Felipe Massa Tag

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor The biggest open secret in the racing world has finally been confirmed. After Lance Stroll’s billionaire father Lawrence Stroll, the Canadian fashion magnate purchased Sahara Force India F1 Team and saved it from the brink of bankruptcy in August, everyone in the paddock has been waiting for the announcement that Lance would leave the beleaguered Williams outfit for his father’s new team. That confirmation came today as the team announced that Stroll has agreed to a long term deal with the team and joins Sergio PerezRead More

By Road to Indy PALMETTO, Fla. – Victor Franzoni burst onto the Mazda Road to Indy Presented by Cooper Tires scene in 2014, winning his first-ever race in the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda on the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla. With his irrepressible grin and unfailingly positive attitude, Franzoni made fans on and off the racetrack. As the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires came down to the wire last September, with Juncos Racing’s Franzoni and Cape Motorsports’ Anthony Martin fighting tooth-and-nail for every inch ofRead More

Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas claimed his third career pole position, beating Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel by just ovet three hundredths of a second, as newly-crowned four-time champion Lewis Hamilton dramatically crashed out in Q1. The Briton, who had taken to the track early in a bid to put in a solid time in case of rain, lost control as he exited Turn 6. The back end of his car stepped out and he slid off into the tyre barriers, wrecking the front right side of his Mercedes. The crash resulted in aRead More

Valtteri Bottas beat team-mate Lewis Hamilton by just three thousandths of a second to top of the timesheet in an extremely tight final practice for the Brazilian Grand Prix. Just six hundredths of a second covered the top four drivers with Kimi Räikkönen finishing just 0.045 behind Hamilton and Ferrari team-mate Sebastian Vettel fourth 0.013s further back. The session began under grey skies and the threat of rain, though in the end the session remained dry throughout. Räikkönen, using supersoft tyres, set the pace in the first half of theRead More

After dominating opening practice at Interlagos, Lewis Hamilton doubled up by topping the afternoon timesheets at the São Paulo circuit, edging team-mate Valtteri Bottas by just under five hundredths of a second. However, whereas Hamilton enjoyed a half second advantage over Ferrari’s third-placed Kimi Räikkönen in the morning session, afternoon practice was tighter, with Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo finishing just 0.228 behind four-time champion Hamilton after the drivers had completed their performance runs during the 90-minute session. In the morning Hamilton had led the way early in the sessionRead More

Lewis Hamilton headed a dominant Mercedes 1-2 in the opening free practice for the Brazilian Grand Prix, the Briton finishing a tenth of a second ahead of team-mate Valtteri Bottas and half a second clear of Ferrari’s third-placed Kimi Räikkönen. After spending the first half of the session controlling matters on Pirelli’s soft compound tyre, Hamilton switched to supersofts and after Bottas had taken top on the same compound with a time of 1:09.329, Hamilton responded by lowering the benchmark to 1:09.202. The lap was good enough to keep HamiltonRead More

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 Adam Tate, Associate Editor Williams Martini Racing has narrowed down its driver search for Lance Stroll’s 2018 partner to three, according to Motorsport Magazine. Current pilot Felipe Massa, who has been with the team since 2014 despite an initial planned retirement prior to the team losing Valtteri Bottas to Mercedes, is said to still be a possibility for the Grove-based outfit. However, the plan is to test out Paul di Resta and Robert Kubica before settling on the 2018 seat. For di Resta, who serves as the team’s reserve driver,Read More

Lewis Hamilton claimed his fifth career Malaysian Grand Prix pole position, equalling Michael Schumacher’s Sepang record, as the qualifying hopes of title Sebastian Vettel wrecked by a mechanical issue that saw him dumped out of the session at the end of Q1. Kimi Räkkönen was left to uphold Ferrari honour and the Finn almost claimed his second pole of the year as he got to within five hundredths of a second of Hamilton’s pole time. Third place on the grid will be taken by Max Verstappen with team-mate Daniel RicciardoRead More

Felipe Massa set the quickest time of final practice for the Italian Grand Prix as heavy rain led to a much-abbreviated session featuring just 16 minutes of running. The rain moved into the Monza area overnight and ahead of this morning’s session the downpours intensified to the degree that five minutes before the scheduled start at 11am local time, and following a test of the conditions by the safety car, Race Control reported that the session would be delayed indefinitely. Two further tests were undertaken and after the second theRead More