Car FYI

  Photo Credit: Pirelli & C. S.p.A. The thundering sounds of Formula 1 engines once again flood the world. The stunning country of Australia serves as the first host of 24 events part of the eagerly awaited 2025 season. Major driver and personnel changes have led to uncertainties during the off-season that has only succeeded in dialling up intrigue for the new year of racing.  In the early part of the 2025 Australian Grand Prix race weekend, it was becoming clear that McLaren and British driver Lando Norris would be a major force. The team seeks to defend their 2024 constructors’ title while Norris is viewed as a future world champion. Saturday qualifying saw Norris and teammate Oscar Piastri secured the front row ahead of the Melbourne event.   For Sunday’s main event, the 58-lap Australian Grand Prix would be impacted by rain showers. The wet Albert Park race track may have contributed to all six driver retirements with the first occurring even before the firs...

Photo Credit: LAT Images for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd. Saturday’s qualifying for the inaugural Formula 1 race in the Arab nation of Qatar has assembled what is certain to be a dramatic opening lap showdown between this season’s title contenders Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. In setting the grid for Sunday’s 57-lap main event on the fast, high grip 5.380-kilometer Losail International Circuit, it was the driver of the #44 Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team race car that took honours. Lewis Hamilton’s pole-winning lap time of 1-minute, 20.827 seconds in the final Q3 session putting a cap on a time trial where the seven-time World Drivers’ Champion handily controlled through the three sessions. Joining Hamilton on the front row of the 2021 Qatar Grand Prix will be Max Verstappen’s Red Bull Racing machine. The Honda-powered entrant was 0.455 seconds slower than the rival Mercedes race car. With the race at Losail being the t...

Photo Credit: Steve Etherington for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd. The 2021 Formula One season is quickly rushing to completion with the Brazilian Grand Prix being the fourth-to-last event. With Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton left with fewer chances to gain points, this weekend’s competition at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace contained the additional opportunity to gain up to three extra points as the race weekend was the last of three where the sport would stage a Sprint Qualifying session. After a typical time trial on Friday, Hamilton’s Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team race car registered the fastest lap time in Q3 but would receive a penalty for his DRS (Drag Reduction System) being out of compliance with the rules. While Hamilton was moved to the rear for Sprint Qualifying, drivers’ championship leader Verstappen received also entered Saturday with a penalty in the form of a 50,000 euro fine for making physical contact with the rear wing of the #44 Mer...

Photo Credit: Unnamed Photographer/Pirelli untitled In Formula 1's last race in Monza, the sport’s long-running McLaren Racing team completed its gradual return to the top echelon of the sport when Daniel Ricciardo spectacularly took the Italian Grand Prix . Lando Norris finishing second reinforced McLaren’s triumph with the 21-year-old British driver comforted by the likeliest case scenario that he’s in the early stage of a long career in Formula 1 where he stands close to his own success. While that was a thought two weekends ago in Italy, Norris wasted little time after the strong Italian Grand Prix performance to add a major professional milestone. Rain prior to Saturday’s qualifying at the 5.848-kilometer Sochi Autodrom for the 53-lap Russian Grand Prix made the time trial session tricky for competitors. The showers were so heavy that they caused the cancellation of the third and final practice earlier in the day but qualifying took place af...

Photo Credit: Mark Sutton/LAT Images/Pirelli untitled Formula 1's oldest race track on the current schedule, Autodromo Nazionale di Monza is recognized as a venue of speed. The 11-turn, 5.793-kilometer (3.6-mile) track layout hosting the 2021 Italian Grand Prix has some of the lowest downforce expectations of many event on the circuit. The unusual performance attributes of Monza where aerodynamic grip is de-emphasized in favour of top speed have given some drivers and teams a taste of glory. Last year’s event won by Scuderia AlphaTauri pilot Pierre Gasly was achieved by the combination of utilizing the team’s Honda engine power and taking advantage of lucky breaks. Gasly’s win in the 2020 Italian Grand Prix also featured fending off a McLaren race car driven by Carlos Sainz Jr. who finished in the runner-up spot. With some extraordinary circumstances occurring in last year’s race, it seemed less than likely that similar unorthodox matters would cre...

Photo Credit: Steve Etherington for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd. untitled Despite the best efforts of the 20 Formula 1 drivers and teams, the ultimate winner of this weekend racing at Belgium’s Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps was the weather. Complicating Saturday’s qualifying for the 2021 Belgian Grand Prix by soaking the fast Eau Rouge section of the popular race track, rain continued into Sunday greatly hindering what was supposed to have been a 44-lap event. Instead of pole sitter Max Verstappen leading the field with his #33 Red Bull Racing RB16B race car, the vehicle at the front during the limited laps around the course was the safety car. In fact, the lap count at the end of the Belgium Grand Prix would be a series record for the shortest grand prix ever to be run by Formula 1. Conditions ahead of the start Belgian Grand Prix instantly signalled how miserable the weather competitors, track workers and race fans would have to endure as Formula 1 attempted ...

Photo Credit: Charles Coates/LAT Images/Pirelli untitled The duet performance of 20 high-performance turbocharged gasoline and an electric power unit takes to the stage at Belgium’s Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps after nearly a month-long hiatus. A favourite track among Formula 1 drivers and fans, the 20-turn, 7.004-kilometer (4.352-mile) race track is a venue many would like to claim victory. Spa-Francorchamps is also known for being tricky and potentially dangerous place to compete. A six-car accident in qualifying for the W Series companion event on the Belgian Grand Prix weekend highlighted the course’s fast and challenging Eau Rouge section. Formula 1 cars’ Saturday qualifying combined the element of rain showers reducing the predictability of grip on the track surface and would contribute to some major surprises for setting the grid for the 44-lap main event on Sunday. With the conclusion of the Q1 and Q2 in qualifying at Spa-Francorchamps, Bri...

Photo Credit: Zak Mauger/LAT Images/Pirelli untitled An event first held back in 1906 and reinstated on the Formula 1 calendar in 2018, the French Grand Prix has been dominated by Lewis Hamilton and the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team in the previous two outings. However, the 2021 edition of the race on the Circuit Paul Ricard served as another outing in this current season where Mercedes and Hamilton would be challenged by Red Bull Racing led by the sports’ young superstar Max Verstappen. A rivalry presently living up to hopes a true race-after-race battle, the two top drivers in Formula 1 exchanged their advantages throughout the grand prix weekend in France. After almost certain victory at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix was foiled by a sudden tire failure while leading on the Baku City Circuit, Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen appears regrouped for Formula 1's seventh round at the Circuit Paul Ricard. At the top of the lap time chart during the latter two...