Shanghai: Ferrari driver Felipe Massa set the fastest time in Friday's practice sessions for the Formula One Chinese Grand Prix, bringing praise from his team for an "incredible" performance. Massa set a best time of 1 minute, 35.340 seconds around the Shanghai International Circuit in the afternoon session, putting him 0.15 seconds ahead of Lotus' Kimi Raikkonen, with Ferrari team-mate Fernando Alonso third. Massa's strong performance surprised even Ferrari, being...
01:32 PM, Apr 12, 2013
Shanghai: McLaren can make up lost ground after a difficult start to the year because their car has more development potential than Formula One rivals, according to Jenson Button. The 2009 world champion has scored just two points from the first two races of the 19-round season and is 38 adrift of Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel. Mexican team mate Sergio Perez has scored the same number of points. Button told...
09:56 AM, Apr 12, 2013
Shanghai: Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso responded sarcastically to the qualifying edge currently enjoyed by team-mate Felipe Massa, saying he can't sleep and is losing his hair. Massa has qualified ahead of Alonso in the past four races - the first two this season and the last two last year - and if he does it again this weekend in the Chinese Grand Prix it will be the first time in...
09:46 AM, Apr 12, 2013
Stuttgart: Seven-time Formula One champion Michael Schumacher is becoming an ambassador for safety for Mercedes-Benz. The German carmaker says the long-term partnership will focus on the development of its Intelligent Drive safety system. Schumacher will help develop the system that seeks to improve road safety. The former Ferrari and Mercedes driver says he was always "a supporter of driving aides in racing as well as street cars" and used such...
09:21 AM, Apr 12, 2013
Shanghai: Mercedes pair Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton set the fastest times in Friday's opening practice session for the Formula One Chinese Grand Prix. Rosberg, who won here last year for his sole F1 victory, set a time of 1 minute, 36.717 seconds around the Shanghai International Circuit, putting him almost half a second ahead of teammate Hamilton, who is the only two-time winner of this grand prix. Red Bull...
09:19 AM, Apr 12, 2013
Shanghai: Mercedes announced a long-term agreement with Michael Schumacher on Thursday for the retired seven times Formula One champion to become an ambassador for their brand focusing on future technology and road safety. "The future interests me much more than the present and past," the German, the most successful grand prix driver who won his titles with Benetton and Ferrari between 1994 and 2004, said in a statement. "During my...
11:32 PM, Apr 11, 2013
Shanghai: Mark Webber recognised his mistake on Thursday after returning with a mean new look to a Formula One paddock buzzing with talk of war at Red Bull between the Australian and world champion team-mate Sebastian Vettel. "It was a little bit of a screw up," grinned the driver when asked whether the severe haircut was a reflection of his mood after Vettel ignored team orders and passed him to...
11:21 PM, Apr 11, 2013
Shanghai: Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel met a barrage of questions about his failure to obey team orders on Thursday with an unrepentant smile and cold contempt for Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber. Facing a scrum of reporters crammed into his team's hospitality centre at the Chinese Grand Prix, Vettel showed little apparent remorse for his failure to obey instructions by snatching victory from Webber in Malaysia last month....
06:27 PM, Apr 11, 2013
Shanghai: Lewis Hamilton cancelled his media engagements and returned to his hotel after feeling unwell at the Chinese Grand Prix on Thursday. A Mercedes team spokeswoman said the 2008 Formula One world champion, who moved from McLaren at the end of last season, would be back at the circuit for scheduled practice on Friday. Mercedes won in China last year with Germany's Nico Rosberg, their first grand prix victory since...
06:19 PM, Apr 11, 2013
Shanghai: Force India drivers Adrian Sutil and Paul di Resta are fine with team orders in Formula One. Their comments come after Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel ignored team orders and overtook team-mate Mark Webber to win the Malaysian Grand Prix March 24. The incident resulted in a big controversy with some raising questions on Vettel's act of defiance. "Teams have their own policies about instructing their drivers. There is no...
05:14 PM, Apr 11, 2013
When it was added to the calendar nine years ago, the Chinese Grand Prix was supposed to give Formula One a path to a vibrant new market that offered access to millions of racing fans and big name sponsors. It hasn't worked out that way. The race, which takes place this weekend in Shanghai, has struggled to fill the stands in recent years, and F1 found that Chinese viewership fell...
09:52 AM, Apr 11, 2013
Shanghai: Former world champion Damon Hill has called on Formula One's governing body, the FIA, to take a stance and address concerns within the sport about next week's Bahrain Grand Prix. Hill, Britain's 1996 champion who is now a television pundit, supported last year's race after initially urging the authorities to reconsider holding it while the country was in the grip of civil unrest and violent protest. Hill, speaking ahead...
09:41 AM, Apr 11, 2013
Shanghai: Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel made clear on Wednesday that his apology to Red Bull for ignoring team orders at the Malaysian Grand Prix did not extend to any remorse about winning. "I told the team straight after that 'I apologise for putting myself above the team which I didn't mean to do'," the 25-year-old German said in an interview for team title sponsor Infiniti ahead of Sunday's...
11:39 PM, Apr 10, 2013
Shanghai: Memories of China would have given Nico Rosberg plenty of extra motivation on his return to Shanghai this weekend, even without a 'team orders' furore that blew up at the last race in Malaysia. While Red Bull caught the full force of the storm at Sepang, with triple world champion Sebastian Vettel winning after ignoring instructions from his pitwall to stay behind team mate Mark Webber, Mercedes were buffeted...
09:27 PM, Apr 10, 2013
Shanghai: When the Formula One season resumes at this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix, the biggest battles will be between sets of warring teammates rather than rival teams. The division is deepest at Red Bull where - three weeks on from the Malaysian Grand Prix - there is still plenty of ill-feeling between three-time world champion Sebastian Vettel and No.2 driver Mark Webber following the events of Sepang, where the German...
09:10 AM, Apr 10, 2013
Maranello: Brazilian Formula 1 driver Felipe Massa has no doubt that Ferrari is a title contender despite not winning either of the first two races of the season so far. Massa is currently the top Ferrari driver in the drivers' World Championship with 22 points, 18 behind championship-leading Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel. Ferrari finished second and fourth in Australia but after the Fernando Alonso's crash in Malaysia, Massa finished...
06:53 PM, Apr 09, 2013
Surrey: McLaren Mercedes, the world's first carbon-neutral Formula 1 team, has re-confirmed its carbon-neutral status and has formed a partnership with CNI (UK) Limited, who will join the team as an associate partner for sustainability. Over the past four years, McLaren Group has rigorously examined, revised and improved every aspect of its operations to reduce its carbon footprint. "In December 2011, working with CNI, we achieved a long-held ambition and...
03:00 PM, Apr 09, 2013
London: Former world champions Williams have targeted next month's Spanish Grand Prix for a significant step forward with their car after failing to score a point in the first two races of the Formula One season. Williams won at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya, the first race of the European season, last year with Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado. This year's race is on May 12. In a preview of Sunday's Chinese Grand...
05:27 AM, Apr 09, 2013
Shanghai: Sahara Force India do not depend now just on wet weather conditions to upset the big teams as the car is competitive enough in all conditions, team principal Vijay Mallya asserted Monday. Going into Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix, Force India are fifth in the constructors standings, behind Mercedes and ahead of Sauber and McLaren. Mallya said his team's assessment in comparison with the rivals can be done better after...
04:50 PM, Apr 08, 2013
London: Lewis Hamilton has never asked for favoured treatment at Mercedes and the team orders that helped him to third place at the Malaysian Grand Prix were made only out of necessity, according to principal Ross Brawn. Brawn told Sky Sports F1 in an interview that both Hamilton, the 2008 Formula One world champion, and German team-mate Nico Rosberg were told to hold position purely because of a fuel issue....
04:07 PM, Apr 06, 2013
