Mercedes Tag

Lewis Hamilton headed a dominant Mercedes 1-2 in the opening free practice for the Brazilian Grand Prix, the Briton finishing a tenth of a second ahead of team-mate Valtteri Bottas and half a second clear of Ferrari’s third-placed Kimi Räikkönen. After spending the first half of the session controlling matters on Pirelli’s soft compound tyre, Hamilton switched to supersofts and after Bottas had taken top on the same compound with a time of 1:09.329, Hamilton responded by lowering the benchmark to 1:09.202. The lap was good enough to keep HamiltonRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor The most obvious stat from the Mexican Grand Prix is that Lewis Hamilton is now a four time World Champion. In doing so he has equaled his rival Sebastian Vettel, and Alain Prost. The only drivers with more titles remain Juan Manuel Fangio with five and Michael Schumacher with seven. The way Hamilton clinched the title was somewhat anticlimactic and his ninth place finish is the lowest finishing position any driver has ever held to clinch a championship, though Schumacher came close with an eighth placeRead More

Lewis Hamilton claimed his fourth FIA Formula One World Drivers’ Championship title with a ninth-placed finish in a Mexican Grand Prix won by Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen. Mercedes driver Hamilton had to battle from the back of the field after an opening lap collision with title rival Sebastian Vettel dropped both drivers to the back of the field. Vettel, whose slim title chances rested on securing victory at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, managed to claw his way back to fourth place but with Hamilton slowly progressing to ninth placeRead More

Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo set the quickest time of second practice for the Mexican Grand Prix, edging championship leader Lewis Hamilton by just over a tenth of a second. In a tight session in which just 1.021 seconds separated first place from 10th, Ricciardo ran quickest early on, using soft tyres to top the order ahead of team-mate Max Verstappen. The two Red Bull drivers dropped down the order when Hamilton and Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas bolted on ultrasofts after half an hour but Ricciardo was soon back onRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief AUSTIN, Texas – Mercedes took its fourth consecutive constructors’ title in Formula One after Lewis Hamilton claimed his ninth win of the season in Sunday’s United States Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas. Hamilton’s victory was accompanied by an undesirable fifth-place effort by teammate Valtteri Bottas. However, the outcome allowed the Brackley-based outfit to better rival Scuderia Ferrari to continue their success at the top of the standings. Overall, their efforts were accelerated and enabled with recent setbacks by Scuderia Ferrari at Singapore, Malaysia andRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor Victory in the Japanese Grand Prix wasn’t much of a contest for Lewis Hamilton after Sebastian Vettel retired his Ferrari with a spark plug issue, but it nevertheless served up an abundance of fascinating statistics. Chief of which is the incredible nature of Hamilton’s pole lap time and the time in which he finished the Grand Prix the next day. His lap record in qualifying on Saturday of 1:27.31 matches up exactly with the 1 hour 27 minutes and 31 seconds he took to finish theRead More

Lewis Hamilton took his 71st career pole position and his first at Japan’s Suzuka Circuit as he beat Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas by three tenths of a second with Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel third. However, title contender Vettel will start alongside championship leader Hamilton on the front row as Bottas is set for a grid penalty due to an unscheduled gearbox change. Hamilton set the pace in Q1, rising to the top of the timesheet around 10 minutes into the session with a lap of 1:29.047 on soft tyres. He wasRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor Valtteri Bottas is set for a five place grid penalty for Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix, by virtue of an unscheduled gearbox change for the No. 77 W08. The controversial engine and gearbox change grid penalties, which Ross Brawn is considering banning for 2018 and beyond have proved costly for many drivers, and this penalty for Bottas comes at the worst time for Mercedes. FP2 was a washout as the skies above Suzuka Circuit dropped a deluge of rain on the track, but in FP1 the topRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor The Japanese Grand Prix was first held all the way back in 1963 as a sports car race, it did not become an official Formula One Grand Prix until 1976 on and has been held 30 times since. The first two grands prix were at Fuji speedway near Tokyo, including the dramatic 1977 title decider where James Hunt won the World Championship over Niki Lauda. The race then dropped off the calendar for 10 years before it moved to its spiritual home of Suzuka Circuit inRead More

Listen to “Drafting The Circuits October 5, 2017” on Spreaker. Frank Santoroski and the Drafting the Circuits panel – Joey Barnes, Gray Warren, Richard Youden, Christopher DeHarde and Seth Eggert, with special guest Aaron Bearden – weigh in on the first elimination round of the NASCAR playoffs, and has an in-depth conversation about the Malaysian Grand Prix and other stories within Formula One. Credits: Host – Frank Santoroski DTC Panel – Joey Barnes, Seth Eggert, Christopher DeHarde, Gray Warren, Richard Youden & Aaron Bearden Producers – Anthony Arnold & Keith Hayes Special thanks to Whoobazoo forRead More