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  • Hamilton Fastest at Hungarian GP Practice 1

    Hamilton Fastest at Hungarian GP Practice 1

    Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton finished the first free practice session of the Hungarian Grand Prix on top of the time sheets.

    Hamilton’s time of 1:21.347 sent him to the top of the time sheets on the red marked super-soft tyre. Newly re-signed Mercedes team mate, Nico Rosberg was second fastest, 0.237s off the pace, with a 1:21.584.

    The session which started under overcast and damp conditions saw drivers head out on the intermediates initially. There was hardly any running for the first 30mins of the session. Once the track was dry drivers took to the track and the lap times started tumbling.

    Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen were 3rd and 4th fastest respectively for Ferrari with Vettels best time of 1:22.991, 1.644s off Hamilton’s pace. The Red Bull pair of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen were 5th and 6th fastest.

    Both McLaren’s finished in the top 10 with Fernando Alonso setting a 1:23.961 to place him 7th fastest ahead of his team mate Jenson Button in 8th.

    Haas F1’s Romain Grosjean was 9th fastest and Force India’s Sergio Perez marginally faster than his team mate to take 10th fastest.

    Mercedes once again showed why they are the team to beat laying down the gauntlet early on. Times will get much quicker once the track rubbers in and the dust is cleared.

    Red Bull have not showed their hand yet as they completed the session without running the super soft tyres. Both drivers’ times came courtesy of the yellow marked soft-compound tyre. There is not much between Red Bull on the softs and Ferrari on the super softs and it does look like Red Bull may have the upper hand over Ferrari.

    Pos Driver Car Time Gap Laps
    1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:21.347 – 34
    2 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:21.584 +0.237 34
    3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:22.991 +1.644 22
    4 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:23.082 +1.735 19
    5 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:23.174 +1.827 28
    6 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:23.457 +2.110 27
    7 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:23.935 +2.588 28
    8 Jenson Button McLaren 1:23.961 +2.614 18
    9 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:24.013 +2.666 22
    10 Sergio Perez Force India 1:24.073 +2.726 29
    11 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:24.120 +2.773 29
    12 Felipe Massa Williams 1:24.154 +2.807 27
    13 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:24.370 +3.023 33
    14 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 1:24.579 +3.232 27
    15 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:24.981 +3.634 19
    16 Charles Leclerc Haas 1:25.181 +3.834 22
    17 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:25.256 +3.909 18
    18 Esteban Ocon Renault 1:25.260 +3.913 28
    19 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1:25.324 +3.977 16
    20 Rio Haryanto Manor 1:27.012 +5.665 23
    21 Pascal Wehrlein Manor 1:27.249 +5.902 9
    22 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1:28.560 +7.213 6

     

    Photo Credit: Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team

  • Rosberg Signs New Deal With Mercedes

    Rosberg Signs New Deal With Mercedes

    German driver Nico Rosberg has signed a new deal with Mercedes AMG Petronas F1.

    In a video released on Friday morning Rosberg could be seen signing a paper with with Toto Wolff.

    The deal which took a while to finalize was handled by former Ferrari driver Gerhard Berger. The deal is reportedly for another two years which will see Rosberg at Mercedes till the end of 2018.

     

     

     

  • Vettel slams “bullshit” updated radio ban rules as a joke

    Vettel slams “bullshit” updated radio ban rules as a joke

    Sebastian Vettel has slammed Formula One’s updated radio restrictions as “complete bullshit” after the FIA tightened the radio rules ahead of this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix.

    According F1’s sporting regulations, drivers must drive their car “alone and unaided”. The rule however has been put under the microscope following the British Grand Prix where Nico Rosberg was demoted from 2nd to 3rd place following a breach of the regulations. The Mercedes pitwall had informed Rosberg on how to fix a faulty gearbox towards the end of the race, which ensured that the German avoided having to retire his car from the race.

    Teams must now call a driver in to the pits if he suffers a similar issue. Teams will be allowed to advise drivers while they are driving through the pit lane, effectively resulting in a drive-through penalty.

    Vettel told the media that the new rules are, “Complete bullshit. I think all the radio issues we had, I think it’s a joke. I looked at the race after and I found as a spectator it was quite entertaining to hear a driver a little bit panicking on the radio and the team panicking at the same time.

    “I think it puts the element of human being in our sport that arguably is very complicated and technical, so I think that’s the wrong way. There’s a lot of boring stuff on the radio that got banned, I don’t see the point, I think if you want to change it you should change the cars. I have no problem, let’s go back to V12s, manual gearbox, two buttons, one for pit speed limiter and one for radio just to confirm when we are coming in and other than that, not much electronics to look after, which there’s no point then to memorise a lot of things.”

    Vettel also insists that F1 drivers should not be punished for how technical other people have made their cars, highlighting how much steering wheels have changed since the 90s.

    “I think all of the buttons that we have on the steering wheel today are there for a reason. It’s not like ‘ah yeah, we can build buttons, let’s put them on the steering wheel’, so I think if you just look at a 1995 steering wheel for example, or speak to a lot of experts that are still around in the paddock, what they raced with, it was a simpler just because the cars technology was a lot simpler. It’s not our mistake, as in the drivers, that the cars are so complicated these days that they need a manual this big and a steering wheel full of buttons to operate it. I think we’re going a little bit in the wrong way so that’s why I think it’s bad and we should just go back to being able to say what we want.”

     

  • Electronic sensors installed to monitor Hungarian GP track limits

    Electronic sensors installed to monitor Hungarian GP track limits

    The FIA has confirmed that electronic sensors will be installed on the outside of the kerbs around certain corners of the Hungaroring this weekend to monitor the track limits during the Hungarian GP.

    The F1 governing body has made the decision in a bid to catch any drivers gaining an unfair advantage by exceeding the track limits and running wide around these corners.

    The Austrian Grand Prix saw a number of drivers using excessive amounts of kerb, often having all four wheels off the track, resulting in several suspension failures and other related incidents. At Silverstone, drivers running wide at certain corners during the British Grand Prix weekend saw their times deleted in lieu of penalties but race control admitted having trouble monitoring all corners of the track.

    This weekend, the FIA have installed electronic sensors at Turns 4 and 11 to monitor the track limits electronic following Charlie Whiting’s report.

    In a note to the teams, Whiting said: “In Turns 4 and 11, the new double kerb has been installed and the artificial grass removed. However, the run-off areas behind the kerbs have been set at the same height as the kerbs themselves, the required deterrent is therefore not present,”

    “With this in mind we have installed loops 1.6 metres from the track edge which will alert us when a car has all four wheels off the track in these two locations.”

    The F1 grid is pretty evenly split in their reaction to the electronic sensors being installed.

    Sebastian Vettel led the unimpressed group of drivers saying, “It’s the FIA to blame for building circuits that make it faster to run off the track than on the track. It’s quite disappointing.”

    “The result is it’s faster to go off track than to stay on track,” he continued. “It doesn’t make much sense, does it?”

    Daniil Kvyat was also pretty unimpressed saying that the FIA should just, “put a normal kerb there and you don’t need all these electronic systems.

    “Now we have some electronic sensors, maybe they’ll work correctly, maybe they’ll fuck everyone up.

    “I personally trust my eyes more than the sensors.”

    Jenson Button on the other hand reckons it’s a good idea because some form of limit is required to stop drivers exceeding track limits.

    “It’s good, I like it,” he said. “The way things are, all of the kerbs are pretty similar on all circuits now, so they’re easy to run over on exits.

    “We need something, we need a limit to stop us going over there.”

    Lewis Hamilton was also in favour of the idea. Hamilton, who lost one of his lap times during qualifying for the British Grand Prix after running wide, said: “It will be an easier thing for them to police because at the moment some corners we’re allowed to go out,” he said.

    “Silverstone Turn 7, you’re allowed to drive straight off the track no problem, which is an advantage but at Turn 9 you’re not allowed to, which isn’t an advantage if you go off.

    “It’s a good step forward.”

    The electronic sensor technology has previously been used by the FIA to monitor chicanes but this weekend will be the first time it is used to monitor the kerbs.

    Photo: Red Bull Racing 

  • FIA Revises Radio Restrictions Ahead of Hungarian GP

    FIA Revises Radio Restrictions Ahead of Hungarian GP

    The FIA has made changes to the radio regulations ahead of this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix.

    The changes come after Nico Rosberg was given a 10-second time penalty after the British Grand Prix when his race engineer instructed him on how to drive around his gearbox problem during the race.

    The FIA have now issued a new directive to teams regarding radio regulations which tightens up the rules slightly. The big change to the rules is that race engineers will be allowed to instruct drivers on setting changes but this has to be done when the driver is in the pit lane only. The regulation regarding radio communication in the pit lane has also been altered in this regard. Previously race engineers were only allowed to give instructions when the driver was in his garage. Communications are now allowed until the driver has exited the pit lane.

    The section regarding instructions now reads: “Indication of a problem with the car. Any message of this sort must include an irreversible instruction to enter the pits to rectify the problem or to retire the car.”

    Another change was made to the regulation regarding a damaged car. Previously drivers were told exactly which component on the car was damaged. Under the revised directives, the race engineer is only allowed to warn the driver of damage to the car and cannot state which part of the car is damaged.

    On the issue of car settings, engineers are now allowed to inform the driver of a setting change “for the sole purpose of mitigating loss of function of a sensor, actuator or controller whose degradation or failure was not detected and handled by the on-board software.”

  • New Owners at Sauber F1 Team

    New Owners at Sauber F1 Team

    The Sauber Group have been acquired by Swiss finance company Longbow Finance S.A..

    The deal which was signed on Tuesday 19 July by Peter Sauber and Monisha Kaltenborn. The deal will see Peter Sauber retire with Pascal Picci the current President and CEO of Longbow Finanace S.A take over as Chairman of Sauber Holdings A.G.

    Kaltenborn will keep her seat on the board and will continue her role as CEO and Team Principal of Sauber.

    “As a Swiss company, we are very pleased with having secured the future of a Swiss presence in a highly specialized and innovative industry,” said Picci on the share purchase.

    Monisha Kaltenborn had this to say about the new owners: “:“We are very pleased that by reaching an agreement with Longbow Finance S.A., we can secure the future of Sauber at the pinnacle of motorsport.

    We are convinced that Longbow Finance S.A. is the perfect partner to again make the team competitive and successful in Formula 1.

    At the same time the new structure will allow us to finally further expand our third party business in which we commercialise our know-how. This solution is in the best interest of our employees, partners, loyal suppliers, the base in Hinwil and for the Swiss motorsport.

    We are very grateful that Longbow Finance S.A.believes in the competences, efficiency and capabilities of Sauber Group, and we look forward to a new exciting future.”

    Peter Sauber, President of the Board of Directors, Sauber Holding AG:
    “Monisha Kaltenborn and I yesterday signed an agreement which secures the future of the Formula 1 Team and the Sauber Group.

    I am very happy that my courageous investment to buy the team back, which I made six years ago, with the intention to secure the base in Hinwil and the place in Formula 1 has proved to be correct.”

  • Weather Report for the 2016 Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix

    Weather Report for the 2016 Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix

    Coming up to the halfway point in the Formula One World Championship and we are at the Hungaroring for the 2016 Hungarian Grand Prix in Mogyoród, Hungary.

    The middle of the season is always an interesting time. Teams are starting to focus on the next years cars and drivers are moving around. Some teams are already shifting focus to 2017 with a small development team focusing on 2016. The front running teams who have the bigger budgets have the luxury of keeping their foot on gas pedal to keep the 2016 development and 2017 going.

    The Hungaroring is a track that has been good to many drivers and teams. Many first F1 victories have been recorded at the historic circuit which has been hosting F1 since 1986. The location and topography of the track make it possible, in some places, so see up to 80% of the track. The elevations changes are not that extreme but the twisty flowing nature of the track makes overtaking very difficult. Not to say overtaking is difficult but it is a bit of a challenge if a driver cannot get close enough into Turn 1 with DRS.

    For 2016 the track has been resurfaced and the kerbs have been changed. This new surface should make braking a little easier compared to the old surface where breaking was rather bumpy into some corners. There is talk of lap records tumbling once again.

    Mercedes are currently on a roll, Red Bull are looking stronger while Ferrari seem neither here nor there. Red Bull fancy their chances to take the fight to Mercedes this weekend. The characteristics of the track suits the Red Bull car very well. Mercedes will not take things lying down they will take the fight to who ever threatens their dominance.

    In the mid-field battle, Force India will be hoping to overturn a 19 point lead Williams has over them as they target 4th in the Constructors Championship. Slow circuits are neither Williams not Force India’s cup of tea. It will be interesting to see who comes out on top at the end of the race on Sunday.

    The Hungarian Grand Prix takes place in the middle of summer in Hungary. Conditions are usually very hot and dry. Temperatures this weekend will stay around the low 30’s with clear conditions expected throughout the weekend.

    Hungary 2016_Weather

     



  • F1 2016: Hungarian Gp Preview – Three-Way Battle Around The Ring

    F1 2016: Hungarian Gp Preview – Three-Way Battle Around The Ring

    When the FIA announced a 21-race calendar for the 2016 it’s likely that few really took notice of what this actually meant. As the paddock heads to the Hungaroring in Budapest, Hungary for the 11th round it will, astonishingly, only reach the halfway mark of the season on lap 35 of the race.

    The 70 laps of the Hungaroring are akin to a street circuit thanks to its tight and twisting layout. The second sector especially highlights the flowing nature of the circuit, as it comprises eight medium to high speed flowing turns that demand absolute precision.

    The price for its kart-like layout and lack of straits is that overtaking opportunities are not obvious or abundant. The most predictable overtaking opportunity is an out-braking maneuver into turn one.

    The top two teams in the championship are split on tyre strategy. Pirelli is bringing the white-walled medium, yellow-walled soft, and red-walled supersoft tyre compounds to the race. Ferrari has loaded up on nine sets of supersoft tyres each for Raikkonen and Vettel while Mercedes have opted for eight sets of the softest tyre for Rosberg and Hamilton. The Hungaroring is a circuit that is notoriously low on grip for which the supersoft tyre is ideal.

    Daniel Ricciardo_Monaco 2016The Red Bull team are primed for a good weekend in Hungary. The improved Renault power unit is not quite to the standard of Mercedes and Ferrari but it’s not far off. But they do excel in the aerodynamic department and with a better power unit than ever bolted to the back of the Red Bull and the tight and twisting nature of the Hungaroring Christian Horner and his team can be more than bullish about their chances, pun intended.

    The inter-team rivalry between Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen will be especially interesting to note this weekend. In their six races, so far, as teammates Verstappen has scored 77 points to Ricciardo’s 64 points. But the Hungarian grand prix will be a big test for the Verstappen vs. Ricciardo battle.

    Ricciardo has an affinity for the tight and twisty circuits as he has proved on several occasions including earlier this year in Monaco. The Aussie knows his way around the Hungaroring too as it was here, in 2014, that he pulled off several magnificent overtaking moves to win a memorable race. This will be a good indicator of how Verstappen is progressing. “I have to up my game compared to where I was before in Toro Rosso because he [Ricciardo] is very quick,” said Verstappen.

    Ferrari-SF15-T-Jerez-01It should be a better weekend for Ferrari too. As it stands Kimi Raikkonen currently sits third in the championship with 106 points while teammate Sebastian Vettel is fifth on 98 points. However, the team experienced their worst race weekend, in terms of performance, at Silverstone. But Raikkonen believes that the team’s struggles in Britain were a once off. The biggest issue, which plagued Ferrari at the last race weekend, was the cooler weather. It’s a well-documented fact that both drivers struggle to get the front tyres to the correct operating temperature in cool condition. This shouldn’t be an issue this weekend as the Hungarian grand prix weekend in hot summer conditions.

    But while Red Bull and Ferrari are likely to be in better shape for Hungary the ever-dominant Mercedes will still be lurking. The qualifying pace advantage will be a big asset around a circuit where overtaking is difficult. Nevertheless, while the two Silver Arrows are in prime form they should, and likely will, face stiff competition for the top step of the podium in Hungary.

  • WATCH: Nico Rosberg Previews the Hungaroring

    WATCH: Nico Rosberg Previews the Hungaroring

    MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team driver Nico Rosberg, together with Chief Race Engineer Andrew Shovlin, discuss the challenges of the Budapest Grand Prix. Rosberg comments: “Thinking of the immense heat, I`m aware that this is the sort of race I`ve been doing all my training for.”

  • Kimi Raikkonen rules the Silverstone F1 test roost

    Kimi Raikkonen rules the Silverstone F1 test roost

    The second and final in-season F1 test took place at Silverstone this week following the British Grand Prix this past weekend.

    Kimi Raikkonen ruled the roost, topping the combined time sheets with a time of 1:30.665 on Pirelli’s soft tyres. His time was half a second clear of the young Esteban Ocon who put in the most mileage in the Mercedes W07 Hybrid.

    Red Bull’s young driver, Pierre Gasly took the third spot in his RB12, ahead of Force India’s development driver Nikita Mazepin who spent both days in the VJM09.

    Fifth fastest was McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne who finished ahead of Williams’ Valterri Bottas and Santino Ferrucci who was testing for the Haas F1 team.

    Joylen Palmer clocked the eighth fastest F1 test time for Renault ahead of Toro Rosso’s Sergio Sette Camara and young Alex Lynn who rounded out the Top 10 times in the second Williams.

    Combined timesheets for the Silvertsone F1 test:

    Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) 1:30.665 Softs
    Esteban Ocon (Mercedes) 1:31.212 Softs
    Fernando Alonso (McLaren) 1:31.290 Super Softs
    Pierre Gasly (Red Bull) 1:31.429 Softs
    Nikita Mazepin (Force India) 1:31.561 Super Softs
    Stoffel Vandoorne (McLaren) 1:31.764 Super Softs
    Valtteri Bottas (Williams) 1:32.423 Softs
    Santino Ferrucci (Haas) 1:33.141 Softs
    Jolyon Palmer (Renault) 1:33.308 Hard tyres
    Sérgio Sette Camara (Toro Rosso) 1:34.040 Softs
    Alex Lynn (Williams 1:34.433 Mediums
    Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 1:34.446 Mediums
    Carlos Sainz Jr. (Toro Rosso) 1:34.643 Mediums
    Jordan King (Manor) 1:35.060 Softs
    Rio Haryanto (Manor) 1:35.631 Softs
    Sergey Sirotkin (Renault) 1:36.575 Hard tyres

    Pascal Wehrlein also took part in the F1 test, but he drove a 2014-spec Mercedes to test the 2017 prototype 2017 tyre elements for Pirelli. The Sauber F1 team did not take part in the test at all.

    All seven of Pirelli’s compounds were used over the two days of running with mixed weather conditions at the Silverstone circuit playing a major part in the F1 test.

    Here are the best lap times on each tyre compound, as well as the longest stints completed on each.

    Best lap times:

    Wet: Esteban Ocon 1:51.264
    Intermediate: Kimi Raikkonen 1:45.828
    Hard: Jolyon Palmer 1:33.308
    Medium: Kimi Raikkonen 1:32.730
    Soft: Kimi Raikkonen 1:30.665
    Super Soft: Fernando Alonso 1:31.290
    Ultra Soft: Nikita Mazepin 1:32.075

    Longest stints:

    Wet: Fernando Alonso 11 laps
    Intermediate: Fernando Alonso 17 laps
    Hard: Jolyon Palmer 9 laps
    Medium: Esteban Ocon 21 laps
    Soft: Esteban Ocon 14 laps
    Super Soft: Nikita Mazepin 4 laps
    Ultra Soft: Nikita Mazepin 4 laps