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Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

Sebastian Vettel to leave Red Bull

2014 German Grand Prix

Sebastian Vettel has dropped a bombshell by informing Red Bull Racing that he will be leaving the team at the end of this season. It’s expected this will be the first of a number of high profile moves in the Formula 1 driver market this coming off season.

Fernando Alonso is tipped to leave Ferrari for the new McLaren-Honda outfit and it is widely expected that Vettel will drive for Ferrari in 2015. At this stage neither of these movements have been confirmed.

Vettel is contracted with Red Bull for 2015 and is understood to have activated a special release clause to end the deal early.

Meanwhile, Red Bull has announced that current Toro Rosso driver Daniil Kvyat will be promoted to drive alongside Daniel Ricciardo with Red Bull next season (see statement below). Kvyat has impressed during his rookie season and on paper he is perhap the biggest winner following Vettel’s departure.

[Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]

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Ferrari Formula 1 Mercedes-Benz Red Bull Racing

2014 Hungarian GP: Post-race press conference

2014 Hungarian Grand Prix

It’s always a great feeling being a Formula 1 fan in Australia when you go to bed late at night after an Aussie victory and you wake up on Monday morning and hear all about the race win on the morning news bulletins. It’s a great way to start the week. Thank you Daniel!

The most pleasing thing about Ricciardo’s win at the Hungarian Grand Prix was the way he had to fight for it. Same with Canada, too, he hasn’t yet dominated a race from start to finish. That’s a legacy of not having the best car this year. It’s meant Daniel has had to either create opportunities for himself or take advantage of good luck coming his way during a race.

It seems odd to say it, given he’s the only non-Mercedes driver to win a race so far in 2014, but Daniel’s two wins have been great development for him as a driver. He’s still learning and he’s proving he has the bottle and the skill to fight for race wins. Let’s hope it’s not too long until we see him fighting for a world championship. Clearly, he has the class.

Even Fernando and Lewis agree, as you will read below.

[Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]

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Ferrari Formula 1 Mercedes-Benz Red Bull Racing

Daniel Ricciardo wins 2014 Hungarian GP

2014 Hungarian Grand Prix

What the hell just happened? I’ll tell you what happened, Daniel Ricciardo just won the 2014 Hungarian Grand Prix! That’s what just happened.

Proving the Murray Walkerism that “Anything can happen in Formula 1, and it usually does” Fernando Alonso finished second and Lewis Hamilton, who started from the pit lane, finished third. So, again, what the hell just happened!

The track was wet for the race start and all the drivers started on intermediates. Nico Rosberg made a clean getaway and went about opening up a sizeable gap to those behind. Valtteri Bottas showed some smarts off the line and overtook Sebastian Vettel at the first corner to claim P2.

Daniel lost a couple of places at the start and was in P6 but worked his way back to P5. Marcus Ericsson then had his most influential F1 race to date after he binned his car and invited the Safety Car onto the track.

The timing was such that Daniel was able to quickly dive into the pits for slick tyres while the first four cars had to do almost a complete lap behind the Safety Car. The wash up of all that saw a fortunate Daniel inherit the race lead.

After the Safety Car came in, off he went. The lead was lost briefly to Jenson Button, who was running intermediates on the still drying track, but that didn’t last and Dan reclaimed the lead which he held until lap 22.

Sergio Perez spun on the last corner and smashed his car into the pit wall, which brought out the Safety Car for a second time. Again, Ricciardo was quick to pit, a move which eventually worked to his benefit.

Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton was able to make solid progress through the field despite starting from pit lane and then spinning off the track momentarily on lap 2. By the end of the first Safety Car period he had risen to P7, only two places behind Rosberg.

Amazingly, as the race progressed it looked as though Hamilton could be in with a chance of victory. Fernando Alonso, too, was having a good run and inherited the lead of the race after Ricciardo came in for fresh tyres with 15 laps to go.

Daniel rejoined the race in good shape and set about chasing those ahead of him including Alonso, Hamilton and Rosberg. Alonso’s strategy required him to do 32 laps in his final stint and Hamilton, too, was on old tyres. Rosberg also came in for a pit stop, gifting P3 to Daniel, before he also started chasing the leading trio.

Alonso was able to hold Hamilton and Ricciardo at bay with clean defensive driving. However, his pace was slowing as his tyres lost more life and this closed the gap to little more than a second back to Ricciardo in P3. On newer tyres Daniel needed a couple of attempts to get past Hamilton for P2, but showed great racecraft to out manouevre his more experienced rival. He quickly caught Alonso and used DRS to great effect to maximise a half chance and take the lead.

With only three laps to go Ricciardo was able to build a safe margin, leaving Alonso to defend against Hamilton and a super quick Rosberg. Somehow the superior Mercedes pair could not do what Daniel did and overtake Alonso. The race settled with a totally unpredictable first three and Rosberg left to rue his chances in P4.

Felipe Massa was fifth ahead of Kimi Raikkonen (his best result since returning to Ferrari). Sebastian Vettel was seventh and had only himself to blame after a final corner spin on lap 32. He was lucky not to have crashed out but did sufficient damage to his tyres to ruin his chances of a better result.

Valtteri Bottas’ day was cruelled by unfortunate pit timing and he could only manage P8. While Jean-Eric Vergne and Jenson Button rounded out the top 10.

His second grand prix win seemed to sit better with a beaming Daniel Ricciardo, who showed he has no fear or talent deficit with the world champions he’s mixing it with. It’s a great result for the young Aussie as the teams go into the mid-season break before racing returns at Spa in late August.

[Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]

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Ferrari Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

Is Dan, is good!

Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing

One of the highlights from the 2014 German Grand Prix was the battle between Daniel Ricciardo and Fernando Alonso. Two-time world champion Alonso eventually won that battle for fifth place, but he was very impressed with the driving abilities of our Daniel.

“Daniel is a surprise from Australia,” Alonso told Sky Sports F1 after the race. “I think he’s doing unbelievable; I think he’s seven-three [in qualifying] in the first ten races with Sebastian [Vettel], so it’s something we probably didn’t suspect.

“He’s driving fantastically and today he was battling very smart—always taking the slipstream of me after I pass him and braking very late, attacking very late and never missing a corner.

“He was very, very smart, very respectful with the rules and it was a great fight.”

Alonso later added he was managing fuel towards the end of the race and was lucky not to concede P4 back to Daniel on the last lap.

“For the last stint I was saving fuel but I was battling with Ricciardo,” he said. “So for some laps you have to decide to give up the position and cross the line or fight with Ricciardo and be on the limit to cross the line.

“I decide to fight with Ricciardo, be in the position and then I will try to manage the fuel as good as I can.

“On the last lap, I had to save fuel massively and I was in eighth gear all lap and it was lucky that there was not 100 metres more.”

[Source: Sky Sports F1 | Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]

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Ferrari WEC

Fernando Alonso to start Le Mans 24 Hours

Fernando Alonso

Fernando Alonso is going to start the 2014 Le Mans 24 Hours. No, he hasn’t been released to compete in the race itself, rather he will be the ceremonial flag waver to indicate the start of the endurance classic.

Automobile Club de l’Ouest invited Fernando along in recognition of Ferrari’s past history at Le Mans and perhaps to increase interest of a return to the main LMP1 class from Maranello.

“I am very happy to have been chosen to start this race, because it is one of a handful of races that has defined the history of motor sport,” Alonso explained.

“I’m keen to check out the details on this type of car. In Formula 1, we have also entered the hybrid era and I am curious to find out more about the working methods and technology involved in this series.”

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

2014 Chinese Grand Prix in pictures

2014 Chinese Grand Prix

It’s okay everyone, we didn’t forget you and your love of quality Formula 1 pictures. Life just got in the way for a bit. Finally, we now bring you our selection of photos from the 2014 Chinese Grand Prix. Once again Lewis Hamilton came up trumps. He’s making a habit of this winning lark it seems and we eagerly anticipate the sport’s return to Europe to see if any of the teams can catch Mercedes.

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Ferrari Formula 1 Mercedes-Benz

2014 Chinese GP: Post-race press conference

2014 Chinese Grand Prix

Before you get into the mostly routine press conference after the break, let’s take a look at what the Red Bull team statement gave us in light of another race where Sebastian Vettel was asked to let Daniel Ricciardo overtake him for track position.

Daniel Ricciardo: “With Seb, we were racing and you always want to hold on to your position, but the team radioed and he let me through. I did what I could after each stop and we improved the car; at the end I was doing all I could to catch Alonso and I think we got to within a couple of seconds of him as we went over the line. It’s going well with the team, I feel comfortable here and I did the best I could today. I really want that podium and we’re getting close!”

Sebastian Vettel: “I moved over for Daniel once I knew that we were on different strategies. When I was first asked, I didn’t understand as we were on the same tyre, unlike in Bahrain, so I double checked. When the team said we were on a different strategy, I moved over and then, as the race went on, I saw more and more that I didn’t have the pace. There was no point in holding Dan back. I’m not yet where I want to be with the car, but it’s an on-going process; hopefully at the next few races we will make some more steps in the right direction.”

Christian Horner: “Sebastian made a great start, but then appeared to go through the tyres quicker than Daniel and, after the second stop, it was apparent Seb’s degradation was particularly worse than Daniel, so we looked at switching him to a three-stop and therefore released Daniel who was very much focused on a two-stop at that point. Thereafter Daniel was able to close the gap to Alonso, but unfortunately we didn’t have enough to get onto the podium today.”

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Ferrari Formula 1 Mercedes-Benz

Lewis Hamilton wins 2014 Chinese GP

2014 Chinese Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton cruising to victory has been the story of the early season so far in Formula 1 and that narrative continued in Shanghai today when Hamilton strolled to his third race win on end at the Chinese Grand Prix.

It also says something of Mercedes AMG’s dominance over the field when a comparatively bumbling Nico Rosberg, driving a car unable to transmit its telemetry back to the pit wall, was able to recover from a poor start to take an easy second place, making it the third Mercedes 1–2 in succession.

Fernando Alonso extended his reputation for delivering more than his car can give by finishing third, able to hold off a late charge from Daniel Ricciardo who came home fourth. The young Aussie once again ruffled the feathers of four-time world champ Sebastian Vettel, who finished fifth.

Around mid-race distance Ricciardo was on a two-stop strategy and at the time Vettel was planning to three-stop. With fresher tyres Daniel was closing in quickly on his more credentialled teammate and for the second race in a row an order from the team came through asking Vettel to let Ricciardo past.

Vettel’s initial response over the radio, after establishing both men were on the same tyres, was, “Tough luck!” Although, on the next lap Vettel opened the door for Daniel and the impressive youngster went through. To rub further salt into Vettel’s wound the team later switched him to a two-stop strategy.

After the excitement of Bahrain, this was not a race for the ages. The only incidents of any note came during the early stages of the opening lap when Felipe Massa and Alonso clunked wheels. Almost immediately afterwards, in a separate incident, Rosberg and Valtteri Bottas interlocked wheels. It was a stroke of good fortune for all four drivers that no damage was done and all managed to finish the race uninhibited.

That said, Felipe Massa’s chance at a stronger points haul was ruined when his Williams crew completely botched his first pit stop. To call it a comedy of errors would have been kind. In the end the Brazilian resumed the race in last place and did well to fight back to finish P9.

Reliability improved across the field, too, with only two drivers failing to finish the race. Adrian Sutil retired early with an engine problem, while the Lotus of Romain Grosjean succumbed to a gearbox failure.

Trivia buffs will be keen to note an oddity to the final result thanks to the chequered flag first being shown to Lewis Hamilton on lap 55 of the 56 lap race. That mistake meant the final classified result reverted back to the positions on lap 54.

You can see the full lap 54 positions after the break, along woth updated championship tables.

There will be a delay in our F1 in pictures gallery for this race. We expect to have the images ready for you by next weekend, or hopefully before.

Categories
Ferrari Formula 1

2014 Ferrari F14 T revealed

2014 Ferrari F14-T

Ferrari has just released images and brief details for its 2014 F1 car, the F14 T. On the one hand we’re thankful that we don’t have another skinny anteater nose. But we can’t really say this is the prettiest Formula 1 car we’ve ever seen.

The most common comparison with the F14 T is the Beluga cargo plane. Which is a shame really. It’s been too long since we’ve been able to look at an F1 car and think of it as a thing of beauty.

The name F14 T was chosen from the results of an internet poll. You can read the name as FIAT if you like, but it does actually reference the current year and the fact the car is now turbocharged. A nice bit of serendipity then.

Official photos and press material are available below. We’re still trying to work out if this looks better than any of the other 2014-spec F1 cars we’ve seen so far. It’s a bit like trying to choose the best needle to stick in your eye.

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Formula 1

Formula 1’s lucky numbers

2013 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

As the new F1 season draws near we can start getting all excited about the numbers the drivers will choose in this new era of permanent numbers.

Former world champion Kimi Raikkonen wants number 7 apparently. But so does Jules Bianchi. A bitch fight to settle it perhaps?

Other numbers nominated to date include:

  • Fernando Alonso (14)
  • Valtteri Bottas (77)
  • Jenson Button (22)
  • Romain Grosjean (8)
  • Kevin Magnussen (20)
  • Felipe Massa (19)
  • Sergio Perez (11)
  • Nico Rosberg (6)
  • Jean-Eric Vergne (25)

It’s not known yet if Daniel Ricciardo has selected a preference. Do you think he will stick with the number 19 he raced with in 2013 or choose something new?

We wonder, if our Mark was still in F1 if he would choose number 2, just for a laugh?

[Source: Planet F1 | Pic: Toro Rosso/Getty Images]

Categories
Ferrari Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

2013 Brazilian GP: Post-race press conference

2013 Brazilian Grand Prix

Following Mark Webber’s second place in the Brazilian Grand Prix here’s your last chance to read what the straight shooting Aussie had to say in one of his last official engagements with F1.

Before you do, this is what Daniel Ricciardo had to say before he steps into Webber’s shoes at Red Bull.

“The conditions were very difficult with the occasional drop of rain,” Daniel said. “From the cockpit, it’s actually quite difficult to judge how much rain there is. You see a few drops on your visor, look at the guy in front of you and if he doesn’t go off, you assume it’s dry.

“We were not very quick from the start and I was struggling with cold graining on the front right. We did try and rebalance it during the race, but we struggled in terms of pure pace, so I was quite happy to come away with a point.”

Young Daniel didn’t forget to say goodbye to his friends at Toro Rosso. “At midnight tonight I become an Infiniti Red Bull Racing driver,” he added. “But for now I just want to say thank you to everyone at Scuderia Toro Rosso, here at the track, back in Faenza and at our wind tunnel for two fantastic years. Thanks guys!”

The full transcript of the post-race press conference featuring the first three drivers can be read after the break.

[Pics: Red Bull/Getty Images]

Categories
Ferrari Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

Sebastian Vettel wins 2013 Brazilian GP

2013 Brazilian Grand Prix

Sebastian Vettel’s record season has been capped with another victory. It’s his ninth win a row, the first time that’s ever been done in a calendar year, and it’s his thirteenth win of the season, which equals Michael Schumacher’s 2004 season. How crucial does that controversial Malaysian Grand Prix win look now?

Off the line both Red Bulls lost ground. Vettel was swallowed up by Nico Rosberg, although restored his natural order by reclaiming the lead at the start of Lap 2. Webber dropped one position to P5, but his race pace was soon apparent and by Lap 13 he had found a way past both Mercedes AMG drivers and Fernando Alonso to earn himself P2.

Mark lost that position due to an uncharacteristic error from Red Bull during his pit stop. Although with new boots Webber was able to catch and overtake Alonso within a couple of laps. He didn’t really make any inroads into Vettel’s lead until another pit stop drama. Red Bull was waiting for Webber to pit, however—anticipating a Safety Car after an incident between Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas—Vettel dived into pit lane for his final set of tyres. He caught the team off-guard and half of his 13 second lead was lost waiting for his tyres.

Although, with Mark soon stacked behind Seabstian the impact to Vettel’s lead was minimised to a degree. As the race drew to a close light rain increased as the skies threatened to open. Late drama was averted when the downpour didn’t eventuate and Vettel won the race by just over 10 seconds.

Perhaps finishing second to Sebastian was a fitting result for Mark in his final F1 race. Mark won nine races in his 215-race career, the same number of wins Vettel has strung together in succession at the back-end of this season.

Webber ensured he left the sport with nothing to hide, by allowing the crowd got to see his emotion after he removed his helmet during his cool down lap.

The 18 points earned by Mark for P2, coupled with a drive-through penalty for Hamilton for causing his incident with Bottas, ensured Webber finished third in the drivers’ championship. While Mark didn’t win a grand prix in 2013, third in the title race equals his best season results from 2010 and 2011.

Webber has certainly made his mark on F1, maybe not as much in terms of net results as he would like, but we can’t ever remember a driver leaving F1 with the overwhelming support and grace Webber has enjoyed from his peers. The admiration of his character appears universal. Even on the podium his fiercest rival, Sebastian Vettel, ensured the post-race interviews defied protocol by starting with Mark in honour of his final F1 appearance.

Fernando Alonso will be happy with P3 after a poor end to the season for Ferrari. Although, it emerged he would have moved aside for teammate Felipe Massa had the Brazilian not been pushed down the field following a drive through penalty for crossing the pit lane entry in race conditions.

McLaren, too, finished a poor season well by seeing Jenson Button and Sergio Perez finish in fourth and sixth respectively. Perez qualified in P14, but started from P19 after a gearbox change, which meant Button started from P14. McLaren will no doubt be hoping to see an improvement in fortunes when F1 enters its turbocharged V6 “power unit” era in 2014.

Lotus ended the year in disappointment when Romain Grosjean’s final race with a normally-aspirated V8 engine behind him was over after just two laps when said engine dropped its guts all over the circuit. Heikki Kovalainen, filling in for Kimi Raikkonen, was unable to make an impact at Sao Paulo and finished in P14.

On the positive side, Daniel Ricciardo ended his season and career with Toro Rosso by claiming the single point offered for P10. We look forward to greater things from Daniel when he moves to Red Bull in 2014.

Another year, another title for Vettel. He and Red Bull have collected four championships on end now. Well done them. Yet, with mixed emotions, considering Daniel’s move to RBR, we do hope to see a different script in 2014.

[Pic: Red Bull/Getty Images]