F1Minute - Bitesize Formula One News

First practice in Sepang was dominated by a terrifying fire outside the Renault garage. Kevin Magnussen completed just two installation laps before his car burst into flames. He leapt out and allowed the mechanics to move in with fire extinguishers, but they couldn’t get the fire to stay out. The session was red flagged for twenty minutes until the blaze could be brought under control.

The FIA have revealed the 2017 Formula One calendar, which is very similar to this year’s offering, featuring 21 races across nine months. The action gets underway later than normal with Australia opening up the season on March 26, and Abu Dhabi closing proceedings on November 26. The summer break is still firmly in place with most of August free of racing.

Romain Grosjean found himself unable to start the Singapore Grand Prix, failing to even make it to the grid on Sunday. That was the end of a really brutal weekend for the Haas driver, which included two separate crashes on Friday and Saturday, and then a brake-by-wire issue on the Sunday that kept him in the garage while the rest of the field was racing.

The Singapore Grand Prix was a long race, as usual, and we saw a safety car, as usual, although this time it came out almost instantly the race began. Romain Grosjean had a brake failure which meant he couldn’t even start the race, whilst Nico Hülkenberg tangled with a Toro Rosso and crashed into the pit wall mere seconds after the lights went out.

Nico Rosberg secured pole position for the night race in Singapore, with Lewis Hamilton having to settle for third. Daniel Ricciardo earned second place and a front row start for the race tomorrow after a lengthy qualifying battle, with Max Verstappen in fourth place.

Free Practice 1 in Singapore was led by Max Verstappen, as Red Bull’s expected pace managed to shine through round the lengthy street circuit. Lewis Hamilton ran the halo device early on, and finished the morning fourth, whilst Rosberg was slightly down on his teammate but more down on luck – he crashed into the wall and damaged his front wing. Jenson Button also stopped out on track after just three minutes of the session, causing a virtual safety car thanks to a fuel system issue.

Ruth Buscombe gained a modicum of notoriety after helping the Haas F1 team make a cracking start to their season. Two top six finishes were helped along by Buscombe, who sat on the pit wall for the American team as race strategist. She moved to a factory position before departing the team altogether and has now joined Sauber to pick up her strategist role once more.

Nico Rosberg converted his front row grid slot into a comfortable race win in Monza, as Lewis Hamilton was forced to recover from a very poor start. The Brit dropped from pole position down to sixth place off the line, but was able to use the superior speed of the Mercedes to claw his way back up to second. The result means Nico Rosberg is now within two points of Hamilton in the fight for the championship, so it’s closer than ever at the top whilst still being very much a two horse race.

Jenson Button has announced he will be taking a step back from a full time race drive in Formula One after this season has been completed, but he’s not retiring completely. Unlike Felipe Massa, who confirmed his retirement from the sport this week, Button intends to remain with McLaren and work with them on what they are calling an “innovative three-driver strategy.”

Qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix kicked off with a failure for the Manor driver Esteban Ocon, in only his second qualifying appearance. His teammate, however, Pascal Wehrlein, managed to get through to the second session, winding up 14th on the grid in the end.