Tag: Round 1

  • F3 – Australia – Day 2 & 3

    Day 2-

    Ramos held firm into Turn 1, but Bilinski had to fight back past Stenshorne with a late dive into Turn 4 having lots out in the first corner to the Hitech TGR driver.
    It also opened the door for Campos Racing’s Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak to follow through, but their fight was far from over.

    The Rodin then swept by Matias Zagazeta for second into Turn 9, but waiting in the wings, Inthraphuvasak, went into third around the outside into the chicane.
    Stenshorne fired back before the end lap, re-passing the pair into Turn 11 to move back into second, while Inthraphuvasak lost out to Zagazeta for fourth before the end of the lap.

    A Virtual Safety Car was called upon as the second tour began. Charlie Wurz’s Trident in need of recovering after stopping at Turn 5.

    Back to green flag racing on Lap 3, Tramnitz was tucked in the slipstream of Inthraphuvasak and he took fifth with an around-the-outside pass at Turn 9.

    The Safety Car was called upon in short order though, Rafael Camara and Laurens van Hoepen both in the gravel at Turn 12 following contact with James Wharton, who also retired at the end of the lap with suspension damage.

    Tramnitz had been up to fifth after passing Inthraphuvasak before the Safety Car. But an apparent issue under the Safety Car forced him to slow and drop to the back, before he eventually retired from the Sprint.

    Racing got back underway entering Lap 9, with Ramos holding on to his lead from Stenshorne, Bilinski, Zagazeta and Inthraphuvasak in the top five, as they broke away from the rest of the pack.

    On Lap 13, Stenshorne got a good run into Turn 11 and forced the Mexican driver to defend the corner, but he couldn’t find a route through.
    At the back of the leading queue, Inthraphuvasak made a pass stick on Zagazeta into Turn 1 to claim fourth on Lap 15. But their battling allowed the top three to escape three seconds up the road.

    Another Safety Car was called upon with five laps to go after contact between Bruno Del Pino and Javier Sagrera into Turn 6, leaving both in the gravel.

    The clean up operation meant that there was not enough time to get back to green flag racing, allowing Ramos to lead the field over the line for his first F3 win.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Ramos, P2: Stenshorne, P3: Bilinksi, P4: Inthraphuvasak, P5: Zagazeta, P6: Bedrin, P7: Nael, P8: Tsolov, P9: Voisin and P10: Leon.

    Day 3-

    After several formation laps behind the Safety Car, racing got underway in the Feature Race with a rolling start, and pole sitter Camara launched into a sizeable lead over Stromsted.

    The Safety Car was called upon before the end of the first lap however, with Nikola Tsolov and Callum Voisin off the road at Turn 10.

    Back to racing conditions entering Lap 6, Camara re-established a healthy gap back to Stromsted in second.

    McLaren Development Drivers Ugo Ugochukwu and Martinius Stenshorne went into battle on Lap 8 at Turn 4, the Norwegian slicing his way by the PREMA Racing for P8.
    Ugochukwu lost another place on Lap 9 to Roman Bilinski after running wide at Turn 11, opening the door for the Rodin Motorsport driver to go through for ninth.

    The rain intensity picked up on Lap 11, making things even trickier for the drivers as they fought through the spray, though Camara was taking full advantage of his clear view, five seconds clear of the pack.

    The Safety Car was back out on Lap 13, with DAMS Lucas Oil driver Christian Ho in the barriers at Turn 7.

    After several laps behind the Safety Car, the Red Flags were thrown on Lap 18 of 20, and with the weather not improving, the Feature Race was called.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Camara, P2: Stromsted, P3: Nael, P4: Bedrin, P5: Tramnitz, P6: Wurz, P7: Inthraphuvasak, P8: Stenshorne, P9: Bilinski and P10: Ugochukwu.

  • R1 – Australia

    Lando Norris converted pole position into a hard-fought win during the 2025 season-opening Australian Grand Prix, which featured mixed weather conditions, multiple crashes, Safety Cars and a late-race downpour that caused huge drama.

    Norris controlled the early stages of Sunday’s encounter from McLaren team mate Oscar Piastri and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen on a sodden track, before improving conditions enabled a switch to slick tyres over the second half.

    However, shortly after the field had ditched their intermediates, another patch of heavier rain soaked the circuit once more, dramatically sending both McLaren’s onto the grass and bringing most drivers immediately back into the pits for suitable rubber.

    While Norris managed to gather his car and head into the pit lane, Piastri spun off at the penultimate corner and lost a heap of time trying to recover the situation – a chain of events that released reigning World Champion Verstappen into the lead.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Norris, P2: Verstappen, P3: Russell, P4: Antonelli, P5: Albon, P6: Stroll, P7: Hulkenberg, P8: Leclerc, P9: Piastri and P10: Hamilton.

    It all started before the race even started, during the formation lap, Isack Hadjar lost control of his Racing Bulls car at the exit of Turn 1 which saw him go into the barriers and out of the race. It was so disappointing for the rookie and it would’ve been interesting to see if he could’ve grabbed points after qualifying 11th/

    What a lovely result for Norris, the best way to start the season with a race win. A really dominant weekend from Norris and McLaren. It all went wrong when it started raining again and both drivers went off track and over the grass at Turn 12 – which then Piastri ended up rearwards in Turn 13 run off. Gutting for Piastri as it was looking like a 1-2 for the team, but the Australian driver will bounce back.

    A lovely result for Max, P2, first race of the season. He was quite close to Norris, but McLaren just seemed to have that edge over Red Bull. As for Verstappen’s teammate, Liam Lawson, he DNF at Turn 2 when the rain intensified.

    A great result for Mercedes, Russell in P3 and Antonelli P4. The best team from the race, as they had both drivers in the points and the closest team mates. Antonelli is the best rookie of the weekend with a P4 finish and it makes him the second youngest driver to score points on debut!

    A lovely result from Alex Albon, P5! We all had a feeling that Williams would be up there especially because of their qualifying result but a lovely points haul for the team. For his teammate, Carlos Sainz, he had a DNF, during the Safety Car period Sainz crashed through the final corner – he reported a “massive power surge”.

    A great result for Nico Hulkenberg for Stake. They have now got more points in one race compared to last season overall, which they will be thrilled about.

    As for Ferrari, they had a bit of a shocker, they just didn’t seem to have much pace in the wet and they did mess up there strategy when it started raining, they thought they’d stay out which is a big gamble but the rain was just coming down so heavy so they ended up having to pit after everyone, which pushed them down the order.
    They did manage to grab points for both drivers, but both Leclerc and Hamilton would’ve wanted more…

    Now, onto Round 2! We are going to China, which is this week so we don’t have too long to wait for more racing and it is the first sprint race weekend of the year!

  • R1 – Australia Qualifying

    Lando Norris surged to pole position for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, the McLaren driver having just edged out teammate Oscar Piastri by 0.048s to secure a front row lockout for the reigning Teams’ Champions.

    After Max Verstappen had initially secured provisional pole during the first runs of Q3, Piastri thrilled the crowd at his home event by stunningly beating that effort by four tenths. But the Australian did not keep P1 for long, as Norris went even faster.

    The full top 10 are- Pole: Norris, P2: Piastri, P3: Verstappen, P4: Russell, P5: Tsunoda, P6: Albon, P7: Leclerc, P8: Hamilton, P9: Gasly and P10: Sainz.

    What a result from McLaren, starting off where they finished last year! To have both drivers in the top 2 is the best result for the first race weekend of the year.
    Gutting for Piastri to not be on pole position, but I have no doubt he will be in the fight for the race win…

    A good result for Verstappen and Russell! It’s interesting that there lining up on the same row… especially as both of their teammates are further down the grid, so they do not have them to rely on for helping with pit stops etc.

    What a result from Yuki Tsunoda! P5! That was very surprising but it was a welcomed surprise. His teammate Isack Hadjar qualified 11th, the highest rookie position and just slightly missing out on Q3!
    It will be interesting to see how the Racing Bull cars get on in the next few races and keep up the very good results.

    A lovely qualifying for Alex Albon, P6 for the Williams man. Such an improvement compared to last year and to be honest its great to see! Hopefully they can mirror a points finish for the team. As for Albon’s teammate, Carlos Sainz, a decent result in P10, he seems to have got quite comfortable quite quickly which is good to see.

    A decent result for Ferrari, 7th for Leclerc and 8th for Hamilton, it could’ve been better for both drivers. But still a decent result at least they are in the top 10 and you can overtake here in Australia so they could make up some positions in the race.

  • F3 – Australia – Day 1

    Practice-

    Rafael Camara and Trident started 2025 on the front foot, going quickest in Free Practice around the Albert Park circuit.

    The Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy talent set a 1:34,652 just before a red flag stopped the session later on.
    He finished ahead of MP Motorsport’s Tim Tramnitz in second and Mari Boya of Campos Racing in third.

    It was Rodin Motorsport’s Louis Sharp who got the ball rolling by setting a 1:38.676 and the early time to beat, before lowering that to a 1:37.009 on his next attempt.

    Teammate, Roman Bilinski improved on that effort, but Hitech TGR driver, Joshua Dufek set the next benchmark time, 1:36.384 putting him 0.2s ahead of the Rodin in second position. He then lowered his best on the following lap to go onto a 1:35.402.

    Mari Boya joined him shortly afterwards, moving himself up to second, just 0.007s adrift of Camara, while his Campos Racing teammate Nikola Tsolov went third quickest behind him.

    Tramnitz then took over at the top next for MP, 1L34.892 good enough to better the Brazilian by 0.009s, as the session ticked to the final 15 minutes.

    There was one final change of the leaderboard with Camara saving his best effort for last and setting a 1:34.652 to retake top spot.
    But the session came to an early end as Louis Sharp stopped on the track ahead of Turn 4 bringing out the Red Flags with five minutes to go.

    Qualifying-

    It was a perfect Friday in Melbourne for Rafael Camara as he topped both Practice and Qualifying, earning the first pole position of 2025.
    He set a 1:34.999 to lead teammate Noah Stromsted in a great day for Trident. Theophile Nael wound up third, but ended the session under investigation for an unsafe release.

    Installation laps complete and it was Roman Bilinksi that set the benchmark time initially with a 1:36.125 for Rodin Motorsport.

    Two purple sectors by Camara put him in contention until he caught traffic in the final sector and instead slotted into second less than a tenth back.
    Trident teammate Stromsted then went fastest overall to become the first driver in the 1:35s in qualifying.

    Nikita Bedrin put AIX Racing top of the pile with 10 minutes gone, 1:35.873 the fastest time to beat, while Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak and Ugo Ugochukwu improved to go into the top five in third and fourth respectively.

    After waiting for clear track, MP Motorsport’s Tim Tramnitz moved into contention to go third fastest, before Camara strung together a traffic-free lap to storm to P1, half a second clear of anybody else.

    With under 10 minutes to go, the majority of the field then returned to the circuit on fresh tyres for their final attempts of the session.

    There was only five minutes left on the clock when Brando Badoer found the barriers on the exit of Turn 2, requiring a red flag to remove his car from the track.

    The full top 10 are- Pole: Camara, P2: Stromsted, P3: Nael, P4: Bedrin, P5: Tramnitz, P6: Wurz, P7: Inthraphuvasak, P8: Ugochukwu, P9: Stenshorne and P10: Bilinski.

  • R1 – Tyre Selection

    It’s officially race weekend (finally) and the 2025 season is here, we are back in Australia for Round 1.

    The track surface has not changed since it was renewed in 2022 and is not too harsh on the tyres.
    The only modification to the track layout, which features some sections made up of roads usually open to normal traffic, comes at Turn 6 and 7 where the barriers and kerbs have been modified.

    5.278 kilometres long, the circuit combines both fast straights with low to medium speed technical corners and some heavy braking points.

    Summer is sliding into autumn at this time of year in Australia and the weather can be very changeable, with big swings in temperature from one day to the next and rain has been known to put in an appearance.

    Having softened up its compound choices last year, Pirelli has confirmed the same compounds for the opening round, with the trio of C3 (Hard), C4 (Medium), C5 (Soft).
    However, compared to a year ago the tyres have evolved in terms of the characteristics of both construction and compound.

    Last year, the most popular strategy was a two-step, with the Hard tyre doing most of the work, completing 80% of all the laps, with an average stint length of 22 laps.
    Only three drivers opted to start on the Soft, while two drivers lined up on Hard tyres, making Medium the most popular compound on the grid.

  • RND 1 – Sao Paulo E-Prix

    FP1-

    The first practice session of the new season saw plenty of action but it was Oliver Rowland and Norman Nato who made it a Nissan one-two result ahead of race day.

    Jake Dennis also looked rapid in his Andretti to go third. It was an impressive session for NEOM McLaren newbie Taylor Barnard, who finished the session in fifth as he gets ready to embark on his first full-time season in Formula E.

    Jaguar’s Nick Cassidy was the first driver out on track quickly followed by both Lola Yamaha ABT cars of di Grassi and rookie Maloney.
    The first time on the board was a 1m 13.951 from di Grassi but the benchmark was soon matched as drivers started to get familiar with the track and their new GEN3 Evo car.

    Several drivers used the practice session to test the limits of their cars, with the likes of Envision’s Robin Frijns, Porsche’s Wehrlein and Jaguar’s Mitch Evans all going wide into Turn 1 early on in the session.

    There was trouble for Andretti, as over 15 minutes into the session their new signing Nico Mueller made contact with the wall and was forced to limp back to the pit lane.

    Oliver Rowland also had a brief scrape with the barriers, but emerged unscathed as he pushed his Nissan to the limits.

    Frijns looked comfortable at the top of the timings for most of practice, but with seven minutes to go Mitch Evans went quickest. The times kept tumbling as the grid got to grips with the incredible all-wheel drive.

    FP2-

    Jake Dennis set the pace in the final Free Practice session in his Andretti, clocking in 1m 09.617s – the fastest time of the weekend so far.
    It was a clean but close 40 minute session, with the top 17 cars all separated by less than a second.

    TAG Heuer Porsche’s Antonio Felix da Costa finished the session in second, with Nissan’s Oliver Rowland in third.

    It was a clean first half of the session, with all of the grid heading out and getting laps in as they made the most of the final practice session before qualifying.

    Reigning World Champion Wehrlein was the first driver to reach the 1m 09s. However it wasn’t long before his teammate Antonio Felix da Costa made it a Porsche one-two as he went two-tenths quicker to top the timesheets.

    Nick Cassidy had a moment with the NEOM McLaren of Barnard, with the two going almost wheel to wheel into Turn 1 with six minutes left on the clock.

    Sam Bird also had a big lock-up as he started one of his final laps. The Brit then radioed that he had a problem with the front right of GEN3 Evo, the same palace where he had the issues before.

    Qualifying-

    TAG Heuer Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein took the first Julius Baer Pole position of Season 11, with the reigning champion starting then GEN3 Evo era in the best way possible.
    He will line up alongside the Nissan of Oliver Rowland of Round 1 in Sao Paulo,

    It wasn’t the best session for Jaguar TCS Racing, with none of their powertrains making it into the Duels and Mitch Evans having big problems early on.
    The Kiwi brought the session to a halt when he had a brake system warning in the group stages, and was forced to pull over and stop resulting in a red flag.
    He failed to set a time and will start at the back of the grid, with his teammate Nick Cassidy qualifying in 10th.

    The full top 10 is – Pole: Wehrlein, P2: Rowland, P3: Dennis, P4: Gunther, P5: da Costa, P6: Nato, P7: Mortara, P8: Vergne, P9: Vandoorne and P10: Cassidy.

    Round 1-

    After a short delay with Robin Frijns’ Envision stranded on the grid, and the team informing him there was no time to power cycle, the field eventually reformed and flew away as the lights went out.

    The Nissan of Oliver Rowland got the edge into Turn 1 on polesitter and reigning champion Wehrlein, with Max Guenther in the DS PENSKE squeezing by at Turn 2.
    The pack was three wide through the chicane midway around the lap and the major beneficiary on Lap 1 looked to be Mitch Evans – the Jaguar driver climbing seven spots from 22nd and last to 15th.

    Cassidy, Vandoorne, di Grassi and Barnard too the opportunity to take the first of their two mandatory 50kW ATTACK MODE boosts, driving through the activation zone which in GEN3 Evo, also unlocks four-wheel drive.

    Those that went early looked to be profiting, with Vandoorne climbing to third. On Lap 9, Guenther made the jump for his first boost with the Porsche pair following a lap later.

    Cassidy led Dennis, ROwland, Evans, Guenther, Werhlein, da Costa, Buemi, Vandoorne and Vergne formed the top 10 on Lap 13, with energy remaining among each of them looking pretty even – except Rowland who was 1.6% up on the lead Jaguar.
    The Nissan driver hit the front again on Lap 14, bypassing Cassidy before taking a first two-minute ATTACK MODE on Lap 16.

    Only two laps later, though the Porsches had worked their way in tandem to the front – Wehrlein refusing to yield to his teammate with both in ATTACK as the pair filtered through the first sector.

    Rowland was the one to watch as the race headed into its final third, with six minutes of Attack Mode to make use of with the benefit worth more than two seconds a lap.
    It took him just half a lap to slice by both Porsche’s and retake the lead on Lap 22 down the pit straight.

    Again, Rowland fired away to blast pass da Costa to retake the lead off the line on the restart to a 1.1 second lead on Lap 26 but a penalty of overpower hanging over the Nissan. Rowland had pulled a three-second lead but that penalty would come back to haunt him – a drive through penalty left Cassidy first and Evans second on Lap 30 of 35.
    However, Evans unreal journey from last on the gird was topped off as he fired to the front past his teammate into Turn 1.

    A lap later, da Costa managed to spoilt the Jaguar party and split the pair but contact between Cassidy and Wehrlein on exit of Turn 2 left the champion’s car on its side and in the wall but thankfully okay – another Red Flag with six laps to run.

    On the restart, Evans and da Costa led away a rolling start with the McLarens of Barnard and Bird next up – the former almost 4% up on energy to those around him.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Evans, P2: da Costa, P3: Barnard, P4: Bird, P5: Mortarra, P6: De Vries, P7: Buemi, P8: Ticktum, P9: Vergne and P10: Vandoorne.

  • F1 Academy – RND 1 Day 2 & 3

    Day 2-

    Doriane Pin led from the front and never looked back as she claimed her first F1 Academy victory. Alpine’s Abbi Pulling fended off Maya Weug early advances with a podium in second and retained the bonus point for the fastest lap.

    Following an extra formation lap, Pin nailed a textbook getaway at lights out to lead comfortably into Turn 1 from Pulling and Weug. Lovinfosse managed to get the better of Bianca Bustamante off the line, demoting the McLaren driver to sixth.

    After starting eighth, Chloe Chambers quickly made up ground, finding her way past Lia Block on lap 2. Immediately piling the pressure on the second ART Grand Prix car of Bustamante.

    Tina Hausmann, Aurelia Nobels and Jessica Edgar went three wide down into Turn 1, but it was the Aston Martin car of Hausmann that emerged in front in ninth.
    Out front, Pin’s 1.2 second lead evaporated at the appearance of the Safety Car on lap 3. A nudge from Amna Al Qubaisi at Turn 4 sent Reema Juffali into a spin, but both were able to pit and rejoin the race.

    Block was forced to go on the defensive, being hunted down by Hausmann. The pair locked up, going deep out of the final corner and gifting Jessica Edgar the chance to sneak her way through to eighth.

    In the battle for the final points-paying position, Hamda Al Qubaisi got a good run on Nobels down into the final corner, but the PUMA driver defended hard.
    A mistake on the next lap gave Al Qubaisi the benefit of the slipstream to send a move down the inside of Turn 27, but the MP Motorsport ran wide at the opening chicane and had to let the Brazilian back through.

    Block’s race unravelled on the penultimate lap. Comfortably in eighth the Williams driver bounced over the kerb and spun into the barrier as she tried to close in on Bustamante.
    In the fight for fourth, Lovinfosse tried a look around the outside of Nerea Marti down to Turn 1, but clipped the rear of the Tommy Hilfiger car and sent her into a spin.

    Despite leading the race, Pin was not fully satisfied as she tried to wrestle the fastest lap point away from Pulling on the final lap. Unfortunately she wasn’t able to get the clean sweep, taking the victory by 0.848s to Pulling.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Pin, P2: Pulling, P3: Weug, P4: Chambers, P5: Bustamante, P6: Hausmann, P7: Nobels, P8: Lovinfosse, P9: H Al Qubaisi and P10: Schreiner.

    Day 3-

    Doriane Pin closed her first F1 Academy weekend in perfect fashion bringing home her second consecutive victory on the streets of Jeddah.

    Pin immediately pulled to the left at lights out to cover off Pulling who kept close within her tow. Just behind, Nerea Marti was on the attack, slipping past Lola Lovinfosse into Turn 2.

    The Charlotte Tilbury driver instantly had to go in the defensive as her and Chloe Chambers went side-by-side through Turns 6,7 and 8. The Haas driver emerged out in front after going over the run-off and earned a five-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.

    Lovinfosse repaid the favour, gliding past the slipstream. However, Chambers locked up into the first corner, knocking the French driver into a spin. Unable to avoid, Lia Block made contact necessitating a Safety Car. The Williams driver was able to continue after a nosecone change, with Lovinfosse retiring.

    With the field bunched together on the restart, Pulling attempted to find her way through on Pin on the short-lived return to Green Flag racing. Fighting over the final point, Carrie Schreiner was sent into a spin whilst battling with Emely de Heus.
    Forced to take avoiding action, Reema Juffali found the barriers requiring another Safety Car.

    Pulling was waiting to pounce on lap 10 restart. Despite Pin going early into the final corner, the Alpine driver caught on and stayed with her down the main straight. Weug found herself vulnerable to Marti.

    Recovering from her earlier contact, Block found herself back within the points in seventh. Sandwiched between the Al Qubaisi sisters, the ART Grand Prix car lost out to Amna but kept Hamda at bay.

    Out front, Pin set out to earn the grand slam she was denied in Race 1, taking the fastest lap away from Pulling on her final attempt. The PREMA Racing driver took the chequered flag by 1.9s ahead of the Brit and Weug.

    However… Doriane Pin has received a drive-through penalty for crossing the chequered flag twice and completing two laps at full speed until the Red Flag was shown. As the penalty could not be served in-race, it has been converted into a 20-second penalty added to her elapsed race time.

    Amna Al Qubaisi has been issued a five-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. Lastly, Lola Lovinfosse has been handed a five place grid penalty for the next race for causing a collsion.

    As a result, Abbi Pulling is promoted to race victory, Maya Wueg in second and Nerea Marti rounding out the podium.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Pulling, P2: Weug, P3: Marti, P4: Edgar, P5: H Al Qubaisi, P6: Bustamante, P7: Schreiner, P8: A Al Qubaisi, P9: Pin and P10: Chambers.

    The next race weekend for F1 Academy is the 3rd to 5th May in Miami!

  • F1 Academy – RND 1 Day 1

    Free Practice-

    Doriane Pin quickly got up to speed around the Jeddah Corniche Circuit topping the timesheets in the opening Free Practice session of the 2024 F1 Academy season.

    Keeping pace with the PREMA Racing car, Alpine’s Abbi Pulling secured second only two tenths behind. Williams driver, Lia Block made the most out of her final effort leaping up to P3.

    Once the lights went green to signal the start of Round 1, the 16 car field ventured out on the medium tyres. Pin set the initial benchmark at 2:09.664.

    Times quickly tumbled with both Maya Weug and Bianca Bustamante going top of the leaderboard before Pin once again went fastest with a 2:06.050.

    Pushing it to the limit, track evolution meant there was plenty of pace still to be found. Pulling went over a tenth ahead of Pin, but the French driver quickly regained the time to beat, becoming the only driver inside the 2:04s, finishing 0.212s clear of Pulling.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Pin, P2: Pulling, P3: Block, P4: Marti, P5: Weug, P6: Lovinfosse, P7: Chambers, P8: Schreiner, P9: Hausmann and P10: Edgar.

    Qualifying-

    From start to finish, Doriane Pin was the driver to beat in the first qualifying session. Setting a 2:03.472 with six minutes remaining, the Mercedes driver hold on the top spot remained firm, taking both pole positions by 0.785s and 0.684s.

    Abbi Pulling and Ferrari’s Maya Weug were locked in a battle for second, with the Alpine driver beating out the Dutch driver for a spot on the front row for both races.

    10 drivers bolted out the pits at lights out and immediately set about getting the medium tyres ready underneath them.
    Pin was the first to get a time on the board, before Pulling went top.

    Campos Racing’s trio opted to play the waiting game, holding off their outlaps until 18 minutes to go. It seemed to pay off as Nerea Marti slotted inside the top three on her second effort.

    Qualifying 1 results- P1: Pin, P2: Pulling, P3: Weug, P4: Marti, P5: Bustamante, P6: Lovinfosse, P7: Block, P8: Chambers, P9: Nobels and P10: Edgar.

    Qualifying 2 results- P1: Pin, P2: Pulling, P3: Weug, P4: Lovinfosse, P5: Martin, P6: Chambers, P7: Hausmann, P8: Nobels, P9: Edgar and P10: Bustamante.

  • F3 – RND 1 Day 2 & 3

    Day 2, Sprint Race-

    Van Hoepen covered off teammate Nikola Tsolov on the run to the first corner, but the Bulgarian driver was able to sweep around the outside to take the lead.
    Further back, Dino Beganovic suffered damage in the opening exchanges after contact with Santiago Ramos at Turn 1, with the PREMA driver being handed a 10-second time penalty.

    After losing the lead from reverse grid pole, Van Hoepen was able to stick with his ART teammate and with DRS, the Dutchman swept back through on lap 4. The battle then continued up the hill with the Bulgarian driver squeezing his way through. Whilst they was battling, it allowed Max Esterson to close back up on the pair.

    Christian Mansell had been battling hard with Sami Meguetounif of lap 5, and after initially losing a spot to the Trident driver, the Aussie fought his way through into Turn 1 for seventh.

    That allowed Luke Browning the momentum up the hill into Turn 4 to pull of a pass around the outside of them to take P7 himself. However, the move was completed off the track and he earned a 10 second time penalty.

    Looking back towards the front, the lead battle became a five-car fight as Lindblad and Fornaroli caught up to Esterson.
    As the race reached the halfway point, van Hoepen retook the lead with a pass into T1 on Tsolov, once more though, the Bulgarian fought back and through and re-passed his teammate into Turn 8.

    On lap 13 and after being tracked closely over several laps by Lindblad, van Hoepen got a little too wide at Turn 11, which opened the door for the Prema driver to take second place.

    Lindblad didn’t stop then as he claimed the lead of the race on lap 15, with a DRS pass into the first corner. But Tsolov fought back through immediately, re-taking first on the run up to Turn 4 again.
    One lap on and the PREMA driver made the move stick into the first turn.

    The full top 10 is- P1: Lindblad, P2: Van Hoepen, P3: Fornaroli, P4: Tsolov, P5: Tramnitz, P6: Esterson, P7: Mini, P8: Boya, P9: Goethe and P10: Meguetounif.

    Day 3, Feature Race-

    Dino Beganovic suffered a terrible start from pole, with a slow getaway which left Browning free to surge into the lead. Beganovic baulked the momentum of PREMA Racing teammate Gabriele Mini behind him, allowing Meguetounif to steal a march and rise to second.

    Mini’s poor start allowed Mansell and Santiago Ramos in the Trident to move through for fourth and fifth places on the opening lap.
    The third Trident of Leonardo Fornaroli had dropped to eighth off the line but moved ahead of Nikola Tsolov out of Turn 3 on Lap 3 to move up one spot.

    The fighting behind, had allowed Browning to stretch his lead to 1.2s at the one-third mark, though that advantage slipped to half a second after Mansell regained DRS behind.
    Despite not having the drag reduction advantage, the Hitech driver was able to keep his pursuer at arms length heading into the second half of the race.

    With 10 laps to go the top eight drivers were tracking one another, separated by five seconds but within DRS range of the car ahead. A wide moment at Turn 10 for Ramos put him off track, but the Mexican driver was able to keep Mini at bay to hold fifth.

    After defending for much of the race, Browning began up to his pace in the closing laps toe extend his lead slowly but surely over Mansell by a few tenths per lap.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Browning, P2: Mansell, P3: Tramnitz, P4: Meguetounif, P5: Ramos, P6: Mini, P7: Fornaroli, P8: Lindblad, P9: Dunne and P10: Goethe.

  • RW 1 – Bahrain

    The first race of 24 is complete, so let’s take a look at how it went in Bahrain!

    Max Verstappen converted pole position into the race win with a controlled drive, which led home Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez and Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz to start his latest title defence.

    Verstappen maintained his advantage as the race got under way, he never looked back over the 57 laps, where he crossed the line 22 second ahead of his teammate.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Verstappen, P2: Perez, P3: Sainz, P4: Leclerc, P5: Russell, P6: Norris, P7: Hamilton, P8: Piastri, P9: Alonso and P10: Stroll.

    A decent result from Ferrari, P3 and P4, especially with Leclerc as he was struggling with the car and it not responding the way he wanted as well as having a big problem with the brakes… Not a very good sign for the Italian team for the first race.

    A decent result for both Mercedes and McLaren, some decent points on the board for them both.
    Piastri and Hamilton had a little moment where the McLaren driver was coming out the pit lane and ended up side by side with Hamilton who had stopped a lap earlier. The McLaren got his nose ahead into Turn 1 but the experienced a slide on the exit which dropped him behind the seven time world champion.

    Not a good weekend at all for Alpine, a shocking qualifying result in P19 and P20, they then went on to finish P18 for Gasly and P17 for Ocon, a big change from last year. They team definitely have a lot of work to do.

    There was also a bit of drama between the two VCARB’s as the team asked Tsunoda to move to the side for Ricciardo giving his alternate soft-tyre run to the finish, promoting the Japanese racer to shout “are you kidding me over the radio?” only to eventually adhere to the instruction.
    I can see tensions rise between Tsunoda and the team this season, for it to only be the first race and him having problems with the team it doesn’t set of the best image…

  • RW 1 – Bahrain Qualifying

    The first qualifying session of 2024 is complete, let’s take a look at how it went!

    Max Verstappen grabbed pole position for the Bahrain Grand Prix, with Charles Leclerc in second and the Mercedes of George Russell in third.

    Verstappen produced a 1m 29.421s with his first run in Q3 and worked his way down to a blistering 1m 29.179s during the second runs to ultimately finish two-tenths clear of Leclerc, with Russell a tenth further back.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Verstappen, P2: Leclerc, P3: Russell, P4: Sainz, P5: Perez, P6: Alonso, P7: Norris, P8: Piastri, P9: Hamilton and P10: Hulkenberg.

    What a great result by Max Verstappen, just how he wants to start his title defence! I don’t think he expected the grid to have been that close and I don’t think he will expect to sail away with it in the race aswell…

    Both Ferrari’s in the top four! A great start for the Italian team, hopefully they can keep it the same or even better in the race and start the season off strong.

    George Russell, P3, great start by him. I believe Mercedes were actually quite shocked at their pace in practice as they topped the timesheets on Thursday. The car definitely looks more of an improvement than last year, but we will have to see what their race pace is like, and a good way for them to properly see is Lewis starting in 9th so his got some ground to make up!

    A special shout out to Nico Hulkenberg! First Q3 appearance of 2024, and qualifies P10, Haas will be wanting to score some points today to start the season off strong.

    VCARB – they have definitely made an improvement since last year, both drivers into Q2, Yuki just outside the top 10 in P11, and Daniel Ricciardo in P14. They are in a position where they could possibly score some points.

    Now one team we have to talk about is Alpine, P19 and P20 i’m not overly surprised by this for some reason, and I don’t think they are either. Obviously they have a lot of work to do in the race, but we will have to see if this carries on throughout the season aswell…

  • F2 – RND 1 Day 1

    Free Practice-

    Isack Hadjar made a fine start to the opening round of the weekend in Sakhir by topping the timesheets in Free Practice.
    The Campos Racing driver left it late in the session to complete a lap of 1:45.099 to lead MP Motorsport rookie Franco Colapinto by 0.137s.

    As the lights turned green, most teams opted to keep their cars in the pitlane although Hadjar was the first driver out on track to complete a lap, however it was his Campos teammate Josep Maria Marti who set the early benchmark with a time of 1:45.849.

    But then the Rodin Motorsport pair of Zane Maloney and Ritomo Miyata, with the former going to the top of the leaderboard with a time of 1:45.588.

    Now with the session winding down to a close and the drivers now returning to the track for a final few laps, Hadjar secured the top spot.

    Qualifying-

    Kush Maini scored his maiden pole position in FIA Formula 2 as he beat out teammate Gabriel Bortoleto to seal a P1 start for Saturday’s Feature Race.

    On his final attempt in Qualifying, Maini completed a lap of 1:41.696 to go to the top of the timesheets, Bortoleto followed his teammate across the line two-tenths off the pole-winning effort.

    It was Maini who set the early pace for Invicta Racing, aided by a strong middle sector, he completed a lap of 1:42.533 to lead Hauger by just 0.045s.

    With 10 minutes gone, the driver returned to the pitlane for some fresher tyres. However, that was when Campos elected to send Hadjar and Josep Maria Marti out on track for the first time in the session.

    The rest of the field then emerged from the pit lane ahead of their final runs with Maloney going fastest. But the Bajan’s time was quickly eclipsed by the Invicta pair.

    Maloney and a number of other drivers including ART Grand Prix’s Victor Martins, made their second attempts at the top spot, but with the Pirelli rubber not offer more than one push lap.

    However… Kush Maini has been disqualified from the final Qualifying classification after his Invicta Racing car was found in breach of the Technical Regulations.

    The Stewards found that the height of the left undertray front external strake of the car was below the required minimum height and therefore not in line with the Technical Regulations.

    As a consequence, all of Maini’s times set during the Qualifying session has been removed. And will be starting the Sprint Race & Feature Race from the back of the grid. Instead, Gabriel Bortoleto has inherited pole position.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Bortoleto, P2: Hadjar, P3: Maloney, P4: Hauger, P5: Miyata, P6: O’Sullivan, P7: Fittipaldi, P8: Martins, P9: Barnard and P10: Crawford.

  • F3 – RND 1 Day 1

    Free Practice-

    Hitech Pulse-Eight driver, Luke Browning picked up from where he left off in pre-season testing, where he ended practice as the fastest driver with a time of 1:47.828s.

    Installation laps opened practice, but it was a long wait until the teams and drivers ventured out of the pitlane for serious running. Joseph Loake of Rodin Motorsport led the way with 15 minutes left.

    That was until Fornaroli came through to secure the top spot with a 1:48.599, just as a Virtual Safety Car was deployed.
    Mini suffered a spin at Turn 4, beaching his car in the gravel trap as the VSC quickly became a Red Flag.

    Practice resumed with six minutes left of running time and everyone was eager to make the most of it. Browning and Fornaroli exchanged fastest efforts until the British driver crossed the line, with Beganovic being another late improver, moving up to third late on.

    Qualifying-

    Dino Beganovic claimed pole position for PREMA Racing, setting a 1:46.431 to take the first P1 of the season. The Swede driver left it until the final moments to leap up the times.

    After several warm up laps, Max Esterson hit the front for Jenzer Motorsport, setting a 1:47.573 to lead early on, 0.047s ahead of Trident’s Leonardo Fornaroli.

    Mari Boya was next to go quickest overall, setting a 1:47.307 though that was quickly beaten. Fornaroli returned to the top of the timesheets, with Beganovic moving up to second.

    Once again, the field boxed for the final time and were back out for the final flying laps with six minutes left. Green and purple sectors began to fly and Christian Mansell put ART Grand Prix to the top with a 1:46.843 for the rest to beat.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Beganovic, P2: Browning, P3: Mini, P4: Meguetounif, P5: Ramos, P6: Fornaroli, P7: Tramnitz, P8: Mansell, P9: Lindblad and P10: Esterson.

  • RW 1 – Tyre Selection

    Formula 1 returns to Bahrain for the first round of the 2024 season, with the usual grand prix weekend schedule being brought forward a day, as will be the case next week in Saudi Arabia.

    The teams always come to Sakhir with plenty of information about how the car and tyre package works on this particularly abrasive track, where traction and braking stability are key to performance.

    Track evolution is somewhat limited, with temperature being the biggest influence with two of three free practice sessions tale place in the heat of the day, making it harder to get a read on race data.
    Another factor often affecting the cars is wind, which causes sand to blow onto the track and making the balance unpredictable.

    The Bahrain Grand Prix offers a number of different overtaking opportunities, particularly in Turns 1, 4 and 11. Tyre degradation also playing a part in it, with different race strategies coming into play.
    Last year, a two-stopper using the C1 and C3 was the favoured strategy with the C2 used by only one team (McLaren).

  • RND 1 – Mexico City E-Prix

    FP1-

    The FIA Formula E World Championship got underway with Free Practice 1 in Mexico City. 22 drivers took to the 2.63km Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez circuit, but it was NEOM McLaren’s Jake Hughes who set the early pace with a 1m 14.364s.

    However, no sooner had the British driver gone top of the timesheet’s, he had made a mistake and ended in the barrier. TAG Heuer Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein finished in second, with ABT CUPRA’s Nico Mueller making a surprise appearance in third.

    Getting the laps in under the hot Mexican sun, Jaguar TCS Racing’s Mitch Evans started quickest. However, green flag conditions didn’t last long as Maserati MSG Racing’s Maximilian Guenther brought a stop to the session.

    Guenther managed to slide his way around the final corner in dramatic fashion, kicking up a tonne of dust in the process. But although the move might have looked stylish, the four-time race winner damaged his suspension in the process.

    The dirty track made for lots of close calls coming out of the final corner, with Nissan’s Sacha Fenestraz almost replicating the same slide as Guenther but with better consequences as he just ran wide over the kerb.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Hughes, P2: Wehrlein, P3: Muller, P4: Frijns, P5: Dennis, P6: Da Costa, P7: Evans, P8: Fenestraz, P9: Rowland and P10: Nato.

    FP2-

    Mitch Evans topped the timesheets on the first session of race day in Mexico City. The Kiwi driver, who will start the E-Prix with a one place grid penalty for not following red flag procedure in FP1, finished with a time of 1m 13.606s.

    Maserati’s Maximilian Guenther finished in second which would be a welcomed result after hitting the wall the day before, and third was Envision’s newest recruit Robin Frijns.

    It was a cold start to the second Free Practice session as it got underway at 7:30 local time. The low temperatures meant drivers would take a few more laps than usual to warm up their tyres.

    With ever-changing conditions, the times were always improving. Several drivers were pushing their Gen3 cars to their limits, with reigning champion Jake Dennis exploring all of the track and NEOM McLaren’s Sam Bird going straight on at Turn 1.

    ERT Formula E’s Sergio Sette Camara brought out some double-waved yellows with seven minutes left of the session. The Brazilian made a similar mistake making contact with the barriers in shakedown.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Evans, P2: Gunther, P3: Frijns, P4: Cassidy, P5: Vandoorne, P6: Buemi, P7: Rowland, P8: Vergne, P9: Dennis and P10: Hughes.

    Qualifying-

    Formula E’s first qualifying of the year got underway, with drivers wasting no time heading out onto the track.
    During Group A, Norman Nato kissed the barriers on the entry to the iconic Foro Sol stadium and narrowly managed to avoid any serious damage and contact with the wall.
    Not only this, Lucas di Grassi had a whack with the barriers, on what is the team’s 100th E-Prix in Formula E. Dan Ticktum was on a strong lap, before he was impacted by debris from di Grassi’s incident.

    In Group B, it was much less eventful on track, with Maximilian Guenther going top. Joining him in the duels were Hughes, BUemi and Evans.
    There was plenty of eyes on Nyck de Vries in the Mahindra car as the Season 7 Champ makes his return to Formula E.

    TAG Heuer Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein started Round 1 in the best possible fashion, sealing Julius Baer Pole Position in Mexico City. He has tied the Formula E record for the most pole positions at a single circuit.

    Wehrlein took on Envision’s Racing’s Sebastien Buemi in the final of the duel, with both Jaguar TCS Racing drivers being knocked out of the semis.
    Reigning champion, Jake Dennis was knocked out during the Group stages and will start 14th in a shocking twist as he fights to retain his title in Season 10.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Wehrlein, P2: Buemi, P3: Cassidy, P4: Evans, P5: Gunther, P6: Hughes, P7: Vandoorne, P8: Frijns, P9: Fenestraz and P10: Vergne.

    Round 1-

    TAG Heuer Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein repeated the feat of two seasons prior, where he secured his and Porsche’s first Formula E victory, as the German driver sealed another well-managed drive to the top step.
    He lead home, Envision Racing’s Sebastien Buemi and Jaguar TCS Racing debutant Nick Cassidy.

    Wehrlein, who was a title contender in Gen3’s inaugural campaign, threw down the gauntlet with a controlled drive from lights out and pole to the chequered flag, only briefly losing the lead through Attack Mode and a spell under Full Course Yellow.

    Robin Frijns, fell all the way back through the pack from seventh on the grid to 15th, thanks to a technical issue, causing a knock-one melee in mid-pack which forced him into making up a lot of places.

    At the start of lap 3, it was as you were in the top six with Wehrlein still leading. Meanwhile, contact between the sister TAG Heuer Porsche of Antonio Felix da Costa and Nico Mueller saw the end of the race with broken suspension for the former and the latter in the wall and to 19th and last.

    On lap 9, Robin Frijns – perhaps to make up for his slow start – found the wall, over cooking it on the exit of the Foro Sol and finding the wall in a big way, having just rounded Edo Mortara’s Mahindra.
    A full course yellow would be required for his car’s removal from the circuit.

    With the race reaching its climax, Wherlein looked comfortable and capable to managing things from P1 – with Buemi being held back by some two second with eight laps to go plus two added laps for time lost from the full course yellow.

    The top 10 is- P1: Wehrlein, P2: Buemi, P3: Cassidy, P4: Gunther, P5: Evans, P6: Vergne, P7: Hughes, P8: Vandoorne, P9: Dennis and P10: Nato.

  • RND 1 – Bahrain Grand Prix

    The first race of the season is complete, let’s take a look at how it went…

    Everyone bar hard-shod Kevin Magnussen began the race on soft tyres and Verstappen had a solid getaway, but teammate Perez fell back and lost second place to Leclerc.

    The reigning champion stretched his legs in the lead and eventually won by more than 10 seconds. Perez made it a one-two with both drivers on similar soft-soft-hard strategies.

    Whilst Fernando Alonso, went on a warpath as on Lap 45 he passed Sainz after a stunning battle to get on the podium, his first since Qatar 2021 and his first with Aston Martin.

    The full top 10 are: P1: Verstappen, P2: Perez, P3: Alonso, P4: Sainz, P5: Hamilton, P6: Stroll, P7: Russell, P8: Bottas, P9: Gasly and P10: Albon.

    A good start to the season for the reigning constructors champions, it’ll be interesting to see if any tracks maybe don’t suit them and if they have any reliability issues.

    Aston Martin have made a big improvement from last year, hopefully they can keep the momentum running and keep the streak going.

    Not the best race for Ferrari, with Leclerc having a problem and retiring it isn’t the best start to the season especially if they want to challenge for the Championship.

    A little shout-out to the highest placed rookie. Logan Sargeant finished 12th on his debut, not a bad first race for the American.

  • RND 1 – Bahrain Qualifying

    The first Qualifying session is complete at the Bahrain International Circuit, as it was an intense and hotly contested session under the Sakhir lights.

    Max Verstappen took pole position, with his teammate, Sergio Perez making it an all Red Bull front row lock out. Charles Leclerc rounds out the top three.

    The full top 10 are: P1: Verstappen, P2: Perez, P3: Leclerc, P4: Sainz, P5: Alonso, P6: Russell, P7: Hamilton, P8: Stroll, P9: Ocon and P10: Hulkenberg.

    Lando Norris missed out on Q3 by a couple of tenths as he started to make up for a tricky pre-season test. I think it will be interesting to see how he can do in the car whilst on race pace.

    Rookie, Logan Sargeant almost joined his teammate in Q2 for the first time of asking, but he set an identical time to 15th place Norris towards the end of Q1, as the American set it second it meant to he was out.

    Something I didn’t expect to see was Pierre Gasly out in Q1 but the Frenchman starting P20 on the grid, as he had a lap time deleted.

    A shoutout to Hulkenberg though, starting P10 on his first race back, he already looks comfortable in the car so if he can keep this going for not just the race this weekend but throughout the season, Haas shouldn’t have a problem with being in the midfield.

    Predictions-

    My top five predictions are: P1: Sainz, P2: Verstappen, P3: Alonso, P4: Sainz and P5: Hamilton.

    I feel like we all know roughly the four teams that are at the top for this first race, but we won’t get a true idea for race pace until later on.

    There’s always some drama on the first race so if some drivers are clever they will optimise on the misfortune of others.

  • F3 – RND 1, Day 1

    Round 1 is here, and we have had cars back on track finally! So here is a round up from all the action on Day 1.

    Practice-

    Gabriel Bortoleto began his Formula 3 campaign in fine form as he topped the timing sheets in the opening Free Practice session in Sakhir.

    The Brazilian looked at home in his Trident car as he set a 1:47.775 to go 0.075s clear of Hitech Pulse-Eight’s Gabriele Mini – an all rookie top two.

    As the clock approached 23 minutes, a flurry of cars headed out of the pits to put their times on times on the board, which saw Bortoleto for a swift moment become the driver to beat ahead of Mini.

    The top three from qualifying are: P1: Gabriel Bortoleto, P2: Grabiele Mini and P3: Gregoire Saucy, one thing to keep an eye on is track evolution as its expected to be a major factor in Qualifying.

    Qualifying-

    Gabriele Mini began his F3 career in fashion as he stormed to his first pole position of his championship debut. The HiTech Pule-Eight driver’s late effort of 1:47.055 couldn’t be matched as less than half a second separated the top 17 runners.

    It was clear the field were pushing to the limit as Bortoleto took to the top spot however he became the first of many drivers to fall foul of track limits.

    Times continued to tumble, as Mini launched himself half a second clear of Collet. Laying down a 1:47.118, then with three minutes remaining the Alpine junior delivered another lap which was a 1:47.055.

    The order then continued to change, as the trio of PREMA cars rose up into the top six. And Bortoleto being a man on a mission to then launch himself up into second after the track limits violation.

    The top three were: P1: Gabriele Mini, P2: Gabriel Bortoleto, P3: Gregoire Saucy. But looking toward the sprint race, Williams junior, Franco Colapinto grabs reverse grid pole as he qualified 12th.

  • Bahrain Grand Prix

    The first round is here, and we are at the Bahrain International Circuit for Round 1 out of 23.

    This season we have three rookies joining the grid, and a lot of changes within the teams and the drivers as well as having the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

    But who will be the world champion? Can Max Verstappen make it 3 in a row? Or will Ferrari finally end their 16 year drought and grab the championship? Will Mercedes be back on form and fight at the top?

    Who needs to shine?

    Guanyu Zhou is going into his second year as an F1 driver, he will be wanting to prove a lot more as he was quite unlucky last season.

    This year we will be having three new rookies to the grid, Oscar Piastri for McLaren, Logan Sargeant for Williams and Nyck de Vries for Alpha Tauri. Three different cars for three different drivers, it will be interesting to see how they do as Piastri comes from a year out of racing, Sargeant from racing in F2 and de Vries from Formula E.

    And we have Nico Hulkenberg who is returning to the sport after leaving at the end of 2019, but making several appearances since then as well as being a reserve and development driver.

    Predictions for Qualifying-

    My top five for qualifying are- Pole: Sainz, P2: Verstappen, P3: Leclerc, P4: Hamilton, P5: Alonso.

    I think we all know that it’s going to be Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes fighting at the top but I think it will be even closer in the midfield.

    Times for the weekend-

    Friday 3rd-

    Free Practice F3: 07:55am – 08:40am, Free Practice F2: 09:05am – 09:50am, Free Practice 1 F1: 11:30am – 12:30pm, Qualifying F3: 13:00pm – 13:30pm, Free Practice 2 F1: 15:00pm – 16:00pm, Qualifying F2: 16:30pm – 17:00pm (GMT).

    Saturday 4th-

    Sprint Race F3: 09:15am – 10:00am, Free Practice 3 F1: 11:30am – 12:30pm, Sprint Race F2: 13:15pm – 14:00pm Qualifying F1: 15:00pm – 16:00pm.

    Sunday 5th-

    F3 Feature Race: 08:50am, F2 Feature Race: 10:20am and F1 Race: 15:00pm.

  • Bahrain Tyre Selection

    The tyres for the first round of the 2023 season have been chosen as the new C1 makes its debut this weekend.

    This year, Pirelli has expanded the range of available compounds to six, with three still chosen for every race. The brand new C1 compound fills the gap between the hardest C0 (used as the C1 in 2022) and the C2 which is unchanged from last year.

    The selection is: C1 (Hard tyre), C2 (Medium tyre), C3 (Soft tyre). The teams will have at their disposal two sets of hard tyres, three sets of mediums and eight sets of soft per car.

    The Bahrain International Circuit, features some of the most abrasive asphalt of the year while the track – consisting of low to medium speed corners – mainly places traction and braking demands on the tyres. The layout also requires a good level of stability at the rear of the car.

    The Bahrain Grand Prix, takes place on a circuit surrounded by the Sakhir desert. Wind can sometimes blow sand onto the track, which can affect the grip levels during the sessions.

    The support races include Formula 2 and Formula 3, with them resulting rubber laid down influencing track evolution.

    Tyre degradation will be a key factor when it comes to deciding the strategy. Last season, all the drivers bar one stopped three times (rather than the anticipated two-stopper) due to a late race safety car.

  • Round 1- Mexico City E-Prix

    Round 1 is now complete, lets take a look at all the action from our first ever Gen3 race and first round of Season 9.

    FP1-

    There was no hanging about in the first session of Mexico City E-Prix, as all 22 drivers got a chance to lock in laps in their all-new cars…

    With only pre-season testing under their belts the half an hour session, proved extremely valuable for the drivers. Teams will be keen to compare the data from the first practice session to pre-season testing in Valenica.

    Rast saved a big spin in the final moments of the session but was left with damage to his rear-left wheel and suspension. Several drivers, including reigning champion, Stoffel Vandoorne complained of issues with their rear axels locking at certain points around the 19 turn circuit.

    But it was Jean-Eric Vergne who topped the timesheets with a 1m 13.294s, with rookie Jake Hughes following him closely in 2nd and Sergio Sette Camara rounds out the top 3.

    FP2-

    The early morning session, brought a very cold track and air temperature at just six degrees celsius; which is highly unusual conditions for a Formula E race weekend, but it brought a new challenge for the Gen3 cars and Hankook tyres.

    The top 18 drivers were split by just a second, with only 0.865s diving Wherlein at the top of the timesheets and McLaren’s Rene Rast in 17th.

    As seen in FP1, drivers were still finding the limits of their new cars. A handful of drivers were still going straight on at Turn 1.

    But it was Pascal Wehrlein who took the top spot with a 1:13.496, JEV continues his run of good form as he finished second and then Sergio Sette Camara makes it two top 3 finishes as well as he rounded out the top 3.

    Qualifying-

    Mahindra Racing’s Lucas di Grassi strode to Julius Baer Pole Position for the Mexico City E-Prix taking advantage of Jake Dennis’ slip in the final.

    Both Di Grassi and Dennis were fighting hard to keep their cars in check over what set out looking like a scruffy final effort for both drivers. Ultimately, Dennis did fall foul, with a real deep dive into the hairpin at Turn 5 costing him.

    Rookie, Jake Hughes impressed once again with the NEOM McLaren driver winding up third on the grid after bypassing Dan Tickum in a sharp looking NIO 333 in the quarters, the latter lining up fifth. Fellow rookie, Sacha Fenestraz fired his Nissan into eighth after also making the duels.

    Neither DS Penske or Maserati could count a driver in the duels – massive turn around given their benchmark pace in testing. That meant reigning champion, Vandoorne would settle for 14th on the grid with it all to do.

    Round 1-

    Dennis soaked in the adulation of the Foro Sol and the packed grandstands watching on, with ultra-passionate Mexican fans here to be a part of the first race of Formula E’s latest generational leap.

    The Andretti driver made what would be the race-winning move on lap 12. From there, Dennis stretched his legs through three safety car periods, he was able to run away with lead – eventually heading home Wehrlein by a huge seven seconds. Wehrlein produced a storming driver, as last year’s winner pulled out an eventual 11 second margin on third place di Grassi.

    Robin Frijns was one driver who didn’t make it through the first few turns of the race which brought out an early safety car. As he went into the back of Norman Nato’s Nissan at Turn 9, with the ABT driver breaking his wrist.

    One lap after the restart, Sam Bird then grounded to a halt with another technical issue on the inside of Turn 2.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Dennis, P2: Wehrlein, P3: Di Grassi, P4: Lotterer, P5: Hughes, P6: Buemi, P7: Da Costa, P8: Evans, P9: Cassidy and P10: Vandoorne.

    We are back racing in just under two weeks for a double header of night races in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia on the 27th & 28th January.

  • Round 1 – Bahrain GP

    Round 1 – Bahrain GP

    WHAT A RACE!!! So much drama and I have no clue where to start! Mr Charles Leclerc turned his pole position into the race win, making it Ferrari’s first win since 2019! His teammate made it a 1-2! And Lewis Hamilton made up the final podium spot in P3!

    Verstappen who started P2, attempted to undercut the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc on lap 15, cutting down what was 3.5s gap to just 0.35s when Leclerc emerged in the lead on Lap 16. That then triggered a three lap box strategy set to come into play.

    The full top 10 are: P1: Leclerc, P2: Sainz, P3: Hamilton, P4: Russell, P5: Magnussen, P6: Bottas, P7: Ocon, P8: Tsunoda, P9: Alonso, P10: Zhou.

    Pierre Gasly brought out the Safety Car on lap 46, as he stopped his Alpha Tauri on the side of the track as it had flames. This started a flurry of pit stops.

    Red Bull, looked set to take a podium and 4th, but it all went wrong when Max started reporting problems on Lap 44 just before a safety car but when the safety car went in he had to retire on lap 55 as the problem did not go… Then Perez was reporting problems as well, he ended up spinning at Turn 1 when his engine gave way on the last lap…

    It’s not looking good for Red Bull and Alpha Tauri, it looked like Gasly’s was an electrical fire- but to have both RB’s to go out with some what a power unit issue it makes you think could this be a knock on effect for furture races?

    Where to start with McLaren… Obviously not good with qualifying yesterday but today in the race it seemed like they was pulling everything out of the car and wasn’t getting further. I think they are still battling their problems from testing- and once they do battle them I do believe they will have a good car.

    Kevin Magnussen in his first race back- scoring 5th! What a comeback for him and the Haas team, they are definitely looking like they are in the mid-field battle. Mick finished 11th- making it his career best finish and just missing out on points!

    Alfa Romeo too, looking like a midfield team, Bottas scoring his first points for the team and Zhou Guanyu scoring his first ever points and on his debut too.

    Not long to wait until the next race, as it is next weekend and we are back in Saudi Arabia for Round 2. Will Ferrari be victorious again? If so will it be Charles or will Carlos get his first ever F1 win? It’s all to play for!

  • F2 Bahrain- Day 2&3

    F2 Bahrain- Day 2&3

    Day 2-

    Trident had only took their first F2 podium in the 2021 season, and hadn’t stood on the top step since 2016 GP2 campaign, but new recruit Verschoor had upped the chances by starting P2.

    Drugovich tumbled down the timesheets to sixth as Ralph Boschung but his Campos in P2 after starting P6. The action was brought to a half as a Safety Car come out due to Marcus Armstrong being tagged by Jake Hughes. The Van Amersfoort driver was handed a 10 second time penalty.

    Verschoor aced the restart as he pulled himself out of the DRS range, behind him Pourchaire didn’t have much luck as he was forced to enter the pits and retire from 5th.

    Daruvala had been waiting to make a move on Boschung for 2nd and managed to stick ahead before VSC came out, due to Hughes coming to a stop on the gravel. Clement Novalak had made contact with the British driver and the MP Motorsport driver was handed a 10s time penalty.

    PositionDriverTeamPoints
    1Richard VerschoorMP Motorsport10
    2Jehan DaruvalaPREMA Racing8
    3Liam LawsonCarlin6
    4Ralph BoschungCampos Racing5
    5Felipe DrugovichMP Motorsport4
    Top 5 finishers

    Day 3-

    Vips took the chance to take the lead of the race, as the front row had horrible starts with Boschung added in there as well. THe ones on the alternate strategy all benefited off the line with Williams, Armstrong, Caldwell and Iwasa gaining multiple positions.

    The first safety car arrived three laps in as Frederick Vesti was spun to a stop. The pit stops then started, and Vips luck turned as he had a slow pit stop and put him down to 12th. This meant that Doohan basically got handed the lead- although he got through the pit stop unscathed he got tangled up with Pourchaire on his return to the track and suffered damage to his front wing meaning he had to pit again.

    A five car tussle for 10th resulted in another Safety car, as Enzo Fittipaldi tagged Richard Verschoor making him stop. A flurry of activity in the pit lane led to two further retirements as Hauger and Williams both lost a tyre during their teams attempt to get them back out on track.

    PositionDriverTeamPoints
    1Theo PourchaireART Grand Prix25
    2Liam LawsonCarlin18
    3Juri VipsHiTech Grand Prix15
    4Ralph BoschungCampos Racing12
    5Marcus ArmstrongHiTech Grand Prix10
    Top 5 finishers

    F2 hasn’t got long to wait till more action on track, they will be returning next weekend for the second round of the season in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia!

  • F3 Bahrain- Day 2 & 3

    F3 Bahrain- Day 2 & 3

    Day 2-

    As the red light went out, O’Sullivan was automatically having to defend from Bearman on the run into the first corner. However further back in the pack, Roman Stanek and pole sitter for the Feature race- Franco Colapinto collided and were forced to pit for repairs.

    Arthur Leclerc was the standout mover as he found himself up in 9th following the opening laps after starting 13th.

    There was a 3 way battle between the ART Grand Prix team-mates but it was Saucy and Martins who collided at Turn 1 fighting for P8, both had to return to the pitlane but both were forced to retire.

    Moments after this, Bearman made his overtake on O’Sullivan stick through Turn 4. Bearman’s team mate Leclerc still continued his charge as he progressed into 7th.

    Lap 10 saw Hadjar move up into third as he went past Smolyar. O’ Sullivan’s pace started to drop he fell into a pack of drivers, which ended with Maloney and Hadjar moving past the Williams Academy driver.

    Ollie Bearman crossed the line in P1 but due to a 5 second time penalty it meant that he was demoted to P2, and Isack Hadjar took the first win of the year!

    PositonDriverTeamPoints
    1Isack HadjarHiTech Grand Prix10
    2Ollie BearmanPREMA Racing9
    3Alexander SmolyarMP Motorsport8
    4Zane MaloneyTrident8
    5Arthur LeclercPREMA Racing6
    Top 5 finishers.

    Day 3-

    Even though he qualifying result was a shock, it was set to be a harder task for Colapinto to hold onto the victory. In the opening stages of the race, the Argentine looked very comfortable in the lead, however its never smooth sailing in F3 as he had to deal with a safety car restart, which was required after Pizzi and Maloney coming to a stop on the circuit on the opening lap due to a bit of contact.

    Caio Collet was a victim of the first lap drama, as he broke his front suspension while driving over a kerb at Turn 7, as he tried to avoid potential contact with rivals. At the Safety Car restart, Martins overtook Stanek for P2 but the Trident driver would be soon eliminated as he made contact with Alex Smolyar.

    Juan Manuel Correa appeared to have rapid pace as he moved into the top three after overtaking Smolyar, with the latter also soon found himself to be behind Leclerc who was on the mission.

    It was Victor Martins who took the win, with Leclerc making up 11 positions to finish 2nd!

    PositionDriverTeamPoints
    1Victor MartinsART Grand Prix25
    2Arthur LeclercPREMA Racing18
    3Gregiore SaucyART Grand Prix15
    4Juan Manuel CorreaART Grand Prix12
    5Franco ColapintoVan Amersfoort Racing10
    Top 5 finishers.

    F3 will be back in just over a month, 22nd to 24th of April for the second round in Imola, Italy!

  • Round 1 – Bahrain Qualifying

    Round 1 – Bahrain Qualifying

    Well, that was a madness of a qualifying session! WOW, with these new cars it could of been anyone’s, but it looked like it was going to Max Verstappen’s but it was not…

    Charles Leclerc takes his 10th pole position and second at the Bahrain International Circuit, as he beat Max Verstappen to the top spot by 0.123s. It was Carlos Sainz who took P3 making it a very strong start for the Italian team.

    The top 10 are- P1: Charles Leclerc, P2: Max Verstappen, P3: Carlos Sainz, P4: Sergio Perez, P5: Lewis Hamilton, P6: Valterri Bottas, P7: Kevin Magnussen, P8: Fernando Alonso, P9: George Russell and P10 going to Pierre Gasly!

    I think Lewis got the most out of the car today, where as George messed up on his last quali lap missing the breaking zone in Turn 1, hence why he qualified 9th. I would say I’m most intrigued to see how the Mercedes race pace is tomorrow and if the porpoising affects them as much as it previously has…

    Mr Valterri Bottas leaves Mercedes and goes to Alfa Romeo and with his first qualifying session with the team he goes and sticks it in 6th! Definitley seems the Ferrari power unit is a lot better this year compared to last as this bring me onto…

    Kevin Magnussen!! WOW. The Haas has qualifying pace! But even with a hydraulic issue K-Mag got the car into a great position in which will be his first grand prix tomorrow in over a year! His teammate done a superb job, qualifying 12th- lets hope for some masterclass overtaking from Mick tomorrow to see him in that top 10!

    McLaren… My heart breaks for them- they showed so much pace in Barcelona testing, then it went downhill last week in the Official Pre-Season test with their breaks and Ricciardo having covid set them off on the back foot. Norris starts P13 and Ricciardo P18.

    A quick mention for Alex Albon aswell! First time back in over a year and in a Williams so a completely new car and team to learn and he out qualifies his team mate!

    Predictions for tomorrow-

    I think if Charlex and Max don’t come together tomorrow afternoon then it could be Charles taking the race win- but the pair have history and have collided here…

    Top 5 I think will be: P1: Verstappen, P2: Leclerc, P3: Perez, P4: Sainz and P5: Hamilton.

    I do think both Haas’ will score points tomorrow and hopefully Bottas in the Alfa Romeo too. Definitely will be interesting to see the different strategies and how the pit stops will play out with the new tyres.

    Times-

    Feature Race F3: 09:00am (GMT), Feature Race F2: 10:40am (GMT), Bahrain GP: 15:00pm (GMT).

  • F2 Bahrain- Day 1

    F2 Bahrain- Day 1

    Free Practice-

    Novalak had initially set the first laptime of the new Formula 2 season, with the Frenchman setting a 1:48.044. He then improved with his second tour of the track but it was Jake Hughes who jumped up to take P1 and setting a 1:45.294.

    Lawson’s first attempt at a flying lap put him second- half a second of Hughes, Marcus Armstrong briefly jumped ahead of him but the Carlin driver’s second attempt put him in first.

    PREMA’s Daruvala pushed Lawson down to second before Armstrong jumped ahead of him too, slotting into 2nd. MP Motorsport then bumped Daruvala down to third as Drugovich went first ahead of Novalak. With less than three minutes left, DAMS were able to break the MP pair up.

    PositionDriverTeamLaptime
    1Felipe DrugovichMP Motorsport1:44.484
    2Ayumu IwasaDAMS1:44.679
    3Roy NissanyDAMS1:44.754
    4Clement NovalakMP Motorsport1:44.769
    5Marcus ArmstrongHiTech Grand Prix1:44.833
    Top 5 Free Practice

    Qualifying-

    All 22 cars took to the track when the lights went green but the session was red-flagged due to Iwasa’s DAMS came to a halt. Once the car was off the track, the session then resumed, Jake Hughes and Amaury Cordeel the Van Amersfoort pair led the session.

    Hughes was sat in P1 after the first flying laps ended with a 1:41.469. The British driver kept on to the position as his second fast lap was enough to beat Felipe Drugovich to the top spot.

    But it was Jack Doohan who put himself on pole position for Sunday’s feature race, with Theo Pourchaire in P2 and Juri Vips in P3. Felipe Drugovich will start Saturday’s Sprint race in P1, with Verschoor lining up next to him and Jake Hughes in P3.

    PositionDriverTeamLaptime
    1Jack DoohanVirtuosi Racing1:40.542
    2Theo PourchaireART Grand Prix1:40.683
    3Juri VipsHiTech Grand Prix1:40.755
    4Logan SargeantCarlin1:40.760
    5Ralph BoschungCampos Racing1:41.000
    6Liam LawsonCarlin1:41.100
    7Jehan DaruvalaPREMA Racing1:41.115
    8Jake HughesVan Amersfoort Racing1:41.121
    9Richard VerschoorTrident1:41.178
    10Felipe DrugovichMP Motorsport1:41.210
    Top 10 Qualifying
  • F3 Bahrain- Day 1

    F3 Bahrain- Day 1

    Free Practice-

    With the teams already having some track action here for the pre-season test, the field of 30 drivers took to track so set themselves up for hopfeully a competitive weekend.

    After the light went green and a few flurry of laps, it was MP Motorsport’s Caio Collet who set the fastest, however his effort was still some way of the true pace.

    The times began to tumber, as the drivers gathered further experience at the Bahrain International Circuit. But it was the reigning team champions, Trident who got off to a strong start this weekend, as Roman Stanek ended Free Practice on top with a 1:48.012.

    PREMA’s Arthur Leclerc moved himself up into second place, in which he was less than a tenth of a second behind Stanek. With Rookie, Gregoire Saucy launching himself into 3rd.

    In the final 10 minute, there was a brief yellow flag due to Reece Ushijiam coming to a stop in sector one but was able to get his car moving again.

    PositionDriverTeamLaptime
    1Roman StanekTrident1:48.012
    2Arthur LeclercPREMA Racing1:48.090
    3Gregoire SaucyART Grand Prix1:48.099
    4Izack HadjarHiTech Grand Prix1:48.285
    5Caio ColletMP Motorsport1:48.402
    Top 5 Free Practice

    Qualifying-

    Gregoire Saucy was the first to jump to the top of the timesheets, placing himself just over one-tenth of a second in front of Roman Stanek. Most of the drivers, then returned to the pit lane as the qualifying session hit the halfway point.

    With 10 minutes to go, a lot of the drivers came out of the pitlane and set their minds to some more push laps. Colapinto set a fire laptime, which saw no-one be able to replace him at the top spot.

    The top 12 switch round for tomorrows sprint race, so we will have Rookie, Zak O’Sullivan on pole position, lined up next to another rookie and FDA driver, Ollie Bearman with David Vidales rounding out the top 3 for tomorrows starting grid.

    PositionDriverTeamLaptime
    1Franco ColapintoVan Amersfoort Racing1:46.249
    2Roman StanekTrident1:46.314
    3Kush MainiMP Motorsport1:46.322
    4Gregoire SaucyART Grand Prix1:46.410
    5Victor MartinsART Grand Prix1:46.412
    6Juan Manuel CorreaART Grand Prix1:46.600
    7Zane MaloneyTrident1:46.622
    8Alexander SmolyarMP Motorsport1:46.642
    9Isack HadjarHiTech Grand Prix1:46.649
    10David VidalesCampos Racing1:46.707
    11Ollie BearmanPREMA Racing1:46.843
    12Zak O’SullivanCarlin1:46.860
    Top 12 Qualifying
  • Bahrain Grand Prix

    We are back! Finally it’s race weekend and we are at the Bahrain Grand Prix for round 1 out of 22. Lots has happened since we was last here, new cars, new team-mates, new tyres and a new world champion!

    But, who will be world champion this year? Someone new or will we see Max Verstappen defend his crown? Or will Lewis be hunting for his 8th… It’s all to play for this year and it all starts here at the Bahrain International Circuit.

    Who needs to shine?

    Considering its the first race of the season I would say all, but I will give you all a few of my choices!

    Mick Schumacher and Yuki Tsunoda both going into their second year this season so I’d like to see them two do well across the whole weekend and it will be interesting to see if Haas have the pace and what Mick can do with it!

    Guanyu Zhou, the only driver to graduate from F2 this year, so all eyes on him, with him having Valtteri Bottas as his teammate it will be interesting to see how he does compared to him.

    Alex Albon, back in F1 after a year out and in a Williams, he has a lot to prove, especially showing the team that it was the right decision to bring him into the team, but Alex will also have to fight to stay in F1.

    Kevin Magnussen, again a year out- but this time it’s different as he hasn’t spent his time in one of the teams sim/ going to the track for a grand prix weekend.

    Predictions for Qualifying-

    My top 5 for qualifying are- Pole: Verstappen, P2: Leclerc, P3: Hamilton, P4: Sainz and P5: Russell.

    If Mercedes sort out their propoising I can see them being up there for pole position, but I have to give it RB and Max as they have a very fast car it seems but I do think it will be close between RB and Ferrari.

    I also predict that we see a Haas in the top 10, maybe an Alfa Romeo too, this then might cause some shock Q2 exits…

    Times for this weekend-

    Friday 18th March-

    Free Practice F3: 8:25am – 9:10am (GMT), Free Practice F2: 9:35am – 10:20am (GMT), Free Practice 1: 12:00pm – 13:00pm (GMT), Qualifying F3: 13:25pm – 13:55pm (GMT), Free Practice 2: 15:00pm – 16:00pm (GMT), Qualifying F2: 16:25pm – 16:55pm (GMT).

    Saturday 19th-

    Sprint Race F3: 10:05am – 10:45am (GMT), Free Practice 3: 12:00pm – 13:00pm (GMT), Qualifying: 15:00pm – 16:00pm (GMT), Sprint Race F2: 16:40pm – 17:25pm (GMT).

    Sunday 20th-

    Feature Race F3: 09:00am (GMT), Feature Race F2: 10:40am (GMT), Bahrain GP: 15:00pm (GMT).

  • Vettel out of Bahrain GP

    Vettel out of Bahrain GP

    Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel has tested positive for Covid-19 and will miss the season opener in Bahrain. The four time world champion is currently doing well.

    Vettel will be replaced by the team’s reserve driver, Nico Hulkenberg who will be in the car from Friday practice. This weekend will be Hulkenbergs first Grand Prix since the 2020 Eifel Grand Prix, when he stood in for Lance Stroll at Racing Point after the Canadian tested positive aswell.

    It was the third time he filled in for a race driver that year, having replaced Sergio Perez for the two race weekends at Silverstone.

    The former Renault driver will be making his 180th Grand Prix start on Sunday, in which he is still looking to break his podium duck.

    The news comes after Daniel Ricciardo returned a positive test last week, in which he missed the Official Pre-Season Test, he has since returned a negative test and has returned to the paddock today (Thursday).

    Speaking prior to his positive test, Vettel had said he hoped this season would see a marked improvement from Aston Martin. “Everything is new in Formula One and I think we’re looking at a very tight battle, and some very close gaps, between all the teams,” he said. “There’s a lot to play for – and that’s F1 at its best.”

    Wishing Sebastian a get well soon and hopefully we see him in the car next week!

  • Ricciardo set to race

    Daniel Ricciardo has tested negative for Covid-19 and will be returning to Bahrain paddock on Thursday in time for the season opener.

    McLaren had a number of drivers on standby if Ricciardo had tested positive, those being Nyck de Vries, Stoffel Vandoorne, Paul Di Resta and Alpine reserve, Oscar Piastri.

    The Australian tested positive during the Official Pre-Season Test last week, leaving his teammate to conduct the three days of running for the Papaya team. Norris completed 200 laps over the 3 days- having the highest individual tally.

    McLaren did however, run into problems with their overheating brakes and will have spent the time between the test and the Grand Prix attempting to fix those problems as they aim to join the frontrunners.

    “McLaren F1 Team confirms that after testing positive for Covid-19 last week, Daniel has now returned a number of negative tests and will therefore return to the paddock on Thursday ready to compete in this weekend’s Bahrain GP,” said the team on Wednesday ahead of the Grand Prix. “Daniel has been feeling better each day as he continued to recover while in isolation following local regulations in Bahrain.”