The seventh round of the 2017 Formula One World Championship began with two practice sessions on Friday at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, as teams prepared for the Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday. Two 90-minute sessions – FP1 and FP2 – were primarily spent building grip into the semi-street circuit. With the infrequent use of the roads on which the track is based, the asphalt proved to be very green and it made traction hard to come by. Leading the way in FP1 was Mercedes […]

Scuderia Ferrari's third driver Antonio Giovinazzi will gain additional Formula One experience with Haas F1 Team as he takes the wheel of the VF-17 for the first practice session (FP1) at seven grands prix in 2017. The 23-year-old from Martina Franca, Italy, drove a Formula One car earlier this year when he subbed for the injured Pascal Wehrlein at Sauber during the first week of winter testing at Circuit de Barcelona – Catalunya and again during the Australian and Chinese Grands Prix. Giovinazzi will begin his […]

The fifth round of the 2017 Formula One World Championship began with two practice sessions on Friday at the Circuit de Barcelona – Catalunya, as teams prepared for the Spanish Grand Prix Sunday. Both 90-minute sessions were run under warm temperatures, a vast departure from when teams were in Barcelona two months ago for winter testing. Leading the way in FP1 was Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, whose fast lap of 1:21.521 was .029 of a second better than the next quickest time of his teammate Valtteri […]

Daniel Ricciardo set the sixth fastest time in both practice sessions on Friday and reckons the team's performance can improve tomorrow, but not enough to overcome the top two teams in the championship standings. His team mate, Max Verstappen, finished FP1 on fourth and FP2 on fifth.  As Sochi is not one of Red Bull's favourite tracks, the team was already expecting a tough weekend here, the aim being to limit de damage and score as much as possible. The gap to Mercedes and Ferrari looks bigger in […]

Haas F1 Team recorded mixed feedback from their drivers after the first two practice session at Sochi, during which Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen not only prepared their cars' balance for qualifying but also got acclimated to new brake provider. While both drivers tested the Carbon Industrie brakes for two days following the Bahrain Grand Prix, Sochi marked the first time this year the new brake package was used in competition. The incredibly smooth surface of the Sochi Autodrom puts grip at a premium, and the inherit challenge of […]

Stoffel Vandoorne received a 15-place grid penalty for the Russian Grand Prix after his car was fitted with its fifth MGU-K and turbo-charger of the season, as a result of a difficult first practice session in Sochi.  Despite this mishap, McLaren had a productive day evaluating a handful of new components and conducting some aerodynamic development work. Fernando Alonso ended the day 12th quickest, with Vandoorne 16th after his final run on the Ultrasoft tyre was disrupted by a suspected slow puncture, which was traced to a faulty sensor […]

The fourth round of the 2017 FIA Formula One World Championship began with practice Friday at the Sochi Autodrom, as teams prepared for the Russian Grand Prix on Sunday. The fastest times in both FP1 and FP2 were set by Scuderia Ferrari drivers. Leading the way in FP1 was Kimi Räikkönen, whose fast lap of 1:36.074 was .045 of a second better than the next quickest driver, Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas. Räikkönen’s quick lap was .737 of a second off the all-time fastest lap at the Sochi Autodrom – […]

After a productive test in Bahrain, Renault Sport Formula One Team Third and Reserve Driver Sergey Sirotkin will take over Nico Hülkenberg’s duties for the first practice session in Sochi. This will be Sirotkin's first taste of the RS17 in a GP session, with the next one being scheduled for the Spanish GP.  The Russian impressed the team during testing by getting up to speed very quickly in this new generation car, despite having not driven since last year. "Obviously I’m very much looking forward to it! I’ve learn […]

FP1 began under full sun at Bahrain International Circuit with Haas F1 Team drivers Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen following similar run programs. Each driver logged 21 laps in FP1, running the first half of the session on the Pirelli P Zero White medium tire before switching to the Yellow soft compound. Grosjean ran 11 laps on the medium tire and Magnussen tallied 10 laps. The switch to softs earned both drivers their fastest times of the session, with Grosjean recording a 1:34.564 on his […]

The third round of the 2017 FIA Formula One World Championship began with two practice sessions at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, as teams prepared for the Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday. Two 90-minute sessions – FP1 and FP2 – on the 5.412-kilometer track took place amid extremely hot conditions, a marked contrast following the cold, rain-soaked Chinese Grand Prix last weekend in Shanghai.  Leading the way in FP1 was Scuderia Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, whose fastest lap of 1:32.697 was .400 of a second […]

  After two weeks of testing at Circuit de Barcelona – Catalunya, it was finally go time Friday at the Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne as teams prepared for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on Sunday.  The start of the 2017 FIA Formula One World Championship began with two, 90-minute practice sessions – FP1 and FP2 – which saw the new-for-2017 technical regulations in real-time action on the 5.303-kilometer, 16-turn track. The advanced aerodynamic package for this year’s car was put in place to create […]

Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg set a dominant pace in the opening practice session ahead of the Belgian GP as the cars returned to the track following the summer break. Rosberg clocked a 1:48.348 to head his team-mate Lewis Hamilton, who will carry at least a 15-place penalty into the weekend, by over seven tenths of a second despite testing the latest version of the 'halo' cockpit protection device. Pirelli also used the session to test some prototype tyres for the 2017 season, with a number […]