The Formula One Group has confirmed that Spa-Francorchamps’ current deal to host the Belgian Grand Prix has been extended by three years.

The legendary Ardennes track, which hosted its first race on its revamped layout in 1983, was in need of an extension as its current deal was set to expire after this year’s race.

“We are really pleased to have reached this agreement which means that the Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix will stay on the calendar for a further three years,” said Chloe Targett-Adams’, F1’s director of promoters.

Spa-Francorchamps signs 3-year extension for Belgian GP

“Formula 1 was born in Europe and the future of this sport needs to maintain its solid roots, while expanding globally, and Spa- Francorchamps is part of that fantastic history.

“We are particularly pleased that the new agreement is an improvement on the previous one, for Formula 1 and for our partner Spa Grand Prix so that fans attending this race will enjoy a truly unforgettable experience.”

Pierre-Yves Jeholet, Belgium’s minister for economy of the regional government of Wallonia, underlined the benefits for the local economy generated by the Belgian Grand Prix.

“This is a good deal which makes sure that such an important event stays in our region, thus placing us on a global visibility platform,” said Jeholet.

“The regional and national economic benefit is significant: in 2017 we had a return on investment of 315% and ticket sales increased by 7.5%.

“It is also a significant first for us as we have now concluded a successful and rewarding negotiation with Formula 1.”

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Force India says that it will investigate what happened to Sergio Perez’ left front wheel during second practice at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

Perez was forced to stop on track when the wheel became detached with a little under 15 minutes remaining in the session. Marshalls pulled the VJM11 behind the safety wall, where it remained until the chequered flag.

“Unusually, the wheel clamped to the car and it was not immediately apparent that the wheel was not fully fitted,” read the FIA report into the incident. “The stewards had the technical delegate inspect the car, and his conclusion agreed with the team’s that although the wheel clamped, the wheel nut was cross-threaded.

“Nevertheless, it is the responsibility of the team to take all measures to ensure that the wheel is fully fitted and accordingly, the stewards fine the team 5000 euros [for unsafe release.]”

However Perez himself escaped any penalty, as it was deemed that he had no way of knowing about the issue before leaving the pit lane.

“The driver stopped the car in a safe manner as soon as the above became apparent to him,” the race stewards noted. “While there was some confusion on the radio, the team gave appropriate instructions as soon as they realised the issue, which was not apparent until just before turn nine.”

“There was a small problem with Sergio’s left front wheel at the end of the session, the cause of which we are investigating,” reported the team’s chief operating officer Otmar Szafnauer.

“But it only cost us a minimal amount of track time,” he added.

• FP2: Hamilton takes charge in Barcelona as Raikkonen hits problems

“It’s been a productive start to our weekend, despite some tricky conditions,” he added. “The wind was reasonably high and it caught a few drivers out.

“We are in pretty good shape ahead of the weekend with plenty of data to analyse tonight,” Szafnauer confirmed. “Our work today was mostly aimed at evaluating new aero parts – floor, barge boards and front wing – as well as gathering data about the tyre compounds.”

Perez himself felt that the day had been time well spent, as he seeks to repeat his podium success last time out in Baku.

“I think we’ve made a lot of progress throughout the day,” Perez said. “We have some good information and we have learned about the new parts on the car.

“We have made a step forward,” he insisted. “The balance is still not ideal so there is the potential to find more performance tomorrow. The track was very green this morning, but it improved this afternoon even though it was very windy.”

Perez was tenth fastest at the end of FP2, just ahead of his team mate Esteban Ocon.

“It was a solid day and a big effort by the team to try so many different things on the car in the first session,” Ocon said. “Track conditions were not easy for anybody because it was very windy and difficult to put together a clean lap and stay on the track.

“We managed to complete most of the big jobs and now we need to do more homework to understand everything,” he added. “I think there is still a lot more to come because we are not exactly where we want to be with the car.”

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Sauber believes it has identified and solved the DRS malfunction that caused Marcus Ericsson’s dramatic accident in Friday’s FP2 session.

Ericsson’s DRS failed to close as he approached Monza’s first chicane, pitching the Sauber left into the barriers and into a series rolls, leaving the C37 in a pitiful state but its driver fortunately uninjured.

Initial analysis of team mate Charles Leclerc’s rear wing assembly revealed a similar Drag Reduction System issue which the team partly resolved before the Monegasque resumed work in the afternoon’s free practice session.

“It was very tricky, we would arrive at the end of the straight and didn’t know if it would close or not,” explained Leclerc.

“I had the same issue but I’ve been luckier with it, it closed a bit earlier than Marcus. We found the issue, we resolved it, but that required a bit of sacrifice in performance.

“We know what to do tomorrow to not have this problem and have full performance.”

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Before heading back out on track, Leclerc was informed that he could manually close the DRS as his team sought to reassure him that the device would work properly. The Sauber driver duly complete his session, clocking in with the ninth fastest time.

“I have full trust in my guys and I know they were doing their job,” he said.

“If they tell me it will be fine the next run then it will be. We found the issue and we ended the day on a high.”

According to Sauber team boss Fred Vasseur, the cause of Ericsson’s failure was rooted in a slight design flaw of the team’s Monza-spec low-downforce rear wing.

“This is the first time [this problem has happened] and probably due to the developed downforce for today,” he said. “It is a new rear wing, but it is not the wing, just the DRS flap.”

While his massive 20G crash obviously left him a bit shaken, Marcus Ericsson was given a clean bill of health by the FIA. He’ll also be given a new C37 chassis for the remainder of the race weekend, with Sauber personnel breaking the overnight curfew to build up the Sweede’s new car.

“Marcus is okay,” said Vasseur said. “We had a chat together after the session.

“He was disappointed to miss the rest of the practice session, and also a bit shocked, but the car will be ready to race.”

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Mercedes and Red Bull appear to be involved in a waiting game with regard to their drivers for 2019, with Lewis Hamilton holding everyone off.

The four-time world champion has yet to commit to Mercedes for the future, and Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo is on the sidelines until his rival signs on the dotted line, according to Helmut Marko.

The Red Bull motorsport boss was at the Red Bull Ring yesterday to witness the first run in an F1 car of MotoGP star Marc Marquez. During the post-test press conference he was flanked by his old friend Niki Lauda and the two men engaged in an interesting exchange.

“Lewis will sign. We only discuss details, not the money,” insisted the Mercedes non-executive chairman.

“It’s about promotion performances. Lewis stays safely with us, that will be solved.”

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As far as Marko is concerned, Hamilton’s signing can’t happen soon enough.

“I hope that finally gets signed. Because Ricciardo says that, as long as Hamilton is not yet contracted to Mercedes, he also does not want to sign. It’s a bit strange! ” admitted Marko.

Hearing that, Lauda lost no time in winding up his fellow Austrian while also setting the record straight with regard to Ricciardo’s prospects of joining the Silver Arrows squad.

“Ricciardo blackmailed you with Hamilton, who has not yet signed! What Hamilton gets, he cannot get anyway. So, we have not made him an offer.”

Red Bull’s other pressing issue however is which power unit the Milton Keynes-based squad will be running with next season: Renault or Honda.

“We have an internal timetable that we want to have decisions on the engine and driver issues by the Austrian Grand Prix,” Marko said.

All should therefore be revealed by July 1.

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Fernando Alonso declared himself quite happy with his seventh-place spot on tomorrow’s Monaco Grand Prix grid following a qualifying session for which the McLaren driver did not have high hopes.

After brake problems plagued his running in FP1 on Thursday, the Spaniard endured another difficult free practice session on Saturday morning, with set-up issues impacting the speed of his MCL33.

McLaren undertook extensive changes on the car for the all-important afternoon run, but Alonso admits that it he didn’t know what to expect.

“It’s been a very complicated weekend,” Alonso said.

“We lost the first session because of the brakes and in the third one the car was handling very strange.

Brilliant Ricciardo claims Monaco pole with unbeatable record pace

“The rear felt disconnected from the front. We had problems on the rear in the slow corners and in the fast corners we had problems on the front and that’s usually a puzzle that’s hard to solve.

“We made a lot of changes to the car and we went out in qualifying like tossing a coin to see how the car would handle,” he added.

“We saw quickly that it was a different car, that was handling better and giving me the confidence to attack. Seventh tastes very good now.”

Like his top-10 colleagues, Alonso will launch his race on Pirelli’s hypersoft tyre, but higher levels of degradation than expected mean that tyre management and timely pit-stops will be paramount in tomorrow’s 78-lap race.

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“I think the question everybody is asking is the hypersofts, how long they will last and how much trouble they will cause,” he said.

“They are not going to pass you, that’s for sure, but how long you stay out is always a risk.

“If someone stops and undercuts you, then it’s going to be tough. And if you stop early and you are behind a car doing 65 laps on the hard tyre, then you are stuck for 64 laps behind it.”

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Valtteri Bottas is confident his new-spec Mercedes engine will remain in the back of his W09 for the remainder of the weekend despite the unit suffering a water leak issue on Friday.

The Finn sat out the final 30 minutes of yesterday’s second free practice session when his Mercedes crew discovered the engine problem.

An initial diagnosis did not reveal any visible damage to the new power unit but the team had yet to undertake a extensive analysis of the failure.

The new-spec engine has undoubtedly brought an extra boost of speed to the Silver Arrows squad, as Hamilton’s impressive Friday pace clearly demonstrated.

Mercedes confirms ‘phase 2.1’ upgrade for Hamilton and Bottas

“Practice 2 was problematic as I only got a few laps in the beginning then we had a water leak with the engine which we are still investigating,” Bottas explained.

“It is the new spec and it definitely felt fresh but we now need to find out the cause of the water leak but I think we are still confident we can run it for the rest of the weekend which is good.”

Mercedes’ upgraded engine was initially scheduled to be introduced in Montreal, but a quality issue pushed back its debut to France. A delay the German manufacturer put to good use by further optimizing the new specification.

“It felt good. We are not running it yet in full power so there is more to discover tomorrow but in normal running it felt fresh and nice and a bit better than the old one,” said Bottas.

“We definitely looked competitive today in both sessions and Lewis got a really good lap in FP2 so I think we are going to be competitive.

“But we’ve seen on Fridays that Ferrari have been sandbagging so I think they are doing it again but let’s see for Saturday and Sunday.”

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Raymond Vermeulen who, along with Jos Verstappen, looks after Max Verstappen’s interests, played down suggestions that the pair’s absence in Montreal was beneficial to the Red Bull driver.

Verstappen agreed with his team to travel light to Canada after a string of mishaps called into question the 20-year-old’s ability to focus and learn from his mistakes. He subsequently showed up alone in Canada, with neither his manager or father in tow, and put in a productive weekend of racing.

Vermeulen insists however that his absence in Montreal had been scheduled at the outset of the 2018 season.

Verstappen braces for the ‘unknown’ at Paul Ricard

“Already at the start of the season we made an internal plan about which grands prix we would attend,” he told Motorsport.com.

“There was an idea discussed together with the team to have Max on his own for a race.

“So we said ‘OK, let’s do it for Canada.’ So that was the whole story. There will be some more races where Max will be on his own, but that was already in the pipeline.

“We have a very good relationship, we discuss everything together with Red Bull. It was a try-out, the first race Max was on his own, but no special message behind that.

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“It’s also part of his development that he doesn’t need someone around every race,” added the manager.

“For example, I’m here this weekend, Jos is coming to Austria and I’ll be there too, at Silverstone Max is on his own, Jos is going to Hungary, and at Spa we will be together.”

Vermeulen pushed back on the notion that Max’s flawless weekend in Montreal had anything to do with a lack of entourage.

“Max said he had a very good weekend. He was on his own, but still guided by his trainer. He went to dinner with his Helmut [Marko] or his mechanics, and he just had a race weekend like any other,” explained Vermeulen.

“I don’t think there was a big difference. At 20 years old I think he’s old enough to go to a track on his own! It’s not a big thing.

“Of course this is getting a dimension now because the performance was there, and there were some comments in the press.

“But in the past he had podiums when I was here or Jos was here, so the performance was also there when we were around!”

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Renault Sport Racing has issued a carefully worded statement saying that it ‘acknowledges’ today’s announcement from Red Bull about 2019 engines.

Red Bull announced on Tuesday that it was ending its current engine supply arrangement at the end of the current season. The team has opted instead for a two-year deal with Honda, which already supplies the junior Toro Rosso team.

It’s the end of a 12-year partnership between Red Bull and Renault. However the French manufacturer said that today’s news was a natural progression given that the two companies have been increasingly at odds in recent years.

“Renault Sport Racing acknowledges the Red Bull Racing and Honda partnership announcement,” read today’s brief statement from the company.

“Two years after Renault’s return as a works team, we consider this is a natural evolution for both Renault and Red Bull Racing in view of their respective aspirations.

“In an extremely demanding and competitive environment we are proud of the extraordinary results achieved with Red Bull Racing over the past 12 seasons,” the statement continued.

“In particular, the four Drivers’ and Constructors’ World Championships and 57 wins we have taken together.

• Red Bull officially confirms switch to Honda in 2019

Renault said that its factory team would now be its focus, together with its remaining customer team arrangment with McLaren that began at the end of 2017.

“After two seasons, we are fully focused on the strong progression of Renault Sport Formula One Team, while continuing to foster the fresh relationship with McLaren Racing.”

In a separate statment from Red Bull, team principal Christian Horner thanked Renault for their work over the last decade.

“We have sometimes had our differences but Renault has always worked tirelessly and to the best of its ability to provide us with a competitive power unit.

“That is still the case today and we would like to thank the Renault team, and particularly the guys in our garage at every race, for their unstinting commitment.

“We look forward to ending our partnership on a high come the end of this season,” he said, adding: “We wish Renault Sport all the best for the future.”

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Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly will be racing in Montreal for the very first time next weekend, and expects the track’s layout to pose a challenge to the team’s STR13 chassis.

The Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve represents the first real high-speed challenge for teams and drivers this season.

Cars travel at speeds in excess of 300km/h at four different points around the lap, with subsequent slow corners underscoring braking power and endurance.

Trimmed to a low-downforce set-up, Toro Rosso’s Honda-powered STR13 chassis won’t be at its advantage in Canada, according to Gasly.

“I’ve never ever been to Canada in my life, but everyone tells me the Grand Prix in Montreal is one of the best of the season, because there’s a great atmosphere and the town is really super,” says the 22-year-old rookie.

Honda cautious on upgrade and performance push in Canada

“So I’m looking forward to experiencing it for myself for the first time.

“The circuit looks exciting with some long straight sections, so some overtaking opportunities. It’s a complicated track, with the walls never far away and the famous final chicane with the “Champions’ Wall.

“This is a race where you take off a lot of downforce to get good top speed, which means the car won’t be easy to drive.

“Even if there are not many corners here, it’s a complicated track to drive, but everyone seems to like it so I’m looking forward to it.”

It obviously won’t be a home race for the Gasly, but he’ll nevertheless enjoy a home feeling of sorts thanks to the French speaking local folk.

“Of course I speak French, so the people there will understand me, even if I’ve been told the accent and even the vocabulary over there is something a bit different!”

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Daniel Ricciardo has reached the limit of the maximum number of allowed power unit elements, which means any component failure this weekend will automatically lead to a grid penalty for the Red Bull driver.

That probability has increased however as the Milton Keynes-based outfit ponders a deliberate component change in order to head to the Hungaroring next week free of any engine worries, the tight and twisty venue being particularly well-suited to Red Bull’s RB14.

“We are still not sure probably to what extent but it is likely,” Ricciardo said when asked about the likelihood of taking an engine penalty.

“Don’t want to risk it for a disco biscuit. Ideally, we win next weekend, and suck it up here.”

Even powered by Honda, Red Bull would have won – Horner

The prospect of a grid setback won’t deter the Aussie from challenging for a spot on the podium on Sunday, which is where he ended up the last time F1 visited Hockenheim, in 2016.

“I got second here, maybe I’ll win, that’d be nice,” he said.

“I like the track, it is fun, you can overtake so if we do have the penalties and I start towards the back… I’ll stay positive and know that there will be some good overtaking.

“In 2016 there were a few battles going on. I remember the race here in 2014 was fun. There was a lot of battles, I don’t know for the lead, but definitely the midfield.

“So there is a slight chance of rain on Saturday, that could change the grid a bit. The race will be all right, extra DRS zone now. So that should keep it closer.
“I want a good race here. Even if I start towards the back I still want to go for it. I feel like the triple-header did not treat me that well.

“So I’d at least like to make this double-header good for me. Both heads not just one.”

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