Category: Formula 1

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Formula 1 News

F1 TV Pro online streaming service announced

F1 TV Pro online streaming service

Formula 1 has announced it will be launching an online streaming service called F1 TV Pro. Launching this year, the commercial-free service will be priced at US$8–12 per month, with annual subscriptions also available. This will be sure to create shockwaves among both free-to-air and pay television networks.

Full details are yet to be announced, but we know the countries included in the initial 2018 rollout will be Germany, France, USA, Mexico, Belgium, Austria, Hungary and much of Latin America. A launch date for Australia is yet to be determined. Foxtel currently has an exclusive rights deal running until 2022.

From launch, F1 TV Pro will be accessed direct via internet. While, Apple and Android mobile apps, as well as TV apps such as Amazon will follow.

As well as the live service a cheaper option called F1 TV Access will be launched in conjunction with F1 TV Pro. F1 TV Access will provide live timing and radio commentary as well access to archival race footage.

[Source: Formula 1]

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Formula 1 McLaren Video

John Barnard talks about the McLaren MP4/1

John Watson wins the 1981 British Grand Prix driving the McLaren MP4/1

What’s so special about the 1981 British Grand Prix? It was the first race won by a car with a carbon fibre composite chassis.

That car was the McLaren MP4/1, on that day it was driven by John Watson. In the video below you can hear the car’s designer John Barnard talk about his creation and its lasting effect on the safety of the F1 cars we watch today.

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Formula 1 McLaren

McLaren dares to praise Alain Prost

Alain Prost, 1985

As custodians of The greatest F1 rivalry of all timeâ„¢ McLaren is in the unique position of having the luxury of curating the legacies of not one, but two of its most iconic drivers. For reasons too controverisal to dissect now Ayrton Senna is the beneficiary of “the good guy” status, which unwittingly leaves his adversary Alain Prost to play the role of “the bad guy”.

Over the years, then, for fear of reminding people that Prost won four world titles to Senna’s three, as just one example, Prost’s name is usually in the shadows to Senna’s spotlight. If you didn’t live through the 1980s and early 1990s you could be forgiven for thinking Prost drove for anyone but McLaren, such is the team’s willingness to remind everyone of Senna’s legacy in McLaren’s red and white livery.

So for this unabashed Prost fanboi I was impressed to see that McLaren can and has pumped up Alain’s tyres. Follow the link below to read the nine reasons you should dig Alain.

Of course you only need one: Prost is the greatest!

[Source: McLaren]

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Formula 1 Red Bull Racing Video

I am Daniel Ricciardo

Daniel Ricciardo

No, I’m not Daniel Ricciardo, but he is. Infiniti Red Bull Racing has put together a short clip with Daniel. Check it out below and hear what the three-time Formula 1 Grand Prix winner has to say about the beginnings of his career.

There’s also a few words after the video taking us through Daniel’s pathway to F1.

And if you’re a Daniil Kvyat fan, you might want to watch this.

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Formula 1 Honda

Very cool 1968 Honda RA302 illustration

1968 Honda RA302 illustration by Road & Track

British company Stuart Taylor Motorsport has recreated a replica of the 1968 Honda RA302 Formula 1 car. If you know about the car’s history this may seem an unusual choice, as the Stuart Taylor website explains:

The RA302 of 1968 is something of an oddity, introduced with a magnesium skinned monocoque and an air cooled v8 engine it was certainly innovative and there had been plenty of outside the box thinking going on—the driving position was very far forward and left the drivers legs very exposed to serious damage though with hindsight that would have been a relatively minor bruise compared to the very public death of Jo Schlesser in a RA302 fireball at Rouen —after testing the car John Surtees wisely chose not to run the new 302 however Honda France chose to run the car with Schlesser and after 2 laps the car speared off the track and rolled, swiftly igniting the full tanks of fuel and trapping the driver in an appaling public cremation.

The car was never properly developed and Honda left the world of F1 racing soon after—one car can be seen in the Honda museum.

We came across the story via Road & Track and that’s where we found this impressive illustration from the magazine’s own archives. You can see a couple of grabs of the double-page spread here, but make sure you follow the link below for the full picture. It is seriously cool!

[Source: Road & Track]

Continue reading “Very cool 1968 Honda RA302 illustration”
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Formula 1

FIA to retire number 17 from Formula 1

2014 Monaco Grand Prix

As a mark of respect to the late Jules Bianchi the FIA has retired his racing number 17 from Formula 1. The FIA’s brief statement follows:

20.07.15 – Jean Todt, President of the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) announced that the car number 17 will be retired from the FIA Formula One World Championship in honour of Jules Bianchi.

As F1 car numbers are now personally chosen by each driver, the FIA believes it to be an appropriate gesture to retire Jules Bianchi’s number 17.

As a result, this number can no longer be used for a car competing in the FIA Formula One World Championship.

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Formula 1 News

Jules Bianchi 1989–2015

Jules Bianchi

French Formula 1 driver Jules Bianchi passed away today, finally succumbing to the severe head injuries he suffered after crashing at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix. He was 25-years-old.

The news was confirmed in a statement published to Facebook by the Bianchi family. Word of Bianchi’s death comes just days after Jules’ father, Phillipe, spoke on French radio and said there had been “no significant progress” in his recovery.

It’s 285 days since Bianchi’s accident and, sadly, any hopes of a recovery had long since past. It is a desperately sad situation and we pass on our condolences to his family and friends.

May he rest in peace.

Continue reading “Jules Bianchi 1989–2015”
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Formula 1

F1 reveals bumper 21-race calendar for 2016

2015 Australian Grand Prix

For the second year running the FIA has released a Formula 1 calendar with 21 races. Like last year, it remains to be seen if we’ll actually see all of those races take place.

As it stands the 2016 season is set to kick off in Australia on 3 April, with the Chinese Grand Prix to take place the following weekend.

Increasing the demand on the teams there will be another five back-to-back race weekends including: Bahrain and Russia, Britain and Austria, Germany and Hungary, Singapore and Malaysia, and USA and Mexico.

As you will see the German Grand Prix is back and is scheduled to be held at Hockenheim. Malaysia moves from its early season slot to the latter half of the year straight after the Singapore Grand Prix.

Finally, the Azerbaijan Grand Prix will make its debut in 2016 on 17 July, to be held on a 6km street circuit in the country’s capital Baku.

The full calendar is shown below.

Continue reading “F1 reveals bumper 21-race calendar for 2016”
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Formula 1 News

Philippe Bianchi: “There is no significant progress”

Jules Bianchi

The father of Jules Bianchi spoke to a French radio station recently and said there has been “no significant progress” in his son’s recovery from the injuries suffered in his accident at the Japanese Grand Prix last October.

“In general, progress needs to be made in the first six months,” Philippe Bianchi said in an interview with radio station France Infos. “And now it’s been nine months and Jules has still not woken up and there is no significant progress.

“As time goes by, it makes me less optimistic than I might have been two or three months after the accident when one might have hoped for a better outcome.”

Following Michael Schumacher‘s skiing accident, which left the seven-time world champion in a coma, Philippe Bianchi also revealed his son had spoken about what he might want if he was ever in a similar situation.

“We talked about it,” Philippe Bianchi said. “He told us that if one day he had an accident like Michael Schumacher’s, even if his only handicap was not being able to drive, he would have a lot of difficulty living with it. Because it was his life.”

[Source: Reuters]

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Aston Martin Formula 1 Mercedes-Benz Red Bull Racing

Mercedes rubbishes Red Bull rumour

It was another dismal weekend of racing for Daniel Ricciardo at the British Grand Prix. He was forced to retire on lap 22 with electrical problems.

He more than anyone would have enjoyed the recent report from Autocar suggesting Red Bull Racing could cast Renault aside in favour of a new partnership with Aston Martin Racing. The most obvious benefit of such a union would be the connection Aston Martin has with AMG and the hope that Red Bull could use the seemingly unstoppable Mercedes-Benz engine.

Alas, any such hope has been dashed after Niki Lauda, Mercedes AMG F1 non-executive chairman, rubbished the rumour in no uncertain terms.

“There’s not even a discussion. No discussion at all,” implored Lauda. “I haven’t heard anything from them and we never talked about it. I have breakfast every morning with Helmut [Marko] so I should know.

“We never thought about it because we have four teams running our engines, so we don’t even have capacity.”

More damning comments came from an unnamed Mercedes AMG F1 spokesperson who slammed Red Bull’s treatment of current engine partner Renault: “Red Bull have been asking [for engines] since February 2014—they ring up every week! If you see how they’ve treated Renault they are not a good partner to have…”

Oh well Daniel, there’s always 2016. At least that’s the final year of the Renault contract. Fingers crossed for 2017, maybe?!

[Source: Motorsport.com]

UPDATE: It seems Niki and Toto Wolff, Mercedes AMG team principal, aren’t on the same page. Wolff telling Autosport that he’s “leaving the door open” to discussing a deal with Red Bull.

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Ferrari Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

Daniel gets a Ferrari rumour for his birthday!

Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo

Today is Daniel Ricciardo’s birthday. Happy birthday Dan, would you like to drive for Ferrari in 2016?

Ricciardo has spoken candidly about his future ahead of this weekend’s British Grand Prix, so, let’s see what the man himself has to say.

“I won’t go into too much detail, but first and foremost, not talking about contracts, but what I want is to win and I guess that is a lot of my frustration this year as we are not in a position to win,” Daniel said.

“Obviously with contracts it is not as easy as saying ‘I’ll go to Ferrari and that is that’, there are things in place and from my understanding of contracts it is not likely that I can get out.

“But at the same time I really feel that Red Bull can make a change for next year and can get back up the front. We have the people in the team and the ingredients to do it, it is just making that next step.

“On the Ferrari thing it is nice to be recognised by a team like that, I guess I’ll take it as a compliment and see what happens.

“I will probably never rule anything out completely, because I don’t have experience with contracts. I haven’t been in F1 all that long. I am sure things can change; anything can change.

“Dietrich (Mateschitz, Red Bull owner) said some things in the press as well, and you never know what is going to happen. As I said, it is unlikely but yeah …”

The question about a move to Ferrari was posed to Daniel following ongoing speculation that Maurizio Arrivabene, Ferrari Team Principal, is ready to dump Kimi Raikkonen at the end of this season.

Sensing the apparent departure it’s been reported several drivers have approached Ferrari to offer their services. When Arrivabene was asked if a potential shortlist of drivers included Daniel Ricciardo he said no, but added: “Perhaps he does not have my number.”

Was that a subtle invitation to Daniel there? Either way we can’t imagine his bosses will be overly happy with Daniel’s willingness to talk about leaving Red Bull before his contract expires.

And no surprises for guessing that Sebastian Vettel is very happy with his current (under performing) teammate.

[Source: Fox Sports]

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Formula 1 Red Bull Racing

Webber reveals Vettel’s “Multi-21” legal threat

Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull Racing

At the end of Mark Webber’s appearance on Australian Story (ABC TV) a graphic appeared warning there would be “carnage” when his autobiography was released. Mark’s book, Aussie Grit, was released in Australia today and in it he reveals how Sebastian Vettel escaped punishment from the Red Bull Racing hierarchy.

First, here’s was Mark had to say on Australian Story on Monday night:

So we got off the podium [Malaysia 2013] and yeah. He [Vettel] just come over. Just, “We need to talk,” you know. He said, “I’ve just fucked up. I fucked up, mate. I fucked up so bad,” you know. I said, “Mate, well,” I said, “Well, let’s just talk, let’s talk next week.”

I don’t know who spoke to him between Malaysia and China but we had a discussion in China and the discussion didn’t go well. And yeah, he just said that yeah: he had massive respect for me as a driver and, and not much as a person. So that really affected the relationship, obviously. At the time, we would hardly stand the sight of each other.

We now know who spoke to Vettel about the Multi-21 fiasco between Malaysia and China. That’s if we’re to believe this claim made by Mark in his new book:

When Ann (Neal, Webber’s partner) later pressed (Christian Horner) about why the team had never reprimanded Seb or issued any punishment for the ‘Multi 21’ incident, he admitted that the team had received a two-page letter from Seb’s lawyer a few days after the Malaysian race stating that they were in breach of his contract by giving him an ‘unreasonable instruction/team order’.

So, when running back to the team for support didn’t work, Sebastian was happy to get his lawyers to provide protection.

Just when you think Vettel might be likeable, along comes another story—and let’s not forget, it is only one side of the story—to make you think what an absolute tool the guy can be.

[Source: Fox Sports]