F1 analysis

Max Verstappen has a habit of losing pole position in Mexico by tiny, tiny margins. In 2017, it was 0.086 seconds. In 2018, it was 0.026 seconds. And this time around, it was the result of eight words.

If you had said following his maiden Formula 1 victory that Max Verstappen would have to wait more than three years for his first pole position, you would probably have been laughed out of the room.

On a weekend where the Netflix camera crew has seemingly been more present than ever, it was perhaps fitting that the German Grand Prix encapsulated the meaning of ‘drive to survive’ in Formula 1.

As stylish as many of Lewis Hamilton’s British Grand Prix victories have been through his remarkable Formula 1 career, Sunday’s success at Silverstone is likely to be remembered more for its fortune than anything else.

Charles Leclerc’s readiness to lead Ferrari has been one of the big themes early in the 2019 Formula 1 season, with his bright start to life with the Scuderia prompting suggestions he was already better-placed than Sebastian Vettel to fight for the world title.

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.

With eight days of running at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya now in the books, Formula 1’s 2019 pre-season is officially over. Next stop: Melbourne, Australia.

The hours that followed qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix were among the most frantic of the 2018 Formula 1 season to date.

When Max Verstappen burst onto the scene in Formula 1 at the tender age of 17 back in 2015, he looked poised to tear up the record books and set new benchmarks within the sport’s history.

Twelves months ago at Suzuka, Ferrari completed its capitulation in the race for the Formula 1 championship as a retirement for Sebastian Vettel early on all but handed the drivers’ title to Lewis Hamilton.

Saturday’s qualifying session for the Russian Grand Prix is unlikely to be remembered as one of the high points of the 2018 Formula 1 season.

Qualifying for the Singapore Grand Prix proved to be one of the most exciting Saturday sessions of the season so far as, contrary to some predictions post-practice, we were treated to a three-time fight at the front of the field.

When Sebastian Vettel proudly told Ferrari over the radio they would “take the English flag and hang it in Maranello” following his British Grand Prix victory in July, few would have seen it coming back to bite him six weeks later.

When Lewis Hamilton knelt beside his stricken Mercedes following a hydraulic failure in Q1 at Hockenheim last Saturday, he was staring down the barrel of a sizeable points deficit heading into the summer break.

There are few things finer than a British sporting summer.

“The secret to winning is going as slowly as possible.”

Looking back on the Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend following another barnstormer in Baku, Crash.net F1 Editor Luke Smith puts together his driver ratings. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - 7

When it came to putting together this race analysis, I was left wracking my brain to think of a Formula 1 victory that had been as unlikely for Lewis Hamilton as his Baku success on Sunday.

“There are always reasons behind everything in life, but we don't need to talk about those.”

“Holy testicle Tuesday!”

When I filed my race report for the Formula 1 season-opening Australian Grand Prix, I used the phrase “Ferrari nails its strategy” in the headline , which resulted in a bit of push-bac

Sebastian Vettel may have obliterated the existing track record on the morning of day three of the final Formula 1 pre-season test in Barcelona, but a look at the numbers suggests Ferrari may not hold the advantage reflected in the end-of-day timesheets.

Six days down, two to go. Formula 1’s pre-season testing schedule in Barcelona is starting to wind down, yet after the freezing conditions that marred much of last week’s running, we are only just starting to see the teams and drivers stretch the legs of their new cars.

You would be forgiven for thinking that it was all doom and gloom in Formula 1 nowadays. Be it the Halo, the liveries, the amount of overtaking or the management, there is always something to cry about. If you need to find a crisis, you'll find one.