Sergio Perez commits to "multi-year" deal with Force India F1 team

Sergio Perez will remain with the Force India Formula 1 team in 2015 after announcing a "multi-year contract" with the squad.
The Mexican joined the Silverstone-based team this season after a difficult season with McLaren last year.
Perez is currently 12th in the standings with 47 points and a best finish of third in the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Force India announced at the end of last month that it would also retain Nico Hulkenberg, meaning the team will have an unchanged line-up in 2015.
"I am delighted that Checo will continue with us," said team boss Vijay Mallya. "He's a true racer who has done a fantastic job for us this season. The whole team has been impressed with his speed and racecraft, as well as his role away from the track."
Perez added: "It's good to announce my plans. As soon as I joined Force India, I noticed the hunger and determination of everyone in the team, and I'm very proud to be part of that.
"I feel at home here and I'm fully committed. I'm enjoying my racing and we've already celebrated some special results together."
2015 F1 FIELD SO FAR:
Mercedes: Lewis Hamilton/Nico Rosberg
Red Bull-Renault: Daniel Ricciardo/Daniil Kvyat
Williams-Mercedes: Valtteri Bottas/Felipe Massa
Ferrari: Kimi Raikkonen/Sebastian Vettel
McLaren-Honda: Fernando Alonso (tbc)/Jenson Button or Kevin Magnussen (tbc)
Force India-Mercedes: Nico Hulkenberg/Sergio Perez
Toro Rosso-Renault: Max Verstappen/(tbc)
Lotus-Mercedes: Romain Grosjean/Pastor Maldonado
Sauber-Ferrari: Marcus Ericsson/Felipe Nasr

Abu Dhabi GP: Fernando Alonso hits out at Marco Mattiacci remarks

Fernando Alonso has hit out at Ferrari Formula 1 team boss Marco Mattiacci following the Italian's comments on Friday in Abu Dhabi.
Ferrari confirmed earlier this week that Alonso would leave the team after five years together and Mattiacci said during the FIA press conference that Ferrari decided to sign Sebastian Vettel because it wanted a driver with the "utmost motivation and commitment".
Mattiacci added: "I'm sure he will bring the phenomenal experience that he went through Red Bull and the enthusiasm needed to go through certain difficult moments that are waiting for us."
Speaking after qualifying at the Yas Marina circuit Alonso, who was beaten by team-mate Kimi Raikkonen for only the third time this season, suggested the Italian only hired Vettel after giving up on trying to retain him.
"I heard the comments and I don't think they were very good," said Alonso, who will start Sunday's race 10th, alongside Raikkonen on the fifth row.
"If he tried to mean that I was not motivated, he arrived at Ferrari too late.
"He's only been here for a few months and has not seen the five years that I've spent here and how I've fought every single race.
"Probably I was too old when he tried to renew me until the Monza race, and he kept pushing, and pushing and having talks, and even in the last moment we had a lot of phone calls and e-mails that I still have in my computer.
"Probably at that time I was not so old, but when I took my decision I guess he had to find another driver."

Abu Dhabi GP: Red Bull excluded from qualifying over illegal wing

Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo have been excluded from qualifying for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix after their cars were found to be in breach of the regulations.
A report by F1 technical delegate Jo Bauer on Saturday evening said that the "front wing flaps were designed to flex under aerodynamic load."
Following discussions between the stewards and Red Bull representatives, the FIA decided that the cars were illegal.
A statement issued by the stewards said that both Vettel and Ricciardo were excluded from qualifying, but would be allowed to start from the back of the grid.
Ricciardo had qualified fifth, with Vettel just one place behind him.
The long straights of Abu Dhabi, allied to the low speed nature of many of the corners, means that flexible wings would be particularly advantageous around the Yas Marina circuit.
The team said it accepted the decision, but suggested it was not happy with it.
"We have been singled out for a front wing deflection test when it is clear that other teams are interpreting the rules in similar fashion," said Red Bull in a statement.

Abu Dhabi GP: Rosberg beats Hamilton to pole ahead of finale

Nico Rosberg claimed pole position for the Formula 1 world championship decider in Abu Dhabi.
The German outpaced title rival and Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton by just over three tenths on the first runs in the top-10 shootout.
He then improved on his second run, avoiding the lock-up later in the lap that cost him time on the first.
Although Hamilton also improved, he ended up 0.386 seconds off Rosberg to line up second.
But even if Rosberg wins Sunday's race, Hamilton need only finish second to be sure of the title.
Williams again looked a potential threat in qualifying but when it came to the fastest runs in Q3, the pace advantage of Mercedes shone through.
Valtteri Bottas ended up third, just over half a second off Rosberg, with team-mate Felipe Massa just behind.
Red Bull drivers Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel locked out row three, ahead of stablemate Daniil Kvyat's Toro Rosso entry.
Jenson Button beat the two Ferraris to eighth place, with Kimi Raikkonen ninth after only completing one run in Q3 thanks to having run out of fresh super-softs.
Fernando Alonso, on his Ferrari swansong, was 10th having failed to improve on his second run thanks to locking up and running off the track.
Kevin Magnussen in the second McLaren only had one proper run in Q2, likely because of the same underfuelling problem that also forced Button to abandon his first run before setting a laptime.
The Dane had looked set to make the top 10, only for Raikkonen and Kvyat to knock him down to 11th on their final laps.
Jean-Eric Vergne was also knocked down the order in the final seconds, ending up 12th, with the two Force Indias of Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg behind.
Sauber driver Adrian Sutil was slowest in Q2, falling three tenths short of his Q1 pace.
Romain Grosjean missed out on reaching Q2 by just over two hundredths of a second during a frenetic battle in the final seconds of the first segment of qualifying.
First, Lotus driver Pastor Maldonado moved into a Q2 position before being bumped by Esteban Gutierrez, who was then relegated by Sutil.
Grosjean's final lap was not quite enough to beat Sutil, leaving him in 16th place, although he will drop to the rear of the field thanks to 20-place penalty for changing power unit components.
Gutierrez ended up 17th, ahead of Maldonado and the two Caterhams.
Kamui Kobayashi's was the faster of the two green machines, although F1 debutant Will Stevens gave a good account of himself by lapping just over half a second slower despite limited running in the car.
HOW THE TITLE WILL BE WON IN ABU DHABI
Rosberg wins the title if:
* He finishes first and Hamilton does not finish second
* He finishes second and Hamilton is outside the top five
* He finishes third and Hamilton is outside the top six
* He finishes fourth and Hamilton is outside the top eight
* He finishes fifth and Hamilton is outside the top nine
Hamilton wins the title if:
* He finishes first or second
* He finishes third, fourth or fifth and Rosberg doesn't win
* He finishes sixth and Rosberg is outside the top three
* He finishes eighth and Rosberg is outside the top four
* He finish ninth or worse and Rosberg is outside the top five

Pos	Driver	Car	Time	Gap
1	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1m40.480s	-
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1m40.866s	0.386s
3	Valtteri Bottas	Williams/Mercedes	1m41.025s	0.545s
4	Felipe Massa	Williams/Mercedes	1m41.119s	0.639s
5	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull/Renault	1m41.267s	0.787s
6	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull/Renault	1m41.893s	1.413s
7	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso/Renault	1m41.908s	1.428s
8	Jenson Button	McLaren/Mercedes	1m41.964s	1.484s
9	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1m42.236s	1.756s
10	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1m42.866s	2.386s
11	Kevin Magnussen	McLaren/Mercedes	1m42.198s	1.718s
12	Jean-Eric Vergne	Toro Rosso/Renault	1m42.207s	1.727s
13	Sergio Perez	Force India/Mercedes	1m42.239s	1.759s
14	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India/Mercedes	1m42.384s	1.904s
15	Adrian Sutil	Sauber/Ferrari	1m43.074s	2.594s
16	Esteban Gutierrez	Sauber/Ferrari	1m42.819s	2.339s
17	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus/Renault	1m42.860s	2.380s
18	Kamui Kobayashi	Caterham/Renault	1m44.540s	4.060s
19	Will Stevens	Caterham/Renault	1m45.095s	4.615s
20	Romain Grosjean	Lotus/Renault	1m42.768s	2.288s

Brazilian GP: Nico Rosberg defeats F1 title rival Lewis Hamilton

Nico Rosberg ended Formula 1 title rival Lewis Hamilton's five-race winning streak by beating the sister Mercedes to victory in the Brazilian Grand Prix.
By converting his 10th pole position of the 2014 F1 season into victory, Rosberg closed team-mate Hamilton's points lead down to 17 heading into the Abu Dhabi GP double-points finale.
Hamilton's hopes of challenging Rosberg's supremacy were largely undone when he half spun at the Descida do Lago on lap 28 of 71.
The Brit ran wide after correcting a snap of oversteer as he braked for the corner. He subsequently revealed over the radio that he had wound his brake bias too far to the rear.
Hamilton hustled superbly to recover the time lost to Rosberg, and put him under pressure by remaining within DRS range during a franctic final stint (in which both drivers exchanged fastest laps), but ultimately Hamilton had to settle for second.
Local hero Felipe Massa brought smiles to the faces of the home crowd by completing the podium.
The Williams driver survived a five-second penalty for speeding in the pitlane at his first stop, and the embarrassment of accidentally driving into the McLaren pit at his last, to finish a distant third.
Team-mate Valtteri Bottas should have been well-placed to capitalise on Massa's errors, after running fourth early on, but a lengthy delay at his first pitstop set him back badly, and he lost more time when Nico Hulkenberg's Force India forced him wide while overtaking into the Senna S.
Bottas eventually wound up a lapped 10th.
McLaren's Jenson Button took that fourth spot with a brave pass around the outside of Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari at the Descida do Lago with 10 laps to run.
Their side-by-side duelling also allowed world champion Sebastian Vettel to nip through into fifth in his Red Bull.
Vettel might have finished higher but for ground lost while battling Kevin Magnussen's McLaren on the opening lap, while team-mate Daniel Ricciardo retired shortly before half-distance with a left front suspension problem on his Red Bull.
Raikkonen started 10th and dropped behind the Sauber of Esteban Gutierrez on the first lap, but made progress by being the only driver to complete the race on two pitstops.
The Finn lost time to what appeared to be a front jack problem at his second stop, and defended desperately in a battle of world champions with Fernando Alonso in the closing stages, but ultimately couldn't prevent his Ferrari team-mate passing him for sixth with a handful of laps to go.
Hulkenberg made good use of alternative tyre strategy - running the soft tyre at the end - to finish eighth, ahead of Kevin Magnussen's McLaren and Bottas, who just held off Toro Rosso's Daniil Kvyat to claim the final point.
RESULTS - 71 LAPS:

Pos	Driver	Car	Gap
1	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1h30m02.555s
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1.457s
3	Felipe Massa	Williams/Mercedes	41.031s
4	Jenson Button	McLaren/Mercedes	48.658s
5	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull/Renault	51.420s
6	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1m01.906s
7	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1m03.730s
8	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India/Mercedes	1m03.934s
9	Kevin Magnussen	McLaren/Mercedes	1m10.085s
10	Valtteri Bottas	Williams/Mercedes	1 Lap
11	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso/Renault	1 Lap
12	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus/Renault	1 Lap
13	Jean-Eric Vergne	Toro Rosso/Renault	1 Lap
14	Esteban Gutierrez	Sauber/Ferrari	1 Lap
15	Sergio Perez	Force India/Mercedes	1 Lap
16	Adrian Sutil	Sauber/Ferrari	1 Lap
17	Romain Grosjean	Lotus/Renault	Power Unit
-	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull/Renault	Suspension

DRIVERS' CHAMPIONSHIP:

Pos	Driver	Points
1	Lewis Hamilton	334
2	Nico Rosberg	317
3	Daniel Ricciardo	214
4	Sebastian Vettel	159
5	Fernando Alonso	157
6	Valtteri Bottas	156
7	Jenson Button	106
8	Felipe Massa	98
9	Nico Hulkenberg	80
10	Kevin Magnussen	55
11	Kimi Raikkonen	53
12	Sergio Perez	47
13	Jean-Eric Vergne	22
14	Romain Grosjean	8
15	Daniil Kvyat	8
16	Pastor Maldonado	2
17	Jules Bianchi	2
18	Adrian Sutil	0
19	Marcus Ericsson	0
20	Esteban Gutierrez	0
21	Max Chilton	0
22	Kamui Kobayashi	0

Toto Wolff Q&A: Rosberg was maybe too cautious

For the tenth time this season, Mercedes-Benz’s head of motorsport Toto Wolff saw his drivers come home one-two, but yet again it was Lewis Hamilton leading Nico Rosberg across the line. After the race, Wolff explained to reporters why he thought the Briton had got the upper hand over the German…

Q: Toto, is it true that Nico Rosberg was not able to make the tyres work in today’s race?
Toto Wolff: No that is not true. It was clear that the hard compound would be on the car for a significant number of laps at the beginning of the race on the fully-fuelled car - on both cars. So both drivers got the message to take care of the tyres. Nico had a three-second lead over Lewis (Hamilton) in that phase - and without having talked to him so far - it looked like he was taking care of the tyres a bit too much. That is how it looked from the outside. So Lewis closed the gap and got into the DRS window and overtook Nico. Nico did have the pace to hold against it - that became clear towards the end of the race when he closed in on Lewis again on the same tyres. So my impression is that he was maybe a bit too cautious on the hard compounds at the start.

Q: Could it be that he defined a wrong strategy for himself?
TW: Yes, you could say that. He was a bit too cautious, yes. Especially if the one behind you is pushing and is on the same tyres. But I say that before having had a word with Nico.

Q: Was he surprised about Lewis overtaking him?
TW: I cannot say. Lewis out-braked him - and he had no chance.

Q: Lewis has won ten races this season compared to Nico’s four. Shouldn’t that automatically make him the champion?
TW: That was the issue with the (proposed) medals system some time ago: that whoever got the most medals is the champion. But I think that the rule that we have now in terms of deciding who is going to be the champion is good: it is not only about winning races but also being consistent over a long season and scoring points. I am a fan of stable rules - and I think it is good as it is. It is crazy enough that we will have double points at the last race - that can turn everything upside down again. That should be enough. And if you look at the weekend: the pace was on Nico’s side and Lewis admitted after Saturday’s qualifying that he didn’t have that speed, even without the brake issue.

Q: When you say that Nico was too cautious today, does he have your blessing in the next two races to be more aggressive?
TW: I just said that maybe him being overcautious was the reason for Lewis being able to overtake rather easily - but the fact is that he always has our blessing to go full throttle, especially today. There has been no call from the team side to be cautious.

Q: Today it became official that only a Mercedes driver can win the title. Will that change anything?
TW: We have to think about that. Yes, it is true that only one of our guys has a chance at the title - but we also want it to be a clean win. Fair and clean, just like today. Since Spa they haven’t raced against each other over aggressively - and that is what we expect.

Q: What would you consider not to be ‘clean’?
TW: For Nico it is a pretty difficult situation, as he has to win the two remaining races and hope that Lewis finishes worse than P2 or that he retires. Not clean would mean forcing a collision - but that is something that Nico cannot afford at all. We don’t want a Senna-Prost situation, that is for sure.

Q: But isn’t that rather a call for Lewis, as Nico would not benefit at all from it?
TW: True, a collision would not help Nico at all, but situations can always arise in a race - and we have to avoid them. The last thing that we want at the season final in Abu Dhabi is that there is an outcry because the title win isn’t considered ‘clean’!

Q: Knowing that as of today only a Mercedes driver can win the title - has that made you a little more relaxed?
TW: Yes, it has - now that it is certain. It was likely, yes, with a gap of 92 points to Daniel Ricciardo, but we have seen that strange things can happen in Formula One, so it is nice to know that we are on the sure side now.

Q: Is there a fear that the a double points switch at the last race could overshadow your season?
TW: No fear, but the double points have the potential to overshadow a season. We know why the double points came in - it made all the sense in the world to make the season spectacular for the audience until the very last race - but now we are in a situation where it might change the outcome.

US GP: Lewis Hamilton defeats Nico Rosberg in Austin F1 battle

Lewis Hamilton extended his lead in the Formula 1 world championship to a commanding 24 points by beating main rival Nico Rosberg to victory in the US Grand Prix.
Having taken a brilliant pole position on Saturday, Rosberg narrowly led Sunday's F1 race at Austin through the first round of pitstops, as Hamilton nursed a set of soft Pirelli tyres that he flat-spotted during qualifying.
The German seemed less comfortable than Hamilton when they switched to the medium compound tyre though, and his Mercedes team-mate pounced to take the lead by using DRS and diving down the inside under braking for Turn 12 on lap 24 of 56.
Thereafter Rosberg was powerless to prevent Hamilton clinching his 10th grand prix victory of the season - the 32nd of his career, making him the most successful British driver in the history of the sport.
Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo overcame a poor start to beat both Williams drivers and complete the podium.
The Australian's slow getaway from fifth on the grid cost him four places initially, but he climbed back up to sixth before the end of the opening lap, when the safety car was deployed after Sergio Perez's Force India bounced off Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari and into Adrian Sutil's Sauber.
Ricciardo dived past Fernando Alonso's Ferrari to take fifth at the restart, before jumping both Williams at successive pitstops to climb to third.
The Williams drivers finished fourth and fifth, Felipe Massa coming home ahead of team-mate Valtteri Bottas after jumping him at the start.
Ricciardo's Red Bull team-mate Sebastian Vettel gambled on a pitlane start and low-downforce settings, after exceeding the five-engines-per-season limit at this race.
The reigning world champion found it difficult to make progress initially, but climbed as high as sixth before being passed by Alonso's Ferrari (on a much fresher and softer set of tyres) in the closing stages.
Vettel then plummeted to 14th place after making a late stop for fresh rubber, but recovered back to seventh as the cars ahead battled to the end on much older rubber.
The McLaren of Kevin Magnussen succumbed on the final lap and thus finished eighth, while Lotus scored its first points since May's Monaco GP as Pastor Maldonado finished 10th.
The Venezuelan passed Jean-Eric Vergne's Toro Rosso for ninth on the final lap, but was bumped back by his second five-second penalty of the race, in this case for pitlane speeding.
Vergne was classified ninth, but is under investigation for hitting Romain Grosjean's Lotus while lunging down the inside at Turn 1 with six laps to go.
Both Vergne and Maldonado received earlier five-second penalties for speeding behind the safety car.
Grosjean finished 11th on the road, ahead of the second McLaren of Jenson Button, which fell away badly in the closing laps.
Kimi Raikkonen ran close behind Ferrari team-mate Fernando Alonso early on, but lost ground with a late first stop and never recovered.
The 2007 world champion finished a disappointing 13th, ahead of the Sauber of Estaban Gutierrez and the second Toro Rosso of Daniil Kvyat, last of the classified finishers.
RESULTS - 56 LAPS:

Pos	Driver	Car	Gap
1	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1h40m04.785s
2	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	4.314s
3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull/Renault	25.560s
4	Felipe Massa	Williams/Mercedes	26.924s
5	Valtteri Bottas	Williams/Mercedes	30.992s
6	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1m35.231s
7	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull/Renault	1m35.734s
8	Kevin Magnussen	McLaren/Mercedes	1m40.682s
9	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus/Renault	1m47.870s
10	Jean-Eric Vergne	Toro Rosso/Renault	1m48.863s
11	Romain Grosjean	Lotus/Renault	1 Lap
12	Jenson Button	McLaren/Mercedes	1 Lap
13	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1 Lap
14	Esteban Gutierrez	Sauber/Ferrari	1 Lap
15	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso/Renault	1 Lap
-	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India/Mercedes	Power Unit
-	Sergio Perez	Force India/Mercedes	Collision
-	Adrian Sutil	Sauber/Ferrari	Collision

DRIVERS' CHAMPIONSHIP:

Pos	Driver	Points
1	Lewis Hamilton	316
2	Nico Rosberg	292
3	Daniel Ricciardo	214
4	Valtteri Bottas	155
5	Sebastian Vettel	149
6	Fernando Alonso	149
7	Jenson Button	94
8	Felipe Massa	83
9	Nico Hulkenberg	76
10	Kevin Magnussen	53
11	Sergio Perez	47
12	Kimi Raikkonen	47
13	Jean-Eric Vergne	22
14	Romain Grosjean	8
15	Daniil Kvyat	8
16	Pastor Maldonado	2
17	Jules Bianchi	2
18	Adrian Sutil	0
19	Marcus Ericsson	0
20	Esteban Gutierrez	0
21	Max Chilton	0
22	Kamui Kobayashi	0

CONSTRUCTORS' CHAMPIONSHIP:

Pos	Constructor	Points
1	Mercedes	608
2	Red Bull/Renault	363
3	Williams/Mercedes	238
4	Ferrari	196
5	McLaren/Mercedes	147
6	Force India/Mercedes	123
7	Toro Rosso/Renault	30
8	Lotus/Renault	10
9	Marussia/Ferrari	2
10	Sauber/Ferrari	0
11	Caterham/Renault	0