In the round-up today: Kvyat dropped for Mexico, Gasly returns and Hartley stays; Marchionne says there won’t be any firings at Ferrari; Alonso to get latest engine for Mexico; Halo could be renamed before introduction; Williams exploring Kubica and also Wehrlein for 2018; Horner and Lauda’s opinion on Verstappen penalty call; Renault says Mercedes long gardening leaves are unfair.
Brendon Hartley will retain the Toro Rosso seat for the Mexican Grand Prix, as the team has dropped Daniil Kvyat again.
The New Zealander will be partnered by Pierre Gasly, who returns to Toro Rosso following his two outings with the team earlier this year.
Hartley finished his debut grand prix in Austin in 13th, in what was his first single-seater race since 2012, while Kvyat finished 10th – only his third points finish of the season.
In a one-line statement released on Monday, Toro Rosso said its Mexican Grand Prix line-up would be formed by Gasly and Hartley but chose not to reveal its plans beyond that.
Gasly, who missed out on the Super Formula title after the finale was cancelled because of the threat of a super typhoon, was expected to return for the remainder of the season.
Kvyat’s future in F1 remains uncertain, with the Russian having said he remains confident he can have a future within Red Bull and planned talks with its motorsport advisor Helmut Marko.
Toro Rosso trail fifth-placed Williams by 15 points in the constructors’ championship but saw the gap back to Renault in seventh slashed to five points after former driver Sainz took seventh at Austin.
Take a look at the drivers and constructors championship standings.
Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne says singling out team principal Maurizio Arrivabene or technical chief Mattia Binotto for the Italian Formula 1 team’s recent poor performance would be “idiotic”.
When asked if there was a chance Arrivabene would be replaced by Binotto following the team’s failure this year, Marchionne said: “No. Both Mattia and Maurizio have been involved in this process. Picking one or the other is a bit idiotic.
“They were both at the table when the operation was going on and technically I’m involved too, I was the chairman.
“But that’s not going to solve the issue. We need to win, that’s the more important thing. I don’t think it’s attributable to a single guy. Processes may have not helped and those things are being addressed.”
Marchionne previously said Ferrari had paid the price for “ignoring” quality control, with the team subsequently drafting in Maria Mendoza from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles to reorganise its quality control department.
But speaking to reporters, Marchionne insisted the move would not spark a series of personnel changes and insisted “I don’t think we need to overhaul the team”.
He added: “The things that have happened in the last three Asia races have really been a collection of the most unfortunate events.
“With the exception of the technical failures we’ve had, which are quality driven, everything else was just a fluke and it happened.
“The likelihood of us repeating those errors is hopefully very small. We’ve made one change to the organisation by bringing in someone who’s got experience on the quality side to try and strengthen our skills.
“The rest of it I think is within the way in which we manage. I think we’ll be alright, I don’t think we need to overhaul the team, I don’t think we need to make changes.
“This team knows how to win and knows how to get it done, just give them the space.”
Fernando Alonso could run Honda’s updated Formula 1 engine at the upcoming Mexican Grand Prix as a result of the failure he incurred during the race at Austin.
The double world champion was running inside the top 10 when he reported a loss of power – later diagnosed as an MGU-H problem – and was recalled to the pits to retire the car.
Honda had an updated engine ready for Austin, but only Stoffel Vandoorne ran it as he required an engine change because of high mileage on his previous unit and therefore would have had to take a penalty anyway.
In contrast, Honda had hoped Alonso could run his current power unit until the end of the season and therefore avoid grid penalties so decided against giving him the update.
But Honda F1 project leader Yusuke Hasegawa said that Alonso could “possibly” get the update in Mexico now because a change of MGU-H would trigger a penalty anyway.
“Yes, I think [we will get a penalty] so it would be better to introduce a new engine in Mexico.”
Honda suspects Alonso’s MGU-H issue is similar to the one that hit Vandoorne and forced an engine change before Sunday’s race.
It comes after a succession of races where Honda has endured good reliability.
However, the Japanese manufacturer has suffered a series of failures with this particular component this season.
“It’s very disappointing that we faced more issues with our engine – particularly because the reliability has been relatively stable in recent races,” said Hasegawa.
“We will immediately investigate the issue with the Sakura team and work towards a countermeasure for Mexico.”
“It looks like we had a similar issue [to Vandoorne with Alonso] but we don’t know exactly. It looks like a rotation issue.
“Stoffel’s [MGU-H] has higher mileage, so we knew it would reach the end of its life at the end of this event. But we didn’t expect a failure. Fernando’s is very low mileage as we only introduced it in Suzuka.”
Hasegawa felt Alonso and Vandoorne could have scored points at Austin had it not been for Alonso’s failure and Vandoorne’s substantial grid penalties.
“We had reasonably good performance,” he said. “We had decent performance to aim for points.
“If we didn’t have an issue, Alonso would have scored points. We could have finished sixth or seventh.
“If Stoffel had started 14th, he could have aimed to score points, too.”
Formula 1 bosses are considering renaming the Halo cockpit protection device before its mandatory introduction for next year.
A name change for the Halo will be put forward for discussion at the next F1 Strategy Group meeting on November 7.
Motorsport.com reported a senior F1 official saying “We’re supposed to be a gladiatorial sport, and then we give the device an angelic name.
“We have various options [for a new name], but it could be something like ‘safety cage’.”
While the Halo’s detractors still have doubts about its effectiveness in various types of accident, the FIA said in a presentation this summer that its investigations determined the device would have protected Henry Surtees and Justin Wilson in the accidents that claimed their lives.
While its findings were less conclusive when simulating incidents such as Felipe Massa’s Hungary 2009 collision with a loose spring, or Jules Bianchi’s fatal crash in the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix, the FIA said “the number of scenarios in which the halo would have helped is overwhelming compared with the number of scenarios where it could have been neutral or negative”.
Williams says it is helping Robert Kubica on his “journey” to discover if he is capable of a Formula 1 comeback, but several drivers remain under consideration for a 2018 drive.
Williams technical chief Paddy Lowe said “any driver who hasn’t yet got a contract” would be considered by the team, for 2018.
“Our consideration of drivers remains completely open, including Felipe [Massa], who is definitely very high in our consideration, among a range of drivers which is wider than any we’ve tested in cars as well,” said Lowe.
“It’s obvious with Robert that he’s on a journey to determine whether he can drive a car to the level that he drove in the past.
“And we’re exploring that with him, and seeing where that takes us. In his case that’s why we did two tests with him, actually.
“And with Paul, he’s been our reserve driver for a number of years, and we actually haven’t given him very much mileage.
“For various reasons it’s the last opportunity we’ve got to run that car, so it made sense to give him some mileage as well.
“It was an evaluation, that’s why we don’t use other words [such as shootout], because clearly that’s not a current F1 car.”
Lowe said Williams “would rather rely on our own investigations” into Kubica’s suitability for a drive, rather than trying to base its decision on any information that came from his test in a 2017 car with Renault after the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Lowe confirmed Mercedes-backed Pascal Wehrlein “absolutely” remains in contention, despite title sponsor Martini’s preference for an older driver.
“Somebody like Pascal, I don’t need to put him in a car, because he’s in a car every week,” Lowe added.
“What’s most important for the team is to pick a driver line-up that gives us the best performance and the most exciting racing potential for 2018.
“There are some issues around advertising and Martini, but if it came to it I’m sure Martini will understand the importance, if that’s what we were to choose, to have the best line-up for racing rather than for advertising.
“We’ll cross that bridge if we need to. Age is not a factor in our primary objective, which is to pick the best line-up.”
Lowe said Massa’s hope of the team making its decision before his home grand prix in Brazil on November 12th “makes sense”, but Williams has not committed to making its mind up by then.
Red Bull boss Christian Horner believes Formula 1 chiefs need to have a fundamental rethink about what to do with track limits, after fan fury over Max Verstappen’s penalty in the United States Grand Prix.
That ruling caused widespread fury among fans and onlookers, with Niki Lauda calling it the “worst” penalty he had ever seen.
“It [racing] is what fans want to see,” said Horner. “If you don’t want cars to go there, put a bigger kerb or put some gravel, or something else there.
“I think what is annoying is the lack of consistency. Where do you draw the line? For fans, for casual viewers, it needs to be clear.”
Horner said the Verstappen ruling was especially frustrating because there had been a number of similar incidents – including when Valtteri Bottas stayed ahead of Daniel Ricciardo despite running wide at Turn 1 on lap two – that went unpunished.
“How can you say that what Valtteri did on one hand is okay but what Max did isn’t okay,” said Horner. “If in any other sport, you are out, then you are out. You cannot have, that is okay to be out there but not okay to be out here. “
Verstappen let rip straight after the race, claiming that one “idiot” steward had a history of ruling against him in incidents like this.
When Horner was asked if he felt the stewards were up to the job, he said: “You would have to question it. I think when you get decisions like today it is difficult to understand where the consistency is.”
He added: “I think a bad decision has been made in the heat of the moment and because it relied around a podium and putting the right people on the podium, I think it was an inconsistent decision with other incidents that have happened in the race.
“I think it would be incorrect to say that the stewards favour one team over another. I just think the issue is that the decision was poor.”
Reacting to the penalty, Lauda said: “This decision is the worst I’ve ever seen. He [Verstappen] did nothing wrong. We’re racing drivers, we’re not on a normal road.
Lauda recalled that all parties had agreed in a meeting last year to allow drivers to race without unnecessary interference.
“The stewards were in, [Jean] Todt asked everybody, Charlie [Whiting] was there, we were there, and there we agreed all together that unless it is dangerous, the stewards would not interfere.
“Very simple. If they drive over [each other] and go upside down, only then they [the stewards] will come in. It was the beginning of last year.”
Lauda added that the Verstappen penalty meant the matter would have to be discussed again.
“Next strategy [group] meeting we need to bring it up to the agenda and start it all over again. Because we cannot do that, it’s going too far.
“There was nothing to interfere with, it was a normal overtaking.”
“Charlie argues all the time there’s white lines and you cannot drive over them. Why cannot you drive over white lines if it is possible? Build a wall there if you want.
“As long as there is normal circuit, you can use it. A white line is not a limit. We agreed this all, last year it was all agreed. And now we get this decision. I think it’s completely wrong.”
Renault boss Cyril Abiteboul thinks Mercedes is being ‘unfair’ in the way it is locking down staff to lengthy gardening leave spells to delay them switching to other teams.
With Renault investing heavily to expand its operation, it has faced frustrations that Mercedes in particular is slowing down the arrival of staff that have agreed to join them by up to two years.
“Red Bull is not too aggressive in the way they are keeping their people, but Mercedes are the most aggressive,” said Abiteboul during a sponsor event with Infiniti in Austin.
“We signed up a senior person from Mercedes last year, 2017, and he is not due to join before 2019 because of the contractual situation.
“The UK is very favourable to protect employees for the benefit of the employer, but that is giving us a bit of a hard time. We know it, so we simply have to deal with it.”
He added: “Red Bull are not stupid in the way they are protecting their staff. Mercedes have the right to do what they are doing, but I think it is a bit unfair.
“They already have the financial resources but now they are blocking the system by making sure no one can go anywhere.
“At the end of the day, it is still a sport and we need to provide a good show and interesting show and that is not what is happening if you are doing that.”
Abiteboul says that signing experienced staff from other teams is essential for helping his outfit move forwards, because its young staff need more time to get up to speed with F1.
“The reliability issues that we have this year on our car, a lot of that is due to the fact that we have very young designers in the design office,” he said.
“They don’t necessarily know the tolerances and load cases, and they don’t have this type of experience, so we are suffering.”
Abiteboul said that Renault is on course to have facilities that will be at the level of the top teams by 2018.
“We have massively recruited new people, very aggressive people, and a lot of people coming from Red Bull,” he said. “We have upgraded the wind tunnel and upgrading next year the [CFD] cluster.
“It is all about facilities and we will be at the level of the best team by the middle of next year, in terms of facilities and number of people, resources. Now it is just about making sure that they work properly together.”
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