Hello fellow F1 fanatics, we are back with the Italian GP edition of F1 Newsbites. Let’s dive into the latest news from the F1 paddock.

 

 

Vettel leads Raikkonen to a Ferrari one-two in FP2

 

Sebastian Vettel pipped team-mate Kimi Raikkonen to a Ferrari one-two in the afternoon practice session at the Italian Grand Prix which saw a huge shunt for Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson.

 

Ferrari emerged as the favourites for their home Grand Prix weekend with a red lockout of the top two positions in a much drier Free Practice 2 after a rain-soaked opening earlier session.

 

The proceedings was suspended for 20 minutes at the start of FP2 after a horrific crash involving Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson.

 

Marcus Ericsson, #9, Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team C37’s frightening crash in FP2. which thankfully saw the Swede walk away unscathed. Formula 1 Gran Premio Heineken D’Italia 2018, Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Monza, Italy. Image credit to Hasan Bratac/Sutton Images.

 

Ericsson hit the barriers on the main straight as he headed towards the Variante del Rettifilo chicane when his C37 racer snapped to the left as he braked.

 

The Swede was sent into a series of barrel rolls before emerging from the incident unscathed with a DRS failure seen to being the cause.

 

Ferrari soon hit the front when the session resumed after the barriers were repaired and the track cleared of debris.

 

Vettel headed team-mate Raikkonen at first before the duo kept swapping positions during their qualifying simulation runs on the supersoft compounds.

 

Last weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix set the benchmark of a 1:21.505 on his third timed run.

 

However, there was a minor scare for the German as his SF71-H racer as he slid off into the Parabolica gravel trap and slightly damaged his rear wing after carrying too much speed as he attempted to improve his time.

 

After returning to the pits, Vettel was forced out of action until the last ten minutes.

 

“Overall it was OK,” explained Vettel. “This morning was a bit difficult to read the conditions. We had a small problem, but this afternoon it was OK.

 

“The small problem was more my side, I lost some track time because I pushed maybe a bit too hard. But equally it’s good to find out. The car seemed to be OK. The most important was that we could still carry on and still gather some data.

 

“I tried and I know what doesn’t work, and it’s good to know. I thought I managed it without touching the barrier, but I touched it slightly, and we broke a bit of the rear-wing end plate and had to change.

 

“The car was fine. At least I got out of the sandpit which was difficult as a child. Nowadays I don’t want to spend much time there. I’m happy we could carry on.” Vettel concluded.

 

Raikkonen held seconds place and 0.270 seconds off his Ferrari team-mate while championship leader Lewis Hamilton was third and a further 0.017 seconds behind the Finn.

 

The other Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas was fourth ahead of Red Bull pairing Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo who were both over a second off of Vettel’s benchmark.

 

Ricciardo was testing the newly upgraded C-spec Renault power-train, which sees the Australian starting from the back of the grid due to the power-unit changes.

 

The Force India duo of Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez followed next in seventh and eighth respectively with the latter topping the earlier FP1 session.

 

The top ten was completed with Sauber’s Charles Leclerc and Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg in ninth and tenth place.

 

The Haas VF-18 pairing of Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen took 11th and 13th respectively with Carlos Sainz’ Renault RS18 splitting the pairing in 12th.

 

Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly was 14th and in-front of Williams’ Sergey Sirotkin who was 15th and team-mate Brendon Hartley who ended the day 16th.

 

The other Williams of Lance Stroll finished FP2 in 17th, ahead of the two McLaren’s of Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne who were 18th and 19th respectively with the aforementioned Sauber of Ericsson at the rear after his horrific incident.

 

Formula 1 Announces 2019 Draft Calendar

 

 

Formula 1 released it’s draft calendar for the 2019 FIA Formula One World Championship season, which will be submitted for approval by the World Motorsport Council in a meeting on October 12.

 

For the third time in history, the Formula 1 World Championship will be contested over a record of 21 Grands Prix, equaling the amount of races held in 2016 and the current. Eleven of the races will be held in Europe, five in Asia, four in the Americas and one in Australia.

 

The 2019 season begins a week earlier with the Australian Grand Prix on March 17 at the famous Albert Park Street Circuit and finishing under the bright lights of the Yas Marina Circuit for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on December 1.

 

Next year the sport will celebrate a big milestone, reaching the 1000th Grand Prix since it’s inception in 1950. The race that will host the event is the April 14 Chinese Grand Prix.

 

The release date of the 2019 calendar also sees the Japanese Grand Prix extended for a further three years with the race being held at the Suzuka International Racing Course until 2021. Also the 2018 event will be title sponsored by Japanese manufacturer and power-unit supplier Honda as they celebrate the Japanese Grand Prix’s 30th year anniversary.

 

After the success of this year’s Formula 1 Emirates Grosser Preis Von Deutschland 2018, a new deal was reached with the promoter that sees Germany to remain on the Formula One calendar. The agreement was made with Municipality of Hockenheim and Hockenheim-Ring GmBH, the support of Mercedes-Benz, Andreas Schuer, Federal Minister for Transportation and Digital Infrastructure and German Automobile Clubs ADAC and AvD. The 2019 German Grand Prix takes place at the Hockenheim-Ring with Mercedes-Benz as the title sponsor of the event. There are also talks of the Nurburgring alternating events again with the Hockenheim-Ring.

 

The Draft FIA Formula 1 World Championship Calendar 

 

 

You can read the full statements at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/headlines/2018/8/formula-1–announces-draft-2019-season-calendar.html

 

An eventful day for Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team

 

 

It was an eventful day for the Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza ahead of the 2018 FIA Formula One Italian Grand Prix weekend.

 

Heavy rain hampered the opening first practice session with the conditions making it difficult to drive and allowed both drivers Charles Leclerc and Marcus Ericsson to complete under 12 laps.

 

Leclerc ended the session in 12th place and Ericsson in 16th respectively.

 

Free Practice 2 took a horrific turn when Ericsson suffered a huge crash on his second lap after a DRS failure just before the Variante Del Rettifilo chicane, which saw the session suspended for 20 minutes.

 

Fortunately, the Swede was unharmed from the incident and the Hinwil-based outfit is working on his C37 racer for tomorrow’s FP3 and Qualifying sessions.

 

The same issue was found on Leclerc’s car and was quickly fixed for the Monegasque driver to continue on.

 

Leclerc’s ninth place and time of a 1:22.965 showed the potential of the C37 at Monza with the team positive for the rest of the weekend.

 

“The day was OK. On one hand, we had quite a few issues – on the other hand, our performance was quite good if you take the challenges we faced into consideration,” explained Leclerc.”

 

“We have some work ahead of us now, and will do everything we can to make the necessary steps forward before we head into the next sessions. The main thing is that Marcus is well after his crash, and we will push to have a good result tomorrow.”

 

On the other side of the garage, Ericsson reflected on his incident but looks forward to heading back out on track.

 

“The accident I had in FP2 was a big impact – thanks to the strength of the car I am alright. The team is already working hard to repair the car so that I can be back on track tomorrow. I look forward to driving again.” Ericsson said.

 

Hamilton predicting close fight with Ferrari in Monza

 

 

Championship leader Lewis Hamilton isn’t concerned about Ferrari’s pace and believes that it will be a tight contest for victory at the Italian Grand Prix this weekend at Monza.

 

Hamilton is looking to bounce back after last weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix, in which he unable to convert is pole position to a victory and the wet conditions in the opening practice session hindered his attempt to gain an early bit of momentum heading into the weekend with the Briton just completing six laps.

 

In a much drier afternoon FP2, Ferrari showed it’s potential at their home Grand Prix with Vettel leading a Ferrari 1-2. However, Hamilton was 0.270 seconds under the German’s benchmark in third place.

 

Hamilton senses that their is an opportunity to return back to winning ways and extend his championship lead this weekend.

 

“We woke up to torrential rain this morning, which meant it was a less busy first session than normal,” explained Hamilton. “We did a few laps but after that it was like having a day in the office when you don’t have too much work to do – I was even snoozing in the car at one point!”

 

“But we did plenty of laps this afternoon in the dry and we could see that, like in Spa, we had a small gap to Ferrari on both the short and the long runs. My laps felt pretty good, but Ferrari were a little bit quicker today.”

 

The four-time World Champion acknowledges that their is plenty of room for improvement but is confident the team will overcome the deficit to the Scuderia.

 

“We’re all working flat out right now in every part of the team, and we have work to do tonight as well – but there are some areas where we can see deficits, so I hope we can make a little step for qualifying.” Hamilton continued. “It has been a big battle for a number of races now, and they have had a small advantage since the middle of the summer, but we are pushing as hard as we can to overcome that.”

 

“Although we are on Ferrari’s home turf, we have some great support out there and it’s always a boost to see that in the grandstands. It will be a very close fight tomorrow and, like every race weekend, we will be giving it everything we’ve got.” Hamilton concluded.

 

Force India aiming for best of rest in Monza

 

 

After a busy summer break and an uncertain future facing them, Force India pulled off a brilliant qualifying session at last weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix with the Silverstone squad scoring a 3rd and 4th place before enjoying their best finish of the season and they are hoping for a repeat this weekend at the Italian Grand Prix after showing promising speed once more.

 

Early August saw Force India being purchased by a group of owners headed by Lawrence Stroll (father of Williams driver Lance Stroll), which ensured the team remained operational – and reborn as Racing Point Force India F1 Team and was forced to give up it’s points that Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez earned up until the Hungarian Grand Prix in the Constructors Championship.

 

But the re-christened entity got off to a great start at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, qualifying ahead of both Red Bulls before going on to finish fifth and sixth respectively.

 

At the Italian Grand Prix in Monza, the Mercedes-powered VJM11’s looked promising again with Perez topping the rain-soaked opening FP1 session and Ocon taking third place before the team ended the day in seventh and eighth in the much drier Free Practice 2.

 

“I think we are strong this weekend,” explained Ocon after FP2. “It’s going to be a tight battle but I think the one who qualifies higher up is the one who has the most chance to keep that position, so we’ll have to see.”

 

Asked about the Silverstone-based outfits recent performance and new beginnings, Ocon said: “It’s great. It’s fantastic to see, after difficult times for the team, for everyone working here, that we are fighting for those positions. It’s just fantastic, it’s a great comeback and great start, a new way for the team. We couldn’t dream of a better start.”

 

On the other side of the garage, Perez reflected on his day’s running.

 

“It was good, I think we got a good reading on the conditions. Whether it’s going to be wet or dry, we should be aiming to be best of the rest tomorrow and Sunday,”

 

“Red Bull is too far. So best of the rest, and that’s the best we can do.” Perez concluded.

 

The team are looking satisfied with their recent performances and their much awaited upgrades are set to come in the next round as Formula 1 heads to the Marina Bay Street Circuit for the Singapore Grand Prix.

 

“We are just enjoying [the performance] while the car is so quick, we are definitely hoping that the upgrades are going to bring something better also for the higher downforce circuits.” Ocon concluded.

 

McLaren not expecting any miracles in Monza

 

 

McLaren knew they were in for a difficult weekend at the Italian Grand Prix this weekend, and the theory came true in Monza after Friday’s running, with the Woking-based squad the slowest of the field around the legendary circuit.

 

With a heavy-rain dampened FP1 and Marcus Ericsson’s frightening crash, which temporarily suspended the afternoon session, it was a disrupted day for all teams as they tried to get through their practice programmes and usually use Friday to test their qualifying and race simulations.

 

Despite that, McLaren ended the day a lowly 18th and 19th respectively, with Fernando Alonso their quickest driver and over 2.6 seconds off the pace of Sebastian Vettel’s benchmark and over two tenths down on Williams’ Sergey Sirotkin.

 

“I think we confirmed more or less that it’s going to be a tough weekend for us as a team in terms of performance,” explained Alonso following Friday practice. “We lost a couple of runs that we had programmed and we missed the long run pace [run] for example today, so probably we will try tomorrow to repeat it and get that info.”

 

Alonso’s team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne sat out the morning session to make way for McLaren youngster Lando Norris – as Alonso did last weekend in Spa, but agreed with the Spaniard’s comments after his afternoon running.

 

“I don’t think there’ll be any miracles here for us this weekend,” Vandoorne explained. “We predicted it would be a difficult weekend and practice has already shown that it’s going to be a tough weekend for us here. So we’ll see what we can do tomorrow.”

 

Last year in Monza, McLaren experimented with slipstreaming to try and overcome their pace deficit to their rivals, a technique they also attempted during practice at last weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix. However, it’s unknown whether they will try it out again this weekend.

 

Meanwhile, Alonso had some concerns of his wrist and back, which were tweaked during the opening lap of last weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix when his MCL33 racer flew over the top of Sauber’s Charles Leclerc.

 

“There’s still some pain sometimes in a couple of corners,” Alonso said. “Out of the car, we try to don’t stress the hand and the back too much and be relaxed. But on Sunday, I think it’s going to be perfectly OK.”