F1 Tag

Sebastian Vettel topped the timesheet in second practice for the Mexican Grand Prix, with the Ferrari driver edging Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton by just four thousandths of a second. Vettel has been second fastest in the morning session on soft tyres as Hamilton ran fastest on the medium compound Pirelli, but when both moved to the supersoft for their performance runs in the afternoon Vettel found a slight advantage. After the German posted a time that would initially leave him around two hundredths of a second clear of the world champion,Read More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor The intense speculation and fear for Circuit of the Americas and the United States Grand Prix’s future after 2015’s torrential floods killed attendance and morale are history because the US GP is well and truly back. Attendance figures for last weekend’s event came to a fantastic 269,889 people for the three day event. Whether it was due to Taylor Swift’s massive Saturday night concert, the perfect weather, Haas F1, or a combination of factors, the numbers topped even the attendance of the inaugural race in AustinRead More

Max Verstappen set the fastest time of a disjointed final practice session at the Circuit of the Americas that saw a number of drivers fail to get in clean qualifying simulations. Verstappen bolted on the supersoft Pirelli tyres with 16 minutes left in the session, at a point when there were just six other cars on track, and the Dutchman used the space well, powering to a lap of 1:36.766. That was good enough to take him 0.266s clear of team-mate Daniel Ricciardo who had first sample the supersofts justRead More

After Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time of opening practice in Austin, championship leader Nico Rosberg fought back in the afternoon to head the timesheet in second practice for the United States Grand Prix, finishing just under two tenths clear of Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo and a further tenth ahead of third-placed Hamilton. Championship leader Rosberg’s performance run in FP2 resulted in a best time of 1:37.358, which was good enough to move 0.291 ahead of Hamilton. After a quiet FP1, in which he finished with the seventh fastestRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor If reports from the Telegraph and others are to be believed, longtime McLaren Group Chairman and CEO Ron Dennis will vacate his role at the helm of the Woking-based firm when his contract runs out at the end of the year. The impetus for such a huge change is the result of an unsuccessful bid by Dennis to buyout his business partners. Dennis currently owns 25% of the company as does his long time business partner Mansour Ojjeh. The remaining 50% is owned by the Bahraini sovereignRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Kimi Raikkonen discussed the layout of the Circuit of the Americas, home of the United States Grand Prix, and admitted the design allows for great racing. The 3.427-mile, 20-turn permanent road course has been hosting Formula 1 since 2012 and has become a favorite among teams and drivers with its steep uphill opening corner, a mix of fast-flowing corners, continuous elevation changes, long straightaways and a triple-apex right hander to go along with a few heavy braking zones. In four attempts at the Austin-based track, theRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor The FIA has confirmed a number of rule changes for the 2017 season today. With new cars substantially different and faster than the current machines, the sport’s governing body has had to issue rule changes out piecemeal style, but we can glean some important information from today’s announcement. Power Units The power units themselves aren’t changing for the 2017 season, but how they are to be regulated will. Currently teams have been able to change multiple parts of the power units and incur grid penalties forRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor Nico Hulkenberg has reportedly signed a 2017 race contract that will see him move from his long time home of Sahara Force India, to the bright yellow cars of Renault. The much speculated move has finally come into the light as both Hulkenberg and Renault seek to build a partnership that will move them up the Formula One grid and into championship contention in several seasons’ time. Hulkenberg’s contract is good through 2018, with an option for 2019 that will likely be taken up, as theRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Sergio Perez appeared to have his third podium of the season in sight, but a mix of strategy relegated him further down the running order en route to finishing seventh in the Japanese Grand Prix. The 26-year-old Mexican had a strong start and pushed as high as third before falling in the clutches of Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo and the Ferrari duo of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen. The Sahara Force India driver was involved in several intense battles on the track, settling on aRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Max Verstappen secured his sixth podium finish of the season after finishing second in the Japanese Grand Prix, but came under the scrutiny after a controversial defensive move on Lewis Hamilton in the closing stages of the race. Verstappen led the three-time Formula 1 World Champion as they exited 130R, Hamilton began to surge and showed enough pace to pull alongside the Red Bull at the chicane but Verstappen closed the door under braking, forcing the Mercedes off the track and down the escape road. “IRead More