Formula Frenzy

 Oscar Piastri has signed an contract extension with McLaren Racing. He'll be driving orange until at least 2026.  The announcement was stress-free compared to other ones we've seen in the F1 world, which Oscar did point out himself with a tweet.  Following this announcement, the driver secured the front row on the starting grid for the Japanese GP, right in front of his McLaren counterpart Lando Norris.  McLaren Twitter This is Oscar's best qualifying yet in his career and we here hope to see a papaya win.  written by Randi May

According to ESPN F1 on Twitter, seen below, the Japanese GP winners will have their home flags displayed on the trophies after they kiss the trophy following the end of the race.  How cool!!!!   The Japanese GP will have the world's first ever 'kiss activated' trophies 😘 The trophies will display the colours of the national flag of the winning driver when kissed 🏆 (via @Lenovo ) pic.twitter.com/3lkxuRyNRb — ESPN F1 (@ESPNF1) September 23, 2023 written by Randi May 

 It's race weekend! We're excited for this nighttime race and we hope you are too. Qualifying results (posted at the bottom of this piece )  are not what you might expect.  First though, let's take a look at the special, glitzy and glam helmets that we'll see out on the track on Sunday.  Lando Norris on Instagram First,  Lando Norris. This helmet is so cute, I personally want one. It matches the McLaren drivers' suits, which are black to match with the night sky in humid Singapore.  There's also mini helmets of this one for sale:  click here McLaren's Oscar Piastri also has a special helmet for this race:  Singapore 🤝 Sparkles. @OscarPiastri has added some night race appropriate upgrades to his lid! 😍 #SingaporeGP 🇸🇬 pic.twitter.com/Fw5D5OFJ6T — McLaren (@McLarenF1) September 14, 2023 Kevin Magnussen's newly designed helmet is pretty glam as well, if I do say so myself. Seen below, you can see the white and red complementary design with a gr...

 The last two years at the Singapore GP, we've started with a one Charles Leclerc in pole position.  This year, it's his teammate on Ferrari- Carlos Sainz. Leclerc is starting in P3.  After setting a time less than 2/10ths of a second behind Sainz in Free Practice 2, the Monegasque man was surely hyped up for qualifying, but got beat out by George Russell for Mercedes by just .007 of a second in Q3.   Leclerc sits in the second row with Lando Norris to start the race.  And something we haven't seen all season... the two Red Bull drivers are each starting in the back half of the grid. Max Verstappen will try to work his way up from P11 at the start, and Checo P13.  Full starting grid below:  F1 on YouTube F1 on YouTube written by Randi May

 We saw in free practices and qualifying today that Williams Racing is presenting themselves in a new, light blue livery on the Williams FW45.  Logan Sargeant and Alex Albon will be racing in this beautiful car for the race tomorrow. The two are starting 18th and 14th respectively.  Motorsport.com on Twitter written by Randi May

 Zhou Guanyu has been racing with Alfa Romeo since the beginning of 2022, and he's staying with the team at least for 2024.  Formula One It's also been said that the Alfa Romeo team will go back to being called "Sauber" next season.  written by Randi May

McLarenF1 on X Check out this sick new *stealth mode* livery McLaren unveiled today!  The team says they'll be using it for the Singapore Grand Prix as well as the Japan Grand Prix.  STEALTH MODE: UNLOCKED 🔓 We're switching up our livery for Singapore and Japan with @OKX . 🖤 #StealthMode pic.twitter.com/8brSfkye2J — McLaren (@McLarenF1) September 13, 2023 written by Randi May 

  While many drivers have been enjoying their two week break from racing, all of them have been gearing up for the most physically demanding race of the season. The Marina Bay Circuit first popped up on the F1 calendar in 2008 and was the first night-time race in F1 history. This street circuit is exceptionally difficult due to its 19 turns, many being tight turns, and the unforgiving weather. The race this year will be 62 laps and the circuit length is yet to be calculated, according to the Formula 1 website. Photo from official Singapore Grand Prix website The Marina Bay Circuit was revised this year, reducing the track to 19 corners from 23. That doesn’t mean that it’ll be any easier. The drivers are still constantly working the steering wheel and dealing with the G-forces around all the corners. To add to that, Singapore is just 94.43 miles (151.97 km) away from the equator resulting in the weather always being hot and very humid. Frequent rainfall happens which can cause anoth...

After tying a record of nine races won in a row, 2022 world champion Max Verstappen released a post honoring his incredible achievement and mentioning that the plan, of course, is to keep pushing.  Sebastian Vettel set the record of 9 consecutive wins in 2013 with Red Bull as well.  Verstappen battled with Ferrari's Carlos Sainz for the first 15 laps of the Italian GP and led the race most of the rest of the way. He ended up snagging P1 with his teammate right behind him.  @maxverstappen1 on Instagram With 10 consecutive wins now and his motivation and encouragement ever growing, Verstappen could end up clinching the world title with a decent amount of races to go.  Check back here as the season goes on to see when he might go above and beyond with those championship points.  written by: Randi May

 Monza was a lot of fun with some close battles in the top part of the grid for most of the way. If you didn't know, the track had its debut in 1922 on the exact date as this year's race.  Ferrari's Carlos Sainz ended up on Pole Position and held it for about 15 laps before he was overtook by Max Verstappen. Max ended up winning the race -- and breaking a record with 10 race wins in a row! This beats Sebastian Vettel who set the record of 9 consecutive wins in 2013.  Red Bull's Checo Perez made his way up the top 10 and into second for the finish, while Carlos did only end up losing one more spot, securing his spot on the podium. Though, his teammate Charles Leclerc did give him a little bit of a run for his money. Leclerc ended up in P4 and less than .20 of a second behind Carlos.  Alpha Tauri's temporary driver Liam Lawson started in 12th and ended up in 11th, but unfortunately, his teammate Yuki Tsunoda wasn't even able to start the race after coming into eng...

The Mercedes boys will be sticking with the team until 2025, according to a recent team announcement. Even though the team has had some struggles this year, the two drivers are staying committed and confident that we'll see some wins as time goes on. Lewis has had four podiums so far this season.  Following the announcement, George and Lewis placed P5 and P6 in the Italian GP. Let's see what happens in Singapore!    Mercedes AMG Petronas, Twitter written by: Randi May

 It's the end of break and we're back into full swing at Zandvoort.  Formula 1 The Dutch GP is a fun one! Last year, we saw 47 overtakes in just one 72 lap race.  The circuit at Zandvoort is just over 4 km and there's two DRS zones, one of which is around a corner. And as one presenter said during Free Practice 1 Friday, this track is known for being twisty, turny and tight... You can see where the DRS zones are at below, which is of course where we'll see most of those overtakes.  Formula 1 Our world champ whose home race this is won the Dutch GP last year by just 4 seconds over George Russell, but Mercedes other driver Lewis Hamilton holds the track record from the race in 2021: a 1.11.097 time.  We'll see what happens Sunday. written by: Randi May

We're finally in the weekend after Silly Season and headed toward the Dutch GP, home of our world champ Max Verstappen. Don't know about you but we’re excited!    And so is Max! The Red Bull racer has released a special helmet for his home race and it’s perfect to kick off the second half of the season. As you may recall, the world champ has won the last 8 races this season...  As you can see below, it's pretty classic.  Unfortunately, the race weekend did start out with an unfortunate injury for Daniel Ricciardo-- who was being borrowed on loan from RBR to Alpha Tauri, but now will be out until he heals at least.  This means Red Bull will indeed need to find a new reserve driver for the rest of the 2023 season. We'll keep you updated on who that will be.  View this post on Instagram A post shared by Max Verstappen (@maxverstappen1) written by: Randi May

As you may know, it's summer break in the 2023 Formula One season, and while we are sad, we're happy to see our drivers enjoying their well-deserved vacations.  If you've been active on Instagram since our last race in Belgium, you may have seen how active the grid boys have been.  George Russell has been recharging his batteries with well-earned vacation time with his family including his girlfriend Carmen Montero Mundt. The Mercedes driver says he's not too experienced with water sports, but gave it a try with some jet-skiing and flyboarding.  View this post on Instagram A post shared by George Russell (@georgerussell63) Our other Mercedes driver, Lewis Hamilton, and Ferrari's Carlos Sainz have also been enjoying the water on their break.  @carlossainz55 Instagram World champion Max Verstappen was seen enjoying his summer break with his partner Kelly Piquet...  posing in front of a wall with a quote I personally think represents Max's journey...

This replacement follows news of the team’s principal leaving at the end of the season. What will the future of Alpha Tauri look like?   Right around the time of Silverstone, rumors started to circuit that Alpha Tauri would be replacing Nyck de Vries with a well known man in the sport— Daniel Ricciardo.  Two days after that race, Alpha Tauri themselves confirmed it with a short welcome to Ricciardo on social media.  Many fans and drivers alike are happy to see this honey badger and his big smile back on the grid.  Nyck de Vries posted a statement about the news on Instagram saying he’s grateful for the opportunities he’s had in Formula One. He points to hope for a journey back onto the grid at some point to live out his dream and also says he’s taking a break from social media during this time. Can't really blame him.  @nyckdevries / Instagram During a Pirelli tyre test for Red Bull Racing at Silverstone, Daniel Ricciardo raced a lap at 1:27:415, ...

The Belgian GP this past weekend also included a sprint race... something that's received mixed reactions from the fans and drivers since it's been introduced this season. On Saturday, it was rainy in Spa so everybody started with wet compound tyres and the FIA ruled they’d begin the race on a rolling start.   After 5 laps of formation under the safety car-- and the track mostly cleared up, about half the grid immediately followed into the pit lane to change tyres to intermediate.   Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso did not finish the race after spinning nearly into the wall on one of the turns. The car was fine for the race Sunday… and the birthday boy took it from the fifth row to fifth position for the finish!  In the sprint, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen ended up where he started… in first place. He was followed by Mclaren’s Oscar Piastri and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly— two drivers we haven’t seen much on a ‘podium’, even though it was for a sprint.   Congrats all!

Actors Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney have broadened the sports fields they're investing in.. and this time, it'll be lookin' more like a race track.  The actors with Renault investor group have  acquired a 24% stake in the Alpine F1 team, which is currently represented on the grid by Frenchmen Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon.  This places the team's value, they say, at approximately €900m. Alpine's season didn't start out too hot but the driver's are working their way up in points... and this new stack of money may help the team hop on some improvement for later on in this campaign and in future years.  BWT Alpine F1 Team F1 gathered the following quote from Alpine's CEO L aurent Rossi: “This association is an important step to enhance our performance at all levels. First, Otro Capital, RedBird Capital Partners and Maximum Effort Investments, as international players with strong track record in the sports industry, will bring their recognised expertise...

The Canadian GP had us on our toes, which was a nice turn of events after a less intense start to the season...  After a group of drivers got hit with starting grid penalties following a qualifying full of impeding, we saw this starting 10:  Verstappen, Alonso, Hamilton, Russell, Hulkenberg, Ocon, Norris, Piastri, Albon and Leclerc. In 11th and 12th, Ferrari's Carlos Sainz and Red Bull's Sergio Perez respectively.  Lewis Hamilton took 2nd almost immediately after the lights went out. Ocon moves up into 5th and  Magnussen quickly hits the wall, then having to regain position on the track.   Red Bull's Max Verstappen hit a bird on lap 11... and it stayed put the whole race. My hats off to the mechanic that cleaned that up.  Aston Martin's Lance Stroll, the only Canadian on this year's grid, finished P9, gaining himself two more points in the drivers championship.  The two DRS zones on this tight track, the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve proved to be bene...