FIA Confirmed F1 2015 Calendar

Just yesterday we posted the 'Provisional' F1 2015 Calendar - Today, the FIA has confirmed the 20-Race calendar, with minor changes to the arrangement and dates of the Grands Prix. The full list is below. Please note: While this is the 'Confirmed' version, changes could still be made during the 2015 season if a problem occurs.

F1 2015 Season Calendar:

1. Australia - Albert Park, Melbourne - March 15th
2. Malaysia - Sepang International Circuit, Sepang - March 29th
3. Bahrain - Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir - April 5th
4. China - Shanghai International Circuit, Shanghai - April 19th
5. Spain  - Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Barcelona - May 10th
6. Monaco - Circuit de Monaco, Monte Carlo - May 24th
7. Canada - Circuit de Gilles Villeneuve, Montreal - June 7th
8. Austria - Red Bull Ring, Spielburg - June 21st
9. Great Britain - Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone - July 5th
10. Germany - Nurburgring, Nurburg - July 19th
11. Hungary - Hungaroring, Mogyorod - July 26th
12. Belgium - Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Spa - August 23rd
13. Italy - Autodromo di Nazionale di Monza, Monza - September 9th
14 - Singapore - Marina Bay Street Circuit, Marina Bay - September 20th
15. Japan - Suzuka International Racing Course, Suzuka -September 27th
16. Russia - Sochi Autodrom, Sochi - October 11th
17. United States Of America - Circuit Of The Americas, Austin, Texas - October 25th
18. Mexico - Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, Mexico City - November 1st
19. Brazil - Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace (Interlagos), Sao Paulo - Novem ber 15th
20. Abu Dhabi - Yas Marina Circuit, Yas Island - November 29th

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

 



 

Williams confirms Bottas & Massa for 2015

While most of the teams/drivers are being involved in all sorts of 'Silly Season' rumours - Williams Martini Racing has confirmed their 2015 line-up. Whether ou are or aren't surprised by their choice of retaining both Finnish driver, Valtteri Bottas and Brazilian driver, Felipe Massa, one thing is for sure, they've got the upper-hand this season.

While Bottas has had more podiums this season, Massa has helped with the points tally. The duo work great with eachother, so there's no reason as to why Williams would be keen to switch out either one of them. 

But, could another team snatch Bottas out of his contract with Williams? It could happen. It has before with numerous other teams. With his multiple podiums, good points scoring record and the fact it's only his second year in F1, he is being watched by other teams no doubt.

What about Massa? Well, could Ferrari buy him back? Mattiacci already announced he has no plans to switch out either driver of his current line-up (Alonso & Raikkonen) - But, nothing is completely confirmed. Williams is only the second team to formally confirm their driver line-up. The first being Toro Rosso. So even if Ferrari has mentioned 'Retaining' their current drivers, things could change.

More to come.

----

Article Written By: Amy Hawk.

No Copyright Infringement Intended.

2015 Provisional Calendar

While a lot of rumours have been surfacing recently of a +20 Race Calendar, as of right now the provisional calendar has just 20 with a race in Mexico being added after a 5-year-deal was signed earlier this season. It will be Mexico's first time on the F1 Calendar in over 20 years. It will be a very special event for Mexican drivers Sergio 'Checo' Perez and Esteban Gutierrez.

F1 2015 PROVISIONAL CALENDAR

1. Australia - Albert Park, Melbourne - March 15th
2. Malaysia - Sepang International Circuit, Sepang - March 29th
3. Bahrain - Bahrain International Circuit, Sakhir - April 5th
4. China - Shanghai International Circuit, Shanghai - April 19th
5. Spain - Circuit De Barcelona-Catalunya, Barcelona - May 10th
6. Monaco - Circuit De Monaco, Monte Carlo - May 24th
7. Canada - Circuit Gilled Villeneuve, Montreal - June 7th
8. Austria - Red Bull Ring, Spielberg - June 21st
9. Great Britain - Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone - July 5th
10. Germany - Nurburgring, Nurburg - July 19th
11. Hungary - Hungaroring, Mogyorod - July 26th
12. Belgium - Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot - August 23rd 
13. Italy - Autodromo Nazionale Di Monza, Monza - September 6th 
14. Singapore - TBA - September 20th
15. Japan - Suzuka International Racing Course, Suzuka - October 4th
16. Russia - Sochi Autodrom, Sochi - October 11th
17. Mexico - TBA - October 25th
18. United States Of America - Circuit Of The Americas, Austin, Texas - November 1st
19. Brazil - Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace (Interlagos), Sao Paulo - November 15th
20. Abu Dhabi - Yas Marina Circuit, Yas Island - November 29th

The dates and locations are subject to change.
----
Article Written By: Amy Hawk.
No Copyright Infringement Intended.
 

Caterham CEO Resigns

After only 9 weeks of taking over as CEO and Team Principal of the Renault-powered Caterham F1 Team, Christijan Albers has resigned. Albers had taken over for former owner, Tony Fernandez who sold the team a few months ago.

Manfredi Ravetto stepped in upon Albers' departure with effect taken immediately.

While Albers was extremely descriptive on why he was parting ways, he however did put out the following:

"Due to private reasons and in order to be able to spend more time with my family, I will resign from my position as CEO of Caterham F1 Team. I wish the team all the best in the future."

Caterham currently stands 11th in the 2014 Constructors Standings and has not scored any points between the two current drivers, Kamui Kobashi from Japan and Marcus Ericsson from Sweden.

More to come.

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

Sauber to be bought by Billionaire?

Sauber News:

Recent news has surfaced after the Italian GP that Sauber F1 Team is possibly being sold to Canadian Billionaire, Lawrence Stroll.

The 55-year-old is involved in both Motorsports and Fashion, owning the Circuit Mont-Tremblant in Canada and also holding shares to world-wide designer label, Michael Kors. Rumour is he's trying to sell those shares.

While he's ranked 816 on the list of worlds richest men, it has not been confirmed he is actually buying the Swiss team. Sauber's recent struggles have a lot of people wondering if the team will go under new ownership, but no confirmed news has been anounced yet.

More to come.

----

Article Written By: Amy Hawk

No copyright infringement intended.

Feature: Star Drivers of the Italian GP Weekend

Frances Fry - "My driver of the Italian GP weekend is none other than Valterri Bottas. So far the Fin has had an incredible season with Williams finishing on the podium 3 times. He must be getting used to the taste of Champagne! 

I choose Bottas because after being stuck behind Hamilton and his bad start, he supplied the crowds with some amazing wheel-to-wheel racing whilst battling forward through the positions. 

Recently this driver has done incredibly by displaying that he can not only drive quickly and hold on to places but that he can also recover a race and battle his way forward. He's shown great determination and skill by battling from out of the top 10 to finishing just off the podium in 4th. 

He's a great addition to the Williams team and I very much look forward to seeing how far he can take the team."

Amy Hawk - "My driver from the Italian Grand Prix weekend is Sergio Perez. Words don't really describe how nervous we all got during those wheel-to-wheel moments. His driving was simply brilliant. The braking, the passing and the way he was able to take on those chicanes while trying to keep Jenson behind.

I think Sergio has surely proved he's great at a clean racing-battle. It was great for the team and the crowds. F1 needs more wheel-to-wheel moments like that. It was fun to watch. We're really proud of him."

Quotes belong to F1Insider78 and it's writers.

Available for use with permission. Please visit the 'Contact' page in regards to borrowing them.

Feature: Italian GP - Our Post-Race Quotes

F1Insider78 Feature - Post-Race Quotes

Amy Hawk - "What a race. Like I said, Italy is one of my favourites. I really enjoyed the wheel-to-wheel battle between Jenson and Checo (Perez) - I think the fans really enjoyed it too.

Congrats to Lewis on his win and of course to the other podium finishers (Rosberg, Massa) - It was a tough race and I think they all performed very well out there, especially around the new parabolica which was challenging.

It was a shame to see Alonso out in the middle of the race. It was shocking as well, but he'll be back for Singapore and will fight to be up in front.

At the end of the race, the contact between Gutierrez and Grosjean was a bit frightening, as it is with all driver-collisions. It was minor and I don't really consider it anyone's fault as Gutierrez reported he was having braking issues, so.. It was just a racing accident. No harm done to either of them, so that's a relief.

We're looking forward to Singapore, which is probably my top favourite circuit for many reasons. Not only is it a street circuit but it's also a night race and when you combine those two, you're in for a good race. Can't wait!"

Frances Fry - "This Grand Prix proved to me, that Monza is an incredible circuit for mistakes to be made without causing too much damage. I think Daniil Kvyat did a more than thorough job of displaying that. In addition to this, the Russian rookie did a fantastic job of displaying the 200mph+ speeds that the driver reach on this track made of mainly straights. 

The only real damage that was made in the race was a few bald spots on tires from locking up, a puncture for Esteban Gutierrez and of course, the DNF of Max Chilton. Having experienced his second DNF of his Formula 1 career, Chilton expressed his upset, having to sit out for the remainder of the race. 

Esteban Gutierrez's puncture was a very sad sight to see. Both Saubers had been supplying an incredible fight for their mid-teen positions before the Mexican made a slight misjudgement of space and pulled back in front of Romain Grosjean after he believed he had made the pass. With Gutierrez's rear right tyre colliding with Grosjean's front left, a puncture was caused on the tyres that Gutierrez had been using since lap 11! 

After all the incredible racing that took place in this round of the championship I believe the drivers deserve the opportunity to grab a small break in the next couple of weeks before they race again."

Quotes belong to F1Insider78 and their writers. 

Available for use with permission.

Please visit the 'Contact' page.

Italian GP: Re-Cap & Results

Italian GP: RACE - RE-CAP & RESULTS

Another incredible race in this season and we're here to talk about what happened in this year's action-filled Italian Grand Prix.

The drama was likely to start before the race lights even went out, and indeed it did. Kvyat ended up being the first of the 22 drivers to endure the 10-Place-Grid-Penalty for changing his ICE component, making it his 6th. (For more on the engine component penalties & usage chart, visit our page entitled "Engine Component Usage Chart) 

With Hamilton on pole, it looked promising for him to have a chance at gaining back a chunk of the points he'd lost at Spa. The battle in the drivers championship has been close all year and it's getting closer and more intense with each race. Unfortunately for Hamilton, his start was unlucky when he found his Mercedes was not launching correctly, so while the car started, it sort of rolled forward instead of the usual 0 to 70. Due to this, Nico Rosberg, Kevin Magnussen and Felipe Massa were able to jump ahead and get a lead.

Things at the back of the grid were a bit more hairy as multiple drivers used the run-off at the first chicane. Either they were trying to avoid what could have been a possible first-lap-collision, or they simply were just locking up and having to use the run-off path.

Sergio Perez managed to overtake 3 cars within the first 2 laps of the race and was already gaining a very incredible pace. His team-mate, Nico Hulkenberg was heading towards the top 10 as well, having started 13th after a tough Qualifying the day before.

Max Chilton was the first of only 2 retirements during this race. The Brit had a scary moment and ended up in the grass. His race was over, but luckily he was unharmed.

Valtteri Bottas who had started on the second row of the grid, had fallen back to 11th but had quickly caught back up and found himself battling with Rosberg, Hamilton and his own team-mate, Massa. Further back, we got to see some intense wheel-to-wheel action between Jenson Button and his former McLaren team-mate, Sergio Perez. Kevin Magnussen was in front of the Force India driver, making the battle tough.

Magnussen, who had earlier reportedly force Valtteri Bottas off of the circuit, was given a 5 Second drive-through penalty, but opted not to take it. Perez knew he would not have to worry about catching Kevin, so he focused on keeping Jenson behind and Jenson indeed made it tough. The two raced quickly beside each other going into the first Lesmo. This was possibly the battle of the season so-far. It was tight, clean racing and both drivers praised each other after the race.

It was a sad day for the crowds when Fernando Alonso's car basically shut-off as he was driving down the main straight, heading for the chicane. He managed to pull-over at the run-off area before climbing out of his Ferrari, looking fairly disappointed. He knew the Ferrari fans would be saddened by this, but there was nothing that could be done. It was later announced it was an ERS issue that had caused the shut-off.

Daniil Kvyat experience a hair-raising moment when he lost his braking which resulted in his Toro Rosso going skidding across a stretch of grass and over some asphalt before bumping back onto the track where he managed to regain control. It was quite shocking that the nose of the car had managed not to touch with the wall-barriers. Props to Daniil for an amazing recovery.

Sauber had a stronger race weekend even with a small incident occurring between Esteban Gutierrez and Lotus driver Romain Grosjean. The Sauber driver had been on an overtaking move when his car skidded and collided with the Lotus, which resulted in the Sauber having a rear-tyre puncture. However, Esteban was quick to the pits and still managed to finish the race. While some people will say it was a "Risky" move - It was not really Esteban's fault as he later mentioned he was suffering from brake problems. The FIA ended up adding a few seconds to his final race time. While it wasn't the luckiest race, the team will indeed come back strong for Singapore.

Magnussen also had 5 Seconds added to his final racing time after he did not go to the pits for his earlier-given drive-through penalty. We are giving you the final race results after both Esteban and Magnussen's penalties have been put in place. We've also updated the Drivers and Constructors Championship Standings post-Italy, so make sure to check that out!

Lewis Hamilton managed to keep Nico behind long enough to win his 6th race of the season and gain back some of those lost championship points. Rosberg came in Second while Felipe Massa offered a surprise 3rd-place-podium-finish. It had been a long time since he'd been up on a podium and you could tell he was absolutely thrilled and relieved.
 
 Now, here are the results.

RACE RESULTS:


1. Lewis Hamiltn / Mercedes-Mercedes / Great Britain / + 25 Points
2. Nico Rosberg / Mercedes-Mercedes / Germany / + 18 Points
3. Felipe Massa / Williams-Mercedes / Brazil / + 15 Points
4. Valtteri Bottas / Williams-Mercedes / Finland / + 12 Points
5. Daniel Ricciardo / Red Bull-Renault / Australia / + 10 Points
6. Sebastian Vettel / Red Bull-Renault / Germany / + 8 Points
7. Sergio Perez / Force India-Mercedes / Mexico / + 6 Points
8. Jenson Button / McLaren-Mercedes / Great Britain / + 4 Points
9. Kimi Raikkonen / Ferrari-Ferrari / Finland / + 2 Points
10. Kevin Magnussen / McLaren-Mercedes / Denmark / + 1 Point
11. Daniil Kvyat / Toro Rosso-Renault / Russia
12. Nico Hulkenberg / Force India-Mercedes / Germany
13. Jean-Eric Vergne / Toro Rosso-Renault / France
14. Pastor Maldonado / Lotus-Renault / Venezuela
15. Adrian Sutil / Sauber-Ferrari / Germany
16. Romain Grosjean / Lotus-Renault / France
17. Kamui Kobayashi / Caterham-Renault / Japan
18. Jules Bianchi / Marussia-Ferrari / France
19. Marcus Ericsson / Caterham-Renault / Sweden
20. Esteban Gutierrez / Sauber-Ferrari / Mexico

DNF - Fernando Alonso / Ferrari-Ferrari / Spain / ERS Failure
DNF - Max Chilton / Marussia-Ferrari / Great Britain / Accident 

----
Thanks for sticking with us for the Italian Grand Prix weekend! Make sure to follow us on Twitter @F1Insider78
----
Article Written By: Amy Hawk.
No copyright infringement intended.

Italian GP: Qualifying - Results

Due to technical issues, we are unable to supply a full re-cap at this moment. However, here is the grid line-up for Today's Italian GP.

1. Lewis Hamilton / Mercedes-Mercedes / Great Britain
2. Nico Rosberg / Mercedes-Mercedes / Germany
3. Valtteri Bottas / Williams-Mercedes / Finland
4. Felipe Massa / Williams-Mercedes / Brazil
5. Kevin Magnussen / McLaren-Mercedes / Denmark
6. Jenson Button / McLaren-Mercedes / Great Britain
7. Fernando Alonso / Ferrari-Ferrari / Spain
8. Sebastian Vettel / Red Bull-Renault / Germany
9. Daniel Ricciardo / Red Bull-Renault / Red Bull-Renault
10. Sergio Perez / Force India-Mercedes / Mexico
11. Kimi Raikkonen / Ferrari-Ferrari / Finland
12. Jean-Eric Vergne / Toro Rosso-Renault / France
13. Nico Hulkenberg / Force India-Mercedes / Germany
14. Adrian Sutil / Sauber-Ferrari / Germany
15. Esteban Gutierrez / Sauber-Ferrari / Mexico
16. Pastor Maldonado / Lotus-Reanult / Venezuela 
17. Romain Grosjean / Lotus-Renault / France
18. Kamui Kobayashi / Caterham-Renault / Japan
19. Jules Bianchi / M arussia-Ferrari / France
20. Max Chilton / Marussia-Ferrari / Great Britain
21. Daniil Kvyat / Toro Ross-Renault / Russia
PIT-LANE - Marcus Ericsson / Caterham-Renault / Sweden

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

Italian GP: Free Practice 3 - Re-Cap & Results

Free Practice 3 - Re-Cap & Results:

Another good session for most drivers, while a few others suffered from some technical problems. Nico Rosberg was unlucky and did not even set a time due to a gearbox problem, which was later said to be electrical.

Adrian Sutil sat out most of the session after the Sauber team found a hydraulics leak on his C33. 

Another driver suffering a gearbox problem was Sergio Perez who got stuck in neutral before his car stopped on the side of the Curva Grande. Marshals had to push his car off the track before it could be returned to the Force India garages for an inspection.

Kevin Magnussen and Lewis Hamilton both complained of brake issues in the session but neither had to end it early, both had strong sessions as well.

Here are the times from this session.

TIMES:

1. Lewis Hamilton - 1:25.519 / Mercedes-Mercedes

2. Fernando Alonso - 1:25.931 / Ferrari-Ferrari

3. Valtteri Bottas - 1:26.090 / Williams-Mercedes

4. Felipe Massa - 1:26.114 / Williams-Mercedes

5. Jenson Button - 1:26.242 / McLaren-Mercedes

6. Sebastian Vettel - 1:26.290 / Red Bull-Renault

7. Kimi Raikkonen - 1:26.327 / Ferrari-Ferrari

8. Daniil Kvyat - 1:26.437 / Toro Rosso-Renault

9. Daniel Ricciardo - 1:26.482 / Red Bull-Renault

10. Nico Hulkenberg - 1:26.608 / Force India-Mercedes

11. Kevin Magnussen - 1:26.829 / McLaren-Mercedes 

12. Esteban Gutierrez - 1:27.207 / Sauber-Ferrari

13. Sergio Perez - 1:27.312 / Force India-Mercedes

14. Jean-Eric Vergne - 1:27.479 / Toro Rosso-Renault

15. Adrian Sutil - 1:27.498 / Sauber-Ferrari

16. Jules Bianchi - 1:28.025 / Marussia-Ferrari

17. Pastor Maldonado - 1:28.137 / Lotus-Renault

18. Kamui Kobayashi - 1:28.265 / Caterham-Marussia

19. Romain Grosjean - 1:28.459 / Lotus-Renault

20. Max Chilton - 1:28.578 / Marussia-Ferrari

21. Marcus Ericsson - 1:29.251 / Caterham-Renault

22. Nico Rosberg - No Time Set / Mercedes-Mercedes

----

Article Written By: Amy Hawk.

No copyright infringement intended.