INDIA in F1

Category: Formula 1

  • Yes, they are not F1 drivers, they are MotoGP riders

    Yes, they are not F1 drivers, they are MotoGP riders

    One of Formula 1’s most successful-ever teams welcomes MotoGP defending champ Mir and Suzuki teammate Rins for a tour ahead of the British GP

    Silverstone, 26 August 2021: Ahead of action stations at Silverstone for the Monster Energy British Grand Prix, Team Suzuki Ecstar riders Joan Mir and Alex Rins enjoyed a different kind of motorsport experience: a tour of Williams Racing. One of the most decorated teams in the history of Formula 1, Williams Racing were founded by motorsport legend Sir Frank Williams in 1977 and have won nine constructors’ titles, seven drivers’ titles and 114 Grands Prix so far. All in all, a perfect taste of British heritage and speed ahead of Mir and Rins taking on Silverstone on two wheels, with the riders getting to see some of the most emblematic Williams cars before trying their hand at some sim racing too. 

    The tour started with a look at the FW43B, which is the 2021 Williams Racing car driven by George Russell and Nicholas Latifi. An overview of the aerodynamics concept, fuel, engine and rear impact structure gave Mir and Rins a deeper delve into what makes these machines tick (and stick), before it was next stop: Experience Centre. 

    There the riders got to know the FW40, raced in 2017 by Felipe Massa. They also got a closer look at the steering wheel and the incredible array of different functions and buttons drivers have at their disposal before a look through the different tyre compounds used throughout an F1 weekend – two things where a shared experience of speed diverges for MotoGP™ riders and F1 drivers. 

    Mir and Rins then headed for the museum to see a little more of Williams’ incredible history, back to the start in the 1970s and even the very first winner: the FW07, driven by Clay Regazzoni to the team’s first Grand Prix victory in 1979 at the one and only Silverstone Circuit. From there the focus turned back towards the engineering side with the FW14B, the car that Nigel Mansell drove to the World Championship crown in 1992. The car was a gamechanger with its active ride suspension, again making for an interesting contrast between two and four wheels. 

    Next up Mir and Rins were shown the FW16, the car driven by legendary three-time F1 World Champion Ayrton Senna in 1994, before they then got to sit in the FW16B from the same season. The FW16B was driven by Damon Hill, who would go on to claim the crown with Williams in 1996. 

    After a trip to the Heritage Workshop to see how this incredible history is maintained and serviced, it was then time for Mir and Rins to get back to what they know best: racing. In the Williams E-Sports lounge, the two riders tried their hand at sim racing in an F1 car. Taking on Williams F1 Esport driver Alvaro Carreton and Team Suzuki Ecstar’s MotoGP™ eSport rider Cristian Montenegro, the virtual venue was – where else? – Silverstone. To round out the event they then put in a few laps on their GSX-RRs on the MotoGP™21 videogame to compare two and four wheels.

    That’s a wrap on an incredible experience for the reigning MotoGP™ team Champions. Make sure to tune in as Mir and Rins take on the behemoth that is Silverstone this weekend, with lights out for MotoGP™ set for 13:00 (GMT +1) on Sunday 29th August! 

  • Thrilling maiden F1 victory for Esteban Ocon: Race Analysis

    Thrilling maiden F1 victory for Esteban Ocon: Race Analysis

    By Malhaar Khaladkar

    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)
  • Vettel disqualified; Hami promoted to P2

    Vettel disqualified; Hami promoted to P2

    Sebastian Vettel has been excluded from the result of the Hungarian Grand Prix after his Aston Martin teams failed to provide sufficient fuel from his car after the race to meet regulations.

    According to the decision handed down by the FIA race stewards it was not possible to take a 1.0 litre sample of fuel from Vettel’s car after the race, stating that though “the team was given several opportunities to attempt to remove the required amount of fuel from the tank, however it was only possible to pump 0.3 litres out”.

    The stewards’ decision added: “During the hearing in presence of the FIA Technical Delegate and the FIA Technical Director the team principal of Aston Martin stated that there must be 1,44 litres left in the tank, but they are not able to get it out. This figure is calculated using the FFM or injector model.

    “Given this situation, car No. 5 is not in compliance with the requirements of Art. 6.6 FIA Technical Regulations. According to Art. 6.6.2 competitors must ensure that a 1.0 litre sample of fuel may be taken from the car at any time. The procedure was followed however the 1.0 litre sample of fuel was unable to be taken.

    “The Stewards determine to apply the standard penalty for technical infringements. Therefore they took into account, that it shall be no defence to claim that no performance advantage was obtained.”

    The decision therefore was that “Car 5 (Vettel) is disqualified from the results of the Race”.

    While Aston Martin have the right to appeal, Vettel’s exclusion from the result promotes Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton to second place in the result with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz claiming third. Haimilton will therefore will go into Formula 1’s summer break with an eight-point Driver’s Championship lead over Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, while Mercedes now lead the Constructors’ Championship with 303 points, 12 ahead of Red Bull.

  • Stunning maiden win for Esteban Ocon: Hungarian GP

    Stunning maiden win for Esteban Ocon: Hungarian GP

    Budapest, 1 August 2021: Alpine’s Esteban Ocon held of Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel to take a surprise maiden grand victory after collisions in turn one upset the order and brought out the red flags. Lewis Hamilton, meanwhile, fought back to third place after a tactical error at the restart left him in last place in the Round 11 of the Formula 1 World Championship on Sunday.

    Later, Vettel was disqualified and the rest of the nine drivers after him were promoted.

    At the start, held in drizzly conditions and with the field on intermediate tyres, Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas made a poor getaway from P2 on the grid and was passed by third-place starter Max Verstappen, the second Red Bull of Sergio Pérez and by McLaren’s Lando Norris, who moved in front of the Mercedes driver. 

    Bottas attempted to recover but when Norris appeared to brake slightly early to avoid trouble in Turn 1, the Finn driver locked up and ploughed into the back of the Englishman’s car. Norris cannoned into the side of Max’s RB16B with the championship leader’s car sustaining heavy damage to the floor. Bottas, meanwhile, bounced through the corner and collided with Pérez. 

    Seeing the incident unfolding, Lance Stroll tried to move to an inside line for Turn 1 but Charles Leclerc was already turning and the Aston Martin driver made heavy contact with the Ferrari driver who exited the race. The Safety Car was quickly deployed.

    Verstappen and Pérez were initially able to continue but midway thorugh the lap Pérez pulled over and retired from the race. Verstappen limped back to the pits for visual checks but as he rejoined his right bargeboard detached and with debris in the pit exit and scattered across Turn 1 the red flags were displayed.

    In the pit lane pole position man Lewis Hamilton held P1 for Mercedes ahead of Ocon and Vettel. Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was fourth ahead of AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda and Williams’ Niocholas Latifi was sixth. Alpine’s Fernando Alonso sat in seventh place ahead of Williams’ George Russell, the Alfa Romeo of Kimi Räikkönen and the Haas of Mick Schumacher, while ahead of the wounded RB16B of Verstappen at the restart would be AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly and McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo. 

    Race control informed the teams that a standing start would take place and the cars were led out of the pit lane by the safety car. The entire field went out for the formation lap on intermediate tyres but with the sun now rapidly drying the track it quickly became clear to all but Hamilton that slicks would be required. The race leader made his way to the front of the grid but behind him the entire field pitted to take on slicks. Hamilton was left alone on the grid to restart the race on his own. 

    As Hamilton powered away towards Turn 1, the rest of the order then filed out of the pit lane and took up position behind him. Mercedes immediately told Hamilton to pit at the end of the lap and Ocon soon took up the race lead ahead of Vettel and Latifi. 

    Hamilton dropped to P14 and last as Verstappen made his way to P11 but as Ocon and Vettel pulled away from the pack, the championship leaders struggled to get past rivals at the back of the field. 

    Verstappen  eventually made his way past Schumacher to claim P10 and that became ninth place when Räikkönen served a penalty for an unsafe release in the pit lane traffic ahead of the restart. Hamilton eventually made his way to P13 and then, on lap 20 he dived into the pits to take on hard tyres.

    Red Bull then pitted Verstappen for hard tyres, but with the Dutchman struggling for pace in his damaged car the undercut worked for Mercedes and Hamilton swept past as the Dutchman exited the pit lane. 

    Verstappen was now in 12th place just behind McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo. But even though the Red Bull driver could get inside DRS range of the McLaren, the Australian was getting a similar boost from George Russell ahead and the champion leader found himself stuck at the tail of a train of cars. 

    Ahead, Hamilton continued his march forward and by lap 35 he was in fifth place behind Alonso, who needed to make another pit stop. The Spaniard briefly took the race lead when Vettel and Ocon took on fresh tyres, with Ocon holding the advantage, but a lap later Alonso made his stop and Hamilton swept past to claim fourth place behind Sainz. The Briton was struggling for grip on his hard tyres, however and Mercedes opted to pit him for new mediums and a renewed assault. 

    Further back, Verstappen pitted to find a way out of the train and after taking on new medium tyres began to attack the cars ahead.

    Hamilton then began to reel in the top four and on lap 54 he was just 1.8s behind Alonso. Verstappen, meanwhile, has made his way past Räikkönen and was up to P11 and closed in on Ricciardo eventually getting past the Australian with 10 laps to go to secure P10 and a single point.

    Alonso’s defence against Hamilton eventually expired at the start of lap 65. The Alpine driver had a momentary lock up into Turn 1 and Hamilton pounced to steal P4 on the run down to Turn 2. The Mercedes driver quickly closed on Sainz and at the start of lap 67 he powered past the Ferrari to take third place. 

    And there the odder solidified. Vettel could find no way to mount an attack on Ocon and though Hamilton pressed hard to reel in the Aston Martin driver he couldn’t close the gap and after 70 laps Ocon crossed the line to take a memorable first grand prix win ahead of Vettel and Hamilton. 

    Fourth place went to Sainz, with Alonso a brave fifth ahead of Pierre Gasly, who took the point for fastest lap. Seventh place went to Yuki Tsunoda, while Williams celebrated their first points in two years thanks to Nicholas Latifi and George Russell’s finishing eighth and ninth respectively.

    Verstappen now goes into the break in P2 in the Drivers’ standings. Hamilton now leads on 192 points with Max six points behind. The team is now P2 in the Constructors’ 10 points behind Mercedes. 

    2021 FIA Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix – Race
    1 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 70 2:04’43.199
    2 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin/Mercedes 70 2:04’45.058 1.859
    3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 70 2:04’45.935 2.736
    4 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 70 2:04’58.217 15.018
    5 Fernando Alonso Alpine/Renault 70 2:04’58.850 15.651
    6 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri/Honda 70 2:05’46.813 1’03.614
    7 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri/Honda 70 2:05’59.002 1’15.803
    8 Nicholas Latifi Williams/Mercedes 70 2:06’01.109 1’17.910
    9 George Russell Williams/Mercedes 70 2:06’02.293 1’19.094
    10 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 70 2:06’03.443 1’20.244
    11 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 69 2:05’00.261 1 lap /17.062
    12 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren/Mercedes 69 2:05’12.032 1 lap /28.833
    13 Mick Schumacher Haas/Ferrari 69 2:05’21.793 1 lap /38.594
    14 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 69 2:05’22.828 1 lap /39.629
    Nikita Mazepin Haas/Ferrari 3 31’35.873 Collision
    Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 2 5’29.158 Collision
    Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 0 Collision
    Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda 0 Collision
    Charles Leclerc Ferrari 0 Collision
    Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 0 Collision

    Pirelli KEY MOMENTS

    • Alpine driver Esteban Ocon took his first ever Formula 1 win at a dramatic Hungarian Grand Prix, which originally started with all the field (apart from Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi) on Cinturato Green intermediates in wet conditions. A collision at the first corner brought out a red flag, during which teams were allowed to change tyres and repair any damage.
    • Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton, who led the field away for the re-start, was the only competitor to keep the intermediates and start from the grid, while all the other drivers came into the pits for medium tyres. Hamilton then pitted for mediums too at the end of the first racing lap following the re-start, rejoining last but eventually finishing third after an early switch to hard followed by a final run on mediums.
    • Ocon effectively re-started on the P Zero Yellow medium C3 tyre after the second formation lap and then switched to the P Zero White hard C2 on lap 37, one lap after Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel, who finished a close second on an identical strategy.
    • After record-breaking temperatures on Friday and warm conditions yesterday, the weather completely changed today with rain and 28 degrees ambient, plus 32 degrees of track temperature at the start of the race. The track then warmed up considerably after few laps, peaking at 40 degrees of asphalt temperature.

    Mercedes Session Report

    A race of high drama results in a P3 and a DNF for the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team at the 2021 Hungarian Grand Prix

    • Lewis completed a remarkable recovery drive to finish on the podium despite finding himself running last on lap five after an action-filled start to the race.
    • Valtteri suffered wheelspin in the heavy rain at the race start, losing position to the cars around him on entry to the first corner. He locked brakes and collided with NOR, sparking a multi-car accident with several cars suffering damage and a number of retirements, including Valtteri. Lewis was unscathed out-front.
    • The race was red-flagged and upon the standing restart, the Team chose to keep Lewis out on the Intermediate tyre and start from the grid, while the remainder of the field behind opted to pit for slick tyres and start from the pit lane.
    • On a rapidly drying track, Lewis was forced to pit just one lap later to fall in line with the other cars and found himself emerging from the pits 14th and last, with a mountain to climb.
    • Lewis carved his way through the field with a number of impressive overtakes to climb to fifth with a little over 10 laps to go, before encountering a stubborn ALO who defended strongly and cost Lewis precious time.
    • Eventually, Lewis made the pass on ALO and quickly dispatched SAI thereafter but ran out of laps and was forced to settle for a heroic P3, joining debut-winner OCO on the podium alongside VET in P2.
    • Lewis Hamilton (192 points) leads the Drivers’ Championship by 6 points from Max Verstappen (186) and Lando Norris in P3 (113), with Valtteri (108) in P4.
    • The Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team (300 points) lead Red Bull by 10 points in the Constructors’ Championship.

    Estaban Ocon: I don’t know what to write I’m lost for words, we just won the Hungarian @f1 Grand Prix i will forever remember this moment !!

    Thank you to @AlpineF1Team without them I would not have make it, and what a drive by the legend himself @alo_oficial he’s part of this too.

    Sebastian Vettel says; “Second place is a great result and we can be proud of our performance, but when you are that close to victory, you always want more. At the start of the race, I could see the contact ahead of me, so I took the inside line and found myself with the leading cars. From then on, I felt like I tried to take the lead for the entire 70 laps, but it is so difficult to overtake here. I think we were quicker for most of the race, but there was not enough of a difference to make an overtake because it was very hard to follow in the dirty air. I tried to pressure Esteban [Ocon] into a mistake, but he did not make a single one. Congratulations to Esteban, it is his day and I am very happy for him. He deserved the victory. I will sleep well tonight knowing I gave it my all. We have a good fight on our hands in the midfield with Alpine and AlphaTauri, so we will take the summer break to rest up and come back ready to fight in Belgium.”

    Lewis Hamilton says: First of all, I want to say a quick congratulations to the Alpine Team and to Esteban – he’s been a shining star for some time now so it’s been a long time coming and I’m really, really happy for him. It’s great to see Aston Martin up there with their best result so far and I know there’s more to come from them. We’ve had an amazing crowd this weekend and I’m grateful for the support.

     Today was definitely tough, it’s crazy to think we were the only ones on the grid at the start, but these things happen in an unpredictable race, and we will learn any lessons that need to be learnt. I gave it everything today and I had nothing left at the end. I came into this weekend not knowing how we would perform and considering the circumstances today, I’ll take P3!

  • Stunning lap gives Hamilton his 101st career pole

    Stunning lap gives Hamilton his 101st career pole

    Budapest, 31 July 2021: Lewis Hamilton will start tomorrow’s Hungarian Grand Prix from the front of the grid after he grabbed an emphatic 101st career pole position at the Hungaroring beating Mercedes’ team-mate Valterri Bottas by three tenths of ahead with championship leader Max Verstappen over four tenths of a second off the pace in third in the 11th round of the Formula 1 World Championship qualifying session here on Saturday.

    At the beginning of the hour-long qualifying session the expected frontrunners were quickly into action, with Bottas taking an early P1 with a lap of 1:16.610. However, he was soon demoted by Hamilton who stole top spot thanks to a lap of 1:16.424. Verstappen wasn’t far behind the Mercedes pair on track, though, and the Red Bull driver jumped ahead of both with his opening push lap of 1:16.214.

    Verstappen’s team-mate Sergio Pérez looked to be struggling, however.  The Mexican opened with a lap of 1:17.300 but as better laps flooded in he soon dropped to ninth place. He opted for a second attempt but only improved to 1:17.233 and still held ninth ahead of the final runs.

    Despite the risk to Pérez, Red Bull chose to keep both drivers in the garage for the final runs. And it proved the right choice as there were few improvements in the final moments and Verstappen held top sport as Pérez progressed in P11.

    Eliminated at the end of the first session were AlphaTauri’s Tsunoda in P16, Williams’ George Russell and Nicholas Latifi in P17 and P18 respectively and Haas’ Nikita Mazepin in P19. The Russian’s team-mate, Mick Schumacher, didn’t make it out on track in the session with Haas unable to repair his car following an earlier crash in FP3.

    At the start of Q2, Hamilton set the pace on medium tyres with a lap of 1:16.553. Verstappen also opted for mediums and slotted into P2 with a time of 1:16.769. However, the Dutchman was pushed to P3 as Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, on soft tyres, set an impressive time of 1:16.725.

    The session was then halted as Carlos Sainz lost control of his Ferrari in the final corner and slid into the barriers. The red flags were quickly displayed.

    After a short delay the action resumed and both Red Bulls mopved to soft tyres. Verstappen jumped to the top of the timesheet with a lap of 1:15.650 while Pérez went through to Q3 in P4 thanks to an improved time of 1:16.443. Both Mercedes drivers opted to back out of their final laps and after progressing in P6 and P8 will start on medium tyres.

    Eliminated at the end of Q2 were 11th placed Danile Ricciardo of McLaren, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Räikkönen and Antonio Giovinazzi and the unfortunate Sainz.

    In the first runs of Q3, Hamilton laid down a tough marker with an opening time of 1:15.419. Bottas followed on 1:15.734 and Max sat in P3 with an opening time of 1:15.984. Verstappen then improved on his final run but the  tenth of a second he found was not enough to trouble Hamilton and the Mercedes driver claimed pole position with Bottas second and Vrestappen third.

    Pérez claimed fourth place on the grid with his opening run time, while Pierre Gasly put in an impressive lap of 1:16.483 to take fifth place on the grid ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris. Leclerc will start seventh for Ferrari with Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and Fernando in eighth and ninth. The final top 10 position went to Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel.

    2021 FIA Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix – Qualifying
    1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:15.419 6 209.119
    2 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:15.734 0.315 0.418 6 208.249
    3 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 1:15.840 0.421 0.558 6 207.958
    4 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda 1:16.421 1.002 1.329 5 206.377
    5 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri/Honda 1:16.483 1.064 1.411 6 206.210
    6 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:16.489 1.070 1.419 6 206.194
    7 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:16.496 1.077 1.428 6 206.175
    8 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 1:16.653 1.234 1.636 6 205.753
    9 Fernando Alonso Alpine/Renault 1:16.715 1.296 1.718 6 205.586
    10 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:16.750 1.331 1.765 3 205.493
    11 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren/Mercedes 1:16.871 1.221 1.614 6 205.169
    12 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:16.893 1.243 1.643 6 205.110
    13 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:17.564 1.914 2.530 6 203.336
    14 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:17.583 1.933 2.555 3 203.286
      – Carlos Sainz Ferrari 2
    16 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri/Honda 1:17.919 1.705 2.237 8 202.410
    17 George Russell Williams/Mercedes 1:17.944 1.730 2.270 8 202.345
    18 Nicholas Latifi Williams/Mercedes 1:18.036 1.822 2.391 8 202.106
    19 Nikita Mazepin Haas/Ferrari 1:18.922 2.708 3.553 9 199.837

  • Valtteri Bottas tops FP2 ahead of Hamilton: Hungarian GP

    Valtteri Bottas tops FP2 ahead of Hamilton: Hungarian GP

    Hungaroring (Budapest, Hungary), 30 July 2021: Valtteri Bottas went quickest in the second practice session for Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix, shading team-mate Lewis Hamilton by two hundredths of a second as championship leader Max Verstappen finished three tenths of a second off the pace after struggling with handling issues.

    Earlier, Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen went quickest in the opening practice session for the Hungarian Grand Prix, outpacing Mercedes Valtteri Bottas by six hundredths of a second with Lewis Hamilton a further tenth of a second back in third place in the other Mercedes.

    In FP2, after an opening period in which Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc held way on medium tyres, Bottas moved to the front on the same compound with a lap of 1:18.376. Hamilton then moved into P2 three tenths of a second. Verstappen then emerged for his first run of the afternoon and he immediately split the Mercedes, with team-mate Sergio Pérez slotting into fourth place.

    Hamilton then found a solid gain ands rose to the top of the order with a lap of 1:18.140 that remained the quickest lap before the field began to switch to soft tyres for their qualifying simulations.

    Bottas bolted on a set of the red-banded tyres close to the half hour mark and he jumped to a time of 1:17.012 that remained the benchmark for the rest of the session.

    Hamilton almost bested his team-mate but though the seven-time champion was quicker in the final sector good work early on from Bottas gave him a slim edge on the timesheet.

    Verstappen, meanwhile, was busy trying to dial out persistent understeer but try as he might the championship leader couldn’t find a sweet spot with his RB16B and he had to settle for third place.

    Alpine’s Esteban Ocon have the Anglo-French squad hope of a good weekend with a lap of 1:17.759 that was good enough for fourth place ahead of Pérez who finished with a best time of 1:17.824.

    Pierre Gasly was sixth for AlphaTauri ahead of Fernando Alonso in the second Alpine while Sebastian Vettel put his Aston Martin in eighth place ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris and Aston Martin team-mate Lance Stroll.

    2021 FIA Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix – Free Practice 2
    1 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:17.012; 29 204.794
    2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:17.039; 0.027 27 204.722
    3 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 1:17.310; 0.298 24 204.004
    4 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 1:17.759 0.747 29 202.826
    5 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda 1:17.824 0.812 23 202.657
    6 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri/Honda 1:18.113 1.101 31 201.907
    7 Fernando Alonso Alpine/Renault 1:18.169 1.157 27 201.762
    8 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:18.228 1.216 31 201.610
    9 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:18.313 1.301 25 201.391
    10 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:18.320 1.308 30 201.373
    11 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:18.370 1.358 30 201.245
    12 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:18.441 1.429 32 201.063
    13 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren/Mercedes 1:18.737 1.725 26 200.307
    14 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:19.277 2.265 21 198.942
    15 George Russell Williams/Mercedes 1:19.292 2.280 29 198.905
    16 Nicholas Latifi Williams/Mercedes 1:19.479 2.467 30 198.437
    17 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri/Honda 1:19.671 2.659 3 197.959
    18 Mick Schumacher Haas/Ferrari 1:19.817 2.805 29 197.597
    19 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:20.186 3.174 28 196.687
    20 Nikita Mazepin Haas/Ferrari 1:21.881 4.869 28 192.616.

    Free Practice 1
    1 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 1:17.555 21 203.360
    2 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:17.616 0.061 26 203.200
    3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:17.722 0.167 25 202.923
    4 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:18.115 0.560 24 201.902
    5 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri/Honda 1:18.181 0.626 27 201.731
    6 Fernando Alonso Alpine/Renault 1:18.385 0.830 26 201.206
    7 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:18.391 0.836 23 201.191
    8 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda 1:18.466 0.911 20 200.999
    9 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:18.649 1.094 26 200.531
    10 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:18.755 1.200 25 200.261
    11 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 1:18.765 1.210 26 200.236
    12 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri/Honda 1:18.770 1.215 18 200.223
    13 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:18.989 1.434 22 199.668
    14 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren/Mercedes 1:19.265 1.710 27 198.973
    15 George Russell Williams/Mercedes 1:19.724 2.169 24 197.827
    16 Nicholas Latifi Williams/Mercedes 1:19.824 2.269 24 197.579
    17 Mick Schumacher Haas/Ferrari 1:20.383 2.828 26 196.205
    18 Robert Kubica Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:20.639 3.084 23 195.582
    19 Nikita Mazepin Haas/Ferrari 1:20.992 3.437 23 194.730
    20 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:21.889 4.334 5 192.597.

  • Hamilton claims fourth win as on-track collision ends Verstappen race

    Hamilton claims fourth win as on-track collision ends Verstappen race

    By Malhaar Khaladkar

    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.

  • Hamilton takes 8th British GP win despite penalty for Verstappen collision

    Hamilton takes 8th British GP win despite penalty for Verstappen collision

    Silverstone, 18 July 2021: Lewis Hamilton overcame a penalty for causing a lap one collision with Max Verstappen that ended the Red Bull driver’s race to take an eighth British Grand Prix win ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas in the Round 10 of the Formula 1 World Championship here on Sunday.

    Verstappen started the race from pole position and at the start the Dutchman made a good getaway to take the lead as the field streamed through the first corner. Hamilton, though, was quickly on the attack and though Verstappen resisted, the Mercedes driver attacked once again on the high-speed run to Copse. He went down the inside of the Red Bull and as Verstappen turned in the Mercedes clipped the right-rear wheel of the Dutchman’s car.

    Verstappen was sent off track at high speed and he hit the tyre barriers hard, severely damaging his car. Fortunately, Verstappen was able to climb out of his wrecked car and was taken to the medical centre and later to a nearby hospital for precautionary checks.

    With the tyre barrier severely damaged the race was soon red flagged and the race stewards quickly placed the incident under investigation.

    Under the red flag, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was in first place, the Ferrari driver having passed Hamilton on track in the immediate aftermath of the lap one incident. And after a 35-minute stoppage the cars formed up on the grid once again. 

    When the lights went out, Leclerc made a good getaway from pole position to take the lead ahead of Hamilton, with Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas third ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris. 

    At the back, Sergio Pérez took the restart from 19th place on the grid but he was quickly on the march and within a handful of laps he had climbed to 12th-place and was chasing down AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly, though his progress was halted as he joined a DRS train containing 10th-placed Kimi Räikkönen and 11th-placed Pierre Gasly.

    At the front, meanwhile, Hamilton was handed with a 10-second time penalty by the race stewards. Leclerc was now experiencing difficulties with his engine and that gave Hamilton hope that he might attack for the lead but the Ferrari driver managed to solve the issues with the aid of his pit wall. 

    Hamilton then made his way to the pit lane on lap 28. He served his time penalty and then switched to a set of hard tyres and rejoined in fifth place. Leclerc made his stop soon after and he was able to resume in the lead. 

    Further back, as the pit stops played out, Pérez rose to ninth but once again in a train of cars he was unable to salvage anything better for Red Bull. The result was that Sergio pitted again on lap 39 for another set of mediums and dropped back to P17.

    At the front, Hamilton had overcome his penalty with relative ease and he was pushing to catch Leclerc. The Monegasque driver resisted as hard as he could but with two laps remaining Hamilton, armed with fresher tyres and more pace, powered past to claim the lead and then the race win. 

    With Hamilton holding fastest and the point associated with it, the gap to Verstappen in the Driver’s standings would have been narrowed to just seven points. Red Bull therefor sacrificed Pérez’s hopes of clawing his way back to the points and pitted the Mexican for

    soft tyres. And in the closing moments he grabbed the fastest lap of the race to deny Hamilton and Mercedes.

    Behind Hamilton and Leclerc, Bottas took third place ahead of Norris, with Daniel Ricciardo fifth in the second McLaren. Carlos Sainz fought back from a slow pit stop to finish sixth in the second Ferrari, while Fernando Alonso took seventh place for Alpine. Lance Stroll finished eighth for Aston Martin ahead of Esteban Ocon and the final point was taken by AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda. 

    2021 FIA Formula 1 British Grand Prix – Race
    1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 52 1:58’23.284
    2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 52 1:58’27.155 3.871
    3 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 52 1:58’34.409 11.125
    4 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 52 1:58’51.857 28.573
    5 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren/Mercedes 52 1:59’05.908 42.624
    6 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 52 1:59’06.738 43.454
    7 Fernando Alonso Alpine/Renault 52 1:59’35.377 1’12.093
    8 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 52 1:59’37.573 1’14.289
    9 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 52 1:59’39.446 1’16.162
    10 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri/Honda 52 1:59’45.349 1’22.065
    11 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri/Honda 52 1:59’48.611 1’25.327
    12 George Russell Williams/Mercedes 51 1:58’23.643 1 lap /0.359
    13 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 51 1:58’28.035 1 lap /4.751
    14 6 Nicholas Latifi Williams/Mercedes 51 1:58’29.618 1 lap /6.334
    15 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 51 1:58’30.736 1 lap /7.452
    16 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda 51 1:58’35.676 1 lap /12.392
    17 Nikita Mazepin Haas/Ferrari 51 1:59’29.823 1 lap /1’06.539
    18 Mick Schumacher Haas/Ferrari 51 1:59’31.393 1 lap /1’08.109
    Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin/Mercedes 40 1:41’35.184 Retirement
    Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 0 Collision

  • Verstappen wins F1’s first Sprint Race to qualify on pole

    Verstappen wins F1’s first Sprint Race to qualify on pole

    Silverstone, 17 July 2021: Max Verstappen made history by winning the first Sprint Qualifying of the FIA Formula One World Championship Round 10 at Silverstone after he beat title rival Lewis Hamilton off the line in a thrilling fight to the flag that left Hamilton with second place ahead of Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas. However, the new format was tough on Verstappen’s team-mate Sergio Pérez who spun off early on. He dropped to 19th place and then retired his car just before the chequered flag.

    Verstappen’s win was secured at the race start and he took the pole for the main race on Sunday ahead of Hamilton. From his P2 grid slot the Red Bull driver made a superb getaway to power ahead of Hamilton as the frontrunners roared towards Turn 1. Behind them, Bottas settled into third place ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and the Alpine of Fernando Alonso who also made a great start, climbing from 11th place to fifth at the end of the opening lap. 

    Behind them, though, Pérez dropped back. He quickly fought back to seventh place but then, on lap six, as he pushed to close in on McLaren’s Lando Norris, he lost control and spun off. He managed to keep his car out of the wall but he rejoined in P19. 

    At the front Verstappen was beginning to build a gap and on lap eight he had two seconds in hand over title rival Hamilton. Bottas was a further three seconds back with Leclerc fourth, while Norris was now fifth after managing to get past Alonso. 

    The Alpine driver, who had started on soft tyres, was trying to hang on but Norris’ team-mate Ricciardo was next to attack and the Australian muscled his way past the Spaniard on lap nine.

    With three laps to go, Verstappen was firmly in control and despite noticeable blistering on his front right medium compound tyre, the Dutchman was a comfortable 2.3 seconds clear of the Mercedes driver who was also suffering with tyre wear.

    Towards the rear of the field Pérez was struggling. He had climbed to P18 but in the final moments his team told him to retire from the Sprint and he thus qualified for the race in last place behind the Haas cars of Mick Schumacher and 19th-placed Nikita Mazepin.

    Eventually, after 17 exciting laps, Verstappen crossed the line 1.4s ahead of Hamilton to claim the eighth pole position of his career in a novel manner.

    In a reverse to the front row after qualifying yesterday, Hamilton will start second, while Bottas will line up at the front of row two alongside Leclerc. McLaren locked out row three, with Norris ahead of Ricciardo and Alonso took seventh ahead of Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettell, Williams’ George Russell and the second Alpine of Esteban Ocon. 

    2021 FIA Formula 1 British Grand Prix – Sprint Qualifying
    1 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 17 25:38.426
    2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 17 25:39.856 1.430
    3 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 17 25:45.928 7.502
    4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 17 25:49.704 11.278
    5 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 17 26:02.537 24.111
    6 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren/Mercedes 17 26:09.385 30.959
    7 Fernando Alonso Alpine/Renault 17 26:21.953 43.527
    8 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin/Mercedes 17 26:22.865 44.439
    9 George Russell Williams/Mercedes 17 26:25.078 46.652
    10 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 17 26:25.821 47.395
    11 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 17 26:26.224 47.798
    12 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri/Honda 17 26:27.189 48.763
    13 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 17 26:29.103 50.677
    14 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 17 26:30.605 52.179
    15 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 17 26:31.651 53.225
    16 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri/Honda 17 26:31.993 53.567
    17 Nicholas Latifi Williams/Mercedes 17 26:33.588 55.162
    18 Mick Schumacher Haas/Ferrari 17 26:46.639 1:08.213
    19 Nikita Mazepin Haas/Ferrari 17 26:56.074 1:17.648
    20 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda 16 25:09.289 Not running

  • Hamilton takes pole for F1’s first Sprint Race ahead of Verstappen

    Hamilton takes pole for F1’s first Sprint Race ahead of Verstappen

    Silverstone, 16 July 2021: Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton will start Formula 1’s first sprint qualifying race from the front of the grid after he beat Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen in Friday qualifying at the British Grand Prix. Hamilton’s team-mate Valtteri Bottas will start third ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

    In the opening phase of Q1 it was Verstappen who set the pace, with the Dutchman jumping to the top of the timesheet thanks to a lap of 1:16.751, despite a nervous moment in the final corner. That put the championship leader four tenths of a second ahead of Hamilton, with Bottas almost four tenths further back in third.

    Verstappen stayed in the garage for the final run, but team-mate Sergio Pérez headed out for a second attempt as his opening time left him in P13 in the final moments of the segment. However, the Mexican put in an excellent final lap of 1:27.121 to jump to P4 at the flag, just behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Hamilton also went for a final run and his 1:26.786, just 0.015s slower than Verstappen showed that the session would be hard fought. 

    Eliminated at the end of Q1 were AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda in P16 ahead of Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Räikkönen, Williams’ Nicholas Latifi and the Haas cars of Mick Schumacher and 20th-placed Nikita Mazepin. 

    Verstappen was again on top at the end of the opening run of Q2. Hamilton set the early benchmark with a lap of 1:26.602 but within moments Verstappen was across the line just under a tenth clear of the Mercedes driver. Bottas lay in third place after the first runs almost two tenths behind his Mercedes team-mate, while Pérez was fourth, two tenths further back. 

    On his final run of the session Hamilton lit up the timesheet with purple times in every sector and he took P1 with a time of 1:26.023. Verstappen improved too, but he settled for P2 with a final flyer of 1:26.315. 

    Ruled out at the end of the middle segment though were Alpine’s Fernando Alonso in P11 ahead of AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly, the second Alpine of Esteban Ocon, Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll. 

    Hamilton took P1 in the first run of Q3 thanks to a lap of 1:26.134, 0.172 ahead of Verstappen, who complained that his car was suffering from “oversteer to the moon”. The balance issues heaped pressure on the Dutchman in the final run and though Hamilton went wide in Sector 3 on his final flying lap, the Dutch driver couldn’t wrestle enough time out of his RB16B on his final flying lap and he was forced to settle for P2, between the two Mercedes cars. 

    Pérez’s final flyer put him into fourth place behind Bottas but the Mexican’s time was deleted for a track limits violation. That meant he was leapfrogged by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and the Red Bull driver will start the Sprint at the front of row three, in fifth place. 

    Pérez will be joined on the third row of the grid by Lando Norris. The McLaren driver took sixth place just 0.002s ahead of team-mate Daniel Ricciardo. George Russell gave Williams hope of a good starting place for Sunday’s race by claiming seventh place on the Sprint grid, ahead of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and the final top-10 place was taken by Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel. 

    2021 FIA Formula 1 British Grand Prix – Qualifying
    1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:26.134
    2 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1:26.209 0.075
    3 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:26.328 0.194
    4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:26.828 0.694
    5 Sergio Perez Red Bull Racing 1:26.844 0.710
    6 Lando Norris McLaren 1:26.897 0.763
    7 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 1:26.899 0.765
    8 George Russell Williams 1:26.971 0.837
    9 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:27.007 0.873
    10 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 1:27.179 1.045
    11 Fernando Alonso Alpine 1:27.245 1.111
    12 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 1:27.273 1.139
    13 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:27.340 1.206
    14 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo 1:27.617 1.483
    15 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:27.665 1.531
    16 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 1:28.043 1.909
    17 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo 1:28.062 1.928
    18 Nicholas Latifi Williams 1:28.254 2.120
    19 Mick Schumacher Haas 1:28.738 2.604
    20 Nikita Mazepin Haas 1:29.051 2.917