Ferrari's 2016 Engine

Ferrari's renaissance in the Formula 1 2015 season has been a pleasure to watch. The team's fortunes were dramatically turned around thanks to a change in leadership, key technical roles and drivers in the form of team principal Maurizio Arrivabene, technical guru, James Allison, and 4-times world champion, Sebastian Vettel.

The team have indicated they may use their remaining 4 engine 'tokens' during the U.S. Grand Prix in Austin, Texas as a test bed for the 2016 engine. However, due to Nico Rosberg's misfortune during last weekend's Russian Grand Prix, Vettel is now second in the 2015 World Championship standings, 66 points behind leader and favourite to win, Lewis Hamilton. Since Vettel still mathematically has a chance to win the 2015 title, any major engine modifications could be risky. A sensible option could be to modify Kimi Raikonnen's engine to have the benefit of testing without jeopardising Vettel's chances of a fifth title.

With only four races left in the Formula 1 2015 season, Ferrari have a great chance to test the 2016 spec engine, which will surely give the Mercedes team some sleepless nights.

Lights out for Red Bull Racing?

Red Bull Racing, the Formula 1 team that won four consecutive drivers' and constructors' championships from 2010 to 2013, may be forced to leave the sport if it can't find an engine supplier for the 2016 season.

Red Bull's relationship with current supplier, Renault, publicly melted down durning the 2015 Formula 1 season, and Red Bull assumed they would be supplied by either Ferrari or Mercedes for 2016. However, in a cruel twist, Ferrari have confirmed they will not supply engines to Red Bull in 2016, despite previously indicating they would. Mercedes refused when approached relatively recently, as they fear the dominance of the Red Bull chassis, designed by the legendary Adrian Newey. It appears that Ferrari reneged after Mercedes' raised concerns over the threat to their chances in 2016.

With Renault out of the equation, the only remaining supplier is Honda. The Japanese supplier has had torrid season with McLaren and would not be Red Bull's choice of supplier by a long margin; but even a Honda deal could be subject McLaren's approval. If an eleventh-hour deal can't be struck, 700 jobs could be at risk, as the team currently has four cars on the grid, in the form of Torro Rosso and Red Bull Racing.

Pirelli extend contract until 2019

Despite the recent controversies surrounding F1 tyre supplier, Pirelli, it has been confirmed that they will continue to supply Formula one with race tyres until 2019. The present contract was due to expire at the end of the 2016 Formula 1 season, so Pirelli's F1 division are breathing a sigh of relief after the deal with Bernie Ecclestone was confirmed at the Russian Grand prix last weekend in Sochi.

Pirelli has supplied the formula 1 grid since 2011 and has been asked to make the sport more exciting by producing tyres that wear quickly. By and large, this has had the desired effect, but more recently, the tyre manufacturer has been accused of compromising safety in the sport after a series of high speed incidents. Four times world champion, Sebastian Vettel, has publicly criticised Pirelli in an emotive interview after a high speed tyre failure nearly caused him to crash at 190 mph.

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