Sebastian Vettel Tag

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor The Australian Grand Prix kicked off the 2018 Formula 1 season with plenty of drama yesterday from Albert Park in Melbourne, Australia. Though the race was by no means a classic, it proved to be far more entertaining than the season opener of 2017 and gave us plenty of talking points, from the pace and misfortune of Haas, to Max Verstappen’s wild spin. Sebastian Vettel won after taking advantage of Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton’s miscalculation during the Virtual Safety Car. Kimi Raikkonen joined them on theRead More

By FIA Sebastian Vettel took a sensational Australian Grand Prix victory, taking advantage of a mid-race safety car to beat arch-rival Lewis Hamilton. The defending champion was forced to settle for second place ahead of the second Ferrari of Kimi Räikkönen. Local hero Daniel Ricciardo finished fourth. Hamilton led away comfortably at the start, dismissing a brief challenger from Raikkonen as they made their way through the first corners. Vettel held third place but behind Haas’ Kevin Magnussen got the jump on Verstappen who dropped to fifth ahead of Grosjean,Read More

By FIA Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel grabbed top spot in final practice for the Australian Grand Prix with a late surge on ultrasoft tyres at the end of a we-dry session at Albert Park. With the track damp and greasy until the closing stages most teams opted to play safe and remain on intermediate tyres during the final minutes of the session, with Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen setting the pace with a lap of 1:31.680 on the green-banded tyres with just a minute to go. Vettel, though had bolted onRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Sebastian Vettel is confident that Ferrari has not shown its true pace after an unspectacular showing in Friday’s opening practice sessions for the Australian Grand Prix. As it stands, Lewis Hamilton swept the two sessions for Mercedes, with Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen pulling to within 0.127 of a second behind after a strong showing in the afternoon. However, it was Kimi Raikkonen leading the way for Ferrari, who paced fourth best at 0.283 of a second behind the leader, with Vettel posting fifth but over halfRead More

By FIA Sebastian Vettel broke the circuit record set yesterday by Daniel Ricciardo by almost a second to top the timesheets on the penultimate day of pre-season Formula 1 testing in Barcelona. The Ferrari ended the day over a second clear of nearest rival Kevin Magnussen of Haas, as other frontrunners sent much of the day on long runs. Vettel’s table topping time arrived in morning session as the German sampled the hypersoft Pirelli tyres. And as the bulk of drivers, including Vettel, moved to race simulations in the afternoonRead More

By FIA Daniel Ricciardo set the fastest ever lap of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya to top the timesheets on day two of the second pre-season Formula 1 test at the Spanish track. The Red Bull Racing driver used Pirelli’s new hypersoft compound to post a time of 1:18.047 that beat Felipe Massa’s 2008 record. It was also good enough, on the day, to eclipse world champion Lewis Hamilton by over three tenths of a second. Hamilton had led for most of the morning session and set his quickest time onRead More

By FIA Sebastian Vettel set the quickest time of the opening day of the second and final pre-season test ahead of the 2018 FIA Formula 1 season, edging Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas by just two hundredths of a second. Bottas made the early running on a busy morning for 2018’s expected front runners, putting in 86 laps on his way to a best time of 1:20.596, set on soft compound Pirelli tyres. However, he was deposed from top spot shortly before lunchtime when Vettel logged a lap of 1:20.396 using mediumRead More

By FIA Reigning F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton went quickest on the final day of the first pre-season test ahead of the 2018 FIA Formula 1 campaign, beating Stoffel Vandoorne by half a second. After a wet morning during which Mercedes’ W09 challenger was driven by Valtteri Bottas, Hamilton took over in the afternoon and used medium tyres to post a time of 1:19.333. That 0.521s clear of Vandoorne’s best which had been set on Pirelli’s new hypersoft tyres, one of seven dry compounds of offer this year. Ferrari’s SebastianRead More

By FIA Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel set the quickest time of day two of the first pre-season Formula 1 test in Barcelona, outpacing Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas by three tenths of a second. McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne finished third on the timesheet a further three tenths back. The day began in muted fashion as overnight snow and rain meant conditions were tricky early on and many teams avoided significant running before the halfway point of running. One of those was Red Bull Racing, with the Milton Keynes team being restricted to the garageRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor Mercedes unveiled their 2018 car today at a cold Silverstone circuit. The brand new W09 is the latest in the royal bloodline that has won four consecutive drivers and constructors championships. If the team can achieve that feat again this season, they will equal the success of the Michael Schumacher era at Ferrari. To do so the new W09 will need to be less of a diva than its predecessor which saw Ferrari put up a close fight and get Sebastian Vettel past Valtteri Bottas inRead More