Sebastian Vettel set the fastest time during final practice for the Singapore Grand Prix. Vettel finished almost two tenths of a second clear of Lotus's Romain Grosjean during the qualifying simulations towards the closing stages of the session. Vettel was among many drivers to find over two seconds on the option tyres, compared to their pace on the prime compound. Nico Rosberg was third, ahead of Mark Webber and Lewis Hamilton. Ferrari's struggles continued as Fernando Alonso was over a second down on Vettel's time […]

Caterham drivers Charles Pic and Giedo van der Garde say they are concerned about the rapid tyre drop off, following practice for the Singapore Grand Prix. Both drivers found themselves behind the Marussia drivers in first practice but jumped ahead of their rivals during the second of Friday's 90 minute sessions. "The main balance issue in the [first] session was understeer, especially mid-corner on the first couple of runs, and under braking it was too easy to lock the fronts," said Pic. "We made a […]

Reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel set the fastest time during second practice ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix. Vettel's time of 1:44.249s was 0.604s clear of team-mate Mark Webber. The Australian had been eclipsing Vettel during the early runs on prime tyres, but when the option tyres were fitted to the cars it was Vettel who led the way. Several drivers found huge improvements when switching from the prime to the option tyres. Vettel was among many to cut lap times by over two seconds. […]

Romain Grosjean set the fastest time during final practice ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix. Grosjean's time of 1:20.730 was just over a tenth of a second quicker than Ferrari's Fernando Alonso. Sergio Perez set the third fastest time for McLaren but his session ended in the barriers with only a couple of minutes remaining. Perez appeared to dip a wheel onto the grass on the entry to Turn 10, losing the rear end and having a side-on impact into the tyre barriers. Reigning world […]

Sauber's next driver is closely linked to the group of Russian sponsors who on Monday were hailed as the saviours of the Swiss team. Amid reports financial worries could soon silence Sauber's engines, the Hinwil based team announced a timely deal with a group of Russian entities closely aligned with president Vladimir Putin. A media statement said Russian driver Sergey Sirotkin, who is just 17, would as part of the deal be prepared "as a racing driver for the team in 2014". It is already […]

An angry Kimi Raikkonen says Sergio Perez has 'no idea what he's talking about' following their collision during the Monaco Grand Prix. Raikkonen and Perez were battling over fifth place but made contact during the final stages of the race. The contact dropped Raikkonen out of the points, but he recovered to finish in tenth place. Perez retired from brake issues sustained in the collision. "It was a really disappointing day. Because of one stupid move from Sergio we’ve lost a lot of points to […]

Nico Rosberg topped a crash strewn final practice session in Monaco. Rosberg's time of 1.14.378 was six tenths clear of Lotus's Romain Grosjean. But it was a messy session for the Frenchman. He clipped the barriers at the Nouvelle Chicane, damaging his left rear tyre. During the closing minutes, he lost the rear of his E21 approaching Sainte Devote and had a hefty impact into the barriers. It was Grosjean's second session ending shunt of the weekend. Sebastian Vettel was third, ahead of Fernando Alonso […]

Romain Grosjean has apologised to Lotus after crashing out of second practice in Monaco. The Frenchman was starting a qualifying simulation when he made an error at Sainte Devote and hit the barrier. The accident forced him out of the remainder of the session, but he nonetheless finished in seventh place. "After a great start to the day it was a real shame to end things early. I didn’t have the grip I expected going into the corner, but there was nothing wrong with the […]

Caterham drivers Charles Pic, Giedo van der Garde and reserve Heikki Kovalainen believe the balance of the CT03 has been improved after a raft of upgrades was fitted to the car in Barcelona. Van der Garde reckons the main area of progress now needs to be focus on corner entry. "The car had good balance on the medium tyres, both on short and long runs, and I think we showed quite good pace on that compound and on the hards but we need to work […]

Swamps, peculiar pit buildings and some smog. It's on to Round 3 of the championship at the Shanghai International Circuit

Two practice sessions of the new season have revealed some light in the pecking order, even if it is too early to conclude who’s going to be the champion. Red Bull Racing set some ominous times during second practice, doubly so when Vettel’s aborted first lap is taken into consideration. He was four tenths clear of the fastest non-Red Bull driver and there’s undoubtedly more lap time to be unlocked. Mark Webber, who perennially underachieves around the Albert Park street circuit, was comfortably second quickest. […]

Luiz Razia, the 2012 GP2 runner-up, admitted he was surprised when on Tuesday Marussia announced Max Chilton as Timo Glock's 2013 teammate. The 23-year-old Brazilian told Globo he was a hot contender for the seat until the very last minute. "We didn't have much chance at Lotus," Razia, referring to this week's news of Romain Grosjean's new contract, admitted. "But we were caught by surprise by Marussia. We were talking to them until yesterday. They said 'We're still deciding'. "There are still two vacancies, Force […]