- The big news coming out of Saturday in Sochi was confirmation of McLaren’s switch from Renault to Mercedes power units from 2021, following the emergence of reports through Friday.
F1 notes
- Lewis Hamilton closed out Friday’s running in Singapore quickest for Mercedes, edging almost two-tenths of a second clear of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen under the lights in FP2.
- The motorsport paddock reconvened still mourning the death of Anthoine Hubert last Saturday at Spa in the Formula 2 race. Hubert’s team, BWT Arden, will enter just one car to this weekend’s F2 round.
- The Spa-Francorchamps paddock returned to action on Sunday in Belgium following the tragic death of Formula 2 driver Anthoine Hubert on Saturday at the age of 22. The planned F2 Sprint Race was cancelled, but the Formula 1, Formula 3 and Porsche Supercup races went ahead as planned.
- Ferrari swept to a one-two finish in both FP1 and FP2 on Friday at Spa, showing the might of its engine and straight-lined speed advantage over the field. Sebastian Vettel led from Charles Leclerc in FP1 before they swapped for FP2.
- Thursday proved to be a day of announcements as both Mercedes and Renault finalised their line-ups for the 2020 season. Mercedes confirmed Valtteri Bottas would be continuing for next year as Lewis Hamilton’s teammate, prompting Ocon to be snapped up by Renault in place of Nico Hulkenberg.
- 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 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.
- Mercedes kicked off the weekend celebrating its 125 years in motorsport by fully unveiling its revised car livery for the weekend.
- The day in Austria started with a meeting between F1, the FIA, all 10 teams, Pirelli and a number of drivers to discuss a possible change back to the 2018 tyres after a number of complaints in the early part of the team.
- The FIA-appointed stewards held a hearing for Ferrari’s request to review the penalty given to Sebastian Vettel at the Canadian Grand Prix that cost him the race win.
- One of the big talking points at Paul Ricard on Thursday was, predictably, Sebastian Vettel’s time penalty in Canada, with drivers agreeing that it was a harsh but – going by the rulebook – fair decision by the stewards.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Recapping all of the news and notes from the Albert Park paddock on Friday, here is Michael Lamonato's notebook.
For the first time this year, Crash.net brings you its daily round-up of all the news, updates and added tidbits of information from the paddock after Thursday’s media briefings ahead of the Australian Grand Prix.
With a final recap from the Yas Marina Circuit following the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Crash.net F1 Digital Editor Luke Smith brings you his paddock notebook.
Recapping all of the additional news and notes from the Yas Marina Circuit following Saturday's final practice and qualifying for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Crash.net F1 Digital Editor Luke Smith brings you his paddock notebook.
Recapping all of the additional news and notes from the Yas Marina Circuit following Friday's practice running ahead of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Crash.net F1 Digital Editor Luke Smith brings you his paddock notebook.
Recapping all of the news and notes from the Interlagos paddock on Thursday, here is our paddock notebook.
Recapping all of the news and notes following a busy Friday in Mexico, Crash.net F1 Digital Editor Luke Smith brings you his paddock notebook.
Rounding up all of the additional news and notes from the Circuit of The Americas on Saturday, Crash.net F1 Digital Editor Luke Smith brings you his paddock notebook.