Barcelona: McLaren are still a hell of a long way off the pace despite introducing a major new upgrade package for their Formula One car at the Spanish Grand Prix, Jenson Button said on Friday. The 2009 world champion told reporters after practice at the Circuit de Catalunya that hopes of a sudden improvement in performance were unrealistic. "We do have a lot of visible new parts on the car...
11:31 PM, May 10, 2013
Barcelona: Formula One championship leader Sebastian Vettel posted the fastest time ahead of archrival Fernando Alonso in the second practice session of the Spanish Grand Prix on Friday. Alonso had the best time in the rain-affected first session, where Vettel drove more cautiously, but the Spaniard finished .017 seconds behind the German as sunshine bathed the Circuit de Catalunya for most of the afternoon's run. Vettel clocked 1 minute, 22.808...
07:26 PM, May 10, 2013
Barcelona, Spain: Ferrari teammates Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa posted the fastest times in the first practice session of the Spanish Grand Prix on Friday. After light rainfall early on, the track started to dry out midway through and times started tumbling towards the end of the session. Alonso clocked 1 minute, 25.252 seconds, making him 0.203 seconds quicker than Massa, who slowed down when he clipped a kerb late...
03:26 PM, May 10, 2013
Barcelona: Sergio Perez has made peace with teammate Jenson Button and their McLaren bosses after twice hitting Button during the Bahrain Grand Prix last month. Perez says they now need to work harder together in order to make McLaren more competitive at this week's Spanish Grand Prix. "We are thankful that we are in a team like McLaren which lets you fight as teammates, so in that respect we have...
09:21 AM, May 10, 2013
Barcelona: Lewis Hamilton brought his bulldog Roscoe to the Spanish Formula One Grand Prix on Thursday but kept the jet-setting pet away from the paddock. The 2008 world champion has obtained a special VIP pass for the animal, complete with a photograph of the dog wearing trendy headphones, but abandoned plans to bring the pet to last month's Bahrain Grand Prix because Roscoe was reported to be feeling under the...
09:07 AM, May 10, 2013
Barcelona: Fernando Alonso is hoping to close the gap on championship leader Sebastian Vettel at the Spanish Grand Prix. He says "until we are 75 or 80 points behind, we should be optimistic" about challenging for the Formula One title. The two-time champion trails Vettel by 30 points after just four races going into this weekend's event. But the Spaniard feels for the first time in years that Ferrari has...
10:57 PM, May 09, 2013
Barcelona: Kimi Raikkonen is confident he can put questions about his future to one side and fight for the Formula One title this season. Four races into the season, the 2007 champion is second overall and only 10 points behind three-time defending champion Sebastian Vettel heading into this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix. Rather than play down his chances of a second F1 title, the 33-year-old Finn says "it would be...
10:53 PM, May 09, 2013
London: Ferrari's Fernando Alonso needs to make the most of home advantage when Formula One's European season starts up in Barcelona on Sunday. The Spaniard has ground to make up on Red Bull's triple champion Sebastian Vettel after four races in Asia and the Middle East. "If I was to score our overall performance, I would only give it a six out of 10," Ferrari chief designer Nikolas Tombazis told...
08:21 PM, May 08, 2013
London: Highly-rated technical director James Allison is leaving Lotus and will be replaced by Nick Chester, the Formula One team said on Wednesday. The announcement before the first race of the European season in Spain this weekend will be seen as a blow for Finnish Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen, the 2007 world champion who is second in the standings to Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel. Allison has been with British-based Lotus,...
06:41 PM, May 08, 2013
Barcelona: Encouraged by their "best ever" start to season, Force India are determined to see their drivers on the podium soon as the side prepares "hard" to compete in Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix. Paul di Resta came close to getting the team their first podium of the season but had to be content with a fourth-place finish in the last race in Bahrain. Team Principal Vijay Mallya said the team...
06:48 PM, May 07, 2013
Maranello: Ferrari are pleased with their car but ruing mishaps which have limited their success in the first four Formula One races. Fernando Alonso's performances are emblematic of the team's mixed success. He won the Chinese Grand Prix and finished second in Australia but a collision forced him to retire in Malaysia and mechanical problems led to an eighth-place finish in Bahrain. The team's chief designer, Nikolas Tombazis, rates their...
06:17 PM, May 07, 2013
Formula One teams will be given extra tyres for Friday free practice from this week's Spanish Grand Prix to encourage them to provide more action for the fans, supplier Pirelli said on Monday. "We'll be supplying an extra set of prototype hard compound tyres for free practice, which will hopefully ensure that all the cars run throughout these sessions," said motorsport director Paul Hembery in a preview of Sunday's race...
08:45 PM, May 06, 2013
London: Jenson Button says he is keeping an open mind about how big a step McLaren will make with their eagerly-awaited upgrade package for next week's Spanish Grand Prix. The 2009 Formula One world champion, who won last year's final race in Brazil, has finished no higher than fifth in four Grands Prix so far this season with a car that has been off the pace of the leaders. McLaren...
10:35 PM, May 03, 2013
London: Development driver Susie Wolff is pushing Williams to give her a proper test in July and keep alive her distant dream of one day racing alongside the men in Formula One. "For me the next logical step is to do the young drivers test, and do it well, and then see what the next step is after that," the 30-year-old Scot told Reuters at a sponsor event on Thursday....
10:41 PM, May 02, 2013
Silverstone: Formula One drivers have been promised a properly functioning electronic cockpit warning system for next week's Spanish Grand Prix after problems prevented its use in the first four races of the season. "We've been told they've got an upgrade which is going to Barcelona and then it'll be working from there," former F1 driver and occasional race steward Derek Warwick told Reuters on Wednesday. The telemetry link between race...
12:32 AM, May 02, 2013
London: Bernie Ecclestone has made clear that Formula One will pay prize money to only the top 10 teams from the end of this season. Since 2010, payments have been made to the 11th and 12th-placed teams to help three newcomers on reduced budgets who came in after the abrupt departure of major manufacturers Honda, Toyota and BMW. There are now 11 teams remaining after the demise last year of...
08:45 PM, Apr 29, 2013
London: Formula One Team Williams made a pre-tax loss of 5 million pounds ($7.76 million) last year due to several long-term investments, including one that makes hybrid systems for public transport. The British-based team announced on Monday its revenue increased 22 percent to 127 million pounds ($197 million) compared to 104.5 million pounds ($162.2) in 2011. But it still swung to a loss, compared to profits of 7.4 million pounds...
06:32 PM, Apr 29, 2013
London: Robert Kubica has tried out the Mercedes team's Formula One simulator in another sign of the Polish driver's burning desire to return to grand prix racing. "Yes, I was in the Mercedes F1 simulator in the past," the former Sauber and Renault driver told the autosport.com website while competing in the Azores round of the European Rally Championship at the weekend. The Pole, fighting back from arm and hand...
09:21 AM, Apr 29, 2013
New Delhi: Australian Formula 1 driver Mark Webber says he and Red Bull team-mate Sebastian Vettel share a great camaraderie despite what happened at the controversial Malaysian Grand Prix. On March 24 at the Sepang International Circuit, Webber led Vettel after the final pit stops and the drivers were told to hold position by team principal Christian Horner till the end of the race. But Vettel passed the Australian after...
03:43 PM, Apr 27, 2013
Retired seven-times world champion Michael Schumacher will drive his old Formula One car again next month in a demonstration run around the daunting Nuerburgring Nordschleife track, Mercedes said on Thursday. The German manufacturer said the 44-year-old's drive in a 2011 car around the old 20km track, before the start of a 24-hour race on May 19, would be a 'thank you' to his fans for their years of support. It...
07:18 PM, Apr 25, 2013
