A Daily Round up of Formula One news, inside whispers, opinion and comment. Today,

No sanctions against Manor for de Villota accident

Wolff confirms that Lewis influenced pitstop decision

Lewis en route to break more records

Engine manufacturers preparing regicide?

No sanctions against Manor for de Villota accident

The testing accident of Maria de Villota in 2012 has been investigated by her Majesty’s Health and Safety Executive (HSE) for almost three years. The Spaniard had hit a team truck, suffered severe head injuries and lost an eye. In October 2013 she was found dead in a hotel having succumbed to long-term neurological injuries that resulted from the accident.

An HSE spokesman has now confirmed to BBC that no further action against Manor GP will be taken and that both team and next of kin have been notified of that decision.

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Wolff confirms that Lewis influenced pitstop decision

Our Chief Editor got some flak from some fans for his audacity to insinuate that Lewis has contributed to the erroneous decision to stop under the safety car, but confirmation for that does now come from none other than Mercedes motorsports director Toto Wolff himself. Facing the wrath of the Hamfosi, Mercedes set up an #AskToto session on Twitter:

We told him to stay out and Lewis said "not good" & that the tyres had lost temperature (1/2) https://t.co/2USXJQIPkB — MERCEDES AMG F1 (@MercedesAMGF1) May 26, 2015

(2/2) We had one second to react and, combined with our wrong timing data, we made the mistake of calling him in #AskToto — MERCEDES AMG F1 (@MercedesAMGF1) May 26, 2015

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Lewis en route to break more records

It might be little consolation, but with his Monaco performance Lewis edged closer to breaking some records. His first pole in Monaco means he has now started from pole position on 21 different tracks. The current record is held by Alain Prost, who started from pole on 22 different tracks. If the Brit manages to clinch pole in Austria and Mexico, the record would be his.

Three streaks of Lewis continued despite the lost win – consecutive podiums (13), consecutive front row starts (14), consecutive races with at least one lead lap (15). If he manages to lead laps in Montreal and Austria as well, he’ll match the 1970 record of Sir Jackie Stewart.

Other records that were broken or matched in Monaco:

By collecting McLaren’s first points in Monaco, Jenson Button managed his 16th consecutive season with points, thus matching Michael Schumacher’s record

For the first time in his career Nico Rosberg won two races in a row.

After six races, only Mercedes and Ferrari drivers have been to the podium. Such a monotonous start to a season is unprecedented.

For the first time in history the Virtual Safety Car was deployed – for 31 seconds.

Mercedes engined cars have started the last 25 races from pole. That beats Renault’s old record of 24

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Engine manufacturers preparing regicide?

According to reports in German media the CEO’s of Mercedes, Dieter Zetsche, and his counterpart at Renault, Carlos Ghosn, have met on the morning of the Monaco GP to discuss ways of ousting Bernard Ecclestone. According to Ralf Bach, Ghosn explained that Renault wants to be present as a works team by 2017, but cites Ecclestone’s departure as a requirement for that step. All three manufacturers are reported to blame the declining interest in F1 on Ecclestone’s dictatorial style and his refusal to bring F1 to the new media.

Ferrari and Mercedes have so far already presented a unified front against Ecclestone. If Renault now joins the alliance, Ecclestone’s old tactics of divide and conquer may soon be rendered useless and CVC will sooner or later be forced to show the old man the door.

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