Formula 1 CEO Chase Carey insists the sport will not lose its "foundation" in Europe as he and Liberty Media push for a greater presence in America and elsewhere.

On Thursday this week, a vote at the City of Miami Commission could pave the way for the Floridian city to join the calendar as soon as 2019, with even a first proposed street circuit layout released last Friday.

With Grands Prix in New York and Las Vegas also touted, some are worried this will come at the expense of the sport's historic home with the races in Britain, Germany, Belgium, Italy and more all facing uncertain futures.

Talking to Autosport, however, Carey declared: “It is not at the expense of the sport in Europe – which is the foundation of this sport, the home of this sport and this sport will always be built, as far as I am concerned, on its foundations.”

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But Liberty's vision isn't just for expansion in the States with Asia also in their sights as Vietnam remains a strong possibility and maybe, trying to read into the CEO's next comments, a second race in China.

“This is a strong sport in Europe, but we believe there are opportunities to grow the sport in places like China and the US, the two biggest media economies in the world,” he added.

Away from the calendar, F1's commercial rights holder is considering ways to maintain interest in the sport throughout the year, taking their cues from such events as the NFL draft.

“One of the ambitions we have is to figure out how we make this sport something that engages the fans 12 months a year,” Carey explained.

"It doesn’t mean we will race [that long] – our season is not going to go [to] 12 months - [but] we would like to determine how do we create more interesting things for fans, whether it is unique competition or unique events, or things that are around the sport that continue to build interest and enable fans to engage more?"

Sergio Perez is "possibly the most underrated driver" in Formula 1, according to deputy Force India team boss Bob Fernley.

His comments come after the Mexican finally broke the record for the most podiums by a driver from the Central American nation with his 10th career rostrum finish at the Azerbaijan GP and his second in Baku.

'Checo' has always been considered one of the most dependable and highly-talented men on the grid, yet prospects of a second chance at the front, following his disappointing year with McLaren in 2013, remain bleak.

"I feel for Sergio in many ways because I think he is possibly the most underrated F1 driver out there," Fernley told Sky Sports.

"As a racer he's amazing and, not that we would ever want to lose him, but I think it's criminal that he's been overlooked."

Before McLaren, Perez was a part of the Ferrari academy and was often linked with the Scuderia during his Sauber days and even as recently as 2016.

With his Force India teammate Esteban Ocon likely lined up for Mercedes and no room at Red Bull, that would only leave his old stomping ground as a possible option to get that second opportunity.

"I think everybody wants to go to Ferrari. To wear the red overalls is a great privilege," Fernley commented.

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As for the 27-year-old himself, he too, of course, believes his potential in F1 is yet to have been reached.

"I still feel that there is so much more I can do in the sport," Perez told Sky Sports in Baku.

"I also feel that my time will come because I work really hard, I really put my effort in to have an opportunity and I feel I deserve to have a car to show my full potential.

"There hasn't been an opportunity or vacancy in the top teams. If you want to do something in F1 you really have to be in one of those teams."

Formula 1's governing body, the FIA, has issued a new technical directive which could spell the end of the so-called 'party' engine modes in qualifying.

Though not 100% the reason for their additional performance over a single lap, Mercedes and Ferrari are known to burn on some occasions almost three times the amount of oil than their rivals at Renault and Honda, with the current limit set at 0.6 litres per 100km.

To be safe, the German manufacturer also reduced their quantity oil burning, which is one reason so believe explains why Ferrari has been closer in qualifying this season but still both have an advantage over the Renault-powered Red Bull.

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Now though, the FIA has imposed fresh restrictions on the use of oil as fuel in qualifying which could end the practice altogether.

"We wish to clarify that in order to allow the FIA to monitor oil consumption during the qualifying practice session in a precise and timely manner, no oil may be added to the car nor may any auxiliary oil tank (AOT) be activated," a directive from technical delegate Jo Bauer read.

Also: "There may be no oil transfer between an AOT and any part of the engine lubrication system," it added.

The next two races in Spain and Monaco are on layouts which traditionally favour a better chassis over engines, although the Canadian GP in Montreal will likely be the first true test of whether this change has any effect.

Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff has indicated that the team's troubled start to the 2018 season has had some bearing on talks regarding Lewis Hamilton's new contract.

The world champion is in the final year of his current deal with the German manufacturer and despite regular comments for months now that an extension is merely a formality, it does remain unsigned.

In Baku, Hamilton ended what was his longest winless streak in the hybrid era at six races, inheriting the victory from Valtteri Bottas after the Finn suffered a late tyre failure, but with main rival Ferrari still looking like the current pacesetters, Wolff admits 2019 has gone onto the backburner.

“We are very well aligned in what we expect from each other in the future," the Austrian insisted as he was quoted by F1i.com. "It’s just finding the time to sit down.”

Asked about the situation in Azerbaijan, the Briton himself added: “I’m fully committed to Mercedes, I have every plan to be with the team for the future.

“It’s not a rushed thing. I’ve made it very, very clear and they made it very clear that they want to continue, so it’s quite an easy thing."

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Some have always wondered if the length of Hamilton's stay at Mercedes would be dictated by how long their dominance lasted but, after the last race, the 33-year-old does appear motivated to overcome the current dip.

"We’ve just got to refine it a little bit and make it a little bit easier to drive," he said. "She [the car] definitely isn’t as easy to drive as it was last year. So yeah, that’s what we’re going to continue to work to.

"Kimi [Raikkonen] was nearly on pole, two-tenths ahead of Sebastian [Vettel], their pure pace is a lot ahead of ours at the moment.

"Then, within the race, I’m sure Sebastian was managing but I’m sure their pace also in the race is a little bit up on ours.

"We definitely are there in the mix and we’ve not got a terrible car at all, by any means."

Lawrence Stroll, the billionaire father of Lance, has claimed he would not be prepared to financially back a closer working relationship between Williams and Mercedes.

The fashion mogul is well-known for the large backing he offers those who take on his 19-year-old son, with some putting a figure of around $70m as the amount he gave last year to get the former European F3 champion his seat.

This season, however, the Grove-based team is floundering at the back of the grid and sits bottom of the Constructors' Championship, despite Stroll scoring their first points of 2018 this past weekend in Baku.

That has led Lawrence to ponder the possibility of a Ferrari/ Haas style partnership between Williams and their engine supplier Mercedes.

“I tried to persuade [the team] to go down that route, but I’m not going to be buying anything from [Mercedes motorsport boss] Toto [Wolff],” he was quoted by PlanetF1 as saying on Friday.

Though the Brackley-based team has admitted they would be open to the concept of what many have dubbed a 'B-team', deputy team boss Claire Williams also shut down the idea.

“The model that Haas have, the model that Force India have to a lesser degree, is not something that we subscribe to at Williams. We certainly haven’t in the past.

“We feel we are a whole constructor, a holistic constructor. We’re very proud of the fact that we design, build and develop our race cars fully in-house. Very, very little is out-sourced.”

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She also strongly rejected the possibility that Williams could eventually go the way of other once great teams that were forced out. 

“If people think we don’t have a plan and we are going the way of Tyrrell, they will be sorely mistaken," he told the Formula 1 website. "That will be over my dead body."

Kevin Magnussen has come out to clarify a comment made to Reuters in which he claimed he would be prepared to risk his life while racing on track.

The timing of a report later published by Crash.net was awkward as it came after Pierre Gasly labelled the Dane the "most dangerous guy I've raced with" in the wake of contact between the pair at almost 190mph along the main straight in Baku.

And it was just another example of the limits the Haas driver has been known to reach when going wheel-to-wheel, something he makes absolutely no apologies for.

"I race hard," he said in the interview. "In a situation like this with a midfield team, you’re not guaranteed to score points and sometimes you have nothing to lose.

"You might get a penalty, you might lose your front-wing but there’s nothing to lose if you’re 11th. Go for it.

"I don’t like compromises," he added. "I will give everything. I will die in the car. I won’t hold back. I would put my life on [the line]. Absolutely.

"I love my family, and there’s so many things in life I enjoy, but when I’m in the car there’s nothing else that means anything."

However, in a tweet posted on Wednesday, Magnussen insists there was no relation between his comments and the incident with Gasly on Sunday.

"The interview was done before the race in Baku and was not minded on the incident with Pierre in the race," he said.

"I didn't squeeze Pierre on purpose and have apologised many times after the incident."

He also looked to put his comments into context, claiming: "I don't want to die in a race car I was expressing my willingness to give absolutely everything in my power to achieve success.

"Success to me obviously isn't having accidents or getting penalties but finishing races in as high a position as possible.

"I am living my childhood dream of racing in Formula 1 and I've put my whole life into achieving that dream so it is only natural for me to be giving absolutely everything I've got."

The former McLaren driver also made it clear his current approach is only because of the intense midfield battle he finds himself in with Haas.

"If you are fighting for the championship, you have to play the long game," he explained.

"You have to change your approach. If I was fighting for the championship, you wouldn’t see me racing the same way."

Ferrari chairman Sergio Marchionne has offered a more positive tone on whether an agreement can be reached on rule changes for 2021 that keeps the Italian team in Formula 1.

Late last year, the putting forward of proposed engine changes in three years time led Marchionne to put Ferrari's future participation in F1 into question by threatening to pull out if the company didn't agree with the direction taken by owner's Liberty Media.

In Bahrain last month, the next stage of proposals were revealed in a meeting including all 10 current team bosses and the response from Marchionne has been long awaited to see if his position has changed.

“I’m encouraged by the change in the attitude that we are seeing from Liberty in terms of the extent of the changes that they’re forecasting in 2021,” he said this week, addressing the topic.

"The biggest indication has been the recognition of the fact that the engine regulations need to reflect sort of the nature of the sport and we can’t really dumb down engine development just to accommodate new entries, right?

“So the stuff that’s on the table now is potentially workable as a system. The economics are not. I think that’s something that we need to go back to Liberty with.”

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Marchionne has also given the first indication of a deadline by which he anticipates the decisions both on the 2021 regulations and what that then means for Ferrari's future in F1 to be made.

“I think we now have enough of a basis to try to start having meaningful discussions and hopefully, we’ll get it all resolved by the end of this year one way or the other," he claimed.

“The important thing for us… is that we don’t touch the nature of the technical development of the powertrains because that is at the heart of what Ferrari does for a living.

“I think we need to continue to work with Liberty with the commercial rights holders and with the FIA to try and bring about a sensible equilibrium."

A deadline is expected sooner on the important engine rules, as Ferrari themselves revealed last month, but it is the financial future in terms of a budget cap and the distribution of revenue which is next on the list.

Should an agreement on any of those areas not be forthcoming though...

"As I said before, we’ll just pull out," Marchionne added. "But we’re not there today.

“I think we owe the sport a phenomenal effort to try and bring about closure of these items. We’ll try and get that done before the end of this year.”

Hopes for a second Formula 1 race in America around the streets of Miami will hinge on a vote by the City Commission next week it has been revealed.

One of Florida's most famed destinations, it has emerged as the most likely destination to go alongside the current United States GP in Austin, Texas on the calendar and could feature as soon as 2019.

The vote will decide whether the city can negotiate a contract with F1 owners Liberty Media, who have made a second American race one of their top priorities.

"We appreciate the community’s interest in hosting an F1 race and look forward to working with local officials and stakeholders to bring this vision to life," commercial director Sean Bratches commented.

"With over half a billion fans worldwide, F1 is the greatest racing spectacle on the planet, and Miami’s status as one of the world’s most iconic and glamorous cities, combined with its robust tourism infrastructure, makes Miami the perfect destination for F1 and its fans."

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Eugene Ramirez, the director of communications for the city, added: "Formula One racing has global appeal and so does the City of Miami."

One report in Dutch media has suggested that the race could feature in October and would replace the Azerbaijan GP, with organisers unhappy at the current fee for hosting what has become one of the year's most chaotic races.

Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has acknowledged incidents such as those which have occurred three times in four races are part of having Max Verstappen onboard.

The Dutchman has come under growing criticism for his over-aggressive tendencies on track, whether that be in attack, such as versus Sebastian Vettel in China, or defence, with his movement under braking largely blamed for the collision with Daniel Ricciardo in Baku.

One argument many have made is despite still being only 20, Verstappen's three-and-a-bit seasons in F1 should have taught him how to act but Marko considers it part of his approach to racing.

"We got Max because of his speed and his aggressiveness. Then you have to live with the fact that sometimes sparks fly," he said to Germany's Sport Bild.

However, after both drivers were taken out on Sunday in Azerbaijan, the Austrian has indicated measures would be taken if it happened again.

"At the next collision, we will have to do a team order, although we are actually against it," he claimed.

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That message does seem to have resonated too, with Verstappen perhaps hinting at a calming down of his driving, at least against his teammate Ricciardo.

"Of course, we are going to talk with each other and I think you should just let us race," he said.

"Racing between us does not have to change drastically, but perhaps we should both be a little less eager when we race each other.

"In my opinion, we can do that very well, but unfortunately this time it didn’t end well."

Formula 1's managing director of motorsport, Ross Brawn, has claimed Daniel Ricciardo was a "passenger" in the moments prior to slamming into Max Verstappen during the Azerbaijan GP.

The Briton made the claim after the F1 commission narrowly passed rule changes for 2019 that will see changes to both the front and rear wings in an effort to improve overtaking on Monday.

In his remarks praising the decision, the former Ferrari technical chief and Mercedes boss used the incident in Baku as proof as to why changes are needed.

"Once Daniel had settled for his line, and Max had changed direction blocking that line, the Australian became a passenger," he claimed.

"The downforce loss experienced by Ricciardo in the wake of Verstappen's car would have made it unstoppable.

"We often think of downforce applying in cornering, but the impact the extra grip has in braking is huge. Take away that grip in braking and what happened on Sunday was inevitable."

Remaining impartial, despite suggesting the Dutchman's manoeuvre was the biggest factor, Brawn did agree that neither driver was totally to blame, with Ricciardo looking to pull off an ambitious dummy.

"I do think the stewards' decision to reprimand both drivers was the right course of action," he stated.

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With the matter considered closed at Red Bull, Verstappen has stressed the relationship he has with his teammate remains strong.

“Daniel and I are completely okay with each other," the 20-year-old said. "We can both see that what happened isn't good for the team.

"We'd already had some tough battles, but everything was fine. It was hard but fair. Now we'll obviously need to go to the team in Milton Keynes and apologise.

"But then we need to stay positive because I think we have a really good chance coming in Barcelona. We've got a lot of updates on the car, it all looks really good.”