HRT's team boss has admitted installing KERS is an unlikely goal for the struggling Spanish team this year. Luis Perez Sala said the new F112 was designed to accommodate the energy-recovery technology, but qualifying comfortably within the 107 % rule is a better target for now. "We have a car we are yet to discover," he told El Confidencial. Indeed, HRT travelled to Australia last month having hardly run its new Cosworth-powered car, and failed to qualify for the season opener. "It is designed to […]

Bruno Senna has admitted he feels a release of pressure following a strong showing in Malaysia last weekend. The Brazilian, whose uncle was the great triple world champion Ayrton Senna, has had a tough time establishing his credentials to date with part-time seats at the HRT and Renault (now Lotus) teams. Although out-qualified for the second consecutive grand prix by his Williams teammate Pastor Maldonado in Malaysia, Senna went on to score 8 points in the race -- more than the famous British team's entire […]

World champion Sebastian Vettel didn't just criticise Narain Karthikeyan after their clash in Malaysia -- he called the Indian driver a vegetable. The back-to-back title winner's points hopes went up in flailing Pirelli rubber towards the end of the rain-affected Sepang race following contact with Karthikeyan's back-of-the-field HRT. "He was off the track. In my view, it was over," Red Bull driver Vettel, now 17 points behind the championship lead after just two races, said on German RTL television. "As in real life, there are […]

With the threat of rain looming over the Sepang International Circuit for the majority of the weekend, the rain has finally materialized and has struck the track forcing the Malaysian Grand Prix which is only 9 laps old to be delayed. The race initially started under green flag conditions, contrary to many who believed the race would be started under Safety Car conditions. However as the race progressed, the rain intensified forcing the majority of the field to pit for the Cinturato full wet tyres. […]

McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton has stormed to his second consecutive pole-position for tomorrow’s Malaysian Grand Prix, with his team-mate Jenson Button slotting nicely into 2nd place creating the second consecutive all-McLaren front row. Michael Schumacher has qualified 3rd, his best qualifying since Japan 2006. With the constant threat of rain throughout yesterday’s running, today saw relatively dry running for the teams. Q1 got underway with Charles Pic and Paul Di Resta joining the track first, with the Force India setting the first timed lap of the […]

McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton has ended FP1 fastest in Malaysia ahead of reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel, with the heat causing high amounts of tyre wear up and down the grid. Jenson Button suffered a difficult morning session, as the 2009 world champion’s running was cut short due to an oil leak on his McLaren. As the session got underway in hot and humid conditions it was the Toro Rosso of Jean-Eric Vergne that took to the track first, the Frenchman followed out by many […]

Fernando Alonso is F1's 'driver of the decade', according to Pedro de la Rosa. The HRT driver said that, in his opinion, his Spanish countryman has been even better in F1's modern history than Michael Schumacher, who won every world championship between 2000 and 2004. Alonso, now at Ferrari, won his titles with Renault in 2005 and 2006. De la Rosa told Mundo Deportivo: "I think Fernando was the best of the decade, over Michael. "Why? Because no matter what the rules, he was always […]

Caterham's hopes of pushing into the midfield in 2012 are not dead yet. That is the claim of team owner and boss Tony Fernandes, despite the former Team Lotus looking to have once again emulated the pecking-order of the past two years by outpacing only Marussia and HRT in Australia. "We have obviously improved our pace relative to our 2011 speed," the Malaysian businessman said. "But the teams ahead have also improved, so even though we are closer than this time last year we still […]

Kimi Raikkonen is still up to the task of performing at his best in Formula 1. That is the claim of Pedro de la Rosa, who in 2006 was the famous Finn's race teammate at McLaren just before Raikkonen - now 32 - switched to Ferrari and won the world championship. The so-called 'Iceman' has been out of F1 for two years and on his comeback in Australia last week dropped the ball with a miserable qualifying performance. It has emerged Raikkonen came into the […]

Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time of the third free practice session in the Australian Grand Prix with a time of 1:25.681, ahead of Romain Grosjean and Mark Webber. With the teams and drivers craving a dry practice session in order to fully prepare for qualifying and the race, practice 3 was inevitably bound to be a dramatic session. And that it was, as the teams began qualifying simulations on the soft Pirelli tyre. While Hamilton ended the session fastest, Vettel embedded himself in the […]

Two teams are in danger of sitting out Sunday's Australian grand prix. "The idea, here, is to qualify for the race," Marussia's Timo Glock told Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper from Melbourne. The hurdle that the struggling former Virgin team - as well as HRT - must get over, is the 107% rule in Q1. It is an even higher hurdle than last year, because Pirelli has made its harder tyres softer in 2012 -- meaning the difference between the tyres being used by the quickest […]

During the break between FP1 and FP2, the Albert Park circuit was doused in a tropical storm as heavy rain lashed down on the track. This caused a very wet start to proceedings in FP2, as the Sauber’s and Toro Rosso’s braved the wet weather on the Pirelli full Cinturato wets. It was the Toro Rosso of Jean-Eric Vergne who set the first timed lap of the session, with a 01:52.220 which was quickly beaten by his team-mate, Ricciardo, with a 01:48.874. The Toro Rosso’s […]