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Category: Formula 1
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Niharika Ghorpade’s tricky query gets positive reply from Hamilton, Verstappen
Abu Dhabi, 11 Dec 2021: One of the two Indian reporters at the F1 grand finale, the Abu Dhabi GP, Niharika Ghorpade posed a beautiful question, which appeared tricky, but Hamilton did make fun of it and tried to tease Max Verstappen but both the drivers came out with some positive replies that showed, at least, on surface that things will be alright on Sunday and racing will come to the fore.
The drivers who attended the FIA Press Conference, the top three in the qualifying session are: 1 – Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing) 2 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes) 3 – Lando NORRIS (McLaren)
TRACK INTERVIEWS are done by David Coulthard
Q: Max, what a difference a week makes, you could have had the pole in Saudi Arabia, you have the pole for the final grand prix of the season. Where did you find the lap?
Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, it’s of course an amazing feeling. We definitely improved the car again in qualifying because so far this weekend it had been a bit on and off. But incredibly happy with this. This is of course what we wanted. It is never easy, especially with their form in the last few races. Yeah, now I’m just looking forward to tomorrow because of course that’s the most important thing.
Q: That’s where the points are tomorrow. We have conflicting tyre strategy – you are on the Soft and Lewis Hamilton on the medium. Can you throw it forward from Friday, what that is going to mean in terms of strategy?
MV: I mean I felt good on both tyres. Naturally, now, in the evening, it’s a bit cooler, so it should be a bit easier for the Soft tyres but we will see tomorrow. Of course it’s very important to have a good start and from there onwards we will just try to do the race to our very best and we will see where we end up.
Q: You guys are brilliant at deflecting questions regarding pressure but you must feel a little bit of weight lifted from your shoulders with that qualifying result?
MV: I was very relaxed going into qualifying. I know I always do the best I can and I know my team always gives me the best possible car. We have been doing that the whole year and again today that worked really well.
Q: Lewis, great to see the respect there between Max and you as you walked up, you did the fist bump. The battle between you is going to continue into tomorrow evening. You looked like the man on form and the betting was all on your for pole position. Clearly it hasn’t quite worked out. Talk us through that session?
Lewis HAMILTON: Yeah, first of all, Max did a great lap today, so… Yeah, we just couldn’t compete with that time there. It was looking very strong through practice. Firstly, we have got a great crowd here, regardless of the boos, I’m just grateful to see people here, healthy. We couldn’t answer to that lap, it was a fantastic lap from him. But we are in a good position, I would like to think, with our tyres tomorrow and I hope that we can have a good race.
Q: Put us in the cockpit, Lewis. I got the sense that wasn’t a really clean lap from you, I get the sense there was more pace from the car. Is that the case and how do we throw this forward to the all-important grand prix?
LH: Yeah, well, as you saw, the first lap I dropped a little bit of time in the last, in Turn 5, but the last lap was nice and clean, I just couldn’t go any quicker. I don’t know if it’s tyre prep or something in terms of the out lap but nonetheless I couldn’t beat that time that he did today, he fully deserved the pole.
Q: We just heard from Max that he was super relaxed before qualifying. He must be elated because you know the importance of pole. You’ve done this a lot of times before, you’re a seven-times world champion. So, a little bit of disappointment or all it’s going forward now to the opportunity?
LH: No, I’m still on the front row, we’ve got the difference, obviously, between the tyres but I am grateful that I can see where he is and we can try to navigate from there.
Q: Lando… Look at that smile. Where did that lap come from?
Lando NORRIS: I don’t know really! It came already Q3, run one. I made some improvements but also a few mistakes and I just needed a clean lap in the end. I went for pole, it didn’t quite work out, I was still a little bit off. It was a nice lap and to be P3 was a little bit of a surprise.
Q: Now, it won’t be lost on you as you celebrate this strong end to the season for McLaren that you have one of the best seats in the house on the run down to the first corner of this championship battle.
LN: Yeah, I’m a bit nervous. I kind of want to just stay where I am and just watch everything unfold over the first few laps or even the whole race. I don’t want to get involved too much because it can cause a lot of controversy. I don’t know. I don’t know whether I should go for the move, not go for the move, you tell me! But I’ll do my best and if I have a chance I will go for it.
PRESS CONFEERENCE
Q: Well done Max, that was a fabulous lap by you, just talk us through it first of all.
MV: So far our weekend has been a bit on and off in terms of balance but I think for qualifying we made the right decisions and as I soon as I went in to qualifying I had a bit of a better feeling. Nevertheless, Q1, not perfect, still need to fine tune a couple of things. From Q2 onwards it was a bit better. But of course in Q2 I had my flat spot on the mediums so I had to go out on the Soft again. Then in Q3, basically, both laps, the last lap until 13, I was more or less on the same lap time so, yeah, the car felt pretty decent in these final two laps.
Q: Couple of questions about the end of Q3. We saw you working well with your team-mate Sergio Pérez. How much help did he give you?
MV: For sure on that first run it was very nice and then on my second run I had a very good exit out of 7 so I actually didn’t even lose time on that straight on my own, just with the following the cars, but for sure for that first run it was a nice tow.
Q: A quick word on the start tyre. You are going to be on the Soft. Was that always the plan?
MV: Well, naturally, it wasn’t because I wanted to try to start on the medium but I flat-spotted that one. But I felt good yesterday as well on the long run on the Soft. So it was not a difficult decision to make to say. “OK, we will focus on the Softs”.
Q: Just a quick word on how you are feeling. Are you excited?
MV: Yeah, of course, naturally when you are first, that’s where you want to be, so definitely looking forward to tomorrow.
Q: Lewis, great job from you as well. How was the car, first of all? How was the lap?
LH: The car was good. Max did a great job on that final lap. Generally, through practice, P3 at least and into qualifying, the car was feeling solid. Through the qualifying session it felt like it got a bit harder to try to gain speed, and the last two laps weren’t easy to really pull out the time. I don’t know if it’s track temp or what – but the last lap was OK. Definitely can’t complain but, of course, we wish we would be a bit quicker today.
Q: We’ve just heard Max talking about the way he worked with his team-mate during Q3. Was that discussed at Mercedes? You and Valtteri working together.
LH: No. No it wasn’t discussed. We’ve never, ever really done that, so…
Q: Let’s talk about the start tyre. You’re going to be on the Medium, Max is on the Soft. Straightforward decision for you to start on that tyre?
LH: Yeah. It’s interesting. I’m always kind of sceptical with everything, so it’ll be interesting when we go back and look at the information and onboard laps. It’s very rare that people lock-up in Turn 1 but if he truly did lock-up in Turn 1 then maybe whether or not we’ll be in the better position in terms of that tyre or maybe they know something we don’t and that Soft tyre was their plan all the time. We struggled, I think, a little bit more on the Soft tyre for long runs, so I think we’ve got the right tyre but I guess we’ll see tomorrow.
Q: Lewis, you’re on the front row. Quick word about how you’re feeling. Are you excited as well?
LH: Yeah. I feel good. I’m happy that I’m on the front row. I can see my opponent. Obviously it’s going to be a little bit harder at the start off the Medium tyre as opposed to the Soft tyre but nonetheless, I’m giving it everything.
Q: Lando, coming to you. Fantastic to see you here in the top three, your best qualifying since Monza. How are you feeling? How please are you?
LN: Massively pleased. Very surprised to be here. Also very happy at the same time, obviously. I think we were confident all weekend that we could get to qualifying and put in a good performance but probably not to be this high up on the grid – so yeah, very happy, especially with my lap I did in Q3. It was definitely just putting it all together. It was a very clean and nice lap. And of course it put me here ahead of the people I want to be ahead of, so… happy.
Q: The car seems a lot more competitive than it has been in recent races. Why is that? Is it something to do with the layout? Have you found something with set-up?
LN: Just layout. The car is still so sensitive to different types of corners and banked corners, not-banked corners and so on, so yeah. Qatar we were very competitive as well, we were quicker than Ferrari but apart from that, in the last bunch we’ve generally been a bit slower. So, to come here, to be ahead, I think it was very close between us, I was only something like five-hundredths ahead of Carlos, so it’s not like we’re miles quicker and are going to be comfortable tomorrow – but definitely just edging them out was definitely a good thing for myself but also a good thing for the team.
Q: And you’re going to get a great view tomorrow at the start of the two Championship protagonists. Looking forward to that?
LN: Of course. I think I’m in the best seat for tomorrow, so I’m very excited to see everything unfold, to see what goes on. I think it’s just a genuine pleasure to be in this position, to see everything that’s been going on this season between Max and Lewis and to watch the battles, to watch the racing because I have a lot of respect for them. Yeah, I’m very happy to be P3, not only because it’s a good position to start but because it gives me the prime position for the view tomorrow.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Ian Parkes – New York Times) Questions to both Max and to Lewis. Max, the tow there, was that something that was worked out pre-qualifying or was it something that was worked out on the fly, given what had happened in Q2 with a lock-up on the Medium and you needing to go to the Soft tyre. And question to Lewis. You said that you’d never discussed that kind of situation, going for a tow, it’s not something that the team does – but given what’s at stake this weekend and how vital it is to be on pole, and given what Red Bull and Max have done today with the time that they have compared to yourself, why was it not discussed, do you feel? And should it have been?
MV: Yeah, it was discussed before quali. So yeah, it was very nice, nicely executed as well but, I’m mean, it’s not… whatever the gap was. I might have gained a tenth towards Turn 9. It’s not a massively long straight but nevertheless, Checo’s a great team-mate and a real pleasure to work with, so of course, also a big thank you to him.
LH: For us, I’d like Valtteri to focus on getting his… we work as a team in terms of Valtteri needed to get the best job done for himself, so that we can have both of us up as high as possible. So, it’s never something that we discuss, or we work on. I don’t believe that we should have either.
Q: (Jerome Pugmire – AP) Lewis, I wanted to ask you, how does this compare for you, on the eve of the final race, to five years ago when you were battling with Nico Rosberg? Are you more tense now than you were then or were you more tense then? How do you feel compared to that deciding race five years ago?
LH: A million times different. It was a much, much different scenario, completely different. A million times better I feel now than I did then. Yeah, I feel good.
Q: (Alex Kalinauckas – Autosport) Max, you mentioned the car being better in qualifying compared to practice; how crucial was your wing choice in terms of getting that set-up to feel better?
MV: I wanted to try it and it felt quite nice but even when we changed it, the car balance itself wasn’t perfect yet so after FP3 we still made some changes and clearly they were working well for qualifying.
Q: (Niharika Ghorpade – Sportskeeda) Lewis and Max, regardless of the outcome tomorrow, before you go head-to-head, could you list some positives about each other so far, through the last 20 races and what you’ve experienced, and the respect you have for each other?
LH: [Aside to Max] I don’t think we really need to, do we?
MV: [Laughs]. I think Lewis has already won so many championships but also this year I think we have been pushing each other, certainly in some races, to the limit. We have been really basically trying to get everything out of our cars, tyres, to the last lap, to the last corner and that’s very exciting, especially when it’s been between two teams as well, because when it’s team-mates always a bit different, but when two teams fighting you have different strategies you don’t know about, preparation, so it has been really enjoyable for most of the time. That’s normal in a championship and yeah, of course, in 10, 20 years’ time, people will look back at it and even myself and you will remember this year, for sure.
LH: Yeah, well said. I agree fully. It’s been an incredible year, an amazing battle and I’m grateful that I’ve had such a close battle with Max and his team. I think they’ve done an exceptional job and shown true strength and so it’s pushed us to the limit in ways that we needed and we, I think, have grown stronger as a team in ways we didn’t know that we could grow and yeah, it’s been amazing. I hope that we have many more seasons like this.
Q: (Jenna Fryer – AP) Max, the pole-sitter has won the last six races here, that would in theory put your first championship in sight. I’m wondering, you said you feel good, what would do the next 20-ish hours, in preparation, mentally and otherwise?
MV: I mean, first of all, I never look at these stats because these things can already change at the start or whatever, first lap, so I just need to focus on what we can control as a team and yeah, the coming hours… I think what’s most important is to have a good sleep, but also I have friends and family around, so I’m not going to do anything different to what I normally have been doing.
Q: (Ian Parkes – New York Times) Lewis, you just said a few minutes ago that you feel a million times better this time around compared to five years ago when you were battling with Nico. Could you just expand on that a little bit? Why is that? What is the difference for you this year?
LH: It’s not something that I particularly really want to go into but I’m just in a different place in life to in 2016, facing different resistance in life and yeah, this time we’re just in a much better and happier place.
Q: Lewis, are you a better driver now than you were in ’16?
LH: Yes. And team-mate.
Q: (Alex Kalinauckas – Autosport) Max, you mentioned that you discussed the tow plan with Checo, did you have a chance to practise it in the practice sessions before qualifying?
MV: No we didn’t. Checo and I said to ourselves we were confident to do it, just for that one run and that’s what we did.
Q: (Jenna Fryer – AP) Lewis, were you surprised by the boos?
LH: No, there’s a lot of orange here, so… Yeah, I think you’re always surprised by the boos, no matter how many times you experience it. But I don’t care, it doesn’t make no difference to me if it was a cheer or if it was a boo, makes no difference to how I go about my life, so it doesn’t affect me. If anything I use that as fuel so I’m grateful for it, one way or another.
Ends
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Hamilton quickest in FP2: Final GP to decide champ
Yas Marina (Abu Dhabi), 10 Dec 2021: Lewis Hamilton went quickest in second practice for Formula 1’s championship showdown at Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina circuit, with the seven-time champion finishing ahead of Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas.
Hamilton’s title rival Max Verstappen finished fourth, more than six tenths of behind the Briton as Kimi Raïkkönen crashed heavily in the final moments of the session.
Bottas set the early pace on medium tyres with a lap of 1:25.339. McLaren’s Lando Norris, on soft tyres, then took over in P1 with a time of 1:25.153, before Hamilton moved to the top of the order with a lap of 1:25.127.
After a slight lull, during which Norris briefly moved back to P1, Hamilton found more pace and retook P1 with a lap of 1:24.943 before working down to best of 1:24.126 as the firstr quarter of the hour passed. Hamilton’s best time put him nearly a second clear of Verstappen who had a lap deleted for exceeding track limits.
There was a nervouse moment for Bottas when his clipped the wall on the exit of Turn 14 but he was able to return to the pits to have the damage assessed.
The Finn soon retunred to the action on soft tyres but he was unable to better Hamilton’s medium tyres time, ending up 0.146s adrift. Bottas made another attempt, however, took top spot with a lap of 1:24.083.
Hamilton and Verstappen then appeared on the softs, but neither was able to better Bottas’ time. Ocon then delivered a surprise by posting a lao of 1:24.034 to take P1 for Alpine.
Verstappen went for anther lap but again couldn’t find sufficient pace. Hamilton made two further attempts and after falling short on his second attempt his third of 1:23.691 at last netted him P1 That put him 0.343s clear of Ocon, with Bottas 0.392s back and Verstappen down by 0.641s.
Sergio Pérez finished fifth in the second Red Bull, ahead of Alpine’s Fernando Alonso AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda, the Ferrari cars of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz and the second AlphaTauri of Pierre Gasly.
With just over one minute left on the clock Räikkönen crashed. The Finn lost the rear of his car in Turn 14 and he slide into the barriers severely damaging both ends of his Alfa Romeo. The session was red-flagged and was not restarted.
2021 FIA Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – Free Practice 2
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:23.691 26 227.164
2 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 1:24.034 0.343 29 226.236
3 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:24.083 0.392 29 226.105
4 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 1:24.332 0.641 25 225.437
5 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda 1:24.400 0.709 26 225.255
6 Fernando Alonso Alpine/Renault 1:24.495 0.804 27 225.002
7 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri/Honda 1:24.532 0.841 26 224.904
8 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:24.557 0.866 29 224.837
9 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:24.844 1.153 29 224.077
10 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri/Honda 1:24.940 1.249 27 223.823
11 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren/Mercedes 1:24.959 1.268 26 223.773
12 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:25.108 1.417 27 223.382
13 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:25.153 1.462 27 223.264
14 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:25.195 1.504 27 223.153
15 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:25.385 1.694 26 222.657
16 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:25.440 1.749 23 222.514
17 George Russell Williams/Mercedes 1:25.549 1.858 29 222.230
18 Nicholas Latifi Williams/Mercedes 1:25.687 1.996 22 221.872
19 Mick Schumacher Haas/Ferrari 1:25.784 2.093 27 221.621
a20 Nikita Mazepin Haas/Ferrari 1:26.336 2.645 26 220.204 -
Drama-filled maiden Saudi GP leaves title rivals level on points
Lewis Hamilton took his third consecutive victory for the first time this season in a drama filled first ever Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, ahead of title rival Max Verstappen in P2. Both title protagonists are level on points heading into the season finale. Valtteri Bottas completed the podium as he got past Esteban Ocon just before the finish line on the last lap.
London, 6 December 2021: Both Mercedes cars started on the front row with Max Verstappen starting in P3. Everyone got off to a clean start as the Silver Arrows maintained formation, Lewis Hamilton leading Valtteri Bottas. Bottas job was to keep Verstappen at bay behind in P3. Meanwhile, Charles Leclerc maintained P4 ahead of second Red Bull of Sergio Perez who was unable to pass the Monegasque.
The race turned over its head on lap 10 as Mick Schumacher hit the barrier at turn 23. A safety car was called out to neutralise the race as both Hamilton and Bottas pitted for hard tyres to save time while Verstappen stayed out and assumed the lead of the race. Soon the FIA red flagged the race, a controversial decision but nonetheless safety is paramount.It meant that Verstappen would get a free tyre change and would lead the grand prix when resumed.
Graphic by Pirelli It was a standing start as the racing resumed on lap 15. Hamilton got an electric start from P2 as he went past Verstappen. But the Dutchman broke late, going off at turn 1 and then cut in front of Hamilton at turn 2, as a result both ran wide and Verstappen maintained the lead while Esteban Ocon got past Hamilton for P2. Behind there was carnage. Perez was tagged by Leclerc as the Ferrari driver had no where to go. This incident wiped out Perez’s front wing and damaged the transmission. Further back, George Russell slowed to avoid the spinning Perez as Nikita Mazepin collided in the back of the Williams driver, spewing a large amount of debris.
Graphic by Pirelli Another red flag was called out as the marshals cleared the cars and track. Meanwhile in the pits, negotiations were taking place between FIA, Mercedes and Red Bull over Verstappen’s illegal move at the second start. Ultimately all parties deciding that Ocon would start on pole, Hamilton would inherit P2 and Verstappen would start P3.
Having had poor starts the first two times, Verstappen chose the medium tyres instead of hardsfor the third restart, to go to the end of the race and so did Bottas. Hamilton stuck to hard tyres as Mercedes thought they will have better wear compared to the mediums.
Once again, Hamilton had a better start compared to Ocon in P1. Hamilton tried to cover Ocon, but Verstappen dived down the inside, sandwiching Hamilton between himself and Ocon. Thus, Verstappen assumed the lead with Ocon in P2 and Hamilton in P3. Behind, Bottas tried to get past McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo. By the end of the lap Hamilton eased past Ocon and resumed his charge to catch Verstappen.
There were three virtual safety car periods between laps 28 and 36 to pick up debris from Sebastian Vettel’s Aston Martin as he and Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen came together resulting in carbon fiber confetti.
By the time VSC ended, Hamilton was within a second and hot on the heels of Verstappen. He got DRS and pulled alongside the Dutchman on the outside on lap 37. Going into turn 1, Hamilton was slightly ahead but Verstappen broke late and went wide, Hamilton to avoid collision went wide as well and joined the track at turn 2. Meanwhile, Verstappen simply cut turn 2 and emerged with a bigger lead than he had before. Hence, he was instructed to give the position back and the lead to Hamilton.
Hamilton shines under the moon in the first Saudi Arabian GP on Sunday. Pirelli photo It was a bizarre sight as Verstappen slowed down to let Hamilton by, but the Briton had no idea about that, hence, he slowed down a well. Both drivers not wanting to cross the DRS detection line first as the car behind would get DRS. Then Verstappen seemed to brake check Hamilton as the Mercedes’ front collided with the Red Bull’s rear. Post- race investigation of the incident resulted in Verstappen getting an additional 10s-time penalty. The resultant collision damaged Hamilton’s front wing but the wing did not lose its integrity.
Race control once again told Verstappen to give up the place on lap 42. The Dutchman did so at the last corner, but immediately overtook him. Hence, again the Red Bull driver was instructed to give up the position on lap 43. This time Hamilton pushed Verstappen wide at the last corner and maintained the lead. From here on Hamilton extended his lead as Verstappen suffered with higher tyre wear. He was further awarded a 5s time penalty for going off the track and gaining an advantage on lap 37- where he pushed Hamilton off the track as well. From there on Hamilton comfortably won the race, even with a damaged front wing while Verstappen consolidated P2. Bottas at the last moment won a drag race against Ocon as he clinched the final podium position.
The win plus fastest lap for Hamilton meant that he was equal on points with Verstappen heading into the season finale at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in a week’s time. Meanwhile, Mercedes extended their lead in the constructor’s championship to 28 points.
Ocon had to settle for P4 ahead of McLaren’s Ricciardo in P5, AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly outraced both Ferrari’s to finish P6 as Charles Leclerc finished P7 and Carlos Sainz finished P8. Outgoing Alfa Romeo driver Antonio Giovinazzi finished P9 ahead of Lando Norris in P10, the McLaren driver not finishing higher than ninth in the last four races.
Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll missed out on points as he finished in P11. Williams’ Nicholas Latifi crossed the line in P12 ahead of Alpine’s Fernando Alonso in P13. Yuki Tsunoda looked to score points but his coming together with Vettel meant he finished P14 ahead of Raikkonen in P15.
The non-finishers were Vettel, Perez, Mazepin, Russell and Schumacher.
Mercedes had the faster car in race trim but struggled to switch on the soft tyres in qualifying. They did lock out the front row owing to Verstappen’s crash into the last corner as he was up by more than two and a half tenths. Mercedes and Hamilton have now won the last three races and with Hamilton equal on points and the momentum with them, Silver Arrows have a good chance to wrap up both championships. Red Bull focused more on qualifying this weekend and it showed as they had a superior car in one lap pace. They were slower in the race compared to Mercedes as they had a straight-line speed deficit as well as medium tyres wore faster than the hards.
Alpine struggled with qualifying pace as their highest position was P9. But come race day they made the most of red flags and Ocon ran in the top three for majority of the race, Alonso struggled partly due to his electric deployment not working properly and then having a spin midway through the grand prix. McLaren once again struggled in qualifying compared to immediate rivals Ferrari but again made the best use of stoppages as Ricciardo was able to finish P5. Norris lost out on positions due to pitting under the safety car and then a red flag being deployed. He was also caught out on the Perez-Leclerc incident as he had to slow down and fell to the back of the grid. Ferrari showed tremendous qualifying pace, especially in the hands of Leclerc who outqualified Perez’s Red Bull. They had decent race pace as well, achieving another double points finish and looking like they have cemented P3 over McLaren in the constructor’s championship.
AlphaTauri’s Gasly showed superior race pace compared to the Ferrari cars as he finished in P6. Tsunoda too showed pace to finish in the top 10 had he not collided with Vettel. Alpine looked to have cemented P5 over AlphaTauri in the constructor’s championship. Aston Martin had a race to forget as they showed dismal qualifying pace, both cars getting knocked out in Q1 and no car finishing in points. Giovinazzi had a brilliant race for Alfa Romeo as they close the gap to Williams in Eighth with one race to go. Williams once again were unable to score points as they lacked pace to challenge the top 10. The Haas car struggle this weekend with it being difficult to drive around this high-speed circuit.
Saturday Qualifying Results were:
P1: Lewis Hamilton- 44 (Mercedes) P2: Valtteri Bottas- 77 (Mercedes) P3: Max Verstappen -33 (Red Bull) P4: Charles Leclerc- 16 (Ferrari) P5: Sergio Perez- 11 (Red Bull) P6: Pierre Gasly- 10 (AlphaTauri) P7: Lando Norris- 4 (McLaren) P8: Yuki Tsunoda- 22 (AlphaTauri) P9: Esteban Ocon- 31 (Alpine) P10: Antonio Giovinazzi- 99 (Alfa Romeo) P11: Daniel Ricciardo- 3 (McLaren) P12: Kimi Raikkonen- 7 (Alfa Romeo) P13: Fernando Alonso- 14 (Alpine) P14: George Russell- 63 (Williams) P15: Carlos Sainz- 55 (Ferrari) P16: Nicholas Latifi- 6 (Williams) P17: Sebastian Vettel- 5 (Aston Martin) P18: Lance Stroll- 18 (Aston Martin) P19: Mick Schumacher- 47 (Haas) P20: Nikita Mazepin- 9 (Haas) -
Williams Racing teams-up with 20th Century for The King’s Man movie
Leicester, 6 Dec 2021: To celebrate the upcoming release of “The King’s Man”, 20th Century Studios and MARV have teamed up with Williams Racing.
The film, which lands exclusively in cinemas in the UK on 26 December 2021, is the third instalment in the hit Kingsman franchise directed by Matthew Vaughn.
To launch the collaboration, a Williams Racing show car with special film branding is set to be unveiled at the World Premiere of “The King’s Man” in London’s Leicester Square on Monday 6 December 2021 and at the US Premiere in New York City on Monday 13th December.
Matthew Vaughn, Director of “The King’s Man”, said: “I fell in love with Formula One back in the eighties and will never forget heroes like Mansell, Hill, Prost and Senna driving the Williams cars. Also indelible from those memories is the presence of Sir Frank Williams; the astonishing force behind the team whose quiet rage and will-to-win was as evident as his gentlemanly approach to racing. Kingsman is proud to announce the new partnership with Williams Racing and we look forward to the future collaboration of two like-minded British institutions who believe in shouting quietly and redefining gentleman drivers.”
Following the premiere, the signature Kingsman style and flair will be brought to the Formula One Paddock at this weekend’s Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. George Russell and Nicholas Latifi will be on track in the FW43B, which will have a special The King’s Man logo displayed on the nose, chassis side and on the halo, for the season finale, with additional activations on race day to ensure George ends his final race for Williams Racing in style.
James Bower, Commercial Director at Williams Racing, said: “We’re delighted to begin our collaboration with 20th Century Studios and MARV by celebrating the launch of their new film ‘The King’s Man’. At Williams Racing we proudly embrace our British heritage, both on and off track, and this is a brilliant opportunity to collaborate with, and support, British cinema.”
“The King’s Man” releases in cinemas across the UK on 26 December.
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Hamilton wins, takes F1 Championship decider to final race in Abu Dhabi
Jaddah, 5 Dec 2021: Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen will go to the final race of the 2021 FIA Formula One World Championship level on points after the Mercedes driver beat the Red Bull driver to the top spot of the podium at the end in a hugely dramatic Saudi Arabian Grand Prix that featured two re-starts, one Safety Car period, numerous Virtual Safety Cars and a controversial collision that saw Hamilton run into the back of Verstappen’s car when the Red Bull driver tried to hand the lead to the Briton after being requested to do by race officials.
At the start of the race Verstappen made a good getaway from third place on the grid but ahead of him both Mercedes also made good starts and as the field headed towards Turn 1 Hamilton led ahead of Bottas and Verstappen. Behind them Sergio Pérez also got away well and almost made it past fourth-place starter Charles Leclerc but the Mexican locked up slightly into Turn 1 and that allowed Leclerc to pull back ahead and hold fourth as they exited Turn 2.
Having missed out on the opportunity to get past Leclerc at the start, Pérez then found himself lodged behind the Ferrari in the opening laps and losing time. And though he stayed in DRS range he couldn’t find a way past and by lap six he was 6.4 seconds behind Hamilton who sat 2.7s ahead of third-placed Verstappen.
The status changed on lap 10 when Mick Schumacher hit the wall. The Haas driver lost control on entry and slid sideways into the TecPro barriers at Turn 22. As the Safety Car was deployed Mercedes opted to pit Hamilton and the race leader took on hard tyres in a 2.8-second stop. Red Bull also pitted Pérez on the same lap.
Bottas briefly took the lead before pitting but Red Bull kept Verstappen on track and the Dutchman took the lead as Hamilton and Bottas slotted into second and third respectively. Behind the top three, Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo also stayed on track during the SC and they rose to fourth and fifth respectively with Leclerc, who pitted, dropping to sixth ahead of Pierre Gasly, who stayed out, and Pérez.
The race swung towards Verstappen on lap 14 when having examined the barriers damaged by Schumacher’s Haas, Race Control waved the red flags and the race was halted.
The cars streamed back to the pit lane, where under red flag rules, the Team was permitted to change Verstappen’s tyres. He would take the re-start from pole and on fresh rubber.
A standing re-start was decreed and when the lights went out it was again Hamilton who made the best getaway and he pulled ahead of Verstappen into Turn 1. Verstappen braked late and tried to hang on around the outside but he went off track as he took the lead. Verstappen’s move also allowed Ocon to sneak past Hamilton and steal second place.
But behind them chaos was unfolding. Starting from P8 Pérez got squeezed badly, though initially he managed to avoid contact with the cars on either side. However, there was nothing he could do when Leclerc tagged him, spinning the Red Bull into the wall. And the chaos continued when Haas’ Nikita Mazepin slammed into the rear of George Russell’s Williams and the red flags were flown again.
After the incident at the first re-start, Race Control promoted Ocon to first place with Hamilton seconds and with Verstappen directed to start from third place ahead of Ricciardo and Bottas.
When the lights went out for a third standing start, it was Verstappen who made the best start. The Red Bull driver moved to the inside and as the Mercedes driver tussled with Ocon Verstappen dived to the inside and slipped past his title rival in Turn 1. And with momentum on his side he then powered past Ocon on the run to Turn 3 to brilliantly take the lead.
The front pair then rapidly pulled away from the Alpine and by lap 25 Verstappen and Hamilton were 12 seconds clear of the chasing pack and battling in a completely different league than their rivals.
On lap 29, following an earlier collision between Yuki Tsunoda and Sebastian Vettel and then contact between Vettel and Räikkönen, the VSC was deployed to clear debris and Verstappen’s medium tyres were given a breather.
The drama continued on lap 37. Hamilton closed in and attacked on the pit straight. The rivals tangled in Turn 1 and Verstappen left the track as he held the lead. The Red Bull driver was told to cede the lead but when he slowed on track to do so, Hamilton, seemingly unaware that the instruction had been given, did not slow enough and slammed into the back of the Red Bull.
Verstappen powered away into the lead again but once more handed the place back. And after being handed a five-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, and with his tyres fading, Verstappen settled for second place.
Behind the top two, Valtteri Bottas beat Esteban Ocon out of the final corner to claim third place. With the Alpine driver fourth, fifth place went to Daniel Ricciardo and Pierre Gasly took sixth for AlphaTauri. Chalrtes Leclerc was seventh and Carlos Sainz eighth for Ferrari. Ninth place went to Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi and the final point went to McLaren’s Lando Norris.
2021 FIA Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix – Race
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 50 2:06’15.118
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 50 2:06’26.943 11.825
3 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 50 2:06’42.649 27.531
4 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 50 2:06’42.751 27.633
5 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren/Mercedes 50 2:06’55.239 40.121
6 Gasly AlphaTauri/Honda 50 2:06’56.731 41.613
7 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 50 2:06’59.593 44.475
8 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 50 2:07’01.724 46.606
9 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 50 2:07’13.623 58.505
10 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 50 2:07’16.476 1’01.358
11 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 50 2:07’32.330 1’17.212
12 Nicholas Latifi Williams/Mercedes 50 2:07’38.367 1’23.249
13 Fernando Alonso Alpine/Renault 49 1 lap
14 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri/Honda 49 1 lap
15 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 49 1 lap
Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin/Mercedes 44 Retirement
Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda 14 Retirement
George Russell Williams/Mercedes 14 Retirement
Nikita Mazepin Haas/Ferrari 14 Retirement
Mick Schumacher Haas/Ferrari 8 Retirement -
Hamilton continues to set the pace at F1’s new Jeddah Corniche circuit
Jeddah, 3 Dec 2021: Lewis Hamilton continued to set the practice pace at F1’s new Jeddah Corniche Circuit, beating team-mate Valtteri Bottas by six hundredths of a second as Ferrari’s Charles brought out red flags with a heavy crash at the end of the night-time session in Saudi Arabia. Championship leader Max Verstappen finished fourth almost two tenths of a second off Hamilton’s time.
But while the headline times appear to hand seven-time champion Hamilton a narrow advantage, neither he nor Verstappen got a clean qualifying simulation and the Mercedes driver topped the timesheet with an early best lap on medium tyres.
Verstappen led the way in the early running, setting a time of 1:30.104 on medium tyres. He quickly improved that to 1: 29.706 and then after a brief appearance in P1 by AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda, the Dutch driver climbed to the top again with a lap of 1:29.290.
Bottas then took top spot with a lap of 1:29.079 as the first third of the session ended only to be surpassed moments by Hamilton who posted a lap of 1:29.018.
With the halfway mark in sight, teams recalled their drivers to the pit lane to prepare for qualifying simulations.
Verstappen’s opening flyer was compromised by a major snap of oversteer in Turn 2 and he aborted to prepare for another attempt. Hamilton also lost his opening flying lap after being forced to avoid a slow Alfa Romeo in Turn 10 and he then aborted his second lap when he steered off track at the final corner when he encountered heavy traffic.
Despite compromised qualifying simulations, the Mercedes drivers then moved to long-run data gathering. Verstappen, though, was offered the opportunity to continue exploring performance runs and took it, telling his engineer that he didn’t care about long-run information. The Dutch driver was able to improve marginally on his earlier time and finished with a lap of 1:29.213, 0.195s behind Hamilton.
His lap was only good enough for fourth place in the session, however, as AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly snuck in with a lap of 1:29.099 to claim P3. Any further opportunities for very late improvements were denied by Ferrari’s Leclerc, however.
With five minutes remaining the Monegasque driver crashed heavily at Turn 22. He lost the rear of his car on entry to the corner and slid across the short run-off. He slapped the barriers hard with the right-rear and pivoted to repeat the collision with the front right corners. The Ferrari driver was able to climb out quickly and the session was red-flagged and not restarted.
2021 FIA Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix – Free Practice
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:29.018 22 249.684
2 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:29.079 0.061 23 249.513
3 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri/Honda 1:29.099 0.081 22 249.457
4 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 1:29.213 0.195 20 249.138
5 Fernando Alonso Alpine/Renault 1:29.441 0.423 21 248.503
6 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 1:29.555 0.537 22 248.187
7 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:29.589 0.571 24 248.092
8 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri/Honda 1:29.597 0.579 20 248.070
9 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda 1:29.768 0.750 22 247.598
10 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:29.772 0.754 23 247.587
11 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren/Mercedes 1:29.968 0.950 22 247.047
12 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:30.004 0.986 19 246.949
13 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:30.110 1.092 23 246.658
14 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:30.276 1.258 24 246.204
15 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:30.442 1.424 22 245.753
16 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:30.502 1.484 22 245.590
17 George Russell Williams/Mercedes 1:30.506 1.488 24 245.579
18 Mick Schumacher Haas/Ferrari 1:30.652 1.634 20 245.183
19 Nicholas Latifi Williams/Mercedes 1:31.039 2.021 23 244.141
20 Nikita Mazepin Haas/Ferrari 1:31.629 2.611 20 242.569 -
Sir Frank Williams passes away
The FIA has paid tribute to Formula 1 legend Sir Frank Williams who passed away this morning at the age of 79.
Across a six-decade career in motor sport the founder of the William F1 team won nine FIA Formula One World Championship Constructors’ titles and seven Drivers’ titles, scoring 114 grand prix victories and 128 pole positions along the way.
The news of his death was announced this morning in a statement issued by the Williams team.
“It is with great sadness that on behalf of the Williams family, the team can confirm the death of Sir Frank Williams CBE, Founder and Former Team Principal of Williams Racing, at the age of 79,” Williams said in a statement. “After being admitted into hospital on Friday, Sir Frank, passed away peacefully this morning surrounded by his family.
“Today we pay tribute to our much loved and inspirational figurehead. Frank will be sorely missed. We request that all friends and colleagues respect the Williams family’s wishes for privacy at this time.”
Paying tribute to Sir Frank, FIA President Jean Todt said: “Very sad news. Sir Frank Williams leaves a lasting impression on the history of F1. He was a pioneer, an exceptional personality and an exemplary man. On behalf of the entire FIA Community, our thoughts are with his family, friends and Williams Racing. Rest in peace, my friend.”
Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali said the sport had lost a “much loved and respected member” of the F1 family.
“He was a true giant of our sport that overcame the most difficult of challenges in life and battled every day to win on and off the track,” Domenicali said. “His incredible achievements and personality will be with etched on our sport forever. My thoughts are with all the Williams family and their friends at this sad time.”
Born in the north east of England in 1942, Frank Williams founded Frank Williams Racing Cars in 1966 and competed in Formula 2 and Formula 3 with a number of promising driver, including Piers Courage. In 1969 the ambitious team boss purchased a Brabham BT26A with which Courage finished second in Monaco and at the US Grand Prix at Watkins Glen.
The following year he launched a brief partnership with Alejandro de Tomaso, running Courage in a Giampaolo Dallara-designed chassis but when Courage was killed in a crash at the Dutch Grand Prix Williams’ relationship with de Tomaso foundered. Williams continued to race in F1 with intermittent success in the following years, running drivers such as Tim Schenken, Brian Redman, Henri Pescarolo, Carlos Pace, Jacky Ickx and Jaques Laffite but by 1976 the team was in financial difficulties and when a partnership with Canadian businessman Walter Wolff resulted in a loss of control, Williams left the organisation.
In early 1977 Frank and a young engineer he had hired named Patrick Head established Williams Grand Prix Engineering. The new team made its F1 debut at the 1977 Spanish Grand Prix, with Patrick Neve driving its single car.
Williams’ first F1 victory came just two years later, at the 1979 British Grand Prix , courtesy of Clay Regazzoni and scored five overall that year. Carrying momentum into the following campaign, Alan Jones brought the team its first Drivers’ title in 1980 while Carlos Reutemann helped the team to its first Constrictors’ Crown.
A second team title arrived in 1981, while Keke Rosberg won the 1982 World Championship. In 1983 the team began a new relationship with Honda which would lead to Constructors’ World Championship success in 1986 and 1987, with Nelson Piquet taking the 1987 Drivers’ title.
Tragedy struck in March 1986 when Williams was severely injured in a road crash near the Paul Ricard circuit and was left tetraplegic. Undaunted, he returned to mastermind Williams’ most successful era.
The Williams-Honda team was dominant in 1986 and 1987 with Nelson Piquet and Nigel Mansell and after Honda departed for McLaren, a new partnership with Renault was even more successful with the team winning World Championships in the early 1990s with Nigel Mansell and Alain Prost.
There was further tragedy in 1994 when Ayrton Senna was killed at Imola but Williams recovered and continued its winning streak with Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve, both of whom became World Champions in 1996 and 1997 respectively.
While the 1997 title remains Williams’ most recent, it continued to win grands prix throughout the first decade of his century and scored its most recent at the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix,
Williams was awarded a CBE for his services to motor racing in 1987 and was knighted in January 1999.
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Alonso, takes podium after 7 years; Hami takes win
Lewis Hamilton took a dominant victory in the first ever Formula 1 Qatar Grand Prix, as title rival Max Verstappen recovered from a grid penalty to finish P2 ahead of Alpine’s Fernando Alonso completing the podium, the Spaniard appearing on the podium after 105 races and seven years.
London, 22 Nov. 2021: There was drama before the start of the race as Max Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas were handed out grid penalties for ignoring double and single waved yellow flags respectively. Hence, Verstappen started P7 and Bottas started P6. This left Lewis Hamilton on pole alongside Pierre Gasly in P2 and Fernando Alonso in P3. Hamilton was starting on medium tyres compared to the other two, who had soft tyres.
Hamilton got off to a clean start covering Gasly and Alonso, hence, he maintained the lead. Alonso swooped around the outside of Gasly in turn 2 to take P2 in the race. Behind the early leaders, Verstappen had a fast start as he got past Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris and was already on the tail of Gasly. Meanwhile, Bottas who had started P6 was down to P11 due to a poor getaway at the start. Similarly, Sebastian Vettel who started P10, dropped down to P17.
Hamilton extended his lead at the front as Verstappen made his way through the field. First the Dutchman cleared Gasly and then got past Alonso to settle in P2 by lap 5. Hamilton meanwhile led by around 4s. Red Bull’s Sergio Perez who started P11 was up to P6 by lap 11. Bottas was given the hurry up by Toto Wolff to be on Perez’s tail as the Finn was stuck in P11. He managed to clear Yuki Tsunoda and Lance Stroll by lap 10.
Losail Pit stop graphic by Pirelli 21Nov.2021 Hamilton was increasing his lead, now around 7s to Verstappen who in turn was 22s ahead of Alonso, a pit stops worth of gap. Red Bull made duly use of that as they pitted Verstappen at the end of lap 17 for hard tyres. Mercedes covered him as they pitted Hamilton for the same on the next lap, though Hamilton wished to go longer. Gasly was the first person to pit among the top 10, getting rid of the soft tyres on lap 13 for mediums, ensuring that he was on a two-stop strategy.
By the time race reached its halfway distance, Hamilton maintained his lead ahead of Verstappen with now Bottas in third as he was yet to make his first pitstop. Behind him were Perez, Alonso, Gasly, Norris, Esteban Ocon, Stroll and Sainz.
It was bad luck for Bottas as his left front medium tyre got punctured and delaminated on lap 33 as he slid into the gravel before recovering and limping to the pits. This incident reminiscent of the 2020 British Grand Prix. All the teams were on the lookout for their tyre situation after Bottas’ issue.
Verstappen pitted for a second time on lap 41 for medium tyres as Red Bull did not want to risk a puncture like Bottas. Hamilton followed suit the next lap and emerged in the lead. Perez too was pitted for precaution as he dropped down from P3 to P7 with 15s to make up if wanted to get on the podium, currently Alonso running in P3.
Bottas retired on lap 50 due to car damage after his tyre failure. The tyre issues resurfaced as the Williams duo of George Russell and Nicholas Latifi suffered left front tyre failures on lap 50 and lap 52 respectively. Latifi was unable to get to the pits and hence, a virtual safety car was deployed with five laps to go. Verstappen pitted for a set of soft tyres to take the extra fastest lap point during this time.
Hamilton dominated for the second consecutive weekend as he dominated the race with a lights to flag victory and in the process cutting down Verstappen’s championship lead from 14 to 8 points with two races remaining. All Verstappen could do was damage limitation in P2. Alonso had finally achieved his podium after his last one coming seven years prior, helping Alpine go ahead of AlphaTauri in the constructor’s championship. This was helped by the fact that Ocon finished P5. Perez was unable to snatch the podium off Alonso owing to the late Virtual Safety car and had to settle for P4. Aston Martin’s Stroll got one of his best results of the season in P6 ahead of Ferrari duo of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc in P7 and P8 respectively. Lando Norris finished in P9 after running in P6 for most of the race. The Briton suffering a left front tyre failure as well, but McLaren pulled him into pits right on time. Vettel completed a double points finish for Aston Martin in P10.
Longest stint PirelliGraphic 21nov21 Gasly missed out on points after starting on the front row as McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo finished behind in P12, his third consecutive scoreless race. Yuki Tsunoda finished in P13 ahead of outgoing Alfa Romeo duo of Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi. Williams’ George Russell finished in P17, sandwiched between Haas cars of Mick Schumacher in P16 and Nikita Mazepin in P18. Two retirees from the race were Nicholas Latifi and Bottas, both victim to the left front tyre failures.
Mercedes for a second race weekend in a row had superior pace to Red Bull and were dominant in the race. Albeit this time in Qatar they did not exhibit the monstrous straight line speed advantage that they had in the previous races. With Bottas having a DNF Mercedes lost some ground in the constructor’s championship while Hamilton cut down Verstappen’s lead. With the wind in Mercedes’ sails, it remains to be seen if they can show the same performance in the last two races of the season. Red Bull lacked overall pace against Mercedes, in qualifying and race. It was not helped by the fact that Perez was knocked out of Q2 and had to start P11. Red Bull have also threatened to protest against Mercedes’ straight-line speed, specifically the rear wing as the Austrian squad thinks there is something illegal with their rival’s car.
Once again AlphaTauri showed the best qualifying pace of any midfield team in the hands of Gasly and both cars making it into Q3. A slower strategy by the team meant they lost out on points and a constructor’s position to Alpine. Alpine looked racy and on pace since arriving in Qatar as they got a podium and a double points finish. They were unchallenged in the race by other midfield teams, especially McLaren and Ferrari as the French squad exhibited superior race pace. Aston Martin achieved a double points finish as well with Stroll having an understated yet solid drive to P6. Vettel lost positions at the start but was able to recover to P10 showing the decent pace of AMR01.
McLaren had arguably the second fastest car in the midfield behind Alpine in Qatar, evident by Norris running in P6 for most of the race before suffering a puncture. He recovered to P9, meanwhile teammate, Ricciardo had a dismal qualifying and was unable to reach points. McLaren yet again lost out to Ferrari in the constructor’s championship. Ferrari too had a disappointing weekend as they suffered pitstop issues with Sainz and Leclerc’s damaged Chassis meant he lacked the pace throughout. They were relieved as McLaren were unable to outscore them in the constructor’s championship.
Both Williams cars fell foul to the tyre issues as their hopes for any points finishes diminished. Alfa Romeo had a dismal qualifying with both cars getting knocked out of Q1. They recovered some positions but were ultimately unable to challenge for points. Both Haas drivers seemed to have grown their confidence in the car but Mazepin suffered a number of reliability issues this weekend and hence, was off the pace.
Saturday Qualifying Results were:
P1: Lewis Hamilton- 44 (Mercedes) P2: Max Verstappen- 33 (Red Bull) P3: Valtteri Bottas- 77 (Mercedes) P4: Pierre Gasly- 10 (AlphaTauri) P5: Fernando Alonso- 14 (Alpine) P6: Lando Norris- 4 (McLaren) P7: Carlos Sainz- 55 (Ferrari) P8: Yuki Tsunoda- 22 (AlphaTauri) P9: Esteban Ocon- 31 (Alpine) P10: Sebastian Vettel- 5 (Aston Martin) P11: Sergio Perez- 11 (Red Bull) P12: Lance Stroll- 18 (Aston Martin) P13: Charles Leclerc- 16 (Ferrari) P14: Daniel Ricciardo- 3 (McLaren) P15: George Russell- 63 (Williams) P16: Kimi Raikkonen- 7 (Alfa Romeo) P17: Nicholas Latifi- 6 (Williams) P18: Antonio Giovinazzi- 99 (Alfa Romeo) P19: Mick Schumacher- 47 (Haas) P20: Nikita Mazepin- 9 (Haas) Note: Verstappen’s fastest Q3 time of 1:21.282 was deleted for a yellow-flag infringement. Bottas and Verstappen penalised 3 and 5 grid places respectively for yellow-flag infringements during qualifying.
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Hamilton wins from P10, says one of his finest wins
Lewis Hamilton took an emphatic victory after receiving multiple grid penalties and labeling it as one of his finest drives of his career. With the victory he closed up the championship battle as Max Verstappen finished second on the road and Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas completed the podium.
London, 15 November 2021: Lewis Hamilton started the race P10 after finishing P5 for the sprint qualifying- starting last (P20) for the sprint qualifying due to his car failing rear wing technical requirement. Mercedes chose to take a new Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) for Hamilton, hence, the Briton getting a five place. Teammate Valtteri Bottas started on pole as title rival Max Verstappen started alongside on the front row.
Verstappen returned the favour to Bottas as he stole the lead of the race from Bottas by virtue of a better launch off the grid- Bottas doing the same in sprint qualifying. Behind Perez made it past Bottas into turn 4 making it a Red Bull one-two, the worst possible start for Mercedes. Meanwhile, at the start Lando Norris had a better start than Ferrari rival Carlos Sainz. He tried to sneak past Sainz on the outside but brushed his rear tyres against Sainz’s front giving Norris a puncture and dropping to last place as he nursed his car back to the pits.
By the end of lap 1, Hamilton was already in P6. By lap 4 he was already past Sainz and Charles Leclerc, with only 2s behind teammate Bottas. Bottas dulylet him by on lap 5 to go and attack Perez and Verstappen.Behind, AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda made an ambitious lunge on Lance Stroll resulting in the Japanese rookie losing his front wing and the Aston Martin car shedding its aerodynamic bodywork on the track. A safety car was called out to clear out the debris.
Racing resumed on lap 10 with Red Bull still holding one-two and Hamilton fast in pursuit of them. On lap 18 Hamilton got a good run on Perez on the start finish straight as he broke late and overtook the Mexican. But Perez got a better run out of the opening corners and returned the favour on the back straight to Hamilton. A lap later Hamilton went past Perez on the main straight, this time holding position as Verstappen was 3.8s ahead in the lead.
Hamilton pitted first to undercut Verstappen on lap 26 for a set of hard tyres. Verstappen followed suit on the next lap as he emerged only 1.6s ahead of Hamilton this time, the Briton hot on his tail. Behind Perez pitted on lap 28 as he was in a fight with Bottas for P3. Another Virtual Safety Car (VSC) was deployed on lap 30 to clear debris left by Stroll’s car. This helped Bottas pit and emerge ahead of Perez in P3.
Verstappen lead by about a second before the Dutchman bit the bullet first this time around to avoid the undercut from Hamilton and pittedat the end of lap 40 for another set of hard tyres. Bottas pitted on lap 41 and Perez on lap 42 for their respective second pitstops. Meanwhile, Hamilton carried on for three more laps than his championship rival, finally pitting at the end of lap 43 for hard tyres and emerging in P2 1.5s behind Verstappen. The undercut was not particularly powerful around the Interlagos track.
Hamilton turned up the pace on lap 48 as he closed in on Verstappen and attempted to get past around the outside of turn 4. Verstappen was not having any of it as he broke late and forced both Hamilton and himself wide and off the track. The incident was reported to stewards as they deemed it not necessary for investigation. Hamilton responded on the radio saying “of course”, unhappy with the steward’s decision.
Hamilton stuck on Verstappen’s tail hovering around under 1s behind.Hamilton trying the same move in turn 4 as Verstappen weaved on track to break the slipstream. This time Hamilton bided his time not lunging on the outside, instead waiting for the next lap. Once again the Briton getting a much better exit than the Dutchman out of the opening set of corners as they raced down towards turn 4. This time Hamilton made the move stick, completing it even before they reached turn 4 as the crowd went euphoric with this move.
The epic comeback was complete as Hamilton overcame not one but two grid penalties to win the Sao Paulo Grand Prix with Red Bull having no answer to his and Mercedes’ pace. For Verstappen it was damage limitation as his championship lead was reduced to 14 points. Bottas completed the podium which helped Mercedes pull 11 points clear of Red Bull in the constructor’s championship with Perez finishing in P4, albeit taking the fastest lap on the last lap and with that an extra championship point.
In the midfield Ferrari duo of Leclerc and Sainz finished in P5 and P6 respectively, increasing their lead over McLaren in the constructor’s championship to 31.5 points as Norris was the sole McLaren that got points in P10. AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly finished in P7, ahead of Alpine’s duo of Esteban Ocon in P8 and Fernando Alonso in P9. Alpine and AlphaTauri tied on points in the constructor’s championship with this result.
Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel just missed out on points by 1.2s as he finished in P11 ahead of Kimi Raikkonen of Alfa Romeo, the Finn winning his 2007 championship at the same track. Williams’ George Russell finished in P13 and teammate Nicholas Latifi finished in P16. Antonio Giovinazzi finished in P14 with his Alfa Romeo seat for next year still uncertain while AlphaTauri rookie Tsunoda finished in P15. Haas’ Nikita Mazepin outraced teammate Mick Schumacher as they finished P17 and P18 respectively. Stroll had to retire due to extensive damage to his car after contact with Tsunoda while McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo retired due to a power unit issue, a worrying sign for Mercedes.
Mercedes had the outright pace on this track over Red Bull, especially mega straight-line speed compared to the Austrian team, enabling Hamilton to do an impressive comeback. Mercedes dominated qualifying while they had the faster race car as well, as evident by Hamilton getting past Verstappen and finishing 10.4s ahead in the lead. Red Bull could not match Mercedes’ pace especially on the straights and hence, were vulnerable to their chief rivals. It remains to be seen if Mercedes will hold this advantage going into the last three races of the season or will Red Bull be faster as they have been for more than two-thirds of the season.
Ferrari cemented their position in P3 in the constructor’s championship as they had a faster car than AlphaTauri and McLaren, especially in race pace, helped in part by their new hybrid system introduced a few races ago. AlphaTauri showed best in midfield qualifying pace again in the hands of Gasly, but lost out in the sprint race to the Ferrari cars. Gasly still managed to outrace the McLaren and more importantly the Alpine cars with whom they are tied in the constructor’s championship. McLaren had another disaster race as they lost yet more ground to Ferrari in the constructor’s championship. Ricciardo retired due to reliability problems and Norris suffered puncture on lap 1. They may have had the pace to challenge the squad from Maranello but these problems meant they have only scored two points in the last two races.
Alpine had a positive weekend as both cars finished in the points and they are still locked in for a fight in the constructor’s championship with AlphaTauri. Aston Martin had race pace similar to Alpine but with the midfield being tight and being difficult to overtake they finished just outside the points. Alfa Romeo too had decent race pace as Raikkonen after starting from the pitlane managed to finish P12, gaining eight positions in the process.
Williams had another scoreless weekend but achieved their best result of P13 with Russell in the last four races. An encouraging result going into the last three races of the season as they still head Alfa Romeo in the constructor’s championship. Haas’ Mazepin outraced teammate Schumacher for the first time in a long while. Both drivers had positive feedback of the car on this track, a rarity for Haas in such a difficult season for the American team.
Saturday Sprint Qualifying results were:
P1: Valtteri Bottas- 77 (Mercedes) P2: Max Verstappen- 33 (Red Bull) P3: Carlos Sainz- 55 (Ferrari) P4: Sergio Perez- 11 (Red Bull) P5: Lewis Hamilton- 44 (Mercedes) P6: Lando Norris- 4 (McLaren) P7: Charles Leclerc- 16 (Ferrari) P8: Pierre Gasly- 10 (AlphaTauri) P9: Esteban Ocon- 31 (Alpine) P10: Sebastian Vettel- 5 (Aston Martin) P11: Daniel Ricciardo- 3 (McLaren) P12: Fernando Alonso- 14 (Alpine) P13: Antonio Giovinazzi- 99 (Alfa Romeo) P14: Lance Stroll- 18 (Aston Martin) P15: Yuki Tsunoda- 22 (AlphaTauri) P16: Nicholas Latifi- 6 (Williams) P17: George Russell- 63 (Williams) P18: Kimi Raikkonen- 7 (Alfa Romeo) P19: Mick Schumacher- 47 (Haas) P20: Nikita Mazepin- 9 (Haas) Note – Hamilton penalised 5 grid places for use of additional power unit element. Raikkonen required to start from the pit lane, as car modified whilst under Parc Ferme conditions.
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Hamilton delivers superb come-back drive
Sao Paulo, 14 Nov 2021: Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton completed a stunning recovery from disqualification in qualifying and an engine-related grid penalty to win the São Paulo Grand Prix ahead of Red Bull’s championship leader Max Verstappen. Valtteri Bottas completed a podium double for Mercedes with third place ahead of Sergio Pérez, who rescued a point back from Hamilton with the fastest lap on the final tour of the race.
When the lights went out at the start both Red Bulls got good starts and Verstappen was able to pull alongside pole sitter Bottas and the muscle his way past in Turn 1. Pérez profited from a poor start by Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz to slip through from fourth on the grid to third place. Sainz was then tagged by Norris who passed the Spaniard around the outside, with the result that Charles Leclerc advanced to fourth.
Further back Hamilton was on a march. On Saturday morning the Briton had been disqualified from qualifying for a rear wing irregularity but powered through the pack in the Sprint to claim fifth place. That left him with a 10th-place grid spot due to an penalty for taking a new ICE ahead of the weekend.
The set-backs were no obstacle to the Mercedes driver however and after the start he picked up four places on the first lap. By lap four he was up to fourth after passing Leclerc and that became third as Bottas eased off at the start of the next tour and Hamilton swept around the outside into Turn 1 to take third place.
He then was allowed to close right up to Pérez when the race was briefly neutralised. AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda collided with Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and the Japanese driver lost his front wing. With debris at the side of the track the Safety Car was deployed and the field bunched.
When the track was green-flagged again at the start of lap 10, Verstappen and Pérez resisted a challenge from Hamilton to hoid the top two positions ahead of the Mercedes, with the Ferraris of Leclerc and Sainz in fifth and sixth respectively.
Soon after, however, the Virtual Safety Car appeared when Mick Schumacher’s Haas shed its front wing and more debris was deposited on the track. When the caution ended the Red Bulls once again held their positions, though this time Pérez was under more pressure from Hamilton.
And at the end of lap 17 the Mexican driver could resist no more. Hamilton closed through the final corner and under DRS passed the Red Bull driver around the outside to take P3.
However, in doing so, the Briton went slightly wide and got a poor exit. Pérez closed in on the long run to Turn 4 and retook the position with a good move. Hamilton was also not in the mood to give up and he closed one more time to pass the Red Bull for the final time and take second place.
Mercedes went for the undercut at the end of lap 26. Hamilton arrowed into the pit lane and took on hard tyres in a 2.4s stop. Red Bull responded by bringing Verstappen in at the end of the next lap and when he had taken on hard tyres he was just able to rejoin ahead of Hamilton whose progress was being hampered by
McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo. The gap between the front pair was now just 1.7s.
Pérez pitted soon after for hard tyres but just after his stop the VSC was deployed again when elements from the rear of Stroll’s car broke off. That allowed Mercedes to pit Bottas and with the caution requiring the Red Bull to run slowly, Bottas was able to steal third place.
Max soon radioed through to ask the team to avoid an undercut in the next stop and just 14 laps after his first visit to pit lane the Dutchman headed in for another set of hard tyres. Bottas pitted on the next tour, followed by Pérez and then, at the end of lap 43, Hamilton made his final stop, taking on hard tyres but when he emerged Verstappen was again ahead.
Hamilton began to close in, however, and on lap 48 having got a good exit out of the final corner and drawn close into Turn 1, the Mercedes driver attacked into Turn 4. He drew alongside Max but the Dutchman braked later and just held on. Both cars went off into the run off area but resumed safely. The stewards noted the incident but quickly ruled that no investigation was necessary.
Hamilton attacked again on lap 58. This time Max was forced to defend more robustly and though he held the lead he was later given a black and white flag for weaving. Next time round, though, there was no way to hold off the challenge and with another good exit out of the Senna S Hamilton used DRS to power past the Dutch drive as they approached Descido do Lago.
And there the battle was decided. Armed with greater straight line speed Hamilton quickly built a lead as Max backed off in the final laps, settling for second place and damage limitation.
However, with Hamilton holding the fastest lap, Red Bull used Perez’s substantial advantage to fifth-placed Leclerc to pit the Mexican and go for the fastest lap. And the Mexican duly posted a time of 1:11.010 to steal the precious championship point from Hamilton.
Behind Leclerc, sixth place at the flag went to Sainz, with AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly seventh. Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso were eighth and ninth respectively and the final point on offer went to McLaren’s Lando Norris.
In the battles for the titles, Max now leaves Brazil with his lead in the Drivers’ cut to 14 points, while in the Constructors’ championship Mercedes now lead by 11 points.
2021 FIA Formula 1 São Paulo Grand Prix – Race
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 71 1:32’22.851
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 71 1:32’33.347 10.496
3 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 71 1:32’36.427 13.576
4 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda 71 1:33’02.791 39.940
5 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 71 1:33’12.368 49.517
6 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 71 1:33’14.671 51.820
7 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri/Honda 70 1:32’27.043 1 lap /4.192
8 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 70 1:32’43.369 1 lap /20.518
9 Fernando Alonso Alpine/Renault 70 1:32’43.860 1 lap /21.009
10 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 70 1:32’46.857 1 lap /24.006
11 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin/Mercedes 70 1:32’48.145 1 lap /25.294
12 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 70 1:32’53.939 1 lap /31.088
13 George Russell Williams/Mercedes 70 1:33’20.939 1 lap /58.088
14 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 70 1:33’23.413 1 lap /1’00.562
15 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri/Honda 70 1:33’27.652 1 lap /1’04.801
16 Nicholas Latifi Williams/Mercedes 70 1:33’31.663 1 lap /1’08.812
17 Nikita Mazepin Haas/Ferrari 69 1:32’58.069 2 laps /35.218
18 Mick Schumacher Haas/Ferrari 69 1:33’35.425 2 laps /1’12.574
Daniel Ricciardo McLaren/Mercedes 49 1:06’27.514 Power Unit
Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 47 1:04’21.731 Retirement
