Bottas joins Mercedes
Valtteri Bottas will join Mercedes from Williams this season it’s been confirmed. After weeks of speculation, Formula One’s biggest rumour was finally became fact.
The move had been on the cards for a number of weeks, following the sudden retirement of World champion Nico Rosberg’s in December. Leaving Mercedes with a vacancy alongside Hamilton. Meanwhile its been announced that felipe Massa will race for Williams, despite retiring from the sport at the end of last season.
Bottas told Mercedes staff “We did the contract today and obviously I’ve been dreaming for a long time to drive for a team like this, a team of champions,” said Bottas as he was unveiled to Mercedes’ workforce.
“So I’m really proud to be part of this and proud of what you’ve achieved in the last few years but also in the whole history of Formula 1. It’s mega to be driving a Silver Arrow myself this year.” Bottas joins three time champion Lewis Hamilton, who he said is looking forward to working with.
The Fin says he has a clear missions “My goal for the first race is to get all the points available that there’s absolutely possible in the car. I’m still missing my first win, so that’s the first mission.”
Not standing in Bottas’s way
Williams Deputy Team Principal Claire Williams says that the team wants to do the right thing and not stand in the way of Valtteri Bottas’s future in Formula One.
Mercedes were trying to get Williams to release the Finn from his contract to join the team, following the sudden departure of Nico Rosberg last month. The two teams have been locked into neogations over the last month, but a deal has now been reached.
Yesterday, Ms Williams speaking at Autosport International before today’s announcement, she hinted that the talks are in the final stages. She said when asked, if it was simple a case of crossing the Ts and dotting the Is, Williams replied: “Yes, it now is exactly that. I suppose as soon as Nico made his announcement, I knew the call was going to come from [Mercedes team boss and Bottas’s manager] Toto [Wolff].”
“I know that he’s admired Valtteri – many people do admire Valtteri’s talent. For us, you don’t want to stand in the way of a driver who has the opportunity to go and race finally in a car that’s winning races, it’s winning world championships.” She added.
When Ferrari tried to sign Bottas, Williams managed to retain him. She added that Williams stood by him and he stood by us. She said “You have to do the right thing sometimes but we as a team have to do the right thing by the 650 other employees that we have at Williams.”
“We need to make sure that if we are to release Valtteri, we have the best credible option to replace him with but also put in the best structure that supports that moving forward.” She added. But, seemed to hint that there would be announcement soon.
Ms Williams says the fact the team had a customer engine deal with Mercedes has nothing to do with the negotiations.
Offer made to save Manor
Autosport say they have learnt that an offer has been made to safe Manor, but the bidder says they need an answer by Friday. The company which operates the team Just Racing Services, went into administration last week after talks with an investor broke down.
It is believed the administrators FRP Advisory LLP are talking to interested parties, one of which has made an offer. Autosport understands the offer is for all three Manor companies – Just Racing Services Ltd, Just Racing Ltd and Manor Grand Prix Racing Ltd.
Just Racing LTD holds the F1 and FOM licence is not in administration. A bidder has to ensure they are able to build and test the car before the season starts. But if the deadline is missed, they can be revised offer which is expected to be lower given the reduced time and increased costs required to get the team on the grid.
FRP Advisory LLP declined to comment when approached by Autosport and Manor team principal Stephen Fitzpatrick could not be reached.
Last week, it was confirmed that FRP had found enough money to pay staff for January. But the car can’t go into production because the administrators have put a block on spending to protect creditors.
Renault’s radical overhaul
Renault is to introduce a second generation Energy Recovery System in a complete and radical overhaul of their power unit. The French manufacturer started from scratch, as they believe the engine had reached the end of its development life.
Speaking at Autosport International managing director Cyril Abiteboul said “This year we want to confirm the turnaround of the situation on the engine. Last year was really fantastic, and we need to confirm that.”
“We are going to have an all-new architecture on the internal combustion engine, and also be introducing for the first time the second generation of Energy Recovery System.” This season the French manufacturer will also be supplying Red Bull and Toro Rosso.
Despite there struggles in performance compared to Mercedes, Abiteboul says that ERS hasn’t been lacking and thinks there is plenty to be gained from that. He said “There are an awful lot of collateral aspects to consider – like weight, packaging, cooling requirements, plus the intensity of the current that you can use in certain conditions, in particular climatic conditions.”
Moss admitted to hospital
Sir Stirling Moss was admitted to hospital just before Christmas, his family announced over the weekend. The former Mercedes, Masterati, Vanwall and Lotus driver is in a stable condition following initial complications.
A statement read “Sir Stirling was admitted to hospital in Singapore on 22nd December 2016 with a serious chest infection. Because of the severity of the infection it resulted in some complications and his recovery has not been as speedy as was expected or wished.
“However, his condition continues to improve and his doctors now consider him to be stable. In himself, Sir Stirling is in good spirits and only upset about having missed his Christmas cruise with friends.” The statement praised the doctors, nurses and staff who are looking after him.
Describing them as “could not be more wonderful; as kind and caring as they are professional.”
His wife Lady Moss said “she could not wish for a better facility or a more qualified team. She is very grateful to them all.” The plan is for them to remain in Singapore to recover and ‘escape the English winter for longer.’
Moss during his ten years in F1, took sixteen wins and finished as runner-up four times and finished third on the other three occasions. Moss also won the Mille Miglia, his class at Le Mans and only retired from racing in 2011.
FIA simulates Alonso crash
The FIA have simulated the crash which Fernando Alonso had at last year’s Australian Grand Prix, as part of their analysis of the halo cockpit protection device.
Over the past few months the halo device has been tested extensively on and off track with all the drivers last season, giving their feedback to the FIA. The governing body has said some form of cockpit protection will be introduced in 2018, with the halo the preferred option over the Red Bull-developed aeroscreen.
Alonso walked away from the crash unharmed, after he was launched into the air and then rolled upside down at high speed after crashing with the Haas of Esteban Gutiérrez.
FIA deputy race director and safety director Laurent Mekies said Alonso’s crash was analysed as part of the FIA’s research programme, with drivers to be given the chance to test extraction in similar circumstances.
“We looked specifically at that accident when we did the halo study,” he said in the Motorsport Safety Fund’s annual Watkins Lecture at Autosport International.
“The first part is the standard procedures are that the marshals get the car back on its wheels. We accept that if the guy feels good he will never wait for that, he will try to go out. It’s not a great idea if you consider the car with the electrical system in it and we would prefer that he waits, but we understand it’s that way.
“We put one of our chassis upside down with a halo, we put Andy Mellor [consultant for the Global Institute for Motor Sport Safety] into it as the worst case scenario and we asked him to come out exactly in Fernando’s position and incredibly he did.
“So we feel in that case, the halo actually creates breathing space for the driver. When we showed that to the drivers, they were not impressed with Andy’s speed to get out of the car, but they actually asked to try it before the halo is introduced so one day they will get that training.”
