Mercedes Tag

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Following a strong preseason, Daniel Ricciardo has tabbed Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel as likely contenders to dethrone Mercedes. The Red Bull Racing driver told La Gazzetta dello Sport that he is hoping the pace shown by his former teammate’s Italian squad is legitimate. “From the first test day, Ferrari made a very good impression,” Ricciardo said. “I hope they keep it up because it would be nice if someone could fight Mercedes. They’ve improved a little of everything and they also seem to be very goodRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor According to a report from the BBC, McLaren has contacted Mercedes about an engine supply deal. Which means it is already looking at other partners after numerous failures in preseason testing with current supplier Honda. Despite an improvement to sixth in the constructor’s championship in 2016, and an optimistic re-branding in the off season, McLaren is set to begin the new season at the back of the pack. Honda which maintained it could find a fix for the problems encountered during testing and have it ready in timeRead 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 It was all thumbs up for Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari today. The four time champ looked absolutely unassailable as he set the fastest time of testing so far and completed a day high 156 laps. His 1:19.024 on ultra softs bested the Mercedes duo on the same tires by three tenths of a second and Felipe Massa’s Williams by four tenths. So confident was Vettel that he visibly slowed on the final straight for most of his fast laps, an ominious sign for their challengers that theRead 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 Felipe Massa and Williams surprised the field by topping the time sheets for the opening day of the second pre-season test from Barcelona today. The Brazilian veteran clocked a solid 1:19.726 in his FW40 on the super soft tires and logged a massive 168 laps around Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Daniel Ricciardo got Red Bull close to Massa’s time with a 1:19.900, but had to run the ultra soft tires in order to do so. The Aussie ran 89 laps for a solid if most unspectacular dayRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor Mercedes reclaimed the top time in pre-season testing from Ferrari today by becoming the first to crack the 1 minute 20 second barrier around Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. A morning run on the ultra soft tires for Valtteri Bottas netted an impressive 1:19.705 lap time. Enough to edge Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel by two tenths of a second. Keeping with recent form the Ferrari ran a harder compound of tire than the Mercedes as Vettel did his run on softs, which indicates there is still plenty of paceRead 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

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor The much anticipated 2017 Formula One cars finally took to the track en masse today at Circuit de Bracelona-Catalunya in Spain. Unsurprisingly Lewis Hamilton set the day’s fastest time with a solid 1:21.765 on the soft tires. Somewhat surprisingly, Sebastian Vettel nearly matched him with a 1:21.878 on the mediums! The Mercedes looks good, but Ferrari’s risky new design seems to work well. Both teams performed flawlessly and racked up the mileage. The Mercedes duo of Hamilton and newcomer Valtteri Bottas covered 152 laps for theRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Mercedes have revealed their 2017 car – the W08 – at Silverstone on Thursday. Lewis Hamilton completed a handful of laps for filming day on a damp day on a set of wet Pirelli tires at the circuit that hosts the British Grand Prix. After a series of short stints he returned on slick rubber, ramping up the pace before pitting the car for the official launch. Valtteri Bottas also enjoyed a brief run in the afternoon, his first run with the team since moving overRead More