Eric mcinerny

Sebastian Vettel coolly claimed his fifth pole position of the season after sitting out the final moments of the top ten shoot-out. Advert | Become a Supporter & go ad-free Vettel told his team he could find a tenth of a second at most following his first run in Q3, so they kept him back in the garage while his rivals tried in vain to beat his time. Nico Rosberg almost managed to do it – falling short by less than a tenth of a second – while Romain Grosjean claimed third for Lotus. Q1 With the super-soft tyres offering a performance gain of around two seconds over the mediums there were few teams who believed they could get through to Q2 without using them. Mercedes, who’ve had their fingers burnt in qualifying already this year, chose not to risk it, giving Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton runs on the super-soft tyres. Hamilton set the pace with a 1’44.196. But Red Bull committed to the medium tyre and both their drivers made it through – Webber … [Read more...] about Vettel wins pole in the pits ahead of Rosberg and Grosjean

Row 1 1. Sebastian Vettel 1’42.841 Red Bull 2. Nico Rosberg 1’42.932 Mercedes Row 2 3. Romain Grosjean 1’43.058 Lotus 4. Mark Webber 1’43.152 Red Bull Row 3 5. Lewis Hamilton 1’43.254 Mercedes 6. Felipe Massa 1’43.89 Ferrari Row 4 7. Fernando Alonso 1’43.938 Ferrari 8. Jenson Button 1’44.282 McLaren Row 5 9. Daniel Ricciardo 1’44.439 Toro Rosso 10. Esteban Gutierrez No time Sauber Row 6 11. Nico Hulkenberg 1’44.555 Sauber 12. Jean-Eric Vergne 1’44.588 Toro Rosso Row 7 13. Kimi Raikkonen 1’44.658 Lotus 14. Sergio Perez 1’44.752 McLaren Row 8 15. Adrian Sutil 1’45.185 Force India 16. Valtteri Bottas 1’45.388 Williams Row 9 17. Paul di Resta 1’46.121 Force India 18. … [Read more...] about 2013 Singapore Grand Prix grid

Sebastian Vettel remained the driver to beat in Singapore but Red Bull’s rivals narrowed the gap during the final practice session. Vettel improved on his quickest time from yesterday by a tenth of a second but Romain Grosjean was within two tenths of a second of Vettel’s benchmark time. However at the end of the session Grosjean warned his team he was concerned the braking problem he’d experienced yesterday still hadn’t been completely cured. Nico Rosberg was third-fastest for Mercedes but over half a second slower than Vettel. As in yesterday’s second practice session drivers found the super-soft tyre was in the region of two seconds per lap faster than the medium. Mark Webber was the quickest driver on the track before the drivers began using the super-soft tyre, edging team mate Vettel by less than a tenth of a second. He ended the session fourth. The Ferrari remained the fourth-quickest car in Fernando Alonso’s hands, behind Lewis Hamilton and a full second … [Read more...] about Vettel stays on top in Singapore as Grosjean gains

POMONA, CA – Even though rookie sensation Courtney Force could not hold off the 4.025 second pass by Jack Beckman in the second round of qualifying at the 48th annual Auto Club NHRA Nationals, she managed to make a second noteworthy pass in her Traxxas Ford Mustang Funny Car in addition to the career best 4.032 second run that she opened with on Thursday. “We came out today hoping to hang on to the No. 1 spot, but Beckman took it away from us in that last round. We were only bumped down one to the No. 2 spot. We still made a great pass with a 4.05 so we’ve got a great race car. It blew the burst panel off right at the end; right at the finish line, so who knows if it would have run a little better than that .05,” said Force. Courtney Force Photo by: Michael C. Johnson Today the 24-year-old posted a 4.056 ET which was the second-quickest of the session behind Beckman’s 4.025. Jim Head also ran a 4.056 ET, but was ousted from the second-best spot based on speed; his … [Read more...] about Rookie Force still impressing at Auto Club finals

Daniel Ricciardo, the Red Bull reserve driver, set the fastest time on the first day of the Young Guns test at Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi. The 21 year old Australian set a fastest time of 1m 39.616s, which compares very favourably with the pole time for last weekend's Grand Prix, set by Sebastian Vettel in the same car at 1m39.394s. Mark Webber's qualifying time was 1m39.925s. It has to be observed that the comparison of times with last weekend is slightly misleading as the track has ramped up significantly since qualifying with all the rubber that has gone down. Nevertheless it is impressive speed from the former British F3 champion, who finished runner up in the Formula Renault 3.5 series this year. Ricciardo was also very fast in last season's young guns test. You get the sense that Red Bull consider him to be the next big thing. I asked around in the paddock last weekend about his prospects and it seems that there is a plan afoot for him to run a Red Bull … [Read more...] about Ricciardo flies in Young Guns F1 test

Australian Daniel Ricciardo dominated the second day of the Young Guns test at Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi today, closing out with a time comparable with Sebastian Vettel's pole lap from last weekend, once track condition is taken into account. Ricciardo set a time of 1m 38.102s, which was 1.292 seconds faster than the pole lap last weekend. Engineers I've spoken to at the track say that the track improvement was around 1.2 seconds yesterday, compared to qualifying day, and it was even faster this morning. There was more grip and there was also a favourable tailwind. Also cones which had been on the apex of some corners were not there today, so there was some fractional gain from cutting the apex. So you'd have to work on the basis of taking 1.4s -1.5s off the headline lap times to get a comparable read to times set during Grand Prix weekend. Nevertheless it's a formidable effort by Ricciardo. Jerome d'Ambrosio's best time of 1m 38.802s, is 2.099s faster than Vitaly … [Read more...] about Rookie test ends with Ricciardo on top

The Belgian joined Peugeot as a reserve driver for 2023 alongside a Formula E programme with fellow Stellantis-affiliated squad DS Penske, and was called up to sub for Nico Muller in Fuji when the Swiss injured his collarbone. After finishing seventh in Japan aboard the #94 Peugeot alongside Loic Duval and Gustavo Menezes , 2021-22 FE champion Vandoorne will become a full season driver for 2024, marking his first full season involvement since 2021. That year he finished second in the LMP2 standings for Jota and narrowly missed out on a class victory at Le Mans. Vandoorne had previously made two outings in 2019 in LMP1, finishing third on his debut with the SMP Racing squad at Spa, before matching that result in the final outing for the BR Engineering BR1 programme at Le Mans. "I’m really happy to join the team as official driver for the 2024 season," said Vandoorne, who previously started 41 grands prix for McLaren in Formula 1. "I have always appreciated the FIA … [Read more...] about Vandoorne gets Peugeot WEC drive for 2024 season after Fuji cameo

For the second time in three races Nico Hulkenberg topped the Driver of the Weekend poll, this time following his stern defence from Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso during the Korean Grand Prix. Hulkenberg also won with the highest percentage of votes of anyone this season. Sebastian Vettel made his eighth appearance in the top three this year, but perhaps even more impressive is the fact that he’s now been in the top two for the last four races. Another driver to feature in the top three for their eighth time this year was Kimi Raikkonen who came in third. 1. Nico Hulkenberg Started: 8th Hulkenberg put his ever-improving Sauber an impressive eighth – which would become seventh on the grid on Saturday due to Mark Webber’s ten place grid penalty – just two tenths shy of Alonso’s Ferrari. He made up for that at the start however, passing both Ferraris as they nearly took each other out, to end up in fifth place by the end of lap one. The quick-thinking Hulkenberg … [Read more...] about Hulkenberg takes second Driver of the Weekend win