♦ Charles Leclerc’s win at Spa brings the total number of victories at the Belgian GP for Ferrari to 18, the most of any team.
♦ The death of Anthoine Hubert in an accident during the Formula 2 race was a tragedy that hit Leclerc especially hard because of their close friendship. 5 years earlier, Leclerc also lost his godfather, Jules Bianchi, who died after an accident in the Japanese Grand Prix.
♦ Max Verstappen was knocked out at the start of the race after contact with Kimi Raikkonen’s Alfa Romeo. However, the Dutchman, currently third in the championship standings, did not blame Raikkonen for the incident which damaged his steering.
♦ After it was clear that Sebastian Vettel was struggling to maintain his pace, the team made the decision that he had to defend Leclerc’s bid for victory, and he followed the team orders.
♦ The tragic death of Anthoine Hubert on Saturday affected the whole F1 community and Daniel Ricciardo revealed that he had almost decided not to race on Sunday.
♦ In the final lap, Sergio Perez and Alexander Albon had a close fight to try to improve their positions which caught the attention of the stewards. However, they did not receive any penalties after the race, the stewards reporting that ‘each driver described it as hard racing and agreed there was potential danger. In view of the explanations and the successful overtaking move, it was considered there should be no further action’.
Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport has confirmed that it will retain Valtteri Bottas for the 2020 Formula 1 season. The 30-year old Finn, currently second in the world championship standings on 188 points, joined the team in 2017. Racing alongside Lewis Hamilton, he has played a key role in its victory in the Constructors’ championship in the past two seasons.
Bottas made his F1 debut in 2013 with the Williams Renault team and had his first win at the 2017 Russian Grand Prix. During his two and a half seasons with the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport team, he has scored 5 race wins and 10 pole positions.
“I am very happy and proud to be part of the team for a fourth season and wish to thank every team member and the board of Mercedes for their trust and belief in me. My performances have been getting better and better each year, and this is a great way to kick start the second half of 2019,” said Bottas.
Future no longer uncertain with his place on the team confirmed for the 2020 season, Valtteri Bottas can now focus on becoming World Champion.
Aiming to be world champion
“My overall target is to become Formula One world champion. I believe that on paper, and from my experience with the team, Mercedes is the best option for me to achieve that goal in 2020. We have 9 races to go this season and I am determined to keep improving at every one of them. Now, all my thoughts are on Spa and delivering a strong performance with the team this weekend,” he added.
Commenting on the retention of Bottas, Team Principal and CEO of the team. Toto Wolff, said: “For 2019, we set Valtteri the challenge of coming back even stronger than we saw him in the first part of 2018 – and he has achieved that, with some really impressive performances in the early races this year. Although it has been his most successful first half of a championship so far, he is hungry for more and determined to keep on improving and raising his level. That’s the mindset we want from all our team members.”
“The results we have achieved together with Valtteri are no coincidence: he has been an integral part of our championship success in the past two seasons, his teamwork with Lewis has been exemplary and he has shown real strength of character in how he has responded to setbacks. I’m delighted that he will stay with the team for another season at least – and look forward to seeing him raise the bar even further,” he said.
Race starts at 3:10 pm in Hungary/9:10 pm in Malaysia
♦ Max Verstappen will start from pole position with Valtteri Bottas alongside. It’s the first F1 pole position for the 21-year old Aston Martin Red Bull Racing driver.
♦ The 4.38-km circuit is often referred to as ‘Monaco without walls’ because of the tight and twisting layout. This is not good for the Ferraris as their downforce is not as strong as the leading rivals.
♦ Improved aerodynamics on the Williams cars have helped George Russell perform better. This is especially important on the Hungaroring circuit’s flowing sequences of slow and medium-speed corners and frequent changes of direction. The teams are using the highest levels of downforce seen all year at a purpose-built track to Hungary.
♦ The Ferrari team is concerned about tyres. The circuit layout also places relatively high lateral loads on tyres and that, allied to often high track temperatures, means that rubber is put under some stress. Sebastian Vettel expects it to be a very difficult race today in terms of tyre management and given the characteristics of the car.
♦ This will be the last round before the teams take a summer break. The next race will be in Belgium on September 1.
♦ As the team managers enjoy their holiday break, they will also be thinking about the driver line-up for 2020. Although there are rumours of Verstappen moving to Mercedes-AMG, this is unlikely to happen and the team’s boss will be looking at retaining Bottas or letting current reserve driver Esteban Ocon partner Lewis Hamilton.
♦ Rain created a drama-filled race which delighted spectators who had not seen so much action in a while.
♦ Aston Martin Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen collected his second win of the 2019 season. The Dutch driver has won 7 F1 races to date.
♦ Lewis Hamilton, who was ill, finished 11th but got promoted two positions up as a result of 30-second penalties imposed on both Alfa Romeo drivers for start-line offences.
♦ Robert Kubica’s promotion to tenth place gave the Williams team, powered by Mercedes engines, its first point of the season.
♦ Russian driver, Daniil Kvyat, had two reasons to celebrate after the race. First was his unexpected third place after a chaotic race and second was the birth of his first child the same day.
♦ The event might not have been run this year had Mercedes-Benz not come in to provide support as the main title sponsor and provided much-needed financial support.
Race starts at 3:10 pm in Germany/9:10 pm in Malaysia
♦ In spite of being ill (believed to be the flu) this weekend, Lewis Hamilton still managed to capture pole position on the starting grid. Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen will be alongside the Mercedes-AMG driver. In the event that he decided he cannot race, reserve driver Esteban Ocon was ready to take over in his place.
♦ The Ferraris should have had a chance at the front row but technical problems in qualifying saw Charles Leclerc getting into tenth spot while Sebastian Vettel will start from the back. Vettel’s car had a turbo failure while Leclerc’s was due to a fuel problem.
♦ Although he has not raced his car in the rain, Renault F1 Team’s Daniel Ricciardo is hoping for a wet track as he thinks it may provide with just a slight edge. He said that he noticed that the car performed well in the wet last year.
♦ As some other circuits have been experiencing, the extremely high cost of hosting a F1 round means they can no longer do so. Hockenheim has hosted F1 rounds since 1970 (though not every year) is likely to have its last race this year for this reason. If so, there will be no German Grand Prix in 2020 (and beyond) since the Nurburgring circuit also stopped being a F1 venue.
Lewis Hamilton’s victory at Silverstone this year is his sixth British GP win, the most of any driver in the race.
Sebastian Vettel rammed into Max Verstappen’s car on lap 37 but the Ferrari driver acknowledged it was his fault and apologized to Verstappen at the end of the race. He was given a 10-second penalty which dropped his finishing position to 15th, and 2 penalty points on his racing licence.
Despite the dramatic incident, Vettel and Verstappen completed the race with the Red Bull driver collecting 10 points for his 5th placing.
Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen – both driving for the American Rich Energy Haas F1 Team – never had a chance to race this weekend as they collided in the first corner and had to retire as the damage was too severe.
The duel between Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen received praise as the two drivers showed gentlemanly behavior even as they challenged each other.
Kimi Raikkonen’s 8th placing at the British GP brings him points for a third consecutive race but not without having to work hard. The car still lacks speed on the straights, he said.
Lewis Hamilton revealed that he ‘went easy’ on Valtteri Bottas because they are team mates, even though they compete hard against each other and Bottas certainly would like to win the championship. “When you’re racing with a team-mate it’s on a different level. If I were racing a Ferrari, you take more risks. Still respectful, but you can lean on them a bit more but as team-mates, we sit down at the beginning of the race, we talk about Turn One and how we’re going to respect each other,” Hamilton said at the post-race press conference.
Race starts at 2:10 pm UK time/9:10 pm Malaysian time
Round 10 of the 2019 FIA Formula One World Championship sees teams and drivers travel to the English Midlands and Silverstone Circuit, home of the British Grand Prix. This year’s event marks the 70th F1 World Championship British Grand Prix. Silverstone has hosted the event the most times (53, including 2019) with Brands Hatch and Aintree being the other venues in earlier years. Silverstone and the British Racing Drivers’ Club (BRDC) have announces that the British Grand Prix will continue to be held at the venue until at least the end of 2024. The agreement between Formula 1, the BRDC and Silverstone Circuit was signed yesterday in London.
A true power circuit, more than 60% of a 5.891-km lap of Silverstone is taken at full throttle. A strong favourite with drivers and fans, its popularity, however, does not solely rest on the speeds reached. Instead, it’s the circuit sequences of fast and flowing corners that thrill both competitors and spectators alike.
The track is also famous for being demanding on tyres which, in the past, has led Pirelli to bring its hardest compounds to cope with wear rates. The tyre supplier has maintained that practice this year, choosing it C1 compound as the hard tyre, the C2 compound as its medium compound and the C3 compound as the soft option.
The Silverstone circuit was the reference circuit for the layout of the Batu Tiga Circuit in Malaysia which was opened in 1968.
Resurfaced track adds complications
Complicating matters for teams and drivers, however, is the fact that the entire track has been resurfaced for the second time in two years following issues during last year’s MotoGP event here. Understanding the new surface will be one of the major tasks of the weekend as teams build towards an ideal race set-up.
This is Lewis Hamilton’s home race and he once again goes into today’s race bidding to take the outright record for most British Grand Prix wins. The 34-year old Mercedes-AMG driver currently shares the record of five with Jim Clark and Alain Prost.
Where constructors are concerned, Ferrari has collected the most wins in the British GP. Including last year’s victory by Sebastian Vettel, they have 17 wins, three more than McLaren, with Williams in third place on 10. Alfa Romeo, having a presence in F1 again, won the inaugural championship event in 1950.
Championship positions before Round 10
Approaching the mid-point of the 2019 season, Hamilton has a 31-point lead in the Drivers’ standings over team-mate Valtteri Bottas. Victory at the last race in Austria moved Max Verstappen up to third place. The young Red Bull Racing star now has 126 points, three ahead of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.
Although the 25 points won by Mercedes-AMG in Austria represented the team’s lowest single-race points haul of the season, they still hold a commanding lead in the Constructors’ Championship. The team starts the race today with 363 points in hand, 135 ahead of Ferrari. Meanwhile, victory for Red Bull Racing at their home race in Austria edged the team slightly closer to Ferrari and they now lie 59 points behind the Italian outfit. McLaren is in fourth place with a healthy 20-point gap to fifth-placed Renault.
The most thrilling race of the 2019 championship with the top two winners being other than the Mercedes-AMG duo.
Although there was contact between Verstappen and Leclerc, the stewards decided not to penalise Verstappen. Ferrari says it won’t appeal.
The Aston Martin Red Bull win gives Honda a win for the first time since returning to F1.
Overheating problems were blamed for the poor performance of the Mercedes-AMG cars.
Red Bull’s Pierre Gasly gets the best result of his first season with 7th placing.
Lewis Hamilton started from 4th place although he qualified for 2nd due to a penalty for blocking Kimi Raikkonen.
Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi also scored the first point of his F1 career when he finished 10th.
Valtteri Bottas’ third placing adds some more points to the Mercedes-AMG lead in the Constructors Championship to keep the gap at 135 points from Ferrari.
Next round: 2019 British Grand Prix at Silverstone on July 14
The world of Formula 1 is never as exciting without all its drama and turmoil thrown into the mix. The latest one surrounding five-time world champion Lewis Hamilton leaving Mercedes at the end of 2020 to join Ferrari is probably the biggest talking point so far. (more…)
