Magussen to Leave McLaren

Reserve driver Kevin Magnussen will leave McLaren at the end of the 2015 season after two years with the team.

New GP2 champion Stoffel Vandoorne is expected to take on the role of reserve to Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso for 2016.

Speaking on Twitter, Magnussen said: "I want to say thank you to my friends at @McLarenF1. There are a lot of great people there. #GoodLuckGuys

In an interview with motorsport.com, Magnussen confirmed he received the news of his exit on his birthday.

"When the date of McLaren's option on me passed, I was kind of waiting to hear from them," he said

"I didn't hear anything for a few days, and then, after about a week, when I saw an email from Ron's [Dennis, McLaren chairman] personal assistant Justine [Bowen] in my inbox, I had an idea of what it might be.

"It was a short paragraph explaining that there would be nothing for me in the future. It arrived on my birthday, actually."

In a statement, Dennis said: "Kevin has always done a very impressive and professional job for McLaren in the five years since he joined our Young Driver Programme in 2010.

"In 2014 he raced very well alongside Jenson, who is a hugely experienced and very quick World Champion. Kevin's Grand Prix debut in Melbourne last year was rewarded with a podium that day that he, and we, can be justifiably proud of."

Button gave an interview to Danish newspaper BT earlier this week, in which he stated his belief that Magnussen could be a success in Formula 1.

He said: "The Kevin I saw at the start of 2014 was a very different guy from the one I saw towards the end of our campaign together.

"He learned so much over the 12 months we spent working together, and he often pushed me to my limits, and even over my limits on many occasions.

"I don't know whether or not he's got a chance of bagging any of the remaining vacant Formula 1 seats, but he's clearly the best driver available, and I'd therefore very much recommend him to any team that has a vacancy.

"He's good enough not only to race in Formula 1, but also to help a team succeed in Formula 1."

Related articles

• Showdown talks as Button set for Formula 1 exit
• VIDEO: Button still tight-lipped on future
• Reports: Jenson Button set to announce retirement from Formula One
• Jenson Button considering retirement at the end of the season with announcement at Japanese GP expected
• Jenson Button wants McLaren future to be resolved 'over next few weeks'
• Pole position for virtual F1 race thrills

Button Tells Fans Not to Worry

Jenson Button has told his fans “don’t worry about me” as the McLaren board meets to decide his future.

Asked on Sky Sports whether he would still be with the team next season, he replied: “That’s a question I can’t answer.”

McLaren have continued to dither over the fate of their drivers as they seek to clear a place for the incoming Fernando Alonso now he has officially left Ferrari and the group CEO Ron Dennis had promised Button and his team-mate Kevin Magnussen an answer as to who would be in the car before the end of the season, only to put off the decision until the board meeting on Thursday.

Although a decision may be made at the meeting it is possible no announcement will be made until next week.

Speaking from a road-safety event in Edinburgh where he was accompanied by Magnusson, Button said: “I don’t know when we’ll find out.

“I’m here with Kevin, we’ve spent the last couple of days together and we’ve had some interesting conversations – and whichever way it goes it’s better for us to know sooner rather than later.”

He added: “It’s up to McLaren to make the decison and I will respect their decision whichever way it goes.

“But for me, I’ve had a fairly great career in Formula One which I would love to see continue.”

The 2009 world champion, who finished eighth in this world’s title race, continued: “I’ve really enjoyed this year, I feel we’ve got a good base for a great future, it’s an exciting new challenge and I’m all for new challenges.”

Should Button lose his seat, he has been tipped to join his contemporary in F1, Mark Webber, driving sports cars at Porsche. Asked whether he might be minded to turn down an offer from McLaren now that the affair had dragged on so long, he insisted: “I want to drive for McLaren.

“For me the last few months have been very tricky. Two months ago was very difficult when my future was uncertain but the last few weeks I’ve had so much support from fans and social media it’s given me confidence and kept me relaxed in the decision making and I’m in a good place wherever my future takes me.”

It would be no problem teaming up with the twice world champion Alonso, he said, adding: “He’s a guy who would be a massive challenge working with because you always want to beat your team-mate but an exciting challenge.”

Button has out-qualified and out-performed Magnussen, who finished 11th in the championship, on the track this season but the 34-year-old Briton is the more expensive choice. “Any decision has to be supported by the shareholders and the board,” Dennis has said.

Related articles

• Jenson Button's fate to be decided at McLaren board meeting in December
• Fernando Alonso signs with McLaren-Honda
• Jenson Button Has A Chat With McLaren Head Ron Dennis
• Watch Fernando Alonso congratulate Lewis Hamilton and Nicole Scherzinger after F1 championship triumph at Abu Dhabi GP
• Jenson Button tells McLaren to decide his Formula One future 'sooner rather than later'
• Jenson Button eager to keep it all in the family at McLaren

Go Ahead for Indian GP

Getty Images

The Indian Grand Prix will go ahead as scheduled this weekend after a hearing into alleged tax irregularities was delayed until next week.

Campaigner Amit Kumar had accused race promoters of not paying entertainment taxes for the 2012 event and demanded the cancellation of Sunday's race.

But a court official said: "The case will now be heard next week."

The Indian Grand Prix has been dropped from next year's calendar but promoters are optimistic of a return in 2015.

Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel, who leads Ferrari rival Fernando Alonso by 90 points with 100 still available, is expected to clinch his fourth world crown this Sunday.

The German, who has led every racing lap at the Indian Grand Prix since its debut in 2011, will claim the title if he ends up fifth or higher, regardless of where Alonso finishes.

The long-term future of the Indian Grand Prix is uncertain after F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone removed the race from the 2014 calendar.

Organisers are trying to find a new date for its return in 2015, with Ecclestone keen for the race to take place in the early part of the season, rather than its current October date.

Related articles

• Indian GP to go ahead after ruling
• Vettel tops India first practice
• Whatever be Indian GP's future, for now it's Vettel (Preview)
• Vettel tops second India practice
• 2013 Indian Grand Prix Preview
• Vettel wins Italian Grand Prix ahead of Alonso

Weights Disgraceful - Mansell

Getty Images

Nigel Mansell says proposed weight limits in Formula 1 are "disgraceful" and "discrimination against the medium-sized large driver".

Next year's minimum weight limit has been increased to take into account the introduction of new engines.

But the engines are turning out to be heavier than expected, meaning taller - therefore heavier - drivers will be at a disadvantage.

"It's wrong. They [the drivers] are not jockeys," says Mansell.

The weight limit for the driver and the car this season is set at 642kg but with new, heavier 1.6-litre V6 turbo engines and energy recovery systems being introduced in 2014, the minimum weight has been raised to 690kg.

However, much of the extra 48kg is expected to be taken up by the new power units, leaving less leeway for the weight of the drivers.

Every kilogram a driver adds will matter, with 1kg of weight equating to about 0.035secs a lap on an average circuit.

Consequently, a driver like Fernando Alonso, who weighs 68kg, will have an advantage over Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg, who weighs 74kg.

Mansell added: "It's disgraceful, it's discrimination against the medium-sized large driver.

"In years gone by, we didn't have traction control or power steering - you had to be a strong driver and there were a lot of strong drivers. If you had this weight limit, they wouldn't have been able to drive cars many years ago - or they would have driven with great difficulty.

"So I think get the weight limit up a bit, make some cars carry some ballast so that the bigger drivers don't suffer as much. "

McLaren's Jenson Button, who weighs 74kg, has already expressed concern, saying ahead of the Korean Grand Prix: "I'm 74-75kg with my kit and I struggle to meet the weight limit. I have done for three years.

"I love fitness training but there are things I can't do because I have to be a set weight - not eat carbohydrates, not build muscle. And next year it will be worse. I don't think any team will have ballast next year."

Related articles

• Rush: Top ten greatest F1 rivalries
• Mansell criticises F1 weight limits
• MST: Nigel Mansell hits out at weight limit
• Nigel Mansell says planned F1 weight limit is "disgraceful"
• VIDEO: Weight limits disgraceful - Mansell
• Formula One Legend Nigel Mansell's former home up for sale

Ferrari Confirm Kimi

Getty Images

Ferrari have confirmed Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen will join Fernando Alonso at the Italian team from 2014 after agreeing a two-year contract.

Raikkonen, 33, won the world title with Ferrari in 2007 but was displaced by the arrival of Spaniard Alonso in 2010.

The Finn will replace Felipe Massa, who announced via Twitter that he will leave at the end of the current season.

Raikkonen said: "I'm really happy to return to Maranello where I spent three fantastic and very successful years."
"I can't wait to be driving a Ferrari car again and to reacquaint myself with so many people with whom I had such close links, as well as working with Fernando, whom I consider a great driver, in order to bring the team the success it deserves."

Lotus are expected to replace Raikkonen with Sauber's German driver Nico Hulkenburg.

Raikkonen had also been linked with a move to Red Bull after impressing with victory in the opening race of 2013 at the Australian Grand Prix, followed by second-place finishes in China, Bahrain, and Spain.

Red Bull opted to promote Daniel Ricciardo from their Toro Rosso junior team rather than continue to pursue Raikkonen.

Raikkonen is only in his second season back in Formula 1 following a two-year break during which he pursued a career in rallying.

His 2012 return was marked with seven podium finishes, including victory in Abu Dhabi in the penultimate race of the season.

Ferrari's decision to partner Alonso with Raikkonen signals a return to the policy last employed between 2007 and 2009 when Raikkonen and Massa competed on equal terms.

Either side of that period, with Michael Schumacher from 1996-2006 and then with Alonso for the last four years, there has been a clear number one driver.

Former world champion Sir Jackie Stewart, who works as a consultant for the Lotus team, told BBC Sport thatRaikkonen's presence could unsettle Alonso, who has been used to being the focus of the team's efforts.

Alonso's relationship with McLaren, when he was team-mates with Lewis Hamilton in 2007, was famously turbulent, and the ructions led to him leaving the team just one year into a three-year contract.

Alonso has since made it clear that his problems at the time were not with Hamilton but with the team not delivering on promises that had been made to him about his status.

And in a statement on the Ferrari website, he paid tribute to Massa and looked forward to Raikkonen joining the team.

"It will not be easy to say goodbye to a team-mate like him. He has always been truly professional and loyal to the team and I am sure that right to the end, he will do his utmost for the Scuderia that he loves so much.

"I'd like to welcome my new travelling companion: together, starting next year, we will have to tackle a very demanding technical and racing challenge."

Ferrari's decision, which was approved by the team's president Luca Di Montezemolo, leaves Lotus with a second key vacancy to fill.

They also lost highly-rated technical director James Allison to Ferrari earlier this year and have since struggled to persuade Raikkonen that they have the technical and financial resources to compete at the front in 2014.

Raikkonen is the first driver to return to Ferrari after a previous spell since Austrian Gerhard Berger re-joined them in 1993 after leaving them at the end of 1989 to join McLaren.

Ferrari trail Red Bull by 104 points in the team standings this season, with Alonso's successes in Spain and China dwarfed by rival Sebastian Vettel's six wins.

Related articles

• Raikkonen joins Alonso at Ferrari
• Ferrari confirm Raikkonen for 2014
• Ferrari announces Raikkonen return in 2-year deal
• Motor Sports: Raikkonen returns to Ferrari as Massa quits
• Raikkonen in pole for Ferrari seat
• Raikkonen To Join Ferrari

Vettel Wins Monza Grand Prix

Getty Images

Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel survived a number of minor issues to take his sixth win of the season in the Formula 1 Gran Premio d'Italia 2013 at Monza on Sunday afternoon. 

The world champion took the lead at the start as Ferrari’s Felipe Massa sprinted briefly up to second ahead of the second Red Bull of Mark Webber and the second Ferrari of Fernando Alonso. 

As Vettel extended his lead out front, despite some concerns about a flat-spotted tyre, Alonso fought past Webber with a bold move on the third lap, then caught and passed his team mate on the eighth. But there was nothing he could do about the German in the lead and though he finished only 5.4s adrift, the real gap was closer to double that as Vettel eased off considerably.

In the second half of the race Webber fought back and put Alonso under pressure until he was told to start short-shifting, but he was still less than a second behind the Ferrari at the end. Massa was a distant fourth.

Nico Hulkenberg and Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg had a race-long fight for fifth which went the Sauber driver’s way by six-tenths of a second even though Rosberg was the fastest man on track with three laps to go. Daniel Ricciardo made strong use of his superfast-in-a-straight line Toro Rosso to keep Romain Grosjean at bay, but Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton was closing on both and actually passed the Lotus going into the second chicane on the final lap. 

Unfortunately for the Briton, he’d gone over the run-off area to do it and had to hand back the place. Hamilton had his race strategy upset by a slow puncture in his Mercedes’ right front tyre on the 12th lap, and thus had to make two pit stops to almost everybody else’s one.

Kimi Raikkonen was the other man who had to stop twice after sustaining accident damage running his Lotus into Sergio Perez’s McLaren at the first corner after locking up. Like Hamilton, the Finn drove a feisty race to recover, but couldn’t hold Hamilton back on the 49th lap. He did catch and pass Perez, but missed out on the final point when he couldn’t quite get the job done on Jenson Button. The Englishman thus took a solitary point in McLaren’s 50th birthday race.

Behind Perez in 12th, fellow Mexican Esteban Gutierrez brought his Sauber home ahead of the Williams duo of Pastor Maldonado and Valtteri Bottas, while further back Charles Pic beat Caterham team mate Giedo van der Garde, as Jules Bianchi led home Marussia team mate Max Chilton at the rear of the field.

It was a bad race for Force India, with Paul di Resta a first-lap casualty after running into the back of Grosjean at the second chicane - an incident the stewards are investigating - and Adrian Sutil retiring on the penultimate lap when running behind the Hamilton/Raikkonen battle. Jean-Eric Vergne had kept Button and Hamilton at bay in the early stages until a transmission problem on his Toro Rosso put him out on the 15th lap.

Vettel’s sixth win of the season extended his championship lead over Alonso. The German now has 222 points to the Spaniard’s 169, while Hamilton is stuck back on 141 from Raikkonen on 134, as Webber moves up to 130.

In the constructors’ stakes, Red Bull had the biggest day and now have 352 points, while Ferrari’s strong performance puts them back into second place on 248 ahead of Mercedes on 245. Lotus remain fourth on 191 with McLaren fifth on 66 and Force India sixth on 61.

Related articles

• Vettel beats Alonso to Monza win
• Vettel Wins From Pole At Monza
• Italian Grand Prix: live
• Vettel wins Italian GP to extend his F1 lead
• Vettel claims Monza victory
• Vettel wins in Italy to increase lead

Alonso Buys Basque Cycling Team

Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso has bought the Euskaltel-Euskadi cycling team after agreeing to buy the squad for €6m.

The team had been due to cease operations at the end of the season after almost 20 years in top-tier cycling following the withdrawal of financial backing from public institutions in the Basque country, where it is based.

However, long-time cycling fan Alonso is set to rescue the squad by taking over ownership of its WorldTour licence from current management company Basque Cycling Pro Team.

A statement on the 32-year-old's website said: "We are pleased to announce that the Spanish sportsman has reached an initial agreement to buy [Euskaltel-Euskadi] and so avoid its demise.

"The double F1 world champion's great enthusiasm for cycling is well known. Apart from including this sport in his daily training routine, he has always felt a special passion for this particular world on two wheels."

Alonso first expressed an interest in venturing into cycling several years ago and triggered intense speculation in F1 circles yesterday by tweeting: "I have important news coming these days. Stay tuned here on Twitter and on the web."

Takeover negotiations have been ongoing over the past few weeks and the deal is expected to be finalised imminently.

It is understood the team will be relocated to the Asturias region of north-western Spain and rebuilt around 2008 Olympic road race champion Samuel Sanchez, with a key focus on employing local riders.

Alonso's statement also said he would aim to help cycling distance itself from its doping past by adopting a zero-tolerance policy to drugs.

"Alonso is thrilled to be forming an active part in cycling and to be able to improve the image of this sport. Transparency and 'zero tolerance' will therefore be the fundamental pillars on which the foundations will be laid for this exciting sports project."

Euskaltel-Euskadi first came into existence in 1994 and quickly became a treasured part of the professional peloton, with its distinctive orange jersey and policy of only employing home-grown riders earning it fans around the world.

However, Basque Cycling Pro Team announced less than a fortnight ago that the team would fold at the end of the season due to a shortfall in funding.

Lead sponsor Euskaltel, the telecommunications company, had committed to continuing its backing of the team for the next four years, but austerity measures in the Basque country meant that public institutions were unable to provide the promised €3.5m contribution to the €9m annual running costs of the team.

The new team will honour all of the contracts of the riders who were signed to Euskaltel-Euskadi for the 2014 and 2015 seasons.

Related articles

• Euskaltel-Euskadi pulling out all the stops in Vuelta a España
• Cycling team Euskaltel Euskadi to close
• Friday Feature: The Carrots are dying, long live the Carrots!
• Report: Euskaltel Euskadi team has run out of time in hunt for new sponsor
• One of the World's First Professional Cycling Teams Spain's Eskaltel Euskadi Disbands
• Who's moving where for 2014? #4