Andre Lotterer will drive for Caterham for Belgian GP Weekend

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This weekend at Spa, Kamui Kobayashi will not drive for Caterham, but instead, the Renault-powered team has brought in 24 Hours of Le Mans winner, Andre Lotterer.

Andre will drive all 3 days in Spa and then Kobayashi will return for the Grand Prix of Italy. It is unsure at the moment if Andre could take Kobayashi's place on the team in 2015, but for now, he will make his F1 Debut at one of the most loved circuits on the calendar.

Caterham is also bringing a new nose to the Belgian GP weekend, saying it is part of a 'Package' that they'll be debuting. 

More info to come.

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Article Written By: Amy Hawk

No Copyright Infringement Intended

Photo belongs to: www.flickr.com - All rights go to owner.)

Feature: German GP - Our Post-Race Quote

Amy Hawk (F1Insider78) - "First of all, I'd like to congratulate Nico Rosberg for winning at his home race. He gave an absolute incredible drive to take the win. Also congratulations to Valtteri and Lewis for their podium finishes. Overall it was a very entertaining and suspenseful race and I saw a lot of true wheel-to-wheel racing which is always great. 

Force India had a tough race, but fought hard and came away with another good handful of points. I believe they will achieve more great results in Hungary. As for Sauber, there was an unfortunate event with Adrian spinning out when he was so close to points. As for Esteban, he finished the race in a positive position and of course, they must take the positivity to the next race.

The accident between Kevin (Magnussen) and Massa was obviously a very seious thing. We don't enjoy seeing accidents happen and of course, you're instantly worried about the drivers involved. Luckily no one was injured. I am now looking forward to the coming race at the Hungaroring. It's one of my favourite GP's and the track is beautiful. It's also the last race before the Summer Break, so hopefully everyone will come out of it with good results."

Quote belongs to Amy Hawk and F1Insider78

Available for use with permission.

German GP: Qualifying - Re-Cap & Results

Qualifying - Re-Cap

After another scorcher of a session and a horrible crash from Lewis Hamilton, we have the grid for the 2014 German GP. - For how Qualifying works, go check out one of our previous Qualifying re-caps!

During Q1 Lewis had a massive crash when he had a brake failure. While he's okay and just has a few bruises, he was unable to take part in the further of the session. As of now, Mercedes has confirmed Hamilton's car needed a gearbox change. He's now been given a 5-Place-Grid Penalty and will start 20th, which moves Esteban Gutierrez up a spot after his 3-Place-Grid-Penalty from the clash with Maldonado in Great Britain.

Marcus Ericsson did not participate in Qualifying due to a hydraulics issue that he suffered in Free Practice 3. He's likely to start from Pit-Lane.

It was Hamilton's team-mate, Nico Rosberg who took pole at the end of Q3, and here's how the rest of the Grid plays out. Of course, it is subject to change if there are any last minute penalties. We will update you on everything pre-race on our twitter @F1Insider78 and then we'll do our usual race wrap-up afterwards! So make sure you're following us.

GRID:

1. Nico Rosberg / Mercedes-Mercedes / Germany

2. Valtteri Bottas / Williams-Mercedes / Finland

3. Felipe Massa / Williams-Mercedes / Brazil

4. Kevin Magnussen / McLaren-Mercedes / Denmark

5. Daniel Ricciardo / Red Bull-Renault / Australia

6. Sebastian Vettel / Red Bull-Renault / Germany

7. Fernando Alonso / Ferrari-Ferrari / Spain

8. Daniil Kvyat / Toro Rosso-Renault / Russia

9. Nico Hulkenberg / Force India-Mercedes / Germany

10. Sergio Perez / Force India-Mercedes / Mexico

11. Jenson Button / McLaren-Mercedes / Great Britain

12. Kimi Raikkonen / Ferrari-Ferrari / Finland

13. Jean-Eric Vergne / Toro Rosso-Renault / France

14. Romain Grosjean / Lotus-Renault / France

15. Adrian Sutil / Sauber-Ferrari / Germany

16. Esteban Gutierrez / Sauber-Ferrari / Mexico (P)

17. Jules Bianchi / Marussia-Ferrari / France

18. Pastor Maldonado / Lotus-Renault / Venezuela 

19. Kamui Kobayashi / Caterham-Renault / Japan

20. Lewis Hamilton / Mercedes-Mercedes / Great Britain (P)

21. Max Chilton / Marussia-Ferrari / Great Britain

Pit-Lane

Marcus Ericsson / Caterham-Renault / Sweden

(P) = Driver was given a penalty, and is now starting from the respective new position.

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Article Written By: Amy Hawk.

No copyright infringement intended.

German GP: Free Practice 1 - Re-Cap & Results

Free Practice 1:

Hope you all are enjoying the race weekend so far, and we've just gotten done with FP1, so time for a quick re-cap before the second session starts. As always, you can follow us on our twitter @F1Insider78 for our LIVE commentary-coverage!

So, this session was started with all teams having removed their FRIC suspension systems after they were investegated and shown they may be breaching the regulations of the sport. The problem with the removal is that the front end of the cars are now sliding around quite a bit, making it very hard to control the car around the sharp turns.

We had 2 reserve drivers in this session including Giedo Van Der Garde in for Esteban Gutierrez and Susie Wolff in for Valtteri Bottas. Susie started off the session only to find there were issues with the car, which Williams fixed quickly to get her back out for the rest of the session.

Other people having car troubles included Kimi Raikkonen with a water-pump issue and some smoke coming out of the rear of Max Chilton's Marussia. At the end of the session Lewis Hamilton reported 'Low power' with his Mercedes. But that didn't hamper their performance as it was another Mercedes AMG 1-2 result.

Here are the rest of the times.

TIMES:

1. Nico Rosberg - 1:19.131 / Mercedes-Mercedes

2. Lewis Hamilton - 1:19.196 / Mercedes-Mercedes

3. Fernando Alonso - 1:19.423 / Ferrari-Ferrari

4. Daniel Ricciardo - 1:19.697 / Red Bull-Renault

5. Jenson Button - 1:19.833 / McLaren-Mercedes

6. Sebastian Vettel - 1:20.097 / Red Bull-Renault

7. Kevin Magnussen - 1:20.105 / McLaren-Mercedes

8. Kimi Raikkonen - 1:20.210 / Ferrari-Ferrari

9. Daniil Kvyat - 1:20.337 / Toro Rosso-Renault

10. Adrian Sutil - 1:20.505 / Sauber-Ferrari

11. Felipe Massa - 1:20.542 / Williams-Mercedes

12. Jean-Eric Vergne - 1:20.586 / Toro Rosso-Renault

13. Nico Hulkenberg - 1:20.592 / Force India-Mercedes

14. Sergio Perez - 1:20.598 / Force India-Mercedes

15. Susie Wolff - 1:20.769 / Williams-Mercedes

16. Giedo Van Der Garde - 1:20.782 / Sauber-Ferrari

17. Romain Grosjean - 1:21.603 / Lotus-Renault

18. Pastor Maldonado - 1:21.854 / Lotus-Renault

19. Kamui Kobayashi - 1:22.572 / Caterham-Renault

20. Jules Bianchi - 1:22.982 / Marussia-Ferrari

21. Marcus Ericsson - 1:23.256 / Caterham-Renault

22. Max Chilton - 1:23.299 / Marussia-Ferrari

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Article Written By: Amy Hawk

No copyright infringement intended.

German GP: Driver Preview Quotes - Williams

Preview Quotes - Williams

Felipe Massa - "Germany is a good track as you can overtake easier than some places as the straight is long and you can use the DRS to get past. The track demands good downforce, especially the last sector so we have been working to improve that. We have been building on what is a good car, so I am confident that we can continue the moment and have a good performance."

Valtteri Bottas - "Hockenheim is a great race, the fans are very passionate and a lot of people come to watch. Overtaking is possible so good racing is expected. I think it should be a circuit that suits our car; the old circuit would have been perfect. I hope we can continue the good form we have had in the last three races and I am looking forward to a good weekend and some more points."

Article Written By: Amy Hawk

No copyright infringement intended

Quotes made by Drivers.

German GP: Driver Preview Quotes - McLaren

Preview Quotes - McLaren

Jenson Button - "I remember racing at the old Hockenheim – four 200mph straights, a couple of fiddly chicanes and a stadium section where you held on tightly because the car didn't have any downforce. It seems like a different level of craziness compared with today, but it was a lot of fun. The re-designed circuit could never be as mighty as the old Hockenheim, but it's a fun little track, and it's been purposely designed to encourage racing. The long, curved straight up to Turn Six is tailor-made for slipstreaming – you force the car ahead to be defensive, so it's actually on the run to Turn Seven that you usually try to overtake, because you're capitalising on the other car's slower exit. Turn Eight is another place where you can try to make a move, because it's possible to get into the corner side-by-side with another driver, and then make the position stick. There are a couple of high-speed corners, but the circuit is largely made up of low-speed turns, so our car shouldn't be too disadvantaged. It's a race that often throws up a surprise or two, so I'm looking forward to the weekend."

Kevin Magnussen - "I've raced at Hockenheim before, back in 2010 when I was in German Formula 3, and it's a circuit that I enjoy. It has a good mix of corners, it's a mid-speed track, it's a place where you can spend a lot of the lap fighting other drivers, so it's important to have a car that you feel comfortable pushing and which has good traction out of the corners – which is where a lot of overtaking moves tend to start around here. It's a circuit which should hopefully suit us a little bit better than some of the faster, more aero-dependent tracks that we've visited recently. I don't think that will significantly change the competitive order, but it would be good to get some more points under our belts as we push to move up both the drivers' and constructors' championships."

Article Written By: Amy Hawk

No copyright infringement intended

Quotes made by Drivers.

German GP: Driver Preview Quotes - Red Bull

Preview Quotes - Red Bull

Sebastian Vettel - "I always enjoy the atmosphere at the Hockenheimring. When you arrive at track in the morning the circuit's already filled with fans and when you're in the car you can see lots of German flags in the grandstands. The signing session is always very busy too. It's those little things I really enjoy about Hockenheim. We get a lot of encouragement. During practice you know that the fans in the grandstands are there to support you and stand by you, no matter what. Of course, you want to give as much as possible back to the fans, but sometimes it's not in your hands. However we will attack at the weekend and give everything."

Daniel Ricciardo - "Hockenheim's quite a short track but it's another of those with a little bit of everything. I don't think the track asks particularly big questions of the driver, though it requires you to be quite brave through the fast Turn One and the right-hander into the stadium – that's largely about having the confidence in the car to get you through those corners quickly. The other thing you need is good stability under the heavy braking for the hairpin. All in all it's a balancing act. You'd like to have the downforce for the stadium and to keep it steady on the brakes but equally you don't want too much drag on the straights."

Article Written By: Amy Hawk

No copyright infringement intended

Quotes made by Drivers.

German GP: Circuit Preview

(Image belongs to: www.adac-formel-masters.de)

We are now headed into the 10th GP of the 2014 season and the drivers are headed to Germany for the German GP. While last year's race took place at the Nurburgring, this year it takes place at a different circuit.

So welcome to our Circuit Preview for the Hockenheimring Circuit! It's located in Hockenheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany and was first opened in 1932, although the first F1 race didn't take place until 1970. Like most, it runs Clockwise and has a massive capacity of 120,000.

17 turns and 67 laps, makes up the 2.842 Mile circuit. One of the best things is the atmosphere, blue and bright and absolutely beautiful. This is one of my favourite circuits on the current calendar. This is a home race for current drivers, Nico Rosberg, Nico Hulkenberg, Adrian Sutil and Sebastian Vettel. Will we see Vettel take the win next weekend?

We'll be covering all 3 practice sessions as well as updates of Qualifying and the Race on our twitter @F1Insider78 - So make sure you're following us for all the action!

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Article Written By: Amy Hawk

No copyright infringement intended

Photo belongs to rightful owner at the web address mentioned here: www.adac-formel-masters.de

German GP: Schedule

Schedule for the German GP Weekend:

July 17th / Thursday

15:00 - Drivers Press Conference (Located in the Press Room)

July 18th / Friday

08:45 - 09:45 - Paddock Club Pit Lane Walk

10:00 - 11:30 - Free Practice #1

12:50 - 13:45 - Paddock Club Pit Lane Walk

14:00 - 15:30 - Free Practice #2

16:00 - 17:00 - Press Conference

July 19th / Saturday

08:30 - 09:15 - Team Pit Stop Practice

08:30 - 09:35 - Paddock Club Pit Lane Walk

11:00 - 12:00 - Free Practice #3

13:00 - 13:45 - Paddock Club Pit Lane Walk

14:00 - Qualifying

July 20th / Sunday

12:25 - 13:15 - Paddock Club Pit Lane Walk

14:00 - Race

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Article Written By: Amy Hawk

No copyright infringement intended.

Nico Hulkenberg signs to Force India.

Force India has announced that Nico Hulkenberg will return to the team in 2014, after having signed a multi-year contract. No word on how many years, or who his team-mate will be, but according to the team, it will be announced soon... Probably in a few weeks.

Nico was a driver for Force India back in 2012, partnering Scottish driver, Paul Di Resta, whowas also on the team this year alongside another German, Adrian Sutil. No word on where they have seats in Formula1 or if they even have seats at all. Paul is rumoured to be heading to Indycar.

Some names talked about for the other seat include Sergio Perez, who was let go from McLaren at the end of this year, and Esteban Gutierrez, who partnered Nico Hulkenberg on Sauber for this season.

More information to come soon.

Article Written By: Amy Hawk.
No Copyright Infringement Intended.