Romain Grosjean Tag

By FIA Lewis Hamilton led a Mercedes one-two in the opening practice session for the Japanese Grand Prix finishing half a second clear of team-mate Valtteri Bottas and almost seven tenths of a second ahead of the third-placed Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo. Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkönen and championship challenger Sebastian Vettel finished the session in fourth and fifth places, but both set their best times using the supersoft Pirelli compound, while Hamilton session-best time of 1:28.691s was delivered on soft tyres. Vettel ended the session just under a second offRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Fourteen rounds done, seven to go, and since my first installment, there’s been so many changes across all 10 Formula 1 constructors and its 20 drivers. A few would-be contenders have gone by the wayside like Fernando Alonso and Red Bull, and others have flourished after a quiet or abysmal opening leg such as Kimi Raikkonen and Haas F1. We even saw a hot mess behind closed doors, resulting a new constructor and have so far been tremendous. In my latest installment of “Heptagon Viewpoints,”Read More

By FIA Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel went quickest in the second free practice session for the this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix, finishing just 0.074s ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen. Verstappen’s team-mate Daniel Ricciardo finished in third place ahead of the second Ferrari of Kimi Räikkönen. Mercedes, meanwhile, continued to struggle for ultimate pace, with championship leader Lewis Hamilton fifth, over seven tenths of a second behind Verstappen, Valtteri Bottas took sixth place, a full second behind the leading Red Bull. Verstappen led the way in the early part ofRead More

By FIA Max Verstappen doubled Red Bull Racing tally of session-topping times at Hockenheim by setting a new track record in second practice for the German Grand Prix. The Dutchman posted a time of 1:13.085 on ultrasoft tyres to power past Michael Schumacher’s 2004 circuit record by 0.221s. As with the morning session, in which team-mate Daniel Ricciardo was quickest ahead of Lewis Hamilton, Red Bull edged Mercedes by 0.004s, with Hamilton again taking place, this time just under three hundredths of a second off top spot. Verstappen’s session wasn’tRead More

By FIA Sebastian Vettel set the fastest ever lap of the Red Bull Ring to edge Lewis Hamilton by just under three hundredths of a second in final practice for the Austrian Grand Prix. The Ferrari driver powered past the record set in Valtteri Bottas in 2017 qualifying with around 20 minutes left in the session. With three DRS zones to work with and ultrasoft tyres onboard Vettel posted a time of 1:04.070 to eclipse Bottas’ benchmark by 0.181 seconds. Championship leader Hamilton got close to pipping Vettel shortly afterwards,Read More

By FIA Lewis Hamilton took his 75th career pole position in qualifying at the Circuit Paul Ricard for the first Formula 1 French Grand Prix in a decade. Hamilton edged team-mate Valtteri Bottas by just over a tenth of a second with championship leader Sebastian Vettel third and three tenths down on the Briton. At the start of Q1, Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen was the first of the top three team drivers to set a time and his 1:31.823 was good enough to push Haas’ Romain Grosjean out of P1.Read More

By FIA Lewis Hamilton used an upgraded Mercedes power unit to power away from his rivals in second practice for the French Grand Prix, topping the timesheet, seventh tenths of a second clear of nearest rival Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull Racing. Mercedes had been set to introduce an upgrade in Canada but held back the power unit for further tests, but today the Constructors’ champions confirmed that all six Mercedes’ powered cars will run this weekend with the new unit. When the session’s qualifying simulations got into gear midwayRead More

By FIA Lewis Hamilton topped the opening practice timesheet as France returned to the Formula 1 calendar following an absence of a decade, the defending world champion edging Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas by a tenth of a second at the Circuit Paul Ricard. The session ended in spectacular fashion, with Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson crashing out and his car catching fire. The Swedish driver lost control of his Sauber C37 midway through Turn 11 and slid sideways across the run-off area into the barriers. As the car came to rest theRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Seven rounds have been completed, and all the pre-season predictions has either been spot on or have completely missed the mark. Some teams are either producing expected results like Ferrari and Mercedes while others are struggling to find sheer consistency, notably Force India’s bid of retaining the “Best of the Rest” title known as fourth in the Constructor’s Championship. In this first installment of “Heptagon Viewpoints,” I’ll highlight seven takeaways as the Formula One season has reached the one-third mark. The Emergence of Charles LeclercRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor Romain Grosjean’s run of bad luck continued today when his Ferrari power unit began puffing smoke almost immediately after leaving the Haas F1 Team garage for his first run in Q1. The smoke billowed and the Frenchman was forced to stop his VF-18 before even leaving the pit lane. Despite Haas competing with Renault for best of the rest honors at most of the races this year, Grosjean has yet to score a point this year and sits at the back of the drivers standings withRead More