Valtteri Bottas Tag

By FIA Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel set the quickest time of day two of the first pre-season Formula 1 test in Barcelona, outpacing Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas by three tenths of a second. McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne finished third on the timesheet a further three tenths back. The day began in muted fashion as overnight snow and rain meant conditions were tricky early on and many teams avoided significant running before the halfway point of running. One of those was Red Bull Racing, with the Milton Keynes team being restricted to the garageRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor The 2018 Formula One season is finally upon us. After the long winter break, all 10 teams hit the track this morning at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain. While the full picture of who is competitive, who has got it right, and who has got it wrong won’t fully form till the end of testing next week, there are meaningful things we can gleam just from breaking down the first day’s running. The biggest caveat in doing so are two variables that made today’s runningRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor Mercedes unveiled their 2018 car today at a cold Silverstone circuit. The brand new W09 is the latest in the royal bloodline that has won four consecutive drivers and constructors championships. If the team can achieve that feat again this season, they will equal the success of the Michael Schumacher era at Ferrari. To do so the new W09 will need to be less of a diva than its predecessor which saw Ferrari put up a close fight and get Sebastian Vettel past Valtteri Bottas inRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor Motorsports Tribune reviews the top 10 Formula 1 drivers of 2017. Our list continues with second-place finisher Sebastian Vettel. Sebastian Vettel, No. 5 Scuderia Ferrari 2017: 2nd in the championship, 317 points Wins: 5, Podiums: 13, Top 5: 17, Top 10: 18, Poles: 3, Laps Led: 286, Fastest Laps: 5 Best Finish: 1st – Five times (Australia, Bahrain, Monaco, Hungary, Brazil) Sebastian Vettel had a dream start to the 2017 season, and a nightmare finish. His season of two halves saw Ferrari come closest to theRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor Motorsports Tribune reviews the top 10 Formula 1 drivers of 2017. Our list continues with third-place finisher Valtteri Bottas. Valtteri Bottas, No. 77 Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport 2017: 3rd in the championship, 305 points Wins: 3, Podiums: 13, Top 5: 18, Top 10: 19, Poles: 4, Laps Led: 187, Fastest Laps: 2 Best Finish: 1st – Three times (Russia, Austria, Abu Dhabi) Valtteri Bottas had the most daunting task of any driver heading into the 2017 Formula 1 season. A last minute call to move fromRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor Motorsports Tribune reviews the top 10 Formula 1 drivers of 2017. Our list continues with fourth-place finisher Kimi Raikkonen. Kimi Raikkonen, No. 7 Scuderia Ferrari 2017: 4th in the championship, 205 points Wins: 0, Podiums: 7, Top 5: 15, Top 10: 16, Poles: 1, Laps Led: 40, Fastest Laps: 2 Best Finish: 2nd – Two times (Monaco, Hungary) Kimi Raikkonen was the only driver from the big three teams in 2017 not to win a Grand Prix. It is a hard statistic to swallow for aRead More

By Adam Tate, Associate Editor Formula One’s bigger, wider cars of 2017 produced the most downforce the sport has ever seen. That, coupled with the wider, more durable Pirelli tires lead to a massive decrease in overtaking which plummeted 47% compared to 2016 according to Pirelli. The excessive turbulent air of the high downforce cars is well known and Ross Brawn is working on a solution with the 2021 regulations, but it along with the rather dull season finale in Abu Dhabi have lead to an increased focus on the circuitsRead More

Valtteri Bottas claimed his third victory of the year, beating Mercedes team-mate and four-time world champion Lewis Hamilton by just under four seconds at the final race of the 2017 FIA Formula One World Championship, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Sebastian Vettel finished third for Ferrari. At the start Bottas got away cleanly from pole position and took the lead ahead of Hamilton, Vettel and Ricciardo who all retained their starting positions. Behind them Max Verstappen in the second Red Bull closed on Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkönen and made two aggressiveRead More

Valtteri Bottas will start the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix from the front of the grid after the Finn beat Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton by just under two tenths of a second to claim his fourth career pole position. Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel will start third ahead of Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo, who delivered a superb final flying lap to climb from sixth place after the first runs of Q3. In Q1, four-time champion Hamilton was one of the first on track and he quickly grabbed top spot with a lap ofRead More

Lewis Hamilton led a Mercedes 1-2 in final practice for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, beating team-mate Valtteri Bottas by 0.273s. The Constructors’ champions’ closest rival was Kimi Räikkönen, with the Finn finishing 0.257 behind compatriot Bottas. In a quiet start to the session, which was run in full sunshine conditions not relative to those to come in qualifying and the race, Räikkönen led the way with a time of 1:38.999 set on ultrasoft tyres. However, just under 20 minutes into the session both Mercedes joined the fray and theRead More