All posts by Joey Barnes

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Mercedes announced Monday that Formula 1 champion Nico Rosberg has accepted an ambassador role with the team. Rosberg, 31, retired just days after capturing his first F1 title in a thriller at Yas Marina Circuit in November. The news comes on the same day that the team confirmed Valtteri Bottas as his replacement alongside Lewis Hamilton, moving over from Williams. The German has made no plans to compete in any form of racing in 2017, but the team confirmed the role and stated that his firstRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief McLaren has set the launch date for its 2017 Formula 1 machine for February 24, three days prior to pre-season testing at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain. The Woking-based team made the announcement via Twitter and becomes the fifth team to confirm its launch plans. Honda, the teams engine supplier, has already announced plans to introduce an almost entirely designed power unit, which is rumored to be similar to Mercedes in that it could feature a split turbo with a connecting shaft going through the engineRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Sauber has announced that Pascal Wehrlein is set to drive alongside Marcus Ericcson for the 2017 Formula 1 season. Wehrlein is part of Mercedes junior program and had been one of the names in the mix for the seat at the Mercedes factory team that was recently vacated by recently-retired reigning world champion Nico Rosberg. However, the team opted to negotiate a deal with Williams to bring on Valtteri Bottas on a one-year flyer. The 22-year-old German marks the completion of every team on the gridRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Williams officially announced Felipe Massa is re-joining the team for the 2017 Formula 1 season. The 35-year-Brazilian’s return means that he will team alongside incoming rookie driver Lance Stroll, with Valtteri Bottas released to join Mercedes – also on a one year deal. Massa announced his retirement from F1 at the end of the 2016, but the shocking retirement of reigning world champion Nico Rosberg just days after winning the title opened up negotiations between Mercedes and Williams in an attempt to bring on Bottas. WilliamsRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Mercedes has finally announced that Valtteri Bottas as its driver for the 2017 Formula 1 season alongside Lewis Hamilton. Bottas replaces reigning world champion Nico Rosberg, who announced his shocking retirement just days after winning the title in a thriller in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The 27-year-old Finn emerged as the favorite to replace Rosberg, but with a contract in place at Williams for 2017 it meant Mercedes had to negotiate a deal with the Grove-based outfit to release him for the upcoming season. ItRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Toro Rosso boss Franz Tost highlighted Daniil Kvyat’s spirited battle with Max Verstappen in the Singapore Grand Prix as the turning point of his 2016 Formula 1 season. The Russian started the season off with Red Bull, but was swapped in favor of Max Verstappen prior to the Spanish Grand Prix – which the Dutchman went on to claim as his first F1 victory. Kvyat’s return to Toro Rosso started off rough, but his ninth-place run at Singapore was impressive enough to warrant being re-signed andRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Toro Rosso announced that its 2017 car, the STR12, has passed all of the FIA mandatory crash tests. The Italian-based team is the second to confirm its updated car has passed the set of crash tests, behind Force India. Toro Rosso made the announcement via Twitter: So guys, good news… You’ve got a car to go testing with!#AllCrashTestsPassed #WellDoneTeam 🙌🏼👍🏼💪🏼🍾✅ pic.twitter.com/0hM0DwHbwY — Toro Rosso (@ToroRossoSpy) January 13, 2017 The updated Toro Rosso car will see inherently greater changes than its STR11 predecessor, in addition to theRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief The 2017 Formula 1 season is drawing near and with it hopeful answers to the uncertainty that looms over it. The big elephant in the room is who will be replacing reigning world champion Nico Rosberg at Mercedes? Several speculate that Toto Wolff is set on bringing in Valtteri Bottas from Williams to pilot alongside Lewis Hamilton. Bottas is remarkably talented, but there are reasons to halt that idea and go a different direction. There is a good chance that whoever takes over the seat isRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief The television schedule for the 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series season has been revealed with “continuity and consistency” being the name of the game. “Today’s announcement is another key step forward in INDYCAR’s plan of developing continuity and consistency in both our event calendar and our television schedule,” said Mark Miles, CEO of Hulman & Co., the parent of INDYCAR and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. “We’re extremely grateful to our partners at ABC and NBCSN for their collaboration, which has been instrumental in the increase of televisionRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief The tire compounds for the Bahrain and Russian Grand Prix, the third and fourth races of the 2017 Formula 1 season, have been announced by Pirelli. The third round will feature medium, soft and super-soft compound selections – the same as last season. For round four, the Italian manufacturer has decided to go with its traditional super-soft and soft rubber, but also added ultra-softs to Sochi circuit. 2017 will see a change in tires in F1, with a new era of regulations both bigger and widerRead More