F1 Madness

Tag: max verstappen

  • Rosberg On Top at Second Barcelona Test

    Rosberg On Top at Second Barcelona Test

    Nico Rosberg stamped Mercedes’ authority on day one of the second test in Barcelona by going quickest on the day.

    Rosberg’s fastest time of 1:23.022 just told half the story. Lewis Hamilton took over in the afternoon session and went on to complete a very impressive race simulation. Between the Mercedes drivers they managed to rack up 169 laps.

    “It was a great afternoon of running with great mileage,” said Hamilton.

    “We did a race simulation and after that I feel I’m ready for race one.

    “The car is feeling great and was consistent all day.”

    Valtteri Bottas ended his day second fastest with a time of 1:23.229 with 123 laps under his belt.

    Finishing third fastest was McLaren’s Fernando Alonso with a time of 1:24.735 ahead of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen in 4th with a best time of 1:24.836. Both Raikkonen and Alonso brought out the red flags today with Alonso stopping at the end of the pit lane at the end of the morning session and Raikkonen in the mid afternoon with a gearbox problem.

    Daniil Kvyat in the Red Bull finished 5th fastest with Hamilton in the Mercedes 6ht.

    In the new liveried Toro Rosso, Max Verstappen ened his day 7th fastest with the highest lap count of the day at 144. Another solid day of running for Nico Hulkenberg in the Force India seen him finish 8th fastest. Tom McCullough, Chief Race Engineer at Force India called it “another routine day.”

    The Sauber C35 made its debut today at the hand of Felipe Nasr who completed 103 laps to place 9th fastest ahead of Kevin Magnussen in the Renault R.S.16 in 10th. Magnussen clocked up 119 laps until he came to a stop at Turn 3 just 10mins before the end of the day.

    Haas F1 had one of their worst testing days so far with Esteban Gutierrez confined to the garage for most of the day after a problem with the fuel system.

    It was not much different for Rio Haryanto in the Manor. The car suffered from an oil leak which kept in the pits for most of the morning session.

    POS Driver Team/Car Best lap Gap Laps
    1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes F1 W07 Hybrid 1:23.022 – 82
    2 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes FW38 1:23.229 +0.207 123
    3 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Honda MP4-31 1:24.735 +1.713 93
    4 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari SF16-H 1:24.836 +1.814 72
    5 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer RB12 1:25.049 +2.027 69
    6 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes F1 W07 Hybrid 1:25.051 +2.029 90
    7 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso-Ferrari STR11 1:25.176 +2.154 144
    8 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes VJM09 1:25.336 +2.314 121
    9 Felipe Nasr Sauber-Ferrari C35 1:25.493 +2.471 103
    10 Kevin Magnussen Renault R.S.16 1:25.760 +2.738 119
    11 Esteban Gutierrez Haas-Ferrari VF-16 1:26.661 +3.639 23
    12 Rio Haryanto Manor Racing-Ferrari MRT05 1:27.625 +4.603 45
  • Raikkonen Closes off the First Test On Top

    Raikkonen Closes off the First Test On Top

    Kimi Raikkonen closed off the final day of the first pre-season test of 2016 on top of the time sheets in the Ferrari SF16-H

    The Finn set his fastest time of 1:23.477 on the Ultra Soft compound tyres late in the morning. Second fastest to Raikkonen was Daniil Kvyat in the Red Bull who was almost a second slower with a 1:24.293.

    Alfonso Celis had a good day out with some solid running for Force India which put him 3rd fastest setting his time on the super softs.

    Renault had a very good day with 153 laps completed with Kevin Magnussen at the wheel of the R.S.16. This sort of reliability from Renault is encouraging for the manufacturer and although they’re still down on power the driveability seems to have improved.

    Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen put in another solid day of running for the Faenza based team racking up 110 laps for the day and finishing 5th fastest for the day. Felipe Nasr in the 2015 Sauber C34 was 6th fastest with 121 laps to his name.

    Both Mercedes drivers were at the wheel of the W07 today with Rosberg finishing 7th fastest and Hamilton 8th. They both completed 86 and 99 laps respectively which brings the grand total of 185 laps on the day for Mercedes. Such was the reliability of the Mercedes they had to get both their drivers to keep up.

     

     

    Although conceding that they would’ve liked to have done more mileage, Esteban Gutierrez had a solid day for newcomers Haas F1 with 89 laps. He’s day was cut short after his car stopped on track an hour before the end of the session.

    “We had a productive day. In the morning we had a small problem which we sorted pretty quickly due to the team working well together,” said Guther Steiner the Team Principal of Haas F1.

    “In the afternoon after a long run we went into pit-stop practice. We had a problem with our ECU and we stopped testing for the day but it looks promising.

    “In general the first test was a fantastic four days for us, we got a lot of running in which we didn’t expect because we are a new team, we are only four days old.”

    Fernando Alonso did not set a time. He had completed three installation laps until he was confined to the garage after a coolant leak. The awkward position of the leak meant that it took longer for the team to fix the problem.

     

    POS Driver Team/Car Best lap Gap Laps
    1 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari SF16-H 1:23.477 – 78
    2 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer RB12 1:24.923 +0.816 94
    3 Alfonso Celis Force India-Mercedes VJM09 1:24.840 +1.363 75
    4 Kevin Magnussen Renault R.S.16 1:25.263 +1.786 153
    5 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso-Ferrari STR11 1:25.393 +1.916 110
    6 Felipe Nasr Sauber-Ferrari C34 1:26.053 +2.576 121
    7 Nico Rosberg Mercedes F1 W07 Hybrid 1:26.187 +2.71 86
    8 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes F1 W07 Hybrid 1:26.295 +2.818 99
    9 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes FW38 1:26.483 +3.006 54
    10 Esteban Gutierrez Haas-Ferrari VF-16 1:27.802 +4.325 89
    11 Rio Haryanto Manor Racing-Mercedes MRT05 1:28.268 +4.789 51
    12 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Honda MP4-31 No time – 3
  • F1 2016: Pre-season Test 1 Day 2 – Vettel Quickest Again

    F1 2016: Pre-season Test 1 Day 2 – Vettel Quickest Again

    The second day of testing got underway with the circuit de Catalunya bathed in bright sunshine.

    Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg was the first driver on track and the first to set a flying lap as the second day of testing got underway.The majority of the first two hours of the morning were spent on gathering important data that the teams will carry through to the first few races of the 2016 season. Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel emerged from the garage around mid-day to set the fastest lap of the morning – a 1:24:940.

    By this stage Vettel was the only driver to break the 1:24 barrier. Soon after Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo dipped in the 1:24 to go second fastest overall. Fernando Alonso and Lotus’ Jolyon Palmer gave the yellow-walled soft tyre a trundle but did not set a representative time on the softer tyre. The first red flag of the session was brought out by Max Verstappen as his Toro Rosso grinded to a halt in the final sector of the circuit. As the Toro Rosso was recovered to the pits testing was underway again. Nico Rosberg immediately shot to the top of the timing sheets with a 1:24:867.

    A switch onto the quicker, red-walled, supersoft tyre took Ricciardo quickest before the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel emerged to set a 1:23.658 on the same tyre. Just before the lunch break Daniel Ricciardo fitted the new-for-2016 ultra-soft tyre. He quickly took over at the top of the timing sheet only to be outdone by Vettel’s own run on the purple-walled tyres. The Ferrari driver set a time of 1:22.810.

    haasThe session after lunch was interrupted by the stoppage of Jolyon Palmer’s Renault which had to be recovered to the pits on the back on a flatbed truck. Reports later surfaced that the Renault’s issue may have been turbo related. It brought an early end to Renault’s running with Palmer only able to complete 42 laps for the day.

    By mid afternoon Nico Rosberg had again underlined the reliability of the new Mercedes by reaching the 100 lap mark without any issues. Most of the teams settled into longer stints in the afternoon. Williams driver Valtteri Bottas bucked the trend and opted to run a stint of laps on the orange-walled hard tyres. Similarly, Vettel opted instead for the ultrasoft tyres for run. The Ferrari driver completed only a handful of laps before the drop off in performance forced him back into the pits.

    McLaren can breath a sign of relieve as Fernando Alonso racked 100 laps two hours before the of the day’s running. In stark contrast to McLaren’s fortunes twelve months ago both Alonso and Jenson Button have already reported a much more positive feeling with the 2016 car. Several other drivers including Max Verstappen, Valtteri Bottas, Daniel Ricciardo, Marcus Ericsson, Sergio Perez and Sebastian Vettel all completed more than 100 laps. But it was Nico Rosberg and his Mercedes that set the most laps of the day with a mammoth 172 laps.

    By the end of the day’s running Sebastian Vettel’s 1:22:810 remained quickest overall.

    POS Driver Team/Car Best lap Gap Laps
    1 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari SF16-H 1:22.810 – 126
    2 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing-TAG Heuer RB12 1:23.525 +0.715 112
    3 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes VJM09 1:23.650 +0.840 101
    4 Nico Rosberg Mercedes F1 W07 Hybrid 1:24.867 +2.882 172
    5 Marcus Ericcson Sauber-Ferrari C34 1:25.237 +2.427 108
    6 Esteban Gutierrez Haas-Ferrari VF-16 1:25.524 +2.714 79
    7 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes FW38 1:25.648 +2.838 134
    8 Pascal Wehrlein Manor Racing-Mercedes MRT05 1:25.925 +3.115 71
    9 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Honda MP4-31 1:26.082 +3.272 119
    10 Jolyon Palmer Renault R.S.16 1:26.189 +3.379 42
    11 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso-Ferrari STR11 1:26.539 +3.729 121
  • WATCH: Max Verstappen vs. skieer Aksel Lund Svindal on top of Hahnenkamm mountain, Kitzbühel

    WATCH: Max Verstappen vs. skieer Aksel Lund Svindal on top of Hahnenkamm mountain, Kitzbühel

    Max Verstappen sure made moves that matter during the 2015 Formula One season proving that he is a fearless racer and not afraid to throw his car around any circuit! On the 14th of Jan, Verstappen took on champion skieer Aksel Lund Svindal on top of Hahnenkaam mounting in Kitzbühel. A thrilling watch and one that most definitely shows that young Verstappen has balls of steel! Enjoy!

  • Video: Formula 1, Snow, and a Mountain

    Video: Formula 1, Snow, and a Mountain

    Max Verstappen drives a 2011 Red Bull RB7 Formula 1 car on a ski slope in Kitzbuehel, Austria.

  • F1 2015: Year In Review

    F1 2015: Year In Review

    As the year draws to its conclusion it and the 2015 Formula 1 season will soon be consigned to the history books. As ever the season’s intriguing battles were never solely consigned to the race track.

    The engine debate

    Engines have been the subject of heated debate for the entire season. From the cost of manufacturing to performance levels to how it affects the sustainability of the sport; all of it has been questioned and picked apart throughout 2015.

    After months of wrangling Renault and Red Bull have reached an agreement on power unit supply. The public quarrel between the two ended in what we thought was a messy divorce. However, when neither Ferrari nor Mercedes and not even Honda wanted to supply a potential rival the team had to slink back to Renault. After smoothing over some sizeable differences the Red Bull team will run the French engine but it will branded as TAG Heuer.

    Red Bull won’t have Renault’s undivided attention though as the French manufacturer has purchased the Lotus F1 Team. It’s a saving grace for Lotus who has been in financial strife for a number of years. The most public example of this was the failure of the team to pay then driver Kimi Raikkonen’s salary. Venezuelan driver Pastor Maldonado will be partnered by English rookie Jolyon Palmer in 2016.

    Mexico Grand Prix Mclaren-Honda preview quotesAt McLaren the debacle that was Honda’s season will soon want to be forgotten. In the end Fernando Alonso used twelve engines in the back of his McLaren – that’s three times more than he was allotted. Issue of after issue dogged both drivers throughout the season as Honda, and McLaren fell miserably short of its expectations. The up-side is that 2016 can hardly be any worse than Honda’s first year back in the top echelon of racing.

     

    Mighty Mercedes and a Ferrari revival

    Early on in the season it was clear that Mercedes had maintained its pace advantage. For anyone it would be too difficult to consistently beat the mighty Silver Arrows. The highly billed duel between Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton never reached the heights or intensity of 2014. This time around Hamilton summarily outperformed Rosberg to the point where when the German driver finally pitched up the championship was already won by his British teammate.

    GP ABU DHABI F1/2015In Texas Lewis Hamilton was crowned a three time world champion and luck had very little to do with it. Three years ago he made a move to Mercedes that was met with a great deal of apprehension. From a team with championship pedigree in McLaren he went to Mercedes who were seemingly condemn to the mid-field. It didn’t suddenly turn around in 2014 either. Rather it was the culmination of years of work put in by those behind the scenes of this team. It is never about one year in isolation and so to winning world titles for any driver is a culmination of years of work and dedication.

    A complete reshuffle of personnel at Ferrari resulted in a stunning turn-around for the Italian team. Three dazzling victories and slew of podiums resulted as they continue to push towards the front of the grid. The arrival of Sebastian Vettel and the relationship between himself and teammate Kimi Raikkonen brought a harmony to the team. In 2015 Ferrari admitted that this driver-pairing and their ability to work together has been a relief for the team; something that was sorely lacking in 2014.

    Rookie sensation

    Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso - Australian GP Thursday drivers press conferenceDrivers that enter F1 for the first time hardly make as big a splash as Max Verstappen has. Not even Lewis Hamilton’s first year, back in 2007, was met with such unilateral hype. The teenaged Dutch driver, Verstappen, burst onto the scene with audacious overtaking manoeuvres and a clear-as-day hunger to go racing no matter what he has to driver. Even the staunchest of critics have to submit that Verstappen has huge potential. While one season does not make a driver it is indisputable that if Verstappen can keep it all together we are all in for a quite a ride.

    There was much more than mentioned here which made up the 2015 season. And in less than 100 days it resumes with dynamism that no other sport in the world can match.

  • Toro Rosso Back To Ferrari Power for 2016

    Toro Rosso Back To Ferrari Power for 2016

    After the announcement that Renault will return to F1 and Red Bull have partnered with TAG Heuer with their power unit, Toro Rosso have confirmed that they will run with Ferrari Power Units in 2016.

    The move has been in the works for some months now and after the FIA approved a rule change to allow Ferrari to supply a previous year specification engine to a team, it was all but confirmed that the team would be Toro Rosso.

    Toro Rosso will use Ferrari’s 2015 power units which proved to be an enormous step forward from their 2014 unit. The 2015 Power Unit took Ferrari to 2nd in the Constructors Championship and 3rd and 4th in the drivers championship which Toro Rosso say is “a positive situation in which to start Scuderia Toro Rosso’s eleventh year in Formula 1.”

    “It’s great to be working with Ferrari again. We had a fruitful relationship in the past and I’m sure it won’t take long for us all to be working together very well again,” said the Team Boss of Toro Rosso, Franz Tost.

    “It’s true that time will be very tight for us to be ready for the first test, but we have the right team of people for this and I’m confident that together we will achieve a competitive package for next year – bring on 2016!”.

    Toro Rosso have also confirmed that they will retain their current driver line up of Carlos Sainz Jr. and Max Verstappen for 2016.

    “We can also count on Carlos and Max who, after being confirmed for the 2016 season, will be able to translate all this year’s learnings and experience into additional valuable feedback throughout the season.”

     

    Photo credit: Scuderia Toro Rosso Formula 1

  • F1 2015: Season Finale Review – Abu Dhabi, that’s a wrap

    F1 2015: Season Finale Review – Abu Dhabi, that’s a wrap

    As far as thrillers go the Abu Dhabi grand prix isn’t quite going to make the list of most memorable races. Though visually spectacular the Yas Marina circuit has brought the 2015 season to a close in fairly mundane manner but still provided several talking points.

    In only the second time in its seven year history the Abu Dhabi grand prix was won from pole position. First place on the starting grid belonged to Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg which he easily translated into the race lead as the sun began to set over the Yas Marina circuit. On the track it didn’t turn out to be a wheel-to-wheel battle between Rosberg and teammate Hamilton but rather a tactical fight through pit stop strategy.

    In the first round of pitstops Hamilton followed his race leading teammate into the pitlane only a lap later, effectively mirroring his strategy. However, with the constructor’s and driver’s title in the bag the Mercedes team allowed its drivers some leeway in strategy calls and racing up to the chequered flag. Lewis Hamilton took advantage of the rare freedom to extend his second stint on the yellow side-walled soft tyres. At one point Hamilton even considered running a one stop strategy and going to the end on his tyres. This strategy was quickly dismissed as impossible by his race engineer and Hamilton pitted to fit a set of the soft Pirelli tyres.

    Abu Dhabi 2015_StartThis strategy left Hamilton nearly twelve seconds behind race leader Rosberg. Although the three time champion was able to run with the fresher tyres in the closing stint of the race, he was only able to halve the pace to the leading car. The race concluded with Rosberg leading Hamilton home with a comfortable gap of just over eight seconds. This latest one-two finish Rosberg and Hamilton makes it the twelfth of the year for Mercedes.

    Not too far behind the Mercedes pair Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen delivered a strong drive to finish third. The Finn turned a good pace but never enough to challenge for victory.  While some will make a note that he finished the season in fourth place on the driver’s standings Raikkonen couldn’t care less of his ultimate position in the championship unless it’s position number one. Never one to sugar-coat reality Raikkonen, by his own admission, has labelled his season as distinctly “average.”

    After a strategic error in qualifying Sebastian Vettel was forced to start in fifteenth. The German was able to recover to take fourth place for Ferrari. Sergio Perez, who started on the second row of the grid in fourth, brought his Force India home in fifth ahead of Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo. Nico Hulkenberg was seventh in the other Force India while Felipe Massa struggled to an eighth place finish for the Williams team. In his final race with Lotus before heading off the American Haas team was Romain Grosjean who made the best of his supersoft tyres in the closing stages. Daniil Kvyat secured tenth and the final point on offer for the Red Bull Racing team.

    Nico Rosberg_Abu Dhabi 2015_Podium2It wasn’t a race blighted by too many incidents however Fernando Alonso incurred a drive-through penalty for hitting the Lotus of Pastor Maldonado into turn one as the race got underway. In the pitlane Valtteri Bottas clipped the back of Jenson Button’s McLaren after an unsafe release by the Williams pitcrew. It resulted in a damaged front-wing for Bottas and five second penalty. The Finn eventually finished a lap down in thirteenth.

    Dutchman and rookie driver Max Verstappen showed up to the race as his ever-aggressive self and set about overtaking as many drivers as possible. However, his spirited overtaking proved a bit too much as race stewards penalised him with gaining an advantage after going off the circuit in a pass on Jenson Button. As the penalty was imposed after the race it dropped the teenage sensation to sixteenth place.

    In Brazil Hamilton was the quicker of the two Mercedes in the race but couldn’t find a way to overtake Rosberg. But here in Abu Dhabi Hamilton has been shaded, in terms of pace, for the entire weekend. For Nico Rosberg the season couldn’t have ended any better. Six pole positions and a hat trick of victories is an incredible run of form. It begs the question as to where this prodigious form has been the entire season. Is it as a result of a release of pressure or has Rosberg at long last found something that Hamilton has no answer for?

    (Images courtesy of Mercedes AMG F1 Team & Pirelli Motorsport).

  • Post Race Penalty for Verstappen

    Post Race Penalty for Verstappen

    Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen was handed a post race drive through penalty for ignoring blue flags in Sunday’s race for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

    The rookie impeded Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton towards the end of the race and was handed the drive through penalty which was converted to a 20-second time penalty. That meant Verstappen finished lower down the order in 16th position from 12th.

    His drive through penalty also included one penalty point on his super license. This brings a total of 8 points on his super license. Under the current regulations, if a driver collects 12 penalty points he incurs a one-race ban. The penalty points do expire in May 2016 but until then he will have to behave himself on the track next year.

     

  • F1 2015: Abu Dhabi Friday Practice Round-up

    F1 2015: Abu Dhabi Friday Practice Round-up

    Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg topped the timing sheets for Mercedes in the first and second free practice sessions for the Abu Dhabi grand prix.

    The first of the one-and-a-half hour sessions started under bright sunlight and was topped by the number 44 Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton. The reigning champion set a quickest time of 1:43:754 which was roughly one-and-a-half tenths quicker than teammate Nico Rosberg. The Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen followed in third albeit a further six tenths back. Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat was fourth fastest ahead of Sebastian Vettel in the Ferrari.

    Jolyon Palmer, who has secured a race seat for 2016, was out for the Lotus team but experienced a water leak and missed most of the session. Alexander Rossi has vacated the Manor Marussia seat to focus on the GP2 finale. Roberto Merhi has rejoined the team for the final race weekend of the season. In the inter-team battle at McLaren Jenson Button edged teammate Fernando Alonso for 13th place on the timing sheets.

    As the sun set over the Yas Marina circuit the second free practice session got underway with considerably more running by the teams. This session is more representative of conditions that will be experienced in qualifying and the race, hence the increased work rate for the drivers.

    Motor Racing - Formula One World Championship - Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Practice Day - Abu Dhabi, UAEUltimately, Nico Rosberg’s 1:41:983 was the quickest time of the session on the red-walled supersoft tyre. It left the German a tenth-and-a-half clear of teammate Lewis Hamilton. Force India’s Sergio Perez finished the session in a surprising third place but did so twenty minutes early thanks to a brake issue.

    Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo was fourth quickest ahead of Sebastian Vettel (5th),  Daniil Kvyat (6th) and Kimi Raikkonen (7th). The second Force India of Nico Hulkenberg, the McLaren of Fernando Alonso, and the Lotus of Pastor Maldonado rounded out the top ten.

    In the long runs the pace comparison between Kimi Raikkonen and Nico Rosberg was especially noteworthy. Although there is no indication of fuel or engine modes run during the session the pace difference between the two drivers was, on average, a tenth of a second.  A further interesting point was that Raikkonen was able to maintain a consistent pace for longer on the supersoft tyre than any other driver.

    While Ferrari appear to have a competitive, perhaps even equal, race pace to Mercedes its qualifying pace still adrift of the Silver Arrows.