Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo expressed his satisfaction after qualifying in fourth place for the Malaysian Grand Prix. Ricciardo was pleased to have beaten both Williams drivers and was backed up by team-mate Daniil Kvyat, who matched his best qualifying performance with fifth. "We’ve always gone pretty well in the wet and there are still some things we can improve, but fourth is a good result for the team," said Ricciardo. "The second row is a good starting position and we should hopefully have some […]

Manor Marussia will race in Formula 1 for the first time since last year's Russian Grand Prix after the stewards granted approval for Roberto Merhi and Will Stevens, despite neither driving qualifying for the Malaysian Grand Prix. Merhi's time in Q1 was outside of the 107% mark while Stevens did not take part in the session due to a fuel pressure problem on his car. However, both drivers posted times within the 107% barriers earlier in the weekend. "We were hoping to make the 107% […]

Nico Hulkenberg says that Force India may have progressed through to the top 10 shootout for the Malaysian Grand Prix had the rain arrived sooner, but acknowledged that their Q3 prospects were slim. Hulkenberg set the 13th quickest time as rain deluged the Sepang circuit during the early stages of Q2, shortly after the drivers had managed to post a time on the slick tyres. "Maybe it would have been better for us if the rain had arrived five minutes earlier and Q2 was completely […]

World Champion Lewis Hamilton claimed pole position during a wet final shootout session during qualifying for the Malaysian Grand Prix, which was delayed for half an hour. Hamilton posted his time early in a wet Q3 session and while he remained unbeaten, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel got to within a tenth of his time to split the Mercedes pair. Nico Rosberg was third, ahead of the Red Bull duo of Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat. Rookie Max Verstappen was a stellar sixth position for Toro Rosso, […]

Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg edged out Lewis Hamilton to post the quickest time during the final practice session at the Malaysian Grand Prix. Rosberg’s time of 1:39.690 was 0.184s quicker than team-mate Hamilton as drivers completed qualifying runs towards the end of the 60 minute session. Kimi Räikkönen was third for Ferrari, ahead of team-mate Sebastian Vettel, with the Williams pair of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas just over a tenth further back. Daniel Ricciardo placed seventh for Red Bull, closely followed by Carlos Sainz Jr. […]

Fernando Alonso cut an upbeat figure as he returned to action for the first time since he sustained a concussion during a testing crash in Spain. Alonso completed 45 laps during practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix and posted the 16th quickest time of the 20 runners. "It feels great to be back in the car – I enjoyed driving so much today," he said. "Maybe I’m not quite 100 per cent fit after two weeks on the sofa and two weeks out of the […]

Red Bull duo Daniil Kvyat and Daniel Ricciardo believe that the RB11 has been improved since the last race in Australia, after they registered top 10 times during practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix. With driveability problems plaguing the squad two weeks' ago, a war of words had broken out between Red Bull and power unit supplier Renault but after Kvyat placed fourth in practice, with Ricciardo 10th, the duo were keen to express their optimism over improvements. "We had a few small issues at […]

Lewis Hamilton was pleased with his recovery after issues disrupted his practice sessions for this weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix. Hamilton stopped on track during his out lap in the first session due to a failure of the inlet system on his power unit and when he returned to action in the second session he had to return to the garage briefly due to a loss of telemetry. Despite the problems, Hamilton posted the quickest time of the day, almost four-tenths of a second clear of […]

Raffaele Marciello declared himself pleased despite labelling his first practice outing with Sauber at the Malaysian Grand Prix as 'challenging'. The Ferrari protege replaced Felipe Nasr for the opening 90 minute session at Sepang and completed 13 laps, posting the 13th quickest time. "It was a good session for the team," said Marciello. "For me it was a bit challenging, as I was driving the Sauber C34 for the first time ever on a track I have not driven on before. "However, I felt confident […]

Manor Marussia declared themselves 'thrilled' as their car hit the circuit for the first time during practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix. Will Stevens and Roberto Merhi completed 34 laps between them across the two sessions, with Stevens' best time just under six seconds off of the pace achieved by Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton. "Obviously, we are thrilled to be back on track again, finally seeing all the hard work and determination paying off," said team principal John Booth. "I’m very satisfied with what we have […]

Williams has been handed a suspended fine after a tyre breach during the first practice session for this weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix. Every driver is given a set of Pirelli's hard tyres which must be used only during the first 30 minutes of the opening session, but Felipe Massa used those tyres outside of the designated time. "The competitor admitted the infringement and sought to mitigate," said a statement issued by the stewards. "Having considered the facts the stewards accept that the infringement was inadvertent […]

World Champion Lewis Hamilton says he finds it 'funny' that Red Bull has called on the FIA to reign in Mercedes after the Briton led Nico Rosberg home to take a 1-2 finish in Australia. After Mercedes' victory, on the back of its 2014 title success, Red Bull's Christian Horner suggested that the FIA should intervene to ensure that there should be more equality in the sport. "I generally find it quite funny and an interesting opinion coming from individuals that have had so much […]