Formula E London E-Prix Round 15 and 16 Race Report: Dennis Appears the Home Hero with Title Win

Round 15 and 16 of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship drew to a close in the British capital of London. The track certainly delivered as Jake Dennis became world champion, the first British world champion and the first world champion to win it at their home track. At the finale, it was Envision that picked up the prize, sealing the teams championship.

In the first race, it was an Envision front row lockout in the first lap with Nick Cassidy leading the way from Sebastien Buemi. Championship hopeful Dennis informed his team early on of his issues with contact in the opening laps, dropping down the pack. Mitch Evans battled Rene Rast after his 5 place grid penalty but the McLaren driver held position. The NIO 333 of Dan Ticktum had a home race to forget as he lost positions in the early stages, allowing Rast and Pascal Wehrlein past him. In the early stages, drivers began to take their attack mode as Dennis closed up on the rear wing of Buemi. Race leader Cassidy proceeded to take his first attack mode and remained in the lead as Buemi held off Dennis. Mortara and Vandoorne collided with one another, which brought out a yellow flag but no penalty was given to either driver.

Everything seemed to be going the way of Jake Dennis to claim his first championship title. But then…disaster struck for the championship leader. He started to fall down down the grid, with championship rival Evans overtaking him. Di Grassi and Frijns found themselves under investigation for their collision with the Abt Cupra driver pitting for a new front wing. Things continued to get worse for Dennis as he missed one of the activation zones, and wasn’t able to take attack mode when prompted. A yellow flag was brought out for a slippery surface with Vergne having to pit too as Evans held the lead from Buemi in P2 and Cassidy in P3.

As the time ticked on, Dennis overtook Cassidy for P4 with Rast fighting his way into the final podium position, then into second place as attack mode began to be taken with Evans still maintaining the lead. Drama unfolded as Cassidy, who was hoping to fight for the title, picked up damage on his front wing after contact with his teammate, leaving the Kiwi furious. Cassidy had to pit for a new front wing as a safety car came out. Evans still continued to lead ahead of Buemi and Rast. Wehrlein was holding off a visibly frustrated Dennis for P4, a position he required to keep hold of his championship.

Mitch Evans, Jaguar TCS Racing, Jaguar I-TYPE 6, leads Sebastien Buemi, Envision Racing, Jaguar I-TYPE 6 Credit: Formula E’s Media

At the start, Evans BOLTED away. Dennis and Wehrlein had not taken ANY attack mode and as it stood at that moment, Dennis was only 5 points ahead of Mitch Evans in the championship standings. Dennis attempted to take his attack mode again but missed again, with the Brit complaining to his team that it didn’t work, leaving the Andretti man in P5 as Sam Bird took over the lead of the race. Cassidy never recovered from his damage, having to retire from the race due to his collision with Buemi, leaving his championship hopes in tatters. Lotterer received a 5 second penalty for causing a collision as a safety car was brought out for Fenestraz who collided into the barriers due to a break failure going into turn 16. Wehrlein hit the barrier before the safety car and dropped down to P13. Race Control brought out a red flag for barrier repairs as Rast, who was in P3, had to drop to the back of the field due to breaking parc ferme conditions.

The race restarted with Evans holding the lead ahead of Buemi and Da Costa. Dennis held P4, but required P3 to seal the title. Shortly after the race resumed however, Hughes called it to a stop, going into the barriers before a red flag was called with a multi car pileup after turn 16. Nato went for a lunge on a flagging Buemi, causing a collision with Bird and Sette Camara caught in the crossfire. The cars were called back to the pits with Scot Elkins instructing all cars except the top three of Evans, Da Costa and Dennis to do an extra lap. With two laps to go, the racing resumed with Dennis closing in on Da Costa for P2. However, as the time ticked down, it was declared that Da Costa had a 3 MINUTE time penalty for a technical infringement, allowing Dennis to seal P2 and subsquently, the title. Jake Dennis was crownd the ABB FIA Formula E World Champion of season 9, finishing P2 with title rival Evans winning the race.

Round 16

The final race of ABB FIA Formula E Season 9 started behind a safety car due to the amount of rain on the track. Three laps were performed behind the car before a red flag was declared by race control. Drivers then got into their cars at 5:45pm London time before doing two more laps behind the safety car before another red flag was declared. The race then got underway at 6:30pm London time before having two laps behind the safety car and a rolling start.

Norman Nato, Nissan Formula E Team, Nissan e-4ORCE 04 Image Credit: Formula E’s Media Bank

There was a huge amount of less grip on the track today due to the rain and many drivers immediately went for attack mode. By lap 10, Cassidy and Evans had a gap of over 2 seconds to champion Dennis in P3. As the time ticked down, Cassidy held the lead and took attack mode with Dennis following him close behind. At the half way point before added laps, Wehrlein and Rast both had 1 attack mode remaining. Fenestraz and Vergne were fighting with Fenestraz getting ahead of the DS Penske. The gaps began to open up in the latter half of the race, as Cassidy held a two second lead over Evans. The top two kept trading the fastest lap point as they battled for the teams championship.

Bird tried to attack Buemi but Buemi held onto the position. Ticktum also tried to get past Muller for the teams championship between NIO 333 and Mahindra. 4 added laps was added onto the race. Frijns had managed to get ahead of Di Grassi as we entered the final lap of the season. Cassidy managed to take victory over the rest of the field to seal the team championship for Envision. with Evans finished P2 and Dennis P3. Norman Nato finished P4, ahead of Vandoorne and Buemi, Bird took a P7 in his final race with Jaguar with Muller in P8 and Ticktum and Wehrlein rounding out the top ten.

The top 10 in the championship were:

1st – Jake Dennis (Champion) (Andretti)
2nd – Nick Cassidy (Envision)
3rd – Mitch Evans (Jaguar)
4th – Pascal Wehrlein (Porsche)
5th – Jean-Eric Vergne (Penske)
6th – Sebastian Buemi (Envision)
7th – Maximilian Guenther (Maserati)
8th – Sam Bird (Jaguar)
9th – Antonio Felix-Da Costa (Porsche)
10th – Norman Nato (Nissan)

The Teams Championship went as follows:

1st – Envision Racing (Champions)
2nd – Jaguar TCS Racing
3rd – Avalanche Andretti Formula E
4th – Tag Heuer Porsche Formula E Team
5th – DS Penske
6th – Maserati MSG Racing
7th – Nissan Formula E Team
8th – Neom McLaren Formula E Team
9th – Nio 333 Racing
10th – Mahindra Racing
11th – Abt Cupra Formula E Team

21st July 2023

Hungarian Grand Prix – Red Bull favourites as Ricciardo returns

Red Bull will once again pitch up to the Hungaroring as favourites to emerge victorious and continue a perfect start to 2023.

The Milton Keynes team will be bringing a raft of upgrades including changes to the cooling slot and reprofiled sidepods (Watch out copycats) but arguably its biggest story this week is with its junior team.

Max Verstappen has long since vanquished any hope of a championship fight and now holds a near 100 point lead in the standings over teammate Sergio Perez.

Verstappen has only failed to win twice this season and has eight victories.

The Hungarian Grand Prix traditionally marks the halfway point of the Formula One season, and as Round 11 this season is no different.

At Alpha Tauri, Nyck De Vries will not see even half the season out as the 2021 Formula E champion was unceremoniously dumped out of Red Bull’s B Team in favour of a return of a familiar face.

Daniel Ricciardo returns to the place where it all began, save for a half season in 2011 at HRT, by rejoining the team first knwon as Toro Rosso.

Ricciardo, 34, had previously said that he would not return unless it was in a competitive seat.

Alpha Tauri are on average ninth quickest in 2023 and are bottom of the Constructors’ this season with two points courtesy of Yuki Tsunoda.

Clearly that is not what the affable Australian meant, but he has identified it as a chance to shown Red Bull that the Honey Badger is still in there – Ricciardo did win eight Grands Prix with Red Bull and McLaren and was renowned for his wheel to wheel racing with Red Bull.

With Perez faltering at Red Bull – he’s failed to get into the final part of qualifying since Miami in May, there is talk that should Ricciardo impress again that he could make a sensational return to the team he quit in 2018.

How realistic that is remains to be seen.

Away from Red Bull’s latest driver swap, the battle for best of the rest looks set to once more see-saw between Aston Martin, McLaren, Mercedes and Ferrari.

Ferrari’s race management was dismal at Silverstone last time out and the Scuderia could only manage ninth and tenth with Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz after a poor tyre choice and strategy saw them slip backwards after a late Safety Car.

Mercedes managed to return to the podium with Lewis Hamilton, who benefitted at the expense of McLaren driver Oscar Piastri to move up to third during that safety car period, but were surprised by McLaren’s sudden gain in pace.

Lando Norris was second for the Papaya outfit, and left Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff to suggest that their rivals’ progress is a positive, and that McLaren’s jump shows that huge progress is possible.

McLaren for their part do not expect to hit the heights of second and fourth this weekend, with the twisty Budapest track exposing their slow corner weakness much more than Silverstone, but the base package is still expected to score points this weekend.

That leaves Aston Martin as Mercedes’ likely best of the rest challengers.

The Silverstone team have been low key of late, failing to reach the podium at either Austria or the British Grand Prix, two layouts which favour high speed performance and low drag.

They’ve shown a preference for slower speed tracks and were arguably the closest team to toppling Red Bull this season, when a strategic error arguably cost them the win at a wet Monaco Grand Prix.

This weekend marks the 20th anniversary of Fernando Alonso’s first win, then for Renault, at the 2003 Hungarian Grand Prix.

Red Bull are expected to make further history this weekend, where victory would be their 12th in a row and see them out on their own after previously tying with McLaren’s 11 in the late 1980s.

25th June 2023

Formula E: Title Fight Heats Up In Portland As Dennis Takes The Championship Lead

The very first Portland E-Prix for Formula E saw drama in both qualifying and the race.

Qualifying:

Groups:

This session kicked off with Group A going out. 2 of the 4 chamionship contenders participating in this session: Pascal Wehrlein and Nick Cassidy. Gunther, Fenestraz, Ticktum and Vergne were quickest in the early parts of the session. As the timer ticked down, drivers kept on going faster and faster. Fenestraz, Vergne, Nato and Gunther were the top 4 as we entered the latter staged of the first group session. Mitch Evans, although he was not in this session, was under investigation for pit land procedures. 2 championship contenders Cassidy and Wehrlein both did NOT improve and were due to start on the 6th and 10th rows of the grid. Fenestraz, Vergne, Nato and Gunther(who made an error on his final lap) managed to make it through to the duels. Group A was finished and Group B was just getting underway.

As the light went green for Group B, another championship contender Mitch Evans was out of his car before the session even got underway. It appeared he had an issue with his car so he was unable to even participate in the session which was big for his championship hopes. It emerged that both DS Penskes were under investigation for a technical infringement which then meant both drivers of Stoffel Vandoorne and Jean-Eric Vergne would be forced to do a pitlane start. Roberto Mehri had a big lockup going into turn 1 but he managed to go into the run off area and rejoin the track. Mortara did something similar to his teammate and went onto the grass. He then pitted while Jake Dennis went fastest with a 1:09:856. It was then understood that a DC fault was the reason for the Mitch Evans not taking part in qualifying. Mortara managed to jump up to P2 which dropped Andre Lotterer out of the top 4. Both Sam Bird and Antonio Felix Da Costa managed to finish laps but only got up to P7 and P8 respectfully. The top 4 then went from Dennis, Mortara, Lotterer and Rast to Rast, Dennis, Hughes and Da Costa. They all went through to the duels.

Duels:
It was Nato and Vergne up first with Nato managing to beat the 2 time champion.

Fenestraz and Gunther were up next with Fenestraz having an advantage over the Maserati driver. Fenestraz then has a moment after the final corner and he managed to tap the wall and have a wiggle. He manages to beat Gunther by 0.100.

Hughes and Dennis went up against eachother for the third qualifying. Hughes first ahead by 0.056 but then Dennis managed to get a jump by 0.126. Dennis managed to keep that lead and beat the McLaren driver.

The final quarter final saw Rene Rast and Antonio Felix DaCosta go against eachother. Rast was 3 tenths down on the 2020 champion and it didn’t seem to go well. But then as they crossed the line, Rast managed to get through by other 1 tenth!

It was an all Nissan semi final 1 with Nato against Fenestraz. Nato managed to go a bit wide in turn 1 while Fenestraz managed to keep it tighter and be over 3 tenths up. Fenestraz then managed to get through to the final.

Rast and Dennis went uo against eachother with Dennis maintaining an early lead as they crossed the line to go into the final.

Dennis and Fenestraz went against eachother for the final with Dennis first being up by 0.011 tenths and then Fenestraz being up by 0.022 tenths. Fenestraz then tapped the wall at the final corner which costs him pole position. Jake Dennis took pole position and the championship lead.

Jake Dennis, Avalanche Andretti Formula E
Pole Position-Image Credit to Sam Bloxham

Race:
The lights went out in Portland and the McLarens managed to make a good start as well as Nick Cassidy who already made his way up to P5. Many moves happened in the early parts of this race with Mehri up to P15 and the Nissans still in 2nd and 3rd. Da Costa also managed to overtake Cassidy for P5. Muller managed to have broken front nose on his car. Cassidy then managed to get up to the lead from Dennis and Rast. A yellow flag then came out due to Mehri having a loss of power and stopping on track which brought out a safety car. At the safety car restart, Nato lead from Da Costa and Dennis. At that point, Da Costa managed to make 12 overtakes in the race so far. When the safety car came in, Fenestraz had to pit for a new front nose. The top 3 remained the same after the restart until Nato and Gunther managed to jump Cassidy with Mortara and Da Costa in P4 and P5.

The Safety Car was then deployed for a second time as the Abt Cupra of Nico Muller crashed at the walls of turn 9 and 10. His wing came off and went under the car. Thankfully, he is safe and got out of the car. The DS Penskes of Vergne and Vandoorne managed to get up to P13 and P15 after starting from the pitlane. Wehrlein also managed to get up to P1. The Safety Car remained out for many laps as we passed lap 15 out of 28. Then, Nato passed Cassidy while under the safety car. This was more than likely due to the race stewards reviewing the footage when the safety car came out.

Jake Dennis, Avalanche Andretti Formula E, Porsche 99 X Electric Gen3-Image Credit: Simon Galloway

We then went green again and MANY drivers decided to go for attack mode including Nato, Gunther, Mortara, Rast, Frijns, Hughes and Bird. While having attack mode, Gunther goes for an overtake on Dennis and managed to hold onto it. Every car was still stuck together on lap 18/28 while Vandoorne and Lotterer went through attack mode. Vergne then had a moment on the grass at the same place Muller went off but he managed to keep it on track. Wehrlein was then under investigation for a turn 1 incident. Both Vergne and Wehrlein then fell down the order as they took attack mode. Muller then got a 5 second penalty for leaving the track but he already retired from the race. Da Costa managed to overtake Cassidy for the lead of the race!

The race then became a matter of energy saving to get them to the end. This involved a lot of weaving from many drivers. Vergne managed to get his way up to P4 after a pit lane start but he was overusing on power and had to drop back to conserve in order to get to the end. As we entered the letter staged of the race, Evans, Wehrlein, Buemi and Sette Camara all had 1 attac mode remaining. 4 additional laps were then added due to the amount of laps we spent behind the safety car. In terms of energy at this point, Vergne has 24% while Cassidy had 28% and Da Costa 29%. Dennis then goes for a move around the outside and he gets Da Costa but not Cassidy as Da Costa fights back. Gunther manages to touch the grass and drop down to P8. With 3 laps remaining, Da Costa takes the lead of the E-Prix! Dennis lines up a move into turn 1 on Da Costa but he stays behind the Porsche driver.

Cassidy manages to hold onto the lead and he wins the Portland E-Prix! Jake Dennis finishes P2 and Antonio Felix Da Costa finished the podium positions in P3. Mitch Evans managed to go from P20 to P4, Sebastian Buemi finished in P5 with Maximilian Gunther in P6. Sam Bird crossed the line in P7 but he got a penalty for a collision and dropped down to P17. Lucas DiGrassi, Pascal Wehrlein and Normal Nato crossed the line P8, P9 and P10 but got points for P7, P8 and P9. Robin Frijns managed to get P10.

Formula E returns in a few weeks with the Rome E-Prix on the 15th and 16th of July with the season finale a few weeks after that in London for the London E-Prix on the 29th and 30th of July.

Who is your favourite to win the title?

21st June 2023

Formula E: Season 10 Provisional Calendar Announced with Tokyo Occupying a Slot

Tokyo has been confirmed to be hosting the 7th round of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship in 2024. It will be the first time the capital of Japan will have hosted an official FIA World Championship round.

The race will be held on March 30th and the track will feature the Tokyo Big Bay convention centre in the city.

Confirming the news today, the Governer of Tokyo, Yuriko Koike said “I am delighted by the official decision that Tokyo will host a Formula E race in March 2024.” They later went onto say “This race will be held around Tokyo Big Sight in Tokyo’s bay area, where developments are underway to become a sustainable next generaction city.”

Provisional Calendar

The provisional calendar is similar the season 9 calandar with pre season testing later this year in October with the cars hitting the track in Valencia from October 23rd to October 27th. There is then a 2 and a half month wait until we official get racing in January where the first race of the season will be in Mexico City on 13th January followed by a double header in Diriyah on January 26th and 27th. There will be a race on the February 10th and February 24th but these are locations have not been confirmed yet.

We return to Sao Paulo in Brazil for the season Sao Paulo E-Prix on March 16th with the teams then flying to Tokyo on March 30th. We then have a 2 week break before a double header in Rome on April 13th and April 14th before returning to Monaco on April 27th. We return to Berlin for a double header on May 11th and May 12th. Round 13 takes place on May 25th but a location is still to be determined.

Jakarta and Portland are rounds 14 and 15 and taking place on June 8th nd June 29th respectfully. We then round off Season 10 of Formula E with a double header in London taking place on July 20th and Jult 21st.

Speaking about Tokyo and the Season 10 Calendar, the Co Founder and Chief Championship Officer of Formula E Alberto Longo said “We are excited to take Formula E to the streets of Tokyo next season.” “The Season 10 Calendar represents our ongoing mission to create a dynamic schedule of new cities hosting eces for the first or second time like Tokyo, Sao Paulo and Portland alongside established hosts like Berlin, Rome, London, Monaco, Diriyah and now Jakarta.”

The Chief Executive Officer of Formula E Jeff Dodds said “Tokyo will be a highlight of our historic 10th season.” “We are also in advanced discussions with many more iconic world cities who are keen to host a Formula E race and create blocker world championship motorsport events with us.” Mr. Dodds confirms that he expects the new calendar to be updated later this year.

The Director of FIA Circuit Sport Department Marek Nawarecki said “This calendar is an illustration of Formula E’s continuing growth and promises to treat fans to another season of superb racing with the new GEN3 car, which has already produced countless crowd-pleasing battles.”

26th May 202330th May 2023

BREAKING: Major Broadcast Changes for the Formula E Jakarta E-Prix Announced

Formula E has announced that major changes have occured for the Jakarta E-Prix, just 1 week ahead of the double header.

Presenter Vernon Kay left the role of lead presenter after the Monaco EPrix a few weeks ago and today, it was announced that Radzi Chinyanganya would take over this role in Jakarta.

As Radzi will leave his pitlane reporter role to fill in for Vernon, Saunders Carmichael-Brown will take over as a pit-lane reporter with Nelson Piquet Jr, Oliver Askew and Kelvin Van Der Linde all taking up their roles.

Also announced is Nicki Shields will be absent for the Jakarta EPrix and will return for the Southwire Portland E-Prix.

A familar face to motorsport fans will be taking over from Jack Nicholls as lead commentator for the Jakarta EPrix with Ben Edwards stepping up. Karun Chandock will be in the commentary box as well.

Speaking about the change, Edwards said “I am very excited to get back behind the mic with Formula E as the on-track action this season is a commentator’s dream.” said Edwards. “The championship is more competitive than ever and I get to bring that to life for viewers around the world. I’m delighted to be joining the team and calling the action in Jakarta.”

Jack Nicholls is also out as the lead commentator for the rest of season 9 and the entire championship.

2nd April 2023

Formula 2-Red Bull Juniors Appear Victorious Down Under

The first trip for Formula 2 in Australia saw Red Bull Juniors take home the trophies, but it was not without a hard weekend of work.

Sprint Race:

The F2 Sprint saw a very clean start from everyone Hauger lead from Crawford and Maini by the end of lap 1. Leclerc tried to make a pass going towards sector 3 which saw 4 wide at one point. Iwasa had a huge lock up on lap 2 which ruined his tyres and had to pit to change his tyres. Leclerc made a move on Maini going into the chicane but Maini fought back later on in the lap. Monleoney, Martins and Bearman were all fighting with Hadjar and Vesti with all of them switching positions but Maloney just managed to get the lead of the bunch.

Dennis Hauger #1 MP Motorsport, during Round three of the FIA Formula 2 Championship at Albert Park Street Circuit, on March 30 – April 2, 2023. // Dutch Photo Agency / Red Bull Content Pool // SI202304010312

Doohan made contact with Juan Manual Correa after which he spun onthe kerb and his race was over. It started to rain from this point so some people gambled on wet tyres. However, the rain did not come so the gamble did not pay off. The safety car was meant to come in on lap 18 but Benevides crashed at the final corner so we had 2 laps of the race left when the safety car went back. Pourchaire had a visit to the gravel trap due to his wet tyres and track not being wet. Hauger managed to hold everyone off to take the victory over Crawford and Maini which round off the podium.

Feature Race:

The F2 Feature Race saw Iwasa hold the lead inro turn 1 and Verchoor struggled at the back of the back by going off. Crawford and Maini went side by side as they battled through the opening lap. On lap 7, Doohan tried to get past Crawford but Crawford ended up coming off worse and into the barrier which brought out the safety car. Hadjar and Bearman ended up colliding in the pitlane and they both had to pit again.

Nissany and Fittipaldi battled on lap 14 and Nissany managed to hold onto the position. Hadjar was pushed off at the penultimate corner and dropped down many places. Iwasa then managed to get through to 2nd position on lap 20. Nissany collided with the wall on lap 26 which saw the race leader Vesti going into the pits and going down to P7. Just before the restart on lap 30, however, Martins went into the back of Hauger and both of them went off and ended up dropping down to the back of the grid. This brought Arther Leclerc into the podium positions and Vesti trying to hunt Leclerc down for a podium but the Monegasque managed to hold him off and get his first podium. Iwasa won the race with Pourchaire in P2.

Featured image courtesy of Dutch Photo Agency / Red Bull Content Pool

5th March 2023

Formula 3 2023 Round 1 Bahrain Round-Up

Image courtesy of Pirelli Motorsports The Formula 3 Season Kicked off in Bahrain this week for the first of 10 rounds.

Qualifying
Qualifying started the first competitive session for the Formula 3 season of 2023. In a tough battle against each other, a shock result saw Mini take his first pole in his first ever Formula 3 qualifying session in the Hitech Pule-Eight car. Bortoleto qualified P2 in the Trident with Saucey qualifying P3.
Sprint
The first race of the Formula 3 season kicked off with Colapinto on the front row and the pole sitter Mini stall on the grid and go from P12 to P26. Colapinto managed to maintain P1 but then by lap 2, Villagmonez crashed into the wall which caused a safety car to be deployed. Collapinto managed to maintain the lead after the restart. Lap 7 saw the HiTech car of Luke Browning stop and cause a Virtual Safety Car to be released. O’Sullivan then went over the kerbs on the outside of 8. Lap 14 saw Pepe Marti close in on the leader Colapinto and he makes the lead on lap 14, turn 4. Marti took his first race win in Formula 3 with Colapinto finishing P2 and Collet finishing the podium positions.
Feature
The Feature Race saw Mini start on pole after he qualified there on Friday. Saucey and Mini were fighting on lap 3 and 4 before Mini finally gets the move done by lap 4. The car of Hugh Barter picked up a puncture on lap 5 caused after a slight piece of contact with an MP Motorsport and he had to go to the pits. Tommy Smith had a spin on lap 7 which saw the safety car deployed. By the time the safety car was brought back to the pits, O’Sullivan and Aron got into a bit of a scrap further on and Montoya was able to pick up the pieces in order to get up to p10. Within laps 15 and 16 saw Goether make his way up to P3 and Browning up to P6. Montoya began to close in on Aron by lap 18 and eventually get the Prema driver by lap 19. Smith collided with another driver on lap 21 which brought out a safety car and brought the race to an end.

While Mini did cross the line first, he got a 5 second time penalty and dropped to P8. That meant that Bortoleto took his first Formula 3 race victory in his first ever Formula 3 Feature Race. Goethe took P2 and Beganovic concluded the podium places.

Formula 3 returns to our screens in 4 weeks time for the first ever weekend behind held in Australia.

14th February 202314th February 2023

Ferrari Unveil the SF23

Image courtesy of Scuderia Ferrari

In the heart of their factory in Italy, the reveal saw the Tifosi line up on Valentine’s Day to see what their favourite team’s next car would look like

The SF-23 is very similar to their 2022 contender which saw a radical change primarily due to the major regulation changes.

image courtesy of Scuderia Ferrari

In terms of the livery, the SF-23 has seen more black visually on the car compared to last year. This is mostly notable on the rear. This could be related to the minimum weight requirement as stated in the regulations.

Speaking about the SF-23, Ferrari’s new Team Principal Frédéric Vasseur said “…the most important thing is the speed of the car. I think we are focussed on the livery today but quite soon we’ll be focussed on the performance.”

Speaking about the upcoming season, driver Charles Leclerc said: “We want to improve. Last year was a good step forward and we need to do just the same this year and hopefully get the championship. That is the target for the team and for me too. ”

Talking about the SF-23, driver Carlos Sainz said: “…the car is a bit more styled, a bit more redefined which is like a good evolution from last year, a lot more details in it”

The teams shakedown at Fiorano is on going but the team will pack up all their equipment and go to Bahrain for the pre season testing next week, February 23rd to February 25th before the opening round of the season a week later.

13th February 2023

Aston Martin Reveal the AMR 23

Aston Martin Formula One have revealed their 2023 car: the AMR 23.

The car is very similar to their 2022 car with an evolution from last year’s car. It comes in at 798Kilograms. Speaking about the AMR 23, the technical director Dan Fallowes said that it’s a “significant development” from the car we saw in the latter stages of 2022.

Aero:

As for the aero side of the AMR 23, the sidepods do have an angle which is more depth compared to the AMR22. There will also be more airflow which made the AMR22 one of the most reliable cars of 2022.
90% of parts were changes due to aero.

Floor:

The floor side of the AMR23 has had some changes, primarily due to the FIA’s changes of regulations which state that the floor must be rise by 15mm to reduce porpoising.

Safety:

There are some safety changes which have been made to the AMR 23. The

role hoop has been made stronger. These changes were made by the FIA after Zhou Guanyu’s horrific crash at Silverstone in 2022. The mirrors have also has an increase in size due to the portpoising and the large 18-inch wheels.

A Comparison between Aston Martin’s cars from 2022 and 2023. Image Credit to Formula One on Twitter.

Speaking about the future, Aston Martin Formula 1 Chairman Lawrence Stroll said “This year’s move into our new state-of-the-art factory is more than just a serious statement of intent: it will considerably strengthen and empower every single individual in this organisation, helping us to deliver on our ambition to narrow the gap to the front of the grid and, in time, become genuine championship frontrunners.”

The team principal Mike Krack said ” For this year, our aim must be to build a car that can fully deliver on its performance potential from the first moment it hits the track.

“Making a strong start to the year, and then maintaining that momentum, is necessary if we are to make further advances towards the front of the grid. And, as an organisation, we are working hard to achieve that, and to further strengthen all areas of the team.””

Dan Fallows said: “AMR23 is a significant development of the car we refined in the latter half of 2022 – and we have improved it in every critical area. It optimises the solutions we felt would offer us the most performance, and it embodies the joint vision we have embraced and have built together over the recent months.”

One of the newest recruits to the Aston Martin F1 family Fernando Alonso said: I have always said that I could see the ambition that shines bright at AMF1. And, as we launch the car in this brand-new factory, I think everyone can now see the scale of the ambition and determination at the heart of this organisation.

“Just as important is the car – and the AMR23 looks incredibly neatly packaged and highly efficient. I was pleasantly surprised when I sampled last year’s car for the very first time, and I think there is plenty of performance we can unlock together.”

Lance Stroll, said Looking at AMR23, I can see lots of new thinking and some aggressive work around the packaging and aerodynamics that should really help us out as we head into year two of these new rules.”

Aston Martin will be running the AMR23 at Silverstone on Wednesday 15th February. With Lance starting in the morining and Fernando running in the afternoon.

11th February 2023

Vergne Takes the Victory in Hyderabad-Hyderabad EPrix Report

HYDERABAD STREET CIRCUIT, INDIA – FEBRUARY 11: Jean-Eric Vergne, DS Penske, DS E-Tense FE23
, 1st position during the Hyderabad ePrix at Hyderabad Street Circuit on Saturday February 11, 2023, India. (Photo by Sam Bagnall / LAT Images)

After starting P2, the two time world champion turned a front row start to his first victory in over 2 years.

Qualifying:

Qualifying saw Hughes, Evans, Fenestraz and Buemi get through from Group A and Rast, Vergen, Bird and Mortara through from group B.

However, Hughes had his times from the group stage deleted due to the minimum pit stop time not being abided by and missed out in the duels.

Buemi, Evans, Bird and Mortara all won their finals. However, all was not as it seemed as bird and Mortara both had their lap times deleted due to track limits. This seemed to have promoted Vergne to the semi finals as well as Rast. While Vergne did go to the semi finals, Rene Rast also had his lap time deleted so Vergene had to do 1 lap by himself around the track to go through to the final.

Evans went head to head with the double world champion for pole but Evans managed to just take it away from Vergne.

Race:
The lights went out for the debut race at Hyderabad and Evans managed to hold onto the lead from Vergne. A few moves were also made on the opening lap including Hughes. Further on into the race, Nick Cassidy managed to make a move up to P6. On lap 2, Mortara hit Cassidy and ended up losing his front wing. The lead changed hands on lap 7 as Buemi made a move at the same time that Evans decided to take attack mode.

Lap 9 and 10 saw Buemi and Vergne respectfully take attack mode and both stayed ahead of Evans. Bird saw a gap to try and overtake his teammate, Evans but he misjudged it and ended up colliding with him. Fenestraz and Genther ended up being passengers in that collision and dropped down the order. Both Bird and Evans had to eventually retire from the race while Fenestraz and Gunther continued to the chequered flag.

Vergne managed to take the lead on lap 15 with Nick Cassidy in P2 and Jake Dennis in P3. Laps 17 to 22 saw Dennis and Cassidy swapping positions from P2 and P3 with Dennis almost hitting Cassidy at one point.

Porsche Formula E Car in Hyderabad. Image Credit: TAG Heuer Porsche on Twitter.

The Safety Car made a surprise appearance on lap 23 as Neom McLaren driver Jake Hughes crashed into the wall due to a mirror being stuck under his steering wheel.
At the start of lap 26, the safety car went into the pits and racing resumed yet again. Neom McLaren’s other driver Rene Rast, however, misjudged a move on Jake Dennis and ended up colliding with the Andretti driver. This resulted in Dennis being at the back of the pack and Rast having to retire.
The last stage of the race saw Cassidy and Vergne enter a battle for the win. Cassidy had 4% more energy for the entire final stage of the race but Vergne managed to hold him off to take the win.

Cassidy finished P2 with Da Costa taking the finish podium spot after Buemi received a post race penalty for a use of overpower which dropped him down the classification. Wehrlein managed to get up to P4 with Sette Camara, Rowland and Nato finishing P5,P6 and P7 respectfully. Vandoorne , Lotterer and Mortara concluded the points paying positions after post race penalties for Vandoorne, Rowland and Buemi occurred.