Formula 1 delivered another brilliant spectacle as Charles Leclerc claimed a monumental victory at Monza on a day of contrasting fortunes for Ferrari’s drivers.
Valtteri Bottas says having the backing of Mercedes after securing his 2020 Formula 1 future at the world champions has given him a peace of mind to attack the end of the season as he continues to target the title and taking on teammate Lewis Hamilton.
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has confirmed Valtteri Bottas will be allowed “to go flat out” against teammate Lewis Hamilton in the Formula 1 world drivers’ title battle despite the expanding points margin between the pair.
In a difficult weekend with the tragic death of Formula 2 driver Anthoine Hubert in Saturday’s feature race, F1 put on a fitting tribute with emotions still raw at Spa-Francorchamps.
Lewis Hamilton has called on Mercedes to find “some drastic improvements to our straight-line speed” in time for the Italian Grand Prix having suffered against Ferrari at Spa-Francorchamps as the reigning Formula 1 world champion had to settle for second behind Charles Leclerc in the Belgian Gran
Lewis Hamilton says Red Bull is making certain progress to close the gap in performance to Mercedes having seen Max Verstappen’s recent surge continue this season.
Valtteri Bottas says he isn’t paying attention to the “much bigger than I would like” gap in the Formula 1 world championship standings to Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton after losing further ground at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton says he is still recovering from the illness which plagued his German Grand Prix having taken the week off before the Hungarian Grand Prix to rest in his bid to return to full fitness.
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.
Alexander Albon says battling Lewis Hamilton towards the end of the German Grand Prix cost him an even stronger result as he lost out during the final pit stops on the drying Hockenheim circuit.
Charles Leclerc has held his hands up for crashing out of the German Grand Prix while criticising the drag strip tarmac used as run-off around the final two corners where he slipped off in wet conditions.
Lewis Hamilton is keeping one eye on the weather ahead of the German Grand Prix as he expects the strong possibility of rain or hot conditions to become Mercedes’ biggest worry while fighting for victory.
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff believes Valtteri Bottas can take pride from his qualifying performances compared to teammate Lewis Hamilton but feels with his race craft he’s still “getting there”.
Valtteri Bottas has hailed the progress gained from Mercedes’ cooling upgrades and feels the team “would have struggled massively today” without it in the hot conditions ahead of the German Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton believes his domination at the start of the 2019 Formula 1 world championship is an unlikely occurrence but does concede it is his strongest opening half to a campaign he’s ever produced.
Lewis Hamilton concedes “a much bigger design issue” will hamper Mercedes in its bid to fix its overheating issues which he fears could reappear at the German Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton feels the Formula 1 drivers are united on their demands from the 2021 rules shake-up and says the technical rules must be designed to encourage closer racing rather than making the cars harder to drive in order to improve the sport.
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff believes Valtteri Bottas has made significant improvements to his performances this season as he remains tight-lipped on the team’s 2020 driver plans.