Formula 1 Tag

By FIA Finland’s Valtteri Bottas will line up for Formula 1’s 1000thgrand prix in pole position after he beat Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton by the narrow margin of 0.023s. The pole is the seventh of Bottas’ career and the 59thfront-row lockout for Mercedes. Behind the Silver Arrows, Ferrari annexed row two with Sebastian Vettel in third place, 0.017s ahead of team-mate Charles Leclerc. Bottas was to the fore early in Q1, and the Finn claimed top spot thanks to a lap of 1:32.658. That left him almost half a secondRead More

By FIA Mercedes Valtteri Bottas went quickest in final practice to the Chinese Grand Prix in a session curtailed due a heavy crash involving Toro Rosso’s Alex Albon.  With six minutes remaining in the session the Thai driver went wide in the final corner. He attempted to correct the error and that sent his Toro into a spin. He hit the barriers hard, destroying the whole left-hand side of his car. The Toro Rosso driver was quickly on the radio to confirm he was unhurt and to apologise for aRead More

By FIA Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was denied a first Formula One victory by a late-race engine problem that allowed Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton to sweep past and claim his first win of 2019. Leclerc had led for the bulk of the race, but in the closing stages began to slow and reported an engine problem that was quickly diagnosed as an issue with the turbo. His pace flagged dramatically and at the end of the 48thlap of the 57 scheduled, Hamilton powered past to claim the lead. He was followed byRead More

By FIA Charles Leclerc took the first pole position of his career, beating Ferrari team-mate Sebastian Vettel by almost three tenths of a second as the Italian squad locked out the front row of the grid for tomorrow’s Bahrain Grand Prix. Defending champion Lewis Hamilton was forced to settle for P3, 0.030 behind Vettel, ahead of Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas. At the start of the session Ferrari quickly seized control, with Leclerc taking P1 thanks to a lap of 1:28.495. Vettel slotted into P2, 0.238s behind his team-mate, while ValtteriRead More

By FIA Ferrari completed a clean sweep of practice session one-twos at the Sakhir Circuit, with Charles Leclerc running quickest in the final hour of practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix. The Monegasque driver set a best time of 1:29.569 on the soft compound Pirelli tyres with a little under 20 minutes left in the session. He was immediately followed on track by team-mate Sebastian Vettel who slotted into P2 0.169s behind. The pace left all of their rivals in the shade, with Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton eventually becoming the Scuderia’sRead More

By FIA Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc topped the timesheet in the opening practice sessions for the Bahrain Grand Prix beating team-mate Sebastian Vettel by 0.236s. The Ferrari duo ended the 90-minute session more than seven tenths ahead of chief rivals Mercedes, for whom Valtteri Bottas was quickest. The pace of the Italian squad was a return to the good for the team had shown in pre-season testing but which had been surprisingly absent at the season-opener two weeks ago in Australia. Mercedes made the early running at the Sakhir circuit withRead More

By FIA Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas took a dominant Australian Grand Prix victory, finishing 20 seconds ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton and claiming the bonus point on offer for fastest at Melbourne’s Albert Park circuit. Max Verstappen, meanwhile, got Red Bull Racing’s Honda-powered era off to good start by handing the Japanese manufacturer its first podium finish since 2008 as he claimed third place beind the Mercedes duo. At the start, Bottas made a good start from the front row and managed to get past pole position man Hamilton in TurnRead More

By FIA Lewis Hamilton set a new track record at Albert Park to claim his first pole position of the new season ahead of team-mate Valtteri Bottas as Ferrari failed to convert pre-season form into results in qualifying for tomorrow’s Australian Grand Prix. Across eight days of testing in Barcelona, the Italian squad looked to have found a distinct advantage over Mercedes, but in the time since the defending champions appear to have recovered their superiority. “Coming from Barcelona, we made some really big steps forward and we brought thatRead More

By FIA Lewis Hamilton made it a clean sweep of practice sessions at Melbourne’s Albert Park circuit, with the Mercedes driver claiming top sport in FP3 with 0.264s in hand over Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel. Charles Leclerc finished third in the second Ferrari. Of the expected frontrunners, Vettel was the first to bolt on a set of red walled C4 tyres with around a quarter of the session left to run. At the point the German sat in P3 0.379s off Hamilton who set the quickest time of the opening phaseRead More

By FIA Sebastian Vettel topped the timesheet on the final day of pre-season Formula 1 testing at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. The Ferrari driver ended the day just 0.003s ahead of 2018 F1 champion Lewis Hamilton, as Mercedes at last showed some true pace. Vettel’s final day benchmark arrived in the morning session. The German bolted on a set of C5 compound Pirelli tyres shortly before the lunch break and posted a time of 1:16.221. Vettel’s day ended early, however. The German added 42 laps to his morning total ofRead More