Esteban Ocon Tag

By FIA Title contender Vettel and Verstappen both set their times on Pirelli’s hypersoft tyres, while third-placed championship leader Lewis Hamilton largely restricted himself to the hardest of the compounds on offer this weekend, the soft tyre, and finished just 0.330s behind Vettel. Valtteri Bottas matched team-mate Hamilton in mostly running on the soft tyres to finish the session in fourth place half a second off the pace. Daniel Ricciardo took fifth place on the timesheet, though the Red Bull driver spend most of the session in his team’s garageRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Sergio Perez endured one of the toughest races of his Formula 1 career in the Singapore Grand Prix. The 28-year-old Mexican started seventh on the grid, but the day quickly became undone after colliding with Racing Point Force India teammate Esteban Ocon on the opening lap. Ocon, who started ninth, was attempting an outside pass in Turn 3 until the pair made contact and it, which caused enough damage to force retirement. The stewards judged it as a racing incident. The day only got worse forRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Fourteen rounds done, seven to go, and since my first installment, there’s been so many changes across all 10 Formula 1 constructors and its 20 drivers. A few would-be contenders have gone by the wayside like Fernando Alonso and Red Bull, and others have flourished after a quiet or abysmal opening leg such as Kimi Raikkonen and Haas F1. We even saw a hot mess behind closed doors, resulting a new constructor and have so far been tremendous. In my latest installment of “Heptagon Viewpoints,”Read More

By FIA Lewis Hamilton took his 77th career pole position at Spa-Francorchamps, making the most of difficult wet conditions in the final Q3 segment of qualifying to beat Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and surprise third-placed qualifier Esteban Ocon of Racing Point Force India to the front of the grid for the Belgian Grand Prix. In the early stages of Q1, Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen led the way using soft tyres to set a time 1:42.585. He was joined on the yellow-banded rubber by team-mate Vettel, who slotted into P2, and the Mercedes drivers.Read More

By FIA Sebastian Vettel went quickest in opening practice for the Belgian Grand Prix, edging Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen by just over a tenth of a second, with championship leader Lewis Hamilton three tenths off the pace in third place. As the first half hour of the 90-minute session came to a close Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas rose to the top of the order with a time of 1:44.998s, set on soft tyres. Hamilton then moved ahead of that mark by more three tenths of a second and that timeRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer The FIA have approved the mid-season entry of Racing Point Force India Formula 1 Team ahead of this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps. The colors remain the same, however, the change in names also means that Sahara Force India is loses all its constructors points and is prohibited from competing in the Formula 1 World Championship. A rebirth prevented that threat, as the Lawerence Stroll-led and newly branded Racing Point Force India is set to make their Formula 1 debut, bearing the colors pink,Read More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer The future of Force India has found a positive ending Tuesday, as they’ve agreed to accept a bid from current Williams driver Lance Stroll’s father, Lawrence Stroll, to bring the 10-year-old team out of administration. Force India has been under siege since senior driver Sergio Perez attempted to save the team, and were put under administration since the Friday before the Hungarian Grand Prix. The cause of administration was as a result of parties looking to avoid possible debts. A consortium was made, and LawrenceRead More

By FIA Lewis Hamilton regained top spot in the 2018 Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship standings with a faultless drive to victory at the French Grand Prix, as a Turn 1 collision with Valtteri Bottas at the start of the race meant Sebastian Vettel had to settle for fifth place at the Circuit Paul Ricard. Max Verstappen took second place and Kimi Räikkönen rose from sixth on the grid to take the final podium spot. The race started in spectacular style, with championship leader Sebastian Vettel colliding with Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas inRead More

By FIA Lewis Hamilton topped the opening practice timesheet as France returned to the Formula 1 calendar following an absence of a decade, the defending world champion edging Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas by a tenth of a second at the Circuit Paul Ricard. The session ended in spectacular fashion, with Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson crashing out and his car catching fire. The Swedish driver lost control of his Sauber C37 midway through Turn 11 and slid sideways across the run-off area into the barriers. As the car came to rest theRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Seven rounds have been completed, and all the pre-season predictions has either been spot on or have completely missed the mark. Some teams are either producing expected results like Ferrari and Mercedes while others are struggling to find sheer consistency, notably Force India’s bid of retaining the “Best of the Rest” title known as fourth in the Constructor’s Championship. In this first installment of “Heptagon Viewpoints,” I’ll highlight seven takeaways as the Formula One season has reached the one-third mark. The Emergence of Charles LeclercRead More