Charles Leclerc Tag

By FIA After an opening pair of Friday sessions topped by Max Verstappen and then Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc went quickest in FP3, beating Hamilton by two tenths of a second in the final practice session before qualifying for the Singapore Grand Prix. Third place in the session went to Sebastian Vettel in the second Ferrari, though the German was six tenths off his team-mate’s pace while Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas was fourth ahead of the Red Bull cars of Alexander Albon and Max Verstappen. Leclerc led from early on inRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer First seven rounds of the 2019 Formula One World Championship – underwhelming to the bordeom. Last seven rounds however – sheer utter chaos with minimal boredom. From the rise of Charles Leclerc at Spa and Monza to the beautiful rally by Max Verstappen at Hockenheim. There was a lot to digest during the second leg of the F1 campaign and it’s time to recap my seven most memorable moments. The Instant Classic That Was Hockenheim I’ve already said it awhile back, but the German Grand PrixRead More

By FIA Charles Leclerc took his second F1 win in a row and handed Ferrari its first home win in nine years after edging a titanic race-long battle with Lewis Hamilton and resisting pressure from the Briton’s Mercedes team-mate in the final laps. At the start pole sitter Leclerc held his advantage and took the lead ahead of Hamilton and Bottas. Behind them Sebastian Vettel in the second Ferrari lost out to Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg early in the lap and dropped from his starting position of fourth to fifth place.Read More

By FIA Charles Leclerc handed Ferrari top spot on the grid for its home Italian Grand Prix, with the Monegasque drive taking his third career pole position at the end of what he later described as a “messy” qualifying session at Monza. Leclerc took top spot just 0.039s ahead of Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton with the Briton’s tea-mate Valtteri Bottas third. The Ferrari star claimed provisional pole with a time of 1:19.307 before a crash involving Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Räikkönen brought out the red flags early in Q1. Then, in theRead More

By FIA Charles Leclerc continued to the lead the way in practice for the Italian Grand Prix, edging Lewis Hamilton by 0.068s to take top spot in the afternoon session at Monza. The Monegasque driver went quickest in a rain-affected morning session and as the weather again made conditions tricky midway through in the afternoon session Leclerc made good use of largely dry conditions early on to undertake his qualifying simulation. With softs tyres on board the Ferrari youngster posted a best time of 1:20.978 to take top spot. Leclerc’s FerrariRead More

By FIA Charles Leclerc topped a rain-affected first practice for this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix that was interrupted by red flags on three occasions. Leclerc, who last weekend in Belgium became Ferrari’s youngest grand prix winner, claimed top at the end of the damp session as the field moves to slick tyres at the end of the session. The Monegasque driver set a best time of 1:27.905 to beat McLaren’s Carlos Sainz by three tenths of a second, with the Spanish driver a further two tenths ahead of team-mate Lando Norris.Read More

By FIA Charles Leclerc took an emotional first Formula One win at Spa-Francorchamps and immediately dedicated his maiden victory to childhood racing rival Anthoine Hubert who tragically lost his life in a crash in Saturday’s FIA Formula 2 race at the Ardennes circuit. “On the one hand I’ve got a dream since being as child that has been realised. But on the other hand it has been a very difficult weekend since yesterday,” he said after defying late pressure from championship leader to take the win. “We have lost aRead More

By FIA Charles Leclerc beat team-mate Sebastian Vettel by seven tenths of a second to claim pole position for tomorrow’s Belgian Grand Prix as Ferrari locked out the front row ahead of Mercedes at Spa-Francorchamps. Quickest across the first two qualifying segments, Leclerc stretched the gap back to his rivals in the final top-10 shoot-out to claim his third career pole with a lap of 1:42.519, a massive 0.748s ahead of Vettel who chiefly lost out to his young team-mate in the middle sector of the 7km circuit. Mercedes’s LewisRead More

By FIA Ferrari continued to set the pace in practice for the Belgian Grand Prix with Charles Leclerc going quickest in FP3, almost half a second clear of team-mate Sebastian Vettel. Championship leader Lewis Hamilton failed to finish the session, however. The Mercedes driver crashed heavily midway through the session, bringing out the red flags. With Ferrari dominating the session’s opening exchanges, Hamilton, then nine tenths of a second off the P1 pace Sebastian Vettel, was pushing for an improvement when he put a wheel on the outside kerb onRead More

By FIA Charles Leclerc topped the timesheet in the second free practice session for the Belgian Grand Prix, eclipsing Ferrari team-mate Sebastian Vettel by more than six tenths of a second and running more than eight tenths quicker than the third placed Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas. After being edged out of P1 by Vettel in the morning session Leclerc quickly moved to the top of the order in the afternoon, going quickest in the early phases run on medium-tyres. Vettel was the first to move to soft tyres and attemptRead More