Formula One Category

Lewis Hamilton claimed his fifth career Malaysian Grand Prix pole position, equalling Michael Schumacher’s Sepang record, as the qualifying hopes of title Sebastian Vettel wrecked by a mechanical issue that saw him dumped out of the session at the end of Q1. Kimi Räkkönen was left to uphold Ferrari honour and the Finn almost claimed his second pole of the year as he got to within five hundredths of a second of Hamilton’s pole time. Third place on the grid will be taken by Max Verstappen with team-mate Daniel RicciardoRead More

Ferrari continued to set the pace in Sepang, with Kimi Räikkönen edging team-mate Sebastian Vettel by 0.162, to claim top spot in final practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix. Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo was third, just five hundredths of a second behind Vettel. Räikkönen’s table-topping time of 1:31.880 came late in the session after Vettel had slotted into P1 ahead of Ricciardo. It was another inconclusive day for Mercedes, however, with Valtteri Bottas finishing fourth, almost half a second adrift of Räikkönen and Lewis Hamilton ending the session inRead More

Sebastian Vettel led a Ferrari one-two in second practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix, six tenths clear of team-mate Kimi Räikkönen, as the session was ended early by a heavy crash involving Haas’ Romain Grosjean. Vettel’s performance run on the Pirelli supersoft compound tyres netted a best time of 1:31.261. Team-mate Kimi Räikkönen was second, 0.604 seconds adrift, while Daniel Ricciardo was third for Red Bull Racing, just over two tenths further back. It was a trickier session for championship leader Lewis Hamilton and his Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas. BothRead More

Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen set the quickest lap of a weather-disrupted opening practice session in Malaysia, as heavy rain led to a delayed start and a shortened outing for F1:s teams at the Sepang Circuit. Verstappen posted a time 1:48.962s on intermediate tyres late in the session to finish 0.757 seconds clear of teammate Daniel Ricciardo, with third place going to Fernando Alonso, though the McLaren driver was a further second behind. The session was due to start at 11am local time but intermittent showers in the morning gaveRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief A French Revolution in Formula 1 is upon us. The racing talent that exists in France has long been considered in the upper echelon, but in Formula 1 it endured a depression of sorts. Those days are over. The country has enjoyed seeing the likes of Sebastien Loeb and Sebastien Ogier conquer World Rally Championships many times over, with the two combining to win the last 13 titles (Loeb 2004-’12, Ogier 2013-’16). It is quite possible that total will move to 14 with Ogier currently leadingRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Just two weeks removed from crashing out in Singapore, Sebastian Vettel insisted he is only focused on this weekend’s Malaysian Grand Prix. The Scuderia Ferrari driver looked primed for a solid points haul after starting on pole for the Singapore Grand Prix, but was part of an opening lap melee at the start-line with teammate Kimi Raikkonen and Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen. That incident was magnified after championship leader Lewis Hamilton went on to win the race, leaving the 30-year-old German 28 points behind withRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Scuderia Toro Rosso has revealed that Red Bull junior driver Pierre Gasly will replace Daniil Kvyat for “the next Grand Prix,” starting this weekend in Malaysia. The 2016 Formula 2 (previously known as GP2) champion, Gasly has been competing this year in Japan in Super Formula – a path similar to McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne, winner of the 2015 F2 title. The number of races remaining this season that the 21-year-old Frenchman will compete in isn’t confirmed, with the one certainty that he will not compete inRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief In what was widely known to happen at some point, Red Bull Racing announced on Monday that Aston Martin will serve as their title sponsor for the 2018 Formula One season. The official name at the start of next year will be set as Aston Martin Red Bull Racing. A partnership that formed in 2016, the duo combined their innovation and technology to form the Aston Martin Valkyrie – a dynamic hypercar that will be run in 2018 before going live to customers in 2019. TheRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Honda has confirmed that Fernando Alonso’s power unit, which was under threat of being damaged from the opening lap crash in Singapore, has been cleared for use in the upcoming Malaysian Grand Prix. The incident came after Alonso made a blazing start, but was a victim of circumstances following the collision between Sebastian Vettel, Max Verstappen and Kimi Raikkonen. Alonso continued on for a handful of laps later before being forced to retire. Amid concerns of a damaged power unit, Yusuke Hasegawa, executive chief engineer andRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor Lewis Hamilton has bested Michael Schumacher and every other driver in the history of Formula One by claiming 69 pole positions. This is a milestone worth celebrating for Hamilton and for the sport, but there is another, greater milestone that has gone unnoticed that far more accurately gauges the impact that Hamilton has made on Formula One. To understand this we have to cast ourselves back 16 years, back to when Hamilton was just a boy and F1 was just entering the period of Michael Schumacher’sRead More