F1 News, Reports and Race Results

Hamilton and Bottas swap chassis for French GP

Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas have undergone a Mercedes W12 chassis change for this weekend's French Grand Prix that the Finn said was "always planned".

Chassis #4, which was assigned to Bottas last time out in Baku where he finished a lowly P12, has been handed to Hamilton at Paul Ricard while the Finn will be running onboard chassis #6 which the seven-time world champion has used since the start of the season.

"It’s not a new chassis," insisted Bottas. "It’s different and it was always planned for me to change to a different chassis at this point."

The 31-year-old undergoes his third chassis change of the season, having first changed cars after his high-speed crash with George Russell in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola.

With F1's return to traditional circuits, Bottas is looking to improve on his low-key performance in Baku.

"We saw that in Monaco, for me, I managed to find the set-up and the confidence and get the tyres to work and Lewis didn’t. It almost felt like vice-versa in Baku," he said in France.

"I think our car is quite on a knife-edge on those kind of tracks.

"But I think at least the next few tracks it’s a bit more normal and hopefully we can get a reasonable set-up and and that it’s not that easy to to go into the wrong direction."

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Phillip van Osten

Motor racing was a backdrop from the outset in Phillip van Osten's life. Born in Southern California, Phillip grew up with the sights and sounds of fast cars thanks to his father, Dick van Osten, an editor and writer for Auto Speed and Sport and Motor Trend. Phillip's passion for racing grew even more when his family moved to Europe and he became acquainted with the extraordinary world of Grand Prix racing. He was an early contributor to the monthly French F1i Magazine, often providing a historic or business perspective on Formula 1's affairs. In 2012, he co-authored along with fellow journalist Pierre Van Vliet the English-language adaptation of a limited edition book devoted to the great Belgian driver Jacky Ickx. He also authored "The American Legacy in Formula 1", a book which recounts the trials and tribulations of American drivers in Grand Prix racing. Phillip is also a commentator for Belgian broadcaster Be.TV for the US Indycar series.

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