Ferrari Tag

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Kimi Raikkonen’s Brazilian Grand Prix came to an early and abrupt end on a restart on lap 20. Extremely wet and treacherous conditions delayed the start of the race by 10 minutes while the grid also drove eight laps behind the safety car. The 37-year-old Finn, who started third, became one of the many victims of the trying conditions, with Romain Grosjean wrecking out on the warmup prior to the start and Marcus Ericsson being collected on lap 13. The heavy impact along the long straightRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor Ross Brawn, the legendary former team principal and technical director who oversaw massive success at Benetton, Ferrari, Brawn, and Mercedes is set to return to the Formula One paddock in 2017. But it won’t be in the familiar role of working with a team, instead he will take up the role of Sporting Director. The news, broken by esteemed journalist James Allen is very interesting; Brawn will not replace Bernie Ecclestone, nor have any dealings with the commercial aspect of the sport. He will mainly actRead More

Lewis Hamilton scored a textbook victory at the Mexican Grand Prix ahead of team-mate Nico Rosberg, as Max Verstappen was ruled out of third position after a titanic battle with Sebastian Vettel saw the Dutchman penalized for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. Vettel finished third ahead of Daniel Ricciardo with Verstappen demoted to fifth place. At the race start Hamilton got away in the lead, despite a slightly slow getaway.  Directly behind Verstappen made a good start and pulled alongside Rosberg as the pair entered the first corner.Read More

Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen set the fastest time of final practice for the Mexican Grand Prix, finishing nine hundredths of a second ahead of Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, with Daniel Ricciardo third in the second Red Bull. In a messy final 10 minutes of the session traffic disrupted the qualifying simulations of a number of drivers but Verstappen found space enough to set a supersoft tyre time of 1:19.137 with eight minutes left on the clock. Ricciardo might have eclipsed that but the Australian hit heavy traffic in the finalRead 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’s hopes to challenge Mercedes and deliver Ferrari’s first win of the season have taken a hit as he will drop from third on the Japanese Grand Prix grid to eighth place as a result of an unscheduled gearbox change. The 36-year-old Finn showed surprising pace in qualifying to take third place, bettering teammate Sebastian Vettel who ended up fourth but had a three-place grid penalty for causing a collision in Malaysia last weekend. However, Ferrari had to change Raikkonen’s gearbox ahead of the race,Read More

Formula One World Championship leader Nico Rosberg set the fastest time of opening practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix in a session that was red-flagged when Kevin Magnussen’s Renault caught fire in the pit lane. Magnussen had just two installation laps on the board when returned to the garage with a suspected fuel leak. As his car was wheeled back into the car he was suddenly told to jump out as flames burst from the airbox behind his head. The fire was quickly brought under control but fuel continued toRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor Testing resumed today for Pirelli’s 2017 Formula 1 tires. This time the tests occurred in two locations and with two teams sampling the new rubber. Ferrari got their second look at the tires with Kimi Raikkonen trying them at Circuit de Catalunya in Spain, and Mercedes drafted in Pascal Wehrlein for the team’s initial impression of the compounds by turning laps at Paul Ricard in France. Wehrlein completed 134 laps, Raikkonen a few less on 111. The laps turned by Raikkonen will provide the more crucialRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor In a special press conference inside the Williams Martini motor-home Felipe Massa emotionally announced that he will retire from Formula One at the end of the season. “I must start by especially thanking my wife and my father, my whole family, my manager Nicolas and all the people who have supported me throughout my career. Thank you to God for giving me the opportunities I have had in life and, above all, for protecting me. A huge thank you as well to everyone I have workedRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief The Formula 1 season returned from summer break last weekend at Spa-Francorchamps, and once again Ferrari was hit with a rough Sunday drive. Despite strong showings throughout the weekend, in which Kimi Raikkonen led FP3 and qualified a close third to polesitter and eventual race winner Nico Rosberg, the Italian squad had its race unravel at the opening corner of the Belgian Grand Prix. Expectations were high for both Raikkonen and teammate Sebastian Vettel, four-time and two-time winners of the event, but a controversial collision withRead More