Fred Gamble

Magnussen started from the pitlane after his huge crash in Q2 led Haas to switch to the spare chassis and a new gearbox, obliging the crew to work late into the night.<br>Having dropped out of parc ferme the team was free to make any changes it wanted, and it went for a set-up that it hoped would help the Dane to progress up the field.<br>However the changes didn’t pay off, and having struggled ...

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Imagine the following situation: You are a motorsport athlete, pushing 30 as you arrive at a career crossroads. You've made an impact, fought with the best of them, emerged as a genuine star, but you've not come anywhere near your dream maiden championship title just yet.<br>Your current deal is expiring, and there's multiple suitors going forward. There's obvious interest from a top team, and ...

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But what approaches have the three leading teams taken in their car designs during pre-season testing at Barcelona? How do their crucial front wings and bargeboards compare? Who has taken the biggest gamble with their new chassis?<br>Motorsport Network's technical experts Giorgio Piola, Gary Anderson and Jake Boxall-Legge discuss the approaches of the top squads, and debate which team has made the ...

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Ferrari changed both Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen onto Pirelli’s soft compound after just one sighting lap on supersofts at the beginning of Q2, at a point when rain was believed to be imminent. That timing was of the essence was emphasised by Vettel’s momentary indiscretion when the FIA called him in to the weighbridge at pit entry. Vettel and Raikkonen lapped quickly enough to ...

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Ferrari paid the price for the decision to leave the pitlane on intermediates at the start of Q3, when the track was still dry, with Sebastian Vettel finishing down in ninth position. Grosjean was one of the stars of qualifying, placing the Haas in fifth, but he acknowledged a last-minute change of mind stopped him from following Ferrari's strategy. When asked how close he was to going out ... ...

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Vettel and teammate Kimi Raikkonen were the only drivers to be sent out on intermediate tyres at the start of Q3, but both returned to the pits after just one lap as the track was dry. With rain hitting the circuit at the end of the session, the time lost at the start proved crucial, as Vettel wound up ninth after a poor fastest lap. "I think, why we took the decisions, five or six minutes ... ...

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Another race – along with Germany, Hungary and Italy – that should have been won by Ferrari slipped away through a combination of driver and strategy; the balance heavily slanted here towards Hamilton and Mercedes. The Singapore GP podium Photo by: Jerry Andre / Sutton Images Mind the gap Often in Formula 1 race strategy, it’s all about the gaps between cars and ability ... ...

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With the team well aware that its Renault power unit is lacking compared to Mercedes and Ferrari, it elected to trim out Max Verstappen's wing in a bid to not lose out in a straight line.But although Verstappen managed to qualify on the second row – just three tenths adrift of Sebastian Vettel – Horner said that the team was still losing out in top speed term."I think Max is slightly ...

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With doubts over the longevity of the hypersoft, several teams considered using the ultrasoft in Q2, which would allow them to start on it and have greater strategy flexibility in the race – including the possibility to run an ultrasoft/supersoft combination, avoiding the hypersoft completely.A one-second delta between the hypersoft and ultrasoft meant that it was always going to be a ...

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The Ferrari driver lost time after a wobble at Turn 1 in his first Q3 run and then decided to switch from supersofts to softs for his second and final attempt.Raikkonen finished down in fourth, however, nearly half a second off pole and three tenths behind teammate Sebastian Vettel.The Finn said he gambled on the soft-tyre run as he felt he did not have much to lose."Obviously after ...

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Stick or twist? This is the question Red Bull must answer as it considers whether to continue to use Renault or switch to Honda propulsion in 2019. When the deal was first done for Toro Rosso to become Honda's works Formula 1 partner last year, this seemed an optimistic hit and hope with a low probability of paying off, but Pierre Gasly's fourth place in the Bahrain Grand Prix proves ...

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