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Slippery practice in the Budapest rain
Weather: FP1: cloudy, drizzle in the final minutes, 17.9-19.1°C air, 24.7-26.1°C track; FP2: rainy, 16.2-16.2°C air, 20.4-19.8°C track Three weekends of racing in a row, three weekends in which the rain – whether on Thursday, Friday or Saturday – reminded us that “hot and sunny” in summer is not a foregone conclusion. The rain threatened to fall during FP1, just appearing in the form of a drizzle with minutes to spare; but come FP2, the taps were well and truly open. As always, it’s difficult to draw conclusions from a wet session. Temperatures drop, grip takes leave of absence and the drivers are forced to tip-toe around the soaked…
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Sauber Group and Creightivist successfully complete the #GarageTime project to support Save the Children
With the first race after the end of the lockdown taking place in Spielberg, Austria, last weekend, the Sauber Group of Companies and online vendor Creightivist have successfully brought to an end the #GarageTime fundraising campaign in support of child rights organization Save the Children. The campaign, launched at the beginning of May when the world of Formula One was under lockdown, enjoyed prominent support: in addition to team principal Frédéric Vasseur, drivers Kimi Raikkönen, Antonio Giovinazzi, Robert Kubica and Tatiana Calderón, and the entire Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN team, numerous celebrities, artists and Formula 1 fans joined the #GarageTime initiative and posted their individual calls for support for the…
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Robert Kubica back in the car for FP1 in Styria
Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN reserve driver, Robert Kubica, will make his return to the car as he takes the C39 on for the first practice session at next weekend’s Styrian Grand Prix. The Pole, who completed two successful mornings of running in the team’s 2020 contender during winter testing in Barcelona, will take part in the session in lieu of Antonio Giovinazzi, with the Italian driver returning to the car for FP2 and the remainder of the weekend. Robert Kubica, Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN reserve driver: “I am looking forward to returning to action this weekend, especially after the long break the whole world of motorsport had to observe. My…
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Giovinazzi opens our 2020 tally in high-attrition Austrian GP
FIA Formula One Grosser Preis von Österreich 2020 – Race – Sunday Weather: sunny, 27.5-29°C air, 53.3-44°C track It took seven months to get back racing, but the sweet taste of Formula One action is finally back. More than half a year since the final race in the dazzling lights of Abu Dhabi, here come the familiar feeling of trepidation before the lights-out moment, the butterflies in the stomach during a pit-stop and the elation as the chequered flag falls. As racing comes back, so does the focus on the end result. Just like 12 months ago, Austria was the backdrop for a great performance by Antonio Giovinazzi: on…
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A lot of work to do
FIA Formula One Grosser Preis von Österreich 2020 – Qualifying – Saturday Weather: FP3: sunny 21.7-23°C air, 42.8-48.9°C track; Q: sunny, 24.6-25.1°C air, 53.8-48.8°C track The first qualifying session of the year came and went – a little too quickly – as the sun shone on Spielberg: and just when we were hoping for a good result to set us up for a solid result in tomorrow’s season opener, things turned against us. We will line up on the grid with Antonio Giovinazzi in P18 and Kimi Räikkönen in P19, both our drivers falling foul of circumstances that saw them bow out in Q1 when both had a chance…
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Back in business
FIA Formula One Grosser Preis von Österreich 2020– Practice – Friday Weather: FP1: wet, then overcast, 17-19°C air, 23-23°C track; FP2: overcast, 19-22°C air, 29-33°C track 215 days since we last saw our team in action during a competitive race weekend session, Formula One is finally back. At 11:01:49am this morning, Antonio Giovinazzi drove his Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN C39 out of the garage and into the Spielberg pitlane, followed by Kimi Räikkönen a few moments later, marking the end of this seven-months wait and kick-starting the 2020 season for the team. All of a sudden, it felt like the break never happened. Muscle memory kicked in; the voices…
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Racing with a legend: Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN celebrates season start with Giulia GTAm
Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN will sport a tribute to the new Alfa Romeo Giulia GTA as Formula One resumes this weekend, with the “GTAm” logo appearing on Antonio Giovinazzi’s race suit at the Austrian Grand Prix and for the remainder of the season. The GTA brand embodies Alfa Romeo’s racing heritage – the Italian marque claiming the inaugural F1 world championship race, 70 years ago in Silverstone, and the first two drivers’ championships with Nino Farina and Juan Manuel Fangio in 1950 and 1951 respectively – while the new model is the result of the technical partnership between Sauber Engineering and Alfa Romeo. The new Alfa Romeo Giulia GTA, a…
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Swiss engineering meets Swiss tech as Sauber Engineering joins forces with MindMaze
Sauber Engineering will take on a prominent role in the Healthtech sector as it unveils a new long-term partnership with neurotechnology giant MindMaze. The link-up between these two Swiss powerhouses will enable Sauber Engineering to deploy its world-class R&D, design and production capabilities to help MindMaze redefine its homebased neuro-recovery products. The partnership will focus on hardware design and manufacturing for its current range of MindMotion products as the company expands on the current global footprint across 20 countries. Boasting decades’ worth of engineering expertise and uniquely varied manufacturing capabilities, Sauber Engineering has the know-how and facilities to provide the centre of excellence for product design for MindMaze, that…
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2020 Austrian Grand Prix and Steiermark Grand Prix: Preview
Every season start is painted as the harbinger of change: the new cars, on which hopes and expectations are pinned by teams and fans alike; new venues to explore; new weekend formats with which to experiment. But what happens when the season start is, actually, a restart? The 2020 season will always be remembered as one in which the world of Formula One – and, of course, the world at large – got turned on its head. In the light of the Covid-19 outbreak and the suffering it brought, sport, no matter how loved, took a secondary role: but as the planet starts re-emerging from its widespread lockdowns, we are…
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The Road to F1: Sauber Academy launched to raise motorsport’s next star
Sauber Motorsport, which operates the Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN entry in the Formula One world championship, has officially unveiled the plans for a new driver development programme, the Sauber Academy – with four young talents as the first inductees for 2020. In conjunction with the Sauber Karting Team, the Sauber Academy represents the completion of a full development pathway, designed to lead drivers from grassroots to the pinnacle of motorsport and nurture the next generation of Formula One drivers. F4 Germany champion Théo Pourchaire, Sauber Karting Team graduate Dexter Patterson, Formula Renault Eurocup racer Petr Ptacek and karter Emerson Fittipaldi Junior are the first drivers selected to take part in…
