Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen showed Red Bull can be a force while Fernando Alonso gave McLaren reason to be cheerful Related: Australian Grand Prix: Sebastian Vettel wins F1 opener with Lewis Hamilton second Continue reading...
Mercedes look like being the team to beat again, while Ferrari and McLaren both have much work to doThe dominant force in F1 for the past four years, Mercedes appear to show no sign of relinquishing their stranglehold. Last year’s championship-winning car, which was quick but temperamental, has undergone an evolution over the winter that looks alarming for their rivals. They clocked the most laps with 1,040 and, although only seventh on the time sheets, their pace in race simulations was relentlessly good, half a second a lap up on Ferrari and eight-tenths on Red Bull. The team chose not to run the car on the fastest hyper‑soft rubber, unconcerned about setting a single lap marker, and Lewis Hamilton, who...
The Briton had to be at his best to shake off his Ferrari rival and seal fourth title; Force India and Max Verstappen showed mettle; changes needed in 2018Lewis Hamilton produced an exceptional performance to secure his fourth – and what he admitted was his most challenging and most rewarding – title. With competition from Sebastian Vettel in a Ferrari that was at least on a par with the Mercedes and at certain circuits the better car, the British driver had to be at his best and successfully bring together every facet of his craft. Hamilton had to cope with a demanding car, struggling to find set-up and with the pressure of being behind until the 13th round. Major errors...
The F1 world champion proved his hunger remains while Ferrari fought back but Valtteri Bottas, the quality of racing and the future of the Brazilian Grand Prix are a concernAfter making his only major error of the season with a crash in qualifying at the Brazilian Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton said he wanted to redeem himself in the race. Finishing in fourth place after starting from the pit lane was better than he expected. It was a performance acknowledged by the Mercedes executive director, Toto Wolff, who said: “It was the best fourth place I’ve ever seen. If you consider starting from the pit lane and ending up 5.4 seconds behind the leader, it’s quite an astonishing drive.” In doing...
Any cut in their long-standing $68m team payment, in the interests of promoting closer racing with their rivals, may see Enzo Ferrari’s vision happy to succumb to financial reality and throw in their handSixty-seven years on from when Enzo Ferrari entered his team in their first Formula One world championship, his obsession has left an extraordinary legacy. The Scuderia are the only team to have entered every season since F1 began and its most successful, with 16 constructors’ and 15 drivers’ championships. It is a remarkable record that to an extent reflects Ferrari’s ruthless attitude to racing and his single-mindedness in pursuing that end.Ferrari originally only begrudgingly built road cars to fund the automobiles he wanted to take to the...