Your basket is currently empty!
Category: Column: High Octane
-
F1 gets its mojo back… No, it’s not about Verstappen winning again! Samtani on British GP
HIGH OCTANE
–– By Harish SamtaniSilverstone (UK) 10 July 2023: What on earth happened here?!! Well, two things. One very predictable aspect was in the form of seeing Max Verstappen on the top step. The other that has rocked the F1 stage like none other is the resurgence of the iconic McLaren that was all but consigned to the dustbin of F1 folklore. And, maybe, an important Number 3. Two British drivers on the podium! Just when we thought that the sun had finally set on the British Empire with Hamilton seemingly struggling with his form.
It’s good! No. Wait. It’s great! There is finally a hum of activity as F1 gets its mojo back. We were annoyed and tired with the foregone results, thus far in 2023. Whilst it would take nothing short of a miracle or a tragedy, heaven forbid, to knock Verstappen off the perch, the very idea that 2024 maybe the renaissance of motor-racing is truly exciting for petrol heads across all ages, and nationalities.
I was one of the doubters about Max’s abilities but grudgingly have to admit that regardless of how many world titles he wins he will be remembered as a great. No flukes, no superior engineering and that silly lady called ‘Luck’ can bring about his uncanny ability to win or pole vault like he has done in the very recent past. Whilst he was prone to errors early in his career, he seems to have tripped and fallen into a vat of wisdom of late! Does lineage matter? His dad Jos Verstappen was a talent as well in his heydays. Perhaps, the Apple didn’t fall far from the tree after all. Red Bull Honda may have contributed largely to his success with a reliable and quick car, the fact that Sergio Chico Perez – no slouch by any means – is struggling to make ends meet. Victim of circumstances is he? Nah! Max has become the driver people love to hate but I suspect I see the middle finger sticking out of his driving glove!
The era may not be conducive anymore for him to pull off seven titles such as Hamilton has achieved due to ever-changing tech regulations etc., but his astounding and clinical performances and the ensuing demolition of the fabled Ferraris and Mercedes, who meanwhile must be winging with the fact that it’s a Honda powered weapon that is giving them the blushes!
While it is early days to welcome the two young boy wonders into the big league, for the 23-year young Lando Norris and the 22-year Aussie Oscar Piastri this result buoys them immensely for sure. The result in Silverstone may even be a one-hit wonder for McLaren but the gauntlet has been thrown and the other teams have to perform or perish before they become innocent victims in the crossfire. Back to the drawing board it is.
Welcome back to the real F1 as we knew it over a decade ago. After Max led the charge of the young brigade in a Honda-powered car, and with McLaren refusing to say die, is it ‘out with the old, in with the new’ time? Only time will tell!
-
Embarrassing for Iconic Ferrari, Merc to be belittled by Honda: Samtani surveys
By Harish Samtani
Formula 1 Column Barcelone, 4 June 2023: Isn’t it becoming embarrassing for the iconic Ferrari and Mercedes to be belittled regularly by Honda, a family car?
And headlines such as, ‘Red Bull or Max (Verstappen) wins again’ are certainly a cover-up job. Honda has brought it upon itself, to earn this by firmly deciding to quit F1, as it didn’t suit their DNA but yet supports Red Bull through the back door! Apparently they are looking for an engine partner even now. Why fix it, if it ain’t broke right?
Meanwhile, this iconic circuit purpose-built in 1991 is a venue not just for the popular event that can house 1.4 lakh (140000) spectators, most of them the ever-green passionate fans but is the go-to for pre-testing and also the iconic MotoGP. The Circuit de Catalunya which is located 30Km from Barca, is busy all year round… it is designed to be a multi-purpose commercial venue.
If one doesn’t have a VIP or Media access, it can be a torturous journey back and forth since it is not supported by a major highway system and long jams are a common sight! But honestly this is not an exception but almost the rule leading to most European circuits. Even if one were to use the efficient train system it would entail an hour’s walk to get there eventually!
The Spaniards were obviously rooting for their local boys Alonso and Sainz to give them reason to cheer but if qualifying was anything to go by the wrecker-in-chief Max Verstappen was certainly in no mood to oblige.
His arrogance may not win him too many fans but his sheer winning numbers and domination portray a rapidly-maturing driver on his way to making history. He’s a long way away to achieve Sir Hamilton’s record of Seven world championships but then we have to give this 25-year old, time. But will he have the patience is the moot question?
Let me not digress from the event itself. Hamilton found himself in the early part of the race in a position that he has been familiar with. The Top-3. Perez is having his frustrations increase by having to claw his way-up to make himself heard but his team mate is happily distancing himself, in leaps and bounds, not only in this GP but also in the overall points. Finishing behind the two Mercs today wouldn’t have helped his mood much either!
While the race at Catalunya wasn’t a nail-biting, action-packed one, the redeeming factor was the resurgence of Mercedes with both their drivers making the podium! That must have brought some relief to Toto Wolff the head honcho at the German outfit.
Am sure he knows that there is much work to be done considering the 24-sec gap at the finish line. And it will remain a mystery if Max had more, available under his belt to ward off any late challenge from Lewis.
In all a fun event for spectators and Red Bull fans who heaved a sigh of relief when the rain in Spain stayed away and didn’t dampen their party! (Fernando) Alonso and (Carlos) Sainz didn’t have any answers to the onslaught and it could be an uphill task for the 41-year-old Alonso to consistently stay in the top-3 going forward, now that other actors are coming into play.
-
Between NASCAR, Indy500 and F1, America is wetting its whistle: Harish Samtani explores
By Harish Samtani
Miami (USA), 10 May 2023: America, a land of NASCAR and Indy 500 is wetting its whistle in a technically complicated form of racing known as Formula 1 in the rest of the world.
Same yet different!
Technically F1 is as similar to the open-wheel racing in USA as chalk is to cheese!
With two engine makers as backbones of the event, there are 2-gear shifts.
All turning left and it’s minus 5G forces (or thereabouts) stressing neck muscles, the Indy 500 has a unique type of driver.
But the adoration levels are sky high here! F1 drivers have a limited fan following in comparison for sure.
Currently, matters are made worse for F1 since there are no characters left. Only one worth mentioning is Fernando Alonso. His stock in USA soared with the unfounded rumour that he is dating Taylor Swift an icon and that too with more wealth and fame than all f1 drivers combined.
Former Indian racing and rally legend Harish Samtani, a columnist now, at the Miami Grand Prix on Sunday. INDIAinF1 image She sings while F1 drivers are constantly facing the music!
Meanwhile, Red Bull should be commended for the vice like grip it’s taken on the championship but f1 fans call it plain boring.
That’s rather unfair since they have gotten to where are with a lot of hard work and relentless effort.
People have forgotten the times when Lewis Hamilton brought F1 to its knees with his ruthless command of the sport. Unfair and brutal racism ensued as a result. It’s obvious that F1 is a Caucasian sport from the obvious lack of coloured personnel in the pit garages.
This aspect needs to be addressed for sure. Can a successful Mexican driver be deemed as non-Caucasian? I don’t know – you tell me. With the FOM increasing its commercial footprint to non-European and American countries something has to give.
And soon. Making it inclusive is the need of the hour. That would actually help it gain a momentum and a larger fan base. This isn’t rocket science! F1 venues in Europe will have to find ways to make it a family friendly affair and not just for the petrol-heads. That era has passed. Let’s make it fun, competitive and inclusive.
A lack of any one of the 3 would make it struggle. F1 has all the other ingredients to power it ahead to a bright future, for the next decade ahead at least! Technology is going thru a sea change and once we are driven by electric eventually one wonders what lies ahead. For now let’s just deal with its current ‘problems!
-
Max Verstappen suffers second retirement in three races: F1 race analysis
By Malhaar Khaladkar
Charles Leclerc took his and Ferrari’s second victory of the season as Red Bull’s Sergio Perez finished P2 after his teammate Max Verstappen retired midway through the race, second such retirement in three races. Mercedes new boy George Russell achieved his first podium for the German team by finishing P3.
New Delhi, 12th April 2022: Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen shared the front row again after the Bahrain grand prix with Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez as the rear gunner for the Dutchman. After an absence of two seasons, the Australian grand prix got underway with everyone getting away fairly cleanly.
Both Mercedes gained positions as Lewis Hamilton dove down inside of Perez to run in P3. Meanwhile, teammate George Russell went past Lando Norris’ McLaren. Sainz who had had a lowly qualifying on Saturday, starting the race in P9, chose the hard tyres whereas the majority of the grid went with medium tyres. The Spaniard suffered a slow start, dropping to P14 by lap 2. On lap 2, he tried to get past Zhou Guanyu at the fast turn 9 chicane. As a result he went off track, spun and beached his car into the gravel, marking his first retirement of the season. A safety car was called out.
As the safety car was called in on lap 7, Perez was right on the gearbox of Hamilton. By Lap 10, using the Red Bull’s superior pace he the Mexican was able to get past the 7-time world champion to run in P3. Behind, Russell was running in P5 followed by Norris and teammate Daniel Ricciardo in P6 and P7 respectively.
Both Red Bull cars struggled on the mediums with tyre graining as Verstappen fell away from Leclerc and Hamilton closed up, almost within a second of Perez. Verstappen was called into the pits for hard tyres on lap 18 with Perez doing the same on lap 20. Leclerc and Hamilton pitted on lap 22, for hard tyres as well. While Leclerc emerged in a comfortable lead, Hamilton emerged just under a second ahead of Perez on colder tyres. Perez made full use of the situation in getting past Hamilton for the second time.
The situation could not have been worse for Hamilton as a safety car was called out just after Perez went past, this time due to Sebastian Vettel spinning his Aston Martin into a barrier. This allowed Russell to pit under the safety car and emerge in P3, ahead of Perez and Hamilton.
The racing resumed on lap 27 with everyone on hard tyres, drivers like Fernando Alonso, Kevin Magnussen and Alex Albon were yet to pit, running in the top 10. Leclerc had a shaky start as Verstappen drew alongside but the Ferrari driver managed to hold on in the lead. Meanwhile, Perez attempted to get past Russell for P3 which he succeeded on lap 36. Russell tried to defend but had no answer for the Red Bull’s pace. Ahead Leclerc was leading by 5s over Verstappen with both of them trading fastest laps in the process.
Gremlins struck Verstappen as he pulled over on lap 39 with smoke billowing from his RB18. This was his second DNF in three races and his championship hopes took a deeper dent. This allowed Leclerc to cruise to victory and take home an additional point for the fastest lap.
Leclerc won his second race of the season as Perez gave achieved another podium for Red Bull while Russell bagged his first podium for Mercedes in P3. Hamilton was unfortunate with the timing of the safety car so had to settle for P4. McLaren duo of Norris and Ricciardo finished in P5 and P6 respectively. Alpine’s Esteban Ocon finished in P7 ahead of Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas in P8 and AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly in P9. Alex Albon put in a mammoth 57 lap (out of 58 laps) stint on the hard tyresto get first point of the season for Williams.
Rookie Zhou Guanyu just missed out on points ahead of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll in P12, who finished in points position but lost it due to a 5-second time penalty given to him for weaving on the straights. Both Haas cars finished out of the points, Mick Schumacher in P13 and Magnussen in P14. Yuki Tsunoda could only manage P15 for AlphaTauri, with Williams’ Nicholas Latifi finishing in P16. Alonso was the last of the finishers in P17. Verstappen, Vettel and Sainz were the three cars unable to finish the race.
Ferrari looked dominant in Australia, especially when it came to race pace. Even though they suffered more porpoising compared to the first two rounds, Red Bull could not match their pace. Had Sainz not had the problems suffered in qualifying he might have been second behind Leclerc in the world championship. Red Bull lacked pace, even to the Mercedes at certain points in the race. Majority of the blame lies with the set-up direction they chose. They opted to protect rear tyres compared to the front. As a result the front tyres suffered graining and the car lacked overall pace. Compounded with Verstappen’s DNF they have a steep mountain to climb if they want to be back in the championship battle. Mercedes struggled in qualifying but made a positive improvement in race pace. They were outqualified by McLaren and should have been by Alpine as well had Alonso not crashed in Q3. Race pace wise it was positive as once tyres phased in they had similar pace to the Red Bull cars.
McLaren had their best race weekend of the season so far, finishing best of the rest and entering Q3 with both cars. For the first time it looked McLaren had made progress with their car. Though, both drivers admitted that their car is “very track dependent” so repeat of such performances will be difficult. Alpine had a weekend of ‘what ifs’. Alonso had a great Q3 lap, almost challenging pole position before hydraulics failure resulted in a crash. According to the Spaniard Alpine were faster than Mercedes on race pace too, but safety cars ruined the strategy. They had a silver lining as Ocon managed to finish P7. Alfa Romeo showed impressive race pace once again as Bottas managed P8 while teammate Zhou just finished on the cusp of points. AlphaTauri managed to score points with Gasly but lacked the pace to match the Alpine and McLaren cars, with both cars unable to make it to Q3.
Williams did not have the qualifying or the race pace to challenge for points, but Albon managed to pull off a crazy strategy which resulted in P10. Haas struggled to covert their early season form into pace in Australia. They struggled for both qualifying and race pace. The team blamed it more on their setup issue rather than a natural pace deficit. It remains to be seen if they will recover back to form in Imola. Aston Martin had a dismal weekend with their cars crashing four times and achieving no points. Their car has balance issues which is making it difficult for them to extract the pace.
Saturday Qualifying results were:
P1: Charles Leclerc- 16 (Ferrari) P2: Max Verstappen- 1 (Red Bull) P3: Sergio Perez- 11 (Red Bull) P4: Lando Norris- 4 (McLaren) P5: Lewis Hamilton- 44 (Mercedes) P6: George Russell- 63 (Mercedes) P7: Daniel Ricciardo- 3 (McLaren) P8: Esteban Ocon- 31 (Alpine) P9: Carlos Sainz- 55 (Ferrari) P10: Fernando Alonso- 14 (Alpine) P11: Pierre Gasly- 10 (AlphaTauri) P12: Valtteri Bottas- 77 (Alfa Romeo) P13: Yuki Tsunoda- 22 (AlphaTauri) P14: Zhou Guanyu- 24 (Alfa Romeo) P15: Mick Schumacher- 47 (Haas) P16: Alex Albon- 23 (Williams) P17: Kevin Magnussen- 20 (Haas) P18: Sebastian Vettel- 5 (Aston Martin) P19: Nicholas Latifi- 6 (Williams) P20: Lance Stroll- 18 (Aston Martin) Note – Albon penalised three grid places for causing a collision at the previous round; disqualified from qualifying for a fuel infringement – races at stewards’ discretion. Stroll penalised three grid places for causing a collision during qualifying; failed to set a time within the Q1 107% requirement – races at stewards’ discretion.
-
Perez gets maiden career pole but Verstappen turns tables on Sunday
Max Verstappen took his first victory of the season after an intense battel with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc as Red Bull scored points for the first time in 2022. Carlos Sainz finished third, giving Ferrari a double podium for the second consecutive race while Polesitter Sergio Perez had to settle for P4.
By Malhaar Khaladkar
New Delhi, 28 March 2022: Sergio Perez outqualified his decorated teammate Max Verstappen only the second time in his Red Bull career, as the world champion had to settle for P4 on Saturday. Perez had his hands full with the two Ferrari’s close behind. Another shock on Saturday came from the 7-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, who exited in Q1 for the first time since 2017, that too on pure pace.
As the lights went out, the top 2, Perez and Leclerc maintained position. Meanwhile, Verstappen sneaked past Sainz for P3 on lap 1. Behind, Mercedes’ George Russell got past Esteban Ocon to run in P5 by lap 3 and teammate Hamilton recovered to P10 by lap 15.Laps 5-7 saw an enticing battle between Alpine teammates Ocon and Fernando Alonso for P6. With Ocon later being instructed by the team to hold position on Alonso.
Sainz in P4 dropped back from the top three cars. The gap between Perez and Leclerc hovered around 3s as the pitstop window opened on around lap 13. Top 5 cars were on medium tyres. With there being a significant advantage of undercut, Ferrari called Leclerc saying, “box to overtake”. Essentially meaning whatever Perez does, do the opposite. Red Bull acted on this, to avoid getting undercut and pitted Perez on lap 15 for hard tyres. Lady luck was not on Perez’s side as Williams’ Nicholas Latifi crashed in the final corner, bringing out a virtual safety car and then the full safety car. With the race neutralised everyone took advantage and pitted bar Kevin Magnussen, Hamilton and Nico Hulkenberg who started on the hard tyres.
Oracle Red Bull drier Max Verstappen of the Netherlands celebrates after winning the F1 Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia at the Jeddah Corniche Street Circuit on March 27, 2022 Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images for Red Bull Content Pool Naturally Perez lost out to Leclerc and Verstappen who emerged in P1 and P2 respectively. While the Mexican did momentarily overtake Sainz, he had to give back the position at the restart as the Ferrari was ahead on the safety car line 1 while exiting form the pits. Safety car came in on lap 21 as racing got underway.
By lap 25 Hamilton passed Magnussen for P6, both running on hard tyres still yet to make a pitstop. At the front Leclerc managed to keep Verstappen out of DRS range as the Ferrari was faster in sector 1 with all the high-speed corners while Red Bull used its straight-line speed advantage in sectors 2 and 3.
Alonso in P7 reported loss of power as his car slowed down on lap 35. As Alonso slowed down, so did McLaren’s Ricciardo as he halted on the pit lane entrance. A VSC was deployed as Magnussen and Hulkenberg pitted to change their hard tyres and onto the mediums. Hamilton running in P6, just missed the pitlane and after it was closed for 3 laps to clear the cars halted on the pit entrance. Hamilton finally pitted on lap 40 for medium tyres and emerged in P12.
The VSC ended on lap 41, with Verstappen closing the gap within a 1s to Leclerc as the Dutchman’s tyres were up to temperature. At the end of lap 41 Verstappen got past Leclerc before the final corner. Leclerc employing the same technique he did in Bahrain of letting Verstappen through then overtaking him on the next straight. On lap 43 both locked up going into the final corner vying for DRS onto the start finish straight. Leclerc was still able to maintain the lead.
Verstappen continued his hunt for the lead as he closed up to Leclerc at the end of lap 46. Using DRS he overtook the Monegasque into turn 1. Leclerc did not lose touch as he was still within 1s of Verstappen, but the Red Bull was able to keep in front owing to better straight line speed.
At the chequered flag Verstappen took his first victory of the season finishing just 0.549s ahead of Leclerc. Sainz achieved another podium with Perez finishing in P4. Mercedes’ Russell maximised his race by finishing in P5, ahead of Alpine’s Ocon who beat McLaren’s Lando Norris by 0.107s at the finish line. P8 was Pierre Gasly for AlphaTauri and P9 was Magnussen for Haas. Hamilton could only finish P10 as safety car ruined his race strategy.
Zhou Guanyu finished in P11 for Alfa Romeo ahead of the Aston Martin duo of Nico Hulkenberg and Lance Stroll in P12 and P13 respectively. Retirees from the race were Williams duo Alex Albon and Latifi, Valtteri Bottas of Alfa Romeo and Alonso and Ricciardo. Yuki Tsunoda was unable to start his race due to an electrical issue with his AlphaTauri while Mick Schumacher’s car was not built by Haas after suffering a heavy crash in Saturday qualifying.
Red Bull and Ferrari were closely matched on both race and qualifying pace. Both exhibited their advantage in different areas, Red bull were faster in the speed traps while Ferrari gained their time in the corners. Red Bull are still on the backfoot with their double DNF in the first round, but this championship has a long way to go. Mercedes were again third best, in no man’s land as described by Toto Wolff. Hamilton’s set up tweak meant the car became undrivable in qualifying, hence, the Britain’s exit in Q1. Russell maximised their performance in P5, while Mercedes still believes that porpoising is 99% responsible for their problems.
Alpine showcased good pace as they headed the midfield in qualifying and the race. Reliability issues hampered them from achieving a double points finish. Alfa Romeo had question marks over how their car would perform in high speed corners and Jeddah gave encouraging answers. Bottas qualified in the top 10 and was running in the same before having to retire the car. Haas struggled compared to Bahrain but still showed positive signs with Q3 appearance and points in the race. They went into the race on a backfoot as Schumacher crashed his car on Saturday hence, not starting the race on Sunday.
McLaren had an encouraging race weekend after having a dismal time in Bahrain. Although they were unable to make it to Q2, Norris finished P7 and possible they could have had a double points finish had it not for Ricciardo’s retirement from the race. The McLaren car lacks downforce compared to rivals but that weakness was not evident at a low-drag high speed circuit like Jeddah. It remains to be seen how they perform over the coming races. AlphaTauri were on a similar footing to Haas as one car made it to Q3 and points finish. Though the team admitted they need to fix their reliability issues if they want to maximise their results. They have had two retirements in two races now. Aston Martin struggled with porpoising and Williams struggled with balance issues throughout the weekend as both drivers struggled to get the car in its optimum window.
Saturday Qualifying Results were:
P1: Sergio Perez- 11 (Red Bull) P2: Charles Leclerc- 16 (Ferrari) P3: Carlos Sainz- 55 (Ferrari) P4: Max Verstappen- 1 (Red Bull) P5: Esteban Ocon- 31 (Alpine) P6: George Russell- 63 (Mercedes) P7: Fernando Alonso- 14 (Alpine) P8: Valtteri Bottas- 77 (Alfa Romeo) P9: Pierre Gasly- 10 (AlphaTauri) P10: Kevin Magnussen- 20 (Haas) P11: Lando Norris- 4 (McLaren) P12: Daniel Ricciardo- 3 (McLaren) P13: Zhou Guanyu- 24 (Alfa Romeo) P14 Mick Schumacher- 47 (Haas) P15: Lance Stroll- 18 (Aston Martin) P16: Lewis Hamilton- 44 (Mercedes) P17: Alex Albon- 23 (Williams) P18: Nico Hulkenberg- 27 (Aston Martin) P19: Nicholas Latifi- 6 (Williams) P20: Yuki Tsunoda- 22 (AlphaTauri) Note – Ricciardo penalised 3 grid places for impeding another car during qualifying. Tsunoda failed to set a time within the Q1 107% requirement – races at stewards’ discretion. Schumacher withdrawn from the race following a qualifying accident.
-
Leclerc ends Ferrari’s 45-race winless run:
Charles Leclerc ended Ferrari’s 45 race winless run by winning the opening race of the new era regulations as Carlos Sainz completed a Ferrari one-two. Red Bull suffered a double DNF gifting Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton the final podium spot.
By Malhaar Khaladkar
London, 21 March 2022: A complete overhaul of regulations, new drivers and promise of closer racing meant this was a hotly-anticipated season opener in recent history. Pole position for Ferrari on Saturday was claimed by Charles Leclerc on reigning world champion Max Verstappen, as both lined up on the front row. Excitement was at its highest as Ferrari had seemingly moved to the front of the grid with world champions Mercedes slipping back.
The race got off to a clean start as Leclerc and Verstappen maintained their positions. Carlos Sainz stayed in P3 as Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton made up a position to run in P4. Red Bull’s second driver Sergio Perez slipped from P4 to P6. Between the two ran F1 returnee Kevin Magnussen in the Haas. Valtteri Bottas, who had qualified in P6 for his new team Alfa Romeo had a bad getaway and fell to P14 by end of lap 1.
Hamilton was chasing Sainz’s Ferrari as Perez remained behind the two. Hamilton lost DRS as Sainz pulled away due to the Ferrari F1-75 naturally being faster than the Mercedes W13. On lap 9, Perez passed the Briton as Hamilton was defenceless against the faster Red Bull. Meanwhile, teammate George Russell had slotted into P6.
Hamilton was the first to pit out of anyone, seemingly tyre degradation on the new 18-inch Pirelli tyres was higher than anticipated. Mercedes chose the hard tyres for the 7-time Formula 1 world champion. Of the leaders, Verstappen pitted first hoping to undercut, putting on another set of soft tyres on lap 14. Ferrari responded duly on the next lap by bringing in Leclerc for soft tyres, mirroring the reigning world champion. As Leclerc emerged out of the pit lane his lead was slashed from 3.5s to 0.3s, Verstappen right on his heels.
Verstappen made a move on Leclerc on lap 17, using DRS to slingshot past in turn 1, only for the Ferrari driver to return the favour by using DRS at turn 4. Exactly same scenario took place on lap 18 as well. On lap 19 Verstappen again dived down the inside of Leclerc at turn 1, this time locking up his front wheels and going deep. The Monegasque passing him again, this time way before they reached turn 4. Verstappen backed off as he tried to cool his brakes and tyres.Hamilton pitted again as the hard tyres were too slow, this time choosing mediums and emerging in a net P5. Russell seemed to mirror new teammate Hamilton’s strategy.
Verstappen made his second pitstop on lap 30, going for the medium tyres. Leclerc once again responded on the next lap y doing the same, this time though emerging with a comfortable lead with Verstappen out of the crucial 1s window. Meanwhile both Sainz and Perez pitted on lap 33 to run P3 and P4 respectively. Sainz and Perez pitted for the third time on lap 43 for soft tyres to make it to the end of the race. With nothing to lose and a large gap to the cars behind, Verstappen pitted too on lap 43 for soft tyres. The Mercedes cars responding as well, with Hamilton pitting on lap 44 and Russell on lap 45, both for soft tyres. Leclerc was left with a choice to make, with a large enough gap to Verstappen to pit and emerge in the lead or go to the end of the grand prix.
Leclerc had his answer on lap 46, as Pierre Gasly’s AlphaTauri spat flames from the back of the car making him the first retiree of the season. A Honda sourced Red Bull powertrain engine having issues was bad omen for the rest of the race. Leclerc pitted for soft tyres on lap 46 as the safety car was called out. During the SC period Verstappen complained of power steering issues making it harder to drive the car with Red Bull telling him to keep out and retire if only it gets worse.
By the time safety car came to the pits everyone was on the soft tyre. On the restart Leclerc pulled away with Verstappen struggling. Seemingly now Sainz was trying to hunt for P2. Behind, Hamilton was trying to chase Perez for P4. Suddenly Verstappen slowed down before the final corner on lap 54 as he lost power and trundled back to the pits, out of the race. It promoted Sainz to P2 with Hamilton chasing Perez for P3 now. On the final lap as the leaders made their wayround turn 1, Perez lost power, locking his rear axle and spinning around, both Red Bull cars out of the race with Hamilton on the podium against all odds.
Leclerc capped of a fantastic win with Sainz coming home for a Ferrari one-two. Hamilton achieved his 183rd career podium as teammate Russell finished in P4. Magnussen finished in P5, Haas scoring points for the first time since 2020 Hungarian GP. Bottas finished P6 in Alfa Romeo with rookie teammate Zhou Guanyu scoring points on debut as he finished in P10. Alpine too got a double points result as Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso crossed the line in P7 and P9 respectively. AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda achieving P8, the sole point scorer for any Red Bull powertrain powered cars.
Mick Schumacher finished just outside the points for Haas ahead of Lance Stroll in the Aston Martin in P12 and another F1 returnee Alex Albon in the Williams in P13. McLaren endured a horrible race as Daniel Ricciardo finished in P14 ahead of teammate Lando Norris in P15. Williams’ Nicholas Latifi finishing in P16 ahead of “super-sub” Nico Hulkenberg in P17 who subbed in for the unwell Sebastian Vettel at Aston Martin.
Ferrari and Red Bull look to have the strongest car going to these new era regulations. Qualifying was close but race pace wise Ferrari seemed to have the advantage. Ferrari’s advantage also coming from a new engine which works well at low-speed traction and power delivery to the rear wheels. Red Bull will be worried about the reliability problems. First one with Gasly is still being investigated while Red Bull seemed to think problems for Verstappen and Perez were both similar in nature. With F1 back to racing in a week it remains to be seen if they will be able to identify and fix these problems. Mercedes were a clear third in terms of pace, lacking around 0.5s to the leaders both in qualifying and race pace. The team said it is looking ways to cut down drag on the W13 a that is what held them back. They are also looking to fix porpoising which has plagued the car since its hit the track, making them lose performance.
Haas and Alfa Romeo have made a step forward as they looked to have a clear advantage on the rest of the field behind them. Both being Ferrari powered cars, the engine has been a significant part in helping them overtake their rivals. Alpine and AlphaTauri looked closely matched but it is too early in the season to judge who has a clear advantage over who.
McLaren have been the biggest team to fall off the leaders in these new rules as the team and drivers admitted the car lacks overall downforce compared to its competitors. That compounded with brake cooling issues that limited their testing time means the Woking squad are on a backfoot going into the rest of the season. Aston Martin have suffered porpoising issues as well, with the team admitting they have lost around 0.75s just by running a higher ride height to avoid porpoising. Williams look to be last in the field as they were on average 2-2.5s off the pace of the leaders.
With these new cars, the development curve is very steep with the engineers experimenting to get these cars working at their peak level. With such a steep development curve we can expect a lot of new upgrades on them hence, changing the pecking order of the field race by race.
Saturday Qualifying Results were:
P1: Charles Leclerc- 16 (Ferrari) P2: Max Verstappen- 1 (Red Bull) P3: Carlos Sainz- 55 (Ferrari) P4: Sergio Perez- 11 (Red Bull) P5: Lewis Hamilton- 44 (Mercedes) P5: Valtteri Bottas- 77 (Alfa Romeo) P7: Kevin Magnussen- 20 (Haas) P8: Fernando Alonso- 14 (Alpine) P9: George Russell- 63 (Mercedes) P10: Pierre Gasly- 10 (AlphaTauri) P11: Esteban Ocon- 31 (Alpine) P12: Mick Schumacher- 47 (Haas) P13: Lando Norris- 4 (McLaren) P14: Alex Albon-23 (Williams) P15: Zhou Guanyu- 24 (Alfa Romeo) P16: Yuki Tsunoda- 22 (AlphaTauri) P17: Nico Hulkenberg- 27 (Aston martin) P18: Daniel Ricciardo- 3 (McLaren) P19: Lance Stroll- 18 (Aston Martin) P20: Nicholas Latifi- 6 (Williams) -
Thrilling home win is 7th of the season for Max Verstappen
Max Verstappen took home victory at the first Dutch Grand Prix held at Zandvoort in 36 years as title rival Lewis Hamilton finished second and Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas completed the podium in P3.
New Delhi, 7 September 2021: Home favorite Max Verstappen took his 7th victory of the season as Lewis Hamilton finished P2, unable to challenge for victory but taking the fastest lap as a consolation. Valtteri Bottas took his seventh podium of the season achieving P3. Pierre Gasly maintained his qualifying position by finishing P4 in race. Fernando Alonso finished in P6 sandwiched by the Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc in P5 and Carlos Sainz in P7. Sergio Perez managed to finish P8 after a dismal qualifying, second Alpine of Esteban Ocon crossed the line in P9 and Lando Norris rounded out the top 10.
McLaren teammate Daniel Ricciardo missed out on points, finishing P11 ahead of Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel in P12 and P13 respectively. Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi was unable to convert his high qualifying position into points as he finished P14, one position ahead of stand in teammate Robert Kubica replacing Kimi Raikkonen due to the Finn being in isolation after testing positive for Covid-19. Nicholas Latifi was classified P16 and teammate George Russel though classified in P17, DNF’d with two laps to go. Mick Schumacher of Haas was the last finisher in P18. AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda and second Haas of Nikita Mazepin did not finish the race.
The title protagonists started from the front row with the Dutchman on pole. Both got an equal start as the race got underway and Hamilton settled himself behind Verstappen with the gap hovering around 3s. Bottas maintained his position in P3. Meanwhile, Gasly too maintained P4 ahead of both the Ferrari cars, although the three of them lost touch to the top three cars.
Hamilton was the first car to pit of the top 10 runners to undercut Verstappen. It wasn’t the smoothest pitstop from the world champions as Verstappen pitted a lap later and emerged just less than 2s ahead. Both pitting for the medium tyres. Bottas in the lead was kept out in a bid to try and hold up Verstappen and let Hamilton closeupbehind. Both caught Bottas by lap 30 who yet to make a stop. Bottas was able to hold up Verstappen for only one lap as the dutchman made use of fresh tyres and passed the Finn. Bottas let past his teammate a corner later.
In the midfield Gasly pitted on lap 24, whilst everyone else pitted lap 30 onwards either for the medium or the hard tyres. The running order midway was Verstappen and Hamilton, who were a pitstop ahead of the rest of the field. After Bottas came Gasly, Leclerc, Sainz, Norris, Perez- who had recovered till P8 now but was yet to make another pitstop, Alonso and Ocon.
With Hamilton hovering around 3s behind Verstappen, Mercedes brought him in for a second stop on another set of mediums. Verstappen followed suit a lap later albeit on the hard tyres as Red Bull did not have a set of medium tyres left. Hamilton was unable to close in the gap as he encountered traffic and remained 3-4s behind his Dutch rival.
Ultimately Hamilton was unable to fight for victory as he pitted for soft tyres with just two laps to go and set the lap record around Zandvoort. Verstappen cruised home to victory in front of his loyal supporters- the orange army as they are called, with Bottas in 3rd. Alonso fought back from P9 to P6, overtaking fellow countryman Sainz at a track where it was difficult to overtake while Perez completed his comeback from pitlane to P8.
Red Bull had a faster car and Verstappen extracted full performance out of it. They lost out in the constructor’s championship to Mercedes due to Perez being unable to advance to Q2 even. Mercedes were close behind in second as they lost out to pole position by just 0.03s to Verstappen. Mercedes and Hamilton put it down to missing FP2- due to an engine problem, as they were unable to optimise their car. Also, Mercedes struggled on the banked T3 corner as the W12 lost two-tenths there compared to the RB16B.
AlphaTauri showed great pace and were best of the rest in the hands of Pierre Gasly. The Frenchman was able to maintain his qualifying position in the race with no real challenge from the Ferrari’s as he finished in P4. Tsunoda struggled with pace the entire weekend as he barely made it to Q2 and was outqualified by Williams cars. Ferrari showed decent performance but expected better results as this was a track that suited their car with higher downforce characteristics. Sainz particularly was disappointed as he felt ‘slow’ in his own words, as he was overtaken by his childhood hero Alonso. Alpine showed decent race pace but lacked qualifying pace to challenge for higher positions. With all the cars so close it was difficult for the French cars to make progress, still Alonso maximizing the result in P6.
McLaren had an uncharacteristically dismal weekend, with both drivers calling it ‘abnormal’. They lacked the pace in qualifying as Norris was unable to make Q3 for the first time this season and Ricciardo could only manage P10. In the race they managed just a solitary point in P10, courtesy of Norris as they were unable to challenge the cars ahead of them. Aston Martin were in a no man’s land position as they were faster than the cars behind them, but traffic and superior pace of cars ahead prevented them from getting points. It was not helped by the fact that Vettel spun in the second half of the race dropping him out of contention for points.
Alfa Romeo showed impressive qualifying performance as Giovinazzi made it to Q3 and qualified P7. The Swiss based Italian team lacked race pace as well as a puncture prevented Giovinazzi from achieving points finish.Williams’ on paper result looks worse than it actually was with both drivers showing impressive qualifying performance but losing it in the barrier in Q2. The FW43B is a wind sensitive car, compounded with overdriving it meant they were unable to enter Q3 with Russell or Latifi. Russell showed impressive race pace as he maintained P11-P12 through the whole race before retiring on lap 70. Haas’ season story remains the same as Nikita Mazepin failed to finish while Mick Schumacher finished last, 3 laps down from the leader.
Saturday Qualifying results were:
P1: Max Verstappen- 33 (Red Bull) P2: Lewis Hamilton- 44 (Mercedes) P3: Valtteri Bottas- 77 (Mercedes) P4: Pierre Gasly- 10 (AlphaTauri) P5: Charles Leclerc- 16 (Ferrari) P6: Carlos Sainz- 55 (Ferrari) P7: Antonio Giovinazzi- 99 (Alfa Romeo) P8: Esteban Ocon- 31 (Alpine) P9: Fernando Alonso- 14 (Alpine) P10: Daniel Ricciardo- 3 (McLaren) P11: George Russell- 63 (Williams) P12: Lance Stroll- 18 (Aston Martin) P13: Lando Norris- 4 (McLaren) P14: Nicholas Latifi- 6 (Williams) P15: Yuki Tsunoda- 22 (AlphaTauri) P16: Sergio Perez- 11 (Red Bull) P17: Sebastian Vettel- 5 (Aston Martin) P18: Robert Kubica- 88 (Alfa Romeo) P19: Mick Schumacher- 47 (Haas) P20: Nikita Mazepin- 9 (Haas) Note – Latifi penalised five grid places for an unscheduled gearbox change; required to start from the pit lane, as car modified whilst under Parc Ferme conditions. Perez demoted to the back of the grid for use of additional power unit elements; required to start from the pit lane, as car modified whilst under Parc Ferme conditions.
-
Thrilling maiden F1 victory for Esteban Ocon: Race Analysis
Esteban Ocon unexpectedly won a thrilling race at the Hungaroring circuit, his first career win as Sebastian Vettel finished second but was later disqualified for a technical infringement. Subsequently Lewis Hamilton got the second spot and Carlos Sainz was promoted to the podium spot in third.
New Delhi, 2 August 2021: Esteban Ocon achieved his first career victory as he led the whole race ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton. Later the German getting disqualified due to a technical infringement as race officials could not extract the required amount of fuel sample from his car. This promoted Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz on the podium, his second podium of the year after Monaco. Ocon’s Alpine teammate Fernando Alonso finished P4 who played a pivotal role in helping his teammate win. AlphaTauri duo of Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda finished in P5 and P6 respectively. Both Williams drivers Nicholas Latifi and George Russell achieved points for the first time, crossing the line in P7 and P8. Max Verstappen could only manage P9 in his heavily damage Red Bull and Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen rounded out the top 10.
Ricciardo was unable to finish in the top 10 as he nursed his McLaren throughout the race with Haas’ Mick Schumacher and Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi the last two race finishers.
Valtteri Bottas collided with two cars of Lando Norris and Sergio Perez with all three retiring atthe start due to terminal damage. Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll skidded onto wet grass and took out Charles Leclerc and both were unable to continue in the race. An unsafe release by Alfa Romeo meant that Raikkonen tagged Nikita Mazepin in the pits, with the Russian’s car having suspension failure due to contact.
Esteban Ocon, third from left, poses with Hamilton, right and Vettel, left, after winning the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday. A Mercedes image The forecasted rain arrived before the race start as everyone changed to intermediate tyres. The race got underway, and Hamilton was cleanly off from the pole. His teammate Bottas got a less than ideal start as he fell prey to Verstappen and Norris. Bottas overcooked his breaking point in turn 1 and speared into Norris who in turn damaged the right side of Verstappen’s car. Meanwhile, Bottas lost his front wheel and tagged Perez. The Mexican carrying on for another sector before his engine shut off due to damage. Stroll tried to get on the inside of Leclerc’s Ferrari in turn 1, but he lost control on the wet grass and collected Leclerc who tagged Ricciardo’s McLaren because of the knock-on effect. Leclerc and Stroll retired on the spot. Several cars retiring on the grid and debris meant the race was red flagged.
When the race got underway, a bizarre sight was witnessed as only Hamilton started on the grid and everyone else on the grid pitted for dry tyres. Hamilton and Mercedes later realizing their mistake and pitting one lap after the race was underway as the Briton slotted into last position. Ahead briefly Russell lead the grand prix in his Williams before being asked to give the positions back due to overtaking in the pitlane. Ocon assumed the race lead with Vettel close behind followed by Sainz.
Hamilton passed Giovinazzi and Schumacher but was stuck in a train as it is notoriously difficult to overtake at this track even if the car has superior pace. Mercedes pitted Hamilton again for hard tyres on lap 19. Both Ricciardo and Verstappen pitted a lap later trying to cover Hamilton, but his undercut was superior as he got past both of them and releasing the Briton in free air. By lap 32 Hamilton was up to P5 passing the likes of Schumacher, Latifi and Tsunoda in the process.
To cover Hamilton’s undercut, Ferrari pitted Sainz on lap 32 and the Spaniard emerged in front of the Mercedes driver. Ahead Ocon was still in the lead defending from the relentless pressure of Vettel with Alonso in third. All three yet to pit. Vettel was the first to pit among the race leaders as he attempted an undercut with Ocon following suit for hard tyres a lap later. Ocon just about managed to stay in front and resume his defense for the victory. Alonso pitted on lap 39 emerging behind Sainz and Hamilton but on fresher tyres.
Mercedes pitted Hamilton again on lap 47 for medium tyres, trying to do the ‘Hungary 2019’ strategy again with even Toto Wolff assuring Hamilton on the team radio. Hamilton quickly caught up to Alonso and Sainz. Hamilton and Alonso had a titanic duel as Alonso defended hard but fair with the Briton attacking lap after lap. This battle being reminiscent of the past two decades between this pair. Finally Hamilton managed to get past Alonso by lap 65 and overtaking Sainz by lap 67. But he could not challenge for the win as the battle with Alonso had cost him too much time.
The day belonged to Ocon as he triumphed at Hungary for his first Formula 1 victory with Vettel getting another podium in his decorated career- later being disqualified. Hamilton had to settle for P3 but was happier of the two title rivals as he retook the championship lead alongside Mercedes.
The Formula 1 circus heads for a well-deserved summer break as racing will resume at the end of August for the Belgian Grand Prix. See you then!
Mercedes upgrades confirmed that they have clawed back performance compared to Red Bull. Hungaroring was expected to suit Red Bull’s car characteristics, but Mercedes got pole position by over four-tenths of a second, securing a front row lockout and had the fastest race car. If not for Mercedes’ strategy error, they would have won. Red Bull had a miserable weekend as they unexpectedly lost to their German rivals in qualifying. Already on the backfoot, both drivers’ race was ruined due to the turn 1 melee started by Bottas as they managed to salvage two points for this weekend. They lost both championship leads.
AlphaTauri had an encouraging race weekend as the Gasly out qualified both McLaren and Ferrari cars. They also achieved a double-points finish which will help them in the fight for P5 in the constructors championship. The Hungaroring circuit suiting the characteristics of the AT02 as it requires high downforce. McLaren had a dismal race weekend scoring no points as they were caught up in the turn 1 incident and therefore it is difficult to judge how they would have done in the race. Ferrari had a positive race with Sainz as they managed to achieve a podium. Ferrari had decent qualifying pace and very close to Gasly and Norris’ pace as they were just separated by 0.013s in qualifying.
This was a mega result for Alpine as Ocon got his first win. Qualifying pace wise they were behind the top three midfield teams this race but made most of the opportunity in the race. Ocon’s performance boosted in the last few races as he swapped his chassis. Alonso played a key role in Ocon’s victory as he held off Hamilton for more than 10 laps. Aston Martin arguably had a faster car in race trim than Alpine unable to pass Ocon for the race lead as it was difficult to overtake. Vettel’s car was later disqualified, and he lost P2 as the race stewards could not extract the required amount of fuel sample from his car. Aston Martin have lodged an appeal against this.
Williams finally achieved double points finish which helped them jump to P8 in constructor’s standings. They showed mediocre qualifying pace as Russell was knocked out of Q1 for the first time this season but made full opportunity of the incidents at the start to achieve points. Alfa Romeo lacked race pace to challenge Williams but still managed P10 with Raikkonen. Haas were unable to make full use of the race incidents to achieve points with Schumacher and admittedly lacked pace to do so.
Saturday Qualifying Results were:
P1: Lewis Hamilton- 44 (Mercedes) P2: Valtteri Bottas- 77 (Mercedes) P3: Max Verstappen- 33 (Red Bull) P4: Sergio Perez- 11 (Red Bull) P5: Pierre Gasly- 10 (AlphaTauri) P6: Lando Norris- 4 (McLaren) P7: Charles Leclerc- 16 (Ferrari) P8: Esteban Ocon- 31 (Alpine) P9: Fernando Alonso- 14 (Alpine) P10: Sebastian Vettel- 5 (Aston Martin) P11: Daniel Ricciardo- 3 (McLaren) P12: Lance Stroll- 18 (Aston Martin) P13: Kimi Raikkonen- 7 (Alfa Romeo) P14: Antonio Giovinazzi- 99 (Alfa Romeo) P15: Carlos Sainz- 55 (Ferrari) P16: Yuki Tsunoda- 22 (AlphaTauri) P17: George Russell- 63 (Williams) P18: Nicholas Latifi- 6 (Williams) P19: Nikita Mazepin- 9 (Haas) P20: Mick Schumacher- 47 (Haas) -
Hamilton claims fourth win as on-track collision ends Verstappen race
Lewis Hamilton achieved his fourth win of the season overcoming a penalty received after a on track collision with title rival Max Verstappen. Charles Leclerc got his first podium of the season after leading the majority of the race ahead of third place man Valtteri Bottas in the Mercedes.
This was the first experimental weekend where Formula 1 trialed the F1 Sprint qualifying. A 100-kilometer race to determine the grid positions for the Grand Prix on Sunday.
New Delhi, 19 July 2021: Lewis Hamilton took his 99th career victory and first one since the Spanish Grand Prix in May, overcoming a 10-second time penalty for a on track coming together with Max Verstappen which resulted in the Dutchman not finishing the race. Charles Leclerc led the majority of the race bar 3 laps from the end as he got his first podium since the 2020 Formula 1 70th Anniversary Grand Prix. Valtteri Bottas capitalised on a slow pitstop for Lando Norris to finish P3, with the Briton finishing P4. Norris’ teammate Daniel Ricciardo finished a strong P5, holding of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz for more than half of the race as the Spaniard finished in P6, just 0.8s behind.Alpine’s Fernando Alonso finished P7 and teammate Esteban Ocon crossed the line in P9 helping the Anglo-French squad to achieve a double points finish. Sandwiched between them was Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll in P8. Japanese rookie Yuki Tsunoda rounded of the top 10.
AlphaTauri teammate Pierre Gasly finished P11 ahead of Williams’ George Russell in P12 and Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi in P13. Nicholas Latifi brought home his FW43B in P14 ahead of Kimi Raikkonen in P15 who spun around late on in the race after getting tangled with Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, who could only manage P16. Nikita Mazepin outraced his Haas teammate Mick Schumacher as they finished P17 and P18 respectively. Sebastian Vettel retired late in the race after suffering a spin early on and circulating at the back of the grid.
Title protagonists Verstappen and Hamilton started on the front row for the fourth time this season with both wanting to lead the race and the end of lap 1 to control the rest of the race. As the race got underway, both were wrestling for P1 but keeping it clean. Hamilton tried to overtake through the Wellington straight into Brooklands corner, but Verstappen swept ahead and maintained the lead. Hamilton got a better exit out of Luffield and went on the inside of Verstappen onto the old start-finish straight. As they approached the high-speed turn 9 Copse corner, they made contact and Verstappen hit the outside barriers at high speed. Fortunately, he was able to escape on his own. The damage to the car and the barrier caused a red flag. Behind, Leclerc had got a good start overtaking Bottas in the process. He passed Hamilton for the lead when the Briton lost momentum after making contact with the Red Bull.
With the red flag period over, race was to begin with standing start procedure. This time Leclerc in P1, Hamilton maintaining P2 and so did Bottas in P3. Both front row cars got off well as Hamilton tucked behind Leclerc. Bottas behind had another slow start and lost a position to Norris with unable to find a way past him. Vettel too had made a good start and was running in the top 10, but he got on the throttle too early on the exit of luffield and spun, falling to the back of the grid and ending any hope of points.
Hamilton was unable to find a way past Leclerc who to his credit was matching the Mercedes’ pace. The Monegasque was also managing an engine software issue which was resolved a few laps later. Hamilton who was running in the Ferrari’s hot air decided to back off as he was unable to pass and was circulating around 2s behind the leader. By this time the FIA had issued the Briton a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision with Verstappen as well.
Ricciardo was the first one to pit amongst the front runner on lap 20 for a set of hard tyres. As Bottas had been unable to pass Norris, McLaren brought him in to protect from Bottas’ undercut on lap 21. But, a slow stop for Norris meant he lost crucial time to the Mercedes and Bottas duly pitted on lap 22 to emerge ahead of the McLaren. Sainz was running in P3 but he had not pitted. Hamilton complained on the radio of his tyres having no grip and pitted on lap 27, serving his 10-second time penaltyand emerging behind Norris. Sainz pitted on lap 28 and the Ferrari crew had a miserable pit stop as he was stationary for 12-seconds in the box. He lost positions to Hamilton and Ricciardo. Ferrari brought in race leader Leclerc last of any runners and served an error free pitstop to release him in the lead again.
Hamilton was charging through the field as he quickly caught up to Norris and passed him in the Copse corner on lap 31, same place where Verstappen and Hamilton had entangled. Next up was Bottas who was instructed to let his teammate through and dutifully he did so, playing the team game. Behind Sainz was running within a second of Ricciardo but could not find a way past the Australian. The McLaren driver making his car as wide as possible and holding off the Spaniard.
Hamilton was running in P2 with 12 laps to go and 9s behind race leader Leclerc. It seemed difficult for the Briton to achieve a record eighth home victory. Hamilton kept up the pace as on average he lapped 1s faster than his Ferrari rival. The only doubt being would he be able to keep up this pace as everyone’s tyres were suffering from blistering issues. By lap 50 Hamilton was within a second of Leclerc as he had been able to manage the tyre wear and pace. Whole Silverstone erupted in delight as Hamilton once again passed Leclerc into Copse corner where he had touched Verstappen.
Ultimately Hamilton was too quick for the Ferrari and achieved a record eighth British Grand Prix victory as he cruised on the last two laps. Another dramatic chapter concludes as title rival Verstappen failed to score points and Hamilton maximised his. With both Drivers’ and Constructor’s championship very close it is game on!
Mercedes were arguably the faster car in qualifying as shown by Hamilton’s pole position on Friday. Arguably he could have gone even faster had he not made the mistake in the final chicane. Mercedes seemed on par with Red Bull regarding race pace as Saturday’s sprint race showed that whoever had the early advantage was able to maximise their lead. The W12 was kinder to its tyres as well compared to the RB16B as seen in the sprint race. Mercedes brought a significant upgrade package with new bargeboards, side pod endplates and a new floor. All aimed at greater downforce generation to bring them closer to Red Bull’s performance and numbers show the performance has converged, similar to start of the season. Red Bull had a miserable race with Verstappen out on lap 1 and Perez scoring no points. Unlike past races they were not the dominant car but had the pace to win the race as seen in the sprint race on Saturday. Red Bull arrived with a new floor to aid their charge for the championship.
Ferrari have made great strides especially in race pace. Keeping a Mercedes behind for the first stint was a big improvement for the Italian squad. They also did not struggle for tyre wear especially on the fronts as they had in some past races, notably France. One of the major improvements they have made with SF21 is the set-up. Ferrari can optimise their set-up better compared to start of the season which has unlocked race pace. McLaren similarly showed great race and qualifying pace. Slow pitstop for Norris meant they were unable to challenge for the podium. They could have beaten Leclerc and potentially won the race if not for the slow pitstop.
Alpine had their strongest weekend in terms of race pace according to Alonso, as they achieved a double points finish. The Alpine cars were able to hold off the Aston Martin and Alpha Tauri cars. Alpine too brought minute aerodynamic upgrades to optimise their car. Aston Martin once again showed better race pace than qualifying pace. Had Vettel not spun during the start, a double points finish for the Silverstone based team could have been on the cards. AlphaTauri struggled throughout the weekend as they had mediocre qualifying pace compared to their rivals. They were unable to make it to the top 10. Due to a lower starting position, they could not make up positions in sprint race or the grand prix. Admittedly Gasly was running in points position before a late puncture forced him to pit and eventually finish outside the points. Tsunoda scored a solitary point.
Russell made it to Q3 for the second consecutive race but admitted the car outqualified its own performance as they did not have the race pace to fight for the points. Mediocre starts only added to his problem as he lost positions on both the race starts. Alfa Romeo once again had the pace to be on the fringes of top 10 but not threaten them. Raikkonen complaining on the radio about the need for upgrades to make the car faster if points are to be achieved. Haas’ Mazepin had a positive race as he beat his teammate Schumacher who struggled for tyre management at a hot British Grand Prix.
Sprint Qualifying Results were:
P1: Max Verstappen- 33 (Red Bull) P2: Lewis Hamilton- 44 (Mercedes) P3: Valtteri Bottas- 77 (Mercedes) P4: Charles Leclerc- 16 (Ferrari) P5: Lando Norris- 4 (McLaren) P6: Daniel Ricciardo- 3 (McLaren) P7: Fernando Alonso- 14 (Alpine) P8: Sebastian Vettel- 5 (Aston Martin) P9: Esteban Ocon- 31 (Alpine) P10: Carlos Sainz- 55 (Ferrari) P11: Pierre Gasly- 10 (AlphaTauri) P12: George Russell- 63 (Williams) P13: Kimi Raikkonen- 7 (Alfa Romeo) P14: Lance Stroll- 18 (Aston Martin) P15: Antonio Giovinazzi- 99 (Alfa Romeo) P16: Yuki Tsunoda- 22 (AlphaTauri) P17: Nicholas Latifi- 6 (Williams) P17: Mick Schumacher- 47 (Haas) P19: Nikita Mazepin- 9 (Haas) P20: Sergio Perez- 11 (Red Bull) Note: Russell was penalised three grid places for causing a collision during sprint qualifying. Perez required to start from the pit lane, as car modified whilst under Parc Ferme conditions.
-
Red Bull turns the tide with Verstappen’s dominant win: Race Analysis
Max Verstappen took a second consecutive victory over Lewis Hamilton as Valtteri Bottas just managed to hold on to the final podium position in the Styrian Grand Prix, the first of two races held at the Red Bull ring.
London, 28 June 2021: Max Verstappen took a dominant fourth victory of the season as Lewis Hamilton finished a distant 2nd ahead of Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas. Sergio Perez tried to chase Bottas for the podium with an alternate strategy, but to no avail had to settle for P4 ahead of McLaren’s in form driver Lando Norris in P5. Ferrari redeemed themselves with Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc finishing P6 and P7 respectively. Lance Stroll added to Aston Martin’s points tally in P8, ahead of veteran Fernando Alonso in P9 and the points positions completed by Japanese rookie Yuki Tsunoda in P10.
Kimi Raikkonen finished just outside the points in P11, meanwhile his Alfa Romeo teammate Antonio Giovinazzi finished down in p15. Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel crossed the line in P12 ahead of reliability hampered Daniel Ricciardo who could only manage P13 in his McLaren. Alpine’s Esteban Ocon finished P14. Williams’ Nicholas Latifi finished in P17, sandwiched by both Haas cars of Mick Schumacher in P16 and Nikita Mazepin in P18. George Russell retired due to pneumatic pressure loss while Pierre Gasly suffered a rear suspension failure on lap 1.
All race weekend rain beckoned but eventually it stayed away from the track and Verstappen went off the line smoothly maintaining his lead on lap 1, Hamilton following suit. Perez moved past Norris but conceded the place back to the McLaren man as Norris made a move outside of turn 4. Bottas was running in P5, meanwhile, Ricciardo had made up five positions running in P8 from P13.
Leclerc had to pit as he damaged his front wing by nicking Gasly’s rear left tyre. The AlphaTauri driver retiring as he got suspension failure due to tyre puncture and, in the process, spun Giovinazzi and Latifi. A few laps later, Ricciardo suffered momentary engine power loss due to which he plummeted back to P13, promoting Williams’ Russell in P8.
On lap 10 Perez moved past Norris, Bottas doing the same a lap later as the McLaren did not put up much of a defense due to faster nature of the Red Bull and Mercedes cars. At the front Verstappen was leading Hamilton by 3s. The duo led Perez and Bottas by over 12s. Behind the top four it was Norris, Stroll, Alonso, Russell, Tsunoda and Sainz.
Perez was the first one to pit for hard tyres on lap 26 and suffered a slow pit stop. This gave Mercedes the opportunity to pit Bottas and with a smooth pitstop emerged ahead of Perez and running into the podium positions. Hamilton pitted on lap 28, already behind Verstappen by 5s. Verstappen copying his title rival and emerging in the lead once again. There was another bout of bad luck for Russell as he was comfortably running in points before reliability problems struck and eventually retiring the car on lap 36 after falling to P18.
Pit Stops – A Pirelli graphic In the midfield both Sainz and Ricciardo pulled off a mammoth 41 lap stint on medium tyres before pitting for hard tyres. Everyone else in the midfield had pitted between lap 26 and 31. The outlier being Leclerc who pitted a second time on lap 37 after pitting on lap 1 to change his front wing.
Ahead, Perez was unable to get past Bottas and pitted again on lap 51 to try and pull of another “Hungary 2019” on Bottas to get the podium. It was to no avail as Perez just finished 0.5s behind Bottas who continued and finished on his ageing hard tyres.
In the lead, Hamilton was unable to make a dent in Verstappen’s lead as the lead extended over 10s. The Briton pitting on lap 69 for a set of soft tyres to get an extra point for setting the fastest lap, a consolation for what had been a dominant victory by the Red Bull team.
Red Bull clearly dominated this race weekend and the same can be expected next weekend as the Austrian grand prix takes place at the same venue. Only weather and rain have a chance to stop their momentum. Red Bull brought an upgrade to their diffusers leading edge, making it serrated to enhance the rear downforce creation. By doing this they can run a lower downforce rear wing compared to Mercedes which gave them an advantage of about 0.2s on the straights without compromising cornering speed. Mercedes have lost out to Red Bull especially in race pace as Hamilton kept losing time in relation to Verstappen. Mercedes have not brought any upgrades instead aiming to optimise their current package. They have a lot of work to do if they want to consistently challenge Red Bull. It has been four races since the German squad won a race.
McLaren once again proved to be the clear best of the rest with them being the leading team in midfield in qualifying and race. Ricciardo is still unable to maximise the potential of the MCL35M and therefore, McLaren are unable to operate at their potential. Also, reliability hampered them in Styria as Ricciardo too would have finished in points. Ferrari have seemed to recover their race pace after a dismal French grand prix where the car chewed through its tyres. In Styria the car looked more balanced and tyre wear was not an issue for the Italian squad. It remains to be seen if they have fixed the problem or is it a track specific issue. AlphaTauri failed to capitalise on their potential pace, like many other races this season. Both drivers showed impressive qualifying pace with Gasly even beating both Ferrari’s. His race was over on lap 1 due to the Leclerc incident and Tsunoda was able to finish in the points. AlphaTauri can challenge for higher points if they have incident free and clean race.
Aston Martin struggled in qualifying but showed competitive race pace. Due to one lap pace being their issue and midfield teams being closely matched in race pace, Aston Martin were unable to break through the midfield to challenge the likes of McLaren and Ferrari with only Stroll adding to team’s tally. Alpine are on similar level as Aston Martin, operating on the fringes of top 10. Alonso maximised while Ocon struggled in qualifying and race, like the French grand prix. With race pace to rivals being similar it is all about maximizing qualifying and maintaining track position.
Williams genuinely for the first time this season showed points potential and having the pace to match teams like Aston martin and Alpine in the hands of Russell. Russell was comfortably running in the top 10 and even putting pressure on Alpine’s Alonso before reliability gremlins struck and robbed him his points finish. Williams needs a reliable race car if they want to challenge the top 10 because clearly, they have made steps forward with the FW43B.
Alfa Romeo were in no man’sland this weekend as they did not have the pace for top 10 but were faster than fellow Ferrari customer Haas. They fell back behind Williams, but Raikkonen maximised the cars potential by finishing P11, one position outside points. Their race pace is better than qualifying but both need improvement to consistently challenge the lower top 10. Haas have had the same story for much of the season as they struggled once again at the back of the field but both rookie drivers gaining experience in Formula 1.
Saturday Qualifying Results were:
P1: Max Verstappen- 33 (Red Bull) P2: Valtteri Bottas- 77 (Mercedes) P3: Lewis Hamilton- 44 (Mercedes) P4: Lando Norris- 4 (McLaren) P5: Sergio Perez- 11 (Red Bull) P6: Pierre Gasly- 10 (AlphaTauri) P7: Charles Leclerc- 16 (Ferrari) P8: Yuki Tsunoda- 22 (AlphaTauri) P9: Fernando Alonso- 14 (Alpine) P10: Lance Stroll- 18 (Aston Martin) P11: George Russell- 63 (Williams) P12: Carlos Sainz- 55 (Ferrari) P13: Daniel Ricciardo- 3 (McLaren) P14: Sebastian Vettel- 5 (Aston Martin) P15: Antonio Giovinazzi- 99 (Alfa Romeo) P16: Nicholas Latifi- 6 (Williams) P17: Esteban Ocon- 31 (Alpine) P18: Kimi Raikkonen- 7 (Alfa Romeo) P19: Mick Schumacher- 47 (Haas) P20: Nikita Mazepin- 9 (Haas) Note – Bottas penalised three grid places for dangerous driving in the pit lane during practice. Tsunoda penalised three grid places for impeding Bottas during Q3.
