F1 Pickings

Renault has an awesome responsibility in 2018. Not because it's the key to McLaren's revival, not because its works team should take another step towards the front, but because it holds the key to what every Formula 1 fan wants to see - a fight for the title featuring more than two teams, and hopefully involving Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo.On previous form, though, it won't ... Keep reading

The teams reflect on a day just 5 of them actually ventured out.

Ferrari says there was "no point" in trying to do any running on the snow and rain-affected third day of Formula 1 testing at Barcelona

Only five teams ventured out onto the track at all on Thursday, in a session that was delayed by three hours due to snow.Even once the snow cleared the track was too wet for any proper running, with Fernando Alonso completing the only two timed laps of the day in the final 15 minutes.Ferrari did not send Kimi Raikkonen out, and afterwards the team said it saw no reason to try to ... Keep reading

Today was highly unusual in the annals of F1 testing history as snow intervened preventing any meaningful running. Pirelli displayed an F1 snow tyre in the paddock, with studs, which has been used for a Ferrari demonstration event in the past. The Pirelli Sottozero (meaning sub zero) is the tongue in cheek name. But it […]

While McLaren and Fernando Alonso can celebrate the fact that the MCL33 topped the timesheets, today was not a day when the sport covered itself in glory.

The third day of pre-season testing is ruined because of snow and rain at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain.

It's always interesting to hear different points of view from outside the sport on what's good and bad in the world of Formula 1

McLaren's Fernando Alonso was the only driver to post a time during the third day of Formula 1 testing at Barcelona, which was affected by snow and heavy rain

Only five cars ventured out at all during the day, with Alonso completing the most laps with 11.The start of the session was delayed by three hours due to heavy snowfall overnight, which continued through the morning.While the track opened at midday, it was more than an hour before the first car appeared, with Alonso completing one lap.Daniel Ricciardo's Red Bull was next to head ... Keep reading

The third day of pre-season testing is ruined because of snow and rain at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain.

It’s always interesting to hear different points of view from outside the sport on what’s good and bad in the world of Formula 1.This morning at a Sports Industry Breakfast club event in London, Steve Parish, the chairman of Crystal Palace FC – an English Premier League soccer team – spelled out why the EPL must maintain its current distribution model of commercial revenues.This has ... Keep reading

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff believes rival Renault will make the biggest step of any Formula 1 team in 2018

On the back of the major investment, Renault has made to its F1 project since it took over Lotus at the end of 2015, Wolff has singled out the French car manufacturer as the outfit that is likely to make the biggest jump this year.Reflecting on competitors this year, Wolff told Motorsport.com: "Force India? There the duel between (Sergio) Perez against (Esteban) Ocon becomes ... Keep reading

It’s always interesting to hear different points of view from outside the sport on what’s good and bad in the world of Formula 1. This morning at a Sports Industry Breakfast club event in London, Steve Parish, the chairman of Crystal Palace FC, an English premier league team, spelled out why the EPL must maintain […]

Valtteri Bottas says he will not "waste my energy" on playing mind games with Mercedes Formula 1 team-mate Lewis Hamilton in 2018

The third day of pre-season testing is delayed because of snow at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain.

The third day of pre-season testing is delayed because of snow at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain.

Nico Rosberg admitted that he put a lot of effort into trying to get under Hamilton's skin as part of his strategy to defeat his then-teammate, before retiring after becoming world champion in 2016.However, his replacement Bottas insists that he will just focus on himself and winning races and not try to exploit any weaknesses in the man who could be his main title rival."I just want ... Keep reading

Robert Kubica has called on the media to stop focussing on the negatives of his F1 return, admitting that he didn't help his own cause.

Sergey Sirotkin and Lance Stroll will have two race engineers each for the 2018 Formula 1 season as part of an operational staffing reshuffle at Williams

James Urwin will continue to work with Stroll this season, but will share duties with Luca Baldisserri, who filled in for the final four races of 2017 while Urwin was on paternity leave.Andrew Murdoch, who worked with Felipe Massa last year, will team up with Paul Williams, who was a senior trackside aerodynamicist, to race engineer Sirotkin."We've had some operational changes and I ... Keep reading

Snow-karts? Really?We knew not what to expect even as the mini-coach graunched its way into the mountains, creaking mightily as steering lock strained the diff. Kimi Raikkonen? In winter? No word-pictures sprung to mind.I always imagined the 'Kimster' to be in Dubai come December and January, or perhaps in some remote castle in darkest Finland. I mean, he isn't your ordinary person ... Keep reading

McLaren's Eric Boullier says he believes F1 should bite the bullet and carry out future pre-season testing in Bahrain.

Valtteri Bottas wants to put pressure on Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton and is not bothered if it creates friction.

Formula 1's first test has revealed a number of innovations not obvious on carefully-manipulated launch images, including an aggressive rear suspension design on the McLaren-Renault MCL33

One of the best examples of this is McLaren's aggressive rear suspension design, which features a bold repositioning on the inboard connecting points of the upper wishbone.McLaren MCL33 rearPhoto by: Giorgio Piola ... Keep reading

Efforts by some Formula 1 teams to reschedule Wednesday's snow-hit Barcelona test day appear unlikely to succeed

With the poor weather predicted well in advance, some teams began lobbying for a change to the schedule earlier this week.Matters were complicated by the fact that Williams has a private filming day in Barcelona booked for Friday, and Ferrari has one on Saturday. Monday was discussed as a possible alternative.Any change requires the agreement of all 10 teams, as the FIA Sporting ... Keep reading

F1 is looking to simplify the aerodynamic profile of the cars for 2019.

The third day of pre-season testing is delayed because of snow at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain.

Bahrain last hosted pre-season testing in 2014 [pictured above], although discussions were held in 2016 about returning to the Sakhir venue before it was ultimately decided to stick to the traditional two weeks of running at Barcelona. However, the first two days of 2018 testing were blighted by cold weather, with temperatures failing rise above four degrees Celsius on Tuesday, before ... Keep reading

F1's first winter test in freezing conditions is going ahead as originally planned.

The third day of pre-season testing is delayed because of snow at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain.

Haas team boss Gunther Steiner says the "brutal" logistical demands of Formula 1 pre-season testing would have made going to Bahrain impractical for smaller teams

Robert Kubica has urged the media to move on from the story about his physical "limitations".

Tensions have thawed in the Force India garage.

Claire Williams has denied that the British team's youthful driver lineup could explain Martini's decision to depart as sponsor.

Renault wants Red Bull to decide by May which engine it will use in 2019.

The start of day three of 2018 Formula 1 testing has been delayed as snow blanketed Barcelona

After cold and wet conditions limited F1 team’s running on Monday and Tuesday, forecasted snow hit overnight ahead of day three.Circuit officials cleared the track, but snow continued to ... Keep reading

Lewis Hamilton has revealed that he sacrificed his time in the Mercedes W09 on Tuesday in order that teammate Valtteri Bottas could have more running in the car.

French driver hits out at Halo device after tearing holes in his race suit getting into and out of his car.

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The teams reflect as the second day of pre-season testing comes to a chilly end.

Pre-season Formula 1 testing in Europe is never the warmest, but the past two days at Barcelona have been excessively cold – watching from trackside or hanging around the pitlane has been a constant battle with very low temperatures.These conditions do have an impact on the work the teams are able to do, and it hasn't helped us to get much of a picture of the competitive order. While ... Keep reading

Lewis Hamilton says he chose to "sacrifice" driving on day two of Formula 1 pre-season testing as avoiding a driver change saved Mercedes about an hour of running time

Bitterly cold weather at Barcelona has reduced the amount of running F1 teams would have hoped to have achieved by the halfway point of the test.Mercedes has opted to split each day of the first test between its two drivers with a changeover around lunch time.However, lunch was cancelled on day two with the track remaining open to allow teams to make the best of reasonable conditions ... Keep reading

McLaren's second day of 2018 Formula 1 testing was limited to just 37 laps due to its Renault engine's exhaust becoming detached

Stoffel Vandoorne was one of the pacesetters once running started in anger after a quiet morning due to cold weather, and the MCL33 briefly led the way after a run on the hypersoft tyres. But while that lap was good enough to maintain third place by the end of the day, Vandoorne did not return to the track due to work required after the exhaust came loose.“Unfortunately we had a ... Keep reading

Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel says the poor weather conditions in Formula 1 testing on Tuesday made it difficult for drivers to stay on track because it was so cold

Robert Kubica admits he was too honest when publicly discussing his attempt to return to Formula 1 and has called for an end to talk about his limitations

The Ferrari driver ended the second day of testing fastest, completing 98 laps despite very little morning running as teams waited for conditions to warm up.But with the air temperature never registering above 5C all day, Vettel – who caused a red flag when he spun and dragged gravel onto the circuit at the first sequence of corners – described the weather as “the limiting factor” on ... Keep reading

The Pole, who suffered life-threatening injuries in a rally crash in 2011, was beaten to a race seat at Williams by Sergey Sirotkin.He took on a reserve driver role, which involves driving at pre-season testing, in-season testing and three free practice sessions.After completing 48 laps in the car on Tuesday at Barcelona, Kubica grew frustrated with a line of questioning, saying he ... Keep reading

Toro Rosso driver Pierre Gasly says he has already torn his racesuit on the halo and predicts "a big mess" getting in and out of Formula 1 cars in 2018

Gasly completed his first full day of running in the new Toro Rosso-Honda at Barcelona on Tuesday.Asked if he had any issues with the now mandatory cockpit protection device, he replied: "I don't like it, it's a big mess to get in the car and get out."I think my suit is already broken, we will have to ask [racesuit provider] AlpineStars for many suits this year."Already, it's only ... Keep reading

Mercedes and Ferrari lead the way on second day of testing as McLaren and Haas clearly have work to do.

Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel finishes 0.303 seconds ahead of the Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas on day two of pre-season testing in Spain.

Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel set the fastest time of 2018 Formula 1 testing so far on the second day of running at Barcelona

The majority of the teams avoided doing any significant mileage during the morning due to low temperatures, with the track only starting to get busy shortly before midday.Valtteri Bottas was the first driver to post meaningful laptimes to kick that spell of activity off, although he was briefly usurped by Stoffel Vandoorne's McLaren on a set of the new hypersoft tyres.The Mercedes ... Keep reading

Today's times from the Circuit de Catalunya, the second day of the opening pre-season test.

Formula 1 has officially announced plans for its new ad-free streaming service and given a first glimpse of what it will look like

F1's owners Liberty Media finally confirmed the details of the two new OTT (over-the-top) offerings that it has talked about since last season.It also released a short video showing off what the new service will look like for fans when it is rolled out for the start of the season.F1 said that its premium service, called F1 TV PRO, will include ad-free live coverage of every session ... Keep reading

Formula 1 has today confirmed that its new live streaming product – an OTT platform called F1 TV -will be online before the start of the new F1 season. Access will cost users between US$8 and US$12 a month. There will also be a non-live OTT platform at reduced fee. Perhaps timed to co-incide with […]

F1 is to launch OTT commercial-free live streams of each race with multi language commentary.

Renault Formula 1 managing director Cyril Abiteboul admits his team is considering factoring strategic grid penalties into its 2018 season, in order to maximise engine performance

All manufacturers face the challenge of running 21 races on three power units in 2018, and it is a particularly big ask for Renault and Honda, who have suffered from poor reliability over the past seasons.Rather than compromise ultimate power unit performance over the whole season by ensuring that each element lasts for seven race weekends, Renault may decide before the start of the ... Keep reading

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Red Bull has until May to decide on its engine supply for 2019 otherwise it will be forced to use Honda.

Renault Formula 1 boss Cyril Abiteboul says he will give Red Bull a May deadline for a decision over its 2019 engine supply, respecting the FIA regulation on the subject

Red Bull's current contract with Renault only covers the 2018 season, and the team is keeping a close watch on how Honda performs with sister team Toro Rosso.If Red Bull does eventually decide to go with the Japanese manufacturer, Renault will only have McLaren as a customer next season.Red Bull boss Christian Horner confirmed in Barcelona that the team is keeping its options ... Keep reading

Valtteri Bottas topped the timesheets at the end of a chilly Tuesday morning at the Circuit de Catalunya.

Valtteri Bottas set the pace for Mercedes on the second morning of Formula 1 testing at Barcelona, ahead of Stoffel Vandoorne's McLaren

Bottas put in the fastest time of 1m20.325s just before 1pm local time on soft tyres, going 0.055s faster than Vandoorne managed on the new hypersoft compound.With temperatures barely above zero, there was very little action in the first three hours, with a short soft-tyre run from Carlos Sainz's Renault offering the only representative lap time of 1m25.059s.Then shortly before ... Keep reading

Lewis Hamilton was on buoyant form at last week's Silverstone unveiling of the Mercedes W09, the car that he hopes will carry him to his fifth Formula 1 title. He was in a relaxed mood thanks to an extended winter break and he had yet more reasons to be upbeat, for even standing still the new W09 looked mighty impressive.As world champion Lewis had some commitments in December, but ... Keep reading

This morning's times from the Circuit de Catalunya, the second day of pre-season testing.

As he cites Mercedes and Ferrari as working together, Red Bull boss Christian Horner calls on Liberty to show who's boss.

Lewis Hamilton says Mercedes know he is committed and wants to extend his stay beyond the 2018 season.

Red Bull boss Christian Horner has urged the FIA to go further in clamping down on teams burning oil in qualifying

The issue of teams burning oil to help boost power became a big talking point last year, as several rules clarifications played their part in impacting performance swings between Mercedes and Ferrari.In a bid to stop teams trying to exploit oil burn, several changes to the regulations were made for this year – including a new 0.6-litre per 100km oil usage limit, a restriction on ... Keep reading

Martini will not renew its sponsorship of the Williams F1 team when the current contract comes to an end this year.

The first details of Formula 1's television coverage overhaul for 2018 have been revealed

Although there has not yet been any official announcement about F1 owner Liberty Media's long-awaited plans to improve the TV show, Bratches has opened up about what can be expected from the coverage of races this year.With former Fox Sports president David Hill having been drafted in late last year to oversee a change to the way F1 is broadcast, Liberty believes that there will be a ... Keep reading

Martini brought its famous white, blue and red colour scheme back to F1 in 2014 when it signed the Williams deal that resulted in a full rebranding of the car.The colour scheme was last seen on the Brabham cars in 1975 and marked Martini's largest F1 programme since it backed Lotus in 1979.Motorsport.com understands Martini discussed an extension with Williams as well as speaking to ... Keep reading

Fernando Alonso was keen to play down the wheelnut failure that saw him spin out of the opening day of testing after just 6 laps.

Martini will not extend its title sponsorship of Williams when it expires at the end of the season, Autosport has learned

Cool temperatures and rain on Monday afternoon meant limited running at Barcelona. With snow forecast for Wednesday, and conditions expected to improve from Thursday onwards, some teams have pushed to cancel one of the next two days in favour of running on Friday.But Williams has rented the circuit on Friday for a filming day, while Ferrari has booked Saturday for the same ... Keep reading

Formula 1 teams have held talks about extending the first pre-season test by an extra day as bad weather is predicted at Barcelona for the middle of the week

Brendon Hartley says Toro Rosso's new Honda-powered Formula 1 car enjoyed a "perfect day" of reliability on its full testing debut at Barcelona

Daniel Ricciardo used practice starts at the end of the first day of Formula 1 testing to test the visibility of the lights with the halo device

Hartley's STR13 ended the first day of 2018 pre-season testing at the sharp end of the mileage rankings, the Kiwi logging 93 laps.This showing was in stark contrast to Honda's performance with previous partner McLaren on the first test day last year, when the manufacturer discovered a major problem with its engine after just a single installation lap."It was a really positive day," ... Keep reading

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The mandatory use of the head protection system in F1 this year has caused an outcry from fans who are unhappy with the way it looks – although drivers who have tried it say it does not make much difference once they are driving.However, one potential issue that has been cropped up in recent days is whether or not a driver's vision of the start lights could get restricted because of ... Keep reading

The teams reflect as the opening day of pre-season testing comes to an end.

Alonso was sidelined after just six laps of running in the morning when a wheelnut problem led to his McLaren's right-rear wheel detaching itself, sending him into the gravel.The incident seemed ironic given McLaren's expectation of a much smoother testing period following its swap to customer Renaults after three frustrating seasons with Honda - which enjoyed a ... Keep reading

Fernando Alonso reckons at least six Formula 1 teams had "big trouble" on day one of 2018 pre-season testing, and declared his McLaren-Renault combination has "huge potential"

There's a lot of truth in the usual sayings about the first day of testing not telling you a great deal about the season to come, but there's always something you can learn if you know where to look. And the opening day of 2018 pre-season testing in Barcelona has given us some hints.A glance at the timesheets shows Red Bull fastest ahead of Mercedes and Ferrari. But while it would be ... Keep reading

Weather compromises running in the afternoon, but nonetheless it's a strong start to testing for Red Bull

Fernando Alonso and McLaren have a bad start to F1 pre-season testing as the Spaniard loses a wheel six laps into his running.

Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo ended the first day of 2018 Formula 1 pre-season testing at Barcelona with the fastest time

Cool temperatures and a late rain shower made for a relatively uneventful afternoon at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, with the top four remaining unchanged from the morning. This meant Ricciardo ended the day on top by 0.178 seconds ahead of Valtteri Bottas in the Mercedes, both using medium tyres, with Kimi Raikkonen third for Ferrari on softs.Nico Hulkenberg completed a top ... Keep reading

Today's times from the Circuit de Cataluny, the first day of the opring pre-season test.

Force India technical director admits Halo cost drove up team's costs.

Red Bull boss Christian Horner says he is concerned Formula 1 engine supplier Renault will start the 2018 season in a compromised specification for reliability

Conscious of the new-for-this-season three-engine limit, Renault F1 managing director Cyril Abiteboul said the firm wants to take a zero risk approach to reliability.But with Mercedes telling Motorsport.com late last year that it is close to producing a engine that can deliver a power output of 1000bhp, Horner suspects the four-time reigning world champion team could be "mighty"."It ... Keep reading

The start of the new F1 season is the Australian Grand Prix in a month’s time, but for the F1 teams and millions of fans around the world, today is the real start. It’s the moment that the 10 teams release their cars onto the track for the first time and everyone scrabbles around to […]

The Montreal native completed 46 laps around the Circuit de Catalunya, setting the sixth fastest time in 1:22.452, a little more than two seconds slower than Daniel Ricciardo, quickest of all in the new Red Bull RB14 in 1:20.179.This year’s car features several design changes, some of which are due to regulation changes such as the introduction of the halo and the removal of the shark ... Keep reading

Force India technical director Andrew Green says Formula 1's halo created "huge" extra costs for his team, because it meant last year's chassis could not be carried over to 2018

Force India's latest 'Pink Panther' is an evolution of last year's package. For the last two years, Force India has done a great job to finish fourth in the constructors' championship but, if anything, with teams such as McLaren, Renault and Williams likely to improve, it could be even tougher to do that in 2018.This is a team that has shown it has a good understanding of its car and ... Keep reading

Force India usually tries to minimise expense through a set of stable F1 regulations by carrying over as much of the previous season’s car as possible in a new design.But Green said extra work required to mount the FIA-mandated safety device for ’18 meant designing a new chassis and spending “in the hundreds of thousands if not million-dollar mark to put that halo on the ... Keep reading

The Japanese manufacturer has embarked on a new three-year partnership with Toro Rosso after three disastrous seasons with McLaren.Over the winter, it overhauled its management structure, moving Yusuke Hasegawa off the F1 project and splitting his role between Toyoharu Tanabe and Yasuaski Asaki.Its focus has been on improving the reliability, after it had suffered several failures ... Keep reading

Honda will focus on reliability over performance with its first race specification engine for the 2018 Formula 1 season, Autosport has learned

Force India COO, Otmar Szafnauer, confirms that the plan is still to change the name of the team, hopefully before the season opening race in Melbourne.

McLaren sitting out most of Formula 1 2018 pre-season testing's opening session due to Fernando Alonso losing a wheel was "no big deal", insists executive director Zak Brown

Alonso caused the Barcelona test's first red flag just six laps into his programme, as he was left stranded in the gravel after the right-rear wheel came loose on his new Renault-powered MCL33.He was only able to return to the track minutes before the lunch break, and ended the session with a field-low 10 laps under his belt.Brown did not go into detail on the problem that caused ... Keep reading

Fernando Alonso and McLaren have a bad start to F1 pre-season testing as the Spaniard loses a wheel six laps into his running.

A late charge saw Daniel Ricciardo top the timesheets at Barcelona on the first morning of pre-season testing.

Daniel Ricciardo put Red Bull on top in the first morning of Formula 1 pre-season testing at Barcelona, beating Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas by just under two tenths of a second

We've heard many times from McLaren about how big a job it is to integrate a different engine package into the chassis. Well, Toro Rosso is a much smaller team and has had the same task in the reverse direction by switching from Renault to Honda.Toro Rosso has been unfortunate enough to have made such changes a lot recently, having used Renault engines in 2015, year-old Ferraris in ... Keep reading

Ricciardo's best time of 1m20.179s - set on medium tyres - came in the dying stages of the four-hour session, and minutes after Bottas had knocked Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen off the top of the timesheets.Raikkonen led going into the final half-hour of running, having just deposed Renault driver Nico Hulkenberg with a 1m20.506s on softs, before Bottas took over with a 1m20.349s with 10 ... Keep reading

This morning's times from the Circuit de Catalunya, the first day of pre-season testing.

Bad weather could affect the start of winter testing in Barcelona this week.

Stoffel Vandoorne says the ball is now in McLaren's court after the British team dropped Honda at the end of last year.

Pascal Wehrlein will not contest the top Japanese open wheeler series Super Formula in 2018.

Toro Rosso staff had lessons on how to communicate effectively with Japanese companies ahead of their new partnership with Formula 1 engine supplier Honda

Communication was a key issue during Honda’s tumultuous three-year reunion with McLaren, and Toro Rosso has been keen to avoid a repeat.Speaking after the launch of the new Toro Rosso, team principal Franz Tost revealed the team had seminars at its factory at HQ to help staff understand the culture.“We have a real fantastic working relationship with Honda,” said Tost. “There were no ... Keep reading

Fernando Alonso and McLaren have a bad start to F1 pre-season testing as the Spaniard loses a wheel six laps into his running.

Fernando Alonso spins off into the gravel after just 6 laps following right-rear failure.

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The Grove-based team used one of its two allotted filming days to give the new halo-fitted FW41 a shakedown at Spanish venue Motorland Aragon, and has released footage of the running from Kubica's point of view.The former grand prix winner joined Williams as reserve and development driver in the off-season, after missing out on a race seat.Kubica will get to pil ... Keep reading

There is a "high probability" that Force India will change its 2018 Formula 1 team and chassis name before the start of the season in Australia, according to Otmar Szafnauer