Formula One Category

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Kimi Raikkonen overcame a rough start and avoided trouble en route to finishing third in Sunday’s Heineken Chinese Grand Prix. The 38-year-old Finn got a nice jump from second on the grid, but Scuderia Ferrari teammate and pole sitter Sebastian Vettel came across the track and pinched Raikkonen on the inside. The bad entry angle into Turn 1 meant Raikkonen had to ease off the throttle, which pushed him down to fourth by the end of the opening lap. The 2007 World Champion managed to takeRead More

By FIA Daniel Ricciardo took a thrilling victory at the Chinese Grand Prix, benefiting from a mid-race safety car to rise from sixth to first in a handful of laps, thanks to fresh tyres and brilliant passing moves. Mercedes’s Valtteri Bottas finished second ahead of Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton, as pole sitter Sebastian Vettel dropped to eighth place following a collision with the second Red Bull of Max Verstappen. At the start Vettel made a slightly slow getaway and as Räikkönen got away well, the German moved right toRead More

By FIA Sebastian Vettel led a Ferrari one-two and set a new track record in qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix, with the German edging team-mate Kimi Räikkönen by just 0.087s as Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas finished third ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton. Raikkonen set the early pace in Q1 with a lap of 1:32.474, with the Mercedes cars of Bottas and Hamilton slotting in behind. However, seven minutes into the 18-minute session Vettel jumped to the top of the order with a lap of 1:32.171. Vettel’s time was good enoughRead More

By FIA Sebastian Vettel set the pace in final practice beating team-mate Kimi Räikkönen by more than four tenths of a second, with Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas third. There was trouble for Daniel Ricciardo, though, with the Red Bull driver exiting the session with what looked to be an engine failure. In cool temperatures and with a strong wind sweeping across the track, the session was slow to get going with Räikkönen setting the early pace with a time of 1:34.794. That stood until Ferrari team-mate Vettel joined the fray. TheRead More

By FIA Lewis Hamilton continued to set the pace in practice ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix, but after enjoying a comfortable gap to rivals in first practice, the second session saw the Mercedes driver pressured as he outpaced Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkönen by just seven thousandths of a second. In the morning session at the Shanghai International Circuit, Hamilton went more than three tenths of a second quicker than second-placed Räikkönen, but in the afternoon session, the Ferrari driver looked much more purposeful. Half an hour into FP2, Hamilton boltedRead More

By FIA Lewis Hamilton finished more than three tenths of a second ahead of Kimi Räikkönen as practice for the Chinese Grand Prix got underway at the Shanghai International Circuit. The Mercedes driver set his quickest lap on Pirelli’s soft tyres, while Räikkönen needed the ultrasoft compound, two steps softer in the tyre manufacturer’s range, to split Hamilton from team-mate Valtteri Bottas, who finished just under half a second behind the defending champion. In cool conditions Mercedes looked comfortably in control, with Hamilton making steady improvements throughout the session asRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor Last weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix gave us a much clearer picture of the running order for 2018 than the season opening Australian Grand Prix did. The great news is that the long range pace of Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull is very close this season. Of the three, Ferrari has capitalized the most on their rivals misfortune and it leads both championships with Sebastian Vettel 17 points ahead of Lewis Hamilton after opening the season with back to back victories. Ferrari leads Mercedes in theRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix was the most thrilling in the desert kingdom in years as a high speed game of chess between Ferrari and Mercedes kept the winner in doubt until the final corner of the final lap. In the end Sebastian Vettel pulled off a magnificent victory as he nursed badly worn tires to the finish after switching from a planned two stop strategy to a one stopper. Valtteri Bottas closed on him in the Mercedes, but was unable to unseat his German rival. BehindRead More

By FIA Sebastian Vettel took a thrilling 49th career victory on his 200th race start, nursing fading tyres to the chequered flag to hold off a determined charge by Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas. Lewis Hamilton took third place after starting ninth as Red Bull Racing saw both cars exit the race early on. At the start, Vettel held his advantage from pole, but behind him Bottas made a better start than Räikkönen and stole second through Turn 1. Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo was briefly passed by Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly but the Australian quickly retookRead More

By FIA Sebastian Vettel will make his 200th grand prix start from the front of the grid after the Ferrari driver claimed his 51st career pole at the Bahrain International Circuit ahead of team-mate Kimi Raikkonen and Mercedes Valtteri Bottas. Defending champion Lewis Hamilton finished in fourth place but the Mercedes driver will drop to P9 on the grid due to an unscheduled gearbox change. Räikkönen set the early pace in Q1, his first flying laps, on soft compound Pirelli tyres, yielding a time of 1:29.951. Ferrari team-mate Vettel slotted into P2Read More