Mexican Sergio Perez is confident he remains in a better place with Force India, despite praising the Renault team he snubbed last year.

The seven-time podium sitter was one of the initial targets for the Enstone outfit last summer, with a deal at one point believed to be very close. Eventually, Perez decided to stay with Force India for 2017, only for his then team-mate Nico Hulkenberg to take up an offer from the French carmaker.

Currently, Checo's decision appears to have been justified, sitting seventh in the Drivers' championship, with his team fourth in the Constructors', but he doesn't deny the progress made by Renault this season.

"I think Renault has been really a good surprise for Formula 1," the 27-year-old said. "I think they've made an impressive step. It will be interesting to see how they are able to develop."

Ultimately, however, he expects Force India to come out on top in the recently quite tense and personal battle between the two teams.

"No, I'm happy where I am," Perez responded when asked if he had any regrets. "We will see in Barcelona what we are able to do compared to everyone else. We are fourth in the Constructors' at the moment. I think we're looking good.

"Obviously we've been taking opportunities from others, we definitely don't have the pace to be there. I expect that once we have the pace, things should be a lot better."

Lewis Hamilton admits he has been left saddened by the ongoing struggles of his former team McLaren.

The Briton was associated with the Woking-based outfit from his karting days before racing in Formula 1 between 2007 and 2012, with his 2008 triumph still the last championship won by the team.

Since Hamilton's move to Mercedes, McLaren has been in a slump with a re-uniting of a once dominant partnership with Honda failing to meet expectations and, in fact, hitting a new low in 2017.

But commenting on their situation, the three-time champion claimed life at the team wasn't always rosy.

“We definitely weren’t challenging for the championship every year (at McLaren)," he said. "2007, 2008, maybe 2010, 2011 Jenson was in the fight and 2012 I was in the fight. [So] Shocked isn’t the thought of mine.

“They have a place in my heart, I was with them for so long so it’s definitely sad to see such a great team not be at the top,” he added.

Offering his view on a solution, Hamilton called on McLaren to stick by their principles, adding a belief that, should they overcome the current issues, progress would be rapid.

“Often there are things out of our control and then there are often things that are in our control that are set from decisions, ultimately, groups or individuals make those decisions,” he said.

“They are now I think trying to make steps and decisions and move the team in the right direction.

“They’ve had changes in management and all sorts of things, but the most important thing for me is that McLaren doesn't lose the core heart and soul of what the team was all about from when I loved them, before I joined them and when I was racing with them.

“I really hope that they find their way back to fighting ways because it would be great,” he said. “They’ve not won a race since I left, but I think they can do as soon as they figure out their power unit situation and also their car, I think they can globally move forwards.”

McLaren has become the first Formula 1 team to enter the growing esports industry with the launch of a new 'World's Fastest Gamer' competition.

The event spread over several months will pit the best virtual gamers against each other, with the winner becoming a full simulator driver for the British team, working alongside engineers in Woking and around the world in the development of the 2018 MCL33.

Experts from both the gaming world and F1 will choose six contenders internationally, with an additional four able to qualify for the final through events held online this summer.

The 10 finalists will then gather at the MTC in Autumn, where they will have to compete against each other in various games across different platforms and convince McLaren they have the technical knowledge to take on one of the most important jobs in modern F1.

“This is a hugely exciting opportunity – not only within the gaming industry but for everyone at McLaren and motorsport in general,” executive director Zak Brown said at the launch of the competition.

“We’ve long witnessed the growth of online sports gaming, and, right now, the parallels between the real and the virtual worlds have never been closer.

“This is absolutely the right time to be creating such a unique and exciting proposition; one that connects the worlds of racing and gaming in a way that’s never been explored before.

“I’m particularly proud that McLaren, alongside our partners Logitech, Sparco and GIVEMESPORT, has staked a claim as the very first sports and technology brand to venture into the diverse and fast-growing world of esports.”

Brown hoped the new competition would open up an opportunity for gamers everywhere, on every device to potentially earn what they have dubbed the "greatest job in esports".

“World’s Fastest Gamer really aims to democratise the process of finding the best virtual racer out there. The contest isn’t limited to one platform or one game; we’re very keen not to restrict access or entry for people, but rather welcome the worldwide gaming community, whether that’s on mobile or on high-end simulator platforms.

“The winner will genuinely be a key part of our team at McLaren,” he added. “This is for real: we absolutely require additional support across our two simulator platforms, so the competition and the selection process will be rigorous, ruthless and compelling to watch.”

Nico Hulkenberg was positive solutions tested to boost his Renault's race pace after the Bahrain Grand Prix achieved the desired results in Russia.

While the German only repeated his ninth place finish from Sakhir, he did so by maintaining what was a slightly worse grid position than that he achieved two weeks prior.

And when evaluating the car's performance across the two Sunday's, the 29-year-old did agree Sochi felt better saying: "Yes, definitely, that's fair to say."

“I’m still not entirely happy," he added." I think there's still more work to do, for my taste there's still a little bit too much of an offset between the two [qualifying and race pace].

"But I think we definitely did a good step in the right direction this weekend in this case."

Hulkenberg also praised Renault's strategy call, as he stayed out for almost three-quarters of the race before switching to the super-soft compound.

"I'm actually really happy with what the team did there, and how we played the strategy," he said. "We lost track position straight away at the start on the first lap, which wasn't great.

"We were struggling at the start, losing positions, but that was the only thing we could do, change the strategy. When everybody was pitting out of our way, I kept on pushing on the ultra-soft.

"I have to say the car performed very well, it was switching on, almost, during that first stint with track improvement. I was able to go faster and faster and faster for many laps."

Williams technical director Paddy Lowe has described Felipe Massa as a "fantastic" driver for Formula 1 rookie Lance Stroll to learn from.

The Brazilian put off his retirement at the end of last season, to remain at the Grove-based team, enabling former team-mate Valtteri Bottas' move to Mercedes.

So far in 2017, the 36-year-old has looked like a driver far from the twilight of his career and Lowe believes that is part of what makes him a perfect example for his 18-year-old team-mate to follow.

"I've admired Felipe as a competitor for many years, particularly 2008 when I was with McLaren and Lewis [Hamilton] and it was a really tough battle between the two of them and the two teams," the Briton said.

"He did a fantastic job that year, and as you know, he was briefly world champion. So Felipe is a world champion-class driver, so it's great to work with him. He's always cheerful, wholly committed and enjoys the work.

"That is always a good starting point with drivers when they clearly so much enjoy what they do," he added. "It makes it a pleasure to work with them. His experience is just vast, and he's the kind of guy you watch in the car and you have no worries about what he'll do and whether he'll get it right because you can have complete confidence that he'll deliver what you need from the car.

"That's fantastic to have, especially at the moment with Lance being on his steep learning curve. At the same time, Felipe's been very, very helpful with coaching across the garage to help Lance get up to speed."

The Canadian does continue to gradually improve, with the early mistakes made pre-season becoming fewer and, in Sochi he reached the checkered flag for the first time in 11th place, removing another critique some had, had of him. 

"It's very, very tough to DNF on your first three events, particularly when for him there's been a lot of pressure, a lot of attention, a lot of expectation," the former Mercedes team boss explained. "It's difficult. One of them was ours with the brake failure, completely ours, we hold our hands up to that.

"That's part of the learning curve of entering the sport. You enter as a rookie, you make your space. I think part of that there is asserting your presence on the track that people don't push you around. I think Lance is in that process at the moment."

A lack of power is the root cause of problems with the Honda power, according to McLaren racing director Eric Boullier. 

The Japanese manufacturer's problems continued at the last race in Russia, as an ERS failure meant Fernando Alonso was unable to take the start, grinding to a halt on the formation lap. 

As Honda frantically trying to find lasting solutions, former Lotus boss Boullier claims there is not one area where the power unit is as good as their rivals. 

"Formula 1 at the moment has a downside," he told Austria's Speed Week. "The gaps between teams has increased even more.

"[But] An engine that is more powerful is also more efficient, with better consumption and stability.

"The more powerful engines have all the advantages, and our engine combines all of the disadvantages."

Boullier also warned McLaren's engine partner not to get bogged down with short-term fixes, believing some focus needs to be shifted beyond this year.

"2017 is still under development and the rest is the responsibility of Honda," he said.

"But Honda must start now (to look ahead). Mercedes, for example, already has an engine that will run in 2018," the Frenchman added.

Formula 1 CEO Chase Carey has criticised his predecessor Bernie Ecclestone, claiming he and others have been left frustrated since taking over.

Carey brought to an end Ecclestone's 40-year tenure at the top of F1 earlier this year, as Liberty Media completed the deal to become new majority shareholders.

He, alongside managing director of motorsport Ross Brawn and managing director of commercial Sean Bratches, are still finding their feet as they come up on 100 days in charge, building the structures they hope will become the foundation of the sport for years to come.

However, as they continue to implement their own structures for the future, Carey blasted the short-sightedness of some Ecclestone practices.

"Day-to-day I find a level of frustration," he told Press Association Sport. "It was very much a sport that got into a habit of saying 'no' too much.

"I want to be saying 'yes' to a whole lot more. What is the value of having an idea if the answer to everything you want to do is 'no'? All it does is create frustration.

"There are an array of things that weren't done that needed to be done," he added. "We felt it was a sport that for the last five or six years had really not been managed to its full potential or taken advantage of what was here.

"All of us make mistakes and nobody is perfect. Bernie took a business from decades ago and sold it for eight billion dollars. He deserves all the credit in the world for what he has done. But in today's world you need to market a sport. We were not marketing the sport.”

Carey also spoke about trying to bring about a sense of inclusion between the major parties in F1, something that would be a stark contrast to the man he replaced.

"When you have someone so identified with the sport for such a long period of time there is always going to be some degree of complexity. I will do what I think is right.

"Bernie's style was divide and conquer, to keep everything very close, but we want it to be a spirit of partnership in that we compete on the track,” he explained.

"The teams, the promoters, Formula One and the FIA all have a shared vision of where we want the sport to go and building it in a way that is healthy for everybody.

"It has been three months and we have been very clear that one of the things the sport has not been served well by is a continued short-term focus, and what we are going to do next week.

"We care more about where the sport is going to be three years from now than three months from now," he added. "Bernie was always very focused on the short term, and our focus is on building long-term value.”

One thing Carey hopes to do by introducing a longer-term vision, along with greater collaboration, is to avoid rash changes that sound good at first, but after some evaluating have a detrimental impact on F1.

"Some of the decisions that were made needed to have a better process to think through,” he claimed.

“The current engine, for example, ended up being too complicated, too expensive, and lost some of the sound that added to the mystique of the sport.

“As it happens, Ecclestone was vehemently against the new formula, and having delayed its initial introduction, to the fury of the manufacturers, continued to be critical of it.

"We will do things and some things take time," he continued, "you are not going to have a new engine in two months because if you tried to do that you are going to do more harm than good.

“We want to make sure we have the tools to manage the business as opposed to throwing things out there so somebody has a media story."

Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff is confident the relationship between Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas will not deteriorate in the same way it did with former driver Nico Rosberg.

The Finn moved to within 10 points of Hamilton in the Drivers' championship after scoring his first Formula 1 win at the Russian Grand Prix, this past weekend.

As the former Williams driver continues to establish himself at his new team, Wolff expects the battle between his two drivers to steadily intensify. 

“I think we could have a ding-dong in terms of it going towards one and then the other,” The Austrian said.

.“The relationship between the two of them is very intact. Lewis was one of the first ones to congratulate Valtteri on his first race victory.

“I think that shows the respect they have towards each other. Nevertheless, both are fierce competitors and want to win races and fight for a championship but I don't think it will affect the team and the dynamic like it did with Nico. That's a completely different relationship.”

On the events in Sochi, which saw Hamilton struggle throughout the weekend before finishing fourth, Wolff added: “Lewis just had a really bad weekend and it wasn't up to him. We just need to sort out the interaction between the car, the driver and tyres."

Bottas also played down any possibility of tension with his team-mate after his success in Russia, though did admit that could change if stakes rose.

"He congratulated me. It's very, very nice of him to be very professional about everything so far and he's been in front of me now… he's done a great job and I think vice versa,” he claimed after becoming the fifth Finn to win in F1.

"So I think we're working well as a team but I'd say also we did today against the Ferrari drivers. It's going to be a long year with a lot of fighting with all these cars.

"At some point things might get a bit more tricky on track - and if and when it comes to the championship fight, it might be less talking and more fighting on track."

Felipe Massa has claimed nobody was anticipating Ferrari to be so competitive in Formula 1 this season.

The fabled Italian team has emerged level with, if not ahead of, Mercedes in 2017, despite many believing the new design rules introduced may not suit the Maranello outfit.

Commenting on the form of his former team, the Brazilian also took a dig at Red Bull claiming their success so far was proof F1 was very much about a team effort rather than one person.

“Ferrari is doing something that nobody expected this year,” Massa said. “Nobody expected to see Ferrari doing what they are doing, and that is really nice.

“It shows that just because you have Adrian Newey in your team that doesn't mean everything will be better than everybody,” he added, referring to Red Bull's renowned designer.

“So it is just for the people to work together in different areas even if they don't have like a top name they can do a good job. Nobody expected that.

“In November if you ask me I would say the only team that can fight Mercedes is Red Bull. So Red Bull did not do the right car and Ferrari did.”

The 11-time Grand Prix also thinks the surprise return to form for the Scuderia is a great thing for F1 fans, after three years of Mercedes domination

“At least two teams are fighting. When you have four cars fighting for victory, people want to see the fight, they want to see all the teams winning,” he commented.

“If you can see every race a different team or different driver winning it would have been perfect, fantastic. But at least championships with more than two cars fighting are much nicer for the show and public.”

Sebastian Vettel is confident former team Red Bull will be fighting for wins in Formula 1 sooner rather than later.

The team with which the German won his four world titles has had a disappointing start to the 2017 season, with Max Verstappen scoring their only podium so far in China.

Ahead of the next race in Spain, however, there's anticipation a major upgrade, considered by some as a B-spec RB13, will see Red Bull close what was a near two-second gap to the front in Sochi. 

"It will be a surprise, I think it will be a very close race between Mercedes and us, I hope, and I also hope that Red Bull find some pace," Vettel said, looking ahead to Barcelona.

"There's a lot of rumours around. They are a strong team, they know how to build a quick car so I expect it's a question of when rather than if [they close the gap]. But the sooner, the more exciting it will be.”

The issue the Milton Keynes-based outfit face is the goalposts they are aiming for are also shifting, with Vettel sure his Ferrari team is capable of making their own performance gains.

"For us, I'm confident that we have the right people, the right tools on board and we will make progress,” he claimed. “It obviously depends on what others are doing.

"We had a good run up in Barcelona at the tests, so looking forwards to [the race at] Barcelona, the car feels good. I think we've improved it from early March to now, I think we've had a very good start.

“It would be wrong to sit here and say that's what we expected -- but we're here to win, we're here to do our best. If we look back I think we have more or less extracted the maximum.”

Vettel is also refusing to dwell on a disappointing second to Valtteri Bottas’ Mercedes in Russia, despite some critical remarks towards Felipe Massa post-race.

"[I’m] So very happy with where we are as a team but we can still learn and we can still improve and I think that's the way we go forward,” the four-time champion reflected.

“Nothing is for granted, Barcelona is just another race and we have a lot of races to go this year. But before that we have two weeks' time to look at what we have done so far and improve.

"In Russia I think the speed in general was there, the balance dropped away from me a little bit in the first stint. I struggled with the fronts and couldn't attack as much as I was hoping for and as much as I was probably able to in qualifying.

“So things that we could have done better but the race is done today so yeah, I'm generally looking forwards: we have a strong car, a strong team, the spirit is good, so lots of positives."