After starting behind Charles Leclerc on the Front Row in Position 2 (P2) and getting overtaken by Sebastian Vettel, Leclerc’s Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton wins his 2nd straight race in the FORMULA 1 RUSSIAN GRAND PRIX 2019 with his teammate Valtteri Bottas comes in 2nd ahead of Leclerc.

The race from the start was filled with drama, the normal Formula 1 tires drama with the Ferrari starting on the Pirelli Soft (red) compound, in Positions 1 and 3 and the Mercedes-AMG cars starting on the Medium (yellow) compound in Positions 2 and 4.  As the race started Vettel was able to overtake Hamilton before Turn 1 by taking advantage of the hole being punched in the air by Leclerc.  Vettel kept his momentum and was also able to overtake Leclerc for the lead and stayed in the lead for most of the first  half of the race.  The second piece of race long drama was that Leclerc felt that he had performed as a team player at the beginning of the race, and by doing so, gave up the lead to Vettel and that Vettel should follow team orders to reduce his pace to allow Leclerc to takeover the lead.  If team orders were given to Vettel to allow Leclerc to overtake him Vettel ignored the orders and pressed hard to stay in front.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc will start on Pole for the FORMULA 1 RUSSIAN GRAND PRIX 2019.  Lewis Hamilton for Mercedes-AMG will again split the Ferraris starting on the front row in Position 2 with Sebastian Vettel for Ferrari starting on Row 2 in Position 3.  Max Verstappen rounds out Row 2 for Red Bull in Position 4.  Row 3 will see Mercedes-AMG’s Valtteri Bottas in Position 5 and for McLaren Carlos Sainz, Jr.

2019 Russian Grand Prix: Qualifying Highlights

Charles Leclerc scored his third Pole Position in a row for Ferrari for the September 20-22 FORMULA 1 SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX 2019 at the always fun, always challenging Marina Bay Street Circuit with Lewis Hamilton for Mercedes-AMG splitting the Ferraris to start along side Leclerc in Position 2 and Sebastian Vettel in the other Ferrari starting in Position 3, Row 2.  Max Verstappen for Red Bull will also start on Row 2.  Row 3 will have Valtteri Bottas for Mercedes-AMG in Position 5 and, racing for his first time in Singapore, Red Bull‘s Alexander Albon in Position 6.  All teams ran Pirelli’s Soft (C5 red) tire compound for Qualifying Session 3 (Q3).

Statement from Sean Bratches, Managing Director of Commercial Operations at Formula 1 -more-

Charles Leclerc for Ferrari will start on his 2nd Pole in the last two races. Mercedes-AMG’s Lewis Hamilton will start on the front row next to him, with Mercedes-AMG’s Valtteri Bottas in the 2nd row, 3rd position.

If the FORMULA 1 BELGIAN GRAND PRIX 2019 had been 45 laps instead of 44 laps Lewis Hamilton/Mercedes-AMG, more than likely would have caught and overtaken Charles Leclerc/Ferrari on the last lap, but the race at Spa, Formula 1’s longest track was 44 laps and Hamilton’s late race push could not catch Leclerc.  Earlier in the race Hamilton pitted one lap after Leclerc, both putting on the Pirelli Medium compound tires.  Hamilton is famous for being able to get excellent wear out of his tires and it showed again at the Belgian Grand Prix with Leclerc’s tires wearing out near the end of the race allowing Hamilton to close, what had been, a significant gap due the degradation of the tires on the Ferrari.  Mercedes-AMG rounded out the Podium with Valtteri Bottas coming in 3rd.  Sebastian Vettel came in 4th for Ferrari.

FIRST LOOK: Formula 1’s 2021 car in the wind tunnel
21 August 2019 – Lawrence Barretto | formula1.com

Road & Track magazine for August 2019 is a Formula 1 issue, with articles on Lewis Hamilton, a tribute to Niki Lauda, Red Bull drama, the dynamics of driving a modern Formula 1 car and more. I haven’t read the articles yet, but it should be interesting, you know how Formula 1 stuff is, it’s always interesting.

In a very exciting finish, with 4 laps to go, Lewis Hamilton – Mercedes-AMG overtakes Red Bull’s Max Verstappen for the lead.  Hamilton benefiting from a Mercedes-AMG strategy to bring him in early and run him on the Medium Compound tires.  Verstappen was on the Hard Compound.  Hamilton started running faster laps and, eventually, as Verstappen’s tires got to the point where they were of no use.  Hamilton is known for being able to get the most out of his tires.  Mercedes-AMG’s tire compound gamble paid off big time, Lewis Hamilton wins the Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix 2019, this was Hamilton’s 7th time winning the Hungarian. (Final Race Results: Hungarian Grand Prix 2019; Tire Allocations: Hungarian Grand Prix 2019)

Max Verstappen becomes the 100th different driver to start from pole position in Formula 1 history for the FORMULA 1 HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX 2019.  Max’s Red Bull teammate Pierre Gasly will start in 6th position. The other cars inside of the Red Bull sandwich in the first three rows are Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton in positions 2 and 3 for Mercedes-AMG and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and teammate Sebastian Vettel in positions 4 and 5.  The Qualifying Sessions were dry, with a 60% chance of rain forecast for the race . (Starting Grid: Hungarian Grand Prix 2019; Tire Allocations: Hungarian Grand Prix 2019)