It has been a long three week vacation, but Formula 1 is back this week as we visit Shanghai for the Chinese Grand Prix. Nico Rosberg put Mercedes AMG on the top step last season, but the team doubts they can follow up the performance (I agree). Here are how the teams look after the Malaysian Grand Prix. 1) Red Bull – Say what you want about the events that happened a few weeks ago in Malaysia, but the fact is Red Bull’s form is on par with their high…
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Formula 1 – Post Australia Team Power Rankings
Not a lot changed amongst the top three teams after the Australian Grand Prix. While Lotus struck first blood, Ferrari had a strong team showing with Alonso and a resurgent Felipe Massa. Red Bull also performed well during the course of the weekend with tire struggles hampering their ability to take advantage of their 1-2 start. Williams had a primarily disappointing weekend. While Valtteri Bottas finished his first ever Formula 1 race, Pastor Maldonado looked like a rookie and complained all weekend about how the car was junk. Marussia surprised…
Read MoreFormula 1 – FP2 Notes; Vettel Sweeps Practice
Sebastian Vettel stormed to P1 in both practice sessions from Albert Park as the 2013 Formula 1 season kicks off. Vettel’s Red Bull was the class of the field as he and the team picked up where they left off at the end of last season. There was a lot of interesting data collected as the super soft tire compound took center stage. The new Pirelli rubber was due to be faster by approximately a second, but suffered an extremely short life with times dropping almost immediately. The real surprise…
Read MoreFormula 1 – Force India Getting it Wrong Already
If I am Jules Bianchi, I am one pissed off reserve driver today. I have worked well with my Sahara Force India team all year last year, and tested well with them this off season and still I get snubbed. To be honest I would be an ex-reserve driver at this point. This after finding out that Adrian Sutil who has not driven a racing car but once over the last year and a half has been signed to the second race seat at my team. This is a real…
Read MoreFormula 1 – Preseason Team Power Rankings
Welcome to the 2013 Formula 1 season! Well…sorta I suppose. Cars are not on the grid in Australia, but we are through launches and only a few weeks from the opening round of the 2013 campaign. We have had two testing sessions occur with one left in Barcelona. Testing is never a really good way to tell anything, so we will launch the first power rankings of the season anyway. I will break them up into team and driver’s rankings separately as a driver performance does not always match the…
Read MoreF1 – Force India to Launch 1st of February 2013
Force India has announced they will launch their 2013 challenger on the 1st of February. The Indian team is the first to make such an announcement. Paul di Resta is thought to be the primary driver for 2013. However, the team has not officially confirmed its lineup with one seat still available. It is thought that Pedro de la Rosa is in the mix as well as newly cleared to drive Adrian Sutil. Regardless, I look forward to the launch of the 2013 cars. It will be very interesting to…
Read MoreEpisode 60 – OpenPaddock.net Podcast
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Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadJoin Mike and Doug as they talk Formula 1. Recap a brilliant race in Japan and serve you your motorsports news for the week. Sit back and enjoy the show!
Read MoreF1 – Car Launch Dates – Force India Launch – 1/27/10
Up to this point, we have not heard anything from Force India as to the date they will have their public car launch, even though we have known for quite some time that they will be hitting the track at Jerez for the first time on February 10th. According to a team spokesman, the VJM03 will also be unveiled to the public on the same day. This sounds similar to how Red Bull and Torro Rosso are unveiling their cars the same day of their first scheduled test. Virgin may…
Read MoreF1 – Car Launch Dates – Force India Update – 1/15/09
Force India has announced that they will have their 2010 car, the VJM3, ready for on track testing at Jerez on February 10th. The team decided to focus on further development of the car, instead of pushing onto the track February 1st with the vast majority of the field. They will be joining Red Bull and Virgin who will also be seeing the track for the first time at Jerez. Also, Mercedes GP confirmed that they will be launching their car in Stuttgart at the Mercedes Museum on January 25th.…
Read More#F1 – JR Hildebrand Tests for Force India
2009 Firestone Indy Lights champion, JR Hildebrand, will test for the Force India F1 team in the first days of December. Read the full article at Autosport.com. JR has been searching for a ride at the next level ever since August (probably before), but many, including myself, thought that meant a seat somewhere in the IZOD IndyCar Series, or perhaps with USF1 USGPE. Turns out that he has his sights set well above the doubtful USF1 USGPE and on a ride with a legitimate team that actually has a car…
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