Month: July 2018

Lewis Hamilton extended his Formula 1 world championship lead with victory in the Hungarian Grand Prix, as title rival Sebastian Vettel survived late contact with Valtteri Bottas to take second position.

Hamilton took a comfortable victory from pole position, with Vettel taking second despite being hit by Bottas when the Mercedes driver tried to fight back after being passed for second with five laps to flag.

Bottas dropped down to fifth, making more contact on the way after colliding with Daniel Ricciardo, as Kimi Raikkonen stole the final podium position.

Hamilton and Bottas maintained Mercedes’ one-two advantage at the start, with Vettel jumping Raikkonen at Turn 2 after passing his teammate around the outside.

Hamilton built a six-second gap over Bottas, who had Vettel within a couple of seconds of him, before pitting on lap 15 in response to Ferrari bringing in Raikkonen a lap earlier.

That eliminated Hamilton’s protection and Lewis extended his stint another ten laps but gradually began to get caught by Vettel, who was on softs to Hamilton’s ultrasofts.

A mistake from Vettel at Turn 12 on lap 23, when the Ferrari driver locked the front right and ran wide, losing a second, gave Hamilton a small reprieve.

The Mercedes driver pitted with a lead of just over six seconds and fell back from Vettel initially but then used his fresh tyres to chip away and got within 10s before Vettel finally stopped on lap 39.

Traffic, combined with Bottas pumping in two very fast laps and Ferrari suffering a problem with the front-left when Vettel stopped, meant Mercedes just regained its one-two after Vettel stopped.

That was crucial because it meant Vettel was stuck behind Bottas and could not use his ultrasoft tyres to chase down Hamilton.

Vettel spent 20 laps behind Bottas, which allowed Raikkonen – who had made a second stop – to make it a three-car fight for second.

Bottas finally forced to defend into Turn 1 on lap 65 as Vettel closed in, and Vettel cut back and got ahead on the outside heading to Turn 2.

Bottas braked too late as he tried to retain the place on the inside, clipped the inside kerb and hit the back of the Ferrari.

He broke his front wing but Vettel somehow continued without damage or a puncture, keeping Raikkonen at bay in the process to finish a distant second behind Hamilton.

Mercedes opted to keep Bottas out, but his front wing damage left him susceptible to a charging Daniel Ricciardo, who got a run on Bottas down the start-finish straight with four laps to go.

He was passing him around the outside of Turn 1 when Bottas locked up again and clattered into the side of the Red Bull, an incident that damaged Ricciardo’s sidepod and will be investigated after the race.

Ricciardo caught Bottas again and passed him with an undercut exiting Turn 1 on the final lap to complete a stunning fightback.

He had charged up the order having started P12 and dropped to P16 on a messy opening lap that included being hit by Marcus Ericsson and passed off-track by Sergio Perez.

His late promotion to fourth gave Red Bull some consolation after losing Max Verstappen early to a problem that led team boss Christian Horner to lambast engine supplier Renault mid-race.

Red Bull is switching from Renault to Honda for 2019 and its silver lining will be the Japanese manufacturer scoring sixth place with Toro Rosso and Pierre Gasly.

Gasly got ahead of Carlos Sainz on the opening lap after Sainz was dive-bombed by Verstappen into Turn 1 and managed his race perfectly to withstand a late charge from Haas driver Kevin Magnussen.

Birthday boy Fernando Alonso claimed eighth after extending his stint and jumping a pack of cars that were ahead of the McLaren early on but pit earlier and then got held up by a long-running Esteban Ocon.

Stoffel Vandoorne should have made it a double-points finish for McLaren but retired from ninth with a gearbox problem in the final third of the race.

That promoted Sainz to ninth, with Romain Grosjean claiming the final point after jumping Brendon Hartley and Nico Hulkenberg with a longer first stint.

So a great result for Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton by scoring this Hungarian Grand Prix victory. It is going to be a major challenge for Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel to strike back and win the title as Formula 1 takes a well deserved rest. Battle resumes next month at Spa-Francorchamps.

Hungarian Grand Prix, race results:
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 70 1h37m16.427s
2 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 70 17.123s
3 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 70 20.101s
4 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault 70 46.419s
5 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 70 50.000s
6 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso-Honda 70 1m13.273s
7 Kevin Magnussen Haas-Ferrari 69 1 Lap
8 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Renault 69 1 Lap
9 Carlos Sainz Renault 69 1 Lap
10 Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari 69 1 Lap
11 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso-Honda 69 1 Lap
12 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 69 1 Lap
13 Esteban Ocon Force India-Mercedes 69 1 Lap
14 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 69 1 Lap
15 Marcus Ericsson Sauber-Ferrari 68 2 Laps
16 Sergey Sirotkin Williams-Mercedes 68 2 Laps
17 Lance Stroll Williams-Mercedes 68 2 Laps
– Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren-Renault 49 Not running
– Max Verstappen Red Bull-Renault 5 Power Unit
– Charles Leclerc Sauber-Ferrari 0 Collision

Drivers’ standings:
1 Lewis Hamilton 213
2 Sebastian Vettel 189
3 Kimi Raikkonen 146
4 Valtteri Bottas 132
5 Daniel Ricciardo 118
6 Max Verstappen 105
7 Nico Hulkenberg 52
8 Kevin Magnussen 45
9 Fernando Alonso 44
10 Sergio Perez 30
11 Carlos Sainz 30
12 Esteban Ocon 29
13 Pierre Gasly 26
14 Romain Grosjean 21
15 Charles Leclerc 13
16 Stoffel Vandoorne 8
17 Marcus Ericsson 5
18 Lance Stroll 4
19 Brendon Hartley 2
20 Sergey Sirotkin 0

Constructors’ standings:
1 Mercedes 345
2 Ferrari 335
3 Red Bull-Renault 223
4 Renault 82
5 Haas-Ferrari 66
6 Force India-Mercedes 59
7 McLaren-Renault 52
8 Toro Rosso-Honda 28
9 Sauber-Ferrari 18
10 Williams-Mercedes 4

The reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton achieved a superb pole position in a rain-hit qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix.

The Q3 drivers used wet tyres throughout, and on the first runs Kimi Raikkonen had the advantage over Hamilton.

But after both Mercedes drivers pitted for a second set of wets with three-and-a-half minutes remaining, it turned into a battle between Hamilton and team-mate Valtteri Bottas.

Bottas had the advantage after the first two sectors, but Hamilton was a stunning 0.426 seconds faster in the final sector to take pole by 0.260 seconds.

Raikkonen reclaimed third place from team-mate Sebastian Vettel late on by just 0.024 seconds to make it an all-Ferrari second row.

Renault driver Carlos Sainz Jr was the only driver not to use two sets of wets in Q3 and took fifth position ahead of the Toro Rosso of Pierre Gasly.

Red Bull had a poor session, with Daniel Ricciardo not even reaching Q3 and Max Verstappen down in seventh place and 2.374 seconds off pole.

Brendon Hartley was a career-best eighth, ahead of Haas pairing Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean.

Q2 started with drivers heading out on slicks but following light rainfall – with Vettel on intermediates the only exception.

With the rain returning and intensifying, Vettel set a lap 2.1 seconds faster than everyone while the rest of the field dived back into the pits for intermediates.

Those who were able to get back in and change the quickest benefited in terms of track conditions as the circuit gradually got wetter.

Fernando Alonso, who was not one of the last to head out, ended up P11 and was unable to improve after taking on wets later in the session.

But that put him ahead of Ricciardo, one of the later drivers to set his initial time on intermediates and who ended up in P12 having marginally improved after bolting on wets.

Ricciardo was delayed by yellow flags for Lance Stroll’s off at Turn 9, although he also lost time in other parts of the lap compared to Raikkonen – who set a time over four seconds faster while running around 11 seconds behind.

Nico Hulkenberg, also among the later runners, was P13 ahead of Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson.

Williams driver Stroll made it to Q2, but spun coming out of Turn 9 and nosed into the barrier, bringing his session to an end.

McLaren driver Stoffel Vandoorne was the quickest of those eliminated in a frenetic wet/dry Q1 session after being shuffled back due to late improvements from the other drivers.

Initially, everyone was running the intermediate Pirellis following a downpour before the start, but even early in the session they were looking to look to slicks.

Vandoorne was out of the dropzone late on but he was one of the first to complete his final lap on a track that was getting quicker.

Ricciardo, Ericsson, Hartley and Stroll were among the drivers to make late improvements and push Vandoorne into the bottom five.

Charles Leclerc was P17 for Sauber, 0.035 seconds slower than Vandoorne but comfortably clear of the lead Force India of Esteban Ocon.

Ocon did his best lap on his final time round, but it was half-a-second away from being enough for a Q2 place as he was struggling with a lack of rear brakes.

Team-mate Sergio Perez was P19, a tenth clear of Williams driver Sergio Sirotkin, who complained about being delayed by a Ferrari in the final two corners on his quick lap.

So congratulations to Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes in taking pole position. The rain certainly helped in terms of balancing out the performance as Ferrari looked so strong and fast in the earlier session. Bring on the race.

Hungarian Grand Prix, qualifying positions:

1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m35.658s
2 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1m35.918s
3 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m36.186s
4 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1m36.210s
5 Carlos Sainz Renault 1m36.743s
6 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso-Honda 1m37.591s
7 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Renault 1m38.032s
8 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso-Honda 1m38.128s
9 Kevin Magnussen Haas-Ferrari 1m39.858s
10 Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari 1m40.593s
11 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Renault 1m35.214s
12 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault 1m36.442s
13 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1m36.506s
14 Marcus Ericsson Sauber-Ferrari 1m37.075s
15 Lance Stroll Williams-Mercedes –
16 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren-Renault 1m18.782s
17 Charles Leclerc Sauber-Ferrari 1m18.817s
18 Esteban Ocon Force India-Mercedes 1m19.142s
19 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 1m19.200s
20 Sergey Sirotkin Williams-Mercedes 1m19.301s

Lewis Hamilton scored a brilliant victory in a thrilling German Grand Prix while his championship rival Sebastian Vettel crashed out as a rain storm struck Hockenheim.

Vettel had led for the majority of the race from pole position, but slid out of contention from the lead, on lap 52 of the 67 lapped race. The Ferrari driver hit his steering wheel in frustration at the mistake of crashing into the Turn 13 barriers.

Hamilton started P14 and took advantage of the downpour that soaked the circuit in the latter stages that caught out a number of slick-shod drivers – including Vettel – and which led to the safety car to be deployed.

In the chaos, there was an instant reversal of fortune as a Ferrari 1-2 became a Mercedes 1-2 during the rain shower.

All race, the teams were constantly trying to second guess the conditions and most drivers stayed out on dry-weather tyres while the storm passed and the circuit began to quickly dry up.

Valtteri Bottas finished in second position, but had an attempt at overtaking his teammate when the safety car period ended on lap 57.

Bottas got alongside Hamilton at the Turn 6 hairpin, but Hamilton was just able to retain the lead. Just a lap later, Bottas was instructed to hold position.

Kimi Raikkonen took third place, ahead of Max Verstappen. The Red Bull driver took the gamble on wet tyres when the rain started to fall in just one section of the track.

Two laps later, Verstappen had returned back to the pits for dry tyres – the gamble failed – but then the whole circuit was doused, leading to the Safety Car’s deployment.

Nico Hulkenberg was fifth for Renault, ahead of Romain Grosjean’s Haas and the Force Indias. Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson and Brendon Hartley both benefitted from the chaotic conditions to scoop the final point-finishing positions.

At the start, Vettel led away from Bottas, Raikkonen and Verstappen and was comfortably in control of his home race. By lap 25, Vettel held a five-second lead over Bottas when he came in to pit from ultra tyres to softs.

His Ferrari teammate Raikkonen was the first of the frontrunners to pit on lap 14 and once the first stops were over, The Iceman held a slim lead over Vettel.

But the German was on tyres that were 11 laps fresher and Raikkonen was instructed by engineering director Jock Clear to led Vettel past.

Hamilton started on the soft tyre and made swift progress in the early laps to make his way through the field.

After starting P14, he was up to seventh by lap eight. It was a remarkable comeback drive that has significant implications in the championship battle, as Hamilton retakes the number one spot.

What a difference a day makes for Lewis Hamilton. Pure heartbreak in qualifying following a hydraulics issue. Racing through the field to first position is just incredible. Well done to Hamilton on this triumph.

As for Sebastian Vettel. Feel really sorry for the Ferrari driver. This small mistake will be costly in terms of the championship. Hopefully Vettel can bounce back in Hungary next weekend.

German Grand Prix, race results:
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 67 1h32m29.845s
2 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 67 4.535s
3 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 67 6.732s
4 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Renault 67 7.654s
5 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 67 26.609s
6 Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari 67 28.871s
7 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 67 30.556s
8 Esteban Ocon Force India-Mercedes 67 31.750s
9 Marcus Ericsson Sauber-Ferrari 67 32.362s
10 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso-Honda 67 34.197s
11 Kevin Magnussen Haas-Ferrari 67 34.919s
12 Carlos Sainz Renault 67 43.069s
13 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren-Renault 67 46.617s
14 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso-Honda 66 1 Lap
15 Charles Leclerc Sauber-Ferrari 66 1 Lap
16 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Renault 65 Not running
– Lance Stroll Williams-Mercedes 53 Brakes
– Sergey Sirotkin Williams-Mercedes 51 Retirement
– Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 51 Spun off
– Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault 27 Retirement

Drivers’ standings:
1 Lewis Hamilton 188
2 Sebastian Vettel 171
3 Kimi Raikkonen 131
4 Valtteri Bottas 122
5 Daniel Ricciardo 106
6 Max Verstappen 105
7 Nico Hulkenberg 52
8 Fernando Alonso 40
9 Kevin Magnussen 39
10 Sergio Perez 30
11 Esteban Ocon 29
12 Carlos Sainz 28
13 Romain Grosjean 20
14 Pierre Gasly 18
15 Charles Leclerc 13
16 Stoffel Vandoorne 8
17 Marcus Ericsson 5
18 Lance Stroll 4
19 Brendon Hartley 2
20 Sergey Sirotkin 0

Constructors’ standings:
1 Mercedes 310
2 Ferrari 302
3 Red Bull-Renault 211
4 Renault 80
5 Force India-Mercedes 59
6 Haas-Ferrari 59
7 McLaren-Renault 48
8 Toro Rosso-Honda 20
9 Sauber-Ferrari 18
10 Williams-Mercedes 4

Sebastian Vettel achieved his 55th career pole position in Formula 1 with a brilliant Q3 lap at Hockenheim. As for his title rival, Lewis Hamilton was only P15 after stopping with a hydraulic problem in Q1.

The Ferrari driver held pole position after the first runs in Q3, with all drivers on the ultrasofts compound, but faced a challenge from the remaining Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas on the second runs.

Bottas briefly claimed pole position with a lap of one minute, 11.416 seconds, helped by a mighty run through the final sector, the stadium section.

But Vettel, who was faster in the first two sectors before losing a quarter of a second to Bottas in the final sector, did enough to take pole by 0.204 seconds on his final lap.

Kimi Raikkonen was third in the other Ferrari, 0.335 seconds off his team-mate, having again looked like a potential threat for pole position.

The Iceman made a mistake at Turn 12 on his first run that cost around three tenths after he hit the inside kerb, then couldn’t quite find the pace on his second run.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was fourth, just under three tenths behind Raikkonen, and benefitted from the absence of Hamilton.

Hamilton was ordered to stop on his second Q1 run after losing gear selection, which followed immediately after he ran wide in Turn 1.

In rejoining, he struck the rumble strip at the exit of the corner, which kicked the car up and appeared to cause the problem that manifested itself on the run to Turn 2 – although he reportedly subsequently said the problem had appeared before this moment.

Hamilton attempted to get the car back to the pits but eventually stopped at Turn 10 after being ordered to do so by the team.

Currently P15 thanks to setting a time good enough to escape Q1 before the problem, he will move up a place thanks to Daniel Ricciardo’s penalties – subject to incurring any grid drops himself.

The Haas duo of Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean locked out the third row with fifth and sixth, with the lead Renault of Nico Hulkenberg missing out on splitting the pair by 0.016 seconds.

The second Renault of Carlos Sainz was eighth, ahead of the Sauber of Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez’s Force India.

Fernando Alonso was quickest of those eliminated in Q2 in P11, with a gap of six tenths to Perez ahead in that segment of qualifying.

That put him ahead of Williams driver Sergey Sirotkin, who posted the team’s best qualifying result since the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in P12.

Sauber driver Marcus Ericsson was P13 and slowest of those to set a time in Q2 after causing a nine-minute red flag period when he spun into the gravel at the Turn 13 left-hander.

Ericsson was able to dig himself out of the gravel, but in doing so pulled it onto the track and led to the session being stopped two minutes later.

After his second run, the Sauber driver suggested that he lost grip on his final qualifying attempt and speculated he might have sustained some minor damage when he hit a kerb.

Esteban Ocon was bumped into the drop zone late in Q1 when Force India teammate Perez improved on his second push lap on his second set of ultrasofts.

Ocon went into qualifying with only one dry free practice session under his belt, having sat out FP1 to allow Nicholas Latifi to drive then been hit by rain in FP3.

Toro Rosso pair Pierre Gasly and Brendon Hartley were P17 and P18, separated by three-tenths of a second.

Lance Stroll was P19, while Stoffel Vandoorne’s troubled weekend continued as he brought up the rear, two tenths slower than the Williams driver.

So a perfect qualifying result for Sebastian Vettel. Pole position in front of his home crowd. His 55th in Formula 1 and Ferrari’s 218 in P1. With title rival Lewis Hamilton near the back, this play into the hands of Vettel to score big in the championship race.

Qualifying positions, German Grand Prix:

1 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1m11.212s
2 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1m11.416s
3 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m11.547s
4 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Renault 1m11.822s
5 Kevin Magnussen Haas-Ferrari 1m12.200s
6 Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari 1m12.544s
7 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1m12.560s
8 Carlos Sainz Renault 1m12.692s
9 Charles Leclerc Sauber-Ferrari 1m12.717s
10 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 1m12.774s
11 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Renault 1m13.657s
12 Sergey Sirotkin Williams-Mercedes 1m13.702s
13 Marcus Ericsson Sauber-Ferrari 1m13.736s
14 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes –
15 Esteban Ocon Force India-Mercedes 1m13.720s
16 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso-Honda 1m13.749s
17 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso-Honda 1m14.045s
18 Lance Stroll Williams-Mercedes 1m14.206s
19 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren-Renault 1m14.401s
20 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault –

Sebastian Vettel achieved his first British Grand Prix victory in a thrilling Silverstone race. The Ferrari driver passed Valtteri Bottas late on to win, while home crowd favourite Lewis Hamilton charged back to second after being spun around on the opening lap.

Mercedes used a safety car to get Bottas ahead of early race leader Vettel but the Ferrari driver used fresher, softer tyres to steal the victory with a superb move five laps from the end of the race.

Hamilton then passed his team-mate Bottas at the same spot a lap later to seal second and Kimi Raikkonen made it a hat-trick of late passes at Brooklands to demote his fellow Finn from the podium entirely.

Hamilton dropped to the tail of the field at the start after Raikkonen locked his right-front tyre at the tight Turn 3 right-hander at Village, ran wide and hit the Mercedes.

Raikkonen continued behind both Red Bulls but was handed a 10-second penalty, which would negate his on-track pass of Daniel Ricciardo into Copse, while Hamilton resumed in P17.

Vettel had already assumed the lead after jumping Hamilton off the line and built a commanding lead in the first part of the opening stint, opening up a six-second gap over Bottas.

Hamilton charged back into the points by lap six and was into sixth four laps later, by which time he was already more than a pitstop behind the race leaders.

Bottas began to chip away at Vettel as the Ferrari struggled with its tyres and the lead was down to 4.8 seconds when Vettel stopped on lap 20.

Bottas pitted a lap later and Mercedes got Hamilton to release him with a position-swap at Brooklands the following lap, and the Finn started to nibble further into Vettel’s lead.

Valtteri had brought it down to 2.4 seconds when Marcus Ericsson lost the rear of his car when he turned into the first corner with DRS still open and flew across the gravel and nose-first into the tyres.

That triggered a safety car on lap 32 of 52 and Ferrari reacted by pitting Vettel but Mercedes told Bottas to stay out and claim track position.

Behind, Hamilton moved up to third as Max Verstappen and Raikkonen pit, with Ricciardo staying in sixth as the safety car was called just after he had made a second stop and handed track position to Raikkonen.

Bottas gunned the throttle at the end of the Hangar Straight on lap 37 and kept Vettel at bay, as Raikkonen and Verstappen engaged in a fierce fight that went the way of the Red Bull.

The race was neutralised again moments later for an accident at Copse between Carlos Sainz Jr and Romain Grosjean, when Sainz attacked on the outside but Grosjean suffered a wobble at the apex.

Both flew off-track and into retirement, with Grosjean ending a miserable race that started with him dropping out of the points on the opening lap thanks to a collision with team-mate Kevin Magnussen.

The safety car’s second appearance lasted three laps, setting up an 11-lap sprint at the end.

Bottas resisted Vettel again at the restart before coming under attack into the Brooklands left-hander at the end of the Wellington Straight three laps in row.

He held on until lap 47, when Vettel took advantage of a slight wobble from Bottas exiting The Loop onto the Wellington Straight and drafted him towards Brooklands before diving inside very late as Bottas failed to cover the inside line.

That released Vettel into a lead he would hold to the end, while Hamilton forced his way inside Bottas at Brooklands a lap later.

Raikkonen cleared Verstappen before the Dutchman retired with a long-standing brake-by-wire problem then blew past Bottas for third on the outside into Brooklands using DRS.

Bottas managed to keep Ricciardo at bay to finish fourth, with Nico Hulkenberg finished sixth for Renault after taking advantage of the messy first lap to jump five places, and he held that best-of-the-rest slot to the end.

Force India’s Esteban Ocon was a quiet but excellent seventh, as Fernando Alonso bested Magnussen in a fiery late fight to finish eighth.

Pierre Gasly claimed the final point in tenth for Toro Rosso and Honda.

So congratulations to Sebastian Vettel in winning the British Grand Prix. Despite neck pain, the four-time champion was able to race to victory. Vettel now has an eight-point lead to rival Lewis Hamilton.

As for the home hero, Hamilton did his best after a collision on the first lap. The Mercedes driver never give up and charged through to second. At least Lewis is still in a shout in the championship.

British Grand Prix, race results:
1 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 52 1h27m29.784s
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 52 2.264s
3 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 52 3.652s
4 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 52 8.883s
5 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault 52 9.500s
6 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 52 28.220s
7 Esteban Ocon Force India-Mercedes 52 29.930s
8 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Renault 52 31.115s
9 Kevin Magnussen Haas-Ferrari 52 33.188s
10 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso-Honda 52 34.129s
11 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 52 34.708s
12 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren-Renault 52 35.774s
13 Lance Stroll Williams-Mercedes 52 38.106s
14 Sergey Sirotkin Williams-Mercedes 52 48.113s
15 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Renault 46 Not running
– Carlos Sainz Renault 37 Collision
– Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari 37 Collision
– Marcus Ericsson Sauber-Ferrari 31 Spun off
– Charles Leclerc Sauber-Ferrari 18 Retirement
– Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso/Honda 1 Retirement

Drivers’ standings:
1 Sebastian Vettel 171
2 Lewis Hamilton 163
3 Kimi Raikkonen 116
4 Daniel Ricciardo 106
5 Valtteri Bottas 104
6 Max Verstappen 93
7 Nico Hulkenberg 42
8 Fernando Alonso 40
9 Kevin Magnussen 39
10 Carlos Sainz 28
11 Esteban Ocon 25
12 Sergio Perez 23
13 Pierre Gasly 19
14 Charles Leclerc 13
15 Romain Grosjean 12
16 Stoffel Vandoorne 8
17 Lance Stroll 4
18 Marcus Ericsson 3
19 Brendon Hartley 1
20 Sergey Sirotkin 0

Constructors’ standings:
1 Ferrari 287
2 Mercedes 267
3 Red Bull-Renault 199
4 Renault 70
5 Haas-Ferrari 51
6 Force India-Mercedes 48
7 McLaren-Renault 48
8 Toro Rosso-Honda 20
9 Sauber-Ferrari 16
10 Williams-Mercedes 4

Home crowd favourite Lewis Hamilton achieved his sixth British Grand Prix pole position, beating his championship rival Sebastian Vettel by 0.044 seconds.

Vettel had the edge after the first runs in the Q3 top ten shootout by 57 thousandths of a second, but Hamilton stepped up to the challenge on the second runs.

With the soft-compound Pirellis the tyre of choice through qualifying, Hamilton outpaced Vettel in the first and second sectors on the final run.

This meant Vettel’s flying final sector was not enough to reclaim P1 and left the Ferrari driver second on the starting grid.

Vettel missed his qualifying simulation during the final practice session with a neck problem, and admitted after his run that he wasn’t sure he would have been able to run in qualifying.

Vettel’s Ferrari team-mate, Kimi Raikkonen, qualified third and just 0.098 seconds off the pace after finding a three tenths improvement on his second run despite a lockup into the Turn 16 left-hander.

This followed complaining of losing his quick shift on his first run, and put him ahead of Valtteri Bottas.

Max Verstappen was fifth quickest for Red Bull, half-a-second faster than team-mate Daniel Ricciardo.

The Red Bull driver did not have the use of the DRS on his first run, which team principal Christian Horner attributed to a glitch with the system that governs when it can and cannot be used.

The problem wasn’t solved on his second run, although he was told he had manual use of the DRS provided he only activated it in the permitted zones.

Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean gave Haas best-of-the-rest honours in qualifying for the second consecutive race by locking out the fourth row.

Sauber driver Charles Leclerc qualified ninth, three tenths faster than Force India’s Esteban Ocon.

Nico Hulkenberg was P11 and quickest of those who didn’t reach Q3 after lapping 0.058 seconds behind Ocon.

With very few time improvements made on the second runs in Q2, that put Force India’s Sergio Perez in P12 ahead of McLaren driver Fernando Alonso.

Toro Rosso driver Pierre Gasly was the only one of the drop zone contenders to find time on his second run, declaring himself happy he got the maximum out of the car.

This was enough to elevate him to P14 ahead of Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson, who had a relatively slow run through the final sector on his quickest lap.

Carlos Sainz was fastest of those eliminated in Q1 when he was bumped to P16 by Renault team-mate Nico Hulkenberg’s late improvement and said he lost time owing to Magnussen locking up ahead of him into Turn 3.

That put him ahead of McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne, who shed a piece of bodywork when he hit the inside kerb at Brooklands on his first run and ended up 0.640 seconds slower after his second attempt.

Vandoorne complained about something fundamental being wrong with the car and things not feeling right during both the morning practice session and qualifying.

Lance Stroll ended up P19 but did not set a time after spinning into the gravel at the Brooklands left-hander on his first flying lap – admitting he was “shocked” by the suddenness of the rear end snapping away.

As Stroll was unable to dig himself out of the gravel, he was forced to switch the car off and triggered a six-minute red flag while his Williams was recovered.

Brendon Hartley was unable to participate in qualifying thanks to damage sustained when he crashed at Brooklands during the final practice session.

This was caused by a front-left suspension failure, and the team must rebuild his car around a spare monocoque ahead of tomorrow’s race for him to start from the pitlane.

So a brilliant pole position for Lewis Hamilton. His 50th for Mercedes. Scoring this P1 result, right in front of his passionate fans was a magic moment. Kudos Hamilton on this achievement.

British Grand Prix, qualifying positions:

1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1m25.892s
2 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1m25.936s
3 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m25.990s
4 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1m26.217s
5 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Renault 1m26.602s
6 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault 1m27.099s
7 Kevin Magnussen Haas-Ferrari 1m27.244s 1.352s
8 Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari 1m27.455s 1.563s
9 Charles Leclerc Sauber-Ferrari 1m27.879s
10 Esteban Ocon Force India-Mercedes 1m28.194s
11 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1m27.901s
12 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 1m27.928s
13 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Renault 1m28.139s
14 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso-Honda 1m28.343s
15 Marcus Ericsson Sauber-Ferrari 1m28.391s
16 Carlos Sainz Renault 1m28.456s
17 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren-Renault 1m29.096s
18 Sergey Sirotkin Williams-Mercedes 1m29.252s
19 Lance Stroll Williams-Mercedes –
20 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso-Honda –

The crowd favourite Max Verstappen scored a popular victory at Red Bull Racing’s home race as Mercedes’ challenge imploded in a dramatic Austrian Grand Prix.

Verstappen headed the Ferraris of Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel, who stole the championship lead from Lewis Hamilton by one point after Mercedes turned a one-two in qualifying into a double retirement.

Poleman Valtteri Bottas retired with a gearbox problem while a strategy error under the ensuing virtual safety car ruined Hamilton’s race and a loss of fuel pressure forced him to a late retirement.

Hamilton and Raikkonen jumped Bottas on the run to Turn 1, with the leaders three-wide, before Raikkonen tucked into Hamilton’s slipstream and attacked into Turn 3 but locked up and ran wide.

That allowed Verstappen to challenge him on the run out of the corner but Max was rebuffed aggressively and Bottas was able to re-pass both on the outside of Turn 4.

Verstappen got inside Raikkonen two corners later and a slight nudge on The Iceman’s left-rear wheel pushed him wide and allowed the Red Bull driver to sneak through.

Bottas offered no threat to Hamilton before slowing on lap 14 and retiring on the escape road at Turn 4 with a loss of hydraulic pressure.

That triggered a virtual safety car under which the frontrunners all stopped except for Hamilton, a mistake that Mercedes chief strategist James Vowles came on the radio to apologise for.

Verstappen rejoined from his pitstop 13 seconds behind Hamilton, who ran ten laps without being able to stretch out the gap and eventually stopped.

That dropped him to fourth, handing Verstappen the lead, but Hamilton’s misery continued a few laps later when Vettel forced his way past on the grass on the way up to Turn 3 and aggressively ran Hamilton wide on the entry to corner.

Hamilton was gifted a position back just after mid-distance when Daniel Ricciardo had to pit to change tyres after battling a blistering left-rear.

He gave chase to Vettel after receiving another apology from Vowles over the radio but then had to make his own forced stop for the same reason as Ricciardo on lap 52.

Hamilton’s race lasted just another dozen laps before a loss of fuel pressure forced him off the road at Turn 3 and into retirement on the left-hand side of the circuit on the run down to Turn 4.

That ended a run off 33 consecutive races in the points for Hamilton, whose last retirement was his spectacular exit from the 2016 Malaysian Grand Prix with an engine failure.

His dramatic race gave the top three an easy run to the podium, with Raikkonen closing to two seconds of Verstappen by the end but not troubling the 20-year-old and likewise being unchallenged by Vettel.

Ricciardo should have finished fourth in Hamilton’s absence but had already retired with an apparent gearbox problem when Hamilton stopped.

That meant Romain Grosjean ended his point-less start to the 2018 season in style with fourth place for Haas, the best result in the American team’s fledgling Formula 1 history.

His teammate Kevin Magnussen battled back from losing places after not pitting under the Bottas-induced virtual safety car to finish fifth and net Haas a huge points windfall.

Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez took advantage of the chaos to rise to sixth and seventh from P11 and P15 on the grid, ahead of pitlane starter Fernando Alonso.

The McLaren driver ran P19 early on and, after complaining at that point to his team over the radio that he refused to run in that position all race, used the VSC and a strong, long second stint to charge to eighth late on.

That included an aggressive move on Charles Leclerc, who reclaimed ninth on the last lap from teammate Marcus Ericsson after the Sauber driver was let by to try to catch and pass Alonso on fresh tyres.

While that bid failed, Ericsson was still able to complete a double-points finish for Sauber after an extremely long first stint on softs and late charge on fresh supersofts.

Nico Hulkenberg and Brendon Hartley joined the three frontrunners in retiring from the race.

Renault’s Hulkenberg suffered a spectacular engine failure early on while Hartley stopped near the end after a bizarre mechanical failure forced him off-track at the penultimate corner and eventually forced him to stop at Turn 2.

So an entertaining race at the Red Bull Ring. Full of action, drama and overtaking. Many congratulations to Max Verstappen in winning and for Sebastian Vettel recovery from his grid penalty to take the championship lead by a single point.

It’s quite remarkable that both Mercedes were forced to retire. The last time the team suffered a double DNF was at the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix. Ironically Verstappen scored his win that day followed by the Ferraris of Raikkonen and Vettel.

The next race is the British Grand Prix and with strong home support, Lewis Hamilton is determined to strike back.

Austrian Grand Prix, race results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Renault 71 1h21m56.024s
2 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 71 1.504s
3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 71 3.181s
4 Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari 70 1 Lap
5 Kevin Magnussen Haas-Ferrari 70 1 Lap
6 Esteban Ocon Force India-Mercedes 70 1 Lap
7 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 70 1 Lap
8 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Renault 70 1 Lap
9 Charles Leclerc Sauber-Ferrari 70 1 Lap
10 Marcus Ericsson Sauber-Ferrari 70 1 Lap
11 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso-Honda 70 1 Lap
12 Carlos Sainz Renault 70 1 Lap
13 Lance Stroll Williams-Mercedes 69 2 Laps
14 Sergey Sirotkin Williams-Mercedes 69 2 Laps
15 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren-Renault 65 Not running
– Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 62 Retirement
– Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso-Honda 54 Retirement
– Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault 53 Retirement
– Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 13 Hydraulics
– Nico Hulkenberg Renault 11 Power Unit

Drivers’ standings:
1 Sebastian Vettel 146
2 Lewis Hamilton 145
3 Kimi Raikkonen 101
4 Daniel Ricciardo 96
5 Max Verstappen 93
6 Valtteri Bottas 92
7 Kevin Magnussen 37
8 Fernando Alonso 36
9 Nico Hulkenberg 34
10 Carlos Sainz 28
11 Sergio Perez 23
12 Esteban Ocon 19
13 Pierre Gasly 18
14 Charles Leclerc 13
15 Romain Grosjean 12
16 Stoffel Vandoorne 8
17 Lance Stroll 4
18 Marcus Ericsson 3
19 Brendon Hartley 1
20 Sergey Sirotkin 0

Constructors’ standings:
1 Ferrari 247
2 Mercedes 237
3 Red Bull-Renault 189
4 Renault 62
5 Haas-Ferrari 49
6 McLaren-Renault 44
7 Force India-Mercedes 42
8 Toro Rosso-Honda 19
9 Sauber-Ferrari 16
10 Williams-Mercedes 4