Valtteri Bottas News

Hamilton trails Red Bull rival Max Verstappen by 19 points Hamilton took a 10-place grid penalty for a new engine in Turkey

With the win, Hamilton has now taken an unassailable lead iver his Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas in the drivers' championship standings with  two races in Bahrain and Abu Dhabi.

Bottas, quickest in both Friday`s sessions at the Algarve circuit near the southern city of Portimao, lapped with a best effort of one minute 16.654 seconds. Six-time world champion Lewis Hamilton was 0.026 slower than his Mercedes teammate Bottas on a sunny but cool morning during . Red Bull`s Max Verstappen was third fastest, 0.158 off the pace, with AlphaTauri`s Pierre Gasly -- whose car caught fire on Friday -- fourth on the timesheets.

The Briton, heading for a seventh title and set to become the sport`s most successful driver of all time after his Eifel Grand Prix victory at the Nuerburgring, said his achievement would take time to sink in.

Valtteri Bottas defeated his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton for the pole position at Eifel Grand Prix on Saturday (Oct 10). Bottas, thus earned his third pole of 2020 after a pacy last lap saw him topple teammate Lewis Hamilton for the pole position. Hamilton still has the chance of equaling the great Michael Schumacher's record of 91 career wins on Sunday (Oct 11).

Lewis Hamilton took pole with his Mercedes team mate Valtteri Bottas left ruing yellow flags that gives him a second place start ahead of the Tuscan Grand Prix. Red Bull's Max Verstappen was third and his team mate Alex Albon was nearly 0.5 seconds clear of him at fifth. Charles LeClerc ensured that Ferrari have a car in the top five of the grid on their historic 1000th Formula 1 race.

Lewis Hamilton finished ahead of his Mercedes team mate Valtteri Bottas and Red Bull's Max Verstappen at Belgian Grand Prix. Verstappen, meanwhile, has maintained his record of finishing on the podium at every race he's been classified in this year. Ferrari's struggles continued with both Sebastian Vettel and Charles LeClerc finishing outside of the top 10 and thus gaining no points.

Valtteri Bottas lapped the seven km Spa-Francorchamps track in one minute 44.493 seconds, beating Hamilton by just 0.069 seconds. Hamilton, winner of four of this season`s six races and currently in the form of his life, leads the overall standings by 37 points from Max Verstappen. Bottas, who won the season-opening Austrian Grand Prix in July, is third 43 points behind his team mate Hamilton in overall standings.

Hamilton's best time in FP2 was 1:16.883 with track temperatures around 10 degrees higher than the conditions during FP1 The German driver's time was 0.098s slower than Bottas' session-leading time from earlier in the day Red Bull's Max Verstappen was third, as he was earlier in the day, 0.821s adrift of Hamilton

Bottas clocked a best time of one minute 16.785 seconds at the Circuit de Catalunya Hamilton was 0.039 slower than Bottas, with Red Bull`s Max Verstappen finishing third fastest Hamilton, who won the last three Spanish GP, is going for his fourth win in six races this season on Sunday

Super stand-in Nico Hulkenberg qualified his Racing Point an eye-opening third as a replacement for absent Mexican Sergio Perez, in quarantine after testing positive for COVID-19.

Bottas, who had been fastest in the day`s first session as drivers got to grips with Pirelli`s softer tyres, was 0.176 seconds slower than Hamilton.

Hamilton started off as the faster of the two Mercedes drivers but Bottas, lapping on the C4 soft tyres which Pirelli have brought in for this weekend, beat him on his second flying lap.

Hamilton is out of contract at the end of the year but looking sure to stay at dominant champions Mercedes, with no other available seat as competitive.

Bottas was initially drafted in Mercedes set-up following a shocking retirement of Nico Rosberg at the end of 2016.

Hamilton, who will be chasing a record seventh win at Silverstone on Sunday, was joined on the front row by Finnish team mate Valtteri Bottas with Red Bull`s Max Verstappen qualifying third.

Bottas, five points behind Hamilton after three races, put in a fastest time of one minute 25.873 seconds in the final practice session. 

Hamilton will look to equal Ferrari great Michael Schumacher`s all-time F1 record of eight Hungarian Grand Prix titles when he heads into the race on Sunday.

The race, on a sunny afternoon at the scenic Red Bull Ring, was held in front of empty grandstands and no fans for the first time due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Four-times champion Sebastian Vettel failed to reach the top 10 shootouts, starting 11th, while Charles Leclerc qualified seventh after taking pole last year.