Charles Leclerc Tag

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief AUSTIN, Texas — Lewis Hamilton moved one step closer to capturing a fifth Formula One championship by scoring the pole for the United States Grand Prix following an intense battle during qualifying on Saturday at Circuit of the Americas. Despite a highly-contested fight brought by Ferrari, Hamilton managed squeeze enough pace out of his No. 44 Mercedes to lay down a lap of 1 minute, 32.237 seconds around the 3.426-mile, 20-turn circuit. That time was good enough to edge title rival Sebastian Vettel (No. 5 Ferrari)Read More

By FIA Sebastian Vettel set the quickest time of the final practice session for the United States Grand Prix, outpacing Ferrari team-mate Kimi Räikkönen by less than a tenth of a second as championship leader Lewis Hamilton finished third. On Friday, Vettel’s hopes of maintain a fragile title challenge were hit when he incurred a three-place grid penalty for failing to slow sufficiently during a red flag period, but he bounced back this morning as F1’s teams finally got some dry running at the Circuit of the Americas. Ferrari focusedRead More

By FIA On a United States Grand Prix weekend on which he can seal his fifth Formula 1 world championship title, Lewis Hamilton began his preparations in style, dominating a wet opening practice session at Austin’s Circuit of the Americas to finish 1.3 seconds clear of Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas. Behind the Mercedes pair, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo were the Silver Arrows’ closest challengers, while Hamilton’s only real title rival, Sebastian Vettel ended the session in fifth place, almost two seconds off the championship leader’s pace. HeavyRead More

By FIA Lewis Hamilton led a Mercedes one-two in the opening practice session for the Japanese Grand Prix finishing half a second clear of team-mate Valtteri Bottas and almost seven tenths of a second ahead of the third-placed Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo. Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkönen and championship challenger Sebastian Vettel finished the session in fourth and fifth places, but both set their best times using the supersoft Pirelli compound, while Hamilton session-best time of 1:28.691s was delivered on soft tyres. Vettel ended the session just under a second offRead More

By FIA Lewis Hamilton won the Russian Grand Prix extend his Drivers’ Championship lead over title rival Sebastian Vettel to 50-points, after Mercedes called on race leader Valtteri Bottas to move aside in order to defend against a threat from eventual third-place finisher Vettel. Pole position man Bottas held his advantage at the start and controlled the early phases of the race, with Hamilton coming under strong pressure from third-placed Vettel. Vettel briefly managed to get past Hamilton after the drivers’ single pit stops but when the title leader reclaimedRead More

By FIA Ricciardo’s best time of the session came late in the session when he bolted on a set of new hypersoft compound tyres to post a lap of 1:39.711. That was good enough to oust Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel from top spot. Verstappen then dropped the German to third with his time of 1:39.912. The Dutchman finished 0.201s behind Ricciardo, with Vettel a little over eight hundredths of a second further back. Kimi Räikkönen finished fourth for Ferrari, almost eight tenths of a second off Ricciardo’s pace, though the FinnRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Fourteen rounds done, seven to go, and since my first installment, there’s been so many changes across all 10 Formula 1 constructors and its 20 drivers. A few would-be contenders have gone by the wayside like Fernando Alonso and Red Bull, and others have flourished after a quiet or abysmal opening leg such as Kimi Raikkonen and Haas F1. We even saw a hot mess behind closed doors, resulting a new constructor and have so far been tremendous. In my latest installment of “Heptagon Viewpoints,”Read More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Ferrari has announced that Charles Leclerc will step up to replace Kimi Raikkonen for the 2019 Formula 1 season. The 20-year-old Monaco native has put together an impressive rookie campaign for Alfa Romeo Sauber this year, with five results in the points through 14 races, including a career-best sixth in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in April. “Scuderia Ferrari announces that in the next Formula One racing season, Charles Leclerc will drive for the Team alongside Sebastian Vettel,” a brief statement from Ferrari read. Leclerc took toRead More

By FIA Valtteri Bottas edged team-mate Lewis Hamilton by just under two hundredths of a second to take his second consecutive Austrian Grand Prix pole position and the fifth pole of his career in a tight qualifying session at the at the Red Bull Ring. Sebastian Vettel was third for Ferrari ahead of team-mate Kimi Räikkönen. Q1 saw Mercedes quickly to the fore with Hamilton and Bottas trading times on ultrasoft tyres before Hamilton settled into P1 with a time of 1:04.080, just under a tenth of a second aheadRead More

By FIA Sebastian Vettel set the fastest ever lap of the Red Bull Ring to edge Lewis Hamilton by just under three hundredths of a second in final practice for the Austrian Grand Prix. The Ferrari driver powered past the record set in Valtteri Bottas in 2017 qualifying with around 20 minutes left in the session. With three DRS zones to work with and ultrasoft tyres onboard Vettel posted a time of 1:04.070 to eclipse Bottas’ benchmark by 0.181 seconds. Championship leader Hamilton got close to pipping Vettel shortly afterwards,Read More