F1 2018: Lewis Hamilton wins Brazil Grand Prix

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was cruelly robbed of what looked set to be a remarkable win at Interlagos, after a dramatic collision while battling the lapped Force India of Esteban Ocon allowed Lewis Hamilton through to take the race victory, helping to secure Mercedes fifth consecutive constructor title in the process.

Verstappen was enjoying a strong Brazilian Grand Prix, and had seized the lead from Hamilton when Ocon attempted to unlap himself down the pit straight on lap 44. Both drivers refused to yield, with Ocon holding out around the outside of Turn 1 before the pair touched, sending both drivers into a spin, Hamilton gratefully nipping through between them before going on to record his 72nd career win. Verstappen was left unimpressed, as were the stewards, who duly handed Ocon as 10-second stop-go penalty.

Bad for Verstappen but great for Mercedes, who become only the second team – after Ferrari – to claim five consecutive constructors’ crowns, to add to Hamilton’s fifth drivers’ title from last time out in Mexico. In a thrilling final few laps, Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen just managed to hold onto the final podium position from a charging Daniel Ricciardo who finished fourth in the second Red Bull. Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas took fifth and Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel sixth, while Sauber’s Charles Leclerc drove a fine race to claim the best-of-the-rest prize in seventh.

We now head to the season finale at the spectacular Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi on November 23-25. With both titles now decided, this is set to be an enjoyable romp for personal glory, as the drivers – with no championship pressure to dictate their strategies – go all-out for the final race win of 2018.

F1 2018: Daniel Ricciardo wins Monaco Grand Prix

After an impeccable performance in which he brilliantly overcame being restricted to just six of his eight gears, Ricciardo crossed the line just 7.3 seconds clear of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, with Mercedes Lewis Hamilton completing the podium to retain his championship lead.

Raikkonen crossed the line fourth, ahead of Bottas with Esteban Ocon converting a strong qualifying into a 'best-of-the-rest' sixth place for Force India. Pierre Gasly threw his hat into the ring for Driver of the Day - an honor that ultimately went to Ricciardo - with a stunning drive in the Toro Rosso. The Frenchman made the hypersofts last, at a good pace, for nearly half the race, allowing him to move up to seventh. He then drove brilliantly on the supersofts to defend from Hulkenberg to maintain that position. Sainz completed the top 10.

Fernando Alonso failed to see the chequered flag for the first time this season when he pulled up at Ste Devote with smoke emanating from the rear of his car on Lap 53 of the 78. It was a miserable day for Williams, too. Sergey Sirotkin ran 12th early on but picked up a 10-second stop-go penalty for a wheel infringement on the grid, while Lance Stroll suffered two punctures, one of which was caused when he collided with Marcus Ericsson on the opening lap. They were the last classified finishers, more than a lap down.

But the day belonged to Ricciardo and Red Bull, who banished the memories of 2016, when a pit stop error cost the Australian victory here. He still hasn’t had an easy win – each of his now seven F1 triumphs have been challenging – but he won’t care. The Monaco victory is finally his. 

F1 2018: Daniel Ricciardo wins Chinese Grand Prix

A Collision, a safety car and a Red Bull gamble. Those three ingredients delivered the most exciting Grand Prix in recent memory. Sebastian Vettel Led. Then Valtteri Bottas Led. But it was Daniel Ricciardo who came out on top when it mattered.

The Australian than powered off into the distance to secure his first victory since last year’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix, with Bottas second for the second successive race. Raikkonen took third – a reward for a strong opening phase, which actually resulted in him falling back, and seemingly being hung out to dry by Ferrari as they appeared to try and use him to help bring Vettel back into play.

Verstappen crossed the line fourth, but that turned into fifth as the stewards handed him a 10-second penalty for hitting Vettel. Hamilton salvaged fourth. Nico Hulkenberg was a superb sixth for Renault, with Fernando Alonso getting his elbows out and squeezing Vettel, who was struggling with his tyres, off track in the opening sequence for seventh. Renault’s Carlos Sainz and Haas’s Kevin Magnussen completed the top 10 in a race that will live very long in the memory.

The result tightens up the drivers' championship, with Vettel's lead narrowed to nine points over Hamilton, 54 to 45, with Bottas just five back on 40 and Ricciardo - who also set the fastest lap and picked up the Driver of the Day Award - leaping up to fourth on 37. In the constructors' stakes, Mercedes now have a one-point advantage over Ferrari, 85 to 84, with Red Bull moving into a clear third place on 55.

Max Verstappen wins Mexico Grand Prix

A tense afternoon in Mexico saw Mercedes Lewis Hamilton secure a fourth drivers title and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen a crushing third Grand Prix victory. Hamilton and championship rival Sebastian Vettel came together at the start, dropping both men to the back, and though the Ferrari driver recovered to fourth, the Briton’s ninth was enough to wrap things up with two rounds to go.

Joining the fast-starting Verstappen on the podium were Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen. Behind Vettel, Esteban Ocon was fifth, split from Force India team mate by Williams’ Lance Stroll. Haas’s Kevin Magnussen, Hamilton and McLaren’s Fernando Alonso completed the top ten. Verstappen dominated the race to score a resounding win, but all eyes were inevitably on the two title protagonists after they touched on the opening lap and the story of how Hamilton recovered from last place to win his fourth world championship overshadowed the Dutchman’s greatest drive.

It all began well, with polesitter Vettel, Verstappen and Hamilton running side by side down to Turn 1 after the start. Vettel was on the inside and kept his pole advantage, but only just from Verstappen, as Bottas braked just enough on the inside to let Hamilton through from the outside line. Hamilton, meanwhile, got a very clean run at the delayed Vettel and had snatched second by the exit to Turn 3, when the German brushed his right-rear tyre, puncturing it.

On top of that, Hamilton climbed to an eventual ninth after a huge fight with Alonso, and with 333 points to Vettel’s 277, the title war was finally over no matter what happens in Brazil and Abu Dhabi. It was a bad day for most of the Renault runners: Sainz flat-spotted a tyre early on to prompt a pit stop and retired with handling issues; Nico Hulkenberg lost seventh place (having at one stage run fourth) with electrical problems; Brendon Hartley’s Toro Rosso succumbed to power loss; and Daniel Ricciardo’s Red Bull ate another turbocharger. And Marcus Ericsson, who’d had a great run in ninth place early in the race in his Ferrari-powered Sauber, fell prey to cooling troubles to become the other retirement.

Lewis Hamilton wins Japanese Grand Prix

A thrilling finish saw Mercedes Lewis Hamilton beat Red Bull’s Max Verstappen by just 1.2s to win 2017 Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix, with Daniel Ricciardo taking third. The Suzuka round was equally notable, however, for Sebastian Vettel’s second retirement in three races, thanks to a technical problem on his Ferrari.

Hamilton now has a 59-point lead over Vettel in the standings, with only four races remaining and 100 points on the table. The German’s Ferrari was being inspected on the grid, just as team mate Kimi Raikkonen’s had been in Malaysia last week, but he seemed to be okay as he chased Hamilton away at the start. But soon Verstappen passed him in the hairpin to snatch second place, and the next time around fast-starting Esteban Ocon had moved to third for Force India as Ricciardo and Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas also passed the Ferrari. Two laps later, Vettel’s troubled day was done, all thanks to a faulty spark plug.

Meanwhile, so was Carlos Sainz’s after the Spaniard lost control of his Toro Rosso in Turn 7 on the opening lap, prompting the first of three safety-car interventions. It was an unhappy ending to Sainz’s last race with the Italian team prior to switching to Renault in place of Jolyon Palmer. Hamilton and Verstappen soon resumed their battle, but gradually the Mercedes driver began to pull away. He was five seconds clear when Verstappen made his sole pit stop on the 21st lap, and Hamilton covered that next time around.

Haas also had a great day after Kevin Magnussen had forced his way by Massa’s Williams in Turn 2 on the 43rd lap; as the Brazilian ran wide, Romain Grosjean also passed him in the second Haas, to give the America team eighth and ninth places and move them a point ahead of Renault in seventh overall. It was a horrible day for the French team as Nico Hulkenberg ran in the points for a long time after starting on softs, but tumbled when he switched to supersofts and then ran into a retirement-prompting problem with the DRS mechanism on his rear wing. Team mate Palmer had an unhappy final race for the team to 12th place. Ahead of the Briton, Massa just held on for the final point by eight-tenths from the aggressive Alonso, as Pierre Gasly brought his Toro Rosso home 13th ahead of Stoffel Vandoorne’s McLaren and Pascal Wehrlein’s Sauber.

Lewis Hamilton wins Singapore Grand Prix

It was action from the off in Singapore Grand Prix – the first night race in F1 history to be run in wet conditions. With the Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen eliminated in a coming together at the start. Mercedes Lewis Hamilton came through for victory, extending his championship lead over Vetter from three to 28 points.

In a race that ran to the full two-hour limit thanks to three safety-car periods, Daniel Ricciardo made the Marina Bay podium for the fourth year in a row, as he took second place for Red Bull ahead of Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas. Carlos Sainz scored his best-ever result with fourth for Toro Rosso; Jolyon Palmer did the same as he finished sixth for Renault; and likewise Stoffel Vandoorne with seventh for McLaren. The remaining point’s places went to Force India’s Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon in fifth and tenth respectively, Williams’ Lance Stroll in eighth and Haas’s Romain Grosjean in ninth.

Vettel, Raikkonen and Verstappen have all been called to the stewards regarding their Lap-1 clash, in which the Red Bull driver appeared to get squeezed between the two red cars. Fernando Alonso made an amazing start for McLaren, briefly vaulting as high as third, but was then an innocent victim of the Turn-1 carnage, sustaining car damage that forced him to retire a few laps later.

Daniil Kvyat put his Toro Rosso into the Turn 7 wall amid tricky conditions on Lap 11, and Marcus Ericsson crashed his Sauber on the Anderson Bridge on Lap 38. The two other retirements – both with technical problems – were Nico Hulkenberg, who had at one point looked set for fourth for Renault, and Haas’s Kevin Magnussen.

Lewis Hamilton wins Belgium Grand Prix

Mercedes Lewis Hamilton took a narrow victory over Sebastian Vettel Formula 1 Pirelli Belgian Grand Prix to slash the Ferrari driver’s championship lead from 14 to 7 points. Just 2.3 separated the title rivals at the chequered flag, as Daniel Ricciardo secured an unexpected podium for Red Bull with third place at Spa Francorchamps.

Hamilton did just what he needed to in his 200th Grand Prix as he scored his 58th career success, but it was an intense nip-and-tuck battle all the way, with Vettel never more than two seconds adrift throughout the 44 laps, and sometimes a lot closer than that. Kimi Raikkonen was fourth in the second Ferrari, the Finn having been given a 10-second stop-go penalty for ignoring yellow flags when the luckless Max Verstappen retired his Red Bull with power loss on Lap 8.

Valtteri Bottas finished a disappointed fifth for Mercedes, while Nico Hulkenberg scored his third sixth place of the year for Renault, followed home by the Haas of Romain Grosjean and the Williams of Felipe Massa. Esteban Ocon survived contact with Force India team mate Sergio Perez not once but twice in two separate clashes on the run down to Eau Rouge to take the flag in ninth, with Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz completing the top ten.

Behind them, Hulkenberg easily took sixth, but a mid-race change of strategy helped Grosjean to take seventh for Haas ahead of Massa, whose Williams fended off Ocon’s damaged Force India to the flag. Sainz salvaged 10th and a point for Toro Rosso, as Williams’ Lance Stroll led Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat, Renault’s Jolyon Palmer, McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne and Sauber Marcus Ericsson home. Perez’s car was withdrawn late in the race, joining McLaren’s Fernando Alonso, Verstappen and Sauber Pascal Wehrlein on the retirement’s list.

Valtteri Bottas wins Austrian Grand Prix

Mercedes Valtteri Bottas drove a masterly race to securely victory – his second season in Austrian Grand Prix, finishing just 0.6s ahead of world championship leader Sebastian Vettel for Ferrari. Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo was third after fending off Mercedes Lewis Hamilton in the closing stages.

Kimi Raikkonen took a distant fifth in the second Ferrari, with Romain Grosjean an excellent sixth for Haas. The Force India’s of Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon were seventh and eighth, while Williams staged an impressive recovery with Felipe Massa and Lance Stroll – who started 17th and 18th respectively – completing the top ten. It was a dramatic beginning to the race. As Bottas made a getaway so good the stewards’ investigated a potential jump start, Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat braked too late into Turn 1 and ran into the fast-starting Fernando Alonso.

Much to the chagrin of Red Bull's Max Verstappen and his legion of orange-clad fans who sat watching in horror, Alonso's McLaren inadvertently collided with Verstappen, who spun. Verstappen and Alonso had sufficient damage that they were forced to retire. Kvyat continued, receiving a drive-through for his trouble. From there on, in many ways it was a rear-loaded race, with most of the action at the end. The Finn led easily from pole and dominated the first half of the race when the leaders were running Pirelli’s ultrasofts tyres – but once the switch to supersofts came it was a whole different story.

Jolyon Palmer’s best drive of the season saw him see off Renault partner Nico Hulkenberg, and just fail to beat Stroll to the final point by half a second. Stoffel Vandoorne was 12th in the other McLaren, penalized for ignoring blue flags, ahead of Hulkenberg, the Saubers of Pascal Wehrlein and Marcus Ericsson, and Kvyat. Carlos Sainz had to retire the sister Toro Rosso after falling dramatically from point’s contention early on with mechanical woes. The other retiree was Kevin Magnussen, who was hounding Palmer when he suffered hydraulic failure on his Haas. Vettel now has a 20-point lead heading into the British Grand Prix weekend, with 171 points to Hamilton’s 151, the closing Bottas on 136 and 107 for Ricciardo.

Daniel Ricciardo wins Azerbaijan Grand Prix

Red Bulls’ Daniel Ricciardo won a rollercoaster Grand Prix in Azerbaijan, as rookie Lance Stroll took his maiden podium for Williams, pipped on the line by Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas. Championship leader Sebastian Vettel beat Lewis Hamilton to fourth place, despite being penalized for dangerous driving after hitting his Mercedes rival behind the safety car.

The safety car came out first on lap 12 to clear the stricken Toro Rosso of Daniil Kvyat, allowing Bottas to unlap himself after he had collided with Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen at the start, dropping to last place with a puncture. The race restarted on lap 17 but just seconds later it was under safety car again due to debris on track. As the safety car prepared to peel off on Lap 19, Vettel ran lightly into the back of the slowing Hamilton. The Ferrari then pulled alongside and banged wheels with the Mercedes, seemingly in frustration.

Racing resumed seconds later on Lap 20, but again it was short lived. Esteban Ocon tipped Force India team mate Sergio Perez into the wall at Turn 2, bringing out the safety car once more. That quickly became a red flag as race control decided the track needed a proper clean up. Twenty five minutes later, with Perez and Raikkonen back in the race after repairs, they were running once more on Lap 24, with Ricciardo storming from sixth to third into Turn 1 on the restart. It would prove to be the move that won him the race.

The drama continued with Hamilton pitting for repairs to a loose headrest on Lap 32 – and as he did came news of a 10-second stop-go penalty for Vettel for dangerous driving. Somehow Vettel emerged from that in seventh place just ahead of his title rival, but by then the race victory had eluded both. The closing laps were about how close Vettel and Hamilton could get to the podium – and whether teenager Stroll could hold off the ever-closing Bottas. The Canadian rookie almost kept second, but couldn’t stop the Mercedes surging ahead on the line by just a tenth of a second. Four seconds ahead of them Ricciardo had already taken the flag for his fifth F1 win and his first of 2017.

Lewis Hamilton wins Canada Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton stormed to his sixth Canadian Grand Prix victory, leading home team mate Valtteri Bottas as Mercedes dominated in Montreal. Third place went to Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo after Ferrari hit trouble early on, with Sebastian Vettel battling back on fourth, his lead in the drivers’ championship cut to from 25 points to 12 points.

It was massively windy in Montreal all day, and that played havoc with the cars’ aerodynamic stability in the race. Vettel picked up front wing damage almost instantly when Max Verstappen made a blinding start from fifth on the grid to go round the outside of him into second place by Turn 1, as Bottas went for the inside to grab third. Further round the lap, exiting Turn 2, Romain Grosjean and Carlos Sainz tangled, the Haas spinning the Toro Rosso down the grass on the inside of the track until it collected the innocent Felipe Massa’s Williams in the chicane that follows. Exit two cars on the spot, as Grosjean limped back to the pits for a new nose.

Meanwhile, Ricciardo maintained fourth place ahead of Perez, Raikkonen and Ocon. Raikkonen pitted first, for supersofts on lap 17. Ricciardo went for softs on 18, and Perez for supersofts on 19. Force India kept the ultrasofts Ocon out until the 32nd lap, by which time he was running second to Hamilton. The stop dropped him back to sixth, but that became fifth when Raikkonen pitted again for ultrasofts on the 41st lap.

Outside the top ten, Renault’s Jolyon Palmer held on to 11th by a fraction from Haas’s Kevin Magnussen, who was penalized for overtaking under the virtual safety car, as the Saubers of Marcus Ericsson and Pascal Wehrlein sandwiched Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren for 13th and 15th places. The Montreal result reverses Hamilton’s misfortunes from Monaco, and indicates that Mercedes – who reclaim their lead in the constructors’ standings over Ferrari – have a handle on their tyre problems at last, keeping the mighty title fight right on the boil.

Sebastian Vettel wins Monaco Grand Prix

Sebastian Vettel beat Ferrari team mate Kimi Raikkonen to victory in Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco 2017, boosting his title advantage to 25 points over Mercedes Lewis Hamilton, who finished a distant seventh. Daniel Ricciardo completed the podium for Red Bull.

A longer first stint for Vettel enabled him to get ahead of polesitter and early leader Raikkonen as he emerged in front of the Finn following their first and only pit stops. It was Ferrari’s first win in the Principality since 2001. Ricciardo similarly made use of the ‘overcut’ to pass Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas and his less-than-impressed Red Bull team mate Max Verstappen, who duly took the chequered flag in fourth and fifth respectively. Toro Rosso were ‘best of the rest’ with Carlos Sainz in sixth, as Hamilton behind him climbed from 13th on the grid. Completing the top ten were Haas’s Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen, separated by the Williams of Felipe Massa.

The most dramatic moment of the race came on Lap 60 when an ambitious passing attempt from McLaren’s Jenson Button on Sauber Pascal Wehrlein went awry, tipping the latter’s car on to its side against the Portier barriers, its mercifully unharmed driver unable to escape his cockpit until help arrived. And as the safety car emerged, Button got as far as the chicane before suspension damage forced him to halt his one-race comeback. Raikkonen had won the start, and soon the two Ferraris cleared off, though there was a period in the middle of the race when the pursuing Bottas and the Red Bulls of Verstappen and Ricciardo were running quicker as the red cars’ tyres started sliding.

But it was Vettel stop, on the 39th lap, which put him ahead of Raikkonen, who had made his pit call five laps sooner. That settled the race in his favor, extending his championship points score to 129. For Ferrari the race marked a big step towards not only the drivers’ championship, but also the constructors, as they move back ahead of Mercedes with 196 points to 179 as they scored their first 1-2 since Germany 2010.

Lewis Hamilton wins Spanish Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton won a drama filled Formula 1 Gran Premio de Espana Pirelli 2017 on Sunday, as Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull all saw just one car make the finish at the circuit de Barcelona Catalunya. Hamilton took the flag 3.4s ahead of the title rival Sebastian Vettel, with Daniel Ricciardo a distant third.

It was Hamilton and Vettel best encounter yet this year, as each had turns leading a very tactical race before the Briton was finally able to overtake the German to score his 55th career victory and the second of the season. It moves him within six points of Vettel championship lead as they head to Monaco. An excellent afternoon for Force India saw Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon finish fourth and fifth respectively, with Nico Hulkenberg an equally impressive sixth for Renault. Carlos Sainz took seventh in his home race for Toro Rosso, while Sauber celebrated their first points of 2017 thanks to Pascal Wehrlein eighth place. Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat and Haas’s Romain Grosjean completed the top ten.

The race began with drama. Hamilton and Vettel ran side by side down to Turn 1, with the Ferrari finally getting the advantage as the Mercedes struggled with wheel spin. Behind them, Valtteri Bottas in the second Mercedes almost got past Hamilton before tucking back in behind him, but as the Finn rode up the inside kerb his car was edged into contact with fellow countryman Kimi Raikkonen, to his left.

The Ferrari was in turn nudged into Max Verstappen as he was trying to go round the outside in his Red Bull. The Ferrari and the Red Bull were immediately eliminated with suspension damage, while in another incident Williams’ Felipe Massa collided with Fernando Alonso, who had made a slow start in his seventh-placed McLaren. Both continued, but finished only 12th and 13th.

Lewis Hamilton wins Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Mercedes Nico Rosberg is the 2016 World Champion, emulating his father Nico’s achievement after a tense 2016 Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in which he finished a pig in the middle second as winning team mate Lewis Hamilton attempted to back him up as much as possible into the clutches of Ferrari Sebastian Vettel and Red Bulls Max Verstappen in an enforced but finely judged master class of race craft.

Less than two seconds covered the top four at the chequered flag as Hamilton ignored instructions from the Mercedes pit wall to up his pace in the closing laps. Daniel Ricciardo followed his Red Bull team mate home, with Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen taking sixth ahead of Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez. Williams’ Felipe Massa and McLaren’s Fernando Alonso completed the top ten.

The start saw the two Mercedes lead off the line, with Hamilton heading Rosberg, as Raikkonen passed Ricciardo for third. Things got worse for Red Bull as Verstappen, in sixth, ran out of room exiting Turn 1 and spun after making light contact with Hulkenberg. Hamilton and Rosberg moved clear until their first pit stops, respectively on the seventh and eighth laps, after which Hamilton led again but with Verstappen having risen to second ahead of Rosberg.

Hulkenberg took a fine seventh for Force India, and with team mate Sergio Perez eighth Force India easily secured their fourth position in the constructors’ stakes. But Perez only just got home ahead of the fighting Williams of Felipe Massa, who signed off on his F1 career by maintaining his record of scoring points in each Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in which he has competed, and Fernando Alonso, who took the final point for McLaren.

Lewis Hamilton wins United States Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton stylishly won his fifth United States Grand Prix, as he comfortably headed Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg all the way through and led him home by 4.5s. It was also the 50^th victory of Hamilton F1 career, putting him one behind Alain Prost for second place in all-time list, and wiped seven points off Rosberg 33-point title lead with three races to go.

Daniel Ricciardo took the final podium place for Red Bull, with team mate Max Verstappen having retired mid-race with suspected transmission issues. Sebastian Vettel finished fourth for Ferrari, whose second car also failed to make the flag as Kimi Raikkonen was the victim of a botched pit stop. Fernando Alonso was a fighting fifth for McLaren, ahead of Toro Rosso Carlos Sainz and Williams’ Felipe Massa. Force India’s Sergio Perez, McLaren’s Jenson Button and Haas’s Romain Grosjean completed the top ten.

Ricciardo kept Hamilton honest in the early laps on his softer tyres, but stopped as early as the eighth lap for softs. Curiously Mercedes brought their drivers in on their softs on the 10th (Rosberg) and 11th (Hamilton) laps. That momentarily put Vettel supersoft-shod Ferrari into the lead as he ran the longest of all of the top runners on the red-banded rubber, but when he pitted for softs on the 14th lap he fell to sixth behind Hamilton, Ricciardo, Rosberg, Verstappen and Raikkonen.

Three-stopping Kevin Magnussen had a strong battle with two-stopping Renault team mate Jolyon Palmer and eventually finished 11th on the road for Renault, ahead of Kvyat. However, that became 12th - behind Kvyat - once stewards had decided post-race that the Dane had gained an advantage in running off track when passing the Toro Rosso and handed him a 5-second time penalty. Behind 13th placed Palmer, Marcus Ericsson raised Sauber hopes of a point as he ran 11th at one stage before his final pit stop but had to settle for 14th ahead of team mate Felipe Nasr who had a pass and repass fight with Bottas at the end. Behind them, Pascal Wehrlein led home Manor team mate Esteban Ocon.

Nico Rosberg wins Japanese Grand Prix

Nico Rosberg extended his championship lead to 33 points with victory in 2016 Formula 1 Emirates Japanese Grand Prix, as Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton recovered from a nightmare start to finish third, just behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.

The result gives Mercedes an unassailable lead in the constructor’s championship effectively securing them a third straight crown. Sebastian Vettel was Ferrari lead runner on a frustrating afternoon for the Scuderia, the German taking fourth place ahead of team mate Kimi Raikkonen. Also disappointed was Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo in sixth, the Australian having started the race in front of both the Scarlet cars.

The Force India of Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg were seventh and eighth, beating rivals Williams, who saw Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas, complete the top ten, as all 22 drivers finished the race. Polesitter Nico Rosberg effectively had things won the moment Hamilton made a mistake and lagged so badly at the start that he plunged from second to eighth place.

Rosberg now has 313 points to his team mate’s 280, meaning he needs only three seconds and a third to clinch his first title over the remaining four races, even if Hamilton wins all of them. The final points went to the battling Williams drivers Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas who were separated by 0.5s at the flag and were only 0.9s ahead of Romain Grosjean Haas.

Daniel Ricciardo wins Malaysia Grand Prix

Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo held off hard charging team mate Max Verstappen to win an incident filled 2016 Formula 1 Petronas Malaysia Grand Prix, after long time leader Lewis Hamilton retired following a fiery Mercedes engine failure. In the second Mercedes Nico Rosberg came through the pack after early drama to finish third and extend his championship lead over Hamilton to 23 points.

That was despite Rosberg picking up a 10-second time penalty for a mid-race clash with Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, who finished fourth. Williams’ Valtteri Bottas took fifth ahead of the Force India’s of Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg, split by McLaren’s Fernando Alonso, who came from the back row to take seventh. Team mate Jenson Button was ninth in his 300th Grand Prix, as fellow Briton Jolyon Palmer took his first F1 point with 10th for Renault.

Ricciardo finally got his payback for his Monaco loss earlier in the year, as he came through a brutal battle with Verstappen which became one for victory after Hamilton’s Mercedes had blown up when well ahead on the 41st lap. It was the fourth win of his F1 career. Bottas executed a fine one-stop strategy for Williams in a race in which his team mate Felipe Massa started from the pit lane and finished 13th after his car stalled at the start of the formation lap.

Carlos Sainz was 11th for Toro Rosso ahead of Marcus Ericsson’s Sauber, Massa, brake-troubled Daniil Kvyat in the second Toro Rosso, and the battling Manors of Pascal Wehrlein and Esteban Ocon, the latter having picked up not one, but two five-second time penalties for speeding in the pit lane. Romain Grosjean spun into the gravel and retirement on Lap 9 after a suspected brake failure on his Haas coming into the final turn, and team mate Esteban Gutierrez looked to have similar issues when the left-front wheel flew from the Mexican’s car at speed on lap 42. Renault’s Kevin Magnussen and Sauber’s Felipe Nasr were the other non-finishers.

Nico Rosberg wins Singapore Grand Prix

A superb drive saw Nico Rosberg win 2016 Formula 1 Singapore Airlines Singapore Grand Prix after holding off a late charge from Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo by just 0.4s. With Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton finishing third. Rosberg now heads his team mate in the standings by eight points.

Kimi Raikkonen narrowly missed out on a podium for Ferrari, while team mate Sebastian Vettel – voted Driver of the Day by Fans followed him home a strong fifth after starting from the back of the grid. Max Verstappen was sixth for Red Bull, ahead of McLaren’s Fernando Alonso, with Force India’s Sergio Perez, Toro Rosso Daniil Kvyat and Renault’s Kevin Magnussen completing the top ten. It was a race book-ended by drama.

As Rosberg headed Ricciardo, Hamilton and Raikkonen into the first corner, Max Verstappen made a slow start. And as Carlos Sainz took his Toro Rosso to the right of the Red Bull, he came into contract with Nico Hulkenberg Force India which was spun across the Dutchman bows and hard into the pit wall. Rosberg easily maintained an advantage over Ricciardo, to whom Hamilton could offer no challenge as he struggled throughout with brake temperatures.

Rosberg eighth victory of the season makes him the first non-champion to win in Singapore and puts him on 273 points, to Hamilton 265. The reigning champion was 7.5s second behind Ricciardo, but crucially 2.1s ahead of Raikkonen, whose ultrasofts were fading. Fernando Alonso brought his McLaren home seventh, having at one stage run as high as fifth, as Perez just held off Kvyat by four tenths for eighth. 

Nico Rosberg wins Belgian Grand Prix

A frenetic 2016 Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix saw Mercedes Nico Rosberg take a commanding win from Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo, with the second Silver Arrow of Lewis Hamilton a fighting third, having started from the back of the grid.

Force India Nico Hulkenberg again missed out on that elusive maiden podium, finishing fourth ahead of team mate Sergio Perez and the Ferrari Sebastian Vettel, while Fernando Alonso, last on the grid was a superb seventh for McLaren. The Williams of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas were eighth and tenth respectively, split by Kimi Raikkonen who completed the top ten in the second Ferrari.

For Rosberg it looked like a stroll in the Ardennes as he scored his sixth victory of the year, the 20^th of his career. Three cars were damaged; Verstappen lost a chunk of his front wing, Raikkonen sustained a puncture and front wing damage and limped to the pits, and Vettel also had resultant problems with his front wing. The incident compromised all of their races, through events on the sixth lap threw them a lifeline.

It was on the sixth lap that Kevin Magnussen lost the back end of his Renault, which was running in eighth place on team mate Jolyon Palmer tail, as he reached the top of Eau Rouge. Race was restarted 17 minutes later, after teams had had the chance to change to whatever tyres they wanted. World Champion Hamilton now has 232 points to Rosberg 223 and Ricciardo 151.

Lewis Hamilton wins German Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton extended his championship lead to 19 points heading into the summer break with dominant victory in Germany, as team mate Nico Rosberg was beaten into fourth place by the Red Bulls of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen.

He may have lost out on pole position, but from the moment the lights went out at the start Hamilton was in complete command at Hockenheim. As polesitter Nico Rosberg was slow away, Hamilton went straight into the lead as the German also fell behind the Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo, the Dutchman going round the outside of his Team mate in Turn 1 to claim second.

Under Pressure, Rosberg clung to fourth place, just fending off the Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen. It was soon clear that this was Hamilton race to lose, but his pit stops went perfectly and he never lost the head. Hamilton now has 217 points to Rosberg 198 with Ricciardo keeping third place with 133 from Raikkonen on 122, Vettel on 120 and Verstappen on 115.

In the constructor stakes, Mercedes increase their lead with 415 points as Red Bull overtakes Ferrari 256 to 242. Williams have 96, Force India 80, Toro Rosso 45 and McLaren 42.

Lewis Hamilton wins Hungary Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton heads the driver standings for the first time this year after a controlled drive to victory in Sunday Budapest race. Hamilton has a six point advantage over Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg, who finished second at the Hungaroring, as Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo joined them on the podium.

Hamilton got the jump on polesitter Rosberg at the start and from there only lost P1 during pit stops. Red Bull were able to push the Silver Arrows in the early stages, but their challenge faded and Ricciardo came home 25 seconds off the lead, with Ferrari Sebastian Vettel right on this tail.

In the second Red Bull Ferrari battle, Max Verstappen held on to win a tense and lengthy scrap for fifth with Kimi Raikkonen, while Fernando Alonso took a worthy if distant seventh for McLaren. His team mate Jenson Button was the race sole retirement. Toro Rosso Carlos Sainz, William’s Valtteri Bottas and Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg completed the top ten to take the remaining points.

The result gives Hamilton 192 points to Rosberg 186, as Ricciardo moves to third on 115 just ahead of Raikkonen on 114, Vettel is fifth with 110, as Verstappen close up with 110. In constructor stakes, Mercedes have 378 points; Ferrari 224 and Red Bull are closing still with 223. Button was the only retirement in Hungary.