{"id":4111,"date":"2017-08-31T18:29:35","date_gmt":"2017-08-31T18:29:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/f1vault.co.uk\/?p=4111"},"modified":"2017-08-31T18:29:35","modified_gmt":"2017-08-31T18:29:35","slug":"f1-today-31082017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/f1-today-31082017\/","title":{"rendered":"F1 Today – 31\/08\/2017"},"content":{"rendered":"

Who switches first is critical in title fight <\/strong><\/p>\n

Lewis Hamilton believes that a critical factor in the outcome of this year’s championship could be whether Mercedes or Ferrari switches their attention first to next years car.<\/p>\n

The two biggest teams in Formula One have been fighting against each other all season, with eight races remaining it’s Ferrari\u2019s Sebastian Vettel who leads the driver’s championship, while Mercedes lead the constructors.<\/p>\n

Hamilton has warned Mercedes they cannot affort to take there eye of the 2018 programme. He told Autosport, \u201cIn terms of rate of development we are as strong as anyone. But there’s a real balance of how much you apply to next year’s car. We don’t want to be the last one to start next year’s car.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I think that’s really where the race is: trying to figure out how much time you spend on continuing to develop this car to get the job done, and to then get the job done for next year.\u201d Hamilton says that it is a mental battle that the team will have with Ferrari, but also within the team.<\/p>\n

In Sunday\u2019s Belgian Grand Prix, Hamilton cut his championship rival Sebastian Vettel\u2019s lead to seven points, though the Ferrari driver was not far behind. Hamilton says \u201cthat’s how it’s going to be\u201d until the Abu Dhabi finale at the end of November.<\/p>\n

He anticipates a last-round decider and thinks any single reliability problem or shift in performance could swing the result. \u201cIt’s going right down to the wire,” Hamilton said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

No repeats or clashes says Perez and Ocon<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon have admitted there on track clashes has let their Force India team down and have promised their team there will be no repeat of the clashes they have had on track this season.<\/p>\n

The duo\u2019s collision in last Sundays Belgian Grand Prix has prompted the team to bring in tougher rules of engagement to stop them battling each other in the future. Today, both drivers held a private conversation to clear the air.<\/p>\n

Following that conversations, Perez said he was confident that the matters were now resolved and denies the suggestions that future clashes would make the partnership was untenable and one of them would have to leave.<\/p>\n

Perez said \u201cWe both know that we have done wrong in the past for this team, and my main target is not thinking to run away. I think working with Esteban is still possible. It can be a successful partnership and I am not thinking of moving elsewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ocon said: “I think we both crossed the line \u2013 that is for sure. We touched, so something was wrong in there. I won’t argue because it is all behind us now and we want to move forward. We crossed the line and we cannot do that in the future for the purpose of the team and for us.”<\/p>\n

The Mexican says that it’s important for the team that we move forward, behave like professionals and we want to keep challenging others. Perez added \u201cI \u00a0believe a new relationship can start from now on and I hope from now on we can start working as a team and put the interests of the team first.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both say that the hope that good behaviour would lead to the team relaxing some of the rules in the future.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Grid venalities out of control \u2013 Brawn \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Formula One sporting director Ross Brawn says that management is pushing for an abolition of grid penalties because has been out of control.<\/p>\n

Ever since 2009, when in a move to cut costs the sport brought in long life components, including engines and gearboxes that must last a set number of races, drivers who use too many components have received grid demotions.<\/p>\n

But situations such as Stoffel Vandoorne’s 65-place grid penalty at Spa have left Brawn adamant a better solution must be found. Speaking to Autosport, Brawn said, \u201cI hate the fact that we’re having to affect the racing because of the technical issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI know you can say if a car breaks down in a race that’s a technical issue and you’ve affected the race, but I think the fans understand that. For a fan to stomach that his hero is on the back of the grid because he had to change the engine, that’s not great sport.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brawn says that a solution needs to be found or the penalty should be dropped altogether and live with the fact the problem cannot be solved.<\/p>\n

Speaking about the 2021 engine regulations, he says that discussions are underway with the FIA. Saying \u201cMaybe we’ll be able to implement a better solution before then, because it’s a massively unpopular aspect of Formula 1 at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the things that has been suggested is loss of constructors’ points. There could be other more discrete penalties.\u201d Brawn has suggested that a token system could be used, but that could get complicated and the problem requires lateral thinking.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Honda says Alonso Spa engine is useable <\/strong><\/p>\n

Honda says that Fernando Alonso\u2019s engine which he believed had an issue towards the end of the Belgian Grand Prix, is ready to use again thou he still looks set for grid penalties for this weekends Italian Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

The Spaniard retired from the race reporting an \u201cengine issue\u201d, but Honda said after the race, it found nothing in the data to suggest there was an issue. Motorsport.com says that further analysis at the Honda\u2019s Milton Keynes base, also suggested there wasn\u2019t an issue.<\/p>\n

This means that it can be used again this weekend, however, it remains unclear whether it will be used as Honda are deciding tonight if they will bring the upgrade into play this weekend.<\/p>\n

Bring the upgrade this weekend would make sense, as the next race in Singapore represents the best chance of a good result for the remainder of the season.<\/p>\n

Alonso hinted at Spa that was he was likely to take penalties at Monza, when he suggested he would return the favour to teammate Stoffel Vandoorne by offering a tow in qualifying because his grid position would already essentially be clear.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

No to Ferrari, if I\u2019m a\u00a0 number two \u2013 Ricciardo <\/strong><\/p>\n

Daniel Ricciardo says that he would not join Ferrari if it meant being second fiddle to Sebastian Vettel. The Australian is out of contract for 2019, and that has prompted speculation he could partner the German once again.<\/p>\n

When they were team-mates in 2014, Ricciardo out performed him on track but Vettel has since established himself as Ferrari’s number one driver, with Kimi Raikkonen playing a supporting role. Ricciardo says that he would not be a \u201cbridesmaid\u201d to his former team-mate.<\/p>\n

Ricciardo told Sky Sports \u201cI haven’t thought that far ahead to be honest, in terms of what the quality would be like if I was there. But if you were in that negotiation process with a team then that’s the first thing you’d talk about. Equal equipment, no playing second fiddle.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously I’m in a position where I believe I should be fighting for the front. If a team said ‘we’ll sign you but you’re going to play bridesmaid to this guy,’ 100 per cent I’m not signing there. It’s something you’d talk about in early negotiations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vettel last weekend signed a new three-year-deal at Maranello and will partner Raikkonen for at least another year following the Finn’s renewal.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

That\u2019s all from F1 Today this week and we will be bringing you full coverage of the Italian Grand Prix this weekend, with commentary of every session @F1VaultLive on Twitter. F1 Today returns next week. Preview\u00a0here<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Who switches first is critical in title fight Lewis Hamilton believes that a critical factor in the outcome of this year’s championship could be whether Mercedes or Ferrari switches their attention first to next years car. The two biggest teams in Formula One have been fighting against each other all season, with eight races remaining<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[43,493,647,664,675,707,709,741,754,867,921,980,981,1287,1289,1298,1637,1642,1791,1808,1843],"class_list":["post-4111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-analysis","tag-43","tag-daniel-ricciardo","tag-esteban-ocon","tag-f1","tag-f1-today","tag-fernando-alonso","tag-ferrari","tag-force-india","tag-formula-one","tag-grid-penalities","tag-honda","tag-italian-gp","tag-italian-grand-prix","tag-mclaren","tag-mclaren-honda","tag-mercedes","tag-red-bull","tag-red-bull-racing","tag-sebastian-vettel","tag-sergio-perez","tag-lewis-hamilton"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4111"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4111\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}