F1 Features

We’ve not even had the race in Monaco yet, and we’re already asking ourselves just how Ferrari has scored yet another own goal in its fight against Mercedes in Formula 1 this year.

- As is tradition in Monaco, Friday was rest day, meaning there were no Formula 1 activities taking place on-track.

- Lewis Hamilton topped both FP1 and FP2 on Thursday in Monaco for Mercedes, marking the first time he has led a session around the streets of the principality since opening practice in 2017.

- Tributes continued to pour in from the Formula 1 community on Wednesday in Monaco following the death of three-time world champion Niki Lauda earlier this week at the age of 70.

Sunday will see Kimi Raikkonen reach a landmark only made by four other drivers in Formula 1 history when he enters his 300th grand prix. But he really, really does not care.

Formula 1 action continues this weekend with the iconic and prestigious Monaco Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton heads to the principality with a seven-point lead over Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas in the championship following a lights-to-flag victory.

Valtteri Bottas is enjoying his best-ever start to a Formula 1 season. The Finn has bounced back from a winless 2018 campaign in fine style to record three pole positions and two victories from the opening five races of the 2019 season.

“It’s going to be 1988 all over again, isn’t it?” After seeing Mercedes sweep to not only its fifth consecutive victory but also its fifth-straight one-two finish, the above comment made in the press conference room prior to the drivers’ arrival was made with a feeling of disbelief.

Lewis Hamilton served up a timely reminder of why it is foolish to doubt him as he claimed a comprehensive win in Formula 1’s Spanish Grand Prix.

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes – 9

We’re close to running out of superlatives when it comes to Mercedes in 2019. Five races, five one-two finishes, and 217 out of a possible 220 points – or 98.6 percent – with the three that were dropped coming only on the fastest lap bonus in Bahrain, China and Azerbaijan.

- Lewis Hamilton moved back into the lead of the Formula 1 drivers’ championship with victory in Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix, marking his third success of the season.

- Valtteri Bottas took the ninth pole position of his Formula 1 career on Saturday in Spain after topping qualifying for Mercedes, setting three laps good enough for P1.

Little time has been wasted in the early part of the 2019 Formula 1 season in boiling the battle for the drivers’ championship down to the two Mercedes drivers. But if the opening four races are anything to go by, that fight should go into the very embers of the campaign.

- F1 drivers’ championship leader Valtteri Bottas continued his impressive run of form as he topped both FP1 and FP2 for Mercedes on Friday in Barcelona. Teammate Lewis Hamilton completed a one-two finish in second practice, with the team running three-tenths clear of Ferrari in second.

- Valtteri Bottas arrived in Spain on Thursday leading the F1 drivers’ championship once again after his victory in Baku, but rejected the suggestion Mercedes’ results flattered its performances so far this year.

The Spanish Grand Prix is typically surrounded by an added element of intrigue and anticipation at the start of Formula 1’s traditional European leg of the season.

The Formula 1 circus begins the European leg of the 2019 season at this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix. 

A dramatic weekend in Baku proved that Mercedes very much remains the team to beat in the 2019 Formula 1 season.

“I am so stupid. I am so stupid.” Charles Leclerc has taken this phrase as his go-to self-criticism in Formula 1, it seems.

Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes – 8

- If anyone had doubts over Mercedes being in another league they were ended by an easy win in Baku, and, as Lewis Hamilton remembered, after Ferrari updated their car it also proved that the team is working brilliantly.

You would have been laughed out of Mercedes’ hospitality unit if you had suggested during the first week of pre-season testing that just two months later, the team would be toasting a fourth consecutive one-two finish to mark the best start to a season in Formula 1 history.

- It was cold late in the afternoon this Saturday in Baku - so cold that the TV reporters were asking FOM’s chief press officer Luca Colajanni for heaters!