F1: Newey Moves To End Ferrari Switch Rumours

Adrian Newey has played down reports he is thinking about a switch to Ferrari.

Two weeks ago in Barcelona, F1's most highly paid and rated engineer sounded equivocal amid rumours Ferrari is prepared to 'break the bank' to lure him from Red Bull.

But in a short statement ahead of the Monaco grand prix, Newey said: "I remain committed to Red Bull for the foreseeable future."

World champion Sebastian Vettel was also asked about Newey on Wednesday, and while stressing that Red Bull wants him to stay, he also said the Milton-Keynes based team is not a one-man band.

"He is one of the key people in the team," said the German. "There are other people too.

"It is wrong to give the credit only to Adrian, as he would tell you himself.

"We like him in our team, so yes," added Vettel, when asked if he wants Newey to stay.

"It's a story in the end. How much truth there is in it, we may find out, we may not."

(GMM)

Montezemolo moves to ease Alonso frustration

Luca di Montezemolo on Thursday moved to reassure an apparently increasingly frustrated Fernando Alonso.

Daimler and Mercedes chairman Dieter Zetsche this week hailed the Spaniard as "perhaps the best driver" in F1.

Alonso responded by saying it is "curious" that rivals heap praise on him, while only "opposite" feedback comes from those in his inner circle.

It was interpreted as a clear sign that Alonso's patience may finally be up with the Maranello team, five years after Ferrari promised him a title-winning car.

But Ferrari president Montezemolo reacted swiftly, with his comments made at Maranello promptly emailed to journalists and posted on the team's official website.

"Fernando is the best driver in the world, who always gives 200 per cent in the races," he said.

Montezemolo said Alonso "knows" how highly he rates him.

"I think it's incredible that there are still some so-called experts who don't understand that and are always looking for a polemical situation that simply doesn't exist," he added.

The apparently increasingly-frustrated Alonso had also said in Monaco that he had noticed no recent improvements despite the arrival of new boss Marco Mattiacci.

Montezemolo, however, said Mattiacci will in fact "instigate many changes at a technical and organisational level".

"That's what I want, as do our drivers and our fans, while all the rest is just idle chat," he concluded.

(GMM)

Title leader Hamilton 'overslept' in Monaco

There was action on and off the track in Monaco on Thursday.

Championship leader Lewis Hamilton's day began with a thump on the door, as two Mercedes staff roused the sleepy Briton in his harbourside yacht.

With just minutes to spare before morning practice, Hamilton was hurriedly ferried to dry land and he was still jogging to the paddock as the turbo V6 engines began to rev.

"I overslept," he admitted afterwards.

Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen also had a scare on Thursday, as a Red Bull mechanic frantically pushed him out of the path of Sebastian Vettel in the pitlane.

Meanwhile, Red Bull's Vettel denied reports the RB10 chassis with which he initially struggled in 2014 was found to have been 'warped'.

"There was nothing wrong with the chassis itself," he told Germany's Sky.

"When you set up the car, there are certain measuring tools that we use, and we found that these were not quite right," Vettel revealed.

(GMM)