Formula One Category

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton held off the challenge of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel to take his fifth Chinese Grand Prix victory as Max Verstappen claimed his eighth career podium finish after a sensational drive that saw the Red Bull Racing driver rise to third from 16th place on the Shanghai grid. Hamilton, starting from pole, held his advantage when the lights went out and took the lead ahead of Vettel and Bottas. Daniel Ricciardo passed Kimi Raikkonen for fourth place. The order swiftly changed, however as first Williams’ Lance Stroll spun offRead More

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton powered towards the 63rd pole position of his career in Shanghai, edging out Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel by just under two tenths of a second, with the German claiming second spot on the grid ahead of the second Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas by just 1000th of a second. Hamilton was the first to make a move in Q1 setting the early pace with a time of 1:33.333. Team-mate Bottas then slotted into P2, four-tenths behind the three-time champion. The Briton’s time in P1 was short, however, as VettelRead More

Sebastian Vettel edged team-mate Kimi Räikkonen to head a Ferrari one-two in a busy final practice session for the Chinese Grand Prix. Valtteri Bottas was third for Mercedes, almost four tenths of a second adrift of Vettel. Vettel’s best lap of 1:33.336 came 20 minutes from the end of the session and put him over a second clear of Räikkönen. The Finn then responded with a lap of 1:33.389, just 0.053 behind the German. Ferrari’s supersoft pace set a tough benchmark for Mercedes to beat and when the team’s driversRead More

Friday’s second practice session for the Chinese Grand Prix was cancelled due to poor weather conditions that prevented the medical helicopter from operating. The first session at the Shanghai International Circuit had already been disrupted due to the helicopter not been able to land at the hospital designated for the event, and with little improvement in conditions in the following hours, the start of the second practice period, scheduled for 2pm local time, was delayed. Eventually, with around 12 minutes remaning in the time allotted, the decision was taken toRead More

Max Verstappen set the fastest lap of opening practice for the Chinese Grand Prix in a session heavily disrupted by red flags. In damp and cool conditions Verstappen found a gap between two lengthy stoppages to post a best time of 1:50.491 on intermediate tyres, a lap that put him almost 1.6s clear of Williams’ Felipe Massa. The session got under way at the scheduled time but was halted soon after as weather conditions elsewhere in Shanghai made it impossible for the medical helicopter to land at the hospital designatedRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor Ever since Nico Rosberg’s maiden victory at the 2012 Chinese Grand Prix, Shanghai International Circuit has been one of Mercedes best tracks on the F1 calendar. Despite Fernando Alonso’s a stunning victory in 2013, the silver arrows have taken pole position every year since 2012 and have won the race every year since 2014. 2016 Champion Nico Rosberg has won it twice, but it’s really three time champ Lewis Hamilton who is the king of China; he has five poles and four wins from 10 startsRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor McLaren has made headlines for all the wrong reasons in 2017, mostly due to their incredibly unreliable Honda supplied power units. The team did somewhat casually reach out to Mercedes about supplying them for the future, but for the time being they are under contract with Honda and are forced to make lemonade from lemons. The best long term strategy, one I have written about several times, would be for them to invest funds from McLaren automotive, their successful road car operation, into creating their ownRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor It emerged over the weekend that those in attendance at last Friday’s meeting of FIA officials and auto manufacturers agreed to abandon F1’s 1.6 liter hybrid power units in 2021 for a simpler engine formula. It effectively granted FIA President Jean Todt’s long held wish to ditch the complex and impressive current engines for an undetermined formula set to fulfill the unlikely wishlist of cheaper, louder, and more powerful. Louder is one thing, that would be met with resounding enthusiasm from most in the sport, especiallyRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Antonio Giovinazzi is set to continue his duties with the Sauber F1 Team as Pascal Wehrlein’s replacement for the Chinese Grand Prix, with a possibility of the Bahrain Grand Prix as well. The team said the following: “Pascal Wehrlein will again be replaced by Antonio Giovinazzi to ensure that the German will be back in the cockpit of the Sauber C36-Ferrari, in best physical shape, at the earliest possible opportunity – either the Bahrain Grand Prix or the Russian Grand Prix.” Wehrlein participated in the openingRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor The fear espoused by many in the build up to the season looks like it may have come true; overtaking has been made significantly more difficult, at least so far. Many voices of reason and experience questioned the move to higher downforce cars, veteran drivers like Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa who experienced the high downforce machines of the mid 2000’s said that increased downforce wasn’t the answer. Some of the men who designed the notoriously quick but hard to pass cars of that era likeRead More