappointing Test

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McLaren still believe their new MP4-30 will come good despite a string of reliability issues in winter testing.

The team's new engine partner, Honda, has struggled to get its power unit to work correctly, limiting the team to just 380 laps. Per F1Fanatic, this equates to just 1,750.97 kilometres.

But on the team website, McLaren racing director Eric Boullier was looking at the positives:

"

Looking back at the last four weeks, our winter test programme has been difficult. However, that wasn’t entirely unexpected: this time last year, we saw many teams in a similar situation when they introduced new power units for the first time. This year, we also had the added complexity that very tight packaging brings.

In overview, the lack of mileage means we won’t be as ready as we’d have liked, but we can take away the positive that all the running and data gathering we’ve done have confirmed that we’re achieving the targets we set ourselves.

Even if it’s likely to be a difficult start to the season, we know we can develop hard and fast, and that we’ll surely unlock the huge potential that lies within the McLaren-Honda MP4-30.

"

McLaren's figures compare favourably to those of some teams ahead of 2014. Per Formula1.com Red Bull, Lotus and Marussia all did fewer than 1,751 kilometres. Of them, Red Bull started the season well and Marussia weren't far behind their expected pace.

But the Renault (Red Bull and Lotus) and Ferrari (Marussia) engines did far more laps than the Honda power unit has managed. McLaren are the only team using it, so have been left alone to discover whatever faults it has.

That task is nowhere near finished.

It's likely the car will prove quick once it's running reliably. There even remains a small possibility that it'll be a match for Mercedes.

But for the first one or two rounds at least, McLaren's race weekends are likely to be little more than glorified test sessions.