Kimi Raikkonen Tag

Sebastian Vettel edged team-mate Kimi Räikkonen to head a Ferrari one-two in a busy final practice session for the Chinese Grand Prix. Valtteri Bottas was third for Mercedes, almost four tenths of a second adrift of Vettel. Vettel’s best lap of 1:33.336 came 20 minutes from the end of the session and put him over a second clear of Räikkönen. The Finn then responded with a lap of 1:33.389, just 0.053 behind the German. Ferrari’s supersoft pace set a tough benchmark for Mercedes to beat and when the team’s driversRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor The fear espoused by many in the build up to the season looks like it may have come true; overtaking has been made significantly more difficult, at least so far. Many voices of reason and experience questioned the move to higher downforce cars, veteran drivers like Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa who experienced the high downforce machines of the mid 2000’s said that increased downforce wasn’t the answer. Some of the men who designed the notoriously quick but hard to pass cars of that era likeRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Ferrari defended itself in how they have been more accessible for the media, something Liberty Media wants Formula 1 to be more engaged in moving forward. The Italian squad came under fire when they elected to have Kimi Raikkonen not speak to the press Thursday, but instead post a video to Twitter, while Sebastian Vettel spoke to the press. Maurizio Arrivabene, team principal at Scuderia Ferrari, discussed the actions on Friday and believes that they are doing their part to make it better for the fans.Read More

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton again went quickest at the Albert Park Circuit as he beat Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel to top spot in the second practice session for Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne. Hamilton had claimed P1 in the first practice session of the new F1 season, running just over half a second clear of team-mate Valtteri Bottas and the three-time champion’s late afternoon margin over Vettel was similar, with the German being eclipsed by 0.547s. Hamilton’s best time of the session, a lap of 1:23.620 was over four seconds quickerRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Simply put, Scuderia Ferrari did not meet the expectations of 2016. The Italian squad enjoyed three wins in their first campaign with four-time champion Sebastian Vettel in 2015, which brought title aspirations into last season. However, a surprisingly uncompetitive season by Ferrari standards left them with a rare season of zero victories. Solid chances for wins were squandered at Australia and Canada last season, and worse, Red Bull Racing overthrew them as main challengers to rival Mercedes. The new technical regulations are a welcomed site asRead More

Lewis Hamilton went quickest in the first practice session of the new Formula One campaign, finishing more than half a second clear of new team-mate Valtteri Bottas at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix. The three-time world champion ended the session at Melbourne’s Albert Park Circuit with a best time of 1:24.220, set on ultrasoft tyres, to beat Bottas, who moved to Mercedes from Williams at the start of this year, by 0.583 seconds. Apart from the Mercedes pairing, no other driver ran with the purple-banded Pirelli tyres during the sessionRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor Ferrari saved their best for the last day of preseason testing at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya as Kimi Raikkonen blitzed the field en route to the fastest time of winter and the second fastest lap ever recorded at the track. His 1:18.634 very nearly reached the 1:18.243 Fernando Alonso set while testing slick tires on the Renault R28 in preparation for the 2009 season. Of far more importance to Ferrari, Raikkonen’s time is seven tenths of a second faster than Mercedes’ best lap and eight tenths better thanRead More

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 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 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