F1 Madness

Tag: formula

  • F1 2015: Guiterrez says He will Drive for Haas F1 Team

    F1 2015: Guiterrez says He will Drive for Haas F1 Team

    The American Haas Formula 1 team has confirmed that Esteban Gutierrez will complete its driver line-up for the 2016 season.

    It has long been expected that the Mexican driver would fill the second seat the American team. However, it has now been confirmed by the driver himself. “Next year I will race with Haas and I am very happy about it,” said Gutierrez. “It is a new adventure for me and I will make the most of what I have learned at Ferrari.”

    The twenty-four year old driver has spent the 2014 season as reserve driver for the Ferrari Formula 1 team. Gutierrez last stint in Formula 1 was with the Sauber F1 team.

    The Mexican driver will partner Romain Grosjean who was announced as the team’s first driver several weeks ago.

     

    Photo credit: Scuderia Ferrari Formula 1

  • F1 2015: Third Free Practice Report – Rosberg Sets The Pace

    F1 2015: Third Free Practice Report – Rosberg Sets The Pace

    Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg set the fastest time ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton in third and final practice session for the Japanese grand prix.

    The rain finally abated as the one hour long third free practice session got underway on Saturday morning. Several cars immediately streamed out onto circuit to get their run programs underway in the dry, but overcast conditions.

    Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo set the early pace but was later eclipsed by the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg for the top of the timing sheets. Both Williams’ drivers Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa showed higher up in the standings as they set the fourth and fifth quickest times respectively. The  Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen was next up in sixth while teammate Sebastian Vettel completed the one hour session in eighth place.

    It was difficult to read much into the pace of teams as no extended long runs were completed during the practice session. However, Pirelli predict a 1.5 second laptime delta between the hard and medium compound tyre. This bit of data would suggest that few, if any drivers, will able to get through the first session of qualifying on the hard compound tyre.

    There were no major incidents in the session for any drivers despite a few run-offs at the famously difficult Degner curves and Spoon corners.

    Final free practice standings:

    fp3jap

  • Danica Patrick Linked to F1 Drive

    Danica Patrick Linked to F1 Drive

    Gene Haas is not ruling out the possibility of seeing Danica Patrick behind the wheel of an F1 car.

    The American motorsport mogul is set to launch his Formula 1 team in ten months and has not ruled out Danica Patrick as a potential driver choice.

    “Danica Patrick is highly marketable, and if anything we’re very lucky GoDaddy is giving us enough time to find a sponsor that she’ll fit with because she can sell anything,” Haas told AUTOSPORT. “She has as much attention at the race track as any of the drivers, so she’s a very valuable person.”

    Danica Patrick, currently a driver in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, spent much of her early racing career in Europe with the main aim of reaching Formula 1. Patrick opted for American racing series instead and her star rose dramatically as she became the first female driver to lead a lap of the Indianapolis 500 in 2005 while driving the number 7 car in the IRL series (Indy Racing League). Three years later, in 2008, she made further history by becoming the first woman to win a major open-wheel race when she took victory at the Twin Ring Motegi in Japan.

    Patrick’s time in NASCAR has been lacklustre by her loftystandards with only a handful of top ten finishes and a Daytona pole to show for it.

    Haas went on to say that a decision on a driver line-up will not be made until mid-summer.