Articles — Formula 1 RSS

In our last deep dive into Giorgio Piola’s treasure trove, we cast our eye over Ferrari’s 312. But it was 1974 rivals McLaren and Emerson Fittipaldi that prevailed, running out the eventual winners in a less complex but far more compliant car. Next year will be Giorgio’s 50th year in the sport – having covered over 800 GPs, he’s one of the longest-serving journalists to ever grace the F1 paddock. This gives him a unique insight into the ever-changing landscape of the sport and perhaps, more importantly, an uninterrupted vision of the physical transformation the cars have undergone. The McLaren M23’s lifespan, much like many cars of the era, actually stretched across four years and continued to serve customer teams for another...

Red Bull's impending Honda deal means Toro Rosso has been virtually playing a test role for the parent team's 2019 season - but that doesn't mean it has ceased concurrent chassis developments. With the end of the season in sight, you could forgive a midfield team like Toro Rosso for giving up on improving its current car and instead be focusing entirely on 2019. However, its STR13 has remained a sort of mobile laboratory as it, Honda and Red Bull have laid down the foundations for what they hope will be a good challenge in years to come. On the engine front, Honda has not hesitated in using Toro Rosso’s car as a test bench this year – which has helped it accelerate...

Ferrari became the first Formula 1 team to run a new generation of brake discs at the Mexican Grand Prix, featuring an unprecedented 1400 holes to help cooling.   The unique high-altitude demands of Mexico, where teams struggle to keep temperatures of engines and brakes under control, was the perfect proving ground for the new disc that will be made available to all customers in 2019. F1's brake suppliers have long balanced out increasing the number of holes to help cooling with the need for structural integrity of the disc itself. Twenty years ago there were less than 30 big holes around the centre of the disc, and this number only increased dramatically around five years ago when drilling more than...

Ferrari’s return to form at the United States Grand Prix coincided with a eureka moment for the Formula 1 team, as it finally realized that some it's recent upgrades have not worked out as it hoped. Its determination to try to make a success of recent developments had seen it persist in pushing down this route, but only when it rolled back on some of its parts did it get confirmation that it still had a quick car underneath it. For Sebastian Vettel, having a competitive car and answers to recent struggles was reason to both celebrate and cry. “It took too long," he said. "You can see it is good news but you can also see it is bad...

While Ferrari’s title hopes may have been derailed by strategy and operational failures, on the technical front the team continues to push hard in its bid to close down Mercedes. The family of front-end parts installed on the car in Russia, including a new front wing concept and turning vanes, were retained for the Japanese GP, and these new parts were accompanied by a new front brake duct fence.  The fence features two new fins that protrude out from the vertical fence, both of which take advantage of the reprofiled flow generated by the front wing, guiding it to its destination downstream. At the rear of the car, Ferrari opted to run its lower downforce configuration rear wing, and also tested a...