Formula 1 Tag

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor Sauber and Honda have finally confirmed the longstanding rumor that the Swiss team will switch from Ferrari power units to Honda for 2018. It appears the team will also use McLaren gearboxes which is the surest sign yet that McLaren will also stick by Honda instead of jumping ship back to Mercedes as some had speculated. Sauber CEO Monisha Kaltenborn gave the following statement about the deal. “It is a great honor for the Sauber F1 Team to be able to work together with Honda inRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief For the fourth consecutive year, Formula One heads to Sochi for the Russian Grand Prix. Mercedes is undefeated since F1’s return there in 2014, with Lewis Hamilton taking the first two events and reigning F1 World Champion Nico Rosberg taking last year’s race. Our friends from Mobil 1 The Grid have brought together an on-board lap around the 3.634-mile circuit. Video Credit: Mobil 1 The GridRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor Behold the RS 2027 Vision concept car, Renault Sport’s detailed project on what the future of F1 could look like in ten year’s time. Aside from some more theatrical elements like the LED lighting and the impossibly low profile tires, it isn’t something too far of what could be in the realm of possibility. It features semi-transparent bodywork to keep the driver on display despite utilizing a jet fighter style canopy. It has all wheel drive, four wheel steering, and active aerodynamics. The deceptively simple shapeRead More

Valtteri Bottas set the quickest time of the final day of in-season testing in Bahrain, posting a time of 1:31.280 as the Mercedes driver worked through 143 laps of the Sakhir Circuit. The Finn’s time eclipsed that of Sebastian Vettel by just under three tenths of a second. The lap total gap between the Mercedes driver and his Ferrari counterpart was much greater, however, with Vettel logging just 64 laps as he spent a significant portion of the day in the garage. Ferrari had brought Vettel to the garage duringRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, IndyCar & Road to Indy Writer Two-time Formula 1 champion Fernando Alonso will race in the 2017 Indianapolis 500, driving a McLaren-branded Honda-powered entry run by defending champions Andretti Autosport. The 35-year-old Spaniard cited multiple reasons for wanting to race at Indianapolis in a statement issued by McLaren-Honda this morning. Among them, his desire to emulate the late Graham Hill and become just the second driver to complete the Triple Crown of Motor racing. “I’ve won the Monaco Grand Prix twice, and it’s one of my ambitions to win theRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor Pascal Wehrlein will return to action for Sauber in this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix. The team announced his long awaited return via social media today, just three days before Free Practice 1 on Friday. Wehrlein infamously sat out the Australian and Chinese Grands Prix due to his less than optimal fitness after the injury he sustained from his Race of Champions crash in January. Taking his place back in the team relegates reserve driver Antonio Giovinazzi back to the sidelines after a spectacular debut in Australia, but anRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor Ever since Nico Rosberg’s maiden victory at the 2012 Chinese Grand Prix, Shanghai International Circuit has been one of Mercedes best tracks on the F1 calendar. Despite Fernando Alonso’s a stunning victory in 2013, the silver arrows have taken pole position every year since 2012 and have won the race every year since 2014. 2016 Champion Nico Rosberg has won it twice, but it’s really three time champ Lewis Hamilton who is the king of China; he has five poles and four wins from 10 startsRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor McLaren has made headlines for all the wrong reasons in 2017, mostly due to their incredibly unreliable Honda supplied power units. The team did somewhat casually reach out to Mercedes about supplying them for the future, but for the time being they are under contract with Honda and are forced to make lemonade from lemons. The best long term strategy, one I have written about several times, would be for them to invest funds from McLaren automotive, their successful road car operation, into creating their ownRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor It emerged over the weekend that those in attendance at last Friday’s meeting of FIA officials and auto manufacturers agreed to abandon F1’s 1.6 liter hybrid power units in 2021 for a simpler engine formula. It effectively granted FIA President Jean Todt’s long held wish to ditch the complex and impressive current engines for an undetermined formula set to fulfill the unlikely wishlist of cheaper, louder, and more powerful. Louder is one thing, that would be met with resounding enthusiasm from most in the sport, especiallyRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor The fear espoused by many in the build up to the season looks like it may have come true; overtaking has been made significantly more difficult, at least so far. Many voices of reason and experience questioned the move to higher downforce cars, veteran drivers like Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa who experienced the high downforce machines of the mid 2000’s said that increased downforce wasn’t the answer. Some of the men who designed the notoriously quick but hard to pass cars of that era likeRead More