F1 Features

The beginning of Formula 1’s summer break traditionally marks the beginning of another important period of the year: driver market silly season.

Off the back of four consecutive thrilling races, there is a sense of disappointment to be breaking up for Formula 1’s annual summer shutdown. 

Race day at the Hungaroring is one of my favourite days of the entire Formula 1 season. It’s got little to do with the circuit (it still needs big renovations) or the fact there’s a race coming later in the day, even one to the superb standard of Sunday’s affair.

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes – 9

Victory in Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix “felt like a first” to Lewis Hamilton, such was the five-time world champion’s glee at fighting back from running 20 seconds in arrears with 20 laps to go to win the race in remarkable fashion.

- Lewis Hamilton extended his lead at the top of the Formula 1 drivers’ championship with his eighth victory of the season in Hungary on Sunday.

If you had said following his maiden Formula 1 victory that Max Verstappen would have to wait more than three years for his first pole position, you would probably have been laughed out of the room.

- Max Verstappen claimed the first pole position of his Formula 1 career in qualifying on Saturday in Hungary, edging out Valtteri Bottas by just 0.018 seconds in the final stage of qualifying.

- Lewis Hamilton closed out Friday with the fastest time of the day as rain affected much of the running at the Hungaroring. Hamilton’s top time from FP1 proved to be the fastest of the day as rain in the second session meant Pierre Gasly’s P1 effort was six-tenths of a second down.

- Max Verstappen may have arrived in Hungary on Thursday as Formula 1’s form driver after two wins in the last three races, but the Dutchman was quick to downplay Red Bull’s chances of another victory. “Mercedes have been the most dominant so far this season,” he said.

After three thrilling races, Formula 1 heads to Budapest for the Hungarian Grand Prix, the final event before the championship’s traditional summer break.

Still riding high after a thrilling German Grand Prix at Hockenheim last weekend, the Formula 1 paddock makes the short hop over to Budapest this weekend for the Hungarian Grand Prix.

The 2019 Formula 1 season reached its half-way stage as the German Grand Prix delivered one of the best races of recent times with a wet and wild spectacle. 

Formula 1 is not known for its underdog stories. It is unforgiving, brutal, often callous. And nobody knows that better than Daniil Kvyat.

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes – 5

- Max Verstappen claimed the seventh victory of his F1 career in style as he capitalised on mistakes for a number of his rivals to win a wet-dry thriller at Hockenheim.

On a weekend where the Netflix camera crew has seemingly been more present than ever, it was perhaps fitting that the German Grand Prix encapsulated the meaning of ‘drive to survive’ in Formula 1.

It was difficult not to feel nostalgic on Saturday when one of the most dominant and spectacular cars in Formula 1 history, the Ferrari F2004, took to the track at Hockenheim for a special demonstration run.

- Lewis Hamilton scored the 87th pole position of his Formula 1 career in Saturday’s qualifying session at Hockenheim, edging out Red Bull’s Max Verstappen by three-tenths of a second in the final Q3 fight.

On a weekend where things were shaping up for a three-team fight for pole position, such a thrilling prospect was snatched away as Ferrari saw its 2019 plight plummet to a new low.

- Ferrari took a one-two finish in both FP1 and FP2 at Hockenheim on Friday, with Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc each taking a turn at the head of the field. Leclerc ended the day fastest overall with a best lap of 1m13.449s, pipping Vettel by one-tenth of a second.

- Mercedes kicked off the weekend celebrating its 125 years in motorsport by fully unveiling its revised car livery for the weekend.

Standing on the grid at Hockenheim ahead of last year’s German Grand Prix, Sebastian Vettel would have sensed he was on the verge of a big opportunity.

Mercedes heads into this weekend’s German Grand Prix looking to maintain its 100 percent winning run at Hockenheim in Formula 1’s V6 hybrid era.