Bahrain Grand Prix Tag

By FIA Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was denied a first Formula One victory by a late-race engine problem that allowed Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton to sweep past and claim his first win of 2019. Leclerc had led for the bulk of the race, but in the closing stages began to slow and reported an engine problem that was quickly diagnosed as an issue with the turbo. His pace flagged dramatically and at the end of the 48thlap of the 57 scheduled, Hamilton powered past to claim the lead. He was followed byRead More

By FIA Charles Leclerc took the first pole position of his career, beating Ferrari team-mate Sebastian Vettel by almost three tenths of a second as the Italian squad locked out the front row of the grid for tomorrow’s Bahrain Grand Prix. Defending champion Lewis Hamilton was forced to settle for P3, 0.030 behind Vettel, ahead of Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas. At the start of the session Ferrari quickly seized control, with Leclerc taking P1 thanks to a lap of 1:28.495. Vettel slotted into P2, 0.238s behind his team-mate, while ValtteriRead More

By FIA Ferrari completed a clean sweep of practice session one-twos at the Sakhir Circuit, with Charles Leclerc running quickest in the final hour of practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix. The Monegasque driver set a best time of 1:29.569 on the soft compound Pirelli tyres with a little under 20 minutes left in the session. He was immediately followed on track by team-mate Sebastian Vettel who slotted into P2 0.169s behind. The pace left all of their rivals in the shade, with Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton eventually becoming the Scuderia’sRead More

By FIA Sebastian Vettel edged team-mate Charles Leclerc by 0.035s as Ferrari continued to dominate the free practice sessions for Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix. The early running in Friday’s early evening session was made by Mercedes with Valtteri Bottas topping the timesheet with a lap of 1:30.124 set on medium tyres. That left the Australian Grand Prix winner 0.079s ahead of FP1’s quickest man Charles Leclerc. Lewis Hamilton was third. Ferrari then took the initiative, sending both its drivers out on soft tyres for performance runs just before the half-hour mark.Read More

By FIA Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc topped the timesheet in the opening practice sessions for the Bahrain Grand Prix beating team-mate Sebastian Vettel by 0.236s. The Ferrari duo ended the 90-minute session more than seven tenths ahead of chief rivals Mercedes, for whom Valtteri Bottas was quickest. The pace of the Italian squad was a return to the good for the team had shown in pre-season testing but which had been surprisingly absent at the season-opener two weeks ago in Australia. Mercedes made the early running at the Sakhir circuit withRead 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 Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief McLaren announced that Stoffel Vandoorne will leave following the 2018 Formula 1 season. The 26-year-old Belgian has endured a rough year that has seen him collect just eight points through 13 races, while teammate Fernando Alonso has amassed 44 points over the same span. A veteran of 34 F1 starts to date, Vandoorne first joined the Woking-based squad in 2013 as part of their Young Driver Program and went on to quickly become their test pilot the following year. After winning the 2015 GP2 Series (nowRead 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