Auto News 5

PSA/Peugeot-Citroen's revenue rose 1.6 percent in the third quarter, but a push to raise pricing failed to deliver higher revenue at its manufacturing arm. The company raised its full-year car-market forecast for Europe.

From press release

Lotus F1 Team has concluded a deal with Endless Jewelry.

The logo of the company will appear on the airbox and on the top of sidepod of the E22 for the United States Grand Prix at Austin, Texas on 31st October - 2nd November.

Endless Jewelry - founded in 2013 by Jesper Nielsen and his family - has enjoyed rapid expansion, and its products are today available in almost 3,000 stores in 18 countries worldwide.

Photo: Lotus F1 Team

The Endless Jewelry range includes coloured leather bracelets and classic charms as well as the prestigious Jennifer Lopez Collection.

“Endless Jewelry is an exciting young brand which is rapidly expanding in Europe and North America,” said Matthew Carter, Lotus F1 Team CEO.

“The company ethos and approach very closely reflects those of Lotus F1 Team, making this partnership a perfect fit. The United States Grand Prix is a terrific event which gains fantastic exposure worldwide and is the perfect showcase for the US aspirations of Endless Jewelry.”

“Becoming a part of the Formula 1 world has been a childhood dream for me and having the opportunity to celebrate the successful launch of Endless Jewelry in the North American market in connection with the United States Grand Prix is an overwhelming feeling,” Jesper Nielsen, Endless Jewelry CEO declared.

“Seeing the Endless logo on the beautiful black and gold Lotus F1 Team car is really something special and business wise it's an investment that is sure to give the brand massive exposure - and everybody participating in the event a unique experience. I am very proud of the agreement with Lotus F1 Team.”

Adapted from Formula1.com

Red Bull's motor sport consultant Helmut Marko helped Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo, Jean-Eric Vergne and Daniil Kvyat graduate to F1 aged 19, 22, 21, and 19 respectively. Does age counts in Formula 1?

Marko also was instrumental in Max Verstappen - 2015 Toro Rosso driver - making his practice debut in Japan just three days after the Dutchman had blown out the 17 candles on his birthday cake.

It's all a far cry from the early years of the F1 World Championship when, somewhat surprisingly by today's sporting standards, the majority of the leading drivers were in their 40s.

Nino Farina was only a couple of months away from his 44th birthday when he clinched the inaugural world title in 1950, whilst legendary Argentine racer Juan Manuel Fangio won his fifth and final drivers' crown at 46 and his last victory aged 47. Meanwhile, Fangio's shared victory with Luigi Fagioli at the 1951 French Grand Prix made the Italian the oldest winner in F1 history, Fagioli being a spritely 53 at the time.

Let's look at the few interesting Formula 1 records:

Youngest driver to win a Grand Prix:
Sebastian Vettel, Italy 2008, 21 years and 73 days

Sebastian Vettel, winner at Monza in 2008, with Toro Rosso. (Photo: WRi2)

Oldest driver to win a Grand Prix:
Luigi Fagioli, France 1951, 53 years and 22 days (shared drive)

Youngest driver to become World Champion:
Sebastian Vettel, 2010, 23 years and 134 days

Oldest driver to become world champion:
Juan Manuel Fangio, 1957, 46 years and 41 days

Youngest driver to have clinched a pole position:
Sebastian Vettel, 2008, 21 years and 72 days

Oldest driver to have clinched a pole position:
Nino Farina, Argentina 1954, 47 years and 79 days

Youngest driver to have started a Grand Prix:
Jaime Alguersuari, Hungary 2009, 19 years and 125 days

Oldest driver to have started a Grand Prix:
Louis Chiron, Monaco 1955, 55 years and 292 days

Youngest driver to have scored one or more point:
Daniil Kvyat, Australia 2014, 19 years and 324 days

Oldest driver to have scored one or more point:
Philippe Etancelin, Italy 1950, 53 years and 249 days

Youngest driver to have finished on the podium:
Sebastian Vettel, Italy 2008, 21 years and 73 days

Oldest driver to have finished on the podium:
Luigi Fagioli, France 1951, 53 years and 22 days

From GMM

Sergio Perez could be the next driver to secure his place on the 2015 grid.

Force India made no mention of the Mexican, who is closely aligned with the team's on-car Mexican backers Roshfrans and Claro, when it announced recently that current teammate Nico Hulkenberg is staying put for next season.

But Perez, 24, has told PA Sport this week that sorting out a new deal for 2015 is now his "main priority".

"We're now coming towards the end of the year, and I think in the next week or so it will be done with (regards to) my future," he is quoted as saying.

Sergio Perez, Sahara Force India. (Photo: WRi2)

Sergio Perez, who left McLaren after a single season last year, indicated he wants to stay at Sahara Force India.

"The only opportunity I had to establish myself in a team was with Sauber in 2012, and I want to do the same here," he said.

One minor setback for Perez, however, is that his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase is moving to Red Bull for 2015, seemingly to work with Sebastian Vettel's successor Daniil Kvyat.

"It's always a blow when you lose an engineer you have built up a relationship with," said Sergio Perez, "but I believe I've enough experience to work with anyone."

Sergio Perez has scored 29 fewer points than German Nico Hulkenberg so far in 2014.

Former Williams and Jordan engineer, Sam Michael is set to leave the McLaren Formula 1 team at the end of 2014.

Michael was McLaren's sporting director since the end of 2011.

Autosport magazine writes that Michael handed in his notice in March this year as part of a long-term plan to move back to his native Australia with his wife Vanessa and their two children.

The team mentioned that Sam Michael was departing "on extremely good terms" and the 43-year-old Australian will attend this season's remaining Grands Prix with McLaren-Mercedes before leaving.

The British team however denied reports that it would also be parting with its chief operating officer and acting CEO Jonathan Neale and technical director Tim Goss.

Sam Michael and Ron Dennis, McLaren, at Montreal. (Photo: WRi2)

From GMM

Michael Schumacher's former manager doubts Sebastian Vettel can emulate the F1 legend's success at rebuilding a beleaguered Ferrari team.

Willi Weber, also known as the lucrative 'Mr 20 per cent' after brokering Schumacher's mammoth Ferrari contracts, is worried quadruple world champion Vettel's personality might not be as suited to the task.

Ferrari is expected to confirm German Vettel's arrival as departing Fernando Alonso's replacement in the days before the US grand prix.

Famously, in 1996, his countryman Schumacher similarly arrived at Maranello as the reigning champion and within five years Ferrari was established as F1's dominant force.

But Weber told Germany's Auto Bild: "Sebastian is much more sensitive than Michael. If something is not working well, the pressure at Ferrari is greater than it is anywhere else.

"It is not always 'peace, joy and pancakes', but a lot of politics. I think if a Fernando Alonso cannot deal with it, then no one can," Weber said.

Willi Weber, Michael Schumacher, Jean Todt, Ferrari 2004. (Photo: WRi2)

Red Bull's Dr Helmut Marko, who groomed Vettel from boyhood to F1 stardom but is now losing the 27-year-old to his arch rival, also doubts Sebastian Vettel can emulate Schumacher's fabled feats.

"Michael benefitted in his time from an unlimited number of test kilometres and close cooperation with the tire partner Bridgestone," said Marko.

"These are advantages that no longer exist today," the Austrian added.

Also doubting Vettel's ability to match even Spaniard Alonso's feats at the Italian team is the former F1 driver Robert Kubica, who was close to Alonso.

"I think Vettel is not as strong as Fernando," the Pole told Italy's Sky this week, "as even without a great car, Fernando was still able to win races."

Sebastian Vettel. (Photo: WRi2)

The latest whispers from Maranello are also not positive.

Italy's specialist Autosprint claims Ferrari engineers were unhappy with the first set of aerodynamic figures after wind tunnel testing the 2015 car, whose project is codenamed '666'.

The 2015 car will be the first Ferrari produced under the technical leadership of James Allison.

Caterham's financial troubles appear to be deepening, as it emerges the struggling F1 team may have no cars to race at the forthcoming US grand prix.

Reuters reports that the green cars are scheduled to leave Caterham's Leafield factory bound for Austin this weekend.

But the man appointed to oversee the administration of Caterham Sports Limited, reportedly a separate company to the F1 team but also based at Leafield, is warning he will not be releasing the cars amid a legal dispute.

It is the latest instalment in Caterham's financial troubles following the sale of the struggling team by founder Tony Fernandes to a mysterious consortium represented by advisor Colin Kolles, of HRT and Spyker fame.

"My legal advice is that I own the cars and won't be allowing the cars out of the factory until I reach an acceptable agreement," said Finbarr O'Connell, working for the administrators on behalf of unpaid creditors including Exim Bank of Malaysia.

The team, said to now be in talks with the administrator, insists the troubled Caterham-branded company is not associated with the team, while sources say Caterham's F1 future is therefore not endangered.

But O'Connell hinted that the next step could be the team's expulsion from the Leafield factory, which is already being guarded by private security on behalf of the administrator.

"We are allowing 1MRT (the team) to use our facility while we negotiate a settlement," he said. "They need to reach an agreement with us."

Photo: Caterham F1 Team

NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Danica Patrick will show her support to breast cancer awareness this coming weekend.

On Sunday at Martinsville Speedway for the Goody's Headache Relief Shot 500, Patrick will have a few special passengers with her on her pink No. 10 GoDaddy Breast Cancer Awareness Chevrolet SS.

Fans who donated at least $10 to the National Breast Cancer Foundation through www.GoDaddy.com/Donate will find their names or the names of family or friends on the Stewart Haas Racing machine.

Danica Patrick (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)

Crew chief Tony Gibson's wife, Beth, and Patrick herself added names of those they know who have been affected by breast cancer.

"GoDaddy has done a lot to raise awareness about breast cancer," Patrick said. "For this week, we have a lot of names on the car of people that are affected by breast cancer. I know I put a few on there, including Holly Cain.

"It's just a good way to raise awareness and remember the people affect by this terrible disease. We're all pulling for everybody to get through this and we're helping 'Put the Brakes on Cancer.'"

As part of her primary sponsor's commemoration of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Patrick also will present a check to the National Breast Cancer Foundation for $50,000 following driver introductions for the Goody's Headache Relief Shot 500.

As one of the few Canadian opens-wheel racers competing over in Europe this season, Luke Chudleigh proudly sported the Maple Leaf flag throughout a busy campaign taking in the Formula Renault 2.0 ALPS Series and select rounds of the Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup Series.

Driving for the French-based Tech1 Racing outfit, the 19-year-old from Milton built on last year's rookie season with the squad to further develop his race craft while soaking up the experience of racing across Europe at circuits in Austria, Belgium, France, Italy and Spain.

Finishing 12th overall in the Formula Renault 2.0 ALPS Driver Standings, Chudleigh's continued development netted five Top-10 finishes along the way, with a season's best fourth place finish coming at the mighty Spa-Francorchamps Circuit in Belgium.

Luke Chudleigh, Formula Renault 2.0 (Photo: Luke Chudleigh Racing)

“I managed to meet objectives such as being the number one team-mate, the highest finishing Tech1 driver and to score double the points I had last year. However I finish the year feeling like I had the potential for more if the situation were just a little different,” said Chudleigh in a press release.

Q: The schedule embraced some phenomenal European race circuits. Which were your favourites this season and why?

It was Chudleigh's second year racing in open-wheel competition.

“Sometimes it's difficult for me to remember that I have much less experience than most of my competition. I naturally want to fight at the front of the pack and sometimes expect a little too much of myself. That's just part of my hunger to succeed,” he declared.

“I'm happy when I look back on my data and video and see my maturity in race-craft situations, that's led me to some great finishing positions, often after qualifying outside the points,” he added.

“Personally, I'd liked to have scored a podium in 2014, to have evidence for myself that I was a shaker at the front. That didn't happen, but it will come, we came close on occasion. I'll keep pushing,” Chudleigh continued.

The young man has clear thoughts about his 2015 campaign.

“I think it's best to explore some different opportunities. Testing some faster cars and finding a fit somewhere would be good. We have the luxury of a long winter break so Trevor (my manager) and I can talk and think about what we want to do,” he explained.

Would he look to return to North America to compete armed with two season of highly competitive European racing under your belt?

“I wouldn't be opposed to it. I think my on-track brand now represents a very European element, which I love and think I could exploit in North America. We'll see what opportunities present themselves moving forward,” Chudleigh concluded.

Mercedes have enjoyed a big power advantage over other engine makers Renault and Ferrari in Formula 1's maiden year of hybrid turbo regulations and there are already fears that Mercedes AMG will again dominate next season.

The current technical regulation puts a “freeze” on engine development from February of one year to the next. Work can also be done out of season and then homologated.

Mercedes, which will supply engines to its own team [Mercedes AMG Petronas] next year plus Force India, Williams and Lotus, claims it would not be fair to let rivals Ferrari and Renault work on their engines by ‘unfreezing' the rules.

“You open up a can of worms,” Mercedes' Toto Wolff told Sky Sports F1 in a recent interview.

“People sometimes think it's simple - it's not simple, it's very complicated if you change the rules because some very intelligent people have created those rules that an engine is being frozen by the end of February to make sure that everybody has the same,” he explained.

“If you're having three customers, including ourselves four customers, eight engines, we can't supply them at the same time if we're having an in-season development. It's obviously a difference for Honda who are having one team, for Ferrari who are having three teams including themselves.

Ferrari boss Marco Mattiacci has argued that F1's struggling smaller teams would benefit from unfreezing the engine.

“I think that honestly, from our point of view, there is not a cost increase. The other argument is that if I had the possibility to upgrade my engines maybe the teams I supply [Sauber and Marussia] would have scored points and have extra revenues. For a small team not to have the possibility to catch up is much more dramatic than for a big team,” Mattiacci declared.

Formula 1 is gearing up for a crucial vote before the end of the season with a proposal to allow some in-season performance upgrades to the V6 engines to be voted on by the F1 Commission.

However, a unanimous vote is required for the motion to be accepted and while a majority agreed to the changes at a meeting of the sport's Strategy Group in Sochi, Mercedes AMG, Williams and Lotus voted against it.

Caterham F1 team has released an official statement a few weeks after bailiffs seized items from its UK base to recover debts the company owed.

From Caterham F1 Team:

On 29 June 2014, Caterham Enterprises Ltd, Caterham (UK) Ltd and Sheikh Mohamed Nasarudin (Seller) and their shareholders Tony Fernandes and Datuk Kamarudin Bin Meranun entered into a Sale and Purchase Agreement (SPA) with Engavest SA (Buyer) with regards to 1Malaysia Racing Team Sdn Bhd/Caterham F1 Team.

Since the date of the Agreement, the Seller has refused to comply with its legal obligations to transfer their shares to the Buyer. The Buyer has been left in the invidious position of funding the team without having legal title to the team it had bought. This is in total contradiction to the Seller's press release of 3 October 2014, which stated that Mr Fernandes and his Caterham Group had no longer any connection with the Caterham F1 Team.

The administrators of Caterham Sports Limited have been appointed on behalf of Export-Import Bank of Malaysia Berhad (Exim), a creditor of Mr Fernandes and the Caterham Group. The Buyer has no connection with Exim. Caterham Sports Ltd was a supplier company to the Caterham F1 Team. Very regrettably, the administrators' appointment has had devastating effects on the F1 Team's activities. Since their appointment, the administrators have released various press statements, which have been severely detrimental to the management of the Caterham F1 team.

After three months of operating the Caterham F1 Team in good faith, the Buyer is now forced to explore all its options including the withdrawal of its management team. Lawyers have been instructed by the Buyer to bring all necessary claims against all parties, including Mr Fernandes who, as an owner, will run the F1 operation.

From DMACK

The race to win a fantastic prize in rallying reaches an exciting climax next week when the winner of the inaugural Drive DMACK Fiesta Trophy will be crowned at Rally de España, round of the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC).

The fifth and final round of the DMACK Trophy will see a head-to-head clash between Estonian Sander Pärn and the UK's Tom Cave on what's set to be a thrilling battle for the top spot.

As the only mixed surface rally on the calendar, the 50th running of Rally de España is set to be a thriller. Competitors need to master the event's legendary circuit-style asphalt roads alongside the rough gravel stages high in the hills of Tarragona.

This format means M-Sport's expert mechanics have the challenge of transforming the GEM Fuel-powered Ford Fiesta R2 cars from gravel to asphalt specification during a specially extended service on Friday evening.

‘Crazy Leo' Urlichich (Photo: Facebook)

It also means an expanded range of tires supplied by DMACK. Crews will use the medium compound DMG2 gravel tyre for Friday's six gravel tests and then have the choice of both dry and wet compounds of it's DMT-RC asphalt tire for Saturday and Sunday.

“Spain is going to be the only rally this season where I start with the same co-driver,” said Toronto's ‘Crazy Leo' Urlichich.

“So perhaps we'll finally have a chance to start improving our rapport in the car. Rallying is all about the challenge and the variables, and the mixed-surface stages only add to that - I'm looking forward to it. We've had a lot of bad luck this season but it's still an amazing feeling to break through to the WRC and work with a team as supportive as M-Sport.”

Automakers are forming a consortium to deter hackers who might try to breach a vehicle's security system -- an effort that has gotten the blessing of federal regulators.

Daimler AG said it will book a $780 million windfall from selling its 4 percent stake in rival electric car maker Tesla Motors.

Daimler AG said it will book a $780 million windfall from selling its 4 percent stake in rival electric car maker Tesla Motors.

The website federal safety regulators are urging 4.7 million people to check to see if their cars have defective airbags couldn't be fully accessed today.

Sonic Automotive will take at least six months longer than originally planned to roll its new customer experience program out to all of its dealerships.

Ford slashed the price of the Focus Electric by $6,000 to $29,995, including shipping. The price reduction will remain in effect for all 2014 models and will continue when 2015 models are introduced.

Ford plans to shed the last line of business in nine-year-old Automotive Component Holdings LLC by December when ACH closes its Sheldon Road climate control plant in suburban Detroit and lays off its last 257 employees.

A California jury ordered Toyota to pay $12.5 million for being responsible for debilitating lap-only seat belt injuries in a 2010 crash.