F1 Madness

Tag: kimi raikkonen

  • F1 2017: Monaco Gp Qualifying Report – Raikkonen Reigns Supreme

    F1 2017: Monaco Gp Qualifying Report – Raikkonen Reigns Supreme

    Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen delivered a breathtaking lap to secure pole position for the 2017 Monaco grand prix.

    The Finnish driver took pole position with a quickest time of 1:12:178 ahead of teammate Sebastian Vettel to secure Ferrari’s second front-row lock out in three races. Raikkonen’s pole position was the first in 128 races with his last coming ahead of the 2008 French grand prix.

    While it was celebrations for Ferrari the Mercedes garage was not as joyful. Though Valtteri Bottas delivered with a fine third place Lewis Hamilton will start 13th after failing to advance beyond the second part of qualifying. While the Mercedes driver was caught out by yellow flags in the final sector of his last flying lap in Q2 the Brit had been struggling with setup for the majority of the weekend.

    The two Red Bull’s of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo rounded out the top five while Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz underlined his credentials with the sixth quickest time. Force India’s Sergio Perez, seventh, Haas’ Romain Grosjean, eighth, Daniil Kvyat, ninth, and Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg round out the top ten positions.

    While Stoffel Vandoorne was slated to start tenth despite clouting the barriers in Q2 the Belgian driver will drop three places on the grid thanks to a penalty incurred in the Spanish grand prix. Up until the trip into the barriers Vandoorne had delivered a wonderful performance in qualifying. And underlining the fact that the McLaren chassis is a handy one was stand-in driver Jenson Button who qualified in the top ten. Unfortunately, as has been the story of McLaren’s season the Brit will start from the back of the grid for penalties incurred due to changes to elements of the power unit.

  • F1 2017: Monaco Gp Third Free Practice Report – Vettel Leads

    F1 2017: Monaco Gp Third Free Practice Report – Vettel Leads

    Sebastian Vettel has set the quickest time for Ferrari in the third free practice session ahead of the Monaco grand prix.

    Vettel set a quickest time of 1:12:395 ahead of his Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen. The first of the Mercedes drivers was Valtteri Bottas in third, 0.435 off P1, followed by the Red Bull of Max Verstappen in fourth. Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton could only manage the fifth quickest time which was more than eight tenths off the pace.

    Force India’s Esteban Ocon was the only driver to clout the barriers at the exit of the swimming pool. Several other drivers missed braking points and took the the exit roads at Ste. Devote and Mirabeau but avoided any damage.

    Daniel Ricciardo ended the sixty minute session sixth fastest but with a brake-by-wire failure at the end of the session. Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz and Daniil Kvyat set the seventh and eighth quickest times ahead of Kevin Magnussen in the Haas and Stoffel Vandoorne in tenth. While McLaren showed an improved performance in the session, with stand-in Jenson Button also in twelfth, both drivers will incur grid penalties for Sunday’s race. Vandoorne will drop three places on the grid for a collision with Felipe Massa in Spain while Jenson Button has been hit with a fifteen place grid drop due to power unit changes.

    As qualifying is vital around the tight and twisting streets of Monaco it remains to be seen what Mercedes can put on the table for qualifying.

     

  • F1 2017: Fan Survey Results Revealed

    F1 2017: Fan Survey Results Revealed

    The global fan survey conducted by the Motorsport Network has been released today and details several aspects fans deem most important to the sport.

    Download your copy of the Report here:

    F1 Survey Fans Report 2017

  • F1 2017: Monaco Gp Preview – The Eternally Sublime Monte Carlo

    F1 2017: Monaco Gp Preview – The Eternally Sublime Monte Carlo

    The Formula 1 paddock arrives in the Principality of Monaco this weekend for the sixth round of the 2017 season around the famous streets of Monte Carlo.

    The Monaco grand prix has long since been regarded at the most glamorous and prestigious race on the calendar. Celebrities pour into the Principality and parties spring up in every corner of the Monegasque country. But, truthfully, this isn’t what makes the Monaco grand prix exceptional. Instead it’s the severe juxtaposition of trying to thread an immensely fast racing car through such tight confines.

    Like the tickets to the grand prix passing is at a premium on the Monaco streets. Its tight and twisting nature means that any overtake is attempted is at a high risk. This year it will be exponentially more difficult given the increased width of the cars. The best opportunity for overtaking on this track has always been under braking into Ste Devote, turn one, and at the exit of the Tunnel under braking for the Nouvelle chicane. Traditionally, the start of a race has been the best time to make up positions and given the difficulty of overtaking here it could translate into a frenetic opening lap.

    A lap of the Antony Noghès circuit, at 3.3 km in length, lasts just over seventy-three seconds. But its intimidatingly tight and the walls lurk ready to punish the smallest of errors. “There is no such thing as a low risk lap in Monaco, it doesn’t exist if you want to be fast because you have to be on the limit,” says Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.  So unique is the Monaco grand prix that the first two practice session for the grand prix take place on Thursday.

    Monaco 2015_T1Track position around Monaco is king and For Red Bull and all other teams Saturday qualifying could be the most important day of the weekend given how challenging it is to overtake on the streets. While there are still 73 important laps to survive on Sunday a good lap in qualifying is nearly half the job done.

    The lesser focus on power unit performance could bring Red Bull into the mix, especially if they choose to optimize their one-lap performance. The Austrian team is still lacking quite a bit in race pace but has edged closer in quali-performance. Still, Mercedes and Ferrari should have enough in hand to see of the Ricciardo-Verstappen threat. The combination of tyre compound, ultra- and supersoft, will be to Ferrari’s advantage. The key to good tyre performance will be the ability of the driver to limit rear tyre wear.

    Felipe Massa_Monaco 2015An old friend returns to the paddock too in the form of Jenson Button who steps into Fernando Alonso’s McLaren cockpit while the Spaniard runs his first Indy 500 race in the United States. It certainly wont be an easy weekend for Button given McLaren’s woes. However, a few things will count in his favour. The race in Monaco is often a war of attrition and if he can manage to get to the chequered flag there is a possibility of scoring some points.

    The Honda-powered team is also introducing the second part of the major upgrade package in Monaco, which they hope will catapult them into the points paying positions. The final aspect in his favour this weekend is that JB is a bit of a Monaco specialist who has always shone on the Monaco streets.

    Though it is one of the shortest laps on the calendar and not as physically demanding as others the Monaco grand prix is the jewel in Formula 1’s crown and victory here means immortality.

  • F1 2017: Spanish Gp Review – Hamilton Fights To Spanish Win

    F1 2017: Spanish Gp Review – Hamilton Fights To Spanish Win

    For eighty-eight percent of the time all races around the circuit de Catalunya have been won from pole position. While this stat was re-affirmed in 2017 by pole sitter Lewis Hamilton’s victory it was nearly as straightforward as that.

    Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes were made to work hard for all of the sixty-six laps of the Spanish grand prix. A clever switch on tyre strategy, which had the Brit on the quicker tyre at the end of the race, provided the opportunity for victory, which Hamilton translated into the 55th win of his career.

    The Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel dominated the first half of the grand prix but a combination of Valtteri Bottas serving as a blocker for Hamilton and a slow call on strategy, cost him the top step of the podium. Ultimately the pair finished less than four seconds apart. It was nearly as satisfying an afternoon for their teammates. Kimi Raikkonen retired on lap one with a broken steering-arm following clash into turn one between Bottas, Raikkonen, and Verstappen. The incident also brought Verstappen’s race to an end was, rightly, deemed to be a racing incident. Later in the piece Bottas Mercedes engine expired putting him out of the race. Though no fault of their own, Raikkonen and Bottas’ retirements could be significant. It could begin the process of Ferrari and Mercedes needing to discuss which driver to back in the fight for championship. In a battle that appears to be as close as the 2017 is there isn’t much more time before this call will need to be made.

    052The retirements meant that Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo finished third but it was a day that the Austrian team will want to forget as soon as possible. The expectation that Red Bull’s highly anticipated upgrade package would push them towards the two front running teams was emphatically crushed by the fact that Ricciardo finished some seventy-five seconds adrift. This margin is especially worrying considering that the Spanish circuit is predominantly focused on aerodynamics. Nevertheless, the characteristics of the next grand prix in Monaco should alleviate their pain somewhat. But it’s still unlikely that they’ll trouble Ferrari or Mercedes should all things be equal.

    Force India continued their impressive run with yet another double points finish. Sergio Perez in fourth and Esteban Ocon in fifth underlined what a stellar job this privateer team is doing with, likely, a quarter of the budget of the bigwigs. Renault too is continuing to make progress as Nico Hulkenberg finished sixth overall. Spanish driver Carlos Sainz finished seventh in front of his home crowd in the Toro Rosso while Pascal Wehrlein upped his stock in Formula 1 with a fine eighth place finish in a Sauber which has been difficult to drive this year. Sauber’s point score now means that McLaren are the only team with zero points on the board.

    048Dannil Kvyat came from twentieth on the grid to ninth while Romain Grosjean snapped up the final point in tenth for Haas. Perfomance-wise it was a better weekend for McLaren but Fernando Alonso could still only manage twelfth place by the chequered flag.

    Notably nearly all the drivers remarked on the physicality of the race and how they were on the limit for all of the 66 laps. This is in stark contrast to last year where drivers were cruising around five to six seconds off the pace in order to conserve their tyres. A tip of the hat then to the FOM, FIA, and Pirelli doing their bit to provide a more intense experience for drivers and spectators alike.

    One of the most fascinating developments to emerge from the weekend is that despite the fact that tens of millions of rands have been spent on upgrade packages and countless man-hours have been invested the battle between Mercedes and Ferrari appear to be as close as ever. For fans it couldn’t be better news as it means an enthralling season in prospect.

  • Raikkonen Claims Top Spot in Free Practice 3 for Spanish GP

    Raikkonen Claims Top Spot in Free Practice 3 for Spanish GP

    Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen finished on top of the time sheets ahead of team-mate Sebastian Vettel for the 3rd Free Practice session for the Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

    Raikkonen set a time of 1:20.214 to go 0.242s clear of team mate Vettel who set a 1:20.456 as his best time of the session. Although not the neatest lap from Raikkonen it was good enough to give him the top spot on the time sheets.

    Vettel’s session was cut short after the team detected an issue with his telemetry data just as he was about to take to the track. The German stopped the car in the pit lane and was pushed back into the pits. Ferrari say that there was no real issue with the engine but parts will be changed as a precaution.

    Finishing the session 3rd and 4th fastest was the Mercedes pair of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas. Hamilton was 0.381s off the pace after a few untidy laps. Bottas, who sat out most of the session after the team had found an electrical issue with his car after FP2, managed 4th fastest after coming out quite late in the session. The Finn is running the same engine he ran for the first 4 races of the season after the team opted to replace his engine last night after breaking curfew. The team found that the replacement engine had another issue with it which forced them to revert to the old engine.

    The two Red Bull’s finished in 5th and 6th with Max Verstappen leading Daniel Ricciardo. In 7th fastest is the Renault of Nico Hulkenberg followed by the Williams of Felipe Massa in 8th.

    Carlos Sainz in the Toro Rosso finished 9th fastest with Fernando Alonso in the McLaren in 10th.

    Just missing out on a top 10 spot was Romain Grosjean in 11th in the Haas followed by his team mate Kevin Magnussen in 12th.

    The Force India pair of Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon were 13th and 14th respectively. It didnt seem like they were struggling and we should see one of them make Q3.

    While his team mate broke into the top 10, Daniil Kvyat in the second Toro Rosso could only manage 15th ahead of the Sauber of Marcus Ericsson in 16th.

    Lance Stroll was 17th for Williams with Jolyon Palmer 18th for Renault.

    Bringing up the rear was Stoffel Vandoorne in the McLaren ahead of Pascal Wehrlein in the Sauber.

    It seems as though Ferrari have turned a corner with their setup and both drivers seem more comfortable in the car. Mercedes still look like they will have the upper hand come qualifying. It should be noted that the Red Bulls looked very strong in the final few corners and could be closer to the Ferrari’s in qualifying.

     

     

     

    Photo credit: Scuderia Ferrari Formula One

  • F1 2017: Spanish Gp Free Practice 2 Report – Mercedes In Front

    F1 2017: Spanish Gp Free Practice 2 Report – Mercedes In Front

    Lewis Hamilton topped the second free practice session ahead of the Spanish grand prix.

    The Mercedes driver quickest time of 1:20:802 was 90 thousands of a second quicker than his teammate Valtteri Bottas in seconds. The two Ferrari’s of Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel were third and fourth quickest with Raikkonen three tenths off the quickest time. The Red Bull’s of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen rounded out the top five.

    Conditions around the circuit de Catalunya seemed tricky as intermittent gusts of wind upset the cars in several corners. In addition, the compounds nominated by Pirelli, medium and soft, seemed difficult to keep within the optimal operating temperature.

    A brief red flag period was experienced as debris from Carlos Sainz’s Toro Rosso was collected in turn 10. Nevertheless, when running got underway it was Mercedes who appeared to have the upper hand in long run simulations. At Ferrari it was Raikkonen who appeared to have a few tenths in hand over teammate Sebastian Vettel. While Friday’s long run simulations appear deceptive it does appear as if Mercedes are ahead by a few tenths of a second.

    Final Free Practice 2 Standings:

    Screen Shot 2017-05-12 at 3.33.11 PM

  • F1 2017: Spanish Gp Free Practice 1 Report – Mercedes Lead The Way

    F1 2017: Spanish Gp Free Practice 1 Report – Mercedes Lead The Way

    Lewis Hamilton led the way from his Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas in the first free practice session of the Spanish grand prix.

    The ninety-minute session was topped by Hamilton’s 1:21:521 which was  29 thousands quicker than Bottas’ P2 time. The two Ferrari’s followed in third and fourth with Raikkonen setting a 1:22:456 ahead of Vettel, on a 1:22:600.

    Early in the session Fernando Alonso’s McLaren spectacularly expired after only a half a lap out of the pitlane. The team reported a rather obvious engine failure while Alonso left the circuit for a round of tennis. The Renault of Sergey Sirotkin suffered a water leak which limited his running in the session to only ten laps.

    While several teams utilized the session to evaluate new upgrades and updates to their cars it remains to be seen what sort of impact these new updates will have on the pecking order.

    Final Free Practice 1 Standings:

    Screen Shot 2017-05-12 at 11.33.02 AM

  • F1 2017: Spanish Gp Preview – Back To Europe

    F1 2017: Spanish Gp Preview – Back To Europe

    There isn’t too much about Spain’s circuit de Catalunya that isn’t already known. As the fifth round of the 2017 season this staple of the Formula 1 calendar has, over the years, become the definitive barometer of car performance.

    The 4.6-kilometer layout of the Spanish circuit comprises the perfect mixtures to test car balance and aerodynamic efficiency while the start/finish strait provides a modest test of power output. The high and medium speed turns, which litter the first sector, test stability and grip while the lower speed third sector is the perfect test of low speed mechanical grip. A quick car through the twisty bits of Catalunya’s final sector invariably translates into a good at street circuits such as Monaco and Singapore.

    From this, it would suggest that Ferrari would be favourite and they are. The stellar aerodynamic package that they have produced in 2017 will be the Italian team’s biggest weapon. In Bahrain the Ferrari excelled in the high to medium speed first sector and in Russia both the Ferrari’s performance in the final, twisty, sector dwarfed what Mercedes was able to produce. Combine these two sectors and you have a layout similar to the circuit de Catalunya.

    TEST F1/2017 - T2 SPAGNAWhat may be Ferrari’s Achilles heel are the compounds which tyre supplier Pirelli has nominated for the weekend. While the track surface in Spain tends to be more abrasive in order to get the soft, medium, and hard compounds to its optimal working range will require a substantial track temperature. “I’m not sure if it’ll help us or not but I just don’t think it’s going to be good for anyone,” said Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo. “Hopefully for Barcelona’s sake it’s hot and therefore these harder tyres work, but if it’s cold then it’s going to be a struggle for everyone.”

    The Spanish grand prix weekend, while important for every team and driver on the grid, is vital to the rest of Red Bull’s 2017 campaign. In 2016 the Milton Keyes based team left the Spanish circuit with Max Verstappen as a first-time grand prix winner and with great expectations. The overhaul in regulations held the expectation that Red Bull would be a championship contender in 2017. Nevertheless, the season has started with the team significantly off the pace but they hope that their plan to rectify this begins to fall in place this weekend.

    red-bull-tagThe hope is that the introduction of a B-spec car and a “revamped” chassis will allow the team to make a significant step forward. “I hope we can be a bit closer to the top teams or that we can at least follow them,” said 2016 Spanish Gp winner Max Verstappen. “That would already be a good step forward.” Ironically, even without a chassis upgrade the characteristics of the Spanish circuit traditionally plays well to the strengths of the Red Bull.

    In Russia, for reasons unknown, Lewis Hamilton was considerably off the pace. And while both Ferraris and his teammate beat him up it gave Valtteri Bottas a crucial boost of confidence that could be telling. As for Ferrari, their biggest asset is the belief that they have more than a good chance of being at the sharp-end. And if the temperatures soar it’ll likely take more than a good performance to topple them this weekend.

  • F1 2017: Russian Gp Review – Victory For Valtteri

    F1 2017: Russian Gp Review – Victory For Valtteri

    On paper the Sochi Autodrom in Russia is a track that was supposed to play to the strengths of the Mercedes given its power dominated layout. But predictions and form ‘on paper’ are often fickle. Despite this Ferrari stunned the F1 paddock on Saturday to lock out the front row of the grid for the first time since the 2008 French grand prix.

    The catch though was the kilometer long run to the first braking point of the lap. It was here that Valtteri Bottas, starting third, made his move. It was fairly easy to conclude that a big part of the Russian grand prix story would come at the start. This is precisely where Bottas made it happen by acing his pull away.

    As the Finn led Vettel, Raikkonen, and teammate Lewis Hamilton through the first lap the safety car was deployed for a clash between Renault’s Jolyon Palmer and Haas F1’s Romain Grosjean. While the safety car did neutralize the race for a handful of laps it had no real effect on the race. At the resumption of the race Bottas pulled away from Vettel and steadily built a gap of roughly four seconds. It was evident that at least Bottas’ Merc was running well on the Ultra-soft compound tyre.

    43In contrast, Lewis Hamilton was never able to trouble third place man Kimi Raikkonen. Though he did briefly struggle with an overheating car the truth is that Hamilton was off the pace throughout the entire weekend. He did, after all, qualify half a second off Vettel’s pole winning lap. But this is something we’ve seen from Hamilton before Baku in 2016 comes to mind.

    While Vettel could do nothing about Bottas’ pace in the first stint it was the second half of the race where the Ferrari’s finally came alive. Their superior pace on the Super-soft tyre resulted in an easy third place for Raikkonen and a nail-bitingly close fight for the win for Vettel. While Vettel managed to get within six tenths of Bottas he wasn’t able to attempt a pass.

    In the famously unflappable style that has come to exemplify most Finnish racing drivers Bottas held his nerve to take his first grand prix victory. It’s taken 81 starts for Bottas to win his first race but there will hardly be a more popular winner in the paddock.

    21As Bottas, Vettel, and Raikkonen scored the top three positions it was Hamilton who finished in lonely fourth. While Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo retired with rear-brake failure his teammate Max Verstappen trundled home in an anonymous fifth place a minute adrift. Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon scored important points for Force India in sixth and seventh ahead of Nico Hulkenberg’s Renault in eight. A late-race slow puncture forced Felipe Massa into the pits, which dropped the Williams driver down to ninth ahead of Carlos Sainz’s Toro Rosso in tenth.

    It was yet another forgettable day for McLaren as Fernando Alonso failed to start the race with a suspected battery issue. Elsewhere Williams’ rookie driver Lance Stroll finished his first grand prix of the season in eleventh.

    There will be some that will say that the Russian grand prix was a bit of a bore fest, and that there wasn’t a whole lot of overtaking. But what was there in abundance was the sort of tension, at the head of affairs, which hasn’t been seen in quite some time. And the good news is that it involves two teams that are very evenly matched. Two teams that will undoubtedly continue to trade blows right down to the wire.