INDIA in F1

Category: Formula 1

  • Verstappen achieves third consecutive victory: Austrian GP Analysis

    Verstappen achieves third consecutive victory: Austrian GP Analysis

    By Malhaar Khaladkar

    Max Verstappen achieved his third consecutive victory of the season as he extended his championship lead over title rival Lewis Hamilton. Valtteri Bottas achieved his highest finishing position of the season in P2 as McLaren’s Lando Norris completed the podium positions.

    London, 5 July 2021: Max Verstappen made a clean sweep of the triple header with a win in France, Styria and now Austria as Valtteri Bottas finished a distant second just being able to stay ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris who got his third podium of the season. Lewis Hamilton nursed his car to P4 as he suffered downforce loss, ahead of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz. Sergio Perez recovered to P6 after falling to P10 on the opening lap. Daniel Ricciardo recovered his McLaren to P7 after a disappointing qualifying on Saturday ahead of Charles Leclerc in P8. Pierre Gasly could only manage P9 in AlphaTauri and Fernando Alonso completed the points paying position.

    George Russell finished P11 after a long battle with Alonso, losing out at the end of the race.  Japanese rookie Yuki Tsunoda finished in P12 and Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll crossed the line in P13. Both Alfa Romeo drivers Antonio Giovinazzi and Kimi Raikkonen finished P14 and P15 respectively, with Raikkonen having a late coming together with Sebastian Vettel, the German not finishing but classified in P17. Williams’ other driver Nicholas Latifi finished P16. Both Haas cars finished two laps down with Mick Schumacher in P18 and Nikita Mazepin in P19. Esteban Ocon was the only non- classified DNF as he retired due to contact on lap one.

    Rain threatened once again this week but eventually failed to materialize. Verstappen got off cleanly from pole on lap one. Behind, Ocon’s contact meant he retired, and a safety car was called out.

    Racing got underway on lap 4, with once again Verstappen starting smoothly. In P2 was Norris who being challenged by Perez. Perez tried to pull off a move outside turn 4, but the gap closed,and he ended up in the gravel falling to P10. Meanwhile, Bottas got past teammate Hamilton, but Hamilton returned the favor by passing Bottas after 2 corners.

    With Perez out of the way, Hamilton chased Norris trying to overtake him. Finally on lap 20 Hamilton was able to get past his countryman. But the damage had already been done as Verstappen already had a lead of 5s in the lead. The stewards gave Norris a controversial 5 second time penalty for the incident with Perez after the safety car restart.

    Spectators seen during the FIA Formula One World Championship 2021 in Spielberg, Austria on July 4, 2021. Photo Philip Platzer for Red Bull Content Pool

    The AlphaTauri pair of Tsunoda and Gasly were the first cars to pit as they started on the soft tyres and changed to hard tyres. They pitted on lap 12 and 13 respectively. Everyone else was on mediums in the points, hence, they carried on longer.

    In the midfield Ricciardo was the first one to pit for hard tyres. In the lead Bottas and Norris pitted on the same lap, Bottas getting ahead of Norris as the McLaren driver served his 5-second time penalty before the pit stop could be completed. Hamilton pitted on lap 31 and Verstappen followed him one lap later. The last one to pit and change to hard tyres was Leclerc on lap 34. The only exception being his teammate Sainz who started on hard tyres and went long. Finally pitting on lap 48 for a set of medium tyres.

    Ahead Hamilton was unable to close up to Verstappen and started losing time relative to the Dutchman. Behind Bottas and Norris were closing as well. As it emerged, he had lost a piece of bodywork on the left rear of his car due to the aggressive nature of kerbs at the Red Bull ring. It cost him 30 pints of downforce according to Mercedes. He let Bottas past him and tried to defend from Norris but to no avail lost out to him. He pitted again on lap 53 for a new set of hard tyres but remained P4 for the rest of the race.

    In the midfield four cars were involved in the fight for P5, the leader of them being Perez. Leclerc tried to pass Perez on the outside of turn 4, much like the Mexican had tried at the start of the race. Leclerc got squeezed on the gravel and Perez was duly handed a 5 second time penalty. Leclerc once again tried to pass Perez on the outside of turn 6, again resulting in the same outcome with Perez getting another 5 second time penalty. Sainz who was on fresh medium tyres got past Leclerc and Ricciardo. He finished ahead of Perez due to the Red Bull driver’s penalties.

    Alonso overtook Russell at the dying moments to extend his point scoring streak after a proper battle with the Williams driver. On the last lap ex-teammates Vettel and Raikkonen tangled with the Finn getting a 20-second time penalty for the mishap. The day belonged to Verstappen as he took a dominant victory and made a clean sweep of the triple header.

    Red Bull have wind in their sails and their car on average is faster than their German title rivals. With Perez up to speed and supporting Verstappen, arguably it’s their championship to lose for the first time since 2013. Mercedes’ W12 clearly lacks pace especially in qualifying trim as they were outqualified by a McLaren. They have confirmed that they will bring upgrade packages in the near future to claw back performance, but it remains to be seen if it will be enough to return to the front.

    McLaren, especially in the hands of Norris almost got pole position, missing by less than 0.05s. Ricciardo is still struggling to extract one lap pace from the car but does well to recover positions in the race, exhibiting the McLaren’s race pace. Norris was just about to keep up with Bottas in the race as well. This is a positive step for the team who are looking to stamp their authority on P3 in the constructor’s championship. Ferrari struggled in qualifying as both cars were eliminated in Q2 but were the fourth fastest car in the race. Leclerc even had the pace to challenge Perez for positions. Ferrari need to solve the consistency problems with their car as some tracks they are faster in qualifying but struggle in the race and vice-versa.

    AlphaTauri showed impressive qualifying pace once again. They lost out to superior cars of McLaren and Ferrari in the race, admittedly a big part of it was due to an inferior strategy as they had to start on the soft tyre instead of the mediums. Tsunoda had a positive race as well if not for penalties received for crossing the pit entry line, an amateurish mistake on his behalf. Alpine were on the fringes of points as Alonso got P10, but they still lack the pace to challenge the midfield front runners. Alonso was blocked by Vettel otherwise he could have made into the top 10 in qualifying. Ocon retired on lap 1, therefore it was a race of ‘what could have been’ for Alpine. Aston Martin struggled in qualifying and race, as the softer allocation of tyres did not seem to suit them compared to last weekend. They made it to Q3 but were unable to convert position into points as both cars finished outside the top 10.

    Williams have showed a turn of speed since France with Russell progressing into Q3 on the medium tyres and then holding onto P10 until a late pass by Alonso. It is not long before Williams score points with their current form. Alfa Romeo similar to last weekend lacked pace in either of the main sessions as they finished well outside the top 10 and points. Haas’ struggle continue as scoring points looks bleak with an underdeveloped car and rookie drivers.

    Saturday Qualifying Results were:

    P1: Max Verstappen- 33 (Red Bull)P2: Lando Norris- 4 (McLaren)
    P3: Sergio Perez- 11 (Red Bull)P4: Lewis Hamilton- 44 (Mercedes)
    P5: Valtteri Bottas- 77 (Mercedes)P6: Pierre Gasly- 10 (AlphaTauri)
    P7: Yuki Tsunoda- 22 (AlphaTauri)P8: Sebastian Vettel- 5 (Aston Martin)
    P9: George Russell- 63 (Williams)P10: Lance Stroll- 18 (Aston Martin)
    P11: Carlos Sainz- 55 (Ferrari)P12: Charles Leclerc- 16 (Ferrari)
    P13: Daniel Ricciardo- 3 (McLaren)P14: Fernando Alonso- 14 (Alpine)
    P15: Antonio Giovinazzi- 99 (Alfa Romeo)P16: Kimi Raikkonen- 7 (Alfa Romeo)
    P17: Esteban Ocon- 31 (Alpine)P18: Nicholas Latifi- 6 (Williams)
    P19: Mick Schumacher- 47 (Haas)P20: Nikita Mazepin- 9 (Haas)

    Note – Vettel penalised three grid places for impeding Alonso in Q2.

  • Verstappen extends title lead; Hamilton limps to fourth

    Verstappen extends title lead; Hamilton limps to fourth

    Spielberg, 4 July 2021: Max Verstappen scored the first grand slam of his career thanks to a dominant Austrian Grand Prix win that saw the Red Bull driver lead every one of the 71 laps of the Red Bull from pole position to take victory and take the extra point on offer for fastest lap. 

    The Dutchman was faultless throughout and managing an early re-start following a short safety car period caused byt Esteban Ocon’s crash on lap one, Verstappen effortlessly controlled the following 68 laps to finish almost 18 seconds ahead of Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas and McLaren’s Lando Norris. Nursing a damaged car, Lewis Hamilton finished in fourth place. 

    When the lights went out at the start, Verstappen made a good start to take the lead ahead of front-row starter Norris and Sergio Pérez who made a good start from third place on the grid. 

    The race was soon neutralised, however. Alpine’s Esteban Ocon was hit by the Alfa Romeo of Antonio Giovinazzi and the Frenchman pulled over off track on the run down to Turn 4. The Safety Car was immediately deployed.

    When racing resumed at the start of lap four, Pérez piled pressure on Norris and attacked as they went down to Turn 4. The Mexican tried a bold move around the outside of the McLaren but as Norris held his line, Pérez was forced off into the gravel and he dropped to P10 behind the second McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo. 

    The soft tyre starters then began to pit. That boosted Pérez back up the order and on lap 20 he found himself in seventh place behind Charles Leclerc and within DRS range of the Ferrari. At the front, Max was 8.6s ahead of Norris but then the McLaren driver was hit with a five-second penalty for causing the earlier collision with Pérez. His pain was increased when moments later he was passed by Hamilton.

    The Mercedes driver’s move past Norris made little immediate impact on Verstappen’s advantage at the front, however, and by lap 24 the Red Bull driver was 10.2 seconds clear of his title rival. 

    Norris and Bottas then sparked the main round of pit stops for the leaders on lap 31 and during his stop Norris served his five-second penalty. That allowed Bottas to exit the pit lane ahead of him, in third place.

    Hamilton was the next to make a pit stop, on lap 32, with Verstappen following a lap later and when the order shook out Max found himself more than 13 seconds ahead of the Mercedes driver. 

    Pérez made his first stop on lap 34, attempting to undercut Leclerc, and despite a slow stop caused by a problem with his front left wheel, the Red Bull driver leapfrogged the Ferrari driver pitted when he pitted on lap 35. 

    On lap 41 Leclerc attacked Pérez in Turn 4, and the Ferrari and the Red Bull made contact. Leclerc went off track and rejoined and Pérez was handed a five-second time penalty for forcing another driver off track.

    The battle between the two flared again on lap 46. Leclerc once again got into DRS range and attacked into Turn 4. This time the battle continued through the following corner, but in Turn 6 Pérez held a wide line and Leclerc was forced off track a second time. The Mexican soon received a second five-second penalty.

    Hamilton now began to report that he was struggling with damage to his Mercedes and with Norris once again looking competitive in P4, Mercedes opted to allow third-placed Bottas to pass his team-mate. Hamilton then fell back towards Norris and on lap 53 the young McLaren driver powered past the Mercedes man in Turn 6. With a sizeable gap behind him to Pérez Hamilton then pitted to take on another set of hard tyres.

    Verstappen now had an almost 30-second advantage over Bottas and Red Bull pitted the Dutchman for another set of hard tyres. He emerged with over seven seconds in hand over Bottas and on lap 62 he then grabbed the fastest lap of the race and an extra point with a time of 1:06.200. From there it was a cruise to the flag and after 71 Verstappen grabbed his 15th career win.

    Behind him Bottas took second, while Norris scored the fourth podium finish of his career. Hamilton had to settle for fourth ahead of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz who managed to pass Leclerc and Ricciardo in the final few laps. 

    With two five-second penalties to take at the flag, Checo needed to eke out a 10-second advantage over the sixth-placed driver, but as Sainz rose through the order, Checo ended up missing out by just 0.7s and had to settle for sixth. With Ricciardo and Leclerc seventh and eighth respectively, ninth place went to Alpha Tauri’s Pierre Gasly. The final point on offer went to Alpine’s Fernando Alonso after he came out on top of an enthralling battle that denied Williams’ George Russell a first point of the season. 

    2021 FIA Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix – Race
    1 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 71 1:23’54.543
    2 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 71 1:24’12.516 17.973
    3 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 71 1:24’14.562 20.019
    4 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 71 1:24’40.995 46.452
    5 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 71 1:24’51.687 57.144
    6 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda 71 1:24’52.458 57.915
    7 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren/Mercedes 71 1:24’54.938 1’00.395
    8 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 71 1:24’55.738 1’01.195
    9 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri/Honda 71 1:24’56.387 1’01.844
    10 Fernando Alonso Alpine/Renault 70 1:24’05.587 1 lap /11.044
    11 George Russell Williams/Mercedes 70 1:24’11.219 1 lap /16.676
    12 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri/Honda 70 1:24’21.962 1 lap /27.419
    13 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 70 1:24’28.620 1 lap /34.077
    14 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 70 1:24’31.561 1 lap /37.018
    15 Nicholas Latifi Williams/Mercedes 70 1:24’37.844 1 lap /43.301
    16 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 70 1:24’39.438 1 lap /44.895
    17 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin/Mercedes 69 1:23’02.087 2 laps
    18 Mick Schumacher Haas/Ferrari 69 1:24’00.507 2 laps /5.964
    19 Nikita Mazepin Haas/Ferrari 69 1:24’51.577 2 laps /57.034
         Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 0 Collision

  • Max Verstappen takes pole ahead of Norris and Perez

    Max Verstappen takes pole ahead of Norris and Perez

    Spielberg, 3 July 2021: Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen took his second Red Bull Ring pole position in a week with a dominant performance in qualifying for Formula 1’s Austrian Grand Prix. However, despite topping every segment of the hour–long session he was push closer in the final top 10 shootout by Lando Norris who claimed the first front-row start of his F1 career just four hundredths of a second behind the championship leader. Sergio Pérez took third place for Red Bull as Lewis Hamilton qualified fourth.

    In Q1 Verstappen went out earlier than usual and with his first flying lap he jumped to the top of the order with an opening flying lap of 1:04.249. Hamilton wasn’t far behind the Dutchman on track and when he crossed the line he slotted into second place with a lap of 1:04.506, six hundredths of a second ahead of team-mate Bottas. Pérez, meanwhile, found his way to sixth place with his opening lap of 1:04.833. However, as rivals crossed the line he dropped to eighth place and while Verstappen would stay in the garage for the final runs, Pérez had to go again. 

    In the end of though, the Mexican didn’t need to the boost of an extra flyer and as McLaren’s Lando Norris finished second behind Verstappen and ahead of Alpine’s Fernando Alonso, Pérez backed out of his final flyer as other failed to make significant gains he settled for his opening lap time and P8.

    Eliminated at the end of the first segment were Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Räikkönen in P16 ahead of Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, Williams’ Nicholas Latifi and the Haas cars of Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin. 

    In the second segment Pérez was first out on track, on medium tyres, and the Mexican gave the remaining drivers in the field a target of 1:04.554 to aim at. Verstappen then headed out on mediums and immediately jumped to the top of the timesheet with a lap of 1:04.208. 

    Hamilton then took second but was soon eclipsed by McLaren’s Lando Norris and Pérez who went for a second attempt of 1:04.483. 

    In the final runs, Verstappen went quicker again hold top spot with a lap of 1:03.927, while Hamilton rose again to take P2 over three tenths down on the Red Bull. Bottas took third place ahead of Pierre Gasly and Lando Norris and Pérez settled for P6 thanks to his second run time. 

    Fernando Alonso though appeared to be blocked by seventh placed Sebastian Vettel and the stewards quickly announced that they would investigate the incident after the session. George Russell did make it through, however, taking Williams into Q3 for the first time this season. 

    It meant that both Ferraris failed to make it through, with Carlos Sainz being eliminated in P11 ahead of team-mate Charles Leclerc, McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo, Alonso and Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi. 

    In the first runs of the top-10 shootout Verstappen once again set blistering pace to open his Q3 account with a lap of 1:03.720. McLaren’s Lando Norris also showed good pace to take P2 just over two tenths of a second behind the Dutchman, with Hamilton in third place almost three tenths off Verstappen. Pérez, though, found himself in P5 after the first runs, a little under two tenths of a second behind Bottas.

    The Mexican would need to find good gains in the final runs and when the final runs began he was third in the queue out of the pit lane, behind Norris. 

    Verstappen was at the head of the pack and though the Red Bull driver tried to find more time on his final run he couldn’t make an improvement. Aided by a tow from the championship leader Norris found more time but the Briton couldn’t quite match Verstappen’s opening time and the Red Bull driver’s opening lap was good enough to claim the team’s 67th pole position. 

    Pérez also benefited from a tow, this time from Norris, and the Mexican found the pace he needed to leapfrog both Mercedes drivers, taking P3 ahead of Hamilton and Bottas.

    Behind the Mercedes drivers Pierre Gasly took sixth for AlphaTauri ahead of team-mate Yuki Tsunoda. Vettel finished eighth but will face investigation, while Russell qualified in P9 ahead of Stroll. 

    2021 FIA Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix – Qualifying
    1 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 1:03.720 7 243.954
    2 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:03.768 0.048 7 243.771
    3 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda 1:03.990 0.270 7 242.925
    4 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:04.014 0.294 6 242.834
    5 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:04.049 0.329 6 242.701
    6 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri/Honda 1:04.107 0.387 6 242.482
    7 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri/Honda 1:04.273 0.553 6 241.855
    8 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:04.570 0.850 6 240.743
    9 George Russell Williams/Mercedes 1:04.591 0.871 3 240.665
    10 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:04.618 0.898 6 240.564
    11 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:04.559 0.632 6 240.784
    12 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:04.600 0.673 6 240.631
    13 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren/Mercedes 1:04.719 0.792 6 240.189
    14 Fernando Alonso Alpine/Renault 1:04.856 0.929 6 239.681
    15 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:05.083 1.156 6 238.845
    16 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:05.009 0.760 9 239.117
    17 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 1:05.051 0.802 6 238.963
    18 Nicholas Latifi Williams/Mercedes 1:05.195 0.946 6 238.435
    19 Mick Schumacher Haas/Ferrari 1:05.427 1.178 9 237.589
    20 Nikita Mazepin Haas/Ferrari 1:05.951 1.702 9 235.702

  • Red Bull turns the tide with Verstappen’s dominant win: Race Analysis

    Red Bull turns the tide with Verstappen’s dominant win: Race Analysis

    By Malhaar Khaladkar

    Max Verstappen took a second consecutive victory over Lewis Hamilton as Valtteri Bottas just managed to hold on to the final podium position in the Styrian Grand Prix, the first of two races held at the Red Bull ring.

    London, 28 June 2021: Max Verstappen took a dominant fourth victory of the season as Lewis Hamilton finished a distant 2nd ahead of Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas. Sergio Perez tried to chase Bottas for the podium with an alternate strategy, but to no avail had to settle for P4 ahead of McLaren’s in form driver Lando Norris in P5. Ferrari redeemed themselves with Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc finishing P6 and P7 respectively. Lance Stroll added to Aston Martin’s points tally in P8, ahead of veteran Fernando Alonso in P9 and the points positions completed by Japanese rookie Yuki Tsunoda in P10.

    Kimi Raikkonen finished just outside the points in P11, meanwhile his Alfa Romeo teammate Antonio Giovinazzi finished down in p15. Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel crossed the line in P12 ahead of reliability hampered Daniel Ricciardo who could only manage P13 in his McLaren. Alpine’s Esteban Ocon finished P14. Williams’ Nicholas Latifi finished in P17, sandwiched by both Haas cars of Mick Schumacher in P16 and Nikita Mazepin in P18. George Russell retired due to pneumatic pressure loss while Pierre Gasly suffered a rear suspension failure on lap 1.

    All race weekend rain beckoned but eventually it stayed away from the track and Verstappen went off the line smoothly maintaining his lead on lap 1, Hamilton following suit. Perez moved past Norris but conceded the place back to the McLaren man as Norris made a move outside of turn 4. Bottas was running in P5, meanwhile, Ricciardo had made up five positions running in P8 from P13.

    Leclerc had to pit as he damaged his front wing by nicking Gasly’s rear left tyre. The AlphaTauri driver retiring as he got suspension failure due to tyre puncture and, in the process, spun Giovinazzi and Latifi. A few laps later, Ricciardo suffered momentary engine power loss due to which he plummeted back to P13, promoting Williams’ Russell in P8.

    On lap 10 Perez moved past Norris, Bottas doing the same a lap later as the McLaren did not put up much of a defense due to faster nature of the Red Bull and Mercedes cars. At the front Verstappen was leading Hamilton by 3s. The duo led Perez and Bottas by over 12s. Behind the top four it was Norris, Stroll, Alonso, Russell, Tsunoda and Sainz.

    Perez was the first one to pit for hard tyres on lap 26 and suffered a slow pit stop. This gave Mercedes the opportunity to pit Bottas and with a smooth pitstop emerged ahead of Perez and running into the podium positions. Hamilton pitted on lap 28, already behind Verstappen by 5s. Verstappen copying his title rival and emerging in the lead once again. There was another bout of bad luck for Russell as he was comfortably running in points before reliability problems struck and eventually retiring the car on lap 36 after falling to P18.

    Pit Stops – A Pirelli graphic

    In the midfield both Sainz and Ricciardo pulled off a mammoth 41 lap stint on medium tyres before pitting for hard tyres. Everyone else in the midfield had pitted between lap 26 and 31. The outlier being Leclerc who pitted a second time on lap 37 after pitting on lap 1 to change his front wing.

    Ahead, Perez was unable to get past Bottas and pitted again on lap 51 to try and pull of another “Hungary 2019” on Bottas to get the podium. It was to no avail as Perez just finished 0.5s behind Bottas who continued and finished on his ageing hard tyres.

    In the lead, Hamilton was unable to make a dent in Verstappen’s lead as the lead extended over 10s. The Briton pitting on lap 69 for a set of soft tyres to get an extra point for setting the fastest lap, a consolation for what had been a dominant victory by the Red Bull team.

    Red Bull clearly dominated this race weekend and the same can be expected next weekend as the Austrian grand prix takes place at the same venue. Only weather and rain have a chance to stop their momentum. Red Bull brought an upgrade to their diffusers leading edge, making it serrated to enhance the rear downforce creation. By doing this they can run a lower downforce rear wing compared to Mercedes which gave them an advantage of about 0.2s on the straights without compromising cornering speed. Mercedes have lost out to Red Bull especially in race pace as Hamilton kept losing time in relation to Verstappen. Mercedes have not brought any upgrades instead aiming to optimise their current package. They have a lot of work to do if they want to consistently challenge Red Bull. It has been four races since the German squad won a race.

    McLaren once again proved to be the clear best of the rest with them being the leading team in midfield in qualifying and race. Ricciardo is still unable to maximise the potential of the MCL35M and therefore, McLaren are unable to operate at their potential. Also, reliability hampered them in Styria as Ricciardo too would have finished in points. Ferrari have seemed to recover their race pace after a dismal French grand prix where the car chewed through its tyres. In Styria the car looked more balanced and tyre wear was not an issue for the Italian squad. It remains to be seen if they have fixed the problem or is it a track specific issue. AlphaTauri failed to capitalise on their potential pace, like many other races this season. Both drivers showed impressive qualifying pace with Gasly even beating both Ferrari’s. His race was over on lap 1 due to the Leclerc incident and Tsunoda was able to finish in the points. AlphaTauri can challenge for higher points if they have incident free and clean race.

    Aston Martin struggled in qualifying but showed competitive race pace. Due to one lap pace being their issue and midfield teams being closely matched in race pace, Aston Martin were unable to break through the midfield to challenge the likes of McLaren and Ferrari with only Stroll adding to team’s tally. Alpine are on similar level as Aston Martin, operating on the fringes of top 10. Alonso maximised while Ocon struggled in qualifying and race, like the French grand prix. With race pace to rivals being similar it is all about maximizing qualifying and maintaining track position.

    Williams genuinely for the first time this season showed points potential and having the pace to match teams like Aston martin and Alpine in the hands of Russell. Russell was comfortably running in the top 10 and even putting pressure on Alpine’s Alonso before reliability gremlins struck and robbed him his points finish. Williams needs a reliable race car if they want to challenge the top 10 because clearly, they have made steps forward with the FW43B.

    Alfa Romeo were in no man’sland this weekend as they did not have the pace for top 10 but were faster than fellow Ferrari customer Haas. They fell back behind Williams, but Raikkonen maximised the cars potential by finishing P11, one position outside points. Their race pace is better than qualifying but both need improvement to consistently challenge the lower top 10. Haas have had the same story for much of the season as they struggled once again at the back of the field but both rookie drivers gaining experience in Formula 1.

    Saturday Qualifying Results were:

    P1: Max Verstappen- 33 (Red Bull)P2: Valtteri Bottas- 77 (Mercedes)
    P3: Lewis Hamilton- 44 (Mercedes)P4: Lando Norris- 4 (McLaren)
    P5: Sergio Perez- 11 (Red Bull)P6: Pierre Gasly- 10 (AlphaTauri)
    P7: Charles Leclerc- 16 (Ferrari)P8: Yuki Tsunoda- 22 (AlphaTauri)
    P9: Fernando Alonso- 14 (Alpine)P10: Lance Stroll- 18 (Aston Martin)
    P11: George Russell- 63 (Williams)P12: Carlos Sainz- 55 (Ferrari)
    P13: Daniel Ricciardo- 3 (McLaren)P14: Sebastian Vettel- 5 (Aston Martin)
    P15: Antonio Giovinazzi- 99 (Alfa Romeo)P16: Nicholas Latifi- 6 (Williams)
    P17: Esteban Ocon- 31 (Alpine)P18: Kimi Raikkonen- 7 (Alfa Romeo)
    P19: Mick Schumacher- 47 (Haas)P20: Nikita Mazepin- 9 (Haas)

    Note – Bottas penalised three grid places for dangerous driving in the pit lane during practice. Tsunoda penalised three grid places for impeding Bottas during Q3.

  • Dominant victory for Max Verstappen ahead of Hamilton

    Dominant victory for Max Verstappen ahead of Hamilton

    Spielberg (Austria), 27 June 2021: Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen took a flawless lights-to-flag Styrian Grand Prix victory, beating Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton by 35 seconds as Valtteri Bottas in the second Mercedes car kept hard-charging Sergio Pérez in the second Red Bull at bay in the closing stages to take third place.

    At the start of the race, Verstappen made the perfect getaway and he took the lead ahead of Hamilton, McLaren’s Lando Norris and Pérez as the field streamed through Turn 1.

    Behind them AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly tangled with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in Turn 1 and as the pair rejoined Leclerc’s front wing tagged the left rear of Gasly’s car. The Frenchman sustained a puncture. Then in Turn 3 he collided with the Alfa Romeo of Antonio Giovinazzi. The collisions left Gasly with heavy damage at the left rear corner of his car and he limped back to the pits to retire as Leclerc also pitted for repairs.

    By lap 10 of the short and fast Red Bull Ring Verstappen had managed to eke out a three-second gap to Hamilton, while behind him Pérez was closing on Norris. The Mexican got the job done in Turn 3 of the same lap, diving down the inside of the McLaren driver to steal the podium place. Bottas pulled off a similar move on the McLaren but Pérez’s pace was strong and by lap 15 he had already extended the gap to the Finn to 3.5 seconds.

    Pérez was the first of the leaders to make a pit stop. The Mexican headed for the pits on lap 27 but when he stopped on his marks there was a problem with the rear left wheel and he spent a costly 4.8 seconds stationary before being released with a set of new hard tyres.

    The delay prompted Mercedes to pit Bottas at the end of the next lap and after a clean switch to hard tyres the Finn rejoined in third place ahead of Pérez.

    Hamilton was the next of the leaders in and he too made a good stop of 2.2s as he sought to undercut Max. The Team responded, however, and after a brilliant stop of two seconds dead, the Dutchman rejoined in the lead, over four seconds clear of his championship rival.

    Pérez then began to chip away at the gap to Bottas and by lap 42 he was just 2.8s behind the Finn. At the front Verstappen was managing the pace well and the gap to Hamilton remained stable at 4.4s.

    At the front, Verstappen slowly but surely began to pull away from Hamilton and on lap 48 the gap had stretched to 6.5 seconds. Pérez, meanwhile, was still trying to find a way past Bottas. He steadily chipped away at the Finn’s advantage and on lap 49 was just 1.6s behind the Mercedes man.

    He could find no way past, however, and at the end of lap 55 the Team brought the Mexican into the pits for a new set of medium tyres.

    He quickly began to set purple laps and with 10 laps to go had turned a 20s deficit to the Finn to a gap of just 11 seconds. Five laps later and the gap was under six seconds.

    With just a few laps remaining, the race to overhaul Bottas was always going to be close and despite a heroic effort in the end Pérez missed out by a tiny margin, crossing the line in fourth place, just 0.5s behind the Finn.

    Verstappen was in cruise control at the front of the pack. With 15 seconds in hand over Hamilton in the final stages, Mercedes went into damage limitation mode.

    On the penultimate lap Hamilton headed for the pits and took on a set of soft tyres. He claimed the race fastest lap on the final lap and reduced the damage caused by Verstappen to seven points.

    After crossing the line 35s ahead of Hamilton to claim Red Bull’s third victory at its home track after Austrian Grand Prix wins in 2018 and 2019, Verstappen now leads the Drivers’ championship on 156 points, 18 ahead of Hamilton. Pérez, in third place, now has 96 points, 10 ahead of Norris.

    In the battle for the Constructors’ championship crown Red Bull Racing now have 156 points, 40 ahead of Mercedes.

    Behind the top four, Lando Norris took 10 valuable points for McLaren with fifth place. The result keeps McLaren in third in the Constructors’ Championship, on 120 points, 12 clear of Ferrari.

    After a difficult build up to the race the Scuderia enjoyed a profitable afternoon with Carlos Sainz working a long stint well to rise up the order and eventually claim sixth place after starting from P12. Team-mate Charle Leclerc pitted at the end of the first lap following his clash with Gasly and dropped to the rear of the field. The Monegasque driver made an excellent comeback, however, to finish seventh ahead of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and Alpine’s Fernando Alonso. The final point on offer was taken by AlphaTaauri’s Yuki Tsunoda.

    2021 FIA Formula 1 Styrian Grand Prix
    1 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 71 1:22’18.925
    2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 71 1:22’54.668 35.743
    3 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 71 1:23’05.832 46.907
    4 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda 71 1:23’06.359 47.434
    5 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 70 1:22’24.281 1 lap /5.356
    6 Carlos Sainz Jr. Ferrari 70 1:22’31.243 1 lap /12.318
    7 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 70 1:22’43.757 1 lap /24.832
    8 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 70 1:22’59.121 1 lap /40.196
    9 Fernando Alonso Alpine/Renault 70 1:23’00.099 1 lap /41.174
    10 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri/Honda 70 1:23’00.774 1 lap /41.849
    11 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 70 1:23’03.208 1 lap /44.283
    12 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin/Mercedes 70 1:23’08.210 1 lap /49.285
    13 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren/Mercedes 70 1:23’09.506 1 lap /50.581
    14 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 70 1:23’10.959 1 lap /52.034
    15 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 70 1:23’17.947 1 lap /59.022
    16 Mick Schumacher Haas/Ferrari 69 1:23’01.861 2 laps /42.936
    17 Nicholas Latifi Williams/Mercedes 68 1:22’22.430 3 laps /3.505
    18 Nikita Mazepin Haas/Ferrari 68 1:22’30.819 3 laps /11.894
         George Russell Williams/Mercedes 36 44’25.454 Power Unit
         Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri/Honda 1 2’03.661 Collision

  • Max Verstappen takes pole for home GP; Hamilton to start P2

    Max Verstappen takes pole for home GP; Hamilton to start P2

    Spielberg (Austria), 26 June 2021: Max Verstappen took his third pole position of the season and his first at the Red Bull Ring, grabbing top spot on the grid for tomorrow’s Styrian Grand Prix by tenths of a second from Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton. 

    And with Bottas set to take a three-place grid drop for a spin in the pit lane on Friday the front row will once again feature the top two in the battle in the battle for the Formula 1 Driver’s title with Hamilton set to line up on the front row alongside standings leader Verstappen.

    In Q1 Verstappen was quickly out of the blocks and the Dutchman jumped to top spot with his first flying lap of 1:04.489. Bottas slotted into second place just half a tenth behind, while McLaren’s Lando Norris was third ahead of Hamilton.

    After a cool down lap, Verastappen made a second attempt but he failed to find an improvement. By contrast the Dutchman’s team-mate Sergio Pérez set an opening time of 1:05.359 but then only managed to improve by two tenths on his second attempt, so while the top four remained in the garage for the final runs, Pérez was sent out again on a fresh set of soft tyres.

    As the final lap times came in, the Mexican slid to 15th, one place above the elimination zone. However, his final effort was a good one and his 1:04.608 vaulted him to fifth and safety just behind AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda and ahead of Hamilton.

    There was no escape for Esteban Ocon, however. The Frenchman’s final flying lap jumped him to P11 but as other times came in he dropped down the order and he was a surprise elimination in P17. Also ruled out after the first segment were Williams’ Nicholas Latifi in P16 with Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Räikkönen in P18 followed by the Haas cars of Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin.

    Verstappen was again to the fore in the second segment, using medium tyres to work his way to 1:04.433 across a single run featuring two flying laps. That put him in P1 ahead of Pérez.

    AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly then put in a good lap on softs to dislodge Max from top spot as Norris bumped Pérez to fourth place, which became fifth as Bottas vaulted from ninth place to P3 behind Versatppen.

    Everyone bar Gasly opted to make a final run and Pérez found a good improvement to take top spot with a lap of 1:04.197 ahead of Norris and Gasly. Verstappen progressed in fourth after backing out of his final lap, with Bottas in fifth ahead of Hamilton.

    Eliminated after the second segment were Williams’ George Russel in P11 ahead of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo, Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel and Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi.

    Hamilton was first across the line in Q3 as he ran to a plan for three final-session flying laps and he established an early target of 1:04.205.

    Verstappen powered past that with opening lap, however, setting a time of 1:04.841. Hamilton then made a second attempt and found time but he only managed to reach 1:04.067 and when Hamilton failed to improve on his final run and Bottas could only find enough time to nudge his team-mate out to third place, Verstappen’s third pole of the season was sealed.

    Pérez put in a good final flying lap to improve to 1:04.168. But Norris also found time in the final moments of the session and he managed to beat the Mexican to fourth place by 0.048s. However, with Bottas dropping to fifth Pérez is set to start from the rear of row two. 

    Behind the top five Pierry Gasly took an excellent sixth place for AlphaTauri ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, AlphaTauri team-mate Yuki Tsunoda, Alpine’s Fernando Alonso and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll. Tsunoda was later handed a three-place grid penalty for blocking Bottas during Q3 and will start 11th.

    2021 FIA Formula 1 Styrian Grand Prix – Qualifying
    1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:03.841
    2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:04.067 0.226
    3 Lando Norris McLaren 1:04.120 0.279
    4 Sergio Perez Red Bull Racing 1:04.168 0.327
    5 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:04.035 0.194
    6 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 1:04.236 0.395
    7 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:04.472 0.631
    8 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 1:04.514 0.673
    9 Fernando Alonso Alpine 1:04.574 0.733
    10 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:04.708 0.867
    11 George Russell Williams 1:04.671 0.830
    12 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:04.800 0.959
    13 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 1:04.808 0.967
    14 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 1:04.875 1.034
    15 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo 1:04.913 1.072
    16 Nicholas Latifi Williams 1:05.175 1.334
    17 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:05.217 1.376
    18 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo 1:05.429 1.588
    19 Mick Schumacher Haas 1:06.041 2.200
    20 Nikita Mazepin Haas 1:06.192 2.351

  • Max beats Hami with superior Red Bull strategy: Race Analysis

    Max beats Hami with superior Red Bull strategy: Race Analysis

    By Malhaar Khaladkar

    Max Verstappen extended his championship lead over Lewis Hamilton as he took his 3rd victory of the season with Hamilton finishing 2nd and the other Red Bull driver Sergio Perez completing the podium.

    London, 21 June 2021: Red Bull claimed their third consecutive win in 2021 after Max Verstappen used a superior strategy to pass Lewis Hamilton one lap from the end of the race. Sergio Perez completed the podium as Valtteri Bottas finished P4. McLaren finished best of the rest with Lando Norris in P5 and Daniel Ricciardo in P6. Pierre Gasly finished in P7 in his home race ahead of Alpine’s Fernando Alonso in P8. Aston Martin got double points finish as Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll finished in P9 and P10 respectively.

    Carlos Sainz finished in P11 and Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc in P16, both cars unable to score points. George Russell gave Williams another solid finish in P12 ahead of AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda in P13. Esteban Ocon finished a lowly P14. Alfa Romeo pairing of Antonio Giovinazzi and Kimi Raikkonen finished P15 and P17 respectively, ahead of Williams’ Nicholas Latifi. Haas cars of Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin rounded up the grid with all 20 cars finishing the race.

    Hamilton got ahead in the lead after polesitter Verstappen lost control and went off track in turn 1. He slotted into P2 ahead of Bottas in P3 and Perez in P4. Meanwhile, Ricciardo made up two places as Alonso passed Norris as well. Norris ultimately losing two places at the start.

    Hamilton maintained a gap of 2s over Verstappen with both matched on pace with Bottas not far behind. Perez was in P4 and behind him were Sainz, Gasly, Leclerc, Alonso, Ricciardo and Norris. Ricciardo hunted down Alonso and was finally able to pass him on lap 11, with Norris getting past Alonso two corners later.

    Leclerc triggered the pitstops in the midfield by pitting on lap 14 for hard tyres to undercut his rivals. Ricciardo following in the next lap with Sainz and Gasly, Alonso pitting another lap later.Leclerc emerged ahead of everyone as he undercut his rivals including Ricciardo.

    Meanwhile, at the front Mercedes triggered the pitstops as they called in Bottas on lap 17 for hard tyres, to make gains on Verstappen. Verstappen pitted on lap 18 to cover Bottas. Hamilton pitted a lap later and to no avail emerged behind Verstappen as Mercedes had underestimated the undercut. Hamilton hunting Verstappen but unable to get past him. Perez pitted on lap 24 to emerge back in P4.

    Both Verstappen and Mercedes drivers were vocal about their tyre degradation as they were increasingly favoring a two stopin the cockpit. With the wounds of Barcelona still fresh in the minds of Red Bull, they pitted Verstappen on lap 32 for medium tyres to not fall prey to Mercedes’ undercut. Both Mercedes cars decided to stay out favoring track position.

    In the midfield, both Ferrari’s were struggling due to tyre wear and Leclerc pitted for a second time emerging out of the points. Norris had pitted on lap 24 and Ricciardo let him by so he could utilise the superior pace of his McLaren.

    On lap 44 Verstappen had closed up to Bottas and made the pass before turn 10. Bottas making his frustration known to Mercedes pit box about not changing to a two stop.  With 9 laps to go Hamilton was 5s ahead.Verstappen closed up by lap 52, passing the Briton using DRS and re-taking the lead.

    Verstappen extends his championship lead on a track where Mercedes was expected to be dominant. It is a good momentum for Red Bull heading into the next two races of the triple header which will held in Austria.

    Red Bull had a clear advantage in qualifying over Mercedes. Race pace wise they were closely matched, but a superior strategy by Red Bull enabled them to win. Red Bull had the upper hand this weekend where Mercedes previously dominated. This shows that their car has clearly improved compared to Barcelona, which was the last conventional circuit visited by Formula 1. Red Bull did not suffer with high tyre degradation and ran lower downforce to achieve higher straight-line speed. Mercedes were running with higher downforce levels than Red Bull, thus, having inferior straight line speed. This was to keep the tyre temperatures under control by preventing them from sliding. Their race pace was on par with the Austrian squad but with an inferior strategy were forced to stay out and concede the win. It has been three races since Mercedes has not won a race and they have lost ground in both drivers and constructors’ championship.

    McLaren were best of the rest. Their qualifying pace is not the benchmark of midfield, but they were miles faster than their immediate rivals Ferrari in race. They did not suffer tyre degradation unlike their Italian rivals and maximised points with both their cars. McLaren brought a small upgrade to their rear wing endplate. They retake 3rd in the constructor’s championship from Ferrari. Ferrari had the worst weekend of their 2021 season, with no cars scoring points and losing 3rd in the championship. They showed encouraging qualifying pace, with Sainz qualifying best of the rest in P5. However, in the race they struggled with tyre degradation and inferior straight-line speed meant they were sitting ducks down the two straights.

    AlphaTauri in the hands of Gasly showed its points potential with good qualifying performance as well. Gasly has been able to extract the full potential of the AT02. On the other side of the garage Tsunoda has struggled with consistency as he got knocked out of Q1 due to his mistake. Alpine too has shown improvement in pace after introduction of new upgrades in the previous races. Like the AlphaTauri, Alpine showed encouraging qualifying and race pace with Alonso achieving points and Ocon not far off. Aston Martin have scored points for the third consecutive race in what has been a turnaround compared to the start of the season. The 4-time champion is more comfortable with car and with Aston Martin executing good strategies they seem to maximise their races.

    Russell in the Williams had a commendable race as he finished P12 on merit with the FW43B showing signs of improvement in race pace and being less affected by the winds which was a problem at the start of the season. Alfa Romeo had a mediocre race as they could not challenge for points. Both drivers lamenting that the car was too slow to be in the top 10. Haas reached Q2 for the first time this season with the help of Schumacher, admittedly due to a red flag caused by him. Nevertheless, it is a silver lining for them and another positive step for the young driver.

    Saturday Qualifying Results were:

    P1: Max Verstappen- 33 (Red Bull)P2: Lewis Hamilton- 44 (Mercedes)
    P3: Valtteri Bottas- 77 (Mercedes)P4: Sergio Perez- 11 (Red Bull)
    P5: Carlos Sainz- 55 (Ferrari)P6: Pierre Gasly- 10 (AlphaTauri)
    P7: Charles Leclerc- 16 (Ferrari)P8: Lando Norris- 4 (McLaren)
    P9: Fernando Alonso- 14 (Alpine)P10: Daniel Ricciardo- 3 (McLaren)
    P11: Esteban Ocon- 31 (Alpine)P12: Sebastian Vettel- 5 (Aston Martin)
    P13: Antonio Giovinazzi- 99 (Alfa Romeo)P14: George Russell- 63 (Williams)
    P15: Mick Schumacher- 47 (Haas)P16: Nicholas Latifi- 6 (Williams)
    P17: Kimi Raikkonen- 7 (Alfa Romeo)P18: Nikita Mazepin- 9 (Haas)
    P19: Lance Stroll- 18 (Aston Martin)P20: Yuki Tsunoda- 22 (AlphaTauri)

    Note – Stroll and Tsunoda failed to set a time within the Q1 107% requirement and race at the stewards’ discretion.

  • Max Verstappen wins thrilling battle with Hamilton, extends Championship lead

    Max Verstappen wins thrilling battle with Hamilton, extends Championship lead

    Le Castellet (France), 20 June 2021: Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen extended his F1 championship lead over arch-rival Lewis Hamilton with a thrilling French Grand Prix victory that saw the Dutch give up the lead midway through the race and switch to a potentially risky two-stop strategy. But after erasing a 16-second gap to Hamilton the Dutchman closed in and powered past the Mercedes driver on the penultimate lap of the race to secure the lead and take his 13th career win. 

    When the lights went out at the start of the race, Verstappen made a good getaway to lead Hamilton as the field headed for the first corner. But in Turn 2 the Dutchman made a mistake and went wide. The error allowed Hamilton to steal the lead as Verstappen rejoined ahead of Bottas and Pérez. 

    Over the opening laps Hamilton tried to build a gap and by lap nine he was almost two clear ahead of Max, though he was already complaining that his front tyres were beginning to suffer. Bottas, meanwhile, was just a second behind the Dutchman. Pérez was finding it hard to stay with the top three, however, and by lap 10 he was 4.4s off the back of Botttas’ Mercedes. 

    Bottas was the first of the pacesetters to pit at the end of lap 17, taking on Hard tyres. The Red Bull Racing made its move on the next lap and Verstappen pitted for hards in a stop of 2.3s. 

    Hamilton was then told to push on his in-lap in a bit to negate Max’s attempted undercut. His pit stop was clean and he took on hard tyres in a 2.2 stop as Pérez, who had yet to pit, swept past to take the race lead. 

    Hamilton should have rejoined in P2, but Verstappen’s out lap was superlative and as the Briton emerged from the pit lane Verstappen drew alongside the Mercedes and got past into Turn 1. Pérez meanwhile, went long on his first stint and stayed on track until the end of lap 24. And after taking on Hard tyres he dropped to fourth place, 16 seconds behind Bottas. 

    The pace at the front now ramped up spectacularly as Hamilton tried to pressure race leader Verstappen. The Dutchman resisted well but both drivers and Bottas were soon on the radio saying that their tyres would not last the pace. 

    Red Bull Racing then opted to switch Verstappen to a two-stop race and on lap 32 the Dutchman pitted for a new set of medium tyres. He emerged in P4 behind Pérez but quickly began close on those ahead and he was soon past his team-mate and hunting down Bottas

    By lap 44 he was within DRS range of the Finn and as they went into the chicane on the Mistral straight, Bottas went slightly wide. The mistake allowed Verstappen to pounce and he raced past the Finn at full speed as they swept through Signes. 

    A few laps later Pérez too closed up to the struggling Finn and armed with fresher tyres the Mexican got a better exit out of the chicane and aided by DRS he powered past the Mercedes driver to claim third place. 

    Then it was Verstappen’s turn. He closed hard and with two laps remaining he got to within DRS range of Hamilton. And on lap 52 he too chose the chicane to make his move. Verstappen got the perfect exit and with the aid of DRS he roared past the Mercedes driver to claim the race lead and a little over a lap later a stunning victory. Thanks to his pace on medium tyres in his final stint Verstappen was also able to collect the point on offer for fastest lap thanks to his time of 1:36.4040 set just after he took on the new set.

    Behind the top three finishers, Bottas was left with fourth place ahead of hard-charging Lando Norris who collected 10 points for P5 after starting from P8. Norris’ McLaren team-mate Daniel Ricciardo was sixth ahead of AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly while Alpine’s Fernando Alonso finished in P8. The final points on offer were taken by Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll who finished ninth and tenth respectively. 

    Verstappen’s win and fastest lap mean he is now on 131 points, 12 ahead of Hamilton, while in the Constructors’ Championship Red Bull Racing now has 215 points, 37 ahead of Mercedes. 

    2021 FIA Formula 1 French Grand Prix – Race
    1 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 53 1:27’25.770
    2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 53 1:27’28.674 2.904
    3 Pérez Pérez Red Bull/Honda 53 1:27’34.581 8.811
    4 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 53 1:27’40.388 14.618
    5 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 53 1:28’29.802 1’04.032
    6 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren/Mercedes 53 1:28’41.627 1’15.857
    7 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri/Honda 53 1:28’42.366 1’16.596
    8 Fernando Alonso Alpine/Renault 53 1:28’43.465 1’17.695
    9 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin/Mercedes 53 1:28’45.436 1’19.666
    10 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 53 1:28’57.716 1’31.946
    11 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 53 1:29’05.107 1’39.337
    12 George Russell Williams/Mercedes 52 1:27’33.819 1 lap /8.049
    13 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri/Honda 52 1:27’38.141 1 lap /12.371
    14 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 52 1:27’38.887 1 lap /13.117
    15 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 52 1:27’43.366 1 lap /17.596
    16 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 52 1:27’46.644 1 lap /20.874
    17 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 52 1:27’48.454 1 lap /22.684
    18 Nicholas Latifi Williams/Mercedes 52 1:27’49.221 1 lap /23.451
    19 Mick Schumacher Haas/Ferrari 52 1:28’19.907 1 lap /54.137
    20 Nikita Mazepin Haas/Ferrari 52 1:28’34.002 1 lap /1’08.232

  • Max Verstappen powers to pole ahead of Hamilton, Bottas

    Max Verstappen powers to pole ahead of Hamilton, Bottas

    19 June 2021 Sat: F1 Drivers’ Championship leader Max Verstappen beat Lewis Hamilton by almost three tenths of a second to claim pole position for tomorrow’s 2021 FIA Formula 1 French Grand Prix at Paul Ricard. Valtteri Bottas took will line up in third place on the grid ahead of Verstappen’s Red Bull team-mate Sergio Pérez for the Round 7 FIA Formula One World Championship on Saturday.

    Defending champion Lewis Hamilton (in the pic) said: It’s great to see the fans here and it warms my heart to see people coming together finally after this difficult period for us all. It’s been a really hard weekend trying to get the car into a happy place and you wouldn’t believe all of the changes I’ve made since FP1. Congratulations to Max, he did a great job today.
     
    On long run pace I think the Red Bulls were a tenth or two quicker than us in FP2 but my car is in a much different place now so I’m just going to stay hopeful and do everything that I can tomorrow. Obviously in second you’ve got a fighting chance down to Turn 1 and there’s going to be some interesting strategy calls tomorrow. Maybe it’ll rain so we’ll potentially get to see the rain masters do their thing! We’re loving the battle so we’re just going to keep pushing, keep fighting, and giving it everything.
     

    The opening Q1 segment got off to a stuttering start and the hour-long session was barely three minutes old when the action had to halted. AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda tried too too much kerb in Turn 1 and spun. He slide backwards off track in Turn 2 and hit the barriers. Apart from severe vibrations at the rear of his car as hew slid across the run-off the impact to the back of his car did not seem bad but after reporting that he had no gears race control red-flagged the session.

    After a 10-minute delay the action resumed and Verstappen vaulted to the top of the timesheet with a lap of 1:31.001, eclipsing Bottas by more than six tenths of a second. Pérez then shuffled the Finn down to third place ahead of Hamilton. The Briton made a second attempt, however, and his improved lap time of 1:31.237 earned him P3 ahead of Pérez.

    In the final moments of the session Haas’ Mick Schumacher crashed at Turn 6 and the red flags were shown for the second time and race control announced that with less than a minute on the clock the session would not be restarted. The stoppage meant that a number of drivers were not able to complete final flying laps and Williams’ Nicholas Latifi, Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Räikkönen, Haas’ Nikita Mazepin and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll were eliminated without getting an opportunity to escape the drop zone.

    In Q2 the majority of the remaining field headed out on medium tyres and in the first runs Pérez took an early lead with a lap of 1:30.971, a tenth ahead of Verstappen. Hamilton, who sat sixth after his first flying lap extended his run for a second attempt and he duly took top spot with a lap of 1:30.959.

    Both Red Bulls and both Mercedes drivers went out for the final runs but while Bottas and Hamilton completed another medium-tyre flyer, with Bottas taking top spot on 1:30.735 and Hamilton improving, both Pérez, and Verstappen backed out of their laps leaving the top two placings to the Mercedes pair.

    Eliminated at the end of Q2 were Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, with Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel exiting in P12 ahead of Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi and Williams’ George Russell.

    In the first runs of Q3 Verstappen seized an early advantage, claiming provisional pole with a lap of 1:30.325, almost four tenths of a second ahead of Hamilton who slotted into P2. Pérez grabbed P3 a little under two tenths clear of Bottas.

    But if there were any thoughts that the final runs would be a comfortable march to pole for the Dutchman they were dismissed as Verstappen and his chief title rival raised the level again in the final runs.

    The pair traded purple sectors across through but when Verstappen crossed the line it was in a time of 1:29.990, 0.258 seconds ahead of Hamilton, and a fifth career pole position belonged to the Red Bull driver.

    Bottas jumped ahead of Pérez in the final run and the Mexican will start fourth ahead of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, AlphjaTauri’s Pierre Gasly and the second Ferrari of Charles Leclerc. Lando Norris will start in P8 for McLaren ahead of Alpine’s Fernando Alonso and the second McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo.

    2021 FIA Formula 1 French Grand Prix – Qualifying
    1 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 1:29.990 6 233.705
    2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:30.248 0.258 0.287 6 233.037
    3 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:30.376 0.386 0.429 6 232.707
    4 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda 1:30.445 0.455 0.506 6 232.530
    5 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:30.840 0.850 0.945 6 231.519
    6 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri/Honda 1:30.868 0.878 0.976 6 231.447
    7 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:30.987 0.997 1.108 6 231.145
    8 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:31.252 1.262 1.402 6 230.473
    9 Fernando Alonso Alpine/Renault 1:31.340 1.350 1.500 6 230.251
    10 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren/Mercedes 1:31.382 1.392 1.547 6 230.145
    11 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 1:31.736 1.001 1.103 6 229.257
    12 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:31.767 1.032 1.137 6 229.180
    13 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:31.813 1.078 1.188 6 229.065
    14 George Russell Williams/Mercedes 1:32.065 1.330 1.466 6 228.438
    15 Mick Schumacher Haas/Ferrari 1:32.942 1.941 2.133 7 226.283
    16 Nicholas Latifi Williams/Mercedes 1:33.062 2.061 2.265 7 225.991
    17 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:33.354 2.353 2.586 7 225.284
    18 Nikita Mazepin Haas/Ferrari 1:33.554 2.553 2.805 7 224.802
    Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 2’12.584 41.583 45.695 7 158.625
    Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri/Honda 2

  • Sergio Perez wins; Verstappen, Hamilton fail to score

    Sergio Perez wins; Verstappen, Hamilton fail to score

    Baku, 6 June 2021: Sergio Pérez took his first victory as a Red Bull Racing driver after team-mate Max Verstappen crashed out from the lead due to a puncture with just six laps left and Lewis Hamilton finished outside the points after locking up under braking on the re-start following the red flag for Verstappen’s crash.

    At the race start pole sitter Charles Leclerc got away well and took the lead for Ferrari ahead of front-row starter Hamilton. Verstappen made a solid start from third on the grid to take up position behind the Mercedes driver.

    Just behind the top three Pérez made a superb start from P6 and halfway through the opening lap he was past Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly and had slotted into fourth place.

    Hamilton then passed Leclerc on the long straight to taker the lead but with the Ferrari driver soon getting a DRS boost from the defending champion Verstappen was unable to immediately follow suit and pass the Monegasque driver.

    But unable to match Hamilton’s pace, Leclerc lost DRS on lap six, however, and as the leaders crossed the line to start the next lap, Verstappen was power past the Ferrari to take P2. Pérez then repeated the overtake on the next lap to steal P3.

    Hamilton headed for the pits at the end of lap 11 and moved to hard tyres, but the Mercedes driver was forced to wait on his marks for a few crucial moments as Gasly passed the Mercedes box.

    Red Bull responded to the delay by pitting Verstappen at the end of the next lap. And after a quick 1.9s stop the Dutch driver rejoined ahead of Hamilton.

    Pérez made his stop for hard tyres on the following lap, but the Mexican overshot his marks sligfhtly and his stop took a slow 4.3 seconds. Despite the delay he emerged ahead of Hamilton.

    At the halfway mark, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll held fourth place having not made a pit stop to switch his starting hard tyres. But on lap 30 the Canadian’s left rear tyre suffered a puncture and he crashed into the wall near to the pit entry. The Safety Car was immediately deployed and the pit lane was closed.

    After a short delay while Stroll’s car was recovered racing resumed. Verstappen controlled the re-start well and kept his lead ahead of Pérez and Hamilton. Behind them a ferocious tussle for fourth developed among Gasly, Leclerc and Vettel and it was the Aston Martin driver who profited most.

    He made a good move past Leclerc to steal fifth after the re-start and soon after powered past Gasly to claim fourth place.

    The race then settled again with Verstappen managing the gap to Pérez and with Mexican resisting constant pressure from Hamilton.

    But the race took a dramatic turn on lap 46. As he crossed the line Verstappen RB16B slid sideways and he was pitched into the wall on the straight apparently due to an issue with his rear left tyre.

    The race was quickly red-flagged and all cars returned to the pit lane. That allowed teams to change tyres ahead of a standing restart.

    And when the lights went out it was Hamilton who made the best start. He pulled alongside pole sitter on the inside line as they powered towards Turn 1. But as they hit the brakes Hamilton locked up. Pérez swept through to claim the lead and Hamilton slid down the escape road. He would rejoin but finished in 15th place.

    And two laps later Pérez claimed a deserved second career victory. Sebastian Vettel claimed an equally well worked second place for Aston Martin, with Pierre Gasly grabbing another podium for AlpahTauri. Charles Leclerc was fourth for Ferrari ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris and Alpine’s Fernando Alonso, while Yuki Tsunoda finished seventh to give AlphaTauri a double points finish. Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz finished in eighth place ahead of McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo and the final point was taken by Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Räikkönen.

    2021 FIA Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix – Race
    1 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda 51 2:13’36.410
    2 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin/Mercedes 51 2:13’37.795 1.385
    3 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri/Honda 51 2:13’39.172 2.762
    4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 51 2:13’40.238 3.828
    5 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 51 2:13’41.164 4.754
    6 Fernando Alonso Alpine/Renault 51 2:13’42.792 6.382
    7 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri/Honda 51 2:13’43.034 6.624
    8 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 51 2:13’44.119 7.709
    9 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren/Mercedes 51 2:13’45.284 8.874
    10 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 51 2:13’45.986 9.576
    11 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 51 2:13’46.664 10.254
    12 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 51 2:13’47.674 11.264
    13 Mick Schumacher Haas/Ferrari 51 2:13’50.651 14.24
    14 Nikita Mazepin Haas/Ferrari 51 2:13’50.725 14.315
    15 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 51 2:13’54.078 17.668
    16 Nicholas Latifi Williams/Mercedes 51 2:14’18.789 42.379
    17 George Russell Williams/Mercedes 48 1:33’22.206 Not running
    18 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 45 1:25’35.564 Tyre
         Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 29 52’15.262 Tyre
         Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 3 6’01.705 Power Unit