Formula One

22nd March 2018

Australian GP: Formula One has entered a new world, but that may not mean new challengers just yet.

In Formula One, the prize may remain the same and contenders look like remaining the same as the 2018 season draws upon us.

Those aspects aside however, and the sport has taken a very different direction.

We have a new logo, a halo, no grid girls but grid kids, races at ten past the hour and who knows, maybe some Honda reliability?

We all know that you can never take testing times seriously, but even by recent standards this winter, snow and all, offered remarkably few clues as to this year’s world order.

Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes remain favourites this year. Monte Carlo, Monaco.
Saturday 27 May 2017.
World Copyright: Zak Mauger/LAT Images
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Hamilton was well within his rights to react angrily to Vettel.

Tentative forecasts suggest that the big three teams of Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull are very close together, but all six of their drivers have kept their cards close to their chests and have instead lavished praise on their competitors. Oddly, that’s probably the way their employers like it.

And if you are going to use the Australian Grand Prix to look for the running order for the rest of the season, you may even end up being disappointed there too.

While Mercedes won three curtain-raisers in a row between 2014-16, Melbourne has gained something of a reputation for throwing up a surprise result.

Vettel may have won in Australia last year, but he took only one win during his dominance of the sport 2010-13 Albert Park, Melbourne, Australia.
Sunday 26 March 2017.
World Copyright: Zak Mauger/LAT Images
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Indeed, Sebastian Vettel won only one Australian Grand Prix during his four-year dominance of the sport at the start of the decade.

The battle to be best of the rest is similarly unclear.

Early suggestions are that it’s between four teams; Renault, Haas, McLaren and Force India.

If Toto Wolff is right, Haas will be the ones picking up the pieces should the top six come to blows, and the American team seemed to show good pace in the winter as they bid to improve on two successive eighth place finishes in their first two seasons.

McLaren had been struggling until the final day when they finally showed something like their true pace, while Renault threatened early and went about their business quietly thereafter after hitting small technical gremlins.

McLaren are hopeful that their switch from Honda to Renault Power Units in the close season will give them around a second in pace, after three torrid years with Honda. Ironically, Honda look to have finally started to get their own act together with Toro Rosso.

All of that is helpful with only three of each of the Power Unit elements allocated for 2018.

Not all of these questions will be answered at the first race in Australia. In fact, the evidence gathering only starts now.

20th March 2018

Down Under – Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo & Max Verstappen Preview The 2018 F1 Australian GP | Mobil 1 The Grid

Check out the newest preview from Mobil 1 The Grid of the Australian Grand Prix, featuring Max Verstappen & Daniel Ricciardo.

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20th March 2018

Australian Grand Prix: Race Preview

In a few days’ time, F1 will be back for 2018 and racing around the streets of Albert Park for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

After a fortnight of pre-season testing confused by rain and snow, this will be the first chance to see who’s settled where in the pecking order over the winter.

Much of the focus will of course be on Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel, as both drivers are gunning to become the first of their generation to win a fifth world title.

After testing many are tipping Hamilton as having the advantage again, with Mercedes’ focus on long runs in Barcelona hinting at a daunting degree of race pace.

But that’s not to say Mercedes will have the race all to themselves this weekend. The record-breaking lap times set by Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen in testing may have been a little flattered by low fuel loads, but still suggest there’s enough speed in Ferrari’s SF71H to give the Silver Arrows a real challenge in qualifying.

And then there’s Red Bull, whose RB14 looked dependable on track and much closer to the top two than its predecessor. The Austrian outfit hasn’t won in Melbourne since 2011, but could Max Verstappen or homeboy Daniel Ricciardo have the machinery to buck that trend this year?

Add that to the paddock talk from Barcelona that Mercedes is once again finding it difficult to unlock pace on the softer tyres, and the reigning champions could be facing a real headache on a weekend favouring the soft, supersoft and ultrasoft rubber.

Nor is it just the top three who might be in for a tough scrap in Albert Park—the race to take first blood in the upper midfield battle looks to be equally tight.

At present, Renault looks favourite to be best-of-the-rest in Melbourne. The Enstone team has been one of the most-improved this winter, judging by a consistent presence high up the time and mileage leaderboards in testing, and their two drivers have a history of delivering good results in Australia.

But Renault aren’t the only ones expected to make a solid start to their 2018 campaign. Haas made a big impression in pre-season testing and have been tipped by champions Mercedes to be this season’s dark horse. And the hype isn’t without good reason, either—Haas ended testing as the fifth fastest team, and with Kevin Magnussen as the sixth-fastest driver.

And speaking of surprising testing performances, Honda will be hoping their respectable showing in Barcelona translates to their first points finish in the season opener since 2006.

Together with new partners Toro Rosso, the Japanese marque ended pre-season testing with the third-highest number of laps per team as well as setting some decent midfield times.

But form in testing is one thing—the true proof of Honda’s 2018 campaign will come when the STR13 takes to the race track this weekend.

20th March 201820th March 2018

Brendon Leigh interview – ‘If the right people help grow the series then it can reach the same viewership.’

Post udostępniony przez brendon leigh (@brendonleigh72) Mar 5, 2018 o 5:39 PST

Brendon Leigh made headlines last year when he won the inaugural Formula One Esports event last year. Aaron Irwin caught up with the reigning champion to discuss his way into sim racing, the Esports event, and his future.

TPCO: What got you into sim racing? Also which sim did you start off on?

BL: I started Sim racing because i watched Formula 1 on TV so when F1 2010 game came out by Codemasters it was natural for that to be my first racing simulator.

What was going through your mind when you overtook Fabrizio on the final lap of the Grand Final?

I cant fully remember as it was a long time ago.

Do you feel F1 learned from the issues faced in the Vegas eRace when staging their own Esports competition?

It is hard to say as i don’t know anything about the behind the scenes in the F1 Esports, What i do know is that experience will iron out problems so they probably did learn a little from the eRace.

With Esports continuing to grow, do you think it has the chance to be as big as the real deal?

Its possible, If the right people help grow the series then it can reach the same viewership but we will have to wait and see.

There is a now famous ‘finger wagging’ gif from the Esports competition which features you, how do you feel seeing the Formula 1 community using it on race weekends?

I highly doubt it, The finger wag is not a few thing to Formula 1 or the Motorsport world. People waving a finger is frustration isn’t a new thing so I doubt me doing will change a huge amount.

Has your life changed at all since the Esports final?

Massively, I have gained a lot of self confidence from the Esports series and I have lost a lot of weight to go with that.

Are you a big F1 fan? If so who do you think will win the title this season?

Yes I am a big Formula 1 fan, Its hard to say who will win it. Only with pre-season testing done and none of the top teams have shown their true pace yet.

You’ve lost an incredible amount of weight since the competition, how have you managed to do it?

With the help from Esports+Cars and the amazing help from Simon who helps me train two times a week. That has been the main key to the weight loss, having the best team around you.

What are you up to currently? Racing in any leagues?

Mainly just getting my weight down and getting ready for next F1 esports series. Yes i race in the Apex Online Racing league.

Lastly, Any advice for anyone looking to get into sim racing?

Enjoy the time sim racing, You cant win every race but try to end each race with a smile.

Thanks to Brendon for giving us his time to answer the questions and we wish him the best of luck in his sim racing exploits this season.

9th March 2018

F1 testing: Raikkonen leads Alonso on final day

Kimi Räikkönen kept Ferrari on top for the final day of 2018 testing, leading by half a second from McLaren’s Fernando Alonso.

The Finn set his best time during the morning session, using hypersofts to post a 1:17.221s—just 0.039s slower than Sebastian Vettel’s record-breaking lap from Thursday.

Although Räikkönen’s focus turned to long runs in the afternoon as he notched up a total of 153 laps, his time was strong enough to remain fastest even as a flurry of hot laps came late in the session.

Fernando Alonso made the most ground on the leaderboard during that period, setting a pair of hypersoft-shod 1:17s that brought him within 0.563s of the Ferrari in the final 15 minutes.

The Spaniard did briefly top the leaderboard following that run with a 1:16.720s, but this time came by cutting the final chicane and as such was deleted.

As well as rising to second-quickest, Alonso’s afternoon was also spent recovering from yet another interrupted morning. After teammate Vandoorne logged 151 laps on Thursday, Alonso’s final session with the MCL33 was halted after just seven laps this morning, when a turbo problem prompted a five-hour engine change.

However, once that was completed Alonso had no further issues on track and ended the day with a respectable 93 laps.

Alonso’s P2 was the first in a trio of Renault-powered cars to slot in behind Räikkönen, as the French marque continued to show signs of improvements in its power unit performance.

Carlos Sainz’s works Renault was three tenths down on the McLaren in third. Like Alonso, he too was making up for lost track time in the final hours, following a gearbox problem that halted his RS18 after just four installation laps in the morning.

Fourth was Daniel Ricciardo, who set a supersoft lap of 1:18.327s—only three tenths off the hypersoft lap that put the Australian on top of Tuesday’s session.

Romain Grosjean was fifth, putting in another strong showing of speed for Haas with a 1:18.412s. The Frenchman also posted the most laps of the day at 191.

Valtteri Bottas—who set his best time on the medium tyre—was the highest-placed Mercedes in sixth. Once again, the Silver Arrows split its day between Bottas and Lewis Hamilton, with the duo putting in a combined 201 laps on Friday to bring Mercedes’ testing total up to 1,040.

That’s 56 fewer than the team achieved during 2017 testing, but still leaves Mercedes comfortably top of this year’s mileage charts, setting 111 laps more than next-best Ferrari.

Slotting into third on the teams’ lap count was Toro Rosso-Honda, their total of 822 laps including the 156 logged by Brendon Hartley on Friday. The New Zealander was seventh-fastest in the end, one tenth down on Bottas and less than 0.020s quicker than Esteban Ocon’s Force India in eighth.

Charles Leclerc was ninth, and the first driver outside of the 1:18s. The reigning F2 champion’s final day was hampered when he span into the gravel trap in the morning—the delay limited Leclerc to 75 laps, the third-lowest total of the day.

Lewis Hamilton made a rare appearance towards the bottom of the leaderboard, as his 1:19.464s (good enough for fourth in the morning) tumbled down the order while his teammate drove the afternoon session.

The defending champion eventually settled in eleventh place, splitting the two Williams’ of Sergey Sirotkin and Lance Stroll. During his morning in the FW41, Sirotkin recorded a century of laps to help Williams to fourth in overall testing mileage.

However, his teammate added only 27 laps of his own in the afternoon running, and with a best time of 1:19.954s Stroll made it the sixth time in eight days of testing that a Williams has been slowest.

7th March 2018

F1 testing: Ricciardo breaks lap record; Renault nears 200 laps

Daniel Ricciardo lowered the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya’s unofficial lap record during Wednesday’s testing session, setting a time of 1:18.047s on the new hypersoft tyre.

The Australian’s lap was more than three tenths faster than the previous record set by Felipe Massa during testing in 2008, and nearly six tenths below last year’s fastest testing time, set by Kimi Räikkönen.

Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas were close behind the Red Bull. Their best flying laps, both set on the ultrasoft tyre, were four and five tenths adrift of Ricciardo respectively, but still comfortably within the 1:18s.

These times came as teams focused on performance runs during the morning session, the result being that many of Wednesday’s laps were among the quickest of 2018 testing so far.

Fourth fastest was Sebastian Vettel. The German was given an unexpected extra session on Wednesday morning as teammate Kimi Räikkönen was unwell, but opted to concentrate on long runs rather than challenge Red Bull and Mercedes on the hypersoft—however, he did manage to lap within a second of third-placed Bottas despite running on the soft compound tyre at the time.

Three tenths behind Vettel came Brendon Hartley and Fernando Alonso, both setting closely-matched 1:19.8s on the ultrasofts. Alonso had looked set to enjoy McLaren’s first trouble-free day of testing so far when he ran among the pacesetters during the morning and notched up 47 laps early on.

However, an oil leak before midday resulted in an engine change that cost Alonso over six hours of track time—the Spaniard was only able to fit in another 15 minutes of running at the end of the day, bringing his Wednesday lap count up to 57.

Carlos Sainz was seventh fastest, being the first driver above 1:20s and the only one of the day to set his time on the medium tyre.

Although Sainz’s best lap was ultimately two seconds off Ricciardo’s benchmark, he did contribute to Renault leading the way in terms of mileage on Wednesday. The Spaniard logged 88 rounds of the Barcelona track during his morning in the RS18, before teammate Nico Hülkenberg added a further 102 after lunch.

Their combined 190 laps puts Renault second so far in the number of testing laps completed per team, with 602 to Mercedes’s 658.

Romain Grosjean was eighth-fastest on a 1:20.237s. Haas ended the session with the second-lowest lap total when an oil leak on Grosjean’s car limited him to 78 laps across the day.

Räikkönen, who recovered to run in the afternoon, and Hülkenberg, were the lowest-placed manufacturer drivers in ninth and eleventh respectively, split by the Williams of Lance Stroll.

Force India, Sauber and Williams occupied the bottom spaces on the leaderboard with Esteban Ocon, Charles Leclerc and Sergey Sirotkin.

But although the three midfield teams were an average of three seconds off Red Bull’s pace, they were all much higher on the day’s lap charts. Leclerc’s 160 and Ocon’s 130 were beaten only by Ricciardo in terms of laps done by an individual driver, while Stroll and Sirotkin recorded 143 for Williams between them.

6th March 2018

F1 testing: McLaren troubles continue into second week

McLaren suffered another day of limited mileage on Tuesday as F1 testing resumed in Barcelona, finishing the day bottom of the lap charts and with the second-slowest time.

After minor mechanical faults cost the team valuable track time last week, McLaren was left again on the back foot when Stoffel Vandoorne’s MCL33 broke down twice in the morning with a pair of battery failures shutting down his Renault engine.

And although McLaren seemed to resolve those issues in time for the afternoon, Vandoorne was not out for long before this session was also cut short—this time, owing to a hydraulics problem.

In total, Vandoorne completed just 38 laps across the whole of Tuesday, and finished last-but-one on the timesheets with a best of 1:21.946s.

While McLaren struggled, their rivals took advantage of the prime conditions in Barcelona to embark on the long run programmes traditionally seen in the second week.

Sebastian Vettel recorded the most individual mileage of the day with 171 laps, as well as ending the day fastest by two tenths from Valtteri Bottas.

However, Mercedes ran the furthest of any team on Tuesday, surpassing Ferrari by six laps by combining Bottas’s 86 laps in the morning with Lewis Hamilton’s afternoon total of 91.

Max Verstappen—who split Bottas and Hamilton to be third fastest—lost running in the final hour of the afternoon when his Red Bull stopped on track, but nevertheless logged 130 laps to be Vettel’s closest challenger.

Sauber, Renault and Williams also broached the 100-lap mark (the latter two teams splitting running between both of their drivers), while Haas and Force India came close with 96 and 93 laps respectively.

In an unexpected turn, Toro Rosso and Honda endured the first difficult day of their new partnership on Tuesday. After accomplishing a respectable 53 laps in the morning session with Pierre Gasly at the wheel, an unknown issue kept the STR13 confined to the garage for most of the afternoon, with Gasly adding only a single lap to his total after lunch.

But despite those troubles, Gasly still managed to end the day fifth fastest and best of the rest with a 1:20.973s, putting the Frenchman less than six tenths off Vettel’s benchmark.

Kevin Magnussen was sixth and the last of Tuesday’s drivers to be within a second of the pace. He finished ahead of Renault’s Nico Hülkenberg and Carlos Sainz, who were separated by just 0.023s despite setting their laps on different tyre compounds.

Sergey Sirotkin enjoyed more profitable running than his first week of F1 testing, and was the highest-placed Williams in ninth. Two tenths separated the Russian from Sergio Pérez in tenth and Marcus Ericsson—who notched up 120 laps for Sauber—in eleventh.

Lance Stroll was Tuesday’s slowest runner behind McLaren’s Vandoorne, even though his 1:22.937s was set on the hypersoft tyre. However, with the Canadian making it to 86 laps despite sharing his day with Sirotkin, it’s likely Stroll’s programme was focused more on distance than outright pace.

1st March 2018

Hamilton fastest on busy end to first F1 test

Lewis Hamilton set 2018’s fastest testing time yet on Thursday, as the first week in Barcelona ended with its busiest day so far.

In total, 15 of this year’s 20 race drivers enjoyed track time at the Circuit de Catalunya on Thursday, with most teams opting to run both their drivers to make up for time lost during the week’s weather disruptions.

Only Ferrari, Haas, Force India, Red Bull and Toro Rosso chose not to split their day’s running.

The final day of testing began with yet another damp track, but higher temperatures compared with previous days meant meaningful running was not an impossibility.

When the track dried enough for slicks around midday, Valtteri Bottas and Nico Hülkenberg took the opportunity to trade times at the top of the leaderboard, until McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne beat them both with a 1:19.854s on the pink hypersoft tyre.

Vandoorne’s time—one of only four to dip below 1:20s this week—was good enough to hold onto the top spot for most of the afternoon, until Hamilton went half a second quicker on mediums with an hour to go.

As well as finishing second-fastest on the strength of his hypersoft time, Vandoorne was also among Thursday’s busiest drivers, with 110 laps to his name.

Only two drivers recorded more mileage than the Belgian. Sebastian Vettel, who was third-fastest behind Vandoorne, made it to 120 laps, while Pierre Gasly signed off a solid week for Toro Rosso and Honda with 147 laps.

Kevin Magnussen also had a profitable day, despite not joining Gasly, Vettel and Vandoorne in triple figures. After finishing bottom of both the time and lap charts with his first taste of the Haas VF-18 on Tuesday, the Dane bounced back on Thursday by logging 96 laps and the fourth-fastest time.

Fernando Alonso, taking over from Vandoorne for the final few hours of Thursday, added another 51 laps to his week’s total and snatched fifth by just 0.010s from compatriot Carlos Sainz. Lance Stroll was a few tenths slower in seventh.

Sergio Pérez, driving Force India’s VJM11 for the first time, had a slow start to the session but eventually logged 65 laps and was classified eighth.

He was ahead of Max Verstappen, who by contrast had another trying day behind the wheel of the RB14. Having chosen to sit out the wet morning running, the Dutchman lost further track time with a fuel leak and a spin into the gravel later on—as a result, Verstappen recorded the lowest number of laps of the day (35) and ended the day nearly three seconds off Hamilton’s pace.

Thursday’s longest runner Gasly was tenth-fastest ahead of early pacesetters Hülkenberg and Bottas. The two Saubers were the last of the representative runners, with Charles Leclerc heading Marcus Ericsson by a second thanks to the afternoon’s faster track, although with 59 laps to Ericsson’s 79.

Lastly, Williams’ rookie Sergey Sirotkin spent another day at the bottom of the timesheets. The Russian handed over his FW41 to teammate Stroll in the afternoon and as such didn’t set a time on slicks, explaining his 12.646s gap to Hamilton at the front.

F1 testing resumes at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya next week, running from Tuesday 6th until Friday 9th.

1st March 20181st March 2018

Formula One liveries rated! – A welcome splash of colour

One thing most F1 fans look out for when cars are launched is the livery. There’s been some iconic ones over the years, with Lotus’ JPS, McLaren’s Marlboro backed effort and Jordan’s minimalist green on their 191. Well here we rate the 2018 efforts!

Mercedes – The Silver Arrows lead by example from the front. Their livery has been consistent ever since Mercedes returned as a works team in 2010. Silver with flashes of Petronas blue and green, it’s a tried and tested formula, and they’ll be keen to show that nothing’s changed for the Brackley based team. 7.5/10

Ferrari – There’s some things you can rely on never changing, water is wet, grass is green, and Ferrari is red. They’ve done away with the white engine cover and gone for a fully scarlet car for this season. It harks back to around 10 years ago when they won their last championship, funny thing is Kimi Raikkonen is still there, never change, Ferrari. 9/10

Red Bull – Red Bull have a weird knack of unveiling stunning liveries which really shake things up, and then ditch them for their traditional blue, red and yellow finish. Their testing liveries are always stunning, and while their usual matte effort is a looker, the ‘blue digital camo’ from this season has everyone begging Red Bull to consider using it all season long. Please guys? 7/10

Force India – After a few years of silver and black, Force India, or the artist formerly known as Force India, has shirked its India name in recent years in its livery. The striking pink has stayed for this season, with some mixes of white in there too. It looks great, and it adds to the colourful selection on show this season. 8.5/10

Williams – With the news of Martini pulling out of Formula One next season, it’s making us all appreciate what we have before it’s gone. It’s white with the iconic blue and red stripes, and in my opinion it’s about to join the Mansell Canon years and Rothmans blue in becoming a classic well remembered Williams livery. 7.5/10

The Williams FW41. (Image Credit: Williams F1/LAT Images)

Renault – Renault have always had a vivid livery, whether it’s the blue and yellow from ten years ago, or the vibrant yellow we have today. They join the likes of Force India, McLaren and Ferrari in delivering a dash of colour to the grid. It’s reminiscent of the late 1970’s when Rene Arnoux and Alain Prost were winning races for fun in the old turbo era. 8.5/10

Toro Rosso – Toro Rosso are finally starting to emerge from Red Bull’s shadow, and are becoming more than just ‘a Red Bull junior team’. This is shown in their livery too, they dumped the red, blue and gold for an amazing red, silver and blue. While Red Bull can use this to promote some of their other range of products, Toro Rosso can really shine, and that they will, what a beauty! 9/10

Haas – Haas have been looking for consistency in their first couple of years in Formula One, and if their liveries are anything to go by, then they’ve well and truly achieved it. The trusted red, black and white finish is stylish, and the subtle changes to the car are welcome. 8/10

McLaren – McLaren have a long and illustrious history, and their livery this season shows that. They’ve returned to the Papaya orange of the 1960’s and early 70’s. While many are claiming it looks like a Bic pen or a can of Irn Bru, the orange and blue finish looks beautiful, and will hopefully be seen towards the front again this season. 9.5/10

Alfa Romeo – The Sauber buyout has finally happened, and with it comes a new name, and a new livery. While Sauber remain, Alfa Romeo become the title name, and with it comes a red and white car with black stripes. The only issue is from the front profile it looks a little like the Williams, but that’s not a bad thing, imitation is the best form of flattery after all…the Hinwil team have never looked so good! 8/10

Jerry Andre/LAT Images/Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team

27th February 2018

Vettel lowers benchmark on second day of testing

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel finished top of the timesheets on day two in Barcelona, setting the fastest lap of the test so far in a day of weather-limited running.

The German’s best effort, a 1:19.673s set on soft tyres, was half a second faster than Daniel Ricciardo’s Monday benchmark, and made Vettel one of only two drivers to lap within the 1:19s on day two.

The other was Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas. Having posted a best of 1:20.325s in the morning, the Finn was the early pacesetter until Vettel’s soft run knocked him from the top spot—but despite improving in the afternoon to join Vettel below the 1:20s barrier, Bottas remained 0.303s adrift by the close of day.

Outside of the top two, no other driver today posted lap times below Monday’s fastest, as near-freezing temperatures once again held back representative running.

Stoffel Vandoorne was the third-fastest runner of the day, 0.652s off Vettel’s pace with a best lap of 1:20.325s. The Belgian’s time was the first of the test logged on Pirelli’s new pink-walled hypersoft tyre.

Max Verstappen failed to post a time in the morning after being sidelined by a fuel leak, but improved in the afternoon to finish fourth, just 0.001s behind Vandoorne on the medium tyre.

Next up, Carlos Sainz, Pierre Gasly and Williams third driver Robert Kubica all lapped within a few tenths of each other in the 1:21s. Kubica’s teammate Sergey Sirotkin and Force India’s Esteban Ocon were a little behind again, closely matched in the 1:21.8s.

Monegasque rookie Charles Leclerc had a difficult first day driving the Sauber C37 with a spin in the afternoon and finishing more than three seconds off the pace, but was spared ending the day at the bottom of the timesheet at the expense of Haas’ Kevin Magnussen.

The cold weather also meant that no driver managed to surpass Ricciardo’s first day total of 105 laps, although Vettel and Bottas came closest with 98 and 94 laps respectively.

Gasly held the next-highest total, putting in 82 laps in his STR13 to prove that Toro Rosso-Honda’s mileage yesterday was no fluke, while Leclerc made up for his early error with 81 laps to his name in the end.

At the other end of the lap charts, McLaren suffered another low-mileage day with an exhaust issue keeping Vandoorne in the garage from midday onwards, unable to add to his tally of 37 laps.

However, that was at least one more than Haas achieved across the day. With his programme interrupted by two off-track moments—one of which nearly ended in the barriers—Magnussen was prevented from making up for lost time when reports of snow at the end of the day brought running more or less to an end, and the Dane finished the day bottom of both the timesheet and the lap count.