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: Sam Bloxham/LAT Images/Pirelli untitled Born in Belgium, Formula 1 driver Max Verstappen competes with the flag of the Netherlands just like his father Jos did throughout his grand prix career. Enthusiasm behind the success of the Dutch pilot for Red Bull Racing played an extra part in an aggressive push to bring back the top open wheel racing to Holland’s Circuit Zandvoort. Awarded a date on the Formula 1 calendar last year but cancelled due to COVID-19 health pandemic, the 2021 season would finally welcome the return of the Dutch Grand Prix set to attract a race-day audience of 70,000 with a majority of support going to the driver of the #33 Red Bull Racing machine. Saturday’s qualifying for the event generated the result many native fans were hoping for as Max Verstappen topped the session with a 1-minute, 8.885-second lap time securing pole by a very tight 0.038-second margin over the Lewis Hamilton’s #44 Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team ca...

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: Jiri Krenek/Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd. untitled Seven-time and reigning Formula 1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton arrived ahead of his home race at the Silverstone Circuit with 98 grand prix victories since he first turned a wheel on the tour in 2007. Of the British driver’s series record amount of wins, some of the grand prix wins involved awesome motorsport feats that have garnered glory and popularity. While Hamilton’s 99 th career Formula 1 victory was a popular one in front of a sold-out home crowd, the glory of his eighth British Grand Prix win was marred by an altercation on the opening lap with his championship rival Max Verstappen. Taking pole position for Sunday’s British Grand Prix from Lewis Hamilton’s #44 Mercedes-AMG race car during the inaugural 17-lap sprint qualifying race a day earlier , Max Verstappen in the #33 car positioned himself in a spot to potentially record a fourth consecutive Formula 1 win. Verstappen ...

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...

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...

Photo Credit: Aston Martin The Americas Long regarded as the most prestigious form of auto racing, Formula 1 has been known for creating legends. Juan Manuel Fangio, Jim Clark, James Hunt, Mario Andretti and Michael Schumacher are among a few that transcend the borders of motorsport to be seen as sport stars based on their mastery inside the global open wheel series. As impressive as driver instinct and physical nature impacts auto racing, finely-tuned machines have provided the basis for legacies. Teams looking for the competitive edge have developed technologies and philosophies becoming the foundation for most supercars. Fuel injection, mid-engined configuration, carbon fiber construction and semi-automatic transmissions. The technology transfer of Formula 1 cars to road cars has also been accompanied by the teams of the sport. While manufacturer involvement is a cornerstone to Formula 1, the reversal trend has always been popular. The story was that Enzo Ferrari began buil...