Toro Rosso Tag

By FIA Mercedes Valtteri Bottas went quickest in final practice to the Chinese Grand Prix in a session curtailed due a heavy crash involving Toro Rosso’s Alex Albon.  With six minutes remaining in the session the Thai driver went wide in the final corner. He attempted to correct the error and that sent his Toro into a spin. He hit the barriers hard, destroying the whole left-hand side of his car. The Toro Rosso driver was quickly on the radio to confirm he was unhurt and to apologise for aRead More

By FIA Sebastian Vettel topped the timesheet on the final day of pre-season Formula 1 testing at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. The Ferrari driver ended the day just 0.003s ahead of 2018 F1 champion Lewis Hamilton, as Mercedes at last showed some true pace. Vettel’s final day benchmark arrived in the morning session. The German bolted on a set of C5 compound Pirelli tyres shortly before the lunch break and posted a time of 1:16.221. Vettel’s day ended early, however. The German added 42 laps to his morning total ofRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Alexander Albon has been officially announced by Scuderia Toro Rosso as its second driver for the 2019 Formula One season. The 22-year-old British-born Thai driver partners alongside Daniil Kvyat, who spent this year as a development driver with Ferrari after spending the previous five seasons under the Red Bull umbrella. Albon captured four wins en route to third in the Formula 2 championship, finishing behind titlist George Russell and runner-up Lando Norris, both of whom were also recently announced for 2019 seats at Williams and McLaren,Read More

By FIA Mercedes’s Lewis Hamilton continued to dominate the timesheets in practice for Sunday’s United States Grand Prix, with the Briton, who could wrap up a fifth title this weekend, running a second clear of Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly in a badly rain-disrupted second session at the Circuit of the Americas. Meanwhile, the fading title hopes of Hamilton’s sole title rival, Sebastian Vettel, were dealt a blow when he was hit with a three-place grid penalty for a rules infringement in the morning practice session. Vettel failed to stay aboveRead More

By FIA Mercedes Lewis Hamilton took his eighth pole position of the season at Suzuka and the 80th of his career, while title rival Sebastian Vettel faces a ninth-place race start after a troubled final segment of qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix. Valtteri Bottas will start alongside Hamilton in the second Mercedes, while Red Bull’s Max Verstappen with start at the front of row three, alongside the second Ferrari of Kimi Räikkönen. Vettel established an early benchmark in Q1 with a lap of 1:29.049, more than half a second clearRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Red Bull Racing has announced that Pierre Gasly will replace the departing Daniel Ricciardo and partner with Max Verstappen for 2019. The 22-year-old Frenchman has impressed during his first full season campaign in Formula 1. Driving for Red Bull Racing’s junior squad, Toro Rosso, he has collected three finishes in the points, including a stellar fourth-place result in the Bahrain Grand Prix. The opportunity came to light after Ricciardo elected to make a shocking move to join Renault for next season. The move became all theRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix was the most thrilling in the desert kingdom in years as a high speed game of chess between Ferrari and Mercedes kept the winner in doubt until the final corner of the final lap. In the end Sebastian Vettel pulled off a magnificent victory as he nursed badly worn tires to the finish after switching from a planned two stop strategy to a one stopper. Valtteri Bottas closed on him in the Mercedes, but was unable to unseat his German rival. BehindRead More

By FIA Fernando Alonso posted the only timed lap of the day as snow and then heavy rain turned day three of Formula 1 testing in Barcelona into a wash-out. Overnight snow and freezing temperatures led to a long delay in the morning but the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya was eventually declared fit for running at midday. However, persistent rain throughout the afternoon meant that few teams ventured out on track. Alonso completed the most laps, with 11, and the McLaren driver claimed the timesheet honours for the day with theRead 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 The 2018 Formula One season is finally upon us. After the long winter break, all 10 teams hit the track this morning at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain. While the full picture of who is competitive, who has got it right, and who has got it wrong won’t fully form till the end of testing next week, there are meaningful things we can gleam just from breaking down the first day’s running. The biggest caveat in doing so are two variables that made today’s runningRead More