Carlos Sainz Tag

By FIA Valtteri Bottas took his second pole position of the 2019 FIA Formula One World Championship at the end of a marathon, incident-packed qualifying session that saw two red flag periods for separate crashes involving Robert Kubica and pole position contender Charles Leclerc. Bottas made the best of a tight final run in Q3, maximising a good two to edge team-mate Lewis Hamilton by just 0.059s, with Sebastian Vettel third ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen. In Q1, Vettel led the early exchanges, setting a time of 1:42.348.Read More

By FIA Lewis Hamilton took the 82nd pole position of his career with fastest lap in qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix, the Mercedes driver edging Sebastian Vettel by just under a tenths of a second. Vettel hit trouble during the session, however, being summoned to the stewards’ room following an mid session incident at the weighbridge. Race officials called the Ferrari driver to the weighbridge during Q2 but according to FIA Technical Delegate Jo Bauer’s report “the driver of car number 05, when called for weighing, refused to turn offRead More

By FIA Kimi Räikkönen went quickest in the second practice session ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix, though the Ferrari driver was just one hundredth of a second clear of Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton. Räikkönen, who will move from Maranello squad to Sauber in 2019, set the pace in the early exchanges on ultrasoft Pirelli tyres, setting a best time of 1:40.510 to edge Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen. When the field moved to hypersoft compound tyres for their qualifying simulations, Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas jumped to top of the order beforeRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor After the shocking news that Daniel Ricciardo was bound for Renault in 2019, Carlos Sainz has been in desperate need of a seat for next season. For months there has been talk linking him to McLaren to replace Stoffel Vandoorne, but with Fernando Alonso’s huge announcement that he is leaving Formula 1 at the end of the season, it gave the Woking-based team the chance to snag Sainz quickly and they wasted little time in doing so. Sainz replaces his childhood hero and fellow countryman inRead More

By FIA Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas went quickest in a rain-disrupted final practice for the French Grand Prix at the Circuit Paul Ricard. The Finn was one of a handful of drivers who completed a lap in mostly dry conditions at the start of a session that began under threatening skies. He set a time of 1:33.666, to head Renault’s Carlos Sainz by 1.2 seconds, with Sauber’s Charles Leclerc just over six hundredths of a second further back. Behind them, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel was reporting drops of rain, though the GermanRead More

By FIA Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen topped the timesheet just three hundredths of a second ahead of Renault’s Carlos Sainz, as Formula 1’s first in-season test of 2018 got underway at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain. Verstappen used hypersoft Pirelli tyres to set the best time of the day, a laps of 1:17.528s in the final hour of the session, pipping Sainz, who had bolted on the pink-banded tyres an hour earlier to climb to the top of the order. Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel ended up third fastest with a timeRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor The Spanish Grand Prix proved a more straightforward affair than any other race so far this season, as Lewis Hamilton dominated the field from lights to flag, but behind him there was plenty of drama and action for fans to savor. A opening lap spin by Romain Grosjean in the Haas collected Nico Hulkenberg and Brendon Hartley and put them all out on the spot. Power unit problems forced Kimi Raikkonen to retire early. In the other Ferrari, Sebastian Vettel made a late pit stop fromRead More

By FIA Lewis Hamilton claimed a fortunate 63rd career win and control of the Drivers’ Championship standings at the end of a chaotic and incident-packed Azerbaijan Grand Prix that saw long-time race leader Sebastian Vettel drop to fourth after a collision between the Red Bull drivers and Valtteri Bottas exit the race from the lead with a late puncture. Kimi Räikkönen was left to take second place behind Hamilton, with Force India’s Sergio Perez taking a second career podium finish in Baku thanks to a late pass on Vettel. The 2018Read More

By FIA Lewis Hamilton went quickest in the first practice of the new season, as the 2018 FIA Formula 1 World Championship campaign got underway in Melbourne. The defending champion beat Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas by over half a second as running got underway at the Albert Park circuit, with Max Verstappen a further two tenths of a second off the pace. With the temporary circuit lacking grip, teams played a waiting game in the early stages and more than 20 minutes before Williams rookie set the first timed lapRead More

By FIA Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel set the quickest time of day two of the first pre-season Formula 1 test in Barcelona, outpacing Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas by three tenths of a second. McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne finished third on the timesheet a further three tenths back. The day began in muted fashion as overnight snow and rain meant conditions were tricky early on and many teams avoided significant running before the halfway point of running. One of those was Red Bull Racing, with the Milton Keynes team being restricted to the garageRead More