Ferrari dominate again as Sebastian Vettel takes pole position for Chinese GP
Formula 1 | April 14, 2018 16:26 ISTBoth Ferrari cars were 0.5 seconds faster in qualifying than either Mercedes, a huge gap in F1.
Both Ferrari cars were 0.5 seconds faster in qualifying than either Mercedes, a huge gap in F1.
Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen was the second quickest in both sessions, and in the afternoon he was only 0.007 behind Hamilton.
On a bright, clear day, defending world champion Lewis Hamilton completed the 5.303-km Albert Park circuit in 1 minute, 24.026 seconds.
Hamilton and Vettel have something else to vie for this year — a chance to pull even with former Argentine driver Juan Manuel Fangio for second place on the all-time championship list.
After winning three races last year — the first ones since he started in 2013 — Bottas is keen to challenge Hamilton all the way.
Vettel had the fastest time in the morning session with a lap of 1 minute, 20.396 seconds, two tenths faster than Valtteri Bottas of Mercedes.
The Finish driver further said that he is not going to hold on his weaknesses and would rather concentrate on spending his energy and focus on performing well on track.
The Finn's lap of 1 minute, 20.270 seconds was followed by Stoffel Vandoorne in his McLaren and Sebastian Vettel, who was getting his first drive behind the new Ferrari.
Bottas said 'grid girls' have been a part of the motorsport for quite a long time now, and the idea of introducing children in the F1 would be a great idea for the sport.
Describing Bottas as an "amazing" teammate, Hamilton backed the former to put up a more sustained challenge next season.
The Finnish driver comfortably secured the third win of his F1 career, all coming this season since joining from Williams.
The Briton raced to the top of the leaderboard late in the sun-drenched afternoon session, placing 0.273 seconds ahead of Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas.
Hamilton, who won his fourth F1 championship in the Mexico GP, walked away from the crash without injury and will start at the back of the grid on Sunday.
With five races remaining in the season, Lewis Hamilton leads Sebastian Vettel by 34 points in the drivers' championship.
Bottas is lagging just 41 points behind leader Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari and 34 points behind his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton.
Although Hamilton has won four of 11 races this season so far, and Bottas has won two, Mercedes is experiencing more problems than before.
Kimi Raikkonen finishes in the second spot followed by Mercedes Valtteri Bottas in third and Lewis Hamilton in the fourth spot .
The four-time F1 champion clocked a best lap of 1 minute, 16.276 seconds, while Raikkonen was .168 behind in front of a large contingent of flag-waving Finnish fans.
Vettel leads the championship by just one point over Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, who struggled with oversteering and could only manage the fifth-best time.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen was fourth, followed by Hamilton's teammate Valtteri Bottas and Raikkonen's teammate Sebastian Vettel.
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