Formula 1 Tag

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor Just as many began to doubt Mercedes’ pace, the silver arrows struck back with Valtteri Bottas who set a scorching 1:19.310 lap of Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. The new Mercedes man only used the super soft tires to set the best time of 2017 thus far, and looked very comfortable behind the wheel of the W08 where he stayed for 70 laps today. Williams man and yesterday’s pace setter Felipe Massa kept him honest with a strong 1:19.420 for the ultra soft shod FW40. Both of their timesRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor Circuit Park Zandvoort in the Netherlands last hosted a Grand Prix back in 1985, but the surging popularity of Dutch driver Max Verstappen has prompted the circuit to conduct a feasibility study on bringing Formula One back, according to Dutch newspaper Harleem Dagblad.  While a prominent feature on the F1 calendar from 1950 till 1985, the circuit fell on hard times when its owners CENAV went out of business in the mid eighties. The track sat vacant for a time before its original layout was changed for 1995. Curiously, despiteRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor Felipe Massa and Williams surprised the field by topping the time sheets for the opening day of the second pre-season test from Barcelona today. The Brazilian veteran clocked a solid 1:19.726 in his FW40 on the super soft tires and logged a massive 168 laps around Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Daniel Ricciardo got Red Bull close to Massa’s time with a 1:19.900, but had to run the ultra soft tires in order to do so. The Aussie ran 89 laps for a solid if most unspectacular dayRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor McLaren’s miserable start to the 2017 season continued this morning in Barcelona when Honda had to change the engine in Stoffel Vandoorne’s MCL32 after an electrical issue limited the Belgian to just 34 laps in the first session of the day. The power unit change has taken the place of the afternoon session. It is the third such unscheduled change for McLaren and Honda after only five days of pre-season testing. Last week the team suffered from an oil tank failure and a valve issue whichRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor Kimi Raikkonen topped today’s damp running from Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for the fourth and final day of the first pre-season test. The Finn ran a 1:20.872 on a drying track to top his Red Bull nemesis Max Verstappen by nearly a second on the time sheets. Raikkonen also ran 93 laps on the day, behind only Grosjean who racked up 188 laps in the Haas powered Ferrari. Pirelli brought in trucks which dumped water on the circuit before the first session. Early on all the teamsRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor Mercedes reclaimed the top time in pre-season testing from Ferrari today by becoming the first to crack the 1 minute 20 second barrier around Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. A morning run on the ultra soft tires for Valtteri Bottas netted an impressive 1:19.705 lap time. Enough to edge Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel by two tenths of a second. Keeping with recent form the Ferrari ran a harder compound of tire than the Mercedes as Vettel did his run on softs, which indicates there is still plenty of paceRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor The Russian and Canadian Grands Prix have signed contract extensions prolonging deals already in place. Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Dimitry Kozak broke the news to Russia’s state news agency Tass that the Sochi race now has a contract in place through 2025. It is a five year extension of the original deal that ran from 2014, when the Winter Olympics were held at some of the same facilities, through the year 2020. Canada too has announced a contract extension, an even longer one that will seeRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Kimi Raikkonen put Ferrari at the top of the timesheets of day two of testing at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. The 37-year-old Finn logged 108 total laps with the SF70H on Tuesday, with his best clocked at 1:20.960 – edging out Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton by 0.023 of a second. One significant note is that Raikkonen scored his best lap on the soft compound Pirelli tires, while Hamilton, who put in 66 laps, put his lap in on the super-soft compound. Valtteri Bottas split time with HamiltonRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor The much anticipated 2017 Formula One cars finally took to the track en masse today at Circuit de Bracelona-Catalunya in Spain. Unsurprisingly Lewis Hamilton set the day’s fastest time with a solid 1:21.765 on the soft tires. Somewhat surprisingly, Sebastian Vettel nearly matched him with a 1:21.878 on the mediums! The Mercedes looks good, but Ferrari’s risky new design seems to work well. Both teams performed flawlessly and racked up the mileage. The Mercedes duo of Hamilton and newcomer Valtteri Bottas covered 152 laps for theRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Renault took to the track for its filming day at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya ahead of the preseason test set to take place next week. The French outfit revealed the R.S.17 on Tuesday with an aggressive yellow and black livery to balance the changes to a challenger they hope can be among the top five teams in Formula 1. Jolyon Palmer was given the honor of giving the R.S.17 its first laps at the Spanish circuit. The only footage came from the team via Twitter and canRead More