Albert Park Tag

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor The Australian Grand Prix kicks off the 2018 Formula 1 season this weekend. Last season featured the closest title fight the sport has seen since 2012, and the field is riding a wave of momentum at the moment, hoping for an even more competitive year. Expectations are for a three way fight at the top between defending champions Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull. If practice times this week from Albert Park are any indication that could very well be the case, at least for the firstRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Formula 1 is so often the dream for many young aspiring drivers, but it is about to become a reality for Charles Leclerc. The 20-year-old from Monaco is set to begin the next chapter of his racing career when the lights go out for this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix. The climb has been about as methodical as one can get, winning three races en route to the GP3 title in 2016 and moving on to capture seven wins and claim the FIA Formula 2 (formerly GP2Read More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief The moment has finally arrived as months of anticipation over the offseason come to a close this weekend with the Formula 1 season opener. As such, Aston Martin Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen preview the Australian Grand Prix, which takes center stage at Albert Park in Melbourne. Our friends from Mobil 1 The Grid have brought together the two driver’s thoughts in this latest installment. Video Credit: Mobil 1 The GridRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief With a long off-season in the books and the official Formula 1 season starting in just days, Sergio Perez is ready to go. The 27-year-old Mexican enters his seventh season (fourth with Sahara Force India) and believes that Australia is the perfect location for everything to kick off. “The first race of the year is always good fun,” said Perez. “We’ve had a long winter to recharge the batteries, but now I just want to go racing again. Australia is the best place to start theRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor Force India has traded in its traditional silver and black livery for a vivid matte pink, courtesy of the team’s new sponsor Best Water Technology. BWT as they are known, are a water treatment and technology firm based in upper Austria. The company is one of Europe’s major players in the water market. Their pink colors and giant blue logo now feature proudly on the sidepods of the VJM10 in a decidedly retro style. The drivers, Sergio Perez and newcomer Esteban Ocon will also feature pinkRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor It was all thumbs up for Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari today. The four time champ looked absolutely unassailable as he set the fastest time of testing so far and completed a day high 156 laps. His 1:19.024 on ultra softs bested the Mercedes duo on the same tires by three tenths of a second and Felipe Massa’s Williams by four tenths. So confident was Vettel that he visibly slowed on the final straight for most of his fast laps, an ominious sign for their challengers that theRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor After revealing the findings from Fernando Alonso’s massive crash in the season opening Australian Grand Prix, the FIA has announced its intention to introduce a system of biometric testing to further understand future crash data in order to make the sport safer. The findings show that when Alonso’s McLaren made intial contact with the Haas of Esteban Gutierrez he was traveling at 305 kph, and once the front suspension collapsed the ensuing impact with the wall hit a peak of 45G’s. The barrel rolling that followedRead More

By Adam Tate, Managing Editor Haas Formula One Team’s Romain Grosjean has earned F1’s first Driver of the Day award, following his historic sixth place finish in Sunday’s season opening Australian Grand Prix. The sixth place finish marked the first time a new Formula One team has scored on its debut since Mika Salo did so for Toyota in 2002. The fact that Haas as a smaller independent team has achieved a similar result makes it all the more commendable. Despite being significantly helped by the Red Flag break after theRead More

By Adam Tate, Managing Editor Nico Rosberg led home a Mercedes one-two finish from Albert Park in what was a madcap start the 2016 season. Despite the typical result of a Mercedes double podium, the circuitous route the race took to its conclusion proved entertaining, terrifying and intense. The plot thickened before the race ever got underway as Daniil Kvyat’s Red Bull succumbed to electrical gremlins by stalling on the way to his grid position. The team ran to remove the car while the rest of the field embarked upon aRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief The new qualifying format that Formula One implemented for the start of the 2016 season has been scrapped after teams and the FIA met following a horrendous qualifying session on Saturday for the Australian Grand Prix. The live-elimination system has been ditched in favor of the previous format that will be used for the next round in Bahrain. The rule change will still need to be approved by the Strategy Group and F1 Commission before it can be sent to the World Motor Sport Council, asRead More