F1 News, Reports and Race Results

Hockenheim Speed Trap: who is the fastest of them all?

There's been a lot of talk about Ferrari's sudden power surge, Sebastian Vettel confirming the Scuderia's boost in speed when he outpaced Mercedes' Valtteri Botta for pole on Saturday.

However, for all the chatter - and suspicion - about Maranello's improved muscle it was still a Mercedes-powered car that clocked in with the highest top speed during qualifying.

Sergio Perez's Force India shadowed Kimi Raikkonen by 2.2 km/h show the speed trap's readings. The top ten fastest were actually equally split between Mercedes and Ferrari, Renault's Nico Hulkenberg standing 12th with a top speed of 319.2 km/h.

Same old same old at the other end of the spectrum, with McLaren still desperately lingering among the laggards.

Daniel Ricciardo's speed was impacted by his lack of running in Q3, but team mate Max Verstappen was hardly faster, giving us an indication of the RB14's downforce levels. Through Hockenheim's Stadium section however, the bulls were on rails and mighty impressive.

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Michael Delaney

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