Valtteri Bottas Tag

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

By FIA Max Verstappen doubled Red Bull Racing tally of session-topping times at Hockenheim by setting a new track record in second practice for the German Grand Prix. The Dutchman posted a time of 1:13.085 on ultrasoft tyres to power past Michael Schumacher’s 2004 circuit record by 0.221s. As with the morning session, in which team-mate Daniel Ricciardo was quickest ahead of Lewis Hamilton, Red Bull edged Mercedes by 0.004s, with Hamilton again taking place, this time just under three hundredths of a second off top spot. Verstappen’s session wasn’tRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor The German Grand Prix at the Hockenheimring marks the homecoming race for championship leader Sebastian Vettel who grew up nearby the circuit, and defending German Grand Prix winners Mercedes. It also marks the true halfway point of the season which has seen Ferrari and Vettel eek out just a bit of a points gap on Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton after a wild British Grand Prix. The race takes place at the Hockenheimring, one of the oldest and most historic venues on the Formula One calendar, HockenheimRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor The British Grand Prix had it all, from spins, crashes and controversy, to a knock down, drag out fight for the win between Ferrari and Mercedes. Lewis Hamilton’s dream of sixth British Grand Prix victory and his fifth in a row was immediately ruined by a poor start and a spin after contact from Kimi Raikkonen sent him all the way to the back of the field on the opening lap, but his fight back to second place and the battles up and down the fieldRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor The British Grand Prix marks the end of Formula 1’s first ever back to back to back run of race weekends which began in France, moved to Austria and will culminate this weekend at Silverstone. The event also serves as the home race for a majority of the teams who tend either have a home base or satellite office near the great track. Force India, McLaren and Williams will hope for a strong performance in front of the home crowd, where many of their factory employeesRead 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 Mercedes continued to lead the way in practice for Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix, with Lewis Hamilton again leading a one-two for the defending champions, just under two tenths of a second ahead of team-mate Valtteri Bottas. Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel was third, 0.236 behind title rival Hamilton. The Silver Arrows had looked comfortable in the morning session and in the second 90-minute session Hamilton and Bottas were again to the fore. Hamilton’s best time of 1:04.579 was set on soft compound Pirelli tyres early in the session on anRead More

By FIA Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas went quickest in a rain-disrupted final practice for the French Grand Prix at the Circuit Paul Ricard. The Finn was one of a handful of drivers who completed a lap in mostly dry conditions at the start of a session that began under threatening skies. He set a time of 1:33.666, to head Renault’s Carlos Sainz by 1.2 seconds, with Sauber’s Charles Leclerc just over six hundredths of a second further back. Behind them, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel was reporting drops of rain, though the GermanRead More

By FIA Lewis Hamilton topped the opening practice timesheet as France returned to the Formula 1 calendar following an absence of a decade, the defending world champion edging Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas by a tenth of a second at the Circuit Paul Ricard. The session ended in spectacular fashion, with Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson crashing out and his car catching fire. The Swedish driver lost control of his Sauber C37 midway through Turn 11 and slid sideways across the run-off area into the barriers. As the car came to rest theRead More

By FIA Sebastian Vettel drove a textbook Canadian Grand Prix, leading every lap of the race to secure his 50th career grand prix win ahead of Mercedes Valtteri Bottas and Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen. When the lights went out polesitter Vettel held his advantage into Turn 1. Behind, Verstappen made a good start and attacked Bottas, pulling alongside the Mercedes. Bottas held firm, however, and managed to stay in second position ahead of the Red Bull driver. Hamilton kept fourth but Daniel Ricciardo made his way past Kimi Räikkönen toRead More