Italian Grand Prix Tag

Nico Rosberg took his first Italian Grand Prix win and his seventh victory of the season with a controlled drive to the flag after pole position man and title leader Lewis Hamilton’s race was compromised by a poor start. In qualifying Hamilton had comprehensively outpaced his team-mate, sealing pole for the Monza race ahead of Rosberg by a margin of almost half a a second. The expectation was that with such a sizeable pace advantage, at lights out for the race the championship leader would simply drive away from hisRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor Monza’s place in Formula 1 as the home of the Italian Grand Prix looks to be secure after event organizers and Bernie Ecclestone came to an agreement during negotiations for a new race contract. The circuit is F1’s most historic track, having first held the Italian Grand Prix in 1922 and has been on the calendar for every season of the championship, bar 1980 when it briefly lost the race to Imola. Ecclestone had been upping the pressure on Angelo Sticchi and the ACI (Automobile ClubRead More

Lewis Hamilton scored his seventh pole position of the 2016 and his fifth at the Italian GP with a dominant performance at Monza where he beat team-mate and title rival Nico Rosberg by almost half second. Sebastian Vettel qualified third for Ferrari ahead of team-mate Kimi Raikkonen. The first casualty of Q1 was Manor’s Esteban Ocon. With eight minutes gone in Q1, the Frenchman, who made his race debut at last weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix, suffered a technical problem that forced him to pull over at Turn 1. He exitedRead More

Lewis Hamilton beat Nico Rosberg to the top of the final practice timesheets in Monza, with the championship leader finishing almost four tenths of a second clear of his Mercedes team-mate. Rosberg was the first of the Mercedes pairing to show his hand in qualifying trim during the session, posting a time of 1:22.401 with 20 minutes left on the clock. His spell at the top of the order didn’t last long, however, as Hamilton was across the line moments later with a time of 1:22.008. It would remain theRead More

After being narrowly shaded by Nico Rosberg in the opening practice session for the Italian Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton upped the pace in the afternoon session to eclipse his Mercedes team-mate by just under 0.2s. While Mercedes dominated in FP1, finishing well ahead of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, the gap was closed by some margin in the afternoon as the team’s set their fastest times on supersoft-shod qualifying runs. Compared with their rivals Mercedes looked to be having a harder time getting the best out of this weekend’s softest compound andRead More

Nico Rosberg set the pace in the first practice session ahead of Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix, taking top spot with 0.2s in hand over championship rival Lewis Hamilton. The winner of last weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix, Rosberg continued his good form at high-speed Monza finishing over a second clear of his nearest non-works Mercedes rival, Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen. Ferrari are running an upgraded power unit for the team’s home race. Both Rosberg and Hamilton had been quickest on the supersoft tyre, but later in the session both men went quickerRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor In a special press conference inside the Williams Martini motor-home Felipe Massa emotionally announced that he will retire from Formula One at the end of the season. “I must start by especially thanking my wife and my father, my whole family, my manager Nicolas and all the people who have supported me throughout my career. Thank you to God for giving me the opportunities I have had in life and, above all, for protecting me. A huge thank you as well to everyone I have workedRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief The Formula 1 season returned from summer break last weekend at Spa-Francorchamps, and once again Ferrari was hit with a rough Sunday drive. Despite strong showings throughout the weekend, in which Kimi Raikkonen led FP3 and qualified a close third to polesitter and eventual race winner Nico Rosberg, the Italian squad had its race unravel at the opening corner of the Belgian Grand Prix. Expectations were high for both Raikkonen and teammate Sebastian Vettel, four-time and two-time winners of the event, but a controversial collision withRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Kevin Magnussen has passed medical checks, but will require one final assessment on Thursday prior to racing in the Italian Grand Prix. The 23-year-old Dane lost control on lap six of the Belgian Grand Prix at Eau Rouge before suffering heavy impact into the barrier at Raidillon. The Renault driver sustained a heavily bruised left ankle, which have forced him to undergo a series of checks to indicate that he is fit to race at Monza this weekend. Doctors from the FIA will make the finalRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor In a special press conference held today from Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Dutch brewery Heineken finally unveiled its new and much speculated sponsorship deal with Formula One. The deal runs through 2020 but has an option to extend through 2023 and is reportedly worth up to $250 million. A major tenet of the deal will see Heineken serve as the title sponsor for three races per season from 2017 on, they will also be the title sponsor for this September’s Italian Grand Prix as well.Read More