Pre-season Testing Tag

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 Fernando Alonso is not happy. After just 6 days of pre-season testing, McLaren-Honda has had more power unit failures, changes, and technical problems than any other Formula One team and he is laying the blame squarely on Honda. With echoes of his “GP2 engine” remarks, the two time champ berated Honda when he spoke to the media today. “We have only one problem: that is the power unit. There is no reliability and there is no power. I think we are 30 km/h down on every straight.Read 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 McLaren’s miserable start to the 2017 season continued this morning in Barcelona when Honda had to change the engine in Stoffel Vandoorne’s MCL32 after an electrical issue limited the Belgian to just 34 laps in the first session of the day. The power unit change has taken the place of the afternoon session. It is the third such unscheduled change for McLaren and Honda after only five days of pre-season testing. Last week the team suffered from an oil tank failure and a valve issue whichRead 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 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 Adam Tate, Associate Editor Red Bull Racing will keep us guessing till the last second and unveil the RB13, their 2017 challenger on the last day before pre-season testing: February 26th. One of the most anticipated Red Bull designs in years, the RB13 is widely expected to launch the Milton Keynes squad into championship contention against the all conquering Mercedes silver arrows if Adrian Newey can pull another gem out of his bag of tricks. We will quickly find out its spot in the pecking order as Daniel Ricciardo andRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor Dashing the Christmas wishes of many drivers, Mercedes has announced that it will not name a successor to Nico Rosberg’s vacated seat till 2017. After newly crowned Rosberg announced his retirement, Mercedes has been in desperate straits to name his replacement ahead of the largest technical changes the sport has seen in 20 years. Much to their chagrin, top drivers Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel are under ironclad contracts with McLaren-Honda and Ferrari. Recently retired veterans like Jenson Button and Felipe Massa are not viable optionsRead More