Formula 1's Latest Rumours and Talk: Lewis Hamilton Contract, Red Bull and More
Will Lewis Hamilton stay or go?
The 30-year-old has made no secret of his intention to remain at Mercedes since claiming his second world championship at the end of 2014—indeed, he told Sky Sports a new deal was "a formality" the morning after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix—but the contract saga, as we can now call it, still shows no signs of ending.
And it has been reported that Hamilton's ambitious demands are behind the standstill.
The careers of Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat have certainly stood still in 2015, with both drivers suffering from Red Bull Racing's tumble down the pecking order.
Ricciardo, the outstanding performer of last season, has still managed to extract the most out of the RB10, scoring points in every race thus far, but Kvyat is currently the lowest-ranked point-scorer of the season, having failed to finish higher than ninth.
After a Spanish Grand Prix weekend that saw the Scuderia Toro Rosso rookies, Carlos Sainz Jr. and Max Verstappen, beat the Red Bulls in qualifying, RBR chief Helmut Marko has urged Ricciardo and Kvyat to improve.
Someone who was in desperate need of improvement at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya was Nico Rosberg, who entered the Spanish GP weekend almost 30 points behind team-mate Hamilton in the drivers' standings.
A flawless performance, however, has put the German back into title contention, with the Mercedes hierarchy certain Rosberg is now operating at his peak after a difficult start to the year.
After failing to register a single point in the opening five races, McLaren's start to the year can't get much worse.
Their season plunged to new depths on Sunday when a brake failure forced Fernando Alonso to retire in front of his adoring home crowd, and the team have revealed why the two-time world champion's pit crew were forced to dive out of the way in the pit lane.
With a look ahead to the 2016 driver market, here's this week's roundup.
Mercedes Unwilling to Bow to Lewis Hamilton's Contract Demands?
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In March, Lewis Hamilton told BBC Sport's Andrew Benson how his new contract with Mercedes was "99.6 per cent done" and just days away from being signed, sealed and delivered.
But over a month on, it seems the two parties are no closer to agreeing an extension to the three-year deal Hamilton inked to join the Silver Arrows from McLaren at the end of 2012.
And it could be the team's reluctance to accept Hamilton's terms that is delaying a conclusion to the saga.
According to MailOnline's Jonathan McEvoy, Hamilton and Mercedes are "in deadlock" over the new contract, with the team "believed to be unwilling to rip up their entire pay structure to accommodate" the two-time world champion's wage demands of €200 million over a three-year period.
Such a salary, McEvoy writes, would elevate Hamilton alongside Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel as the highest-paid driver in the paddock, but there seems to be a further reason behind the standoff.
According to McEvoy, it is "also understood that Hamilton has requested to keep all his trophies and his winning car—a further demand that his German bosses may not be ready to accede to."
Hamilton's desire to keep his silverware was, in part, what contributed to his departure from McLaren, with the British driver telling the Telegraph's Tony Dodgins in mid-2012 that the Woking-based team's failure to give him the trophies was a "push point" in their relationship.
If Hamilton were to leave Mercedes, it is unclear just where he would go, with Ferrari team boss Maurizio Arrivabene again reiterating his lack of interest in the 36-time grand prix winner, according to per Sky Sports' William Esler.
Red Bull Chief Criticises Daniel Ricciardo, Daniil Kvyat
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Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat were among the star performers of the 2014 Formula One season.
The Australian exceeded all expectations alongside four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel, winning three grands prix in Canada, Hungary and Belgium and finishing third in the drivers' standings. Kvyat, meanwhile, became the youngest-ever driver to score a point on debut and impressed with his speed throughout the campaign, earning a promotion to Red Bull Racing.
The past seemingly counts for nothing at Red Bull, whose motorsport consultant, Dr. Helmut Marko, has challenged the drivers to improve their performances.
Ricciardo and Kvyat were comprehensively beaten by rookies Carlos Sainz Jr. and Max Verstappen, driving for Red Bull B-team Scuderia Toro Rosso, in qualifying at last weekend's Spanish Grand Prix, with Sainz dragging his STR10 as high as fifth on the grid at his home race.
While Ricciardo managed to recover to seventh in the race, Kvyat, who has endured a poor start to life at Red Bull, was passed by Sainz for ninth place in the latter stages.
After five races, Red Bull are already 51 points behind third-placed Williams in the constructors' standings, and Marko, who is prone to making brutal decisions as the head of the team's young-driver scheme, has warned Kvyat and Ricciardo to watch out.
"Our established guys need to look out," the Austrian told Kleine Zeitung (h/t Motorsport.com). "Paradoxically, the more inexperienced ones did the better job.
"The two of them are something extraordinary."
Despite winning the Formula Renault 3.5 Series in 2014, Sainz, 20, was somewhat fortunate to earn a Toro Rosso seat this season, having been initially overlooked by the team, who partnered Kvyat with 17-year-old Verstappen.
Vettel's departure from Red Bull to Ferrari, however, created an opportunity for Kvyat to join the four-time constructors' standings champions, which allowed Sainz to claim the second Toro Rosso seat ahead of Jean-Eric Vergne.
And Marko has taken the credit for the Spaniard's presence on the grid, telling the same source: "I fought hard for Sainz. He did not have a lot of friends or supporters, but I'm used to that."
Niki Lauda Convinced Nico Rosberg Is Back to His Best
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After Nico Rosberg's first win of the season in the Spanish Grand Prix, Mercedes non-executive chairman Niki Lauda believes the German is now back to his best.
Rosberg took an assured pole-to-flag win at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, building an early lead and making no mistakes to finish 17 seconds ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton.
It was a welcome return to form for the German, who had won just one of the previous 13 grands prix and suffered the disappointment of losing the world championship to Hamilton at the final round of the 2014 season.
Despite reaching the podium in each of the opening four races of 2015, Rosberg had struggled to recapture the form he showed for much of last season as Hamilton—perhaps buoyed by his second title triumph—won in Australia, China and Bahrain, establishing a considerable early points lead.
Hamilton's advantage seemed to irk Rosberg, who publicly criticised his team-mate after the Chinese GP, as reported by Sky Sports' Pete Gill and Mike Wise.
But after showing promising improvements in Bahrain, racing aggressively with Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen, Rosberg finally returned to the top step of the podium in Spain, cutting Hamilton's points advantage to 20.
And Lauda, who has worked alongside the German since joining Mercedes in 2012, believes Rosberg's dominant performance will provide a psychological boost for the 29-year-old.
The three-time world champion told Autosport's Ian Parkes:
"For the first four races Lewis was ahead, he blew Nico off the track.
But now Nico has fought back, I would say he is totally back, and for the team and for him this is good.
My worry was if he hadn't have driven well here then he would have lost some momentum in his head, so thank God it's back.
He is back to last year's performance level, and now we are back to this team spirit again, which is good for the development of the car and for the whole team.
"
Rosberg will have a strong chance of securing back-to-back wins at the next round in Monaco, a race he won from pole position in 2013 and '14.
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Fernando Alonso's Spanish GP Retirement Caused by Visor Tear-Off
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Perhaps the most notable moment of the Spanish GP occurred on Lap 27, when Fernando Alonso overshot his pit-box, forcing his front jackman to take rapid avoiding action.
It was evident from the outset that this was no driver error—Alonso had previously ran off track under braking at Turns 1 and 2—and the two-time world champion was wheeled into the garage and into retirement, having been humiliated in his home race.
Given McLaren's wretched reliability record this season—Kevin Magnussen and Jenson Button didn't even start the races in Australia and Bahrain, respectively—it would have been little surprise if the MP4-30 car's brakes had died less than halfway into the race, but the true cause of the failure has been identified by the team.
Racing director Eric Boullier told Autosport's Ian Parkes:
"It was a (helmet visor) tear-off, and we have video footage that shows this.
It went straight into the brake duct, obstructing the airflow, so there was no more cooling and that was why, in two laps, the temperatures went through the roof.
The brake fluid boiled and we lost the brakes, so it was a complete fluke the tear-off should get lodged in there.
"
Plastic visor tear-offs are routinely used as a means of maintaining adequate vision throughout a race, with drivers discarding the strips from the cockpit once they become dirty.
With no control over where the tear-offs will go when they're tossed out of the cockpit, however, there is an ever-present risk that they could ruin a driver's race if the strips get caught in a car's front wing, brake ducts or cooling inlets.
And Boullier believes it could be an issue F1 could address, telling the same source: "Obviously the drivers need them, but we need to maybe think about how and where we throw them. Maybe we need to think about something for the future."
Esteban Gutierrez in Contention for Haas 2016 Drive?
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Ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix, the Haas team, who are set to arrive on the Formula One grid next season, outlined their plans regarding their 2016 driver lineup.
Gunther Steiner, the team principal, was quoted by Autosport's Edd Straw and Dieter Rencken as stating his desire to have made a decision by September, with Haas—who will effectively be the United States' very own grand prix outfit—eager to sign an experienced driver to lead their challenge.
And it seems as though the team have already identified one potential signing, with F1 journalist Will Buxton tweeting an image of Steiner and team owner Gene Haas in discussion with Esteban Gutierrez in the Spanish GP paddock.
With Haas having a technical deal in place with Ferrari from 2016, it seems inevitable that the Prancing Horse would have at least some influence on the team's driver lineup. Gutierrez, the Italian outfit's reserve driver for this season, has plenty of experience with contemporary F1 machinery.
The Mexican raced for Sauber for two seasons between 2013 and 2014, where he gained a good understanding of the demands of the V6 turbo cars, and is set to participate for Ferrari in this week's test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Also taking to the wheel of the SF15-T this week will be GP2 youngster Raffaele Marciello—another Ferrari-affiliated driver and Sauber's 2015 reserve—who has also been caught chatting with Steiner this season.
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