Brazilian Grand Prix Tag

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief For the second time in as many seasons, Felipe Massa is announcing his retirement from Formula One competition effective once 2017 ends. The 36-year-old Brazilian retired last season, but following Valtteri Bottas’ move to Mercedes, Williams enticed him to return and team alongside incoming rookie Lance Stroll. The 2008 Formula One championship runner-up has a pair of sixth-place finishes (Australia, Bahrain) to his show as his best of the season, while also currently sitting 11th in the standings overall. A career that dates back to 2002,Read More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Pirelli have revealed the tire choices of the Formula One teams for the upcoming Brazilian Grand Prix. Although every team has elected to go with one set of the medium tire, the hardest compound offered for the weekend, there are some subtle differences with the other combinations. Mercedes will go with four soft sets, one more than Red Bull Racing and Ferrari, but will have one less set of supersofts to their rivals. Williams and Renault have both gone with only two soft sets, the fewestRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor The F1 powers at be have granted an extra pre-season test day for Pirelli to develop their wet weather compounds for 2017. This comes after the company put in a request to the teams and the FIA to further develop the full wet tires before the season begins in March. It is understood that one of the 2015 mule cars developed by Mercedes, Red Bull, and Ferrari will be used at a two day test at a so far unspecified location, likely Paul Ricard. The testRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor As part of the World Motor Sport Council gathering this week, the FIA has confirmed the 2017 Formula 1 Calendar. It features some interesting changes from the provisional calendar, namely the loss of the German Grand Prix at the Hockenheimring, which showcases the sad state of affairs F1 faces in Germany, despite the success of Mercedes and Nico Rosberg. On the happier side, the US Grand Prix is confirmed after some speculation, no doubt the awesome race in October and its attendance record helped seal thatRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Lewis Hamilton made it look easy. With terrible conditions hitting the Brazilian Grand Prix due to a persistent rain, the three-time F1 World Champion  led lights-to-flag for his 52nd career victory and now sits alone in second on the all-time wins list (Michael Schumacher is first with 91). In what looked to be a difficult race, the 31-year-old Briton didn’t see it that way. “For me I was generally just chilling up front,” Hamilton said. “When it rains, that’s usually a good day for me andRead More

Lewis Hamilton won a dramatic, rain-lashed and incident packed Brazilian Grand Prix to take the battle for the Drivers’ Championship title to the final round in Abu Dhabi in two weeks’ time. In a three-hour race repeatedly neutralised by safety cars, crashes and red flags, Hamilton led from start to finish to win ahead of title rival Nico Rosberg. But it was Max Verstappen who provided thrilling entertainment, with the Red Bull driver rising from 16th place in the closing stages to take the final podium place. Force India’s SergioRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Kimi Raikkonen’s Brazilian Grand Prix came to an early and abrupt end on a restart on lap 20. Extremely wet and treacherous conditions delayed the start of the race by 10 minutes while the grid also drove eight laps behind the safety car. The 37-year-old Finn, who started third, became one of the many victims of the trying conditions, with Romain Grosjean wrecking out on the warmup prior to the start and Marcus Ericsson being collected on lap 13. The heavy impact along the long straightRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Romain Grosjean spun off at while heading to the grid and missed the start of the Brazilian Grand Prix. The 30-year-old Frenchman was set to start seventh, but wet conditions enabled him to lose the rear of the car on the long straightaway heading to the start/finish line. The incident caused irreparable damage to the left rear to the Haas F1 Team driver’s VF-16 and left a vacant spot on the grid at the start. “Yeah, I’m sorry for the fans, for Haas and for everyone,”Read More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Romain Grosjean admitted that advancing to Q3 was unexpected for himself and the Haas F1 Team en route to qualifying seventh for Sunday’s Brazilian Grand Prix. The 30-year-old Frenchman expressed his satisfaction in returning to the final round of qualifying for the first time since the Japanese Grand Prix. “It’s good to be back in Q3, especially after the last two races where we were out in Q1 and really struggling,” Grosjean said. “Here we’ve been trying some new brakes, focusing on making them work asRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Kimi Raikkonen put in one of his best qualifying efforts of the season ahead of the Brazilian Grand Prix with a third place effort on Saturday, but wasn’t overly impressed with the lap. The 37-year-old Finn bettered Scuderia Ferrari teammate Sebastian Vettel, who could only manage fifth, and Red Bull Racing teenager Max Verstappen. The 2007 F1 World Champion is in the midst of a battle with both in securing fourth place in the Drivers’ Championship, trailing Vettel 187-178 while also being ahead of Verstappen byRead More