Hello fellow Formula 1 fanatics, here we are for the Russian Grand Prix edition of Newsbites. Let’s take a look at the latest news from the paddock.

 

 

Hamilton leads Mercedes one-two in FP2

 

Championship leader Lewis Hamilton lead a dominant Mercedes one-two in Free Practice Two at the Russian Grand Prix ahead of team-mate Valtteri Bottas by two tenths.

 

Their fastest laps came half an hour into the session on the quicker hypersoft compounds during the Silver Arrows qualifying simulation runs.

 

The Red Bull pairing followed as Max Verstappen ended the day in third and fourth respectively, with the duo both 0.442 and 0.489 off Hamilton’s benchmark time and were separated by 0.017 seconds.

 

Both Red Bull drivers will be hit with grid penalties for engine changes this weekend.

 

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel ended the day fifth quickest ahead of team-mate Kimi Raikkonen who was sixth.

 

With 20 minutes left in the hour and a half long session, Vettel suffered a spin under braking at turn 13, which was one of many incidents during practice.

 

The Force India duo Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon finished FP2 in seventh and ninth respectively with Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly splitting the pairing in eighth as Marcus Ericsson’s Sauber completed the top ten.

 

Weather conditions were mild in Sochi although it was more cloudier than in the morning with Raikkonen reporting spots of rain earlier on but it remained dry throughout the day.

 

Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen finished the session in 11th place and in-front of 15th placed team-mate Romain Grosjean on the day both drivers were confirmed to be racing for the Kannapolis-Banbury squad in 2019.

 

McLaren-bound Carlos Sainz ended the day in 12th place for Renault and ahead of team-mate Nico Hulkenberg who was 14th with Charles Leclerc’s Sauber in-between the pairing in 13th. All three drivers split the Haas duo.

 

The other Toro Rosso of Brendon Hartley ended the day in 16th and in-front of both McLaren’s (Fernando Alonso 17th, Stoffel Vandoorne 18th) and Williams (Sergey Sirotkin 19th and Lance Stroll 20th).

 

Earlier in the day Vettel drew first blood for Ferrari ahead of Verstappen by 0.050 seconds, with Mercedes duo Hamilton and Bottas in third and fourth respectively and Ricciardo rounding out the top five.

F1 2019 Driver Market Update

 

 

Kvyat returns to Toro Rosso in 2019

 

Scuderia Toro Rosso have announced the return of Daniil Kvyat to race for the team in the 2019 FIA Formula One World Championship campaign.

 

Kvyat was axed by Red Bull and Toro Rosso towards the end of last season after a up and down relationship but the Russian has earned a shock return to the junior team after Pierre Gasly’s promotion to the senior team.

 

“First of all, I would like to thank Red Bull and Toro Rosso for giving me this opportunity to race in Formula 1 again and I am particularly pleased to be returning to a team I know very well,” explained Kvyat.”

 

After leaving Toro Rosso a year ago, Kvyat spent the 2018 season as Ferrari’s development driver.

 

Toro Rosso has always made me feel at home and I’m sure it will still be the same next season. I would also like to thank Ferrari for trusting my driving skills which allowed me to stay connected to F1 as their development driver. Even if my duties were primarily simulator based, I’ve learnt a lot, and I now feel stronger and better prepared than when I left Toro Rosso.”

 

“I never gave up hope of racing again, I am still young and I have kept in good shape to always be prepared in case another opportunity presented itself. I will give my best to deliver what the team expects from me and I can’t wait for everything to start again.” Kvyat concluded.

 

There is no word yet on who will partner the Russian at the Faenza-based outfit.

 

 

Haas retain Magnussen and Grosjean for 2019

 

Haas F1 Team confirmed that Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean will be retained for the 2019 FIA Formula One World Championship.

 

Grosjean has been with the team since it entered the sport in 2016 after switching from Lotus (Now Renault) and Magnussen joined the American-outfit in 2017. The 2019 campaign will be Grosjean’s ninth season in Formula One and Magnussen’s fifth.

 

You can read the full statements made by Haas F1 Team boss Guenther Steiner and both drivers at the link: https://www.haasf1team.com/news/news-haas-f1-team-retains-driver-lineup-2019

 

 

During the week the Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team announced that reserve driver Antonio Giovinazzi will be driving for the team in 2019 Formula One World Championship season alongside 2007 Formula One World Champion Kimi Raikkonen as Marcus Ericsson steps into a Third Driver and Brand Ambassador role https://www.sauberf1team.com/news/marcus-ericsson-to-continue-being-part-of-the-alfa-romeo-sauber-f1-team-taking-on-the-role-of-third-driver-and-brand-ambassador-from-2019-2.

 

With Alfa Romeo Sauber following it’s tradition of promoting and nurturing young talents, the Hinwil-based outfit promoted the Italian driver who has worked with the team for two years to race in place of Charles Leclerc who is off to race for Ferrari next season.

 

You can read the full statements by Giovinazzi and Team Principal Frederic Vasseur at the link: https://www.sauberf1team.com/news/antonio-giovinazzi-to-race-for-the-alfa-romeo-sauber-f1-team-2.

 

How the 2019 grid is shaping up

 

Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport – Lewis Hamilton & Valtteri Bottas

Scuderia Ferrari – Sebastian Vettel & Charles Leclerc

Aston Martin Red Bull Racing – Max Verstappen & Pierre Gasly

Renault Sport F1 Team – Daniel Ricciardo & Nico Hulkenberg

Haas F1 Team – Romain Grosjean & Kevin Magnussen

Racing Point Force India F1 Team – TBC

McLaren Renault F1 Team – Carlos Sainz & Lando Norris

Scuderia Toro Rosso-Honda – Daniil Kvyat & TBC

Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team – Kimi Raikkonen & Antonio Giovinazzi

Williams Racing – TBC

 

 

Hamilton surprised to be ahead of rivals at ‘weakest circuit’

 

Championship leader Lewis Hamilton has not won a Russian Grand Prix since 2015 and missed out on a podium last season, but the Briton fired a warning shot to his rivals in Free Practice Two topping the time-sheets and was surprised of his performance at the Sochi Autodrom, which he considers one of his “weakest circuits”.

 

Hamilton sits 40 points clear in the Driver’s Championship and knows a victory in Sochi will propel him closer to his fifth world title crown and his weekend got off to the best possible start. He finished behind rival Sebastian Vettel in the opening practice session by three tenths despite not running the quickest hypersoft rubber.

 

When finally being given the opportunity to run the pink side-walled tyres, Hamilton posted a blistering 1:33.385 to lead a dominant Mercedes one-two in the afternoon session and 0.442 seconds clear of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen who was third and more than half a second clear of title-rival Vettel who ended the day in fifth.

 

It was an unexpected result from the Briton, who delivered a promising performance on one of his bogey circuits that team-mate Valtteri Bottas drives well at and scored his maiden Formula 1 victory at last year’s event.

 

“It was a good Friday,” explained Hamilton. “It has been a really good day, the weather has been decent – it’s not cold at least.”

 

“And surprising – this is a weak circuit for me, probably one of the weakest, if not the weakest, particularly in the last year. So I have really done a lot of work to try to understand the balance and understand where I can improve. Today has been good in that sense.”

 

“Often this is one of Valtteri’s better circuits. But it’s obviously still close. I don’t know what Ferrari were up to but we’re just focusing on us and trying to make sure the car is as a good as it can be.”

 

“From every race we’re learning more and more. From the last year here, we learnt a lot, we came here and particularly the last few races have helped us gauge where we need to be.”

 

Despite Hamilton ending the day 0.543 seconds clear of championship rival Vettel, the Briton expects the Ferrari driver to show more pace when they return to the track during Free Practice Three and Qualifying.

 

“Normally this is a really good track for them. My strategists will have a better reading with what they’re doing with fuel and all those kind of things. I don’t know if they didn’t get laps today. It was definitely a solid one for us. So let’s hope it can continue tomorrow.” Hamilton concluded.

 

Vettel: “We have some catching up to do”

 

 

Sebastian Vettel got off to a promising start at the Russian Grand Prix topping the time-sheets for the Scuderia in Free Practice One, but title-rival Lewis Hamilton was not far behind despite not running the hypersoft compounds in the morning session. And in the afternoon when Hamilton put on the hypers, the Briton unleashed a blistering lap time, which put him over half a second clear of the German.

 

Valtteri Bottas followed suit, ending the day 0.199 seconds slower than his Silver Arrows team-mate, with both Red Bulls also ahead of the Ferrari’s, at a circuit where the Milton-Keynes based squad has not previously scored a podium.

 

It was unsettling news for the Scuderia, with Vettel trailing 40 points behind Hamilton in the championship and in need of a victory since taking his last one in Belgium. Are Mercedes really the team to beat? Or were Ferrari holding back? Vettel believes the Silver Arrows are the favourites where they have historically been dominant since Sochi became part of the championship calendar in 2014.

 

“We looked quite far away from the rest of the [front-runners], so not ideal,” explained Vettel. “We’re struggling a bit for one lap but also in the long run [pace], I think we went through our tyres a bit harder and quicker than the rest. We need to have a look.”

 

“And looking at ourselves, it wasn’t a good day in terms of feel for the car. I think there’s more that we need to get to.”

 

Vettel also spun at the turn 13 right-hander during FP2, with the German admitting he was feeling uncomfortable with the handling of his SF71-H racer.

 

“That’s Friday for you,” Vettel continued. “Sometimes you have better Fridays, sometimes not. I think for us it wasn’t a particularly clean run in the end but still good enough. As I said, we struggled with the tyres with or without the traffic. Certainly the traffic doesn’t help, but I think we have some catching up to do.” Vettel concluded.

 

Verstappen surprised by Red Bull pace in Russia

 

 

With Red Bull taking grid penalties for engine changes at this weekend’s Russian Grand Prix, the Milton-Keynes squad took a gamble in Singapore, which paid off seeing Max Verstappen finishing second. And with Mexico being identified as their next best chance of victory and opted to feel the pain of changing multiple power unit components on the Dutchman and Daniel Ricciardo’s RB14 racers to start at the back of the grid, will the RB14’s be stronger in Sochi? Verstappen was surprised with his team’s performance on Friday.

 

“Yeah, I think the car is working really well,” explained the Dutchman, after finishing FP2 best of the rest. “It was a good Friday actually – better than expected to be third in second practice.”

 

“The balance of the car feels good. We focused, of course, a bit more on the long run and it seems to be in decent shape. The tricky bit is just the tyres.”

 

With no more grid penalties expected in Sochi, Verstappen and team-mate Ricciardo will be starting in 18th and 17th respectively, having been beaten out of the pits by McLaren’s Lando Norris, who filled in for Fernando Alonso during FP1, driving his penalised MCL33.

 

Nonetheless Verstappen, who beat Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel to second place on the streets of Marina Bay in Singapore, was looking positive and focused on charging through the pack at the Sochi Autodrom.

 

“It should be a bit more fun,” Verstappen continued. “We have to go forward, we have to pass people – it’s not going to be easy, because also the tyres are degrading a lot. We’ll see how we’re going to do it – but we have to do it.” Verstappen concluded.

 

 

Gasly optimistic with positive start in Russia

 

After the Frenchman was struggling in Singapore during qualifying and finished the race in 13th under the bright lights, Pierre Gasly was optimistic after a promising start to the Russian Grand Prix weekend.

 

The Red Bull-bound driver didn’t hide his disappointment after the Singapore Grand Prix with the Honda-powered STR13’s suffering a lack of pace on a circuit they believed to suit their package. And with both Toro Rosso’s starting at the rear of the field due to multiple power-unit component changes, Gasly was expecting another frustrating race on Sunday.

 

Gasly however, remained optimistic on Friday after showing promising pace, ending the afternoon session in eighth place. With Honda’s power-train upgrades looking to be a step up and the Frenchman is hopeful for a better result this weekend despite starting at the rear.

 

“It was really positive – a much better feeling than Singapore,” explained Gasly. “We clearly needed some answers because Singapore was pretty tough for us and from this morning I felt pretty comfortable with the car – much better, more consistency from the car.:

 

“We were P12, P13 in P1 and eighth in the top ten in P2. It’s been a while since we were that good on a Friday, so it feels good. Today we were second best of the rest so I think it was positive, but on Friday you cannot really make any conclusions.”

 

“We know we’re going to have a penalty on Sunday, so we’re going to start on the back of the grid. The main focus for us is to have a good car for the race on Sunday.” Gasly concluded.