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Formula 1 Mercedes-Benz

2015 Mercedes AMG W06 previewed

2015 Mercedes AMG W06

The Mercedes AMG F1 team has all but revealed its title-defending F1 W06 Hybrid with a couple of images first published to twitter. The official unveiling is not due until the morning of the opening day of testing in Jerez on Monday, 1 February.

Briefly on track for a filming day at Silverstone the 2015-spec F1 W06 managed to complete 18 laps with Nico Rosberg at the wheel before inclement weather brought a halt to proceedings.

From what we can see here, and below, it’s quite a nice looking and sounding car.

[Source: Mercedes AMG]

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Caterham Formula 1 McLaren Mercedes-Benz Video

2014 Hungarian GP four-car quali comparison

2014 Hunagrian Grand Prix qualifying

If you’re missing Formula 1 action during the off season here’s video from the Hungarian Grand Prix that will allow you to cram in four times the action in one go.

Starting from top right and moving in a clockwise direction we’ve got Jenson Button, Nico Rosberg, Sergio Perez and Marcus Ericsson. The footage was filmed during qualifying and it’s no surprise to see who was fastest.

[via WTF1]

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Ferrari Formula 1 Lotus McLaren Mercedes-Benz Red Bull Racing

2015 Formula 1 car concept drawings

Williams FW37 by Bruce Thomson

Bruce Thomson is an all round good guy. We know this because he hits our inbox from time to time with some seriously cool automotive drawings. Over the last few days he’s been sharing with the world a few illustrations showing how he would like the F1 cars of 2015 to look.

So far he’s given us the Ferrari F15, McLaren MP4-30, the Mercedes AMG W06 and the Red Bull Racing RB11.

If you follow those links then you’ll be treated to much larger versions of these images where you can further appreciate the detail.

Even better, there’s the promise of a Lotus and Williams concept to follow. Keep up the great work Bruce!

UPDATE 11 January: Now with Williams FW37 and Lotus E23 concepts.

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Mercedes-Benz Video

“It doesn’t try to be a 911”

Mercedes-Benz AMG GT

Harris at the wheel of the of the new AMG GT on an empty Laguna Seca. Hell yeah!

Filmed back at the car’s original launch and recently posted to his new (and free) YouTube channel we get some technical insight into the car’s construction. We’re presented with the theory on why this car should be good and then…

We get the practice. And, in a nutshell, that’s what makes Chris Harris so good at his job. He takes the time to explain things before putting them in action.

He’s certainly been more animated in other reviews, but if you want to find out if the AMG GT is better than a 911 without having access to either then this is probably as close as you’re going to get.

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Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes CLA Shooting Brake photo gallery

Mercedes-Benz CLA Shooting Brake

If the harsh, loud and unforgiving CLA 45 AMG Shooting Brake doesn’t take your fancy then feast your eyes on the sub-AMG models. You’ll see the CLA Shooting Brake is still damn cool!

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Mercedes-Benz

Mercedes CLA 45 AMG Shooting Brake revealed

Mercedes-Benz CLA 45 AMG Shooting Brake

If you think the Volkswagen Golf R wagon is pretty cool, then we reckon you will love this Mercedes-Benz CLA 45 AMG Shooting Brake.

As you’d expect it’s a simple case of stuffing the 265kW/450Nm A45 AMG drivetrain into a Shooting Brake body and regular readers won’t be surprised to learn we think this is the best looking A45 variant you can buy. Or will be able to buy.

For now we’re just getting a preview of the CLA 45 AMG Shooting Brake ahead of its full reveal at the Geneva Motor Show in March 2015.

More detail awaits after the brake, erm, break.

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Caterham F1 in pictures Ferrari Lotus McLaren Mercedes-Benz Red Bull Racing Toro Rosso

2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in pictures

2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Another Formula 1 season has come and gone and, as usual, it’s been a hell of a ride. Lews Hamilton’s win in Abu Dhabi secured his second world crown and put the perfect exclamation mark on a season of dominance for Mercedes AMG.

It’s a big job for a sole contributor compiling a season’s worth of F1 images too. Apologies for the delay in getting these images to you, but I’m not scared to admit there’s a sense of relief in posting the last gallery of photos for the year.

Never fear, the lure of F1 is great and I’ll be back again in 2015, hope to see you here.

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Formula 1 Mercedes-Benz

2014 Abu Dhabi GP: Post-race press conference

2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

As you might expect the post-race press conference after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was all about the newly crowned world champion Lewis Hamilton. It’s good for the fans that he was on the podium so that we can get a first-hand account of his thoughts after a big season.

Similarly, it would have been nice to see Daniel Ricciardo on the podium so we might have been able to get some more insight into his breakout year in Formula 1. Instead we have to make do with the words supplied to us by Red Bull:

“I think it was pretty much a faultless race from all sides, from the strategy, to myself and the pit stops, everything was good so we did everything we needed to,” Daniel said. “I had fun passing, it wasn’t boring out there, so it was pretty much what I asked for. One spot better would have been nice, but fourth is really cool from the pit lane.

“It’s been pretty much a perfect season, as perfect as it can be without holding a world title, so no real regrets, no complaints. It’s nice to not only start the season well, but to finish it well also and I think all the way through it was good—we had a strong summer as well, so the start, middle and end were pretty good!”

If last summer was a strong one, let’s pray this summer is a bit stronger for Daniel and Red Bull. It will need to be of they’re to catch the all conquering Silver Arrows.

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Formula 1 Mercedes-Benz

Lewis Hamilton wins 2014 Abu Dhabi GP

2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton secured his eleventh race win for the season and his second world championship with victory in the 2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix overnight.

The 29-year-old Briton made a lightning start from P2 on the grid, powering into the lead leaving his championship rival and teammate Nico Rosberg in his wake. Rosberg wasn’t able to mount a serious challenge and his title hopes were dashed mid-race when his ERS system failed, meaning he lost the ability to boost engine performance by 120kW for 33 seconds per lap.

Despite his engineer asking him to retire with two laps to go, Rosberg held on to finish the race having dropped to a lowly P14 and was also lapped by Hamilton.

Felipe Massa made a late charge and although Hamilton’s winning margin was a reasonably slender 2.5 seconds the Williams driver wasn’t able to get close enough to challenge for the lead of the race. In the end Massa will be happy with P2, his highest finishing position this season.

Valtteri Bottas finished third and proved he’s got some serious potential. The 30 points he collected were enough to elevate him to fourth in the world championship.

After starting from the pitlane due an illegal wing used in qualifying Daniel Ricciardo impressed everyone, but surprised noone to charge his way through the field to finish the race in P4. He also set the fastest lap and a podium finish may have been possible had he been able to start from the P5 he qualified in. Still, it’s a been a great year for Daniel and we hope Red Bull is able to provide him with a decent car in 2015.

Jenson Button finished fifth in what could be his final race in Formula 1. It would be a quiet and understated ending for the likeable Brit if that were the case. As a world champion he probably deserved the right to say goodbye, assuming McLaren has already made up its mind on who will drive for the team next year.

The Force India pairing of Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez finished in sixth and seventh, ahead of Sebastian Vettel and the Ferraris of Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen.

Hamilton’s win is the 33rd of his career, which now moves him ahead of Fernando Alonso on the all time winners list. In addition to his 2008 title, he now joins Jim Clark (1963, 1965) and Graham Hill (1962, 1968) as Britons who have won two world championships.

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Formula 1 Mercedes-Benz Video

Do you think Lewis will do this tonight?

Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna collide at the start of the 1990 Japanese Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton is no stranger to winning an F1 world championship in dramatic circumstances; remember those closing laps in 2008? Yet three years—1989, 1990 and 1994—stick in the memory as moments when the world champion was decided in highly controversial circumstances.

With two races to go in 1989 Ayrton Senna trailed his fierce rival Alain Prost by 16 points in the title race and needed to win the Japanese Grand Prix in order to take the championship to the final race in Adelaide. On lap 47 we saw one of the most iconic incidents in Formula 1 when the two collided. If both cars retired that was enough for Prost to claim the title. But more controversy was to follow after Senna was able to restart and go on to win the race, only to be later disqualified.

The following year the tables were turned in the Senna v Prost battle. This time Senna held the upper hand and Prost needed to win at Suzuka to keep his championship hopes alive. The image above shows what happened when the two cars fought for position into the first corner. Senna clipped the back of Prost’s car and forced both cars out of the race. Senna became world champion for the second time.

Four years later the championship fight made it to the last race of the season in Adelaide. It was desperately close, with Michael Schumacher a single point ahead of Damon Hill. On lap 36 Schumacher was leading the race but ran wide at Turn 5 allowing Hill to catch up and as the pair fought for position going into Turn 6 the result was seemingly inevitable. Contact was made, both men retired and Schumacher won his first world championship.

We’re not categorically saying Prost (1989), Senna (1990) and Schumacher (1994) deliberately caused those infamous accidents. But watch the videos after the break and then put yourself in Lewis Hamilton’s shoes. Would you deliberately cause a race-ending incident in order to secure yourself a Formula 1 world championship?

[Pic: F1 Fanatic]

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Formula 1 Mercedes-Benz

2014 Abu Dhabi GP: Lewis v Nico title fight

Lews Hamilton v Nico Rosberg, 2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton enjoys a 17 point lead over Nico Rosberg heading into tonight’s final grand prix of the year. He is the favourite to win the 2014 F1 world championship. But with double points on offer in Abu Dhabi Nico Rosberg needs to only finish fifth (20 points) to close the gap. Of course, if that is the case then Lewis would only need a P9 (4 points) result to deny Rosberg.

We thank Sky Sports F1 for the graphic above which shows in a simple format what each driver needs to do to win the title, based on Rosberg’s results.

[Pic: @SkySportsF1]

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Formula 1 Mercedes-Benz

2014 Abu Dhabi GP qualifying report

2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Nico Rosberg needs a lot to go right for him this weekend to wrest the world championship from the grasp of Lewis Hamilton and he started well by earning himself pole position for tonight’s race.

Rosberg’s time (1:40.480) was comfortably faster than Hamilton’s (1:40.866) who made a few minor mistakes. It would be easy to say the pressure is getting to Lewis and maybe it is, but if he can stay out of trouble and finish the race he should be celebrating his second world championship.

Valtteri Bottas (1:41.025) edged out a flying Felipe Massa (1:41.119) for P3 but as the image above shows, the only story in town is all about the Lewis v Nico title fight.

Qualifying in P5 and P6 were Red Bull teammates Daniel Ricciardo (1:41.267) and Sebastian Vettel (1:41.893) but they have both been disqualified for running an illegal front wing.

Speaking before the Stewards had disqualified him Ricciardo said: “I’m really happy with quali; we knew after FP3 we had a bit of work to do, but we knew when the sun went down the temperature would drop so we stayed optimistic that our set up would work better in the evening and we made some good changes for that.

“I was the happiest I have been all weekend during quali. We are fairly close to the Williams and not too far off at least one of the Mercs, so not a bad session.”

Daniel and Sebastian will start from the back of the grid and any points they can claim will be a bonus.

The top 10 was rounded out by Daniil Kvyat (1:41.908), Jenson Button (1:41.964), Kimi Raikonnen (1:42.236) and Fernando Alonso (1:42.866).

It will be all eyes on the front of the grid at the start of the grand prix. Lewis Hamilton needs third or better to guarantee his title win. Let’s hope we see an exciting and fair race.