FP1 Tag

Lewis Hamilton went quickest in opening practice for the Brazilian Grand Prix, outpacing Red Bull Racing rival Max Verstappen by less than one tenth of a second. Third place went to Nico Rosberg, who could this weekend wrap up the Drivers’ Championship title if he outscores Hamilton by seven points. All three set their fastest times on the soft compound Pirelli, with Hamilton rising to the top with a lap of 1:11.895, 0.096 ahead of Verstappen. Rosberg finished the session 0.230s adrift of title rival Hamilton, with Daniel Ricciardo aRead More

Lewis Hamilton set the quickest time of the first practice session for the Mexican Grand Prix ahead of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, as championship leader Nico Rosberg finished in seventh place. Rosberg has a chance to this weekend wrap up the the Drivers’ title at the Autodrómo Hermanos Rodríguez if he wins and Hamilton finishes tenth or lower, but in the opening exchanges at the Mexico City circuit it was Hamilton who powered to the top of the order with a lap of 1:20.914, over seven tenths of a second clearRead More

Nico Rosberg went quickest in opening practice for this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix, eclipsing Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton by two tenths of a second. The Mercedes pair set their best times on the soft tyre, as did third-placed Sebastian Vettel. The Ferrari driver ended the session almost 1.1s adrift of Hamilton, however. Kimi Raikkonen was fourth quickest, just under three tenths behind his team-mate. The Finn also set his best time on the soft tyre. Red Bull Racing, meanwhile, chose to avoid the yellow-banded Pirelli compound during the session. TheRead More

Nico Rosberg set the quickest time of opening practice for the Austrian Grand Prix, finishing almost four tenths of a second clear of Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton. The German also went a full three seconds quicker than his P1 time from the same session last year. There was trouble for Max Verstappen, though, with the Red Bull Racing driver exiting the session with broken front suspension after tangling with new kerbs at the Red Bull Ring. Rosberg benefited from a re-surfaced track to set blistering pace and used the supersoftRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Alfonso Celis Jr. will reprise his role as Force India’s development driver by stepping in for an FP1 session during the Austian Grand Prix weekend. The Mexican will replace fellow countryman Sergio Perez for the Friday morning session – it will be third time this season Celis will appear in FP1. The 19-year-old also piloted the VJM09 during pre-season and in-season testing. In addition to his role at Force India, Celis also competes in the Formula V8 3.5 Series, collecting one podium in eight races soRead More

Lewis Hamilton went quickest in free practice for the Monaco Grand in an incident-packed first session that ended under red flags when a loose drain cover damaged the cars of Nico Rosberg and Jenson Button. Mercedes were early adopters of the new ultrasoft tyre in the session and Hamilton quickly took charge of the timesheet on the purple-banded tyre and he eventually worked his way down to a best time of 1:15.537 halfway through the session. Rosberg got to a tenth off that pace but in the closing minutes ofRead More

Sebastian Vettel set the quickest time of opening practice at the Circuit Barcelona-Catalunya ahead of team-mate Kimi Raikkonen as Ferrari made a flying start to the Spanish Grand Prix weekend. Vettel and Raikkonen’s times were set on the soft Pirelli tyre, the softest of the three compounds on offer this weekend, with the Italian squad being the only ones to use that tyre during the 90-minute session. Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton set the pace in the early part of the session, using the medium compound tyre, but halfwayRead More

Nico Rosberg topped the opening practice session for the US Grand Prix, the Mercedes driver finished 1.2 seconds clear of Red Bull Racing’s Daniil Kvyat in damp conditions at the Circuit of the Americas. The Russian’s Red Bull team-mate Daniel Ricciardo was third, while Drivers’ Championship leader Lewis Hamilton, who can wrap up a third title this weekend, was fifth behind Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz. Bad weather had been forecast for the Austin area overnight and although the rain showers had abated by the start of the weekend’s opening 90-minuteRead More

Sauber reserve driver Rafaelle Marciello, is set to drive Felipe Nasr’s Sauber in FP1 in Austin on Friday in the build up to this weekend’s United States Grand Prix. The chance comes on the heels of rounds in the Sauber in FP1 at Malaysia, Spain and Britain. Marciello currently lies in 8th place in the GP2 standings with three podiums this season. He has been a member of Ferrari’s young driver Academy since 2010. This weekend’s round of the championship will be Sauber’s 400th since entering F1 in 1993. Image: FerrariRead More

Mercedes were in a league of their own in the first practice session ahead of the Italian Grand Prix, with F1 championship leader Lewis Hamilton heading team-mate Nico Rosberg in a one-two for the German marque, with Hamilton finishing over 1.5s ahead of nearest non-Mercedes rival Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari. The opening practice session of the weekend at Monza began quietly and there were 13 minutes on the clock before Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen set the first timed lap of the day. His team-mate Carlos Sainz was swiftly back toRead More