| By Gary Watkins | Monday, January 5th 2015, 13:17 GMT |
Former DTM driver Mathias Lauda will return to sportscars in 2015 to contest the World Endurance Championship with Aston Martin Racing
You have viewed over 15 free stories this month. Why stop there? Click here to find out how to continue reading.
| Monday, January 5th 2015, 14:07 GMT |
Jean-Pierre Beltoise, the French Formula 1 driver who took BRM's last grand prix win in Monaco in 1972, has died. He was 77.
Having originally started as a successful motorcycle racer, capturing 11 French national titles, Beltoise would go on to prove he had just as much speed on four wheels.
However, his career was nearly ended after suffering serious injuries in a crash at the Reims 12 Hours sportscar race in 1964. He would never regain full movement in his badly broken left arm.
Beltoise did make it back to racing, though, and after claiming titles in Formula 3 and Formula 2 with Matra, he moved up to F1 with the French outfit.
His actual race debut came at the 1967 United States Grand Prix, as he had failed to qualify in Monaco, and his first podium finish came the following year in the Netherlands when he finished second.
He would stay racing Matras until the end of 1971, briefly working with Ken Tyrrell, before making a switch to BRM that would deliver his maiden F1 victory.
The start of that 1972 season was frustrating, but Beltoise was in a class of his own in a Monaco downpour and achieved his only - and BRM's final - triumph in F1.
He stayed with BRM for another two seasons before retiring from F1 at the end of 1974 and switching his focus to sportscars and then finally French touring cars.
He also regularly competed in ice racing and rallycross, and tested Ligier's F1 car.
Beltoise married Francois Cevert's sister Jacqueline, and their sons Anthony and Julien both followed him into motor racing.
He passed away after suffering two strokes at his holiday home near Dakar.
| Monday, January 5th 2015, 14:39 GMT |
Reigning GP3 champion Alex Lynn and 2012 World Touring Car champion Rob Huff are among the latest star names to confirm their attendance at this year's AUTOSPORT International show.
Lynn, who followed in the footsteps of Formula 1 racer Daniil Kvyat to become the second consecutive Red Bull junior to win the GP3 crown, and current Lada WTCC driver Huff, will be joined by several other leading British racers at the show this weekend.
Audi sportscar racer Oliver Jarvis will also be in attendance, having recently been revealed as the replacement for Le Mans legend Tom Kristensen in the German manufacturer's LMP1 line-up.
Indy Lights runner-up Jack Harvey, GP3 race winner Nick Yelloly, Formula 3 driver Jordan King, and Nissan-backed single-seater and sportscar racer Jann Mardenborough will all make appearances over the weekend.
AUTOSPORT International will also mark the first public appearance for the 'Project Brabham' scheme, with David Brabham on hand to reveal how the plan to return the iconic name to international racing is progressing.
Other guests already confirmed for the show include 13-time grand prix winner David Coulthard, World Endurance champion Anthony Davidson, former sportscar star Allan McNish, World Rallycross champion Petter Solberg, plus BTCC champions Matt Neal, Gordon Shedden, Colin Turkington and Andrew Jordan.
| Friday, January 2nd 2015, 14:23 GMT |
Jean-Eric Vergne will continue in Formula E for the Buenos Aires round, with IndyCar race winner Marco Andretti making his series debut alongside the ex-Formula 1 driver at Andretti Autosport.
Vergne started from pole on his FE debut in Punta del Este last month and fought for victory until he hit suspension problems with two laps to go, but would not be drawn on his series future afterwards.
The ex-Toro Rosso racer was subsequently announced as part of Ferrari's F1 test roster, and will also stay on with Andretti for the Argentina FE event on January 10.
His Buenos Aires team-mate Andretti also competes with his father Michael's team in IndyCar.
The younger Andretti is yet to drive the car that he will race in Argentina.
"I've been looking forward to the chance to get behind the wheel of a Formula E car," said the 27-year-old.
"Having never been in the car, it's a bit of an unfamiliar situation for me but the team's pace looks solid enough for a great result.
"I like unknown situations; I'm up for the task."
Andretti will be the fifth driver to race with the team in FE this season.
The Andretti roster has included Vergne, Charles Pic, Matthew Brabham and Franck Montagny, who has not raced for the squad since testing positive for a derivative of cocaine during the second round in Malaysia.
TUNG BACK TO CHINA RACING
Chinese driver Ho-Pin Tung will also compete in Buenos Aires after returning to the China Racing team. Tung, who raced in the first two events, will partner regular racer Nelson Piquet Jr.
Antonio Garcia had stood in for Tung in Punta del Este.
| Friday, January 2nd 2015, 12:15 GMT |
The Honda MotoGP team has no expectation that Marc Marquez will be able to repeat his 2014 domination and expects a closer fight with Yamaha in '15.
Marquez won the first 10 races of the 2014 campaign to open up a vast championship lead, and ultimately claimed a record 13 victories from 18 grands prix.
Team boss Livio Suppo said Honda was thankful that Marquez had been in place to slot straight in after Casey Stoner's abrupt retirement at the end of 2012, but said there would be no panic if the scale of domination seen in early '14 proved to be the peak.
"With Marquez it will be difficult to repeat," Suppo said.
"Ten out of 10 is something really, really, really difficult.
"We've been very lucky to lose Casey and immediately find another super talent like this."
Suppo feels Yamaha's return to form in late-2014 - when Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo won four of the last six races between them - was more likely to set the tone for next year, with a much closer battle in prospect.
"Even if the season with Marc has looked easy, we know that the level of competition is very high," he said.
"It's enough to see the second half of the season from Jorge, where he's done an unbelievably good job, and also Valentino has done something unbelievable.
"We know the competition is very tough."
Yamaha team boss Lin Jarvis feels his men will be able to match Marquez from the outset in 2015.
"What we need to do is maintain the momentum, because you can't afford to let up," he said.
"When you've got someone as strong as Marc is at the moment, you've got to hit the ground running at the very first test, at the very first grand prix.
"It's going to be an incredible season in my opinion, and hopefully there will be a blue one up there at the end."
| By Jonathan Noble | Friday, January 2nd 2015, 14:43 GMT |
Formula 1's current manufacturers will now be allowed to develop their engines during the 2015 season, after the FIA accepted there was a loophole in the regulations.
Mercedes' rivals Ferrari and Renault pushed hard in late-2014 for F1's engine freeze to be eased to give them more time to introduce much-needed upgrades, rather than having to complete all changes to a pre-season deadline.
But with Mercedes standing firm and refusing to concede much ground, it appeared that Ferrari and Renault's hopes of extra time were dashed.
However, as AUTOSPORT first revealed in December, the situation changed dramatically when it was suggested to the FIA that the engine rules did not actually stipulate when a final engine had to be lodged for 2015.
Although the FIA had always been under the impression that new engines would have to be homologated for the first race, this was never explicitly laid down in the rules.
An FIA spokesman said: "It was always envisaged, although not explicitly stated in the rules, that manufacturers would have to deal with modifications on the engine within the constraints of the rules, and then submit their 2015 engine [at the first race].
"It is simple, but when you read it [the rule book], it doesn't say that unfortunately."
Ferrari's technical director James Allison brought up the matter in a technical regulations working group meeting with the FIA at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, and there were further discussions on the subject at a Strategy Group meeting before Christmas.
With the FIA admitting that the wording of the regulations was open to interpretation, it has subsequently told teams that the "most logical and robust" way forward is to accept that there is no actual date for 2015 homologation.
It means that manufacturers now have the option of introducing upgrades to their engines throughout the season - as long as they stick to the 32 development token limit that is laid down within the rules and do not exceed the four-engine per car limit for the campaign.
In a note that was sent from the FIA's Charlie Whiting to all teams over the Christmas period, it was made clear that the upgrades would be allowed to come on tap at any point over 2015.
"As it is not specifically stated... when a power unit may be modified in accordance with appendix 4 [of the technical regulations], we feel that the weighted items (32 in this case) may be introduced at any time during the 2015 season," said the note, a copy of which has been seen by AUTOSPORT.
"The basic homologated power unit will remain that which was homologated for the 2014 season, including any changes made in accordance with paragraph 1 (c) of appendix 4 [of the sporting regulations]."
NO DEVELOPMENT FREEDOM FOR HONDA
The interpretation that allows Mercedes, Ferrari and Renault to bring in developments over the course of 2015 will not apply to Honda because it is a new manufacturer.
Although the regulations do not specifically state dates for the Japanese car maker to submit its homologated unit, the FIA is standing by its view that it must stick to the February 28 date that the current manufacturers faced last year.
The Whiting note added: "As the existing manufacturers were obliged to homologate their power units by 28 February 2014 it would seem fair and equitable to ask a new manufacturer to homologate their power unit before February 28 2015.
"We therefore consider this to be a requirement for a new power unit manufacturer."
HOW THE FREEZE RULES WORK
During discussions to frame the new turbo V6 regulations, an engine freeze was agreed to prevent costs getting out of control.
Once a power unit design was lodged with the FIA on February 28 2014, changes were only going to be accepted during the season for "reliability, safety or cost-saving reasons."
However, each winter a limited number of modifications would still be allowed.
The scope of the change would be limited by a 'token' system that related to the individual components on the engine and its hybrid systems.
The entire power unit is made up of 66 'tokens' - which are weighted individually between one and three depending on how important they are.
Ahead of 2015, five of these tokens were 'frozen' completely - but there was scope to review the 61 remaining items if a manufacturer felt improvements were needed.
However, it would not be allowed to change all the parts. The rules are clear that only 32 tokens - approximately 48 per cent of the power unit - could be used for 2015.
The issue surrounding the recent FIA clarification relates to when these tokens need to be used by.
One view was that it had to be done by the first race, but Ferrari and Renault have successfully argued that a loophole in the rules means there is no deadline.
Longer term, the restrictions on how much development can be done increase each year.
So for 2016, 38 per cent of the engine can be changed, going down to 30 percent in '17, 23 per cent in '18 and just five per cent for '19 and '20.
| By Mark Glendenning | Thursday, January 1st 2015, 12:47 GMT |
IndyCar team boss AJ Foyt says he will be encouraging his drivers to race each other hard when his squad returns to the track with a two-car line-up in 2015.
AJ Foyt Racing confirmed its long-planned expansion to two cars in October when it signed Briton Jack Hawksworth to join ex-Formula 1 racer Takuma Sato (both pictured above).
Four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Foyt said they will be free to race one another and expects them to be challenging at the front.
"I want them to run as hard as they possibly can," said Foyt, who turns 80 in January. "I want them to race each other the best they can, and may the best man win. Just don't take each other out.
"We got two boys that can be up on the front most of the time. We're really looking forward to having a big year and a lot of fun. There will be a day when one of them will be a little better than the other one, and that's why they call it racing."
Hawksworth, like Sato, raced in a single-car team last year, and said the opportunity to work alongside a team-mate would help him to build upon what he learned in a strong rookie season with Bryan Herta Autosport.
"I think we'll just push each other along," he said. "I think that the team will grow as well. At the moment, there's so little practice time.
"If you have two cars out there running, you can try different things, different approaches in the practice sessions.
"Hopefully at the end of the day you put all of that together from both cars, then you take a significant step forward."
| By Ben Anderson and Scott Mitchell | Thursday, January 1st 2015, 10:23 GMT |
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner believes what Formula 1 rival Mercedes achieved in 2014 was "truly incredible".
The run of four straight drivers' and constructors' titles for Horner's squad was ended in emphatic fashion by Mercedes last season, with world champion Lewis Hamilton and team-mate Nico Rosberg winning a record 16 races between them.
Horner believes Mercedes deserves credit for leading from the front in F1's new era of hybrid turbocharged V6 engines, though it admitted it was braced for its own engine supplier Renault to lag behind the Silver Arrows.
"I think the difference to Mercedes was far bigger than we expected it would be," he said. "We feared that there was going to be a deficit, but nowhere near the scale we saw.
"I think first we need to congratulate Mercedes, who have done a truly incredible job with their power unit.
"I think we were in the worst of all situations with Renault in that we were uncompetitive with an unreliable engine. But credit to them for sorting the reliability out on the engine.
"It's now the performance deficit that we really need to focus on."
Red Bull bounced back from a calamitous pre-season testing programme to win three races in 2014, though all came from new driver Daniel Ricciardo as quadruple champion Sebastian Vettel suffered his first winless campaign since his F1 debut half-season in 2007.
Though Vettel has now left for Ferrari, Horner believes Renault's restructuring and Red Bull's new works team status means the engine battle should be closer this year.
"I think Mercedes invested more strategically than Renault," he added.
"It was something we were aware of and something we pushed Renault on, but unfortunately their management changes came too late to make an impact into this year, but hopefully they will make a big influence in the next few seasons.
"I think the philosophy to embrace Red Bull as the works team and to work as a partner as opposed to a customer was what needed changing, because the power unit needs to be fully integrated."
| Thursday, January 1st 2015, 14:15 GMT |
Ex-Formula 1 driver Franck Montagny fears his motorsport career may be over after testing positive for a derivative of cocaine.
The former Super Aguri driver, who started the inaugural 2014-15 Formula E season with Andretti Autosport, has been suspended from competition pending final confirmation of any sanction.
According to French newspaper L'Equipe, Montagny has not contested the result of a test carried out after the second Formula E round in Malaysia on November 22 2014.
"Auto sport is perhaps over for me," the Frenchman is quoted as saying.
"At the end of the race, I see the guy who tests signalling me. There, in my head, I understood immediately. I knew it was dead.
"I was ashamed."
Prior to his seven-race Super Aguri sojourn in 2006, Montagny had tested extensively for the Renault team since 2004, having won the previous year's World Series by Nissan title and the Japanese manufacturer's Formula Open championship in 2001.
After outings for the French A1 Grand Prix team in 2007 Montagny moved into sportscar racing, joining Peugeot's factory effort and earning back-to-back Le Mans 24 Hours podiums in 2010 and 2011, as well as winning races in the American Le Mans Series.
He joined Andretti for the inaugural Formula E season, finishing second in the opener in Beijing, but was only 15th in Malaysia and withdrew from the most recent race in Uruguay last month, citing illness, with Matthew Brabham taking his seat.
| By Glenn Freeman | Wednesday, December 31st 2014, 11:37 GMT |
Renault Sport chiefs believe that they have learned lessons from a tough Formula Renault 3.5 season in 2014 where the series was unable to field a full grid of cars
You have viewed over 15 free stories this month. Why stop there? Click here to find out how to continue reading.
