Marking on tyre explained

Following the Italian Grand Prix, the 14th round of the Formula 1 season, Lance Stroll trailed team mate Fernando Alonso by 123 points in the standings. Advert | Become a Supporter & go ad-free That weekend Aston Martin slipped behind Ferrari to fourth in the constructors’ standings. They would comfortably occupy that position without Stroll’s lesser contribution of just 47 points. The team wanted to bounce back at last weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix, but Stroll crashed his car heavily in Q1 which led to him missing the race. Aston Martin team principal Mike Krack said Stroll’s crash proved he was fully committed in the car . Unusually this was a difficult weekend for both drivers. Alonso called his car “undriveable” at one point during the race, and though he qualified seventh but a frustrating Sunday left him 15th and, for the first time this year, point-less. Aston Martin’s decline has in part been down to rivals such as McLaren becoming more frequent … [Read more...] about Analysis: Is Stroll’s deficit to Alonso really a question of ‘points, not performance’?

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

Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel have buried the hatchet after a season long duel for supremacy in the Red Bull team. The duo, who looked at times as though they were shaping up to reprise the bitter Senna/Prost team rivalry of the 1990s, have revealed that they spoke at length during the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend and put their differences behind them. Webber also revealed that once the competition was over, and Vettel emerged victorious, it was important for him to drop his competitive guard and bow down to the younger man's achievement. "I went to him, " said Webber. "We spoke for a long time, man to man, about a load of things that had happened during the season. The important thing is that at the end we were able to shake hands. As a driver you have to give it everything in order to win but at the end of the season you have to be able to bow to the success of others." Vettel backed up Webber's sentiments, "It was important to clear things up, it did us both … [Read more...] about Webber and Vettel make peace after epic championship battle

Since the FIA introduced rules restricting what drivers can be told on the radios, one driver appears to have found this more of a constraint than others. In Malaysia as in Australia Nico Rosberg was heard asking for information which his race engineer could not pass on to him. “Can’t help you with lines, Nico” he was told when asking for advice on how to drive his final flying lap in Q3. As we only hear selected radio messages which are chosen for broadcast it’s not possible to be certain that Rosberg is experiencing this situation more than other drivers. And the number of radio messages being played in the television broadcasts and on Formula One Management’s revamped website has fallen since last year , though that may change in races to come. Here’s a selection of the messages which were broadcast last weekend. First practice Session From To Message FP1 Carlos Sainz Jnr Marco Matassa OK some early feedback. Drive-ability big, big step … [Read more...] about 2015 Malaysian Grand Prix team radio highlights

Gosselies, Belgium – BMW Sports Trophy Team Marc VDS return to Le Mans style racing this weekend. The crack Belgian team take on the European Le Mans Series’ final round at Estoril with a single BMW Z4 GT3 in the GTC class. Bas Leinders, Markus Palttala and Henry Hassid will drive. It marks a return to the driving seat for Leinders after he elected to concentrate on management at the 24 Hours of Spa, and he’s raring to go. “I love driving this car, and I’m really excited to head back to Le Mans racing,” says the Belgian. “It’s been a good year for the ELMS – having struggled in the recent past they’ve reached a really high level, across all the classes. There’s been excellent racing, in a very good field, and that’s one of the main reasons we decided to come and race here.” The last time the team raced in Le Mans Series competition, they won their class at Spa with the Ford GT1 – and a win is something Leinders believes is possible again. The ELMS championship is of … [Read more...] about Marc VDS ready for ELMS return

Reports of Red Bull’s reign of dominance over the 2023 season coming to an end have been greatly exaggerated. Advert | Become a Supporter & go ad-free In a year when competition between their rivals behind has been as unpredictable as it has been gripping, Red Bull have routinely rocked up to paddocks across the globe only to crush all opposition with near-militaristic execution. Then, in Singapore, a rare stumble from the world champions offered hope that the Red Bull giant could indeed be toppled. Yet six days later, Red Bull and Max Verstappen reminded everyone just how powerful a combination they are when they stormed to pole position in Suzuka by one of the biggest margins of the season – and the largest for nearly 20 years at the famous Japanese circuit. Not that it was of any surprise to their opposition. “Our internal messaging was ‘expect them to be back out front when we get back to Suzuka’,” admitted Mercedes’ trackside engineering director Andrew … [Read more...] about Verstappen sitting pretty but unexpectedly hot track could cook up drama

The pair were running close together on track in fifth and sixth in the closing stages of the Suzuka race as the fast-charging Sainz closed up behind them. Hamilton, who was on better tyres, was eventually allowed past Russell, but was then immediately ordered to slow down to try to keep Russell within DRS range so he would not be such a sitting duck against Sainz on the straights. This came just one week after Sainz himself brilliantly used to tactic to give Lando Norris a boost, which successfully staved off an attack from Mercedes . But Hamilton questioned the tactic as he felt that not being allowed to pull clear and build up a big enough gap against Sainz was completely the wrong thing to do. "I don't think that was a good idea at all," explained Hamilton. "When they suggested it to me, I knew that they had obviously thought of it from the last race, and it made no sense. "I needed to get as far clear ahead as possible and I was on my way. I was around two … [Read more...] about Hamilton: Mercedes DRS request for Russell “made no sense”

Leclerc finished fourth in Suzuka after being unable to match the race pace displayed by both McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri , who locked out the podium places behind Verstappen. But after the race, Leclerc revealed that he actually thought he was set to finish third after seeing one of the Red Bulls pull over under the virtual safety car. Leclerc believed it was Verstappen who slowing down, instead of the Dutchman's team-mate Perez who endured a shocker of an afternoon. In a wounded car, Perez slowed down under a virtual safety car, a move which cost Norris almost 10 seconds as he wasn't sure if he was allowed to pass the Mexican. Then Leclerc arrived at the scene and was equally confused, but rather about which of the Red Bull he was passing. "I saw [Max] stop at the [virtual] safety car, I don't know what happened then, and I thought he wasn't in the race anymore," Leclerc said. "He was basically stopped on the left and we all overtook him." "So, I … [Read more...] about Leclerc thought Japan F1 podium was on after mistaking Perez for Verstappen

Verstappen crushed the opposition in Suzuka by taking his 13th victory of the season from pole by 19.3 seconds over McLaren's Lando Norris. The result secured Red Bull's sixth constructors' title on the home circuit of its power unit partner Honda and also moved Verstappen to the brink of a third straight drivers' championship. The win came one week after Red Bull's first defeat of 2023 in an off-kilter Singapore Grand Prix, where Verstappen finished fifth after qualifying outside the top 10. Amid suggestions that an FIA technical directive introduced from Singapore had somehow dented Red Bull's form, Verstappen's win was an emphatic display of the contrary, with the Dutchman saying doubters could "go suck on an egg" after taken pole . Team boss Horner provided further evidence of how "fired up" Verstappen was to set the record straight after his Singapore loss. "I played padel tennis with Max on Wednesday and he was properly fired up and he said: 'I want to win the … [Read more...] about Horner: “Fired up” Verstappen told me he would win F1 Japanese GP by 20 seconds