Force India COO Otmar Szafnauer believes his driver Esteban Ocon is at a similar level to the man most consider as the leader of the next generation of Formula 1 stars, Max Verstappen.

The two men do have an interesting history as, while the Dutchman made all the noise upon joining the Red Bull program and entering European F3 in 2014, it was Ocon who would win the title that year at his expense.

Max would immediately step up to F1 with Toro Rosso in 2015 while Ocon would add the GP3 title to his name before finally getting his chance with Manor in the second half of the 2016 season.

Last year, the Silverstone outfit chose the Frenchman over Pascal Wehrlein to replace Nico Hulkenberg and it would prove the right call as he would score points in 18 of 20 races and become a major thorn in the side of highly-rated teammate Sergio Perez. 

"I think Esteban is every bit as good [as Verstappen]. The first time we ran Esteban in the car we knew he was something special," Szafnauer told Sky Sports.

"He understands the car really well. He's got great car control and because of it, he can get to the limit very quickly and then he describes what he feels. He also knows what he wants from the car, which is very mature for his age."

Also Read:

• Mercedes hoping Ocon, Russell can become "the next Hamilton"

Already, the performances of the Mercedes junior have put him on many people's list as a potential replacement for Valtteri Bottas in 2019, should the Finn not meet expectations and entering the second of his two-year deal at Force India, Ocon's future will be up for speculation.

"They might have him back and I think the better he does, the more likelihood of him stepping up to a Mercedes role at some point but for now he's with us," Szafnauer claimed.

"We'll see what the future holds but I think he will continue to improve. Max has signed a big contract with Red Bull and we've probably got Ocon for a hundredth of the price."

Though he won't be the wheel this season, Felipe Massa admits he was intrigued when shown the "more aggressive" design being developed for the 2018 Williams car.

The Brazilian called an end to his Formula 1 career for the second time at the end of last year, however, unlike 12 months ago, it seems this time it appears it will be a decision that sticks with Sergey Sirotkin reportedly on the brink of securing his seat.

In 2017, the Grove team dipped again in form finishing 100 points behind Force India in fifth in the constructors' championship but often sitting lower in the overall pecking order. Part of that was due to a relatively simple design compared to most but it appears that has been addressed with the FW41.

"I saw the new car in the wind tunnel and I saw so many changes that look quite interesting," Massa told Motorsport.com. "The car looks a lot more aggressive. It looks a lot different so I believe maybe they can improve."

Also Read:

• Massa: Only "proper" drivers thrive in 2017 cars

Williams could be considered one of the unknown quantities going into 2018 as their new car will be the first under the leadership of technical director Paddy Lowe, who moved across from Mercedes.

Jumping Force India has already been revealed as one target, however, their 37-year-old former driver knows they face stiff competition from elsewhere.

"You will have Renault that will improve, you will also have McLaren so we need to see how much it can be this improvement," Felipe admitted. "I need to see also what the drivers can do but I believe maybe the team can have a better car compared to what we had until now."

Formula 1's managing director of motorsport, Ross Brawn is prioritising an improvement in fan interaction at race weekends over changing the actual format.

When owners Liberty Media completed their takeover almost a year ago, a shorter schedule but more Grands Prix was one of the ideas being touted, particularly given the success of the single day format in Formula E.

However, Brawn believes only a minor tweak could be made to the current three-day events rather than sweeping changes such as a sprint race or qualifying race. 

“I think the length of a Grand Prix is about right. It’s not too long, it’s not too short, it engages you,” he told Sky Sports. “We want a Grand Prix to evolve and have its highlights and come together at the end.

"Qualifying works fairly well. I think practice on a Friday is open to discussion, whether we need two sessions or whether we move to just an afternoon session," he concluded.

Also Read:

• McLaren backs Liberty's fan-focused vision amid "unfair criticism"
• GPDA vow to ensure sporting integrity of F1 in face of Liberty vision

Instead, the former Ferrari technical chief and Mercedes team boss wants the emphasis to be on improving the experience off the track, an area Liberty has already worked hard on in their first 12  months.

“The fans always come first and what do the fans want to see in a Grand Prix weekend? Getting close to the cars and getting close to the drivers," Brawn said.

"One proposal is to have open scrutineering, so the cars literally have to go out into the field to be scrutineered so the fans can come and see them.

“It happens at Le Mans and is a great event. All the fans come, the cars are lifted up and you can see underneath them. So we’re exploring things of that nature."

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner believes Pirelli's decision to widen their range of tyres and move each compound one step softer will result in "better racing" in 2018.

Last season, it was considered the Italian supplier went too conservative with their new, wider rubber after actual downforce levels predicted with the new-look cars were less than the simulation data had predicted.

As a result, the hard compound was only used once all season in Spain and the vast majority of races resembled the one-stop sprints of 2010, the last year of the Bridgestone era.

"What we saw in Abu Dhabi [during the race] wasn't the greatest advert for F1," Horner told Motorsport.com, with minimal degradation resulting in minimal action during the finale at Yas Marina. "OK, the track might have some issues, but one-stop races certainly don't help."

Also Read:

• Pirelli confirm compounds for opening three races of 2018
• Pirelli pleased with hypersoft performance after test debut
• Hamilton claims new hypersoft "the best tyre Pirelli has produced"

Though the ability for drivers to push harder for longer has been maintained in this year's tyre too, Pirelli has introduced a new hypersoft compound and ultimately gone more aggressive in their approach with the hope of making two-stop races the norm.

"I think that going softer into the range can only create better racing and fewer one-stop races, which are the worst scenario," the Red Bull boss claimed.

"Both our drivers liked the softest tyre that was introduced, it seemed to be positively received," he added referring to the pink-striped hypersoft, "although I think they've still got a bit of work to do to tidy things up."

In case car development over the winter is higher than expected, Pirelli retained last year's hard tyre as a backup and have renamed it super-hard and with the extra tyres, some have criticised the further complication of the tyre rules.

"I can understand the reaction, but what I hope it allows Pirelli to do is pick the right tyres and put the best show on each Grand Prix," Horner responded.

"What it should allow them to do is pick the right range of tyres for each event to provide exciting races with at least two stops, and maybe even three at some."

Ex-Formula 1 driver Jolyon Palmer will continue to have the support of his former Renault team as he looks for the next step in his racing career, managing director Cyril Abiteboul has claimed.

The Briton was replaced by Carlos Sainz after the Japanese Grand Prix last year, following a very difficult season which had seen the former GP2 champion struggle against new teammate Nico Hulkenberg and only score points once at the dramatic race in Singapore.

Since then there has been no word on where Palmer will race in 2018 and his former boss acknowledges it is a difficult time for the 26-year-old, of whom he still rates as a high calibre driver.

"I think it's fair to say Jo and his family are not in complete control of the next steps and their future," Abiteboul told Autosport. "We did try to look at options, I don't think [his father] Jonathan or Jo would challenge the fact we've been extremely helpful - the best we could.

"Anything we can do to help Jo we will do because I really think he deserves to be in a world-class championship."

Also Read:

• Sainz confident early Renault move will bring benefits in 2018

The most likely option was thought to be a switch to Formula E, where Renault has a strong presence, however:  "I think there was maybe a timing issue," the Frenchman suggested.

"Maybe we could have developed something if there could have been an earlier buying into the process from all involved, but that's not happened so far."

Formula 1's managing director of motorsport, Ross Brawn has rejected a claim by former CEO Bernie Ecclestone that the sport would struggle to maintain its profile if Ferrari were to leave.

The Briton has been exerting pressure on the Italian team insisting the new F1 bosses would not back down in their desire to introduce significant changes to the engines and in other areas despite chairman Sergio Marchionne threatening to quit if he did not agree on the direction being taken.

One of the arguments being used to determine how seriously Ferrari's threat should be taken is whether Ferrari's brand would retain its prestige outside of F1 and vice versa would the sport cope without their most historic team.

“Formula 1 will always survive whatever the teams are in it," Brawn told Sky Sports. "It will carry on whether I am in it, whether Liberty is in it or whether Ferrari is in it.”

Also Read:

• Brawn targeting a "sustainable" F1 for smaller teams
• Lauda suggests Mercedes, other teams "worry" about Liberty's F1 vision

The former technical director at the Scuderia would admit losing Ferrari would be a significant negative for the sport, however, maintains the interest of everyone involved in F1 has to be considered. 

“We have to find solutions with Ferrari but it has to be around the right parameters,” Ross said. “We can’t have a situation where we do anything a team wants whether that is Ferrari, Mercedes, Renault etc. We can’t just run a sport on what a team wants.”

Brawn does remain confident solutions will be found in what will be an important year for the future of F1.

“I think they [Ferrari] are saying that they have important elements of F1 that have to be maintained and I think we have common ground on that,” he concluded.

Mercedes are set to introduce a major overhaul of their engine for the 2018 Formula 1 season as the development of the current hybrid technology continues at remarkable pace.

The German manufacturer, which has its engine base in Brixworth in the UK, has been the leader in terms of engine performance having worked on their design since returning to the sport as a works team in 2010 and has translated that into four straight double championship successes since 2014.

Last year, Ferrari emerged as the biggest threat so far but it would be the engine superiority which won the day both in terms of power and reliability. At the other end of the spectrum, it would be significant design changes which undid Renault and Honda who endured problems throughout.

Head of engine performance Andy Cowell, defended the need to keep evolving, however.    

"We've done 20 races with this model," he told Autosport. "It's had several phase-ups through the season and we've got ideas to improve the power, the indicated power in the engine, reduce the friction in pretty much every area of the power unit and the losses in electrical systems."

Also Read:

• Limiting number of engines only helps Mercedes & Ferrari, Honda claim
• Red Bull hopeful of more equal engine performance in 2018

As time passes, with the current formula now five years old, it would be expected the rate of development would slow but with the technology as a whole still young, Cowell admits there is still room to find more power with reports the 1000 horsepower mark is in sight.

"Every time you do an engine, every time you do a phase update you've always learned," he explained. "Some of it is big, fundamental bits of learning, combustion progress, friction reduction, new materials that unlock areas where we've been struggling with reliability and sometimes it's just a surprise.

"There's still gains to be had [with this formula]. It's a plethora of marginal gains, five-millisecond gains. Then there are those nice surprises where you thought north would give you 2kW and actually it's south that gives you 2kW.

"It has just been about doing those great experiments," he concluded.

Renault Sport managing director Cyril Abiteboul has claimed their controversial new executive director Marcin Budkowski is the "perfect" man to take the works team to the next level in Formula 1.

Budkowski, formerly the technical director at the FIA, was confirmed as joining the Enstone-based team last October and immediately that led to an uproar from rival teams who were concerned his knowledge of not only their 2017 cars but also concepts for this year could be passed on to Renault.

Originally, he was slated to start work on January 1 and Abiteboul has revealed Budkowski is indeed now on their payroll, however, in a compromise to appease other teams worries, it was agreed he would not start working on this year's car development until April 1.

"We are recruiting him for his capabilities, his experience, his skills," the Renault chief insisted speaking to Autosport. "He's someone coming with a fantastic CV and he's a perfect fit for building the next stage of Renault in F1.

"We are not interested in the secrets about the other cars and I think a good demonstration is the fact we have accepted basically to keep him in isolation from any chassis development until April."

Also Read:

• Renault claim Mercedes "block the system" with excessive gardening leave demands

Over the next few months, Abiteboul explained, Budkowski would be using his time to adjust to the working environment at Renault and getting to grips with the size of their entire motorsport operation, not just F1.

Once into his official role, it will also not specifically entail working on helping the French manufacturer develop their car either, instead, he will focus on improving the team as a whole.

"The job of Marcin is basically to move Enstone from being a very strong midfield contender to becoming a top team," the managing director said.

"Marcin will really be focused on building the organisation and the operation to make sure we are aligned with our ambition for 2020-2021 when we want to start fighting for the championship.

"I want Marcin to build the perfect F1 team of the 21st century."

Pierre Gasly believes his rise to Formula 1 offers hope to other young drivers that talent can still be enough to reach the top even without financial sponsors.

The young Frenchman made his debut with Toro Rosso at last year's Malaysian Grand Prix, replacing Daniil Kvyat, and, though he has yet to score a point, will stay on alongside Brendon Hartley in 2018 at the junior Red Bull team.

Though arguably he did not need backers due to being part of the young driver program at the Austrian energy drinks giant, he still suggests his ability to meet the standards required by himself without his own team behind him should encourage others.

"We all know it’s not always about performance, you need to have a strong back-up," he told Autosport.

“I didn’t have any manager, so I was in a way alone, fighting against all the big sharks in this paddock and trying to make my place and I’m really happy I managed to do it.

"It is also good for the young drivers [to see] it is still possible, you can make it, it is not all about money. It is possible to do it without."

Also Read:

• Marko upbeat about potential of Toro Rosso Honda in 2018

His comments come as the power of financial backing is set to see Robert Kubica's attempt at a comeback fall short with Williams as Sergey Sirotkin offers over around double from his Russian sponsor than the Pole can achieve.

Gasly too spoke about the hurdles he faced to get to where he is today.

“If you look at what I’ve done, without being arrogant, but I won the 2.0 [Eurocup], I finished second in 3.5,” he noted. “Some people after 3.5, finishing second went straight to F1 – thinking about like Daniel [Ricciardo], Jules [Bianchi].

“Then I went to GP2, I won GP2, I was second-youngest after Nico [Rosberg]. I looked at the other winners: Nico Hulkenberg is in F1, Lewis Hamilton is in F1, Nico is in F1, Stoffel [Vandoorne] is in F1, so why should I not go to F1?

"I go to Super Formula and I’m like ‘yeah, OK, it’s another step, if I do well again there, it will be four different series and if I’m competitive in these all four, at some point it has to come!’

“So I just kept pushing, for me it was really always in my mind.”

Force India has announced Formula 2 driver Nicholas Latifi as their new reserve driver for the upcoming 2018 F1 season.

The Canadian has completed four seasons in GP2/ F2 with last season somewhat of a breakout year scoring his first win at Silverstone along with eight other podiums en route to fifth in the standings.

His opportunity coincides with the FIA recently announcing tighter restrictions for drivers looking to participate in F1 practice sessions, with those restrictions weighed more heavily in favour of F2 drivers.

Former Force India tester Alfonso Celis Jr. was no longer eligible under the new rules and it is likely Latifi along with George Russell will fill the backup driver roles.

“I’m really excited about the opportunity,” he said. “I am eager to show the team what I can do and help them as they continue to close the gap to the front of the grid.”

Force India Team Principal Vijay Mallya confirmed that Latifi would indeed be given several Friday outings as part of his new role and praised the 22-year-old.

“Nicholas joins us off the back of a strong season in F2 and strengthens our driver development programme," he said.