Alonso Chinese Grand Prix in Doubt

Alonso awaits Chinese news - Getty Images

Fernando Alonso has said his participation at this week’s Chinese Grand Prix remains in doubt.

The Spaniard, who sustained fractured ribs in his huge crash at the Australian Grand Prix in March, was sidelined for the last race in Bahrain after he failed an FIA medical test. Alonso will undergo further scans by the sport’s governing body on Thursday to determine whether he will be fit to race in Shanghai.

“It was disappointing to be told I couldn’t race in Bahrain, but I fully respected the decision of the FIA medical team,” said Alonso.

“While I hope I’ll be back in the cockpit on Friday, until I get the all-clear from the doctors to race – whenever that may be – we cannot assume anything, but I’m continuing to prepare for the race weekend as normal.”

Alonso has updated his fans on social media with his progress since Bahrain, posting pictures of himself in training and one of him using a bone-healing ultrasound system on his injured ribs. He was replaced in Bahrain by Stoffel Vandoorne, McLaren’s reserve driver, who out-qualified Jenson Button before scoring the team’s first point of the season after he crossed the line in 10th.

Alonso continued: “Stoffel did a great job in Bahrain and although Jenson suffered reliability issues, it was positive to see that both cars ran quite strongly during the weekend.

“It was also interesting for me to see the race weekend unfold from a different perspective, which helped me to understand everything that goes into getting the cars on track and learn a lot about the different processes, although I’d still prefer to be racing.

“I’ve always enjoyed driving in China – I’ve won there twice before – and I hope we’ll be able to have some good battles on track and see more progress this weekend.”

Vandoorne is on standby to race again in Shanghai should Alonso be unable to return.

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Ecclestone Talks F1, V8's, Jagger and Drivers

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Bernie Ecclestone says Formula 1 is "cheating" its fans because the quality of the show is poor.

The 85-year-old F1 supremo likened the sport to a rock concert at which the band turned up but could not perform.

"We are not putting on a very good show," he said, in the build-up to Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix.

"Imagine if people turned up to watch the Rolling Stones and Mick (Jagger) couldn't sing and the others couldn't play their instruments."

In a wide-ranging interview with BBC Radio 5 live, Ecclestone also questioned the motives of the drivers in writing their open letter criticising the governance of F1

He refused to criticise the controversial new qualifying system that is still in place for Bahrain, despite the teams agreeing to drop it

Ecclestone also said the new turbo hybrid engines introduced in 2014 were a "disaster".

Last week, the drivers wrote an open letter saying the decision-making process in F1 is "obsolete and ill-structured".

Responding the following day, Ecclestone said he agreed with the drivers. But he told BBC Sport he thought the drivers were saying "probably what their teams had told them to say".

Alex Wurz, the chairman of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association, was not immediately available to respond to Ecclestone's claims. Ecclestone added the governance of F1 was "nothing to do with me".

On the issue of qualifying, Ecclestone blamed governing body the FIA for the new format, which was supposed to spice up race weekends.

It did the opposite at the season-opening race in Australia, prompting teams to call for a return to the 2015 system.

However, the move was blocked by FIA president Jean Todt.

Asked if the new qualifying system worked, Ecclestone said: "Depends how you looked at it. The whole idea is we were hoping one or two of the hot shoes would be in trouble in Q1 and Q2. It didn't happen."

He added the idea "wasn't mine at all" but the FIA's. However, he rejected calls for a return to the 2015 format because he felt that did not work well either.

There will be a meeting of team bosses on Sunday before the race in Bahrain to discuss the qualifying system again.

Ecclestone has said he would like to switch to a different system that either decides the grid by ballot or shuffles the order by adding "time ballast" to drivers' times based on either the result of the previous race or the championship order.

He also discussed the new fuel-efficient turbo hybrid engines, arguing he would prefer a return to the naturally aspirated V8s in use until 2013.

"I said this engine would be a disaster and was criticised for that," he said, claiming the lack of noise meant F1 had lost some of its appeal.

He also claimed only one engine manufacturer - Mercedes - managed to adapt well to the new engines, which meant competition had suffered.

Mercedes have dominated F1 since the new engine came in, winning both the drivers' and constructors championships for the past two years.

"Mercedes have done an incredible job with that power unit," he said. "It is unbelievable. but it is not F1."

Asked what F1 should be like, he said: "Like it used to be. I didn't find anything wrong with the V8s and neither did anyone else."

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Halo Could Have Helped Alonso - Button

Jenson Button believes Formula One’s controversial halo device would have helped Fernando Alonso in his spectacular crash.

The halo, which made its debut in pre-season testing, has attracted some criticism – not least from Lewis Hamilton, who labelled it as the worst modification in the sport’s history – but is set to be introduced next season.

It is a concept which has been designed to shield a driver’s head from flying debris – in the wake of a number of high-profile incidents – but among its drawbacks is whether it would hinder a driver getting out of the cockpit.

Alonso, after hitting the wall and being catapulted airborne, landed upside down in his McLaren before crawling out of his car.

“He was upside down when he landed and if he had the halo it would have helped him,” Button, Alonso’s McLaren team-mate, said. “There was no need for him to get out in that situation. There’s more safety risk of things hitting our head than anything happening when the car’s upside down.

“With the halo he would have had less impact on his helmet. It’s very unusual that there would be an issue with fuel spillage or anything like that. The halo is the right direction and we need it.”

While Nico Rosberg beat Lewis Hamilton to win the curtain raiser in Melbourne, Alonso’s incredible crash, which the Spaniard unsurprisingly said was the biggest of his career, has dominated the post-race agenda.

After he careered into the back of Esteban Gutiérrez at close to 200mph, Alonso was merely a passenger as he slammed into the wall before barrel-rolling through the air twice.

Coincidentally, two of Formula One’s other big crashes in recent times – involving Martin Brundle in 1996 and Jacques Villeneuve five years later – also occurred on the same bit of tarmac. The latter saw a track marshal killed after he was hit by a flying wheel. It is testament to the sport’s remarkable safety record that there were no fatalities on Sunday.

“Everything hurts a bit because everything inside your body moves when you are going so fast,” said Alonso. “The knees hurt a bit, because you are crashing against the cockpit and the steering column. I’ll need some ice but other than that, all fine.”

The Spaniard, who was given the all-clear by doctors at the track, also tweeted: “I am aware that today I spent some of the luck remaining in life, I want to thank McLaren, the FIA for the safety on this car. Also my colleagues and fans for the concern and unconditional support.”

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F1 Halo Not Enough - Philippe Bianchi

Jules Bianchi’s father Philippe feels Formula One “must go further” with cockpit safety after being left unconvinced by the new Halo device.

Kimi Raikkonen became the first F1 driver to run with the Halo closed cockpit system during Thursday morning’s testing in Spain. Raikkonen tested the driver’s visibility of the Halo for two laps at the Circuit de Catalunya – the first time the system has been seen on an F1 car during a public session – before his Ferrari team removed the installation.

The Halo, which features a single column down the centre, is designed to shield drivers from flying debris and prevent the sort of accident that killed Henry Surtees last summer. Surtees, the son of the 1964 world champion John, was killed after he was hit on the crash helmet by an errant tyre while competing in a Formula Two race at Brands Hatch.

The F1 driver Bianchi also succumbed to the devastating injuries he sustained at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix in July, although it is not believed improved head protection would have saved the Frenchman. But Bianchi’s father says the Halo device does not provide a total fix for the dangers of an open cockpit and called on F1’s governing body, the FIA, to do more when it comes to driver safety.

“I consider that this is a step forward in terms of security,” Bianchi told the French television channel Canal Plus. “It is obvious that in the case of when a wheel comes off, this system would be effective. However, in the case of small debris, as Felipe Massa and Justin Wilson [the Indycar driver who was killed last August] had, that wouldn’t have changed anything. So this is a step forward, but it does not solve everything.”

Bianchi says such a concept would not have helped his son in his accident at Suzuka in October 2014. “For Jules, it would have changed nothing, because it’s the extremely violent deceleration that caused the damage that we know to his brain,” Bianchi said. “I think developments of the HANS system to better absorb big deceleration in a severe impact could help in this case.”

Standing for Head and Neck Support system, the HANS device works in conjunction with the driver’s helmet and seatbelts to drastically reduce the forces exerted on the head and neck during an accident.

“This is obviously not me who would raise myself against something that brings more security to drivers, but the version of this Halo system did not convince me and has yet to be perfected,” said Bianchi. “Aesthetically, it’s pretty bad, and I wonder what the driver gets to see behind the Halo. The FIA wished to act after Jules’s and Justin’s accidents, but it must go further.”

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Hamilton's Hot Test Time Sheets

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Lewis Hamilton is ignoring predictions that his Mercedes team will be untouchable heading into the new Formula One season.

McLaren’s Fernando Alonso has said Mercedes, who have won 32 of the last 38 grands prix, are looking “stronger than ever”, while Valtteri Bottas of Williams does not expect another team to challenge them when the season gets under way in Melbourne later this month.

Hamilton topped the timesheets on Wednesday morning as Mercedes again demonstrated they have the pace to match their bulletproof reliability. But the Briton, attempting to win his third consecutive championship, does not expect the upcoming campaign to be a forgone conclusion.

“Honestly, I have not looked at where everyone else is,” Hamilton, who completed 72 laps at the Circuit de Catalunya on Wednesday, told Sky Sports F1. “Everyone naturally is going to hype us up, every single person is going to hype us up, but you really don’t know what fuel load Ferrari are on.

“I think they have got a strong package, even Williams look like they have got quite a strong package, so I would not take any notice of what they are saying to be honest.”

Mercedes have covered more distance than their rivals in the six days of winter testing in Barcelona so far, and Nico Rosberg was the fastest for the Silver Arrows on Tuesday.

“I’ve the feeling it’s the best season’s start we’ve had in the last couple of years,” said their executive director, Toto Wolff, whose team have won the last two constructors’ championships.

“But we still haven’t seen what the other frontrunning cars are capable of extracting performance-wise. We’ve haven’t seen Ferrari, Williams, and Red Bull.

“So let’s keep our feet on the ground and see where we end up on Saturday afternoon in Melbourne, which will give more indication.”

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F1 New Qualifyng System Delayed

The introduction of Formula One’s new qualifying system will be delayed until the fifth race of the season because of technical issues, the sport’s commercial supremo, Bernie Ecclestone, said on Saturday.

The season starts in Australia on 20 March but the new qualifying format, announced by the governing FIA last week, will require changes to the software controlling the timing system.

“My guys who do the timing said ‘Mr E, we don’t want to be put in the position because we don’t think we can get it done properly in time’,” Ecclestone told the BBC.

He said the new format would probably be introduced at the Spanish Grand Prix in May. The season is due to feature a record 21 races.

Ecclestone’s Formula One Management handles the timing software, along with screen graphics and data, and he said the changes involved in the new elimination format were not straightforward.

“If you’re going to try and explain it to the public properly, it’s not just a case of ‘OK, the guy was the last one, bye-bye’,” he said.

“We’ll have to deal with it. I’ve told the FIA this and asked them what they’d like to do with it but the bottom line is there’s not a lot they can do with it because we do all the timekeeping.“

Under the new procedure, the slowest drivers will be eliminated as the three sessions progress rather than at the end of each phase.

After seven minutes of the first session has elapsed, the slowest driver will be eliminated, with others following at 90-second intervals.

Fifteen of the 22 will go through to the next phase, with the slowest eliminated after six minutes. The same 90-second sequence ensues until eight drivers are left.

In the final session one driver will be eliminated after five minutes and then one every 90 seconds until two are left fighting for pole position with one-and-a-half minutes remaining.

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F1 Rule Changes Needed - Horner

Formula 1 needs rule changes to make it less predictable, says Red Bull team principal Christian Horner.

Lewis Hamilton won the 2014 and 2015 world drivers' championships from Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg.

Mercedes won the constructors' title in both years, finishing first in 32 out of 38 races and completing 23 one-twos.

"People get turned off with predictability. It needs a rejig to bring it closer together," Horner told Autosport.

The Red Bull boss said it was up to the sport's senior officials, including commercial rights holder Bernie Ecclestone and FIA president Jean Todt, to find a solution.

"The regulations are incredibly stable for next year, so Mercedes will inevitably carry on the dominance, such is their margin," he added.

Horner believes the situation is different to when Red Bull won four successive constructors' championships and Sebastian Vettel the same number of drivers' titles from 2010 to 2013.

"Two of our world championships went to the last race, and we never finished first and second in a championship," he said.

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Hamilton Cries Wolff at Toto Claim

Lewis Hamilton has hit back at Toto Wolff’s claim that the world champion’s strained relationship with Nico Rosberg is having a detrimental effect on Mercedes.

Wolff, Hamilton’s employer, described the simmering tension between his two drivers as Mercedes’ “biggest weakness” and also claimed he would consider dropping one of them should their relationship continue to sour.

But in response to Wolff’s comments, Hamilton, who claimed his third world championship in October – his second in succession with Mercedes – said: “It is always blown so much out of proportion. We have had 16 one-two finishes so our relationship is not really causing any problems.

“I think we have both done a great job. It is not like he has been distracted and not finished high up, or vice versa, so I think ultimately it is easy for people to take things for granted. We have not caused any problems and the energy within the team is as high as it is ever going to be and that is because we do what we do how we do it.

“We are never going to be best friends but somehow we make it work. There are moments of tension but that is the same in any kind of sport I would imagine.”

Hamilton’s relationship with Rosberg appears at an all-time low following two years in which they have contested the drivers’ championship. Hamilton, who saw off Rosberg’s title challenge with three races to spare, was accused of “extremely aggressive driving” by his team-mate after the pair banged wheels in Austin. Rosberg then threw a cap at Hamilton before the podium celebrations.

Hamilton has subsequently said his team have “felt the need to be extra warm” to Rosberg, winner of the next three races, following that fallout, a statement the German described as an “excuse” for the Briton’s failure to win the following race in Mexico.

In an interview with Motorsport.com, Wolff said: “Going forward, we will consider if it is the best setup for the team. Personality and character within the team is a crucial ingredient for the team’s success.

“If we feel that it is not aligned with the general consensus, spirit and philosophy within the team, we might consider that when we take a decision in terms of the driver lineup going forward.”

Hamilton, who has said he wants to end his career with Mercedes, signed a new three-year deal in May. Rosberg’s current contract expires at the end of 2016 but the German has no desire to leave.

Regarding next season, Hamilton, who was speaking to the BBC, added: “You never know what is going to happen but I am going to be working hard, working on my fitness, and I have every plan to come back strong.”

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