Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes-Benz beat Max Verstappen and Red Bull to victory at the Spanish Grand Prix with a strategic masterstroke after losing the lead on the first lap.
Pole winner Hamilton started alongside Verstappen on the front row of the grid, but the Dutchman got the better start to go side by side into the first turn. He had the inside line and used the full width of the track to force Hamilton to yield or risk damage to his front wing to seize first place.
The news got worse for Mercedes. Valtteri Bottas, starting from third, slipped to fourth behind Charles Leclerc, the Ferrari driver sweeping around the Finn’s outside through the long Turn 3 in a beautiful first-lap move to split him from the front-runners.
Continue reading on RACERPole centurion Lewis Hamilton will lead Max Verstappen away from the grid at the Spanish Grand Prix, but picking a favourite for the race is as difficult as ever.
Lewis Hamilton has pipped Max Verstappen to claim his 100th pole position in Formula 1 in a tight qualifying hour at the Spanish Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton scored his 100th Formula 1 pole position with a fine-margins victory over Max Verstappen ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix.
Hamilton needed only one lap in Q3 to claim his record-extending pole. His first time of 1m16.741s put him at the head of the grid and ahead of title rival Max Verstappen by just 0.036s, and neither he nor the Dutchman was able to improve with their second attempts.
The Briton paid tribute to Mercedes, with which he’s scored 74 of his pole ton of poles since joining the team from McLaren.
Continue reading on RACERMax Verstappen will start what promises to be a hotly contested qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix as Barcelona’s fastest man after topping final practice ahead of Lewis Hamilton.
Verstappen’s best time of 1m17.835s was built largely on a purple middle sector, after which he was almost half a second up on Hamilton, before a fumbled exit from the chicane brought his advantage back down to 0.235s.
Hamilton’s best lap also left time on the table, similarly through the chicane. The Briton should have gained with his final flying lap on the soft tire but took too much of the tall yellow curb to improve his time.
Continue reading on RACERLewis Hamilton turned the tables on Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas to end Friday practice on top of the time sheet, while their title rivals at Red Bull Racing failed to show competitive pace.
Hamilton trailed Bottas in morning practice but the Briton was best in the afternoon, setting a time of 1m18.170s to go 0.139s at the head of the field.
Neither Red Bull Racing driver was in the vicinity of the Mercedes teammates. Max Verstappen was 0.615s off the pace in ninth after abandoning his first flying lap on the soft tire when he ran wide at the new Turn 10, while poor first and third sectors left Sergio Perez 0.748 off the pace in 10th. Verstappen in particular seemed out of sorts, and the Dutchman damaged his wing for the second session in a row riding on the curbs through Turns 7 and 8.
Continue reading on RACERValtteri Bottas opened the Spanish Grand Prix weekend with the fastest time of first practice at the modified Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
The Finn’s best lap of 1m18.504s kept him ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen by just 0.033s, though the Dutchman was balked by Lance Stroll on his first flying lap on soft tires and had to make do with a second attempt. Verstappen also had a mid-session front wing change after picking up damage on the curbs through Turns 7 and 8.
Championship leader Lewis Hamilton finished third and 0.123s behind his session-topping teammate, the Briton also on the soft compound.
Continue reading on RACERLewis Hamilton leads Max Verstappen 2-1 for victories this season, but Red Bull Racing has cause to believe it should be the team leading the title.
Lewis Hamilton won his second race of the season in commanding fashion to take an eight-point championship lead in arguably Mercedes’s most convincing weekend of the year.
Lewis Hamilton extended his title lead to eight points over Max Verstappen with a comfortable win at the Portuguese Grand Prix.
Hamilton dropped from second to third at the start of the race but clawed his way into the lead by Lap 20, and although his ultimate victory margin of 29.148s over second-placed Verstappen was exaggerated by a late pit stop for the Red Bull Racing driver, the world champion was unchallenged in the second half of the race.
Pole winner Valtteri Bottas led Mercedes teammate Hamilton and Verstappen cleanly off the line in qualifying order, but a safety car restart on Lap 7 — the race had been neutralized to collect Kimi Raikkonen’s broken front wing — allowed the Dutchman to slip past the Briton for second place around the outside of the first turn.
Continue reading on RACERLewis Hamilton made victory look easy at the Portuguese Grand Prix with a cruise to a half-minute victory over championship rival Max Verstappen, but the Briton had to work to stretch his championship lead.
Valtteri Bottas took pole by just 0.007 seconds at the Portuguese Grand Prix, but such is the closeness of the frontrunners that Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen can both make valid claims to P1.
Valtteri Bottas is the third different pole-getter of the season after besting Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton to lock out the front row of the grid for the Portuguese Grand Prix.
Valtteri Bottas has taken his first pole of 2021 after Max Verstappen had a quicker time deleted for running off the track.
Verstappen was the first of the front-runners to set a time in the Portuguese Grand Prix pole shootout but had his time cancelled for running off the track at Turn 4 while collecting a moment of oversteer. The Red Bull driver lost time in the snap, but Turn 4 has been designated as a monitored corner for track limit violations, and the stewards were quick to erase his time.
Bottas was then clear to take top spot with a best time of 1m18.348s, and Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton slot into second just 0.007s adrift.
Continue reading on RACERMax Verstappen led the way in Portugal ahead of qualifying after beating Lewis Hamilton to the top spot in final practice.
The Red Bull Racing driver overcame the cool and gusty conditions on the Algarve circuit to set the fastest lap of the hour-long session with barely five minutes remaining, his lap of 1m18.489s, just 0.236s quicker than the Mercedes immediately behind.
It took Verstappen several laps to hit his stride after his first flyer was disrupted by a virtual safety car to recover a stray advertising board let loose by the high winds, while his attempt on a new set of soft tires nearer the end of the hour was undone by excessive oversteer in the final sector. His final laps of the session were similarly marred by excursions just wide of the track, and the Dutchman complained of driveability over team radio.
Continue reading on RACERChampionship leader Lewis Hamilton led the way for Mercedes in Portimao after topping second practice at the Portuguese Grand Prix. The Briton overcame his morning discomfort with the Pirelli tires and cool ambient temperatures to unleash his soft-compound rubber for a best lap of 1m19.837s.
Title rival Max Verstappen, lagging in the championship table by a single point, was just 0.143s adrift for Red Bull Racing despite suffering a brake-by-wire issue in the first 10 minutes of the session that restricted him to the second fewest laps of any driver for the hour.
The Dutchman was running an upgraded floor in his team’s attempt to consolidate its place at the head of the field with Mercedes, and though he showed strongly, teammate Sergio Perez was less impressive in 10th and 0.679s off the pace.
Continue reading on RACERValtteri Bottas beat Max Verstappen to the top spot in first practice at the Portuguese Grand Prix.
The Finn, who is 28 points off the championship lead thanks to his retirement from the previous race in Imola, bolted on a set of soft tires onto his Mercedes in the second half of the session to rocket to the top of the time sheet.
Red Bull Racing’s Verstappen was next best with just a 0.025s deficit despite the Dutchman complaining of severe vibrations on his soft tires. He was offered the chance to return to the garage but chose instead to set a single flying lap before withdrawing from the run. “I’ll just visit the dentist after the weekend,” he replied before coming close to toppling Bottas from the head of the time sheet.
Continue reading on RACERFour-time champion Red Bull Racing is poised to become a fully fledged engine builder to cement its return to the front in Formula 1.