MOTORSPORT: Hamilton talks up Red Bull

Lewis Hamilton reckons the Red Bull RB14 to be driven by Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen could be the fastest car at next weekend’s Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix.

Ricciardo says the energy drink company’s flagship team is the best prepared it has been for the start of a season since he joined it in 2014, which coincided with the introduction of the V6 hybrids.

While carsales.com.au global ambassador Ricciardo is a five-time GP winner in the F1 World Championship, his best official result in the Melbourne race has been fourth in 2016.

He crossed the finish line second in 2014 – a huge surprise after Red Bull’s horrific pre-season testing that year, and there was another shock several hours after the podium ceremony when he was disqualified over a fuel-flow irregularity in his Renault power unit.

Last year at Albert Park was one for him to forget, compounded by a pre-race promotional schedule that was too hectic. He made a mistake in qualifying that flicked him into a spin, started the race from pit lane after his RB13 stopped on the way to the grid and could not be restarted in time for the formation lap, then retired before half-distance.

“We are certainly more ready than we were last year, and probably every year before that since I’ve been with the team,” says Ricciardo, who is entering the final year of his contract with Red Bull and looming large on the radars of dominant team Mercedes and the revered Ferrari.

Spanish hot-shoe Carlos Sainz junior is in line for Ricciardo’s seat if talks between the Aussie and Red Bull turn sour.

“We did a lot of laps in testing [in Barcelona]. The pace of the car is not bad. We still have some things to improve.

“There will be a few more parts on the car, hopefully some go-faster parts, in Melbourne.

“I’m coming to the race with confidence to push the car on the limit and push the engine a little bit.

“We have much more confidence now, but we'll see. I think Ferrari and Mercedes will be quick and other teams, I don't know ... Melbourne is going to be interesting.”

Four-time and reigning world champion Hamilton says he’s anticipating a “real challenge” from Red Bull and that it could be the team for his Mercedes factory outfit to beat.

“I think Red Bull are the fastest at the moment, potentially,” Hamilton says.

“They have some sort of upgrade coming, of some magnitude, two to four-tenths [of a second a lap], or something like that – that’s what I heard.

“They always build a car that has lots of downforce. Their maximum downforce has always been more than everyone else.

“I’m super-confident in my team and the work they’ve done. I just think it’s going to be close.”

Mercedes never topped the timesheets during the second four-day test in Barcelona, but it didn’t use the new Pirelli hypersoft tyres it says will only be suitable for qualifying.

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen were fastest there, although Pirelli calculated that Ricciardo would have been had the RB14 had the same tyre compound as the Ferrari on the same days.

The true pecking order will start to emerge in a week, but what is clear already is that it’s going to be a mega year of politics in F1.

Frictions are rising as new engine regulations for the 2021 season are thrashed out, with arguments about whether technology or racing action should be the priority and Ferrari continually threatening to withdraw if it doesn’t like what is decided.

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has warned that the threats by Sergio Marchionne, in charge of Ferrari and its parent Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, should not be dismissed as scaremongering.

“He is a no-nonsense guy,” Wolff says. “If he doesn’t see value for his brand he is going to call it a day. F1 needs Ferrari more than Ferrari needs F1.”

Jean Todt, president of the governing Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) and who ran the Ferrari team in its heyday, winning world championships five years straight with Michael Schumacher, wants the Italian stable to relinquish its power of veto on rules and says it is free to leave the sport after 2020.

“That is their choice. I definitely hope they will not leave, but it can always happen,” Todt says.

Other issues for Ferrari are its opposition to renewed pressure for a budget cap on teams, which Todt says is necessary with six or seven of the 10 teams struggling to survive, and differences with American owner Liberty Media, which took control a year ago.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner says it’s Liberty that must decide the sport’s future and that “it’s wrong [for Ferrari] to hold F1 to ransom”.

Twain to meet in sports cars?

Sports car racing’s future also is in the melting pot, with talks between officials of the European-based World Endurance Championship and America’s International Motor Sports Association on common rules beyond 2020 at this weekend’s 12 Hours of Sebring in Florida.

Toyota, odds-on to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans at its 20th try this year as the only major manufacturer with a hybrid car following the withdrawal of Audi and Porsche, has representatives at Sebring said to be eyeing participation there in future.

However, lots of logistical and marketing issues need to be overcome for the two series’ to run to similar rules.

Roger Penske’s new Acura (Honda) ARX 07s are threatening to challenge Cadillac’s IMSA dominance this weekend, while Mazda’s RT24-Ps continue to struggle for pace and reliability. Mazda Motorsports director John Doonan is hoping that Germany’s Joest Racing “can bring some of their success mojo and sprinkle it on the program”.

BMW’s M8s have been allowed a power boost and an extra two litres of fuel in the GT Le Mans class there, while the Ford GTs – which finished first and second in the 24 Hours of Daytona, with Australian Ryan Briscoe and New Zealander Scott Dixon in the winner – will have to do with two litres less in the tank.

Rallycross getting all crossed up

Odd things are going on in rallycross, with the world championship and the established American series appearing to be cannibalising each other.

The US-based Global Rallycross Championship – to which former Supercars supremo Tony Cochrane has been an adviser – announced a while back that it would conclude in October at Lydden Hill, where the sport began in Britain.

Now the FIA-backed World RX has announced a four-round Americas Rallycross series. The first three rounds will be run in conjunction with World RX events – the first, ironically in light of the series name, at Britain’s Silverstone in May, the next at Trois-Riviers in Canada in August and the third at the Circuit of the Americas in Texas at the end of September. The fourth, on a date yet to be finalised, also will be in the US.

The ARX series will run what have become the traditional 600-horsepower ‘Supercar’ and 300-hp ‘Supercar Lites’ classes which have been dropped by the GRC this year in favour of a new ‘Gold’ (modified Lites) category.

Although there are no date clashes between the ARX and GRC, and GRC’s dominant Volkswagen Andretti team and the Subaru Rally Team USA (including Australian driver Chris Atkinson) are still listed on its website, the ARX quotes both those makes as enthusiastic signatures in the new series.