The Spanish Grand Prix threw up a few interesting comparisons from last year to this, not least in the relative pace of the cars and the improvement in speed of the pit stops. At one end of the spectrum the Mercedes was 2.3 seconds faster in qualifying than in 2012, while the Williams was a second slower than Pastor Maldonado’s pole time from last year. But in the pits there has also been progress; Ferrari set the fastest stop on Sunday, a clear second faster than its best time last year (when it was again fastest) thanks to the many More…

Britain’s Jenson Button has described McLaren’s current form as “embarrassing” following the Spanish Grand Prix where he finished eighth, one place ahead of team mate Sergio Perez. McLaren, who won the final race of last season with what was considered to be the fastest car on the grid, made major changes to their machine for 2013, while their rivals took an evolutionary approach. As a result, they have dropped down the grid and currently lie sixth in the constructors’ championship, 102 points behind leaders Red Bull while Button is best placed in the drivers’ standings 64 behind leader Sebastian Vettel. More…

All 22 Formula 1 drivers came together on the grid ahead of Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix to support the United Nations’ Global Road Safety Week, which aims to draw attention to the need to protect pedestrians on the world’s roads. More than 5,000 pedestrians are killed on roads across the world every week, according to the World Health Organisation. These fatalities make up a large percentage of the 1.3m killed on the roads every year. The aim of the campaign is to give pedestrians a voice when traffic safety is concerned so the UN launched “Long, Short Walk”, an initiative More…

Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz says Formula 1 is “no longer about the racing” after tyre management played a huge role in the outcome of Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix. A remarkable 77 pit stops were made during the 66-lap race with several drivers being told to lift off in certain corners to protect the high-degrading Pirelli tyres. In an interview with Autosport, Mateschitz said his two drivers – Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber – were not able to push their Red Bull to the limit without ruining the tyres. Mateschitz said: “Everyone knows what happens here. This has nothing to More…

Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel says he does not like the plan to give drivers penalty points, which could see them being handed a one race ban. Under the new proposed system, stewards would hand out penalty points – similar to road users getting points on their driving licence – in addition to existing punishments, such as drive-through penalties, for misdemeanours on track. Stewards will be free to choose the number of points handed out, although they will be given an advisory level to work from. Should a driver accumulate 12 points over a 12-month period, they would received a one More…

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso delighted his home fans and got his title challenge back on track with an impressive victory in a Spanish Grand Prix which saw battles all the way down the field. Kimi Raikkonen scored his fourth podium in five races for Lotus to close the gap on Red Bull’s championship leader Sebastian Vettel while Felipe Massa made it onto the rostrum for the first time this season with an accomplished drive in his Ferrari. Paul di Resta produced another strong drive to finish seventh for Force India while McLaren’s Jenson Button made up for a bad start to More…

Fernando Alonso made the perfect use of a blistering start and bold strategy to deliver an emphatic victory to his adoring fans at the Spanish Grand Prix, ahead of Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa. It was a race that was dictated by tyre strategy, with much of the field played it safe by adopting a four-stop strategy, whilst Raikkonen and Lotus were again able to make one less pit stop and he put himself in contention for the race win in the middle stages of the race. It will give further fuel to critics of Pirelli who argue that the More…

Nico Rosberg made it a hat-trick of pole positions for Mercedes GP as he produced two laps fast enough to take the top spot for the Spanish Grand Prix, ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel. After concentrating on longer fuel-laden runs in Free Practice, Mercedes went in to qualifying somewhat unknown as attentions were focused on Red Bull, Ferrari and Lotus. But – as with at China and Bahrain – the one-lap specialist Mercedes was able to eclipse its competitors. Rosberg clinched the third pole position of his career by over 2/10ths of a second, with Vettel a further tenth More…

Sebastian Vettel continued to set the pace during free practice for this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix, but it was very close between him, Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber and it promises to be a very competitive weekend. As with pre-season testing the long run performance of the Lotus of Romain Grosjean was the stand out from the day and combined with Raikkonen’s single lap pace, just 2/10ths of a second slower than Vettel, Lotus look to be a force this weekend as well. There was a scare for Paul Di Resta who suffered what appeared to be a left rear More…

Mercedes shareholder and executive director of Mercedes F1 Toto Wolff says team principal Ross Brawn is in charge of his own destiny and will decide his own future at the Brackley-based team. The management structure of the team, which tasted World Championship success in the form of Brawn GP in 2009 and oversaw the early years of the team’s reincarnation as Mercedes, is going through a transition. Following the arrival of Wolff and also Niki Lauda as non-executive chairman of the team, Nick Fry stepped down from his role as CEO in March, while there is much speculation that Paddy More…