Monday 18 February 2019

2018/19 Formula E - Mexico City ePrix - Round 4 Recap

Review of Round Four of the 2018-19 Formula E season held on the shorter version of the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez circuit in Mexico City, Mexico.

The race was won by Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler Formula E Team driver Lucas di Grassi in his Spark-Audi. Second was BMW i Andretti Motorsport driver António Félix da Costa in his Spark-BMW, he was four tenths of a second behind di Grassi in the end. Meanwhile, third was Venturi Formula E Team driver Edoardo Mortara in his Spark–Venturi, he was seven tenths of a second behind di Grassi in the end.

Highlights of the race below, enjoy.



Next stop, Round Five of the 2018-19 Formula E season at the Hong Kong Central Harbourfront Circuit for the Hong Kong ePrix in three weeks time.

2019 WRC Round 2 recap - Rally Sweden

Recap of the last round of WRC from this weekends Round 2 of Rally Sweden.

This weekends was the second round of the World Rally Championship at the Rally Sweden (14th-17th February) that was won by Ott Tänak in his works Toyota Yaris WRC.



While, Esapekka Lappi finished second in his works Citroën C3 WRC, Lappi was fifty-four seconds behind Tänak at the end. Meanwhile, Thierry Neuville finished third in his works Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC, Neuville was fifty-seven behind Tänak at the end of the rally.

Meanwhile in WRC-2 Pro class (Manufacturer entries competing in cars built to Group R5 specifications), that was won by Citroën Total driver Mads Østberg in his Citroën C3 R5. Mads Østberg finished in eleventh place overall, he was eight and half minutes behind Tänak at the end of the rally.

While in WRC-2 class (Open to privately-entered cars; Group R5, R4, Super 2000 and Group N4 spec cars), that was won by Ole Christian Veiby in his own backed Volkswagen Polo GTI R5. Ole Christian Veiby finished in ninth place overall, he was six and half minutes behind Tänak at the end of the rally.

Meanwhile in Junior-WRC class (Competing in identical one-litre Ford Fiesta R2s built and maintained by M-Sport) that was won by Tom Kristensson. Tom Kristensson finished in thirtieth place overall, he was twenty-seven minutes behind Tänak at the end of the rally.

Highlights of the rally below, enjoy.



Next stop, Round Three of the 2019 WRC season for Rally Mexico in three weeks time.

Tuesday 5 February 2019

Ferrari signs Brendon Hartley as a development driver

It was announce yesterday (4/2/19) that former Toro Rosso driver Brendon Hartley will be Ferrari's development driver during the 2019 season.



Hartley will be the teams test driver and will focus on car development in the simulator, and will now move across to Ferrari, where he joins test and reserve driver Pascal Wehrlein in providing support to Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc.



Hartley made his Grand Prix debut in F1 in 2017 at the United States Grnad Prix with Toro Rosso, replacing Daniil Kvyat.

But having struggled to deliver consistent form and scoring points in 2018, Hartley was let go from Toro Rosso at the end of the 2018 season replaced by Alexander Albon for 2019.

Saturday 2 February 2019

Name change, Sauber F1 Team rebranded as Alfa Romeo Racing

It was confirmed on Friday (1/2/19), Sauber F1 Team will be rebranded as Alfa Romeo Racing from the start of the 2019 F1 season.



The last time Alfa Romeo name was on the Formula 1 grid as a constructor back in 1985.



But, returned to the sport last season as Sauber's title sponsor.



The team say the ownership and management structure remains unchanged but the Sauber name will disappear.

Sauber has been a fixture in F1 since in 1993, when team boss Peter Sauber made the switch from sports car racing.

Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi will race for the rebranded outfit, which finished eighth in the constructors' championship last season and will again be powered by Ferrari engines in 2019.

It won’t be the first time the Sauber name has disappeared from Formula 1, back in 2005 BMW bought the Sauber team renamed as BMW Sauber sometimes dubbed as BMW for the 2006 season until 2010 when Petter Sauber rebought the team from BMW.



Sad that the Sauber name is disappearing from Formula 1, although Peter Sauber doesn’t own the team anymore. It is being replace by the Alfa Romeo name instead which is a good choice with their history in Formula 1.