Verstappen retains F1 world title after dramatic Japan win

SUZUKA, Japan -- Max Verstappen was declared Formula One world champion Sunday after winning a dramatic rain-shortened Japanese Grand Prix.

Red Bull's Verstappen crossed the line first and he was then awarded the title when second-place finisher Charles Leclerc was given a five-second penalty, dropping him to third.

The result gave Verstappen an unassailable 113-point lead in the championship, making him only the third driver after Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel to clinch the title with four races to spare.

Ferrari's Leclerc finished the race second in front of Red Bull's Sergio Perez, but he was hit with a penalty after squeezing Perez wide and leaving the track in a late surge for the line.

Verstappen was informed he had retained his title midway through the post-race TV interview, and even the driver himself was not sure if he had sealed the deal.

"It's a crazy feeling of course as I didn't expect it when I crossed the line," said a shell-shocked Verstappen.

"Was it going to be half points? I didn't know how many points I was going to get. I was happy with the race we had."

The race got off to a chaotic start in heavy rain, with Ferrari's Carlos Sainz and Williams' Alex Albon exiting on the first lap prompting a safety care.

A red flag soon followed and forced the drivers to wait for more than an hour before the action restarted, again under a safety car.

Verstappen resumed with a lead over Leclerc and Perez, and extended it as conditions gradually improved.

Verstappen has won 12 of 18 races in 2022 and thanked his team for an "incredible" year.

"The first (championship) is a little more emotional, the second one is beautiful," he said.

"It's been a special year, and you need to remind yourself as these kind of years you don't have very often."

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said Verstappen had "grown" as a driver.

"Carrying that number one this year, he's done it with a lot of pride," he said.

Agence France-Presse

F1: 'Untouchable' Verstappen cruises in Belgium to tighten grip on second title

SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium -- World champion Max Verstappen blew away his rivals with a commanding performance at the Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday to take a significant step towards a second successive drivers' title as Red Bull celebrated a 1-2 with Sergio Perez finishing a remote runner-up.

The 24-year-old Dutchman, who started from 14th on the grid, scorched through the field with devastating pace and elan to deliver crushing proof of his and Red Bull's superiority.

"It's been a weekend that I couldn't have imagined before," said Verstappen, who pulled 93 points clear of Perez in the drivers' standings.

Among those blown away by Verstappen's stunning show of superiority was his teammate.

"Max was flying – he was on another planet. He was untouchable," said Perez.

Verstappen has now won nine of this season's 14 races - this was the 29th of his career and completed a hat-trick of summer victories in Europe. 

In front of a packed crowd at the spectacular Spa-Francorchamps circuit, including many fans from the nearby Netherlands, Verstappen came home 17.841 seconds clear of the pack with race pole-sitter Carlos Sainz finishing third for Ferrari.

Charles Leclerc, Verstappen's nearest challenger going into the race, struggled in the other Ferrari after starting 15th. 

He was handed a five-second penalty for speeding in the pitlane and had to battle past Alpine's Fernando Alonso on the last lap to snatch sixth behind the Mercedes of George Russell and Fernando Alonso.

Lewis Hamilton retired on the opening lap after his Mercedes collided with Alonso's car.

- Flying Verstappen -

Verstappen was one of eight drivers to be relegated down the grid after taking new power-unit or gearbox components.

In spite of being quickest in qualifying he started 14th but quickly carved his way through the field to install himself in the easy chair up front.

The race began in bright and dry conditions following official confirmation that Belgium's place on the calendar was secure for next year at least with a one-year contract extension.

When the lights went out, Sainz made an excellent start, while Perez was slow to move and passed by Alonso, Hamilton and Russell. Verstappen rose smoothly from 14th on the grid to eighth.

As the field climbed through Les Combes, Hamilton collided with Alonso as he attempted to complete an impetuous pass, the Mercedes rising over the Alpine and falling violently. Both men continued, but Hamilton's race was done.

Alonso called Hamilton an "idiot" over the radio and the Briton later took full responsibility. 

"He was in my blind spot, I didn't give him enough space. It is my fault," Hamilton said.

This unscripted exit left the seven-time champion still searching for a first win of the season.

Shortly after, Nicholas Latifi went wide in his Williams and spun, taking out Valtteri Bottas's Alfa Romeo. 

A safety car was deployed and the field settled with Sainz leading Perez, Russell and Alonso.

Soon after the resumption, Verstappen cut his way through to reach third and a podium finish by lap eight.

The impatient Dutchman surged past Perez on lap 12 as Alonso pitted, leaving the two Red Bulls leading ahead of Russell and Vettel, a near-perfect scenario for the Milton Keynes-based team that made light of Verstappen's grid penalty.

Perez pitted after 14 laps, re-joining third in front of Leclerc as Verstappen came in from the lead on lap 15. He came out ahead of Perez.

The defending champion was in imperious mood and on lap 18, after following Sainz uphill from Eau Rouge, swept past to lead on the Kemmel straight.

Remarkably, to the delight of the orange-clad hordes packed into the circuit, Verstappen had demolished the field before half-distance.

Three laps later, Perez passed Sainz for second.

Further pit-stops shuffled the pack briefly, but Red Bull reigned supreme.

"It was quite a hectic first lap to stay out of trouble," said a composed Verstappen. "But once we settled in after the safety car, the car was really on rails."

He added that he knew his car was ‘super-competitive’ from the start of the weekend. “I could tell from the ‘get-go’ that we could get an amazing result.

"Now, of course, I am enjoying the moment, having a good time, but even with this amazing weekend, we are still focused on what we can achieve and we want more."

He will be counting on another big points pay day next weekend when the F1 circus pitches up at Zandvoort for his home Dutch Grand Prix.

Agence France-Presse

F1: Rain man Verstappen takes pole position for Canadian Grand Prix

MONTREAL, Canada -- World champion and series leader Max Verstappen drove expertly in difficult wet conditions in his Red Bull on Saturday to secure pole position for the Canadian Grand Prix.

In an intriguing and entertaining qualifying session, the 24-year-old Dutchman clocked a best lap in one minute and 21.299 seconds, beating nearest rival two-time world champion Fernando Alonso of Alpine by seven-tenths of a second.

Verstappen will start his 150th race from the prime start place after claiming his 15th pole in pursuit of a 26th career victory. 

His pole ends a run of four in a row by title rival Charles Leclerc who starts Sunday's race from the back of the grid after taking a new power unit on his Ferrari.

"We stayed calm, we made no mistakes, so of course super happy with that, with pole position here - and also to be back here in Montreal," said Verstappen.

The 40-year-old Alonso put in a dazzling late lap to delight the crowd and outpace fellow-Spaniard Carlos Sainz of Ferrari who qualified third ahead of a reinvigorated Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes.

"It feels great. It was an unbelievable weekend so far for us, thanks to the wet conditions. The car was mega," said Alonso.

Kevin Magnussen wound up fifth ahead of his Haas team-mate Mick Schumacher, Esteban Ocon in the second Alpine and George Russell in the second Mercedes.

- Firsts for Schumacher, Zhou -

It was Schumacher's best qualifying performance since arriving in Formula One last year.

Daniel Ricciardo was ninth for McLaren ahead of Zhou Guanyu of Alfa Romeo, the Chinese driver reaching the top ten for the first time on a day of the unexpected.

After heavy rain overnight and through the morning, the temperature was only 11 degrees when Race Control declared the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve to be an official 'wet track' for the session.

Another big crowd turned out, bedecked in colourful plastic ponchos and anoraks to greet the return of F1 after a Covid-caused three-year absence.

All 20 drivers went out immediately to test the conditions in the opening qualifying session, the entire field running on full-wet tyres. 

The track appeared to be wetter than it had been in final practice when Alonso was quickest.

Russell set the early pace before Verstappen and Sainz took over only for the Mercedes man to respond again before Magnussen went quickest for Haas.

As a dry line began to emerge, Valtteri Bottas took over on top as the times tumbled with dramatic affect, Sainz again taking his Ferrari top before running on at Turn Three and reversing to re-join the fray.

Amid the chaos, Verstappen stayed calm to go quickest again ahead of Alonso while, unexpectedly after shining in third practice, both Aston Martin men, local star Lance Stroll and four-time champion Sebastian Vettel, were eliminated.

Out with them went AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly, Canada's second hope Nicholas Latifi of Williams and Yuki Tsunoda in the second Alpha Tauri.

The second session began with some drivers, including Sainz and Perez, trying intermediate tyres only for Alex Albon to go off at Turn Six in his Williams and then Perez to slide into the barriers, more heavily, at Turn three.

Perez's crash prompted a red flag to halt the action, wrecking his hopes of beating Verstappen in qualifying for a third consecutive weekend to boost his title bid.

The session resumed with nine minutes remaining, a wider dry line and everyone on intermediates except Leclerc who remained in the pits, knowing he will start Sunday's race from the back of the grid after taking a new power unit.

In a frantic finale, Verstappen pipped Alonso at the top while Bottas of Alfa Romeo, Albon, Perez, McLaren's Lando Norris and Leclerc missed the cut. 

Russell set an early marker in 1:24.006 before Verstappen flexed his might in 1:22.701. It was a statement lap.

On his second run, Russell gambled on taking slick tyres as the Dutchman trimmed his best time to 1:21.620 – a gamble that failed as he spun off at Turn Two. 

Agence France-Presse

F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton positive for Covid-19

SAKHIR, Bahrain --  World champion Lewis Hamilton has tested positive for coronavirus and will miss this weekend's Sakhir Grand Prix in Bahrain, Formula One's governing body FIA announced Tuesday.

"In accordance with COVID-19 protocols and public health authority guidelines in Bahrain he (Hamilton) is now isolating," said an FIA statement.

"The procedures set out by the FIA and Formula 1 will ensure no wider impact on this weekend's event.

Hamilton, who on Sunday won the Bahrain Grand Prix, the first of back-to-back races in the Gulf state, has already secured a record-equalling seventh world championship this season.

"He woke up on Monday morning with mild symptoms and was informed at the same time that a contact prior to arrival in Bahrain had subsequently tested positive," a statement from Hamilton's Mercedes team said.

"Lewis therefore took a further test and returned a positive result. This has since been confirmed by a retest.

"Lewis is now isolating in accordance with COVID-19 protocols and public health authority guidelines in Bahrain.

"Apart from mild symptoms, he is otherwise fit and well, and the entire team sends him its very best wishes for a swift recovery."

Mercedes added that Hamilton had been tested three times last week and returned a negative result each time as part of the sport's strict anti-virus protocols, the last of which was on Sunday afternoon at the Bahrain circuit.

Hamilton sealed his seventh title in Turkey two races ago to equal the all-time record of Michael Schumacher

He then cruised to his 11th win this year and record-increasing 95th victory on Sunday in a race overshadowed by Romain Grosjean's horrific crash, which left the Frenchman receiving hospital treatment for burns after his car exploded in flames after ploughing into a barrier.

"It was such a shocking image to see," said Hamilton, who like all of the drivers had a near 90-minute wait for the restart after the opening-lap crash.

Hamilton and teammate Valtteri Bottas were having to "live like hermits" earlier this season to avoid Covid-19, revealed Mercedes boss Toto Wolff after the team recorded two positive cases at the Eifel Grand Prix in Germany in October.

Wolff said both drivers were confined to their rooms. "They are the most restricted of the whole group, of the whole team," he said.

"It's certainly not a great situation for them because you need almost to live like a hermit -– and that is what they are doing.

"They are at home, they are not going out for dinners and they are not meeting other people. When we do de-briefs, by Zoom or Microsoft Teams, they are not sitting with their engineers in the room."

Agence France-Presse

F1: Hamilton claims record win and top spot in title race

BUDAPEST, Hungary -- Lewis Hamilton equalled one of Michael Schumacher’s many records on Sunday when he delivered a classic drive to become the first driver to complete a hat-trick of Hungarian Grand Prix victories.

The defending six-time champion, who won at the Hungaroring in 2018 and 2019, enlarged his overall total of Hungarian triumphs to eight, drawing level with Schumacher’s eight wins at the French Grand Prix, the most by any driver at a single race venue.

Driving with exemplary concentration and aplomb, Hamilton controlled a tactical race from lights to flag, making light of changing conditions to deliver his 86th win, five short of Schumacher’s record total of 91.

It was Hamilton's second win this season, following victory at the Styrian Grand Prix a week earlier, and lifted him to the top of the drivers’ championship by a single point ahead of his Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas who won the opening Austrian Grand Prix.

“Round One was multiple different punches that I wasn't ready for,” said Hamilton, referring to the defeat in the season opener.

“But I have refocused and we’ve just been on point here right through the weekend.”

Max Verstappen was a remarkable second for Red Bull after his crew repaired severe damage to his car’s suspension on the grid caused when the Dutchman had crashed before the start. He held off a late attack by Bottas to stay second by fractions of a second. 

"It wasn’t how I wanted it, of course, but the mechanics did an amazing job to fix the car so to pay them back with second place is great,” said Verstappen. 

Bottas came home a frustrated third, just metres behind, but ahead of Lance Stroll’s Racing Point, Alex Albon in the second Red Bull and four-time champion Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari.

"It was a pretty bad race, to be honest,” said Bottas. “I lost it at the start. I reacted to a light on my dash that went off – instead of the start lights so I had to do the start again.”

Sergio Perez was seventh in the second ‘pink Mercedes’ Racing Point ahead of Daniel Ricciardo of Renault, Kevin Magnussen of Haas and Carlos Sainz of McLaren. 

After an intense burst of pre-race drama, in which Verstappen crashed on his final lap to join the grid and a seemingly rushed ‘end racism’ gesture by many of the drivers, Hamilton was coolness personified.

Starting from the 90th pole of his career, he pulled clear to lead by three seconds on the opening lap, ahead of Stroll and Verstappen, all of them running on intermediate tyres in the tricky conditions.

Bottas jumped the start and was then bogged down and fell to sixth.

The champion pitted for slicks at the end of the second lap returning in fourth and was back on top by lap five with the two Haas cars of Magnussen and Grosjean in pursuit after a well-judged switch from wets to slicks.

- Stick or twist? -

View this post on Instagram

Today I raced for everyone out there who is pushing to make positive change and fight inequality, however, sadly, as a sport we need to do so much more. It is embarrassing that many teams have not made any public commitment to diversity or that we couldn’t properly find time to make a symbolic gesture in support of ending racism before the race. Today felt rushed and massively lacked organisation and effort, which in turn dilutes the message and makes it seem like there was something more important. It doesn’t matter if you stand or kneel, but we should be showing the world that F1 is united in its commitment to equality and inclusivity. F1 and the FIA need to do more. There is no quick fix for racial inequality, but it is certainly something that we can’t just acknowledge once and then move on. We have to stay focussed, keep highlighting the problem and hold those with the power accountable. #BlackLivesMatter #EndRacism

A post shared by Lewis Hamilton (@lewishamilton) on Jul 19, 2020 at 12:41pm PDT

After a fine start lifted him to fourth, Vettel followed Hamilton into the pits, but a tentative release by Ferrari cost him at least five seconds and dropped him to ninth.

By lap 20, Hamilton led Verstappen by 11 seconds and Stroll by 27 with Bottas fourth ahead of the two Haas men and Albon.

Bottas pitted on lap 34 shortly before Hamilton, 19 seconds clear of Verstappen, reported the first drops of anticipated rain. The Finn’s immediate speed enabled a perfect under-cut of Stroll who, after pitting, emerged in fourth.

Verstappen came in for hards and then Hamilton for fresh mediums on lap 38, staying ahead by 19.418 with Bottas closing on the Dutchman by lap 40.

Bottas then pitted and clocked a fastest lap, heaping pressure on Red Bull’s strategists: to stick or twist?

With 12 laps to go, Hamilton lapped Vettel’s Ferrari, leaving only three men behind him on the same lap. "These tyres don’t feel good," he had complained only seconds earlier.

Offered hard tyres at his final pit stop, Hamilton requested softs in a bid for fastest lap. "What’s going on," he asked his engineer Peter Bonnington. "Standby, Lewis, while I found out myself," came the reply as his crew ran into the pit-lane and back again.

Eventually, he pitted on lap 66, re-joining with a lead of 4.7 seconds in pursuit of fastest lap. He clocked it with 1:16.627 for a precious extra point and leadership of the championship

Agence France-Presse

NASCAR: Horror crash mars end of Daytona 500

MIAMI -- Denny Hamlin sealed back-to-back victories in an incident-packed Daytona 500 on Monday, winning a photo finish in a race marred by a horrific crash that left veteran driver Ryan Newman seriously injured.

Joe Gibbs Racing driver Hamlin followed up his victory in 2019 with his third career win at Daytona, becoming the first racer to win the opening leg of the NASCAR season since Sterling Marlin in 1995.

However, Hamlin's celebrations were muted by a last-lap crash that left Roush Fenway Racing's Newman hospitalized.

The 42-year-old Newman's Ford Mustang had led on the final lap but spun out of control, hit the wall and flipped onto its roof before bursting into flames at the Daytona International Speedway.

Newman's car was also sent flying into the air after being struck by Go Fas Racing's Corey LaJoie.

Several ambulances sped onto the circuit to attend to Newman's stricken vehicle following the crash. 

Black screens were erected around the site of Newman's car as workers extracted the driver from the wreck. 

NASCAR executive vice president Steve O'Donnell later told reporters that Newman was in serious condition at a local area hospital, but his injuries were deemed non-life-threatening.

"He's in a serious condition, but doctors have indicated his injuries are non-life-threatening," a statement from Roush Racing read out by O'Donnell said.

"We appreciate the thoughts and prayers and ask that you respect the privacy of Ryan and his family at this time," O'Donnell added.

Newman's fellow competitors had earlier voiced concern over the plight of the driver following the race.

"I knew it was bad," race-winner Hamlin said. "I knew him crossing the track there was a bad scenario in the first place. It's a weird balance of excitement and happiness for yourself, but obviously someone's health and their family is bigger than any win in any sport. 

"We're just hoping for the best."

Hamlin's team boss Joe Gibbs meanwhile apologized for celebrating the win in the immediate aftermath of the chequered flag when Newman's car was still being tended to on the track.

"I was focusing on our car, and everybody started celebrating around us," Gibbs said. "Some people may have saw us and said, 'Well, these guys are celebrating when there's a serious issue going on.' 

"So hopefully I apologize to everybody, but we really didn't know. We got in the winner's circle, and then that's when people told us. 

"It just makes it so hard. Such a close-knit community."

Agence France-Presse

First Saudi woman driver to race car in kingdom

DIRIYAH, Saudi Arabia—Sliding behind the wheel of a sleek electric SUV, Reema Juffali is set to blaze a trail in male-dominated motor sports as the first Saudi woman to race in the kingdom.

Such adrenaline rushes were unimaginable for women in the ultra-conservative Islamic kingdom until June last year, when it overturned the world's only ban on female motorists as part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's wide-ranging liberalization drive.

Juffali, a 27-year-old who made her motoring debut just months after the decades-old ban ended, will compete Friday and Saturday in the Jaguar I-PACE eTROPHY, an all-electric race in Diriyah, close to the capital Riyadh.

"The ban was lifted last year and I never expected to race professionally," said Juffali, sitting in her black-and-green Jaguar I-Pace, an electric sports utility vehicle.

"The fact that I am doing it... is amazing," Juffali, clad in a racing suit, told AFP in an interview close to the racing circuit in Diriyah.

Juffali, who hails from the western city of Jeddah and was educated in the United States, will participate as what organizers call a "VIP" guest driver, becoming the first Saudi woman to race on home soil.

Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki al-Faisal, Saudi Arabia's sports authority chief, has touted it as a "watershed" moment for the kingdom.

"Reema will have thousands cheering her on, as a professional racing driver," the prince told AFP.

Juffali, who made one of her first appearances in competitive racing at the F4 British Championship at Brands Hatch in April, has only about a year of professional racing experience under her belt.

But she has had a passion for fast cars since her teenage years and grew up watching Formula One.

She passed her driving test after she moved to the United States to study some years ago, and is now one of only a handful of Saudi woman to have obtained a "racing licence" in her home country, a mandatory requirement to race professionally.

Even outside the Kingdom, only a few Saudi women have raced professionally.

"For a lot of women who haven't had the opportunity to learn how to drive, to get behind the wheel is definitely something scary," explained Juffali.

"For a lot of women in Saudi it's something so far away."

Juffali said her dream is to one day race at Le Mans—a 24 hour competition in France that is one of the world's most prestigious and gruelling competitions.

In Riyadh she will be racing against the season's veterans but will not score any points.

THRILL OF SPEED

Prince Mohammed has sought to shake off his country's ultra-conservative image by allowing greater freedoms for women, including easing so-called "guardianship" rules that give men arbitrary authority over female relatives.

But alongside reforms he has also overseen a sweeping crackdown on dissent.

Around a dozen women activists who long campaigned for the right to drive are on trial after being arrested last year, sparking widespread condemnation.

Some allege they were tortured and sexually harassed by interrogators; Saudi authorities deny the allegations.

The driving reform has been transformative for many Saudi women, freeing them from dependence on private chauffeurs or male relatives.

Newly mobile Saudi women are now embracing what was previously deemed a male entitlement—fast cars.

Many are defying the perception that only dainty cars in bright colors are popular with women drivers.

Auto showrooms tapping women clients have rolled out a line-up of cherry red Mini Coopers, but sales professionals say many exhibit an appetite for muscle cars like the Chevrolet Camaro or the Mustang convertible.

Some women are taking up drifting—oversteering the car to slip and skid or even spin, and other high-speed daredevilry—which is illegal in public but tolerated in the controlled environment of some theme parks.

Clad in skinny jeans and Harley-Davidson T-shirts, some women are also training to ride motorbikes at a Riyadh driving school, a scene that is still a stunning anomaly in the conservative petro-state.

"Many (people) are surprised by all the changes happening in Saudi," said Juffali.

"Seeing me in a car, racing... For a lot of people it's a surprise, but I am happy to surprise people."

source: news.abs-cbn.com

F1: Verstappen wins chaotic German Grand Prix

HOCKENHEIM, Germany -- Max Verstappen took full advantage of his rivals' calamities on Sunday to win an epic, rain-lashed and wildly-spectacular German Grand Prix for Red Bull ahead of Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari.

The 21-year-old Dutchman secured his second win of the season and seventh of his career, finishing ahead of four-time world champion Vettel, who had started 20th and last on the grid.

New dad Daniil Kvyat of Toro Rosso was third as he secured only his third Formula One podium.

The race was a disaster for champions Mercedes who were celebrating their 200th Formula One start of the modern era and 125 years of motorsport, both defending five-time champion Lewis Hamilton and his team-mate Valtteri Bottas crashed and failed to score any points.

Hamilton eventually finished 11th after six pit stops but was then promoted to ninth following 30-second penalties for Alfa Romeo drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi.

Lance Stroll of Racing Point came home fourth to deliver his team's best finish ahead of Carlos Sainz of McLaren and Alex Albon of Toro Rosso.

"It was amazing, but really tricky out there," said Verstappen, who made four pit-stops and survived a complete 360-degrees spin. 

"To make the right calls, you had to be focussed. We put on the slick tyres and we had a 360! But it was alright."

Vettel, for whom the result brought redemption after he had crashed out while leading in heavy rain last year, said: "It was a long race and at some stages if felt like it was never-ending. I am just very happy."

Kvyat confirmed that he became a father on Saturday night when his partner Kelly gave birth to a daughter.

He said: "It is amazing to be back on the podium and incredible for Toro Rosso, after so many years."

After the record-breaking heat, the race began in steady rain with the field on full wet tyres behind a Safety Car through four formation laps before a standing start. 

The conditions did nothing to deter Hamilton who made a near-perfect start from his 87th pole position.

- Safety car interventions -

The race distance was reduced to 64 laps as the spray rose high in plumes throughout the pack, Vettel romping forward from 20th to pass six cars in the first five corners. Leclerc, in the other Ferrari, rose to sixth from 10th on the opening lap.

Hamilton led by two seconds from Bottas after lap one, Verstappen having made a poor start, as the field jostled for space and grip, Sergio Perez spinning backwards into the stadium entry wall and damaging his Racing Force.

That required a Safety Car intervention for three laps, during which the leaders pitted for intermediates, before racing resumed.

After 25, Verstappen pitted for medium compound slicks, a gamble by Red Bull. The Dutchman complained vigorously about his tyres before spinning at the final corner and recovering.

Another Virtual Safety Car was then deployed briefly, as Hamilton pitted for softs from the lead, before Leclerc went off at Sachs Curve. 

The Monegasque screamed aloud as Vettel pitted, returning to ‘inters’, before Hamilton went off, snapping his front wing.

The Englishman recovered, cutting across the circuit into the pit lane. He was repaired and fitted with 'inters' before re-joining fifth behind Verstappen, Hulkenberg, Bottas and Albon.

Hamilton was given a five-second penalty for missing a bollard at the pits entry, but he was soon back to third behind the Dutchman and Bottas.

Hulkenberg slid off at the final corner to instigate another Safety Car outing that heralded Verstappen, and Vettel, in 10th, pitting for fresh inters. 

Racing resumed on lap 46, Verstappen pulling clear before pitting for slicks, followed by Bottas, Sainz, Gasly and Albon.

Hamilton led before he pitted on lap 47, leaving Stroll, who pitted for slicks under the Safety Car, to lead before Verstappen passed him. Hamilton fell to 12th, having taken his penalty.

"How's this gone so bad?" asked Hamilton.

Mercedes' nightmare was not over and their anniversary weekend ended with Bottas spinning at Turn One. 

Out came the Safety Car for a fourth time as Hamilton pitted again -– leaving him to make a failed bid for a top ten finish.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

F1: Hamilton marks 200th race with victory in Belgium

Vettel finished second, Ricciardo third

SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium-- Lewis Hamilton celebrated his 200th Formula One race in style on Sunday with a pole-to-flag Belgian Grand Prix victory for Mercedes that halved Sebastian Vettel's championship lead to seven points.


The Briton's fifth success in 12 races this season, and 58th of his career, came a day after he equaled Michael Schumacher's all-time record of 68 pole positions.

"Sebastian put a great fight on but this is what I said I was coming to do so I did it," Hamilton told the crowd from the podium.

Vettel finished second for Ferrari, 2.3 seconds behind, after pushing his rival all the way without being able to get close enough to make a move stick in what amounted to a two-horse race of relentless pressure.

"It was really intense because every lap I was waiting for Lewis to do a mistake. He didn't," said Vettel, whose next race is Ferrari's home Italian Grand Prix at Monza.

"He was probably waiting for me to make a mistake. I didn't," added the German, who set a race lap record of one minute 46.577 seconds in the closing stages.

With eight races remaining, four-times champion Vettel has 220 points and Hamilton 213.

Australian Daniel Ricciardo took third place for Red Bull after a storming re-start following a late safety car period that had closed the gap to the frontrunners and triggered a flurry of pitstops.

Ricciardo, on fresh ultra-soft tyres, passed Hamilton's team mate Valtteri Bottas to surge into the top three, with the Finn also losing out to the Ferrari of compatriot Kimi Raikkonen as he ran wide.

Germany's Nico Hulkenberg finished sixth for Renault, Romain Grosjean was seventh for Haas and Brazilian Felipe Massa took eighth for Williams.

MAX RETIRES

"It's pretty much for all the Dutch here, so thanks for hanging around," said Ricciardo, whose teenage team mate Max Verstappen retired shaking his head in sheer frustration after eight laps.

It was his sixth retirement in 12 races.

"There are so many fans paying a lot for the tickets and you finish like this. That cannot happen with a top team," said Verstappen, whose orange-clad compatriots accounted for a majority of the crowd.

While Hamilton and Vettel played out their own private duel, there was plenty of action further down the field with the Force India duo of Mexican Sergio Perez and Frenchman Esteban Ocon playing a starring role.

The simmering pair clashed twice, the second time bringing out the safety car when Ocon -- who finished ninth -- tried to get past on the run down to Eau Rouge and was almost squeezed into the wall.

"I can accept the first one -- perhaps he couldn't see me but the second one was ridiculous. He was risking our lives. He risked my life," said a furious Ocon.

Debris from his car's broken front wing littered the track while Perez's right rear tire was punctured, leaving him limping back to the pits on a rim.

"It looked like Sergio squeezed Esteban into the wall and came out the loser of that scrap," the team's chief operating office Otmar Szafnauer told Sky Sports television, warning that the team would read the riot act.

"We’ve let them race up until now. If they can’t do it in a manner which is good for the team, then they won’t be racing any more," he said.

Spaniard Fernando Alonso was also an unhappy man in the McLaren, the double world champion making a storming start but his Honda-powered car's lack of speed leaving him with an impossible task and increasingly frustrated before retiring.

"Embarrassing, embarrassing," he had said earlier.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

F1: Vettel wins while sporting Hamilton keeps his word

BUDAPEST - Sebastian Vettel won a tense Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday in a Ferrari one-two that stretched his championship lead to 14 points after Mercedes rival Lewis Hamilton sportingly surrendered third place to his team mate.

The German, savouring his fourth win of the season and 46th of his Formula One career, took the chequered flag 0.9 seconds ahead of team mate Kimi Raikkonen.

The Finn had looked faster than Vettel for most of the afternoon.

"I'm over the moon, that was a really difficult race," said the winner, who had to wrestle with a skewed steering wheel on a sweltering afternoon at the Hungaroring and had no room for error.

Hamilton finished fourth after slowing down on the last lap and allowing Finnish team mate Valtteri Bottas to go past, despite the loss of vital points to the Briton's championship challenge.

Bottas had let Hamilton through on the 45th of the 70 laps, on the assurance that his team mate would hand back the place if he could not overtake the Ferraris, and the triple champion duly kept his word.

"Really thanks to Lewis for keeping the promise in the end and letting me by," said Bottas.

"I don't think every team mate would have swapped back."

   
Hamilton, whose radio was malfunctioning for some of the race and would have had more of a chance had he got past Bottas earlier, said he had done what he had to do.

"It's tough in the championship but I'm a man of my word," he said. "I did say that if I can't overtake them I would let him back through."

On a circuit where overtaking is notoriously hard, the top five all finished in their starting order with Max Verstappen fifth for Red Bull.

The Dutch teenager was handed a 10 second stop and go penalty for colliding with his Australian team mate Daniel Ricciardo on the opening lap.

The impact ended Ricciardo's race, with the car stranded on the track and fluid leaking from the broken radiator, and brought out the safety car.

"It’s not on. It was amateur to say the least. It’s not like he was trying to pass -- there was no room to pass," said an angry Ricciardo.

"I don’t think he likes it when a team mate gets in front. You’ve got the whole race to try and repair the mistake but the pass was never on. It wasn’t even a pass, it was a very poor mistake."

Fernando Alonso, who celebrated his 36th birthday on Saturday, gave struggling McLaren their best finish of the season so far by taking sixth place and also setting the fastest lap of the race.

Belgian team mate Stoffel Vandoorne was 10th in a double points finish for the former champions, who moved off the bottom of the table and ahead of Sauber.

Spaniard Carlos Sainz was seventh for Toro Rosso with Mexican Sergio Perez eighth and Force India team mate Esteban Ocon ninth.

Britain's Paul di Resta, replacing unwell Brazilian Felipe Massa at Williams, retired.

The last Ferrari driver to win from pole position in Hungary was Vettel's compatriot Michael Schumacher, who was dominant in 2004 and went on to win his seventh and last championship that season.

Hungary was the last race before the August break, with nine of the 21 rounds remaining.

(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Pritha Sarkar)

source: news.abs-cbn.com

F1: Bottas ends Hamilton's pole run in Bahrain

MANAMA - Finland's Valtteri Bottas took his first Formula One pole position at the Bahrain Grand Prix on Saturday with a sizzling lap that ended Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton's bid for a seventh in a row.

Triple world champion Hamilton qualified alongside, a mere 0.023 - or 17 centimetres - slower than Bottas's time of one minute 28.769 seconds but with everything still to play for on Sunday.

That clinched the first front row lockout of the season for the reigning champions after two races with Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel splitting the Silver Arrows.

Hamilton, joking and laughing in a later news conference, appeared delighted for Bottas and offered a warm handshake to a man who left China last weekend with his mind in turmoil after a costly mistake behind the safety car.


"Firstly, a big congratulations to Valtteri. He has been working so hard, gelled so well with the team and today he was just quicker, he did the better job and hats off to him," said Hamilton.

"That's how close I think qualifying should always be. It forces us all to be more on the limit."

"For sure, it feels good," said Bottas, the first Finnish driver to secure a pole position since Hamilton's then-team mate Heikki Kovalainen for McLaren at the 2008 British Grand Prix, 168 races ago.

"It's my first pole in my career in my fifth season in F1 so it took a few years but hopefully it's the first of many for me," he added.

Vettel, joint leader of the world championship standings with Hamilton after two races with one win each, will start in third place with Red Bull's Australian Daniel Ricciardo fourth.

Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, whose last pole was also in 2008, qualified fifth.

Mercedes won the race last year with now-retired champion Nico Rosberg, the man Bottas has replaced, and have now taken five successive poles at the desert Sakhir circuit.

Hamilton had been fastest in both the first and second phases of qualifying, and set the pace with his first lap in the final session before Bottas pulled off his masterstroke.

The unflappable Finn let out a rare whoop over the team radio, with engineer Tony Ross -- who had inadvertently called Bottas 'Nico' during the race in China -- replying that "for a moment there you actually showed some emotion, well done".

Hamilton and Vettel, sitting alongside Bottas in front of reporters, jokingly asked the polesitter whether the Finnish language had a word for 'excited' or 'exciting'.

Bottas thought hard but words failed him. "Kind of," he hesitated, as his rivals laughed.

"See, it doesn't exist," said Vettel. "It's not one that's really used much in the vocabulary," added Hamilton.

"I don't know really," concluded Bottas.

Dutch teenager Max Verstappen qualified sixth for Red Bull with Nico Hulkenberg seventh on a good day for Renault, who had Britain's Jolyon Palmer in 10th place after his first appearance in the final phase.

Brazilian Felipe Massa starts eighth for Williams and France's Romain Grosjean ninth for Haas.

German driver Pascal Wehrlein also made a strong return after a back injury kept him out of the first two races, qualifying 13th for Sauber while Swedish team mate Marcus Ericsson was only 19th.

(Editing by Ed Osmond and Ian Chadband)

source: news.abs-cbn.com

F1: Ferrari prancing as Vettel wins in Australia

MELBOURNE -- Four-times world champion Sebastian Vettel won the Australian Grand Prix for Ferrari on Sunday to dash Mercedes' hopes of extending their dominance into a fourth successive season of Formula One.

The German cruised to his 43rd race victory with a 9.9 second gap to Mercedes' runner-up Lewis Hamilton, with the Briton's new team mate, Valtteri Bottas, finishing third on a glorious afternoon at Albert Park.

The victory was Vettel's fourth for Ferrari but his first since the Singapore Grand Prix in September 2015.

That triumph was also the last time Ferrari had topped the podium but Vettel's victory underlined the huge leap in performance made by the glamour team, whose cars showed impressive pace and reliability in winter testing.

"For all of us, it is a positive surprise," a beaming Vettel said at the post-race media conference.

"The big difference was being able to deliver a really good car... I think the new car in general obviously is fantastic and is a great reward, a big relief for everyone."

For the first time in the V6 turbo hybrid era, which started in 2014, there is a non-Mercedes driver at the top of the championship standings.

Vettel's 2007 championship-winning team mate Kimi Raikkonen finished fourth, with Red Bull's Max Verstappen one behind.

On the front row next to pole-sitter Hamilton, Vettel got off to a sluggish start and his British rival broke clear to avoid Albert Park's usual messy log-jam at turn one.

But Hamilton was soon complaining on the team radio about his car's grip and was first to pit on lap 18 to change tyres.

It proved a turning point as he rejoined behind Verstappen and was unable to pass the feisty Dutch teenager.

As Hamilton vented on the team radio, Vettel forged ahead.

The German pitted at lap 23 and exited the pit-lane just in front of Verstappen, who was still gamely holding off Hamilton while riding his tyres thin.

Mercedes motorsport head Toto Wolff was enraged. Television pictures showed him pounding his fist into a desk in the team garage.

Vettel showed the reigning constructors' champions a clean set of heels and quickly established a six-second gap, which only got wider as the race progressed.

After crossing the finish line, Vettel howled in ecstasy and thousands of red-clad Ferrari fans flooded onto the lakeside circuit to share in the German's triumph.

Fans of home racer Daniel Ricciardo were left disappointed, however, after the Australian's race ended midway through at turn three, his Red Bull stopping with smoke billowing out.

He had earlier started from pit-lane two laps behind, after suffering a sensor problem with his gearbox that prevented him from taking his place at the grid.

It was a better day for Felipe Massa, who came sixth in his 'comeback' race following his short-lived retirement from Williams last year.

Force India also enjoyed a strong race, with Sergio Perez coming seventh and French newcomer Esteban Ocon also in the points after running 10th.

Reliability problems were rife in other teams, however, with seven cars failing to finish, including McLaren's twice champion Fernando Alonso and Williams' Canadian debutant Lance Stroll.

source: news.abs-cbn.com