Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Tag

By FIA After topping the opening practice session for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Valtteri Bottas continued to set the pace at the Yas Marina circuit with the Finn beating team-mate Lewis Hamilton by three tenths of a second in FP2. However, Bottas’ good work was undermined when he was involved in a collision with Haas’ Romain Grosjean late in the session. Bottas spent the opening portion of the 90-minute session behind early pacesetter Hamilton, with both drivers running on medium tyres. As the session edged towards it midpoint, BottasRead More

By FIA Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas went quickest in opening practice for Formula 1’s season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, beating Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen by half a second. There was a trouble for Sebastian Vettel, however, with the Ferrari driver crashing out late in the session. Bottas worked his way to the top of the order in the opening half of the session and 45 minutes in the Finn headed the table with a time of 1m36.957s set on medium tyres. The lap saw him sixth tenths clear of team-mateRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Formula One has announced the start times for the 2019 season, which stay relatively consistent to last year. The sport opted for later start times in 2018 in an effort to assist broadcast partners, starting events 10 minutes after the hour instead of on the hour like previous seasons. The biggest change on the upcoming schedule will be for the French Grand Prix, which will start at 3:10 p.m. local time versus the 4:10 p.m. time from last year that was made in an effort toRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer The 69th season of Formula One has officially concluded, and Mercedes continued to steamroll the competition in the Hybrid Era. Lewis Hamilton once again proved to have risen on the occasion as Sebastian Vettel faded away due to Ferrari’s costly errors that eliminated him from the championship race. Not only that, the 2019 season is starting to look clear with key names having no choice but to become a test driver or find different ventures in favor of even younger drivers and even the comeback for theRead More

By FIA Lewis Hamilton signed off on his title-winning 2018 FIA Formula 1 campaign in style by taking a controlled and composed 11th win of the season ahead of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen. The final race of the season ended with Hamilton and Vettel joining McLaren’s Fernando Alonso for a series of tyre-smoking donuts on the start-finish straight to celebrate the Spanish two-time champion’s final race as a Formula 1 driver. Earlier, at the start, Hamilton got away well from pole position to claim the leadRead More

By FIA Lewis Hamilton took his 11th pole position of the 2018 FIA Formula 1 World Championship as he headed a Mercedes 1-2 i in qualifying for the final race of the season at Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina Circuit. Hamilton edged team-mate Valtteri Bottas by 0.162s in the final runs of Q3, with the Finn only losing out to the five-time champion due to a small error in the final sector of the 5.554km circuit. Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel will start from third place on the grid, ahead of team-mate Kimi Räikkönen,Read More

By FIA Lewis Hamilton went quickest in the final practice session for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, almosgt three tenths of a second ahead of Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkönen, whose team-mate Sebastian Vettel finished third. Ferrari set the pace early in the session with the Italian squad’s driver the only likely front runner to take to the track in the opening phase of the session. Räikkönen held sway initially with a time of 1:39.314 but Vettel took over at the top a third of the way through the session, beating hisRead More

By FIA Last year’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix winner Valtteri Bottas hit the top of the timesheets at the Yas Marina Circuit, edging FP1’s quickest man, Max Verstappen by just four hundredths of a second, with Daniel Ricciardo third in the second Red Bull. Bottas set the pace in the opening part of the session, using ultrasoft tyres to hold top spot just over two tenths of a second ahead of Verstappen, who also ran on ultrasofts. Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkönen was the first to make the move to hypersoft tyresRead More

By FIA Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen topped the opening practice session of Formula 1’s season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, beating team-mate Daniel Ricciardo by almost half a second. Verstappen bolted on hypersoft tyres on an improving track in the second half of the session, to lead the way in the session with a time of 1:38.491 that left him 0.454s ahead of Ricciardo, who is this weekend competing in his final race for Red Bull ahead of a move to Renault. The Red Bulls followed an opposite programme toRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor Formula One’s bigger, wider cars of 2017 produced the most downforce the sport has ever seen. That, coupled with the wider, more durable Pirelli tires lead to a massive decrease in overtaking which plummeted 47% compared to 2016 according to Pirelli. The excessive turbulent air of the high downforce cars is well known and Ross Brawn is working on a solution with the 2021 regulations, but it along with the rather dull season finale in Abu Dhabi have lead to an increased focus on the circuitsRead More