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Daniel Ricciardo is hoping that Red Bull’s strategic approach to the Australian Grand Prix will enable him to overcome the ‘unjust’ grid penalty he was handed on Friday.

Ricciardo was fifth fastest at the end of qualifying, his time of 1:23.494s just a tenth off that of team mate Max Verstappen.

“The session itself didn’t go too badly,” he said. “It started off pretty well and even in Q2 on the supersofts we were looking good.

“In the last part of Q3 we just missed a bit in the first sector,” he continued. “I’m not totally sure where the time is so we’ll have to look at that.”

However, Ricciardo was almost seven tenths off polesitter Lewis Hamilton’s new track record. Ricciardo said that Mercedes’ ability to turn up the wick in qualifying “sucks”.

“It’s frustrating,” he said. “I think everyone else wants to see them get challenged a bit more, so that was a little bit of a punch in the stomach to everyone.

  • Hamilton seizes Melbourne pole after Bottas crashes out

“Obviously they’re loving it, they’re in a good position,” he said. “But everyone else is hating it.

“I know it would be nice to be in that position, but for everyone else it sucks,” he sighed. “That was like throwing a pie in everyone’s face.”

The Aussie will now start his home race from eight on the grid. That’s a result of the three-place penalty he got for speeding under red flag conditions in FP2.

“Obviously starting eighth because of the penalty is frustrating and I thought it was unjust,” he stated.

“There are reprimands, fines and other things. But to shoot me in the ankle before the season starts, well, I think they could have done better.

“I’m looking forward to coming through the field,” he added. “We’re obviously better than eighth so we will try and make it happen.

“To be honest, I feel sorry for the guys in front of me tomorrow as they’re the ones I’m going to have to take my anger out on!”

Ricciardo is hoping that the team’s decision to run supersofts rather than ultras in Q2 – which means they will start the race on the same set – will give them a strategic advantage later in the day

“We’re the only ones in the top 10 starting on the supersoft so hopefully that helps us,” he said. “Ideally the leaders have trouble making the one stop work with the ultrasoft and we capitalise there.”

Ricciardo’s thoughts were echoed by team principal Christian Horner.

“We’ve elected to start on a different tyre strategy to our competitors,” he said. “Hopefully that will provide different options for tomorrow.”

Ricciardo said the RB14 was looking good in race trim. “The race pace looks pretty good,” he confirmed. But good enough to overcome the Mighty Mercedes?

“Hopefully we can catch up,” insisted Ricciardo. “Hopefully in the race they don’t have as much of that. Because that’s a bit scary, that mode they’ve got.”

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LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Nebraska state champion Papillion-LaVista took over the top spot in this week’s NFCA Fall High School Top 25 Coaches Poll after two-time defending state champion East Coweta lost twice in the Georgia Class 7A elite eight at the South Commons Complex in Columbus, Ga.

The (36-0) Monarchs ascended to the throne for the first time, ending East Coweta’s run of nine straight weeks at the No. 1 spot. Papillion-LaVista captured its second Nebraska Class A championship in the last three years two weeks ago. It was the Monarchs’ fifth consecutive appearance in the state final.

East Coweta (33-2), meanwhile, suffered as many losses last week — two — as it has had in the last two previous seasons combined. After edging Parkview, 4-3 in 10 innings, last Thursday, the Indians were shocked by eventual Class 7A titlist Mountain View, 1-0 in eight, later that night. An 8-2 loss to Peachtree Ridge on Friday closed their season and ended a three-year run during which they went a remarkable 101-4.

Wesleyan (31-2) slipped one spot to fourth after falling to Georgia Class A private champion Mount de Sales twice last week. The Wolves lost 4-2 in their elite eight opener and then 2-0 in the title contest, after winning three games to earn the rematch.

Elsewhere, Columbine (25-2) moved up to No. 5 after capturing the Colorado state 5A crown, beating two-time defending titlist Legend in the quarterfinals on Friday; No. 6 Westfield (24-2) claimed the Georgia Independent School Association tournament; and Banks County (31-3) is now 19th after winning the Georgia state Class AA championship.

Erie (16-7) returned to the rankings this week at No. 21 after outslugging Golden, 13-9, in Saturday’s Colorado state Class 4A final.

State rankings submitted by NFCA member coaches are used to compile the NFCA Fall High School Top 25 Coaches Poll. Teams are chosen based on performance, roster quality and strength of schedule. Five states — Colorado, Georgia, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Missouri — play a fall fastpitch schedule, while Iowa recently completed its summer season.

NFCA Fall High School Top 25 Coaches Poll – Oct. 31, 2019

Rank

Team

2019 Record

Previous

1

Papillion-LaVista (Neb.)

36-0

2

2

East Coweta (Ga.)

33-2

1

3

Collins-Maxwell (Iowa)

27-1

4

4

Wesleyan (Ga.)

31-2

3

5

Columbine (Colo.)

25-2

12

6

Westfield (Ga.)

24-2

5

7

Assumption (Iowa)

41-2

8

8

Broken Arrow (Okla.)

37-2

9

9

Rock Canyon (Colo.)

22-2

6

10

Holy Family (Colo.)

25-2

7

11

Sequoyah (Tahlequah, Okla.)

42-3

10

12

Elkhorn (Neb.)

30-5

11

13

Silo (Okla.)

38-3

14

14

Golden (Colo.)

24-3

15

15

Loveland (Colo.)

22-3

13

16

Grand Junction Central (Colo.)

22-4

16

17

Binger-Oney (Okla.)

30-3

17

18

North Gwinnett (Ga.)

27-3

18

19

Banks County (Ga.)

31-3

22

20

Kiowa (Okla.)

40-4

19

21

Erie (Colo.)

16-7

NR

22

Chatfield (Colo.)

19-4

21

23

Prairie View (Colo.)

19-6

20

24

Beatrice (Neb.)

32-6

23

25

Raymore-Peculiar (Mo.)

25-5

25

Dropped out: Skutt Catholic (Neb.)

A Burger King customer who is vegan has sued the company for selling him an Impossible Whopper that was “contaminated” by meat by-products, according to claims in a new class action lawsuit.

Plaintiff Phillip Williams says he bought an Impossible Whopper at a Burger King in Atlanta, Ga., believing it to be completely meat-free. Williams, who adheres to a strict vegan diet, ordered the Impossible Whopper — without mayonnaise, which is not vegan — from Burger King’s drive-through in August 2019. While the burger arrived without mayonnaise as requested, Williams says he discovered after eating it that the patty was covered in meat by-products. He accuses Burger King of cooking the meat-free patties on the same grill where beef patties are made and of misleading customers by marketing the Impossible Whopper as a meat-free menu item.

“Despite Burger King’s representations that the Impossible Whopper uses the trademarked ‘Impossible Meat’ that is well-known as a meat-free and vegan meat alternative, Burger King cooks these vegan patties on the same grills as its traditional meat products, thus covering the outside of the Impossible Whopper’s meat-free patties with meat by-product,” the lawsuit says. The suit against the Miami-based fast-food chain was filed in the Southern District of Florida.

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The Impossible Whopper, which became available throughout the U.S. in 2019, is a version of Burger King’s Whopper burger made out of plant-based “meat” produced by the Silicon Valley company Impossible Foods.

Williams says he was not told, nor did he see any signs, that the Impossible Whopper was cooked on the same grill as Burger King’s beef patties or other meat products. It is unclear how he discovered the alleged meat by-product on his burger.

The lawsuit seeks an injunction that requires Burger King to disclose that it cooks the Impossible Whopper on the same grill as its traditional meat items, compensatory damages for Williams and a jury trial. An attorney for Williams did not immediately respond to TIME’s request for comment.

Burger King describes the Impossible Whopper as, “100% Whopper, 0%” beef on its website. The company also notes that customers looking for a meat-free option can request a “non-broiler method of preparation.” Chris Finazzo, Burger King’s president in the Americas region, told Bloomberg in August that Burger King’s Impossible Whopper would be cooked in the same broiler where regular meat products are also prepared, unless a customer requested it be made separately.

A Burger King spokesperson said the company does not comment on pending litigation in a statement to TIME.

The Entrepreneur Diaries: Anit Hora

November 20, 2019 | News | No Comments

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In 2007, Anit Hora quit her dream job with no safety net, no backup plan and no idea of what she was going to do next.

After graduating with a degree in fashion design Hora landed a high paying gig as a designer for a major label in New York City. She was earning a good salary, had great benefits, strong job security, enjoyed her work and was getting promoted on a regular basis. Seven years into her seemingly perfect career, however, Hora found herself thinking, “This can’t be it.”

“I did love my job, but I didn’t love it enough to not want to try something new,” she says. “I worked as a full-time knitwear designer when I started making my own products. When demand started to grow, it became more difficult for me to balance everything.”

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Hora eventually couldn’t keep up with the pace of a day job and creating her own products, so she took off on a three-month backpacking trip around South America while she considered her next career move. As she traveled, volunteered and taught, Hora fell in love with the lifestyle and ended up staying for over a year and a half. “That’s when I realized that maybe the nine-to-five life isn’t for me,” she says.

But Anit says it wasn’t simple or easy to make the choice to leave her job and travel, especially financially. “Taking the leap is difficult but freeing at the same time. My best advice is to have a well-organized strategy, both financial and otherwise, ready for when you decide to quit your 9-5 and dive headfirst into your company.”

The trip taught Hora how different life was outside the big city. For example, she says she had very little patience for illness in her corporate life; the moment she felt sick in New York she’d race to get a prescription for antibiotics and try to return to work as quickly as possible.

It wasn’t until she came down with an illness in South America and tried to do the same that she realized this wasn’t normal behaviour. “They all looked at me like I was crazy,” she says. “They were like, ‘why would you want such a strong medicine?’”

That’s when Hora fell in love with herbal teas and natural medicines, which she studied formally upon her return to New York in 2008; first in classes at the Open Centre, then during an apprenticeship at an apothecary in Brooklyn.

She even started selling her natural health products at local craft fairs but eventually discovered they weren’t the natural products customers were looking for.

“Every time I’d go to sell them, these women would come up to me and ask for skincare and makeup stuff,” she says. “They’d come to me and be like ‘I’d buy this if you had this for face or hair or nails,’ and I thought, ‘yeah, I’d probably use that too.’”

In 2009 Hora enrolled in the Aveda Institute in New York City where she pursued her aesthetician’s license, but her savings were starting to dry up. At the same time, she needed money to buy supplies, create a website and build her new brand, Mullein and Sparrow.

To make ends meet Hora took up a day job at a spa while attending taking classes in the evenings and on weekends, building her business in what little time remained.

“I wasn’t sleeping very much in those days,” she says. “I don’t remember having any time for a social life or seeing friends, I remember being in complete isolation from everyone I knew, but it was so exciting that I didn’t see it like that.”

After years of balancing work, school and entrepreneurship Hora got the opportunity she had been waiting for in 2014, when she received an email from a representative at one or her favorite retail chains, Anthropologie. “That was such a surreal moment for me,” says Hora. “I was like ‘how did you even find me?’”

The company was interested in selling her products in their stores, but Hora couldn’t fulfill an order of that size from her home studio, so she started looking for a line of credit and a new workspace. Even with her purchase order, Hora couldn’t get her bank to provide the capital she needed. The demand was there, but it still took time for her to develop the bandwidth to fulfill a big order.

In reflection, she says she should have put more thought into financial planning. “I would have put more thought into my budget. Organization is not my strong suit so I would have brought someone on early on to help me allocate my resources more efficiently.”

Today, M.S. Skincare has products in a range of small boutiques and major retailers around the world, including Urban Outfitters, Free People, Nordstrom, Steve Allen and Anthropologie. But the greatest validation, according to Hora, happened when she was selected for an entrepreneurship fellowship from the Tory Burch Foundation as well as Goldman Sachs’ prestigious 10,000 Small Businesses Program, despite having no formal business training.

“There’s a lot of self-doubt that comes from doing this, especially if you spend the first few years by yourself figuring it out,” she says. “You just have to believe you can do it, and keep that sense of stubborn optimism.”

Federal safety officials say Boeing should redesign part of the casing on some engines to prevent the kind of accident that occurred when engine debris blew out a window on a Southwest Airlines plane and killed a passenger.

The National Transportation Safety Board determined Tuesday that the April 2018 accident was caused by a cracked fan blade that broke off in flight, hitting the engine case at a critical location. Parts of the engine turned into shrapnel, striking the fuselage.

After a harrowing emergency descent from 32,000 feet (9,750 meters), with one passenger blown partly out of the plane, the pilots of Southwest flight 1380 were able to land the crippled Boeing 737 in Philadelphia.

Safety board Chairman Robert Sumwalt said engine and aircraft manufacturers should develop stronger designs for engine casing to prevent broken fan blades from ever causing such catastrophic damage again.

“That translates to a better chance that damage to the aircraft will be minimized during a (broken fan blade) event, improving the safety of the flying public,” Sumwalt said.

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The events of flight 1380 led to more frequent and intensive inspections of fan blades on certain engines made by CFM International, a joint venture between General Electric Co. and France’s Safran SA. Those checks at Southwest and other airlines turned up about 15 other fan blades with slowly spreading cracks from fatigue or wear during normal use.

A Southwest 737 suffered a similar engine break-up in 2016, but pilots landed safely in Pensacola, Florida. NTSB investigator Pierre Scarfo said the board found no evidence to believe that the fan blade problem was unique to maintenance or operations at Southwest, which has the world’s largest 737 fleet. However, earlier this year the Transportation Department’s inspector general cited the Philadelphia incident among the reasons that it was reviewing government oversight of the airline.

On Tuesday, the NTSB recommended that the Federal Aviation Administration require Boeing to determine the most vulnerable locations on the engine fan case on certain planes if a fan blade breaks loose, and to redesign the cowling for better structural integrity. The board also recommended that airlines be required to retrofit many older Boeing 737s with the redesigned engine-housing part.

Southwest said it would review the recommendations.

The recommendations apply to “Next Generation” or NG versions of the 737, thousands of which have been built since the early 1990s. They do not cover the grounded Boeing 737 MAX, which uses different engines.

Boeing spokesman Peter Pedraza said all NG planes are safe because “the issue is completely mitigated by the fan blade inspections,” but that Boeing is working on a “design enhancement” to address the safety board’s recommendations.

FAA spokeswoman Marcia Alexander-Adams said the agency will review and respond to the NTSB recommendations. She noted that the agency has already required airlines to step up fan blade inspections.

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CFM International said it would comply with any changes that might be made because of the NTSB recommendations.

The CFM56-7B engine was certified by the FAA in 1996 and is currently on 14,600 planes. The Southwest incidents in 2016 and 2018 are the only reported cases of a broken fan blade causing such damage to those engines, according to the NTSB.

The 24 blades in the left engine of flight 1380 were made in 2000 and used on more than 32,000 flights before the fateful flight left New York’s LaGuardia Airport, bound for Dallas.

The NTSB concluded that fan blade No. 13 was already cracked at the time of its last overhaul, but the damage wasn’t spotted using methods then in use, which relied heavily on visual inspections. The FAA later required inspections using electrical current and ultrasound.

As detailed during an investigative hearing into flight 1380 last November, when debris from the engine struck the plane, it caused a window to blow out and created an immediate decompression of the cabin — oxygen masks dropped, debris swirled, the air temperature plunged, and the noise was deafening. The plane rolled sharply to the left.

Jennifer Riordan, a 43-year-old banker and mother of two from Albuquerque, New Mexico, was blown halfway out of the plane. Two passengers helped bring her back inside, but she died from the injuries — the first passenger killed on a U.S. airline flight in more than nine years. Eight others suffered minor injuries. There were 144 passengers and five crew members on the plane.

The captain, former Navy pilot Tammie Jo Shults, and the first officer, former Air Force pilot Darren Ellisor, donned oxygen masks and began an emergency descent. The safety board found that they didn’t perform every checklist for an engine failure or fire, and they used unusual settings for the plane’s flaps because they were worried about losing control if they flew too slowly.

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“Basically, she used airmanship, she used judgment, because she felt that was the safest thing to do,” Sumwalt said of Shults. He said the incident showed the value of well-trained and experienced pilots.

Flight attendants put on portable oxygen systems and moved around the cabin, helping passengers. They tried to aid Riordan. Safety board members praised their bravery, although adding that they should have returned to their jump seats for the landing.

A passenger took a selfie that showed three people who had put their oxygen masks on the wrong way despite diagrammed instructions and a pre-takeoff demonstration by flight attendants.

“It’s very difficult, unfortunately, to get passengers to pay attention to the safety briefings,” said NTSB staffer Jason Fedok. “We see that repeatedly.”

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The FIA has warned F1 teams that any attempt to exploit special engine modes to purposefully enhance exhaust flow towards a car’s main wing will not be permitted.

On the back of Renault’s 2018 design, which features an angled exhaust directed towards the heat-shielded leading edge of the rear wing of its R.S.18, teams have questioned the legality of the French team’s concept.

FIA race director Charlie Whiting has confirmed however that Renault’s layout complies with F1’s technical rules – although many suggest the scheme is certainly not in the spirit of said rules.

The governing body has now made clear that special engine modes, such as the off-throttle blowing which prevailed between 2010 and 2013, shall not be tolerated this year.

  • Renault unfazed by blown wing illegality claims

Whiting has given the green light to Renault’s approach, but insists he will be particularly attentive to engine usage this year.

“I think it is absolutely minimal what they [Renault] will get from it,” said Whiting told Motorsport.com.

“I don’t see any problem with it provided we are sure they are not operating their engine in a false mode – a mode that wouldn’t be normal.

“We have to accept that there is and always has been some exhaust effect, but obviously in 2012/2013 it was massive.

“We’ve chipped away at that and one of the things for the 2014 [turbo hybrid] rules was to make sure there was no effect from the exhaust – but there must be a little one.

“We will have to deal with that, and we will see during the course of the year whether we need to do something to minimise that.”

Whiting admitted that this year’s ban on monkey seats, the small rear wing structure which helps direct the exhaust flow towards the main wing, hasn’t deterred designers from exploiting the blown wing concept.

“We were concerned with exhaust blowing last year,” said Whiting.

“With the wings becoming 150mm lower than they were in 2016, there was more benefit to be gained.

“That is why we put the exhaust pipe in the middle and with a minimum angle. Teams managed to build monkey seats, which we managed to get rid of by changing the bodywork regulations.

“But there was still a little window of opportunity. You know what teams are like: if you take one thing away they will try to get 10 percent of what they had. But they will still do it.”

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An unfamiliar energy drinks company sprung out of the woodwork in February claiming it was leading a deal to take over Force India for $ 280 million, but Rich Energy’s plans – if they ever existed – have fizzled just as fast as they appeared.

The company, which no one had ever heard of before its flashy PR/fake news stunt, apparently develops and markets an “innovative and elite energy drink for the discerning customer”.

A bit too “discerning” perhaps as we couldn’t come across anyone who has ever seen a can of Rich Energy in the metal, let alone tasted the so-called premium kool-aid.

Needless to say, despite Rich Energy’s series of shameless F1 advertorials which went from “…in talks to buy Forced India” to “… a deal is expected next week” over the course of a few days, the good folk of Force India had more important matters to tend to.

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Over the decades, Formula 1 has always drawn its fair share of eccentric or shady wannabes. Whether they were swindlers , liars or megalomaniacs, or just gentle dreamers, they all sought a piece of Grand Prix racing’s glitz and glamour before their fall from grace.

Rich Energy’s CEO is one William Storey, a man as little-known as the product he claims to sell, and whose hirsute, bearded countenance would blend in more appropriately at the Burning Man event than in an F1 paddock.

Coincidently, while we’re on the subject of imposters, Storey reminds us of the infamous and bizarre Belgian quack, Jean-Pierre van Rossem, who “owned” the Onyx F1 team back in 1989.

Van Rossem was the inventor of ‘Moneytron’, a computer programme that could supposedly predict trends in the stock market and yield endless returns. And the trick did work for a time, as plenty of wealthy investors bought into the concept.

Van Rossem made the most of the growing success of his ponzi scheme, offering himself a proper F1 team until reality kicked in and his investors caught on.

The team eventually folded and van Rossem was sentenced to prison for his scams, but then embraced a political career in his home country, launching his own ROSSEM party, with little success.

As for the curious case of William Storey and Rich Energy, we just can’t wait to see what the future will bring us in terms of excuses or reasons why the purchase of the team has been… “delayed”.

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Marcus Ericsson believes Sauber could improve its position in F1’s mid-field if it succeeds in unlocking more speed form its C37 in qualifying.

Thanks to Charles Leclerc’s efforts last weekend in Baku, the Swiss outfit achieved its best result since 2015.

Team boss Fred Vasseur insisted however that Sauber’s car was well-suited to the specific low-drag street circuit thanks to its powerful engine, warning that the story could be very different next week in Barcelona.

Ericsson has focused his attention on the C37’s difficulties in coping with Pirelli’s softest compounds, a weakness that has weighed on the team’s performance in the all-important Saturday afternoon session.

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“It’s clear we are struggling more over one lap than on race pace. We are still struggling with the softer compounds,” he said.

“I really feel confident that if we have good track position for the race, starting in the mix, we can have strong races.

“That’s for me the main priority now that we need to find an extra bit of performance on Saturday because I really feel on Sundays we have a good car to fight the midfield.”

While he was outperformed al weekend by his team mate in Azerbaijan, Ericsson was still buoyed by Leclerc’s result which offered a glimpse of Sauber’s potential.

“Charles’ pace was really strong compared to the cars around him,” he added.

“But obviously these days you need a good starting position. We need to analyse, work hard and analyse how we can take a step on Saturdays.

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“Charles did a very good job in qualifying but still I think we are stronger for sure in the race.”

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China GP: Sunday’s action in pictures

November 20, 2019 | News | No Comments

It was an action-packed Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai, and we have the pictures to prove it!

Browse through our Sunday gallery.

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Honda F1 boss Toyoharu Tanabe isn’t giving anything away about the Japanese manufacturer’s potential plans involving Red Bull Racing for 2019.

An FIA May 15 deadline by which the Milton Keynes-based outfit must finalise its power unit plans for next year is fast approaching, with current supplier Renault unwilling to wait forever on its partner’s decision.

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Red Bull is keeping its options open with Honda however as it monitors the engine manufacturer’s progress with junior bull team Toro Rosso.

Honda’s relationship with the Faenza-based outfit enjoyed a promising start, with clear progress made by its V6 hybrid engine in terms of reliability and power.

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“Toro Rosso is open to new ideas and listens to us attentively,” Tanabe told France’s Auto Hebdo.

“We listen to them just as carefully. Together we’re working hard to achieve our goal.”

However, when asked how the Red Bull talks are proceeding, Tanabe was guarded.

“I’m focused on this season and on the technical partnership with Toro Rosso. As for everything else, decisions are made in the top management of Honda.”

Toro Rosso team boss Franz Tost is equally happy with Honda’s achievements to date. Also, rather than implementing significant updates over the course of the season, the Italian squad follows an incremental approach for developing its STR13 chassis.

“Other teams work with two or three major updates per season,” Tost told Speed Week.

“We pursue a different philosophy. We want to make the car faster every time we make small improvements.”

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