Formula 1's Latest Rumours and Talk: Ferrari, Max Verstappen and More
Although Mercedes have won all but one of the opening 10 races of the 2016 Formula One season, Ferrari have stubbornly refused to admit defeat in the world championship fight.
Even when Sebastian Vettel was assaulted by Daniil Kvyat on the first lap in Russia and his Austrian Grand Prix ended with a spectacular tyre failure, Ferrari were convinced the title battle was not over.
But with the Prancing Horse still without a victory, team principal Maurizio Arrivabene has offered a first hint that Ferrari are beginning to accept the reality of the situation, referring to the upcoming Hungarian GP as a must-win race.
Ferrari's difficulties have allowed Red Bull to emerge as Mercedes' closest challengers in recent weeks, with Max Verstappen's consecutive podium finishes in Austria and Britain allowing the four-time world champions to move within six points of the Italian team.
The 18-year-old was the only driver capable of keeping the Mercedes drivers honest at the British GP at Silverstone, and Lewis Hamilton has admitted Verstappen is beginning to emerge as a real threat to the Silver Arrows.
Like Verstappen, Stoffel Vandoorne is regarded as a star of the future after dominating the GP2 feeder series in 2015 and making an impressive debut for McLaren-Honda in Bahrain this year.
After his brief taste of life in F1, Vandoorne is desperate for more and has warned he is prepared to leave McLaren if the team decide to keep Jenson Button for 2017.
Another GP2 driver hoping to make a permanent leap to the pinnacle of motorsport is Jordan King, who represented Manor in the recent in-season test at Silverstone.
With doubts over Rio Haryanto's future, King may find himself racing for Manor in the coming weeks and has insisted he would be ready to partner Pascal Wehrlein.
Closing our latest roundup is Ferrari youngster Charles Leclerc, who, after sampling two different F1 cars at Silverstone, has revealed he is missing the help and guidance of Jules Bianchi almost a year on from the Frenchman's death.
Ferrari Pinpoint Hungarian GP as a Must-Win Race to Keep Title Hopes Alive
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Ferrari team principal Arrivabene has admitted the Hungarian GP is a must-win race for the team if they are to beat Mercedes to the world championship in 2016.
After winning three grands prix last year, Ferrari entered this season aiming to secure their first title since 2008 but remain without a victory after the opening 10 races, with the Prancing Horse narrowly ahead of a resurgent Red Bull in the constructors' standings.
In the drivers' championship, third-placed Kimi Raikkonen is 62 points adrift of championship leader Nico Rosberg, while Vettel is a further eight behind having scored just two points in the last two events in Austria and Britain.
Vettel eased to his second Ferrari victory in Hungary 12 months ago, and Arrivabene feels a repeat performance is required this year if Ferrari are to keep their title chances alive.
Per Motorsport.com's Jonathan Noble, he explained:
"After Hungary we cannot fool around any more. After that [race], we will understand what chances there are and where we are—and I believe that we cannot fail.
Earlier in the season we had some problems related to certain components of the power unit, and these were sorted to the point that today our strong point is the engine.
Now we need to work on reliability and other areas such as the aerodynamics.
I believe that the progress Red Bull has made is good for F1, because they have helped create more interest and a better show. But I still think that our goal is to counter the Mercedes and not Red Bull.
At this stage of the season if we said that we give up it would be wrong. We need to be focused to solve problems, and to do so in tough times.
"
Per the same source, Arrivabene admitted Ferrari "cannot have revolutionary solutions" but vowed there will be "some updates" to "solve the problems" with the balance of the SF16-H car.
The Italian also revealed the team are working to identify the seemingly fundamental flaws with their gearbox, which saw Vettel suffer three separate failures and incur two five-place grid penalties over the Austrian and British race weekends.
Arrivabene suggested the problems are linked to the materials used rather than being the symptoms of a "design problem."
Lewis Hamilton Believes Max Verstappen Is Becoming 'A Force to Be Reckoned With'
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Hamilton has revealed he now regards Verstappen as a serious threat to Mercedes after the Red Bull driver secured his third podium finish of 2016 in the British GP.
In a race of changeable conditions, the 18-year-old was the only driver capable of remaining within touching distance of the Silver Arrows, crossing the finish line just eight seconds adrift of Hamilton in second position after Rosberg was demoted to third due to a 10-second penalty.
Following his maiden victory in May's Spanish GP, the Silverstone race saw the teenager register his second successive podium finish after an assured drive to the runner-up spot in Austria.
Although Hamilton admitted he was relatively comfortable at the front at Silverstone, the three-time world champion believes Verstappen—who despite spending the first four races of the season at Toro Rosso is now within 16 points of third spot in the drivers' standings—is emerging as a real danger.
Per Autosport (h/t Eurosport), he said:
"We knew [Red Bull] would be fast.
Going into the race I think they said we had half-a-second of pace or something, potentially, [over] Red Bull.
Whether or not it was half-a-second I don't know, but we definitely had pace against them.
Max drove a fantastic race and is continuing to show he's a force to be reckoned with.
"
Per the same source, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff also paid tribute to Verstappen's performance at Silverstone, explaining "the way he positions the car" and his "spectacular" racecraft, which saw him pass Rosberg around the outside of Becketts at one stage, allowed him "to put up a great fight."
Meanwhile, Mercedes technical chief Paddy Lowe has accused Red Bull of using their lack of straight-line speed as an excuse for their limited success in recent times following their surprisingly strong display at the British GP.
He told Motorsport.com's Adam Cooper: "It’s interesting that Red Bull are constantly peddling a story about the low power they’ve got, but just to set the record straight at this event as they often do, they chose to run a higher level of wing than we did."
Lowe reiterated his belief that there is no longer "a huge difference between" F1's four engine manufacturers in terms of power output.
Stoffel Vandoorne Willing to Leave McLaren-Honda If He Doesn't Get 2017 Seat
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Vandoorne has hinted he would be prepared to leave McLaren-Honda at the end of 2016 if he isn't promoted to a full-time seat for next season.
After making an assured F1 debut in April's Bahrain GP, where he scored the team's first point of the campaign, Vandoorne has been strongly linked to Button's seat, with McLaren chairman Ron Dennis declaring the 2015 GP2 champion is "an integral part" of the team's future, per BBC Sport's Andrew Benson.
As reported by Motorsport.com's Jonathan Noble and Jacobo Vega, however, racing director Eric Boullier revealed the team will make no decision regarding their driver lineup until September at the earliest, around the time McLaren's option on Vandoorne is due to expire.
Vandoorne—whose former GP2 boss, Frederic Vasseur, is now Renault team principal—recently told Sky Sports' F1 Report that he is "very positive" about his prospects of a 2017 seat and has revealed he will have "other options" if the McLaren drive does not come his way.
Per Motorsport.com's Valentin Khorounzhiy and Jamie Klein, the Belgian, who is combining his McLaren duties with a race seat in Japan's Super Formula category in 2016, stated:
"The main goal is to be in Formula 1 next year. That hasn't changed.
Obviously, I am contracted to McLaren and I really want to be with this team next year, I've spent a lot of time here with the engineers and I feel like we've really been through the perfect preparation.
There's really not much more I can do, I just need to get the drive.
I would love to race for this team, but I've always said—if for some reasons, which I don't know, it doesn't become possible, then I'm positive that there are other options available.
"
Vandoorne represented McLaren on the final day of the post-British GP test on Wednesday and revealed the MP4-31 was "quite different, in a positive day" to how it felt when he last drove it in May, suggesting the car "is coming along nicely," per Autosport (h/t Eurosport).
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Jordan King Feels 'Perfectly Ready' to Replace Rio Haryanto at Manor
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King is confident he would be ready to race for Manor in 2016 if Haryanto is unable to agree an extension to his deal with the team.
Haryanto's current agreement with Manor is due to expire after next weekend's Hungarian GP, with his manager Piers Hunnisett previously telling Reuters' Alan Baldwin how the Indonesian driver's sponsorship funding would run out after the 11th round of the season.
Should Haryanto be unable to complete the campaign, King—son of former Sainsbury's supermarket boss Justin, who helped rescue the team from administration in early 2015—would be among the prime candidates to partner Pascal Wehrlein for the final 10 races of the year.
King, who has raced in the GP2 feeder category since 2015 and recently claimed his maiden victory in the series, has held a development-driver role with Manor and participated in a number of test sessions with the backmarkers since the end of last season.
And the 22-year-old has insisted he would be ready to race for Manor if required, but he acknowledged success in GP2 will be key to his F1 prospects.
King told Motorsport.com's Jamie Klein:
"I feel I’m perfectly ready to step into a F1 car [to race].
The first time I got in the car in Abu Dhabi was the shock of, 'I’ve actually driven an F1 car,' so at Barcelona it was a bit more chilled out.
I actually knew what I was doing and it wasn’t 'stars in your eyes' so much, so I could focus more on doing the job.
Physically, driving a GP2 car is probably harder than F1, and mentally I’m more than ready after getting a couple of wins.
As for the eventuality, who knows what will happen. I’m focused on GP2, and then we’ll see if I get the phone call.
If I get in the top three in the championship [in GP2], it will make it a lot easier [to get to F1].
As long as I keep doing what I'm doing, we’ve been strong all year but I’ve started to get some consistency these last couple of weekends, then it makes my cause for coming into F1 a lot better.
There’s the obvious Manor connection, so it’s the most likely place I would look to for a seat.
"
Per the same source, King stressed he has yet to hold detailed discussions with Manor with a view to replacing Haryanto, who has failed to finish higher than 15th in the opening 10 races of the season.
Charles Leclerc Missing Jules Bianchi's Guidance After Ferrari Test
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Leclerc has admitted he is missing the guidance of the late Jules Bianchi after a breakthrough week in his efforts to secure a future F1 seat.
A member of Ferrari's young-driver scheme, Leclerc leads the GP3 standings after claiming two podium finishes in the support races at Silverstone, where he participated in a grand prix weekend for the first time.
Driving for the Ferrari-affiliated Haas team, the Monaco native completed 26 laps in the first free-practice session at the British GP and represented Ferrari in the post-race test on Tuesday, when poor weather and an engine issue restricted him to 19 laps in the SF16-H car.
The 18-year-old's first experience in current F1 machinery came almost a year since Bianchi, his godfather, died after severe head injuries suffered in a crash in the 2014 Japanese GP at Suzuka.
Bianchi, 25, was widely regarded as a future Ferrari driver, and Leclerc has revealed he is missing his mentor's words of advice.
Per Autosport (h/t Eurosport), he said:
"I knew him from when I was really, really young.
He was my godfather and he helped me with most of the things in racing.
Obviously now it's hard without him because he always helped me, and I miss his help.
He advised me really well in the past, and all his comments he gave me in the past I keep in mind and try not to make the errors he told me not to do.
Jules was one of the talents who would have [graduated to Ferrari] if the things that happened hadn't have happened.
But I'm definitely confident the driver academy will have someone who will make it into the top team.
"
Per the same source, Leclerc insisted the opportunity to drive two different F1 cars in quick succession was a valuable experience despite his limited running on Tuesday.
He added: "It's still good to get experience in two different Formula 1 cars. The more cars I try, and the different ways I see of working, the more experience I get."
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