F1 Tag

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief The cloudy future of Lewis Hamilton became has become slightly clearer. The 33-year-old Brit is in the final year of his contract with Mercedes, but after being crowned champion three of the past four seasons some doubt has crept in about his career beyond 2018. During an FIA press conference on Friday ahead of this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix, Toto Wolff, Team Principal of Mercedes, candidly addressed the situation. “The contract we have been discussing before going into the winter holiday and then we kind ofRead More

By FIA Lewis Hamilton remained in control of the Albert Park timesheets at the end of the second free practice session in Melbourne. However, the defending champion was closely shadowed by Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen, with the Dutch driver finishing just over a tenth of second behind his Mercedes rival. After early sparring on the soft and supersoft tyres, the session’s qualifying simulations saw Hamilton charge to the front of the pack with a time of 1:23.931s set after had bolted on a set of Pirelli’s purple-banded ultrasoft tyres.Read More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief The 2018 Formula 1 season just got underway with the first practice of the year and we already have a clash on our hands between Ferrari and Red Bull Racing. The head-to-head battle came between the team principals of both squads during Friday’s FIA press conference, with the focal point being the Italian squad’s hiring of FIA safety delegate Laurent Mekies. The situation under scrutiny comes on the heels of Renault’s move to bring on former FIA Technical Director, Marcin Budkowski late last year – thoughRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Sergio Perez is seeking to return to the podium during the 2018 Formula 1 season. The 28-year-old Mexican has seven career podiums to his credit, four of which have come with current team Force India. However, a podium-less campaign last year – a first since 2013 with McLaren – has brought on an additional hunger to return to form. With preseason showing various levels of unpredictability as the season rolls forward with this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix, the goal – at the minimum – is that ForceRead 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 Adam Tate, Associate Editor 2019 will see a revamped Formula 3 Series enter the scene by joining Formula 2 as part of the Formula 1 support race schedule. Currently much of the younger, global talent with their eyes set on F1 is divided between the numerous national or regional F3 series and the newer GP3 series. Many of the smaller F3 series will carry one, but GP3 will disappear as the FIA continues its mission to streamline the path to Formula One. In 2019 the new F3 series complete withRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Romain Grosjean propelled Haas F1 Team to a new benchmark on the final day of preseason testing at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. The 31-year-old Frenchman completed 181 laps on Friday around the 2.892-mile, 16-turn road course – the most among the 12 drivers. The strong outing comes after teammate Kevin Magnussen posted the previous best a day prior with 153 total laps. The day’s activities left Grosjean with a remarkable 523.452 miles run, while also posting the fifth-best time at 1 minute, 18.412 seconds in the No.Read More

By FIA Kimi Räikkönen kept Ferrari on top of the timesheets as pre-season testing came to a close in Barcelona today, with the Finn using the hypersoft tyre to eclipse surprise second-place man Fernando Alonso by half a second. Third quickest was Renault driver Carlos Sainz. Ferrari ratcheted up the pace on the final two days of the test, with Sebastian Vettel yesterday claiming an unofficial circuit record with a lap of 1:17.182. And Räikkönen got close to that mark on the final day of testing, posting a 1:17.221 duringRead More

By FIA Sebastian Vettel broke the circuit record set yesterday by Daniel Ricciardo by almost a second to top the timesheets on the penultimate day of pre-season Formula 1 testing in Barcelona. The Ferrari ended the day over a second clear of nearest rival Kevin Magnussen of Haas, as other frontrunners sent much of the day on long runs. Vettel’s table topping time arrived in morning session as the German sampled the hypersoft Pirelli tyres. And as the bulk of drivers, including Vettel, moved to race simulations in the afternoonRead More