Motorsport journalist and podcaster
If qualifying at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix were further evidence of the fight between Mercedes and Red Bull Racing being posied on a knife edge, seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton proved that he could be the difference between success and failure.
Lewis Hamilton squeaked to pole position by less than half a tenth ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Sergio Perez at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
The Briton took his 99th pole despite failing to improve his first banker lap with his second attempt, leaving him vulnerable to Max Verstappen, who then was trailing by only 0.091s.
But the Dutchman found only 0.004s on his own second attempt. Instead Perez was the biggest gainer, finding almost a quarter of a second to come within a minuscule 0.035s of Hamilton’s still-standing benchmark.
Continue reading on RACERMax Verstappen reasserted Red Bull Racing’s qualifying credentials with a dominant one-lap display in Saturday morning practice for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
Verstappen had several laps deleted for exceeding track limits before setting a flying lap on fresh soft tires late in the hour and logging an unbeatable time of 1m14.982s, almost half a second quicker than anyone else.
But the competitive picture ahead of qualifying remains uncertain, with Lewis Hamilton the quickest Mercedes in third and 0.557s off the pace, the front-running pair separated unexpectedly by McLaren’s Lando Norris after a late flier of his own.
Continue reading on RACERLewis Hamilton has snatched his 99th F1 pole position from Sergio Perez in a nailbiting qualifying hour at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
Valtteri Bottas completed a Friday clean sweep by topping second practice at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix after Max Verstappen retired from the session with a drive problem.
The Finn set his quickest time of 1m15.551s on the medium compound early in the session, and though he undertook a subsequent three-lap qualifying simulation with the grippiest soft tire, he was unable to improve.
He was followed closely by teammate Lewis Hamilton, who was able to fractionally improve on his medium-tire time with the softs, though only enough to close to within 0.01s.
Continue reading on RACER