Formula 1's Latest Rumours, Talk: Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton, Red Bull, More
Nico Rosberg finally returned to winning ways in Sunday's Mexican Grand Prix, dominating the race to claim his first Formula One victory in four months.
The German had failed to capitalise on pole position in each of the previous three races, but he simply refused to make the same mistake at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, where he controlled the grand prix from start to finish.
And three-time world champion Niki Lauda has praised Rosberg's resilience following his mistake in the United States GP, claiming his return to form is good for the entire Mercedes team.
While Rosberg was widely praised for his handling of the Mexican GP, the same could not be said for Lewis Hamilton, who divided opinion after initially refusing to pit when asked by the team.
Toto Wolff, the Mercedes team boss, claimed Hamilton's stubbornness was understandable, but technical chief Paddy Lowe felt the three-time world champion was wrong to ignore the pit wall's first request to make a precautionary pit stop.
Meanwhile, Red Bull Racing's search for a 2016 engine deal may be coming to an end, with the four-time constructors' champions reportedly set to receive a little help from their (former) friends at Renault.
Should Red Bull's future be resolved, Daniil Kvyat will be part of it after team principal Christian Horner claimed the Russian will remain with them for next season, despite his inconsistent performances across 2015.
Closing this week's roundup are the fighting Finns, Kimi Raikkonen and Valtteri Bottas, who made contact for the second time in three races in Mexico.
Niki Lauda Hopes Nico Rosberg Is Back to His Best After Mexican GP Victory
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Niki Lauda, Mercedes' non-executive chairman, believes Nico Rosberg will take much confidence from his dominant performance over the Mexican Grand Prix weekend.
After claiming his fourth consecutive pole position on Saturday, the 30-year-old exuded control at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez on Sunday to beat team-mate Lewis Hamilton, claiming only his fourth victory of 2015 and his first since June's Austrian GP.
Rosberg's confident display came just seven days after he gifted the lead, the win and the championship to Hamilton with an unforced error in the closing stages of the United States GP.
And Lauda believes the German's ability to bounce back from that disappointment will not only benefit Rosberg—who has reclaimed second place in the drivers' standings from Sebastian Vettel—but also Mercedes, ensuring both drivers will continue to push one another.
The Austrian told Jonathan Noble of Motorsport.com:
"It is unbelievable for him. I felt sorry for Nico because I know what it is getting blown off all the time, and the worst thing is when you screw a race up and the other guy is champion. That’s the worst thing that can happen to a racing driver.
Therefore it is good that this race was the other way around, so he gets his stability back and he will keep on fighting.
For me the most important is these guys push each other. And if one doesn’t push any more, then the other one doesn't go as quick. So this calibration is back. That’s good for us and the drivers.
Nico was better than Lewis. This is what we want—one or the other. Not Vettel.
"
In a video on his official Twitter account, Rosberg said he was "happy and ecstatic" to return to winning ways after failing to convert eight of his previous 10 pole positions into victories.
Mixed Feeling at Mercedes After Lewis Hamilton Questions Pit Call
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Toto Wolff, the Mercedes team boss, believes Lewis Hamilton was right to question the team's pit-stop strategy during the Mexican Grand Prix.
Although the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez event was widely expected to be a one-stop race, Mercedes—with a comfortable gap to the chasing pack—decided to make an extra, precautionary stop with both cars.
Nico Rosberg headed for the pit lane, promoting Hamilton to the lead of the race, and the newly crowned three-time world champion initially saw no reason why he should give it back without a fight.
Hamilton was heard quizzing the team over the pit-to-car radio and refused to stop when asked before pitting the following lap, with Mercedes successfully avoiding a messy situation between their drivers.
According to Adam Cooper of Motorsport.com, the wear of Hamilton's soft-compound tyres had been "10 per cent higher" than predicted.
And Wolff believes his driver, who spent the remainder of the race on the more durable, medium tyres, was correct to ask for answers.
He told the same source:
"It's emotions and a race driver in a car.
He needs to question and needs to ask, it's perfectly reasonable. We have the overview out there. We were down to the canvas on the option tyre [from the first stint], we had the gap, and this is why we decided to do it.
That's why it's perfectly reasonable to have the discussion.
Do I want to have a robot in the car? No. I want the best racing driver. That's how it is.
He questions things, and we saw that with [Sebastian] Vettel. It's no problem as long as the team keeps the overview. No issue at all for me.
"
Wolff's view, however, was not shared by Paddy Lowe, the team's technical chief.
Hamilton's refusal to pit, when his crew were ready for his arrival, meant his new tyres would have been colder than expected when he finally did stop, and the British driver's act of defiance only served to cost him time in his battle with Rosberg.
Arguing that it was "incorrect not to come in when we said," Lowe told Cooper: "When a guy is driving around at 350kph, you can't really give them a technical explanation that takes a couple of minutes."
Red Bull May Use 'Unbranded' Renault Engines in 2016
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Renault may be set to offer Red Bull a Formula One lifeline, with the French manufacturer reportedly weighing up a plan to offer the four-time world champions a set of "unbranded" V6 turbo power units for 2016.
Since the last of their four consecutive title-winning seasons in 2013, the relationship between Red Bull and Renault has gone beyond the point of no return, with Autosport's Dieter Rencken and Lawrence Barretto reporting that Red Bull had decided to end the partnership at the end of the current season.
Red Bull's failure to secure an engine deal with Mercedes or Ferrari for 2016, however, has raised doubts over the team's very existence.
But the company Red Bull has criticised so often and so fiercely over the last 18 months may be ready to rescue the team from their sticky situation.
According to Jonathan Noble of Motorsport.com, Renault has acknowledged that it is "almost impossible for the partnership to continue in its current guise for another season," but chairman Carlos Ghosn is "considering a proposal to sell Red Bull unbranded engines next year."
Noble also notes that while it is uncertain whether those engines would run under an alternative name—or even "with no name at all"—a "decision to commit to the idea" could be imminent.
Renault's apparent rescue mission comes after Christian Horner, the Red Bull team principal, claimed Honda were "very keen" to join forces with Red Bull for 2016, per the same source, but have been prevented from doing so by McLaren chairman Ron Dennis, who has blocked the proposal.
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Daniil Kvyat to Remain at Red Bull in 2016, Claims Christian Horner
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Christian Horner, the Red Bull Racing team principal, has insisted Daniil Kvyat will drive for the team in 2016 should Red Bull remain in Formula One.
After an impressive debut campaign for Scuderia Toro Rosso in 2014, Kvyat—despite securing his first podium finish in July's Hungarian Grand Prix—has endured a difficult second season with Red Bull, driving untidily alongside three-time race winner Daniel Ricciardo.
A number of on-track incidents, the latest of which put an end to a particularly scruffy United States GP performance, had raised doubts over Kvyat's future at Red Bull, with rookies Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz Jr. flourishing at Toro Rosso.
Kvyat, though, responded well in Sunday's Mexican GP, qualifying fourth and running in third place for much of the race before being overtaken by Williams' Valtteri Bottas at the safety-car restart.
His fifth top-five finish of 2015 appears to have earned Kvyat another season with the four-time world champions in 2016. Horner has admitted Red Bull have an option to drop the 21-year-old, but he has claimed the team have no intention to change their driver lineup.
"Both drivers are under contract," Horner told Jonathan Noble of Motorsport.com. "Ricciardo is fixed and all the options on Daniil are on our side. He is doing a great job, so as long as we are here, he will be in the car next year. There is nothing to announce as he is under contract. He will be in the car 100 per cent next year, if there is a car here."
Although his future is assured, the lingering uncertainty over Red Bull's F1 future seems to have encouraged Ricciardo to explore alternative options. Ahead of the Mexican GP, NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., via his official Twitter account, sent the 26-year-old an open invitation to race in the Xfinity series.
Ricciardo suggested he would like to live and race in America when his F1 career comes to an end, telling Pablo Elizalde of Motorsport.com: "Obviously I want to make sure I'm here next year, but if for whatever reason I'm not, it sounds like I might have an option."
Kimi Raikkonen Hints Valtteri Bottas Collision Was Payback for Russian GP Clash
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Kimi Raikkonen has blamed Valtteri Bottas for his retirement from Sunday's Mexican Grand Prix, suggesting their latest collision has allowed the Williams driver to get over the disappointment of his last-lap elimination in Russia.
After working his way up to sixth from 19th on the grid, Raikkonen was forced to retire for the second successive race on Lap 22 after colliding with Bottas at Turn 5.
The incident, which broke the Ferrari's rear-right suspension but left Bottas' car unscathed and freed him to claim his second podium finish of 2015, carried remarkable similarities to the fighting Finns' collision at the Sochi Autodrom just three weeks earlier.
On that occasion, Bottas was running third when Raikkonen, in all-or-nothing-mode, launched his car toward the apex of Turn 4, punting his compatriot into the barriers and damaging his own front wing.
And Raikkonen believes Bottas could have avoided their latest clash, with the 2007 world champion claiming the Williams driver now has revenge for Russia, telling Lawrence Barretto and Glenn Freeman of Autosport:
"There was not much room, but if you go over the kerb on the inside [where Bottas was] then there is enough room.
It was tight, but if you ask him, I'm sure he's going to blame me.
Obviously it was quite slippery there so he locked the front wheel.
I had to turn in at some point—I cannot just go straight.
[...]
Maybe he feels better now with what happened in Russia.
I have nothing against anybody. This is racing, and if he has a better feeling now it's good for him.
Things have a certain way of working out in the long run.
"
Bottas, naturally, disagreed with Raikkonen's assessment, telling Barretto and Freeman—in a separate Autosport article—that he "had no space" to avoid the accident but claimed it was "just unlucky that we got together again."
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