Williams Martini Tag

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor The 56th edition of the Rolex 24 at Daytona kicks off the racing year with one of the most star studded grids of the season. Among the starters of tomorrow’s endurance classic are three 2018 Formula One drivers who have come stateside to compete against the best of IMSA, as well as some of better talents from NASCAR and IndyCar. Fernando Alonso is continuing his exploration outside of F1 as the next chapter of his triple crown attempt (Monaco GP, Indianapolis 500 and 24 Hours ofRead More

By Aaron Bearden, Contributing Writer He may not have won the second seat at Williams Martini Racing, but Robert Kubica will still be behind the wheel for the team in 2018. Williams announced Tuesday the addition of Kubica as a reserve and development driver, signaling that the Pole will participate with the team in testing sessions – including the upcoming Barcelona pre-season testing – as well as occasional practice sessions during race weekends. “I am delighted to announce that Robert will be joining Williams as our Reserve and Development DriverRead More

By Aaron Bearden, Contributing Writer With the FIA Formula One World Championship season just two months away, Williams Martini Racing has finally announced the driver that will join sophomore Lance Stroll to complete their 2018 lineup. The team announced Tuesday that Sergey Sirotkin will be their replacement for the retired Felipe Massa, noting that the 22-year-old’s performance in the FW40 as part of last year’s Abu Dhabi Pirelli tyre test impressed the organization and ultimately earned him the ride. “We have conducted a rigorous and exhaustive driver evaluation process,” ChiefRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor Williams Martini Racing has narrowed down its driver search for Lance Stroll’s 2018 partner to three, according to Motorsport Magazine. Current pilot Felipe Massa, who has been with the team since 2014 despite an initial planned retirement prior to the team losing Valtteri Bottas to Mercedes, is said to still be a possibility for the Grove-based outfit. However, the plan is to test out Paul di Resta and Robert Kubica before settling on the 2018 seat. For di Resta, who serves as the team’s reserve driver,Read More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor The Azerbaijan Grand Prix had everything this year: crashes, controversy, surprise results and a ton of interesting statistics to process. Chief among them was the fifth win of Daniel Ricciardo’s career. His win from 10th on the grid is the furthest back a driver has won since Fernando Alonso won from 11th in the 2012 European Grand Prix. The last driver who actually won from 10th was Kimi Raikkonen, way back in the 2004 Belgian Grand Prix. With five wins, Ricciardo is tied with Giuseppe Farina,Read More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor The Canadian Grand Prix gave us many new stats last weekend, not least of all was Lewis Hamilton tying his idol Ayrton Senna with 65 pole positions. Lewis is now just three from tying Michael Schumacher for the all time record of 68. Hamilton also won the Canadian Grand Prix for the sixth time since he joined F1 in 2007. One more win in Canada and he will tie Schumacher again, this time for the most wins in Montreal. Schumacher still holds the record for mostRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor The fear espoused by many in the build up to the season looks like it may have come true; overtaking has been made significantly more difficult, at least so far. Many voices of reason and experience questioned the move to higher downforce cars, veteran drivers like Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa who experienced the high downforce machines of the mid 2000’s said that increased downforce wasn’t the answer. Some of the men who designed the notoriously quick but hard to pass cars of that era likeRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor After two seasons with regular podiums, Williams Martini Racing slipped behind Force India last year for a disappointing fifth in the Constructor’s standings. A turbulent off season saw them lose Valtteri Bottas to Mercedes after Nico Rosberg’s surprise retirement. This caused an awkward exchange when the team immediately called veteran Felipe Massa out of retirement. The affable Brazilian agreed and he leads Williams for at least one more season. He is joined by Canadian rookie Lance Stroll, who won blitzed last year’s European F3 Championship andRead More

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