Brendan Lines October 20, 2020

Lewis Hamilton crushed the competition to win the Portugese Grand Prix, overtaking Michael Shumacher’ s record of the most race wins, Hamilton’s 92nd victory in Formula One is his eighth win of the 2020 season, Valtteri Bottas finished second, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen third.

The Brit now holds Formula 1’s all time greatest race winning record and is set to equal Shumacher’s record of seven drivers championships.

“I could only ever have dreamed of being where I am today,” Hamilton said.

“I didn’t have a crystal ball when I chose to come to this team and partner with these great people.

” I chose to come to this team and partner with these great people. What I can tell you is that I am trying to make the most of it every single day.

“Everything that we do together, we are all growing in the same direction and that’s why you’re seeing the success that we’re having.

“My dad is here which is amazing, my step-mum Linda is here, Roscoe too. I feel very blessed.

“It’s going to take some time for it to sink in. I was still pushing flat out coming across the line and I am still in race mode mentally. I can’t find the words at the moment.”

Hamilton’s dominance on the race came out of a chaotic start, losing the lead from pole to Bottas at Turn 1, Hamilton was not alone struggling for grip on the Medium tyres in cold slippery conditions as rain sprinkled the Portimao track.

Both Mercedes cars kept losing ground out front as McLaren’s Carlos Sainz astonishingly snatched the lead in the opening fracarr after starting from P7 on the grid.

The biggest loser in the dramatic opening scenes was Racing Point’s Sergio Perez, who was spun around after being clipped by Verstappen rejoining the track after running wide at Turn 4 — the incident went without investigation from race stewards, Stroll retired his car on Lap 54 from its wounds.

Perez slipped back to P20, next to Hamilton, Perez’s recovery drive was another stand out performance of the day to finish P7.

The Mexican single handedly took valuable constructors points against rival McLaren after teammate Lance Stroll’s DNF.

Sainz’s fragile lead on degrading Soft tyres soon sucumed to both Mercedes on Medium tyres, the addition of DRS was no help to Sainz as Verstappen soon overtook Sainz.

The natural order was restored out front on Lap 8, despite Hamilton running +1.6s behind Bottas in P2.

The single DRS zone on the front straight played a heavy influence, Kimi Räikkönen’s mighty P16 to P6 start was eaten away as many of the faster runners were able to account for his Alfa Romeo.

On Lap 18, Stroll rocketed around the outside of McLaren’s Lando Norris with the aid of DRS, leaving little racing room into Turn 1, the two came together in tank-slapping style — the stewards whacked Stroll with a five-second time penalty as Norris was relegated back to P20 dashing his hopes of a good haul of points.

Hamilton continued to hunt his teammate, eventually on Lap 20 the Brit took the lead passing Bottas at Turn 1 and continued to open up his lead over the ensuing laps. Hamilton persisted through the graining phase of his tyres, at his single pit stop for the race, Hamilton had cleared Bottas by ten seconds and Verstappen by +49.0s.

Charles Leclerc race yielded a much improved and sustained effort from Ferrari all weekend, Leclerc qualified and held P4 convincingly in patches just +0.4s off Mercedes pace over a lap — it was ‘okay’ day for teammate Sebastian Vettel finishing P10.

Pierre Gasly continued his claim as the season’s most improved and worth to future contract prospects finishing P5, the Frenchman aggressively went for Perez on Lap 64, but got the job done the next lap on his way to an impressive finish.

Renault’s Esteban Ocon pulled off the mother of all overcuts, going 55 laps deep into the 66-lap race before his pit stop. Ocon came out in front of teammate Daniel Ricciardo as the pair finished P8 and P9 respectively.

Hamilton’s only worry for the day was a slight cramp to a calf muscle towards the closing stages, but his speed was unaffected, as Hamilton stormed home with a commanding +25.592s lead, out-classing the field to now become a class unto his own as the record holder of the most wins ever in Formula 1.

Brendan Lines October 24, 2020

Valtteri Bottas was back-to-back fastest across Friday’s practice sessions, the Finn so far is the only driver to post a sub 1:18s time around Portimao’s green track surface, despite two spectacular incidents red-flagging the FP2 session.

Bottas’ fastest time of 1:17.940s was over half a second clear of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in P2.

“The track was evolving lap by lap, and it got better throughout the day, but maybe it was reset slightly in between the two sessions, and with red flags in second practice there wasn’t that much useful running,” Bottas said.

“So, I’m still expecting an increase in grip over the rest of the weekend. The balance of the car was also pretty good.

“I was mainly struggling in the slow speed corners with the rear end of the car but it is not too far away from where I want it, as the lap times would also suggest.”

Verstappen’s session ended after a Turn 1 argument with Racing Point’s Lance Stroll, the two cars squeezed together both starting hot laps. but failed to stay out of each others way, coming together for the second red flag.

Stewards later deemed the incident required ‘no further investigation’ and neither driver was penalised.

The first incident of the session came when Pierre Gasly’s Alpha Tauri spontaneously combusted from the right side bank of its power-unit on the exit of Turn 13, the Frenchman abandoned his burning car unscathed, though finishing P7.

Charles Leclerc kept his Ferrari up the front of the order in P4 matching the cars ahead to run in the 1:18s, he was joined in the top-ten by teammate Sebastian Vettel who improved from P11 in FP1 to P6.

Lando Norris’ P3 was a vast improvement on the morning’s session also joining the ‘1:18 club’ with a lap of 1:18.743 in his McLaren, his teammate Carlos Sainz ran four tenths off Norris finishing P5.

Championship leader Lewis Hamilton spent more time in the garage than he’d like to as a result of the red flags, his Mercedes didn’t respond favourably to set up changes, the Brit managing just P8.

Esteban Ocon was the fastest Renault in P9, while Red Bull’s Alex Albon rounded out the top-ten.

FP3 and Qualifying begin from 08:30pm ACDST tonight.

Brendan Lines October 20, 2020

Valtteri Bottas was quickest in FP1 at the Portugese Grand Prix sparring with Merecedes teammate Lewis Hamilton to go fastest, as Formula 1 visits the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve in Portimao, hosting Portugal’s first Grand Prix since 1996.

It’s a thumbs up from the drivers as the cars turned a wheel in anger for the first time, the last time Formula 1 visited the Portimao circuit was for testing in 2009.

Mercedes were quick to adapt its cars to the unknown levels of grip around the undulating high-speed layout, laden with blind corners at Turn 6 and Turn 11. Bottas set the bar some -12.0s below the previous lap record, with a fastest lap of 1:18.410s on Medium tyres.

“It was quite slippery out on track, it reminded me a lot of when we went to Sochi or Austin for the first time, and we drove on the new tarmac there,” Bottas said after FP1.

“This type of tarmac is tricky in terms of getting grip. Once you lose the grip, you can drop the car quite quickly, and I think that’s the reason why we have seen so many spins today.”

“The track was evolving lap by lap, and it got better throughout the day, but maybe it was reset slightly in between the two sessions.”

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen session was without incident after a spin, the Dutchman said his venture off-track was due to an aerodynamic ‘imbalance,’ his time of 1:19.191s for P3 was just over +.708s from Bottas. Red Bull teammate Alex Albon was three tenths off Verstappen finishing P4.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was the surprise performance of the session in P4, his SF1000 was fitted with a new front-end aero package, the Monegasque was just shy of Verstappen by a tenth. Teammate Sebastian Vettel however finished just outside the top-ten in P11.

Carlos Sainz was the fastest of the McLaren’s in P6, his MCL35 seemed be carrying less niggles out if the box than teammate Lando Norris who complained of steering rack issues, finishing some six tenths behind Sainz for P12.

Sergio Perez said finding race pace could leave some ‘compromised,’ adapting to many of Portimao’s unknowns, but the Mexican made a solid start taking P6, ahead of his teammate Lance Stroll some +2.5s off the pace in P15.

Kimi Räikkönen was the quiet achiever slotting his Alfa Romeo into P8, the sister Alfa of Antonio Giovinazzi had a slight off earlier in the session ending up P16.

Daniel Ricciardo was the best of the Renault cars, Ricciardo completed his fastest lap of 1:20.058s l.p. on Mediums with teammate Esteban Ocon sticking solely to the Harder compound tyre.

Rounding out the top ten was Alpha Tauri’s Pierre Gasly, opting to run only on the Hard tyres, his best time of 1:20.124 was +1.71s off Bottas in P1, but just a tenth up on teammate Daniil Kyvat in P13.

Brendan Lines October 12, 2020

Lewis Hamilton has secured his 91st victory in Formula One – his seventh of the 2020 season and second at the Nürburgring from Max Verstappen in P2 and Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo in P3.

Hamilton now equals Michael Schumacher’s record for the most race wins in F1, The Brit was presented with one of Michael’s helmets, by Michael’s son Mick, in Parc fermé in celebration of the significant win.

“It was beyond my wildest dreams to be equalling his number of race wins and it just shows that dreams can come true. It’s an incredible honour and something that will take some time to sink in. But I couldn’t have done it without this incredible team, everyone pushing so hard,” Hamilton said after the race.

“Max was right behind me and I knew I had to have a strong restart to keep him behind. I managed to catch him out which is always nice and that gave me the jump I needed. But you can see the pace Red Bull had at the end, so we’ve got a serious fight on our hands.”

From a front row lock-out start both Mercedes cars pulled away into Turn 1, Hamilton took advantage of a wide moment by teammate Valterri Bottas, Bottas held off the attack coming out in front after the jostling — surprisingly the squabbling cars behind the Mercedes lead by Max Verstappen didn’t take advantage of the jostling struggling for grip on cold tyres to close in.

Bottas drove away into the lead in the opening phase of the race, opening up an average lead of +1.0s. On Lap 13 degrading on Bottas’ Soft-shod Mercedes caused a front right wheel lock-up into Turn 1 allowing Hamilton to sweep past into the lead.

That was just the beginning of a tough day for the Fin, who then fell into the clutches of Verstappen’s Red Bull who was right on Mercedes’ pace — Bottas slipped back to P3.

Hamilton might have thought all his Christmases had come at once with Bottas aside, George Russell parked-up his Williams after damage sustained from an incident with Kimi Räikkönen, Hamilton was able to pit under yellow flags to fit Medium tyres to pull away to a four second lead over Verstappen now in P2.

Bottas, Hamilton’s nearest world championship points rival, slipped back to +21.0s off Hamilton’s lead, but the day was done on Lap 18 when Bottas radioed power loss from his engine and retired his W11 on Lap 19.

That offered clear air to Hamilton and Verstappen back to the field, McLaren’s Lando Norris had clawed his way into P3 without a pit stop, but Racing Point’s Sergio Perez and Daniel Ricciardo were hot on Norris’ heels on fresh rubber.

While things were looking up for Ricciardo, his teammate Esteban Ocon retired the sister Renault on Lap 23 with hydraulic failure. Red Bull’s Alex Albon soon followed the same fate retiring with a terminal issue to his Honda power unit.

With the attrition rate on the rise opportunities were wide open in the midfield to progress.

Nico Hülkenberg, Racing Point’s super sub rocketed from P20 on the grid to finish P8, parachuting into the team for Saturday’s qualifying replacing the ill Lance Stroll.

Hülkenberg proving himself still worthy of a full-time F1 drive, helping Racing Point snatch third place in the constructors standings off McLaren.

Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi backed up qualifying P14 finishing in a well earned P10.

The third step on the podium was still anyone’s at the pointy end of the field.

Norris tried to defend from Perez despite losing power, the McLaren team radioed instructions to stop the power losses for Norris’ car, but on Lap 30 the Brit took a pitstop in an attempt to cover Perez’s taking Medium tyres to make race distance.

Daniel Ricciardo was the benefactor staying out on his Medium tyres slotting into P3. Perez despatched Leclerc’s Ferrari on Lap 35 to begin a charge on Ricciardo, the Mexican catching Ricciardo by seven tenths a lap matching Hamilton’s pace out front.

Norris’ eventual retirement on Lap 44 would bookend to the final stanza, bringing out the safety car.

The leaders took pitstops on offer under the safety car. Perez, now P3, gave himself track position over Ricciardo but the Aussie would be on fresh Soft tyres for the re-start on Lap 50 — it would be a sprint race to the finish line.

Hamilton and Verstappen both radioed their frustration as the long safety car period exacerbated their tyre cooling issues, Verstappen still weaving frantically to get heat into his Soft tyres, leaving himself wide open for Riccirado to make a dive around the outside of Turn 1.

The skirmish let the pair fall back into the clutches of Perez in P4, but Ricciardo let the quicker Red Bull go to consolidate a well earned podium finish, his first since 2018.

“Oh wow, it feels like the first time I ever got a podium. These emotions and that feeling you get when you get out the car, hug the team, the mechanics slapping you on the helmet, it’s just amazing and I am so happy we did it!” Ricciardo said.

Hamilton pumped in some of the fastest laps of the Grand Prix to claim the point for fastest lap in his way to a record win, only to have Verstappen take fastest lap honours on the final lap — the only blemish on a momentus day for Hamilton.

Brendan Lines October 11, 2020

Valtteri Bottas has snatched pole from the clutches of teammate Lewis Hamilton on a flying final lap in Q3, the Finn taking his third pole of the 2020 season and first at the Nurburgring for the Eifel Grand Prix, completing Mercedes’ eighth front row lockout of the season, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen will start from P3.

The big news of the session was the inclusion of super sub Nico Hülkenberg, who was parachuted in to drive for Racing Point with just minutes to spare before qualifying replacing the ill Lance Stroll.

Hülkenberg had been scheduled for a broadcasting appearance for Sunday’s race, but was rushed to the circuit from some 50km away. Although the haste of his arrival was impressive, the German had it all in front of him with no time to prepare, any progress past Q1 would’ve been a miracle, but the sub will start from P20 — though a respectable 1.7s off Bottas’ time.

With just an hour of track time in FP3 after Friday’s washout, Bottas put on a barnstorming final lap in Q3 of 1.25:269s lighting up the timing charts with all three purple sectors after the session was mostly dominated by Hamilton and Verstappen.

“It feels great to be on pole position here and I really enjoyed that session,” Bottas said after qualifying.

“It’s such a nice feeling when you get it with your last chance in Q3. That final lap was spot on.

“I was struggling a little in the first sector beforehand, but I managed to get it right in the end.

“Obviously, it was pretty tricky with just one practice session and the cold conditions, so getting the tyres in the sweet spot on the outlap was really important and I managed to get them in the window.

“It’s a new day tomorrow and is going to be an interesting race, especially with the lack of running we’ve had here and the temperatures.

“I’ve only got one goal for tomorrow, so hopefully I can have a good start and we’ll see what happens from there.”

A surprise performance came from Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, his P4 was pay-off from some significant aero upgrades to his SF1000’s floor and bargeboards. The Monegasque’s time of 1.26:053s was just over a tenth faster than Red Bull’s Alex Albon in P5.

Conversely, Leclerc’s Ferrari teamate Sebastian Vettel didn’t enjoy the same rewards, the German eliminated after Q2 and will start from P11.

Daniel Ricciardo was the fastest of the Renault cars in P6, his fastest time in Q3 was just over a tenth faster edging his teammate Esteban Ocon back to P7. The result puts the Renault drivers ahead of both its rivals in the constructors championship, Racing Point and McLaren.

P8 went to McLaren’s Lando Norris though his MCL35 looked pinned to the track the McLaren’s top speed looked a little down, his teammate Carlos Sainz finished in P10 some two and a half tenths down on Norris.

Parked right between the McLarens is Sergio Perez’s Racing Point, having carried all the teams expectations for qualifying the Mexican will start from P9.

The Eifel Grand Prix starts 10:40pm ACDST tonight.

Full qualifying results:

Pos	No	Driver	Car	Q1	Q2	Q3	Laps
1	77	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes	1:26.573	1:25.971	1:25.269	19
2	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:26.620	1:25.390	1:25.525	18
3	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing Honda	1:26.319	1:25.467	1:25.562	15
4	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:26.857	1:26.240	1:26.035	18
5	23	Alexander Albon	Red Bull Racing Honda	1:27.126	1:26.285	1:26.047	15
6	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Renault	1:26.836	1:26.096	1:26.223	18
7	31	Esteban Ocon	Renault	1:27.086	1:26.364	1:26.242	20
8	4	Lando Norris	McLaren Renault	1:26.829	1:26.316	1:26.458	18
9	11	Sergio Perez	Racing Point BWT Mercedes	1:27.120	1:26.330	1:26.704	17
10	55	Carlos Sainz	McLaren Renault	1:27.378	1:26.361	1:26.709	20
11	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:27.107	1:26.738		16
12	10	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri Honda	1:27.072	1:26.776		16
13	26	Daniil Kvyat	AlphaTauri Honda	1:27.285	1:26.848		16
14	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari	1:27.532	1:26.936		14
15	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas Ferrari	1:27.231	1:27.125		16
16	8	Romain Grosjean	Haas Ferrari	1:27.552			10
17	63	George Russell	Williams Mercedes	1:27.564			9
18	6	Nicholas Latifi	Williams Mercedes	1:27.812			9
19	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Alfa Romeo Racing Ferrari	1:27.817			8
20	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Racing Point BWT Mercedes	1:28.021			10

Q1 107% time – 1:32.361

Note – Practice 1 and 2 were abandoned due to poor weather conditions.

Brendan Lines October 8, 2020 02:07am

Mercedes confirmed on Thursday a team member has tested positive for COVID-19 ahead of this weekend’s Eifel Grand Prix at the Nurburgring, Germany.

Mercedes said it would not reveal the identity of the person affected, but it is neither of the team’s drivers Lewis Hamilton or Valtteri Bottas.

A spokesperson said to BBC.com the positive case is “being handled in line with FIA protocols, working closely with the FIA”, ensuring the weekend at the Nurburgring can proceed.

In July, the 2020 F1 restarted under the guidance of extensive Return To Racing protocols set out by the FIA minimising the risks of COVID-19 to personnel.

The protocols include keeping teams isolated from each other, and teams to operate in ‘bubbles,’ while observing social distancing mandatory mask wearing in the paddock, and regular testing.

The positive case comes as the FIA and F1 confirmed that there had been 10 positive cases out of 1,822 tests completed as of last Friday after the Russian Grand Prix in September, which fans were allowed to attend, but in Russia minimal social distancing and mask wearing is required.

German authorities from the Ahrweiler district council has allowed up to 20 000 fans to attend this weekend’s race at the Nurburgring.

A recent decision of the German government allows: “Up to 20% of stadium capacity for major sports events if infection figures are inconspicuous and the public infrastructure allows for social distancing rules to be met,” Ahrweiler district council said.

On Thursday 4,058 new confirmed infections — a jump of more than 1,200, compared to the 2,828 cases on Wednesday were recorded in Germany, the highest amount of cases since the height of the pandemic in March.