Formula 1 News Roundup 2/23

Tuesday was another busy day in the world of Formula 1 as testing continued for the 2nd day and there was also an important meeting in Geneva in which teams agreed on a new qualifying format which will be discussed in a different post.

During testing on Tuesday, Sebastian Vettel was fastest once again but reliability was the main story of the day.Eight of the eleven teams recorder over 100 laps on the day led by Nico Rosberg of Mercedes who recorded a whopping 172 laps which is the equivalent of almost three whole races. The other big story on track was the use of the brand new ultra soft tire which was used by Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo as they took the first two spots on the charts. To check out a more detailed report on testing you can check here or here. You can also check out Ted Kravitz's notebook which includes interviews with Kevin Magnussen and Rio Haryanto.

In other important Formula 1 news on the day Honda announced that Formula 1 boss Yasuhisa Arai will step down at the end of the month and Honda's involvement in Formula 1 will be headed by Yusuke Hasegawa. The last year has been a difficult one for Honda as it was not expected for them to be as off the pace as they were last year. They seem to be improving but they are not at the front yet. They will definately hope this move will help progress them forward even more.

The good news for McLaren though is that Fernando Alonso claimed the McLaren chassis could become the best on the grid this year. If this becomes true this would definately be a step in the right direction for the team but it will still be difficult for them to compete for wins as the engine seems to still be down on power. Alonso also made news Tuesday by saying he will see out the rest of his McLaren contract which runs through the end of next year. It has definately been a disappointing few years for Alonso and one would be able to understand if his motivation was running out but if he sees any success at McLaren it would end up being a great reward for him.

Alonso hopes for better days at McLaren in 2016 than he had in 2015

Also today, American IndyCar series team Andretti Autosport announced that they have signed former Manor Formula 1 driver Alexander Rossi to a contract for the 2016 season. I think Rossi did a good job last year in his races with Manor but unfortunately could not come to an agreement for the 2016 season but hopefully we will see him again in the future in Formula 1. Until then, this is a good spot for him.