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...

Lando Norris in Friday Practice (Photo Credit: Pirelli & C. S.p.A.) Qualifying for the 2025 Australian Grand Prix has provided the first competitive showing for what is the new, hotly anticipated Formula 1 campaign. In setting the grid for the 58-lap race, the cars belonging to the 2024 Constructors’ champion McLaren demonstrated a desire to realize even more greatness this season. Lando Norris secured pole position on the eve of the opening round for the new season by wheeling his McLaren around the 5.278-kilometer Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit in blistering 1-minute, 15.096-second lap. The British driver knocked his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri off the top of the time chart disrupting what might have been a home crowd triumph for the Australian inside the #81 car. With Q3 times separated by 0.084 seconds, the McLaren MCL39 lock up the front row of the 2025 Australian Grand Prix. Norris’ pole-scoring time of 1-minute, 15.096-second lap time was 0.819 seconds faster than Max Ver...

Photo Credit: Jiri Krenek for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd. untitled Varying weather conditions shaped what was one of the more memorable Russian Grand Prix race weekends. As part of the 2021 Formula 1 schedule, the Sochi Autodrom featured Saturday and Sunday competition in a combination of dry and wet conditions. Qualifying started after rain soaked the 5.848-kilometer track with Lando Norris prevailing with his first Formula 1 pole when his McLaren Racing team mounted soft compound slick tires on a drying track late in Q3. Sunday’s 53-lap main event started as a dry race but late rainfall resulted in a gamble that saw Norris losing and Lewis Hamilton hitting the jackpot. Lando Norris’ McLaren and the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz Jr. led the field to the starting grid for the Russian Grand Prix. As the lights went out, Norris shot-out to an initial advantage but Sainz successfully chased down the orange and blue McLaren to take the lead into the second corner o...

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: 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...

untitled Photo Credit: Clive Rose/Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool At the beginning of the 2021 Formula 1 season, it was hoped upon by many parties that Red Bull Racing would mount a consistently competitive battle with the juggernaut that is the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team. Although that seemed to have been the case in the earlier grand prix events in 2021, the races since the Monaco Grand Prix has instead shown Red Bull Racing potentially rediscovering their pre-2014 form while displacing the long dominant German factory team. Ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix, the squad fielding drivers Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez has been on a four-race win streak. Claiming three of the victories in Red Bull Racing’s recent tear is Verstappen who entered the second race of the season at the 4.318-kilometer Red Bull Ring course winner of the previous week’s Styrian Grand Prix . Though Mercedes-AMG showed the potential of matching their Honda-powered rival on pace th...