Formula One Tag

By Aaron Bearden, Contributing Writer He may not have won the second seat at Williams Martini Racing, but Robert Kubica will still be behind the wheel for the team in 2018. Williams announced Tuesday the addition of Kubica as a reserve and development driver, signaling that the Pole will participate with the team in testing sessions – including the upcoming Barcelona pre-season testing – as well as occasional practice sessions during race weekends. “I am delighted to announce that Robert will be joining Williams as our Reserve and Development DriverRead More

By Aaron Bearden, Contributing Writer With the FIA Formula One World Championship season just two months away, Williams Martini Racing has finally announced the driver that will join sophomore Lance Stroll to complete their 2018 lineup. The team announced Tuesday that Sergey Sirotkin will be their replacement for the retired Felipe Massa, noting that the 22-year-old’s performance in the FW40 as part of last year’s Abu Dhabi Pirelli tyre test impressed the organization and ultimately earned him the ride. “We have conducted a rigorous and exhaustive driver evaluation process,” ChiefRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor There is a red dawn rising at Sauber’s Hinwil Headquarters as the team announced a new partnership with historic car maker Alfa Romeo this morning. The Alfa Romeo name will return to Formula 1 in 2018 as part of a commercial and technical partnership with the Swiss outfit and be known as Alfa Romeo Sauber from 2018 onward. The multi-year deal is crucial for FCA Chairman Sergio Marchionne’s desire to put Alfa Romeo back on the world stage and is the first major step of creatingRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Sebastian Vettel topped the timesheets for the Pirelli tire test at Yas Marina Circuit on Wednesday. The final time Formula 1 cars will be on track for 2017, Vettel concluded the day with a time of 1 minute, 37.551 seconds on the new hypersoft tire compound at the 3.451-mile, 21-turn track. The early part of the day was halted by the four-time champion as his Ferrari stopped on track to bring out a red flag briefly before resuming. Mercedes rival Valtteri Bottas, who also won theRead More

Valtteri Bottas claimed his third victory of the year, beating Mercedes team-mate and four-time world champion Lewis Hamilton by just under four seconds at the final race of the 2017 FIA Formula One World Championship, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Sebastian Vettel finished third for Ferrari. At the start Bottas got away cleanly from pole position and took the lead ahead of Hamilton, Vettel and Ricciardo who all retained their starting positions. Behind them Max Verstappen in the second Red Bull closed on Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkönen and made two aggressiveRead More

Valtteri Bottas will start the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix from the front of the grid after the Finn beat Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton by just under two tenths of a second to claim his fourth career pole position. Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel will start third ahead of Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo, who delivered a superb final flying lap to climb from sixth place after the first runs of Q3. In Q1, four-time champion Hamilton was one of the first on track and he quickly grabbed top spot with a lap ofRead More

Lewis Hamilton led a Mercedes 1-2 in final practice for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, beating team-mate Valtteri Bottas by 0.273s. The Constructors’ champions’ closest rival was Kimi Räikkönen, with the Finn finishing 0.257 behind compatriot Bottas. In a quiet start to the session, which was run in full sunshine conditions not relative to those to come in qualifying and the race, Räikkönen led the way with a time of 1:38.999 set on ultrasoft tyres. However, just under 20 minutes into the session both Mercedes joined the fray and theRead More

Lewis Hamilton took top spot in second practice for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, edging out Sebastian Vettel by just under fifteen hundredths of a second. Daniel Ricciardo finished was third, separated from Vettel by almost the same margin. As with the early afternoon session at the Yas Marina Circuit, it was Mercedes driver Hamilton who set the early pace, holding P1 with a time 0.8s clear of Ricciardo. The session’s qualifying simulations came early on however, with Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas embarking on his performance run before the half hourRead More

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel set the quickest time of opening practice for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, beating Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton by just over a tenth of a second. Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen was third, two hundredths of a second behind four-time champion Hamilton. Brazilian Grand Prix winner Vettel set a best time of a 1:39.006 on Pirelli’s ultrasoft tyre compound to finish 0.120 seconds ahead of Hamilton on the same compound. Hamilton headed the order in the early part of the session logging a time of 1:41.135s on theRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Scuderia Toro Rosso have announced that both Pierre Gasly and Brendon Hartley will return for the 2018 Formula One season. A year that began with Carlos Sainz Jr. and Daniil Kvyat, has since seen the latter go off to Renault and the former dropped on two occasions throughout the season. Those events put Gasly in the seat at Malaysia, where with the exception of the United States Grand Prix, he has occupied it since. For Hartley, a winner of the 24 Hours of Le Mans earlierRead More