FIA Tag

By FIA Lewis Hamilton took his 77th career pole position at Spa-Francorchamps, making the most of difficult wet conditions in the final Q3 segment of qualifying to beat Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and surprise third-placed qualifier Esteban Ocon of Racing Point Force India to the front of the grid for the Belgian Grand Prix. In the early stages of Q1, Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen led the way using soft tyres to set a time 1:42.585. He was joined on the yellow-banded rubber by team-mate Vettel, who slotted into P2, and the Mercedes drivers.Read More

By FIA Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel topped the timesheet in final practice for the Belgian Grand Prix, finishing just six hundredths of a second ahead of team-mate Kimi Räikkönen in a session that was interrupted by a late crash for local hero Stoffel Vandoorne. The McLaren driver was on the hot lap of his qualifying simulation when he came across the slower Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas at the Raidillon corner. As Bottas took a wide line as he moved onto the Kemmel Straight, just as Vandoorne moved to pass the MercedesRead More

By FIA Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkönen set the fastest time of the second free practice session for the Belgian Grand Prix, edging Drivers’ Championship leader Lewis Hamilton by 0.168s. In the early part of the session Hamilton led the way on medium-compound Pirelli tyres and the Briton headed the timesheet with a time of 1:44.369. That left him just three thousandths of a second clear of Räikkönen, who ran on soft tyres during the opening phase of the 90 minutes, Räikkönen was the first of the frontrunners to move to supersoftRead More

By FIA Sebastian Vettel went quickest in opening practice for the Belgian Grand Prix, edging Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen by just over a tenth of a second, with championship leader Lewis Hamilton three tenths off the pace in third place. As the first half hour of the 90-minute session came to a close Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas rose to the top of the order with a time of 1:44.998s, set on soft tyres. Hamilton then moved ahead of that mark by more three tenths of a second and that timeRead More

By FIA Lewis Hamilton took his fifth win of 2018 with a comfortable drive to victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix, as Sebastian Vettel survived a late collision with the second Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas to take second place ahead of Ferrari team-mate Kimi Räikkönen. In the later stages of the race Bottas was then involved in a second collision, with red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo and eventually finished fifth behind the Australian. At the start, Räikkönen made the best start, but though he tried to pass polesitter Hamilton on theRead More

By FIA Lewis Hamilton put in a superb lap in difficult wet conditions at the Hungaroring to claim his 77th career pole position and his fifth of the season ahead of Mercedes’ team-mate and the Ferraris of Kimi Räikkonen and Sebastian Vettel. A hugely unpredictable qualifying session began on a wet track due to earlier rain, and though there was no rain falling at the start of the session all driver started the session on intermediate tyres. That meant that the expected order was maintained as Kimi Räikkönen led the wayRead More

By FIA Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel edged Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas to top the final practice session for the Hungarian Grand Prix, but there were spins for both Bottas and team-mate Lewis Hamilton during an up and down session for Mercedes at the Hungaroring. On Friday the Silver Arrows almost a second of Vettel’s pace on ultrasoft tyres and while Bottas got to within a tenth of a second of the German in FP3’s qualifying simulations, both Mercedes drivers struggled for grip, with Hamilton at one stage suggesting that he couldn’t competeRead More

By FIA Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel went quickest in the second free practice session for the this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix, finishing just 0.074s ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen. Verstappen’s team-mate Daniel Ricciardo finished in third place ahead of the second Ferrari of Kimi Räikkönen. Mercedes, meanwhile, continued to struggle for ultimate pace, with championship leader Lewis Hamilton fifth, over seven tenths of a second behind Verstappen, Valtteri Bottas took sixth place, a full second behind the leading Red Bull. Verstappen led the way in the early part ofRead More

By FIA Lewis Hamilton powered from 14th on the grid to a 66th career victory, and back into the lead of the FIA Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship standings, as Sebastian Vettel crashed out of a dramatic, rain-hit German Grand Prix. Hamilton had climbed from 14th on the grid to fifth place by the midpoint of the race but with Vettel holding a solid lead after starting from pole position it looked the Briton’s best hope would be to minimise damage in the title race. However, rain then began to fall. With the showerRead More

By FIA Sebastian Vettel took his 55th career pole position in front of his home crowd at Germany’s Hockenheimring in a qualifying session that saw chief title rival Lewis Hamilton ruled out when he damaged his car running wide at the end of Q1. Vettel put in a superb performance in Q3 to set a new track record at Hockenheim with a time of 1:11.212. The German’s lap was more than three seconds faster than Nico Rosberg’s pole time of F1’s last visit to this track in 2016. Valtteri BottasRead More