HRT not on FIA’s 2013 entry list

Formula One racing’s governing body, the FIA on Saturday has published the entry list for the 2013 FIA Formula One World Championship. It features 11 teams, with HRT missing from the line-up as they failed to fine a buyer before November 30, 2012 and also failed to pay the entry fee of $0.5m.

HRT owners Thesan Capital made it public last month that they were looking for a buyer for the Spanish team, who joined the grid in 2010 along with Caterham and Marussia, and whose future now looks uncertain.

The rest of the entry list is as expected. Several drivers who have been confirmed by their respective 2013 teams are absent, thought to be because their car numbers are yet to be finalised. Those drivers are Nico Hulkenberg and Esteban Gutierrez at Sauber, Jean-Eric Vergne and Daniel Ricciardo at Toro Rosso, Charles Pic at Caterham and Timo Glock at Marussia.

The FIA entry list in full:

1 Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull
2 Mark Webber, Red Bull

3 Fernando Alonso, Ferrari
4 Felipe Massa, Ferrari

5 Jenson Button, McLaren
6 Sergio Perez, McLaren

7 Kimi Raikkonen, Lotus
8 TBA, Lotus

9 Nico Rosberg, Mercedes
10 Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes

11 TBA, Sauber
12 TBA, Sauber

14 TBA, Force India
15 TBA, Force India

16 Pastor Maldonado, Williams

17 Valtteri Bottas, Williams

18 TBA, Toro Rosso
19 TBA, Toro Rosso

20 TBA, Caterham
21 TBA, Caterham

22 TBA, Marussia
23 TBA, Marussia

Lewis Hamilton does not expect to win races with Mercedes in 2013

Lewis Hamilton is not expecting to win any races with Mercedes next season.

Having made it clear that his decision to leave McLaren was motivated by the desire to find a challenge in his career, the former world champion says he is not dreaming of immediate success at his new outfit.

Instead, he reckons he may have to wait until 2014 at the earliest before he can imagine delivering his first victory for the Mercedes works team.

In an interview with The Mail on Sunday, Hamilton said he did ‘absolutely not’ believe he would be a title contender next year.

When pressed about the possibility of just winning races, Hamilton said: “I’m not even expecting that.”

He added: “It’s long term. It’s 2014 and 2015 when I anticipate we will have most success.

“I am not going into next year thinking let’s have a crap year. I am just well aware we don’t have the best car and it will take a lot of work to improve it.”

If Hamilton does not win a race in 2013, it will be the first time since he arrived in F1 in 2007 that he has not stood on the top step of the podium at least once in a season.

Source: Autosport F1

Lewis Hamilton: ‘I haven’t signed with anyone yet’

Lewis Hamilton has denied reports that he has already signed a contract with Mercedes or any other team including his current outfit.

The McLaren driver is currently in India for a Vodafone promotional event and says the reports which suggest he has agreed terms with Mercedes already are “rubbish”, adding that his focus is 100 per cent on the championship battle.

“I have not signed up with anyone,” said the 27-year-old. “I don’t have a timeline [to sign by]. I have to get that [contract] sorted out. People are doing this in the background.

“Lot of stories are written about it, a lot of speculation… don’t get distracted by this rubbish.

“I am 100 per cent focused on the world championship. At present, this is my target.”

Meanwhile reports suggest McLaren are tired of waiting for his decision and have begun to put a ‘plan B’ together in case Hamilton does leave – with speculation that Sergio Perez and Heikki Kovalainen are amongst those which have been contacted.

Source: The F1 Times

Lotus rules out racing double DRS at Monza

Lotus has ruled out bringing its double DRS to the Italian Grand Prix, after being forced to abandon its race debut in Belgium because of poor weather in practice.

The Enstone-based outfit had hoped to be able to race the device at Spa, but the wash out on Friday meant that the outfit could not get it set up to work for the race.

Plus, there was too big a risk of problems in the grand prix if it took a gamble on keeping it on the car.

The fact that Monza is such a low drag circuit from a car setup point of view means that there is limited benefit to using it there.

Lotus team principal Eric Boullier has ruled out the team racing the double DRS in Italy, but it is likely that the device will make a return at the Singapore Grand Prix.

“I am very confident we will not use it, because Monza is Monza,” he said. “It is a different aero configuration.”

Lotus is not the only team on the verge of racing such a design, because Mercedes began testing components for one in Belgium last weekend.

It is not thought likely that the Mercedes device will be ready to race imminently, but it is being pencilled in for later this season.

 

 

Source: Autosport F1

Ayrton Senna not good enough for today’s F1 – Piquet Jr

Having already derided the talents of Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen this week, Nelson Piquet Jr turned his attention to perhaps the most revered F1 driver of all time.

Referring to the current drivers at his former employer, the ex-works Renault team that is now called Lotus, Brazilian Piquet said Grosjean “has been lucky because he came (back) at a time when he had a slightly weaker teammate (Kimi Raikkonen) and a very good car”.

Now in the second-tier Nascar categories, Piquet – who left F1 amid the 2008/9 ‘crashgate’ scandal – has now aimed fire at his late and great countryman Ayrton Senna.

He mentioned Senna as an example of a talented driver who might struggle in modern Formula One, due to the change of emphasis since the 80s and early 90s.

“Someone like Senna would not have won anything in F1 today,” he is quoted by Terra.

“He was very fast but he had no talent in terms of the technical and mechanical.”

Senna won three titles, 41 races and 65 pole positions until his death in the 1994 San Marino grand prix.

Source: F1zone.net