Kimi Raikkonen Tag

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor The Japanese Grand Prix was first held all the way back in 1963 as a sports car race, it did not become an official Formula One Grand Prix until 1976 on and has been held 30 times since. The first two grands prix were at Fuji speedway near Tokyo, including the dramatic 1977 title decider where James Hunt won the World Championship over Niki Lauda. The race then dropped off the calendar for 10 years before it moved to its spiritual home of Suzuka Circuit inRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief A tough time for Ferrari has become even more so after Kimi Raikkonen failed to make the grid for the start of the Malaysian Grand Prix, and was ultimately forced to retire before turning a lap. The 37-year-old Finn was expected to start from the second position, but cited a loss of power during the warmup 30 minutes prior to the race. The issue only magnifies problems that also hit teammate Sebastian Vettel on Saturday prior to qualifying, which led to starting the race from last.Read More

Lewis Hamilton claimed his fifth career Malaysian Grand Prix pole position, equalling Michael Schumacher’s Sepang record, as the qualifying hopes of title Sebastian Vettel wrecked by a mechanical issue that saw him dumped out of the session at the end of Q1. Kimi Räkkönen was left to uphold Ferrari honour and the Finn almost claimed his second pole of the year as he got to within five hundredths of a second of Hamilton’s pole time. Third place on the grid will be taken by Max Verstappen with team-mate Daniel RicciardoRead More

Ferrari continued to set the pace in Sepang, with Kimi Räikkönen edging team-mate Sebastian Vettel by 0.162, to claim top spot in final practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix. Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo was third, just five hundredths of a second behind Vettel. Räikkönen’s table-topping time of 1:31.880 came late in the session after Vettel had slotted into P1 ahead of Ricciardo. It was another inconclusive day for Mercedes, however, with Valtteri Bottas finishing fourth, almost half a second adrift of Räikkönen and Lewis Hamilton ending the session inRead More

Sebastian Vettel led a Ferrari one-two in second practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix, six tenths clear of team-mate Kimi Räikkönen, as the session was ended early by a heavy crash involving Haas’ Romain Grosjean. Vettel’s performance run on the Pirelli supersoft compound tyres netted a best time of 1:31.261. Team-mate Kimi Räikkönen was second, 0.604 seconds adrift, while Daniel Ricciardo was third for Red Bull Racing, just over two tenths further back. It was a trickier session for championship leader Lewis Hamilton and his Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas. BothRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor Lewis Hamilton has bested Michael Schumacher and every other driver in the history of Formula One by claiming 69 pole positions. This is a milestone worth celebrating for Hamilton and for the sport, but there is another, greater milestone that has gone unnoticed that far more accurately gauges the impact that Hamilton has made on Formula One. To understand this we have to cast ourselves back 16 years, back to when Hamilton was just a boy and F1 was just entering the period of Michael Schumacher’sRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief An opening lap collision in the Singapore Grand Prix brought an unexpectedly early end to the Ferrari pair of Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel. Vettel started on pole on a wet grid as a consistent light rain came into play, and jumped slightly ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen, who started alongside in second. However, while trying to set up his entry to Turn 1, his Ferrari teammate got a stellar launch from third and was challenging to two lead cars. The lack of roomRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Max Verstappen insists that his opening lap collision in the Singapore Grand Prix that resulted in the retirements of he, and the Ferrari duo of polesitter Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen, was something not of his own making. The 19-year-old Dutchman started second on a slippery grid and at lights out was put in a precarious position as Raikkonen, who started from third, got a great launch and put wheels alongside entering Turn 1. At that moment, Vettel was setting up for his entry into theRead More

After leading the way in the first practice session in Singapore, Daniel Ricciardo doubled up with top spot in the evening session, beating Red Bull Racing team-mate Max Verstappen by over half a second. The Australian driver set a best time of 1:40.852 on his qualifying simulation on ultrasoft tyres to finish 0.556s quicker than Verstappen. Championship leader Lewis Hamilton was third, a sizeable seven tenths off the pace. After missing out on P1 in the opening session by just a tenth of a second, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel finished theRead More

Lewis Hamilton led a Mercedes 1-2 in first practice ahead of Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix with the three-time champion finishing a second clear of championship leader Sebastian Vettel who finished third behind Valtteri Bottas. Hamilton set a best lap of 1:21.537s on the supersoft compound Pirelli tyres to finish 0.435 seconds ahead of Bottas, with Vettel 1.115s off the pace. With the session starting under heavily overcast skies, drivers quickly set about their preparations and after half and hour Bottas was in charge on soft tyres, with the Finn inRead More