Sebastian Vettel must feel particularly aggrieved with the way 2020 is panning out.
The four-time world champion expected two things from this Formula One season: a car to contend with Mercedes for the title and an extension to his expiring contract.
Little did he know, as 2019 turned into this wretched 2020, neither was ever going to happen.
Can anyone beat Mercedes in 2020?
The F1 paddock’s burning question, to be clear, isn’t whether Mercedes can be beaten to the championship; the question is whether Mercedes can be beaten in a race at all.
Mercedes has clean swept the three grands prix, with Lewis Hamilton winning twice from pole and Valtteri Bottas once, and excepting opening-round unreliability, the German marque has been almost entirely unimpeachable.
Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes have long exhausted the range of superlatives available to describe their various weekends of domination, and Anglo-German pairing dealt another sobering blow to those hoping for a close title fight at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Hamilton was flawless throughout the weekend. His pole time was a new track record, his lap having squeezed the maximum from his W11, as evidenced by the almost full second gap between him and the closest non-Mercedes challenger, Racing Point’s Lance Stroll.
His race was similarly masterful. He grew his advantage to more than three seconds on the damp opening lap, and once he was on slicks he was untouchable, quick enough to even make a late stop for softs to take the point for fastest lap.
Lewis Hamilton has cruised to a record-equalling eighth victory at the Hungarian Grand Prix to take control of championship standings.
Hamilton was peerless all weekend in Budapest, setting a new track record to take his 90th career pole on Saturday and dominating the race on Sunday.
His lead stretched to almost 30 seconds over the field before a late-race pit stop for fresh tyres to set the fastest lap, which he duly captured with a new lap record. The extra point took him to a five-point lead in the championship standings over teammate Valtteri Bottas.
Lewis Hamilton seized the lead of the Formula 1 world championship with an emphatic Hungarian Grand Prix victory in Budapest. The Briton was totally unchallenged starting from pole, achieved with a new Hungaroring track record, and lapped all but the top five drivers on his way to the checkered flag.
Continue reading on RACERFor the second week in a row Formula One is experiencing a weather-disrupted weekend, which means for the second week in a row the forecast for the race remains shrouded.
The Hungarian Grand Prix has faced a variable forecast from the beginning of the weekend, with heavy showers arriving between Friday practice sessions and washing out FP2. Rain threatened Saturday running but stayed away, and now on Sunday again the risk of showers is high.
One suspects several on the grid would embrace a variable race as an opportunity to make good on paltry weekends to this point.
Lewis Hamilton has taken his 90th F1 pole position with a new lap record at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
The Briton’s best time of 1 minute 13.447 seconds beat the previous best by more than a second on a day Mercedes was peerless over a single lap.
Hamilton’s only competition came from teammate Valtteri Bottas, who ran him close but fell just 0.107 seconds short after completing two laps apiece.
Lewis Hamilton will start the Hungarian Grand Prix from his 90th career pole position after setting a new track record at the Hungaroring. Hamilton’s time of 1m13.447s beat the previous best time around the circuit, set by Max Verstappen in qualifying last year, by 1.125s.
Continue reading on RACERValtteri Bottas topped the FP3 leaderboard at the Hungarian Grand Prix while Red Bull Racing continued to struggle with setup just hours before qualifying.
Continue reading on RACERSebastian Vettel led the way for Ferrari in a very wet second practice session for the Hungarian Grand Prix, while first session pacesetter Lewis Hamilton was among those who chose not to set a time in the saturated conditions.
Continue reading on RACERLewis Hamilton set an early dominant marker at the Hungaroring with a time sheet-topping FP1 performance at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Continue reading on RACERNever has the Formula One paddock been more intensely pressurised than in this most unusual 2020 season.
We’re two rounds into an unprecedented run of 10 races in 13 weeks, and with the full schedule of events still undetermined, every grand prix threatens to make or break a championship.
The pressure has never been higher. Fortunately Lewis Hamilton thrives on it.
Lewis Hamilton opened his 2020 victory account by converting a superlative wet-weather pole into a comfortable win at the Styrian Grand Prix to confirm Mercedes’s place at the head of the field.
Hamilton was absolutely peerless in the saturated qualifying conditions, and though Max Verstappen started alongside him on the front row of the grid, the Red Bull Racing driver never quite had the pace to challenge for the lead, and by the time of his pit stop on lap 24 that his strategy had become defensive rather than progressive.
Off the podium the battle for fourth went down to the wire, with the front of the midfield tightly matched after different strategies brought Racing Point, Renault and McLaren together in the battle for points.
Lewis Hamilton has taken his first win of the season in a one-two victory for Mercedes at the Styrian Grand Prix.
The Briton had been untouchable since recording his masterful pole position in the wet from Max Verstappen on Saturday afternoon. The Red Bull Racing driver expected to challenge Hamilton for victory come the race, but the reigning world champion never gave him a chance, acing his start and nailing the single safety car restart to keep the Dutchman at arm’s length throughout.
The margin at the chequered flag was 13.7 seconds, and Hamilton was serene in rejoining the winners circle in 2020.
Lewis Hamilton led a Mercedes one-two to take his first win of the season at the Styrian Grand Prix. The Briton had total control over the race from the start, surrendered the lead only once — to teammate Valtteri Bottas in the pit stops — to take a perfectly managed 13s victory.
Continue reading on RACERMercedes may have a new all-black livery, but its superiority over the field remains stubbornly unchanged, as Valtteri Bottas’s dominant pole so aptly illustrated at the season-opening Austrian Grand Prix.
Not even a trip through the gravel and a clumsy spin on the grass in his second run could keep Bottas from pole and a new track record with a time of 1 minute 2.939 seconds. It was enough to pip teammate Lewis Hamilton by just 0.012 seconds.
The margin between the quickest Mercedes and the next-best car, Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen, was a foreboding 0.538 seconds. The Dutchman said the gap was exacerbated by balance problems aboard his RB16, but even was forced to admit the Mercedes is simply in a different league.
Lewis Hamilton has put on a masterclass of wet-weather driving with a dominant pole position in saturated Styrian Grand Prix qualifying.
The superlative driving spectacle almost didn’t happen, with heavy rain cancelling Saturday practice and threatening to write off qualifying in the deluge.
But fortunately the rain eased enough to allow the track to drain sufficient to get the session underway after only a 46-minute delay, allowing Hamilton to put on a show of wet-weather excellence.
Lewis Hamilton dominated a soaking wet qualifying session for the Styrian Grand Prix, topping the time sheet in the treacherous conditions by a massive 1.2s margin.
Continue reading on RACER