Fernando Alonso Tag

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief After much anticipation on the future of Fernando Alonso, it has been confirmed that he will step away from racing in Formula 1 at the end of the season. The 37-year-old Spaniard owns 32 Grand Prix victories (sixth all-time) and two F1 championships. “After 17 wonderful years in this amazing sport, it’s time for me to make a change and move on,” Alonso said. “I have enjoyed every single minute of those incredible seasons and I cannot thank enough the people who have contributed to makeRead More

By FIA Lewis Hamilton put in a superb lap in difficult wet conditions at the Hungaroring to claim his 77th career pole position and his fifth of the season ahead of Mercedes’ team-mate and the Ferraris of Kimi Räikkonen and Sebastian Vettel. A hugely unpredictable qualifying session began on a wet track due to earlier rain, and though there was no rain falling at the start of the session all driver started the session on intermediate tyres. That meant that the expected order was maintained as Kimi Räikkönen led the wayRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor The British Grand Prix was a thrilling race, it was also statistically significant in many ways, especially for the victorious Sebastian Vettel. Here are all the interesting stats to come out of a great weekend of racing at Silverstone. Sebastian Vettel took his 51st win and is now tied with Alain Prost for third all time after Michael Schumacher with 91 wins and Lewis Hamilton with 65. Vettel is also tied with Prost and Hamilton on four titles, but he comes up short on tying theRead More

By FIA Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas went quickest in a rain-disrupted final practice for the French Grand Prix at the Circuit Paul Ricard. The Finn was one of a handful of drivers who completed a lap in mostly dry conditions at the start of a session that began under threatening skies. He set a time of 1:33.666, to head Renault’s Carlos Sainz by 1.2 seconds, with Sauber’s Charles Leclerc just over six hundredths of a second further back. Behind them, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel was reporting drops of rain, though the GermanRead More

By FIA Lewis Hamilton used an upgraded Mercedes power unit to power away from his rivals in second practice for the French Grand Prix, topping the timesheet, seventh tenths of a second clear of nearest rival Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull Racing. Mercedes had been set to introduce an upgrade in Canada but held back the power unit for further tests, but today the Constructors’ champions confirmed that all six Mercedes’ powered cars will run this weekend with the new unit. When the session’s qualifying simulations got into gear midwayRead 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

By IMSA Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – It’s been a great couple of months for Belgian driver Laurens Vanthoor, who co-drove to the GTE Pro class victory in the 2018 24 Hours of Le Mans with Kevin Estre and Michael Christensen in the No. 92 Porsche 911 RSR. Vanthoor picked up his first IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship victory on May 6 in the Acura Sports Car Challenge at Mid-Ohio, taking the GT Le Mans (GTLM) class win with co-driver Earl Bamber – a two-time overall Le Mans winner –Read More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer INDIANAPOLIS— Alexander Rossi will need time. The No. 27 NAPA Auto Parts Honda starts 32nd in Sunday’s Indianapolis 500 after a slowly deflating tire on his pole day qualifying run slowed him. Two drivers -Jim Rathmann in 1957 and Mario Andretti in 1981- have finished second after starting 32nd and on Media Day Rossi was candid about how he’ll plan his attack on race day. “I’ll probably talk to Mario, I don’t think Jim’s race will be on YouTube,” said Rossi. “I don’t know what theyRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor The Spanish Grand Prix proved a more straightforward affair than any other race so far this season, as Lewis Hamilton dominated the field from lights to flag, but behind him there was plenty of drama and action for fans to savor. A opening lap spin by Romain Grosjean in the Haas collected Nico Hulkenberg and Brendon Hartley and put them all out on the spot. Power unit problems forced Kimi Raikkonen to retire early. In the other Ferrari, Sebastian Vettel made a late pit stop fromRead More

By FIA Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas took top spot in the first practice session for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, but there were problems for Red Bull Racing as Max Verstappen crashed. The Dutch driver led the way in the opening half an hour of the session, setting the pace with a time in the mid-1m45s bracket. That left him marginally clear of Red Bull team-mate Daniel Ricciardo, as the Renault-powered team began the weekend brightly. The outlook darkened soon afterwards, however, as Verstappen lost control on the approach to Turn 5Read More