Weights Disgraceful - Mansell

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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."

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Ferrari Confirm Kimi

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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.

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Massa Needs Better Results - ferrari

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Ferrari want to retain Felipe Massa for next season, but only if he starts to deliver better results on track.

The Brazilian's contract expires at the end of the season and a poor run of form has raised questions about his future at the team.

But Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali said: "My favourite choice would be, of course, to keep Felipe.

"When you look around there are not so many drivers out there that you swap and they immediately deliver."

He added: "Felipe is a very good guy - very dedicated to the team.

"But, of course, we need good results from Felipe, so that's why we will not rush as we have to make the right decision for the team."

Massa, 32, has not won a race since 2008 when he looked to have won the World Championship having taken victory at the Brazilian Grand Prix, only for Lewis Hamilton to gain a position on the final corner and take the championship by a single point.

Since then, he has scored eight podiums in a little over three and a half seasons. In the same period, Ferrari team-mate Fernando Alonso has managed 39, 11 of those victories.

The 32-year-old ended last season strongly, having considered quitting the sport during an early season slump before signing a new one-year deal, and continued that form in the early part of this year.

But following two crashes in Monaco - both at the same corner - his form has tailed off and he has scored just 67 points to his team-mate's 151.

Kimi Raikkonen has been linked with Ferrari, BBC F1 chief analyst Eddie Jordan saying the Finn wants a return to the team with which he won the 2007 title.

Speaking to the official F1 website, Domenicali said: "Kimi is a very fast driver and everybody knows how I rate him. But if I make a comment now, it will be taken as a direct answer.

"There is no rush and we will make the right decision in the right moment.

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Alonso Not Tempted to Move - Briatore

Fernando Alonso has "no temptation whatsoever" to try and engineer a shock move away from

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Ferrari to rivals Red Bull, Flavio Briatore, who heads the Spaniard's management team, has insisted.

The sport's rumour mill was sent into overdrive last Sunday at the Hungarian GP after Red Bull boss Christian Horner refused to deny that a meeting between himself and Alonso's representative, Luis Garcia Abad, had been about the chance of the Spaniard filling the vacancy that will be created by Mark Webber's retirement at the end of the season.

When the speculation was put to him directly, Alonso insisted he was "very happy" at Ferrari, where he has a deal that runs to the end of 2016, with the team themselves also making clear the 32-time grand prix winner is under contract.

Now Briatore, Alonso's former boss at Renault but who still heads the management company that represents the double World Champion, has told the Italian media that the Spaniard isn't angling for a move away from Maranello.

"Fernando has a contract and contracts must be respected," Briatore told Gazzetta dello Sport. "Alonso has never said he wants to leave. Ferrari-Alonso remains a winning pairing."

And asked whether the Spaniard was tempted to join Red Bull, Briatore replied: "No. No temptation whatsoever."

Nonetheless, despite the highly unlikely nature of any 2014 Red Bull switch, the state of Alonso's relationship with Ferrari has come under the spotlight after the team took the unprecedented step of making public a rebuke that was delivered to the 32-year-old by their President Luca di Montezemolo for negative comments made in the aftermath of the team's poor performance in Hungary.

Ferrari have since attempted to play down the nature of Montezemolo's criticisms - insisting they should be viewed as a "positive injection" - but Briatore has argued that what Alonso said was nothing out of the ordinary as he needed a quicker car to compete for the title.

"It's normal for a racing driver to desire a competitive car and the team must work hard to supply it. End of story," said Briatore.

"He needs to have at his disposal a car that allows him to start from the top two rows.

"We knew it would be tough in Hungary, as it was when I was at Renault. They need to quickly find the instruction manual at Maranello."

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Hungary an 'important' weekend for Ferrari - Alonso

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Fernando Alonso reckons the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend is crucial weekend for him and the Scuderia - and that it will seriously affect the team's motivation should Sebastian Vettel extend his championship lead any further. 

Alonso lost further ground to Vettel in Germany earlier this month and now lies 34 points back going into round ten at Budapest's Hungaroring. 

“A good result this weekend would be very good for team motivation and our hopes,” he told Ferrari's official website. 

“If we can close the gap to Sebastian before the break it would be a good thing, but if it increased, it would make it a stressful break for us and less motivating. So, it's an important weekend.” 

Conditions for the race look set to be very hot, but Alonso is not overly concerned and said it won't influence how they get ready for the grand prix. 

“Nothing changes in terms of preparation, whatever the temperature on Sunday, we will do our normal preparation,” he confirmed. “We just need to be a bit more open on strategy, in case we need to make an extra stop because of the tyres, but we won't know until we start practice tomorrow.” 

Meanwhile, Alonso has backed the changes made in the wake of the incident that saw Formula One Management (FOM) cameraman Paul Allen injured at the Nurburgring, when he was hit by a wheel that had come loose from theRed Bull of Mark Webber. 

“Always when something happens in terms of safety, we must react and we are all in agreement on improving safety. However, finding the way to do it is difficult to agree on,” stated the Spaniard. “But I think reducing the pit lane speed limit cannot be bad, as it is the same for all the teams and there is less risk for the mechanics.

“Reducing the number of media in the pit lane during free practice can also be a solution, because sometimes there are too many of them in FP1 and FP2. 

“In pit stops we are all trying to find the limits; of driver reaction time, the wheelguns and the procedure itself, so if they find a solution to increase the time of a pit stop [as has been mooted] to improve safety and it is the same for all the teams, I don't think anyone will disagree.”

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