Report: Red Bull Mulling to Build Road Cars with the Help of Infiniti

Enzo Ferrari didn’t initially intend to manufacture road cars when he started his Scuderia Ferrari team in 1928. It wasn’t until almost two decades later, in 1947, that the first road car bearing the prancing horse, the V12 125S, was produced mainly to finance his team’s racing activities.

Ferrucio Lamborghini founded Lamborghini Trattori in 1948, a successful manufacturer of tractors and other agricultural equipment. In 1959, he opened an oil heater factory, and later started producing air conditioning equipment. Naturally, he became very wealthy.

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F1: 2011 German GP Race Results

Last Sunday, after the finish of the German Grand Prix there was a McLaren, a Ferrari and a Red Bull on the podium. No surprise there. So what else is new? Red Bull and McLaren obviously have the best cars from the start of the season, winning all the races except the previous one. Especially Sebastian Vettel has such a big points lead, that he looks to have this year’s driver’s title in his pocket even with half the season remaining. Read more »

FIA Investigates Jet Fighter Canopies for Improving F1 Drivers’ Safety

May 1st, 1994: the world watches in shock as Ayrton Senna’s Williams-Renault veers off the track and hits the wall at the Tamburello corner of the Imola circuit. Unfortunately, it was an accident that the most charismatic F1 driver of all times wouldn’t survive as his head injuries were too severe.

Just one day before another fatality had hit F1 for the first time in 12 years. Roland Ratzenberger’s Simtek wing broke off before the Villeneuve corner and he hit the wall at 196 mph (315 km/h). The cause of death was basal skull fracture.

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Video: Scuderia Ferrari's First Visit to the Moscow City Racing Event

This past Sunday, Russia’s capital city hosted the annual Moscow City Racing event. It was the fourth time in a row that the racing show was organized in Moscow and the first to feature the Ferrari Formula 1 team.

After the press conference, Scuderia Ferrari test driver Giancarlo Fisichella first drove a California in the usual parade, and then last year’s F10 Formula 1 car on the streets of Russian capital.

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Nico Rosberg to Drive Fangio’s 1954 Mercedes W196 at the Nürburgring

Mercedes F1 driver Nico Rosberg will have the chance to drive Juan Manuel Fangio’s legendary 1954 Mercedes W196 at the Nürburgring’s Nordschleife circuit next weekend during the German Grand Prix.

The Mercedes W196 was the first Formula 1 car to race with open wheels, coincidentally at Nurburgring, after Fangio faced problems with the "streamlined" bodywork at the British GP. The W196 won the German GP, as well as three other races, in 1954 and another five in 1955.

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Felipe Massa: “Ferrari Can Still Win F1 Title”

Red Bull and Sebastian Vettel, who lead by 110 and 80 points in the Constructors and Drivers Championships respectively, are clearly the team and man to beat this season in Formula 1. And in the last race, in Silverstone, someone stepped up to the challenge and did just that: Ferrari and Fernando Alonso were at the top spot of the podium flanked by the two Red Bull drivers. Read more »

Video: F1 Racing Cars Launching at Goodwood Festival

OK, so a highly-tuned Toyota Celica with the innards of a Corolla WRC (and then some) may have posted the fastest time at the Goodwood hill climb. And yes, it beat a handful of Formula 1 cars to achieve this win.

But we’re pretty sure that the sounds and sights of an array of F1 cars ranging from a 1939 Mercedes-Benz W165 to 2010 editions of Ferrari, Lotus and Red Bull, will make the back of your hair stand up. To find out if that’s true, just watch the video after the jump.

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2011 British GP: Red Bull’s Reign Disrupted

None of the usual suspects – aka the drivers of Red Bull or McLaren- occupied the top spot on the podium of the British Grand Prix that took place on Sunday at Silverstone. Instead, the winner was Fernando Alonso, who managed his first win of the season, and 27th overall in his career, making the best both of Ferrari’s obvious progress and the catastrophic pit stop of early leader Sebastian Vettel. Read more »

British GP: Red Bull Takes the Front Row in Qualifying with Webber in Pole Position

The unpredictable weather conditions made the qualifying of the British Grand Prix something of a gamble, and the teams weather forecasts were expecting rain during the final session. So everyone made sure that they got out quickly in order to set a fast time before it started to rain again. Read more »

McLaren and Red Bull Clash Over Throttle Regulations

Ever since the Spanish Grand Prix, FIA has investigated the matter of some teams using exhaust gasses when the driver is off the throttle to improve the downforce of their cars. Eventually, FIA ruled that throttle opening when the accelerator is released would be limited to 10%.

However, McLaren’s Martin Whitmarsh disputed on Friday before the British GP the new regulation, claiming that Red Bull’s Renault engine retains 50% of its power under a concession for reliability.

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British GP Practice: Massa Shines in the Rain

Ferrari’s Felipe Massa set the quickest time in Friday’s afternoon practice session of the Formula 1 British Grand Prix, which takes place this weekend at Silverstone. Just minutes before the beginning of the session, heavy rain started to fall, with all cars staying in the pits for half an hour because of the condition of the track. Read more »

Caterham Logos to Appear on Team Lotus’ F1 Cars

It’s funny how things turn out sometimes. In 1973, Caterham, which was founded in the 1960s as a Lotus dealer, acquired the rights to build the Seven from Lotus. Now, Team Lotus has purchased Caterham Cars through a holding company, part owned by Malaysian Tony Fernandes. Read more »

Williams and Renault Reunite in Formula 1

A legendary alliance is reforming in Formula 1: Williams and Renault Sport have decided to cooperate once again for the 2012 and 2013 seasons, when the rules stipulate V8 engines, and an option to continue in 2014 when the new turbocharged V6s are introduced. Read more »

F1: Sebastian Vettel takes his 6th Win in Valencia

Sebastian Vettel is on a roll and no one seems able to stop him and his Red Bull from adding a second Formula 1 championship to their trophy list. This was confirmed once again today in the European Grand Prix in Valencia, in the eighth race of the 2011, where Vettel took his sixth win of the season. The German world champion started from the pole position and was never challenged during the race as he cruised to another win.

The only driver to even come close was Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso who started from fourth place and, like his team-mate Felipe Massa, made a terrific start. Alonso had a fight with the Red Bull of Mark Webber who, despite starting from the front row, eventually lost out to the Spaniard who finished the race second, more than 10 seconds behind Vettel.

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F1 to Adopt Turbo 1.6-Litre V6s, not 4-Cylinders, from 2014

It seems that Formula 1’s rules that were supposed to take effect from the 2013 season are being scrapped before they are even imposed. Those regulations called for the replacement of today’s 2.4 V8 motors by 4-cylinder turbocharged 1.6 liter units, a proposal that had being strongly opposed by certain teams such as Ferrari.

Now the sports’ governing body, the FIA, has offered an alternative: 1.6-liter turbocharged V6s with hybrid Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems (KERS), with the implementation of the new rules being pushed back one year, to 2014.

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Pirelli F1 tyre colours

Pirelli, sole Formula 1 tyre supplier for the next three seasons, is colour-coding the ‘Pirelli’ and ‘PZero’ sidewall logos so that spectators can determine what compounds are being used.

The colours chosen are:

· Wet – Orange

· Intermediate – Light blue

· Supersoft – Red

· Soft – Yellow

· Medium – White

· Hard – Silver



At first sight, it appears that it’s going to be difficult to tell some of the types apart, with silver and white in particular being hard to distinguish.



However, the rules stipulate that only two compounds of dry weather tyre can be used at each round, designated ‘prime’ and ‘option’. Pirelli’s cunning plan is that there will always be at least one step between the different tyre specifications on offer.



So, that means all the teams will have a combination of either Medium (white) and Supersoft (red) rubber available to them, or - as is the case for the three opening events in Australia, Malaysia and China - Hard (silver) and Soft (yellow). That ploy should encourage some interesting strategic race decisions, as well as averting any potential identification problems.



As per last season, each driver must use both nominated types of dry tyre during a dry race in order to be included in the results. If a dry race is suspended following an incident and cannot be restarted, a 30 second penalty will be added to a driver’s time if only one variety was used.



Also available at every round of the championship will be the Wet (orange) and Intermediate (light blue) compounds, in case of rain.



Related posts:

Virgin reveals MVR-02

Team Lotus reveals T128

Ferrari F150 unveiled

Two Lotus teams in F1?

Pirelli F1 tyre colours

Pirelli, sole Formula 1 tyre supplier for the next three seasons, is colour-coding the ‘Pirelli’ and ‘PZero’ sidewall logos so that spectators can determine what compounds are being used.

The colours chosen are:

· Wet – Orange

· Intermediate – Light blue

· Supersoft – Red

· Soft – Yellow

· Medium – White

· Hard – Silver



At first sight, it appears that it’s going to be difficult to tell some of the types apart, with silver and white in particular being hard to distinguish.



However, the rules stipulate that only two compounds of dry weather tyre can be used at each round, designated ‘prime’ and ‘option’. Pirelli’s cunning plan is that there will always be at least one step between the different tyre specifications on offer.



So, that means all the teams will have a combination of either Medium (white) and Supersoft (red) rubber available to them, or - as is the case for the three opening events in Australia, Malaysia and China - Hard (silver) and Soft (yellow). That ploy should encourage some interesting strategic race decisions, as well as averting any potential identification problems.



As per last season, each driver must use both nominated types of dry tyre during a dry race in order to be included in the results. If a dry race is suspended following an incident and cannot be restarted, a 30 second penalty will be added to a driver’s time if only one variety was used.



Also available at every round of the championship will be the Wet (orange) and Intermediate (light blue) compounds, in case of rain.



Related posts:

Virgin reveals MVR-02

Team Lotus reveals T128

Ferrari F150 unveiled

Two Lotus teams in F1?

Virgin reveals MVR-02

Marussia Virgin Racing has unveiled its Formula 1 challenger for 2011.

After scoring zero points last season with the VR-01, naturally the team will be hoping for better things from its successor, the MVR-02. The addition of that ‘M’ to the name recognises that Russian sports car manufacturer Marussia Motors bought a large stake in the operation last November.

Virgin is sticking to Cosworth power for the MVR-02, but it hasn’t bothered installing a Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS). Wisely, the team recognises that there are bigger issues to address if it wants to slash a couple of seconds off its lap times and improve reliability.

Timo Glock remains as a driver for 2011, but Lucas di Grassi has been replaced by Belgian Jérôme d'Ambrosio.

Virgin reveals MVR-02

Marussia Virgin Racing has unveiled its Formula 1 challenger for 2011.

After scoring zero points last season with the VR-01, naturally the team will be hoping for better things from its successor, the MVR-02. The addition of that ‘M’ to the name recognises that Russian sports car manufacturer Marussia Motors bought a large stake in the operation last November.

Virgin is sticking to Cosworth power for the MVR-02, but it hasn’t bothered installing a Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS). Wisely, the team recognises that there are bigger issues to address if it wants to slash a couple of seconds off its lap times and improve reliability.

Timo Glock remains as a driver for 2011, but Lucas di Grassi has been replaced by Belgian Jérôme d'Ambrosio.

Team Lotus reveals T128

Team Lotus - not to be confused with the Lotus Renault GP Team - has unveiled its 2011 Formula 1 car.

Even if that naming clash is still to be dragged through the courts, thankfully the team has decided not to swap last season’s green and yellow colour scheme for a gold and black one. At least that means spectators will be able to tell the numerous Lotuses apart.



The big changes are under the paintjob, though. Gone are 2010’s Cosworth engines, replaced by motors from Renault which have been combined with gearboxes and hydraulics systems courtesy of Red Bull Technologies.

Together with more aggressive aerodynamics and revised suspension, the Norfolk-based team seems confident that the improved package will be good enough to let drivers Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli score some points in 2011.



Mike Gascoyne, Chief Technical Officer, said: ‘I think that basically this car looks like a front-running car in every area. We said very clearly that we want to start challenging the established teams and I think that's very achievable.’ Fighting talk indeed.



Related post:

Two Lotus teams in F1?