Charles Leclerc Tag

By FIA Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg set the fastest time of the first week of 2019 pre-season Formula 1 testing in Barcelona, beating Toro Rosso’s Alexander Albon by two tenths of a second. In the morning Albon maintained the hold on top spot established by Toro Rosso on day three, when Daniil Kvyat claimed that session’s fastest time, but this afternoon Hulkenberg moved well clear of the 1:17.637 to post a lap of 1:17.393. The time was the quickest of the opening four days of pre-season testing and like the Toro RossoRead More

By FIA After Sebastian Vettel topped the first day of pre-season F1 testing yesterday, new Ferrari recruit Charles Leclerc kept the Italian team at the top of the timesheets, finishing three tenths of a second clear of McLaren rookie Lando Norris. The session came to an early end for Pierre Gasly, however, when the new Red Bull Racing driver lost control of his RB15 and spun into the barriers. The French driver had spend most of the afternoon on short, data-gathering runs but as the final hour of the session nearedRead More

By FIA Max Verstappen was denied an almost certain Brazilian Grand Prix victory when he was taken out of the lead in a collision with Racing Point Force India’s Esteban Ocon. The dramatic incident gifted Lewis Hamilton a second career Brazilian Grand Prix victory that helped Mercedes to a fifth consecutive FIA Formula 1 Constructors’ title. Verstappen had stormed through from fifth on the grid to put pressure on polesitter and early race leader Hamilton and the Red Bull driver eventually seized the lead from the recently crowned champion onRead 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 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