F1 Madness

Tag: carlos sainz jr

  • Massa Fastest for Williams on Day 1 of Final Test

    Massa Fastest for Williams on Day 1 of Final Test

    Felipe Massa set the fastest time on the first day of the final pre-season test in Barcelona on the soft tyre completing a qualifying simulation.

    Massa’s time of 1:23.500 is the fastest time seen so far in Barcelona. His time was 0.776s faster than second fastest of the day, Marcus Ericsson in the Sauber who achieved a 1:24.276 on Pirelli’s red supersoft compound tyre. Ericssson also completed the most laps of the day clocking up 122 laps.

    Third fastest for the day was Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton set the pace in the morning session on a set of white medium tyres and kept the top spots until the afternoon. His day, however, came to an early end after an MGU-K failure on the Mercedes. The team could not fix the problem before the end of the day. Hamilton is hoping to complete 122 laps tomorrow.

    Daniil Kvyat for Red Bull and Romain Grosjean for Lotus finished 4th and 5th fastest respectively. Both completing 75 laps on the day while Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen ended the day in 6th place. Ferrari are expecting new parts on the car on Friday which they hope should improve their pace.

    Carlos Sainz Jr. finished the day 7th fastest for Toro Rosso sporting a new nose design. He completed 86 laps on the day.

    McLaren endured another difficult day. Jenson Button managed to complete just 7 laps for the day and was almost 8 seconds off Massa’s pace. “After just seven laps, Jenson noted a vibration and brought the car back to the pits, where we discovered a hydraulic leak that required a full power-unit change,” said the team spokesperson. “The time required to complete the change unfortunately meant that our running for the day was over before lunchtime.”

    Force India plan to run the VJM08 for the first time this season tomorrow with Nico Hulkenberg at the wheel. They’re expected to be wheels rolling by the afternoon.

    Below are the unofficial times for the first day of the final test:

    Final Pre-Season Test Day 1

  • Grosjean Quickest on Final Day of Testing and Alonso Crashes

    Grosjean Quickest on Final Day of Testing and Alonso Crashes

    Romain Grosjean put his Lotus on the top of the time sheets at the end of the final day of the second pre-season test while McLaren’s Fernando Alonso was air lifted to hospital after a crash at T3.

    Grosjean’s time of 1:24.067 on the soft compound tyres from Pirelli put him on top of the time sheets in the afternoon session which is also the fastest time of the entire 2nd test. Nico Rosberg in the Mercedes finished the day second fastest firing somewhat of a warning shot to rivals. Rosberg’s time of 1:24.321 on the medium compound tyres, was just 0.254s slower than Grosjean’s time. Pirelli say that the gap between the two tyres is about 2 seconds a lap. That should get teams shifting rather uncomfortably in their seats.

    McLaren’s test came to an abrupt end when Alonso went off the track and crashed into the T3 barrier. An ambulance was dispatched to the scene. He was then taken to the circuits Alonso Barcelona test crashmedical centre. He spent a few minutes at the medical centre and was then airlifted to a nearby hospital for further tests. After a short while, McLaren released a statement saying that Alonso was “conscious and spoke with the doctors”.

    The second test did not go too well for McLaren who seem to be still ironing out the kinks with the new Honda power unit. Throughout the 4 days of the test, they managed a total of 104 laps.

    Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat finished 3rd fastest with Sauber’s Felipe Nasr just 0.015s slower in 4th. “It was another good day for us,” Kvyat explained. “We learned a lot that will be of benefit in the future and that’s what testing is all about.”

    Williams’ Valtteri Bottas ended his day 5th fastest racking up 129 laps. Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz Jr finished 6th fastest. His day came to an early end when he also crashed at the exit of T3.

    Sebastian Vettel finished 7th fastest with Nico Hulkenberg finishing 8th and Alonso 9th.

    At the end of the day Vettel said that they mainly focused on long runs and different tyre configurations. There were some “teething problems” but he feels positive about the car so far.

    Below is the timing sheet for the final day of the second pre-season test:

    2nd pre season test day 4

     

  • Ricciardo Takes the Honour on Second Day of Barcelona Test

    Ricciardo Takes the Honour on Second Day of Barcelona Test

    Daniel Ricciardo finished on top of the time sheets for Red Bull on the second day of the second pre-season test in Barcelona.

    Ricciardo set his time of 1:24.574 just before the lunch break on the soft compound tyres. This time stood for the rest of the day. Second for the day was Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen who was just 0.010s off Ricciardo’s pace. Third for the day was Williams’ Felipe Massa who was just 0.098s off the pace. It was very close at the top today with the top three just separated by 0.1s.

    Sergio Perez ended his day in 4th with a time of 1:24.702 for Force India. Lewis Hamilton who was not scheduled to drive today got behind the wheel of the W06 in the afternoon session and managed 5th fastest for the day and also managed to complete and impressive 89 laps despite not feeling well. Nico Rosberg drove the morning session and was 6th fastest for the day. He handed over to Hamilton so as to not further aggravate his inflamed nerve on his neck.

    Despite the ERS issue on the McLaren, Fernando Alonso managed to complete 59 laps today with his fastest being a 1:25.961. Although well off the pace of the front running cars it is encouraging news for the Woking outfit and for Honda.

    Jolyon Palmer had his debut for Lotus today. He finished 8 fastest. Marcus Ericsson finished 9th for Sauber and Carlos Sainz Jr finishing the slowest on the day. Sainz Jr clocked up 100 laps today despite a big off at the very fast T9 right hander.

    It was a very strong showing from Red Bull, Williams and Ferrari. Although they may not show it, Mercedes are becoming increasingly weary about the pace of those three teams and will be watching them closely. There is no doubt that the other teams have stepped up their game but something tells me we have not yet seen the absolute pace of the Mercedes cars just yet.

    Below are the unofficial times from day 2 of the second pre-season test:

    2nd pre season test day 2

     

    Photo Credit: Infinity Red Bull Racing Formula 1 Team

  • F1 2015: Jerez Test Driver Line Up

    F1 2015: Jerez Test Driver Line Up

    The first test for the 2015 Formula 1 Season gets underway tomorrow in Jerez, Spain.

    The test will run from 01 – 04 February. This is how the drivers will line up on each day

    Day 1: Sunday 1 Ferbuary

    • Mercedes – Nico Rosberg
    • Red Bull – Daniel Ricciardo
    • Williams – Valtteri Bottas
    • Ferrari – Sebastian Vettel
    • McLaren – Fernando Alonso
    • Force India – Not participating
    • Toro Rosso – Carlos Sainz Jr.
    • Sauber – Marcus Ericsson
    • Lotus – Pastor Maldonado

    Day 2: Monday 2 February

    • Mercedes – Lewis Hamilton
    • Red Bull – Daniil Kvyat
    • Williams – Valtteri Bottas
    • Ferrari – Sebastian Vettel
    • McLaren – Jenson Button
    • Force India – Not participating
    • Toro Rosso – Max Versappen
    • Sauber – Felipe Nasr
    • Lotus – Romain Grosjean

    Day 3: Tuesday 3 February

    • Mercedes – Nico Rosberg
    • Red Bull – Daniel Ricciardo
    • Williams – Felipe Massa
    • Ferrari – Kimi Raikkonen
    • McLaren – Fernando Alonso
    • Force India – Not participating
    • Toro Rosso – Carlos Sainz Jr.
    • Sauber – Felipe Nasr
    • Lotus – Pastor Maldonado

    Day 4: Wednesday 4 February

    • Mercedes – Lewis Hamilton
    • Red Bull – Daniil Kvyat
    • Williams – Felipe Massa
    • Ferrari – Kimi Raikkonen
    • McLaren – Jenson Button
    • Force India – Not participating
    • Toro Rosso – Max Versappen
    • Sauber – Marcus Ericsson
    • Lotus – Romain Grosjean

    The Caterham and Marussia teams have not finalized their entries for the 2015 season and have been excluded from the list.

    Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

  • F1 2015: Car Launches, Testing Dates and Driver Line Ups

    F1 2015: Car Launches, Testing Dates and Driver Line Ups

    The 2015 Formula 1 Season is upon us and with all the teams releasing teaser pics and with the car launches and testing about to take place within the week we thought we’d give you a quick run down on the testing schedule and the driver line up for each team.

     

    Testing Dates:

    01 – 04 February – Jerez, Spain

    19 – 22 February – Barcelona, Spain

    26 February – 01 March – Barcelona, Span

     

    Car Launches:

    29 January – McLaren(Online)

    30 January – Ferrari(Online)

    30 January – Sauber(Online)

    31 January – Toro Rosso

    01 February – Mercedes

     

    Driver Line up:

    MERCEDES: Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.

    RED BULL: Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat

    WILLIAMS: Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas

    FERRARI: Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen

    MCLAREN: Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button

    FORCE INDIA: Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez

    TORO ROSSO: Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz Jr.

    LOTUS: Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado

    SAUBER: Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr

    The entries for the Marussia and Caterham teams were on the provisional FIA list subject to confirmation before the season begins.

    The complete 2015 Formula 1 World Championship Calendar can be found here

  • Toro Rosso Secures Sainz Jr For 2015

    Toro Rosso Secures Sainz Jr For 2015

    The Toro Rosso Formula 1 team announced on Friday evening that Carlos Sainz Jr will drive for the team in 2015.

    This comes two days after Jean-Eric Vergne announced on Twitter that he will not be driving for the team in 2015.

    It also means that Toro Rosso have finalised their line up for 2015 after announcing earlier this year that Dutch rookie Max Verstappen will drive for them next year, which will make it a fresh new line-up for the Faenza based team.

    Sainz made his single seat debut in 2010 in Formula BMW after starting out in karting. He moved up the ranks to Formula Renault 2.0, onto British Formula 3 and then to GP3 n 2013. This year Sainz became the youngest ever winner of the World Series by Renault 3.5 Championship. Sainz secured a test with the Red Bull Formula 1 team at Abu Dhabi which took place two days ago.

    “I am really happy to have landed the drive with Scuderia Toro Rosso,” said the 20 year-old Spaniard.

    “Ever since I have been part of Red Bull’s Young Driver Programme, this has been my aim and I want to thank Red Bull for putting their faith in me.

    “I have had a very successful season in World Series by Renault this year and now I am looking forward to taking the step up to Formula 1.

    “I tested for a day with Toro Rosso last year and I liked the atmosphere in the team. In the next few months I will be working hard on my preparation, ready to get in the cockpit in Jerez for the first test of next year. It will be nice to make my “official” debut as a Formula 1 driver in my home country!”

    Team Principal Franz Tost had this to say about the rookie: “With Carlos Sainz joining Max Verstappen in our driver line-up next year, we continue the Toro Rosso tradition of providing youngsters from the Red Bull Junior Driver Programme with their first steps in Formula 1.”

    “I have watched Carlos progress through the junior categories, always improving as he moved higher up the ladder, culminating in a well-deserved win in this year’s World Series.

    “However, I also remember the day’s testing he did with us at Silverstone in 2013 in the STR8. He really surprised me and his engineers that day, with his mature approach and his speed.”

     

    Photo Credit: Toro Rosso Formula 1 Team

  • Vergne Departs Toro Rosso

    Vergne Departs Toro Rosso

    Jean-Eric Vergne announced this afternoon (26 November 2014), that he will not be driving for Toro Rosso in 2015.

    The Frenchman made his announcement in a tweet this afternoon. “Despite a good season and 22 points, I’ll not drive any more for Toro Rosso in 2015,” read the tweet.

    Although Toro Rosso have not finalised their driver line up for 2015, it is expected that Carlos Sainz Jr is tipped to be driving alongside 17 year-old Max Verstappen.

    Vergne has not said anything about his future plans yet. As is stands, all the seats on the F1 grid are occupied. There has been ramblings about him joining Williams in a test driver capacity now that Felipe Nasr has a driver with Sauber. If nothing comes off for the Frenchman for 2015 in F1 he may have find something in another race series.

    Jean-Eric_Tweet

  • Daniel Ricciardo Confirmed at Red Bull for 2014

    Daniel Ricciardo Confirmed at Red Bull for 2014

    In what was Formula 1’s worst kept secret, Dr Helmut Marko today confirmed that Daniel Ricciardo will be driving for Red Bull Racing in 2014.

    This comes after many weeks of speculation about who the second driver would be and after Mark Webber’s rather curious comment at the Belgian Grand Prix.

    “Daniel is absolutely the right man for the job. He’s really deserved this graduation on merit.” said Christian Horner, the team principal of Red Bull.

    Ricciardo will follow a similar path as Sebastian Vettel by graduating from the sister team, Toro Rosso. “For sure I’ll have to put up with scrutiny next year and obviously I want to get results for myself and for the team” said Ricciardo.

    This announcement will no doubt get the rumour mill spinning once more. All the attention will be on Kimi Raikkonen now and there’s also that other small issue of who will replace Ricciardo at Toro Rosso?