Sebastian Vettel Tag

Listen to “Drafting The Circuits October 19, 2017” on Spreaker. Frank Santoroski and the Drafting the Circuits panel – Joey Barnes, Gray Warren, Richard Youden, Christopher DeHarde and Seth Eggert – report on the carnage at Talladega, previews the F1 USGP in Austin, and has a healthy discussion about driver development, race series schedules, and the latest Indycar driver news. Credits: Host – Frank Santoroski DTC Panel – Joey Barnes, Seth Eggert, Christopher DeHarde, Gray Warren, & Richard Youden Producers – Anthony Arnold & Keith Hayes Special thanks to Whoobazoo for hosting the DTC Podcast. SocialRead More

The 2017 Formula One season has been one of the more intense as fans have enjoyed a battle between Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel, two well established titans of the past decade. However, with Ferrari’s recent struggles, all looks lost for Vettel to wage a proper battle. The group weighs in on that, plus several other topics as this weekend’s United States Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas draws ever closer. The obvious question first, with Lewis Hamilton’s lead of 59 points over Sebastian Vettel and a collapsing FerrariRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor Victory in the Japanese Grand Prix wasn’t much of a contest for Lewis Hamilton after Sebastian Vettel retired his Ferrari with a spark plug issue, but it nevertheless served up an abundance of fascinating statistics. Chief of which is the incredible nature of Hamilton’s pole lap time and the time in which he finished the Grand Prix the next day. His lap record in qualifying on Saturday of 1:27.31 matches up exactly with the 1 hour 27 minutes and 31 seconds he took to finish theRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Sebastian Vettel saw his chances at a fifth Formula One championship dealt its biggest blow yet with an early retirement from Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix. It was the third consecutive weekend that Scuderia Ferrari have dealt with problems at the start of the race in some form or another. The 30-year-old German was leading the championship up to the Italian Grand Prix, but with just four rounds left in 2017 he now sits second behind Mercedes rival Lewis Hamilton – who stretched his margin out toRead More

Lewis Hamilton took his 71st career pole position and his first at Japan’s Suzuka Circuit as he beat Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas by three tenths of a second with Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel third. However, title contender Vettel will start alongside championship leader Hamilton on the front row as Bottas is set for a grid penalty due to an unscheduled gearbox change. Hamilton set the pace in Q1, rising to the top of the timesheet around 10 minutes into the session with a lap of 1:29.047 on soft tyres. He wasRead More

Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas topped the final practice timesheet at Suzuka at the end of a session that was twice halted by red flags, first as Bottas himself hit the barriers and then for a crash involving Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkönen. Bottas posted a best time of 1:29.055s on soft tyres early in the session to finish 0.014s clear of team-mate Lewis Hamilton, with Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel in third place, with a time set soon in the final third of the hour on supersoft tyres. In the opening period, with the Mercedes drivers outRead More

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel went quickest in opening practice for the Japanese Grand Prix, beating Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton by two tenths of a second. The session was interrupted, however, by a heavy crash involving Carlos Sainz. Sainz’s smash came shortly after the midpoint of the session. The Toro Rosso driver ran wide on the entry to Turn 12, after the hairpin, and lost control of his car. The Spaniard spun across the track and arrowed nose first into the barriers, scattering debris across the surface. The session was immediately red-flagged asRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor The Japanese Grand Prix was first held all the way back in 1963 as a sports car race, it did not become an official Formula One Grand Prix until 1976 on and has been held 30 times since. The first two grands prix were at Fuji speedway near Tokyo, including the dramatic 1977 title decider where James Hunt won the World Championship over Niki Lauda. The race then dropped off the calendar for 10 years before it moved to its spiritual home of Suzuka Circuit inRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor Sebastian Vettel must be thanking his lucky stars. After going out on the opening lap in Singapore, and starting from the back in Malaysia, he won’t have a gearbox change penalty for Japan. His bizarre cool down lap collision with Williams’ Lance Stroll tore the left rear wheel from his SF70H and the subsequent chassis damage indicated that the gearbox could be damaged as well. Ferrari flew the gearbox back to its headquarters in Maranello in order to give it a detailed examination. Today it gaveRead More

The final Malaysian Grand Prix saw Max Verstappen celebrate his birthday in style by claiming a superb win at the Sepang International Circuit. After overtaking championship leader Lewis Hamilton in the opening laps to take the lead, Verstappen who turned 20 yesterday, delivered a faultless drive to march unchallenged to the chequered flag ahead of the Mercedes driver and Red Bull team-mate Daniel Ricciardo. Hamilton’s second place now gives him a 34-point Drivers’ Championship lead over Sebastian Vettel after the Ferrari driver fought his way from last on the grid to fourthRead More