As the first official pre-season test of 2012 kicked off today in Jerez Renault Sport F1 have been busy, adding a fourth team Williams to their roster of customer teams along with Caterham, Lotus and the works outfit, Red Bull. This year will see Renault’s 35th year of competition in Formula One, producing ten Constructors’ titles and nine driving titles, and they will be hoping that the RS27 will bring more glory with Red Bull this season. Having added another new team to their supply for two consecutive years Renault Sport will feel assured that they can continue to improve More…

Yesterday the boss of Red Bull, Dietrich Mateschitz, said that “Sebastian (Vettel) has improved and is stronger than ever. He has prepared during the winter break like never before and he will certainly not let us down.” With just two weeks to go until the wraps come off the new cars from the challengers for the championship, attention is building on what kind of season we will have and how close the racing will be. Mateschitz went on to say in the same interview with Gazzetta dello Sport, that he thinks the closest challenger this year will be McLaren, then More…

World Champion Sebastian Vettel scored his 15th pole position of the season, setting a new record that beats the one set by Nigel Mansell which has stood for almost 20 years. It was Vettel’s 30th pole position in just 81 Grands Prix. It was a scintillating lap by Vettel, only a tenth faster than team mate Mark Webber, but a perfect summing up of the season in many ways, as the German put everything together in one lap. The Red Bull’s prowess in the middle sector was the decisive factor in keeping them ahead of the McLaren of Jenson Button, More…

The first day of practice for Sunday’s Brazilian Grand Prix saw some close lap times between the two leading teams, Red Bull and McLaren, promising a tense battle for the final race of the season. McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time of the day, just over a tenth clear of Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel, but the long runs were interesting. The Red Bull was 8/10ths faster than the McLaren, but allowing for the difference in fuel loads, they were close. Red Bull tends to do its long runs using the fuel load it would typically start the second stint More…

Sebastian Vettel set a blistering pace in qualifying today for the Singapore Grand Prix, taking his 11th pole position of the season. Mark Webber was second, with Jenson Button third and Lewis Hamilton fourth. If tomorrow’s race ended like that it would mean that the title race goes on to the Japanese Grand Prix, with Webber still in the hunt. In all likelihood we will see Alonso come up from fifth on the grid as the Ferrari has better performance and stronger tyre life in race conditions. It was Red Bull’s fifth 1-2 grid lockout of the season and Vettel’s More…

The race organisers are putting in an all-night stint with a massive programme of works to remedy problems with the kerbs following the first day of practice in Singapore. The plastic kerbs, in only their fourth year of use, were lifting up with retaining bolts raising out of the ground, due to the forces the cars are putting on them. Tonight most of the kerbs are either being removed or bonded to the ground. The kerbs at turns 3, 5, 10 and 17, for example, are being removed and markings are being painted on the ground. The kerbs are of More…

Jean Eric Vergne is a name that is coming up increasingly frequently in F1 circles at the moment. The Frenchman is another of the Red Bull young drivers coming into the F1 orbit and this weekend he’ll be doing a job behind the scenes for them. Speaking to L’Equipe he revealed that this weekend he will be “in the Red Bull simulator at Milton Keynes supporting Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber for the Singapore GP.” Teams send all the data from the track in real time back to their factory bases and after the debriefs the engineers at the factory More…

The decision of reigning F1 champions Red Bull and Renault to extend their deal with for a supply of customer engines for five more years was announced over the Monza weekend, before Sebastian Vettel went out and won a second race in a row on what’s always been considered a “power circuit”. This deal is significant in that it means that not only will the team use the current V8 units with the Renault KERS system for 2012 and 2013, but is committed to the marque for the new generation of fuel efficient V6 1.6 litre turbo engines from 2014 More…

It’s now August and although they lead both championships comfortably, Red Bull’s last race victory was in Valencia in June. They have maintained their 100% record in qualifying, but on race day they no longer have the fastest car. In Budapest we saw a reaction with Red Bull mechanics using up one of their four curfew free nights of the season on Friday to work into the small hours on the car to get it right for qualifying and the race. This involved changing the specification of the car from what they had intended to run, with modifications to the More…

The German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring featured three drivers in different cars closely matched on performance. As the winner Lewis Hamilton observed, it was all about being perfect and not making mistakes and this was as true of the strategists and the pit crews as it was of the drivers. In the end it came down to some inspired driving and finely balanced strategy calls. But further down the field we saw some varying strategies making a difference to the race result, particularly in the case of Adrian Sutil, who finished sixth ahead of the Mercedes and Renaults. The More…

The German Grand Prix seems to have been a real crowd pleaser because it gave us three of the top F1 drivers all in closely matched cars and it came down to a straight fight on the track. It was driver versus driver and that’s what F1 fans want to see. As with all the best F1 races it is the details that make the difference; for example the tyre warm up up issue on the Ferrari meant that even though Alonso managed to jump Hamilton for the lead at the second stop, he couldn’t resist him in Turn 2 More…

After last year’s Brazilian Grand Prix, Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz articulated his philosophy of why his drivers would be allowed to race each other right to the end and the team would not intervene, “Let the two drivers race and what will be will be,” he said. “If Alonso wins we will have been unlucky. I predict a Hollywood ending. Worst case scenario we don’t become champion? We’ll do it next year. “But our philosophy stays the same because this is sport and it must remain sport. We don’t manipulate things like Ferrari do.” He got his Hollywood ending More…

In the background of today’s exciting Grand Prix at Silverstone, the teams agreed to a plan for the rest of the season on the off throttle blown diffuser issue. After a meeting this morning at which Sauber refused to sign an agreement to revert to the rules as they were in Valencia, this afternoon a unanimous agreement was reached. So from Germany onwards teams can go back to what they were doing before, only they will not be allowed to change engine maps between qualifying and the race. Then at the end of the season, blown diffusers will be banned More…

Mark Webber took pole position for the British Grand Prix ahead of his team mate Sebastian Vettel, with Fernando Alonso in third just a tenth of second off pole position. The McLarens were over a second behind with Jenson Button, while Lewis Hamilton was disappointed to be down in 10th place for his home Grand Prix. Webber said that the front row lock out didn’t prove anything after the row over the throttle mapping in the run up to qualifying. At an emergency meeting of the Technical Working group it was decided that the cars would all run with 10% More…

This afternoon Formula 1 served up a war of words, which is hard to describe, much less explain. It’s hard for even the specialist media to understand, much less portray to F1 fans. Nor does it do great service to the sport or to the people at the centre of the argument. F1 thrives on intrigue and hype, but this is one confrontation which would perhaps have been best left behind closed doors. McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh and Red Bull boss Christian Horner got worked up and battled it out in an FIA press conference over how much percentage the More…

Red Bull Racing boss Christian Horner has today come out with some comments which close the door firmly on ideas of Lewis Hamilton joining the Red Bull Racing team. Horner met with Hamilton at the recent Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal, starting all kinds of speculation which neither man was quick to shoot down. It was a puzzling incident from many angles; at Hamilton’s press briefing on Thursday in Valencia, he said that his meeting with Horner had taken place before qualifying in Canada. Horner later confirmed that it was at about 5pm on Saturday evening. With Vettel under contract More…

The European Grand Prix at Valencia was the least exciting race of the season so far from the point of view of spectacle. But from a race strategy point of view it was quite interesting. It was less frantic than some of the races we have experienced so far this year and, surprisingly, there was no safety car. As a result the teams had some time to consider their options during the race. Many had planned to do the race on a two-stop strategy, which on paper was eight seconds faster than a three-stop, assuming you had a trouble-free run More…

Sebastian Vettel took his sixth pole in seven races and the 21st of his career at the Canadian Grand Prix. It was a close session with the Ferraris looking very competitive with Alonso and Massa right on Vettel’s tail. Mark Webber was fourth for Red Bull having lost the morning practice session to a KERS problem and it was not overcome before qualifying. So for him to be only 4/10ths off Vettel’s pace which is probably slightly less than KERS is worth, is a positive outcome for the Australian. The McLarens were not as competitive as expected with Lewis Hamilton More…

Flavio Briatore is at large in the Monaco paddock, his larger than life boat, Force Blue is moored in the harbour and he’s got some things to say about the current F1 scene. Currently still serving a ban for the Singapore race fixing scandal of 2008, Briatore is still involved behind the scenes in the management of Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber. On the latter he has raised the question, speaking in today’s Gazetta dello Sport, of why it is that Webber has all the bad luck at Red Bull. With Webber this year noticeably keeping a lid on the More…

Buried deep in the transcript of yesterday’s FIA press conference at Monaco is an explanation from Red Bull’s Adrian Newey of why the FIA had to row back on the off-throttle exhaust ban they tried to introduce in Spain. Newey says that the Renault system is set up as it is to provide exhaust valve cooling and that to ban it with immediate effect would introduce a reliability issue, which would unfairly disadvantage them. He says that the methods others have used to get the same aerodynamic effect, do cross the line. Clearly the exhaust valve cooling was Renault’s argument More…

The sun is shining, the harbour is full of big boats and the competition looks very exciting this weekend at the Monaco Grand Prix. You can tell that the drivers are really pumped up about this race and several of them have a chance as things look after the first day of practice. As the world pulls itself out of recession, there is a real buzz about Monaco this year. There are some monster boats bobbing in the harbour, the corporate execs are happy to be seen here again after wearing sack cloth and ashes for a year or two. More…

Fresh from his impressive test performance at Yas Marina Circuit last week, Red Bull protege Daniel Ricciardo has been given a testing role with Toro Rosso, which will see him running in Friday practice at all 20 rounds of next year’s F1 world championship. This is a logical but nevertheless interesting move by the Red Bull management. First it sends out a signal that the Red Bull conveyor belt of talent is in full swing, having just produced its first world champion in Sebastian Vettel. Second it justifies the existence of Toro Rosso as it is the proving ground of More…

Lotus finally confirmed the news that we’ve expected for ages, that they will use Renault engines for the next two seasons. We already knew that they would be using Red Bull gearboxes and hydraulics. It marks a significant step forward for the team. It was also announced that Red Bull has renewed its deal with Renault for two more years. The team will run KERS next year, Christian Horner has confirmed. Less clear is what happens next with the name of the team and with the arrival of Group Lotus, the car company, into F1 in partnership with the current More…

Red Bull Racing boss Christian Horner has come out in the clearest possible terms about the team’s attitude to their drivers fighting for the title, saying bluntly, “I promise that the team will not interfere in the race for the title.” The tone and message are quite different from the Horner of Silverstone time, who said “Sometimes I have to take difficult decisions,” after the infamous front wing switch. In a punchy interview on F1.com, the official F1 site, he says that the team will give both drivers an equal chance to the end. Responding to calls from Flavio Briatore, More…

The Red Bull pair of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber set the fastest times on the first day of free practice on the Marina Bay Circuit. The Red Bulls looked back to their best after two races on tracks which didn’t play to their strengths in Spa and Monza. The cars look fast on a single lap and on long runs and are getting the soft tyres to last well. Vettel said that he’s pleased with the pace, but he has convinced himself that the rain is going to play a part in the weekend. This would be a shame More…

We are now getting into what is known as the ‘Business End” of the season and with five drivers still in with a shout of the title, separated by a scant 24 points – less that the points from a win – it’s shaping up to be the most exciting finale in recent F1 history. Five drivers can win it, no-one knows for sure who will. But one thing is certain – four drivers will lose it. No-one wants to be left in that position and thus the whole issue of team orders and teams prioritising one driver over the More…

The German magazine Auto Motor und Sport, an opinion leader in F1 circles, has published a table reviewing the finishing record of the Formula 1 teams in the season to date. Ferrari comes out well on top with an astonishing 1471 racing laps covered, out of a maximum of 1474! Fernando Alonso’s engine failure in the closing stages of the Malaysian Grand Prix is the only blot on its copybook. Felipe Massa has a flawless finishing record. And interestingly Red Bull has come out second, with 1,373 laps covered. This is despite a reputation for shaky reliability early in the More…

Mark Webber will be Sebastian Vettel’s team mate for 2011 after the Red Bull team confirmed today that it was extending his contract. It will be Webber’s fifth season with the team. It was expected anyway, but it seems that the furore over the collision between the pair last week and the reaction to it may have hastened the confirmation. Webber, 33, is in the form of his career, leading the world championship with four poles and two wins this season. “It was an easy decision to remain with Red Bull Racing,” he said. “We began talking very early this More…

Red Bull has put out a video with Mark Webber talking about Sunday’s Turkish Grand Prix and his collision with Sebastian Vettel. And faced with a torrent of criticism on the team’s website and elsewhere, team boss Christian Horner has issued a statement which rows back on the position on Sunday night and seems to place more of the blame on Vettel. Webber looks rather contrite in the video, but he also seems quite resolute. He talks of his own championship quest and the fact that it is going to be uncomfortable at times with two team mates fighting at More…

The pace of the Red Bull cars this weekend has really shocked its rivals, all of whom are heading back to the drawing board after the updates their brought here seem to have taken them further away rather than closer to the pace setters. Mark Webber took pole today with a lap which was 9/10ths of a second faster than the McLaren, a second faster than the Ferrari and 1.3 secs faster than the Mercedes. “I came here thinking that we could really put on a challenge now and it’s not gone that way. We really need to look into More…

Sebastian Vettel set the fastest time on the first day of practice for Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona. The German, who has had three pole positions already this season and one win, easily topped the times in the faster second session in the afternoon. He set a lap of 1m 19.965, which is 1/100th of a second slower than the outright fastest lap in qualifying last year. Red Bull team mate Mark Webber was second fastest with Michael Schumacher in the revised Mercedes third. The Red Bull pair were separated by just 2/10ths of a second. Many rivals, including More…

This morning in Free Practice the Red Bull team did a back to back test on the new front wing it has brought to the Spanish Grand Prix. After one run mid way through the session a mechanic took the wing off Vettel’s car and fitted it to Webbers and vice versa. They would do this to check some fine detail on how the wheel behaved in steering and to look at the yaw. This is the kind of fine detail work the teams are involved in as they test out their new aerodynamic parts ahead of qualifying and the More…

After leading but failing to win the first two Grands Prix Sebastian Vettel won the Malaysian Grand Prix today at Sepang, thanks to a bold pass on his team mate the pole sitter Mark Webber at the start of the race. It was another race where the start was decisive. That move by Vettel was the key. Webber finished second, with Nico Rosberg third. Robert Kubica had another strong performance, jumping up to fourth place at the start, as in Melbourne and holding that place until the finish. And Adrian Sutil underlined Force India’s credentials with a strong drive to More…

Mark Webber took the first win of his long career today in commanding style, surviving a drive through penalty for ramming Rubens Barrichello at the start to take the chequered flag and give Red Bull its third win of the season. Webber’s Red Bull team mate Sebastian Vettel was second and Ferrari’s Felipe Massa third. We thought that Silverstone may have been a turning point of the season, with the almost brand new Red Bull car which dominated the weekend. Today we got confirmation that it was – and it is not just because of the high speed corners that More…

Form is temporary, class is permanent. That is the great adage of the sporting world. So what are we to make of what’s happening at the moment in F1? Is this the start of a change of order, with great names like McLaren, Renault and Ferrari in decline and new teams like Red Bull and Brawn the new top dogs? Anyone who says that would be guilty of serious short term thinking or buying hype. Those three teams deserve great respect for their record of success spanning many years, they are not to be written off so easily. You look More…

In an intensely feverish atmosphere here in Sepang, as the situation around McLaren and Lewis Hamilton ramps up and threatens to spiral out of McLaren’s control, a bit of light relief has been offered by Sebastien Vettel. The German driver says in the Red Bull press release reviewing today’s track action, ” It’s very hot and no matter how much you prepare, the first outing is a bad surprise. Fortunately I’ve got a bag with dry ice in it, which I put next to my balls, so at least they stay nice and cool.” Two questions, Seb. 1. What happens More…

The new Red Bull hit the track today, for all of 14 laps before being halted by a gearbox problem. Uh-oh. The gearbox was the Achilles Heel in 2007. Let’s hope that this is just a small teething problem. The car looks pretty cool, I like the long think nose and the experts seem to think that there is a lot of tidy detail there, showing that the extra time in the wind-tunnel has been well spent. The fact that Adrian Newey has been pushed into the foreground on this launch is interesting and tells me two things; first that More…

Red Bull launches the new car on Monday in Jerez and they seem to be getting quite excited about it in the build up to the event. We’ve had Mark Webber saying that it’s the best looking of the 2009 cars so far and their website is pretty gushing about it. It talks about the car being a creation from the drawing board (literally because he still uses one) of Adrian Newey. He’s overdue a real winner of a car and this year is a pretty vital one for the team as they have to take a serious step closer More…

I was shocked to hear about Mark Webber’s savage accident today. On a fast descent on his bicycle, he collided head on with a 4WD vehicle while competing in his Tasmania Challenge. It sounds like a really nasty shunt and it left his right leg badly broken. He has had surgery to repair it, a metal pin inserted and it will be a lengthy rehabilitation. It’s probably along the lines of the surgery Barry Sheene had and although there is no bright side to an accident like this, it’s probably just very fortunate that it was not his left leg, More…