Ferrari Tag

Nico Rosberg’s dream start to the 2016 season continued as the German took his second consecutive victory and his first in Bahrain and his first at the Gulf circuit. Kimi Raikkonen took his fifth second place with Lewis Hamilton recovering to third after a first-corner collision. Before the start there was disappointment for Ferrari as Sebastian Vettel, set to start from third, slowed on the formation lap with smoke billowing from the back of his car. His failure to start, the first of his career, meant a space opened onRead More

By Adam Tate, Managing Editor 1:29.493, the lap Lewis Hamilton put in to claim pole position today at Bahrain’s Sakhir circuit to beat team mate Nico Rosberg is the fastest lap ever recorded here. Faster than the mighty V10 era cars, faster than the V8’s, faster than Mark Webber’s 2005 lap record of 1:29.527 set in a Williams with a roaring V10. Hamilton was thrilled with the time and called it “sexy.” F1 might not have to change as much as they thought for 2017 to make the cars faster thanRead More

Sebastian Vettel set the fastest time of final practice in Bahrain ahead of team-mate Kimi Raikkonen as Ferrari took the fight to Mercedes ahead of qualifying at the Sakhir Circuit. With just over 10 minutes left on the clock, the Mercedes drivers took to the track on the red-banded supersoft tyre for their qualifying runs. Nico Rosberg immediately jumped to P1 with a lap of 1:32.104, with Lewis Hamilton quickly slotting into P2 with a lap just five hundredths of a second adrift of the Australian Grand Prix winner. ItRead More

By Adam Tate, Managing Editor Nico Rosberg led home a Mercedes one-two finish from Albert Park in what was a madcap start the 2016 season. Despite the typical result of a Mercedes double podium, the circuitous route the race took to its conclusion proved entertaining, terrifying and intense. The plot thickened before the race ever got underway as Daniil Kvyat’s Red Bull succumbed to electrical gremlins by stalling on the way to his grid position. The team ran to remove the car while the rest of the field embarked upon aRead More

By Adam Tate, Managing Editor Lewis Hamilton has claimed pole position for the Australian Grand Prix with a stunning 1 minute, 23.837 lap around the Albert Park circuit to reach career pole number 50. It was about the only true excitement of the session as F1’s controversial new qualifying format completely imploded. Q1 had barely begun and the field was immediately thrown into chaos as teams struggled to cope with the elimination countdown clock. Many drivers complained as they were on good laps, but the 90 second countdown clock nullified theirRead More

By Adam Tate, Managing Editor The 2016 Formula One season is finally underway, down under in Albert Park. Despite the soggy start, the excitement of fans world wide cannot be dampened. Before the drivers lay down their cards for qualifying a few hours from now, I will make five bold predictions on some of the more exciting stories of the season. Without further ado…. 5. All teams will score points Gone are the days when a lovable back marker like Minardi could only pray for points. Gone are the days whenRead More

By Frank Santoroski, Contributing Writer The 65 year history of the Formula One World Championship has seen a myriad of scenarios play out over the years. Some seasons were remembered for close championship battles, others for multiple winners. Some seasons saw unbearable tragedy, and others saw bitter feuding between teammates. Some seasons saw incredible innovation, while others were marred by politics, protests, disqualifications and even driver’s strikes. No season can compare with the perfect storm that was 1982 where we saw all of this, and more. The 1982 stats will showRead More

By Adam Tate, Managing Editor Formula One’s second pre-season test ended the way the first test began; with Sebastian Vettel in his Ferrari firmly atop the timesheets. The German slapped a set of Pirelli’s super-softs in the morning session to post the fastest time of the pre-season with a strong 1:22.852 tour of Circuit de Catalunya. With Ferrari the quickest car on five of the eight days of testing, things near the sharp end of the field seem to have tightened between them, Mercedes and Williams. Vettel also ran the haloRead More

By Adam Tate, Managing Editor With the benefit of Ferrari power for 2016, Red Bull’s ambitious junior squad thinks that it can take aim at the podium with its talented young drivers this season. Last season rookie sensations Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz moved the team up a notch in the pecking order and despite some rookie mistakes and bad luck, had some excellent drives, including two 4th place finishes for Verstappen, at Hungary and Austin. Last year’s STR10 marked 10 years since Red Bull bought out lovable F1 backmarkers MinardiRead More

By Adam Tate, Managing Editor After playing it safe for the first Barcelona test, Mercedes opened up the second test by showing just what its new W07 chassis is capable of. Nico Rosberg had the morning’s testing duties and with a set of softs on the car he clocked a blistering 1:23.022 lap. His time just two tenths of a second behind Sebastian Vettel’s best lap of testing so far. The worrying difference there, is that the Ferrari did its time on the new ultra-soft compounds, the Mercedes set its timeRead More