INDIA in F1

Tag: F1

  • Lewis Hamilton wins ahead of Max Verstappen: Qatar GP

    Lewis Hamilton wins ahead of Max Verstappen: Qatar GP

    Qatar, 21 Nov 2021: Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton took a dominant Qatar Grand Prix victory to narrow the Drivers’ title gap to Max Versatppen to eight points, as the championship-leading Red Bull driver recovered from a five-place grid penalty to finish second and take the point for fastest lap. Alpine’s Fernando Alonso finished third to score his first podium finish since the 2014 Hungarian Grand Prix.

    Pole sitter Hamilton got away well at the race start and quickly began to establish a strong lead at the front of the pack. Behind him Verstappen’s recovery from a five-place penalty for failing to heed double yellow flags in Q3 after an incident involved AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly was founded on as superb getaway when the lights went out.

    Starting seventh behind Mercedes Valtteri Bottas, who had also received a grid drop of three places for a similar offence, Verstappen was quickest out of the blocks at the start, slipping between Bottas and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz as they headed to Turn 1. And after hugging the inside line through the opening corner he found himself in P4 after Turn 2, despite kick up the dust when Alpine’s Fernando Alonso drifted wide as they approached the apex.

    He quickly began to close on Gasly, who made his first front-row start after being boosted up the grid by the penalties elsewhere The AlphaTauri man went wide in the final corner as DRS was activated and Max breezed past on the pit straight. And on lap five he made the dame move past Alonso to claim second place, 3.7s behind Hamilton.

    Further back, Versatppen’s team-mate Sérgio Pérez was also on the march and after powering past Esteban Ocon on lap nine the Red Bull driver was up to sixth place. Gasly was then passed by the hard-charging Mexican.

    Pérez now began to chase down McLaren’s Lando Norris. The McLaren driver’s soft tyres were beginning to faded and the Red Bull man claimed fourth place by easing past the Briton at the start of Lap 18.

    Verstappen then made his first visit to the pit lane at the end of lap 17, taking on hard tyres in a 2.2s stop. Mercedes responded on the next lap and after a similar swift switch to Hard tyres he rejoined in the lead, the full length of the pit straight ahead of his Dutch rival.

    Pérez made his stop at the end of lap 19 and after taking on hard tyres, he began to once again scythe through the order, making his way back to P5 by lap 28, behind Alonso.

    He attacked at the start of the following tour and after feinting right, which caused Alonso to cover aggressively, Pérez dived left and went to the outside of the Alpine through Turn 1. Alonso hung on to his line and the pair went through Turns Two and Three wheel-to-wheel.  However, armed with a better exit from Three, Pérez was able to muscle past to take fourth place.

    At the front, though, Hamilton was comfortable and holding a seven-second gap to Verstappen at the end of lap 33. Bottas was in trouble though, suffering a puncture on lap 34 He went off track mid-way through the lap and rejoined and that allowed Sergio to close in and sweep past the Mercedes man to claim third place. Bottas made it back to the pit lane but after an 11-second stop for hard tyres and a new nose, the Finn rejoined in P14.

    On lap 40, Hamilton was 8.5s ahead of Verstappen, with Pérez some 52.8s behind his team-mate. Alonso now held fourth place ahead of Norris, with the second Alpine of Esteban Ocon in sixth place ahead of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and the Ferrari’s of Sainz and Charles Leclerc. Vettel held 10th place ahead of Gasly who had made a second pit stop.

    Verstappen made his second pit stop at the end of lap 41, taking on medium tyres in a superb 2.1s stop. Pérez followed moments later and he too went for mediums, rejoining in P7 with Stroll, Ocon and Norris.

    Stroll was despatched swiftly and then the Mexican attacked Ocon at the start of lap 48. He powered past the Frenchman around the outside into Turn 1 and though the Frenchman tried to fight back, resistance was futile and Pérez took P5. He was, however, 15 seconds behind Fernando Alonso with Norris still in the way in P4.

    The race then took another turn in the final laps as Norris and both Williams drivers, who were both attempting one-stop races, suffered front-left punctures similar to the one that eventually caused Bottas to retire.

    The damage to Norris was not severe and the McLaren driver was able to return to the pits. He dropped to ninth, however, and Pérez was boosted to fourth place, 11 seconds behind Alonso. Williams’ George Russell was next to suffer and when team-mate Nicholas Latifi went off track and his car proved hard to recover, the VSC was deployed.

    Perez was just six seconds behind Alonso under the caution but with a single lap of racing left when the track eventually went green again, the Mexican driver was forced to settle for fourth place behind  Alonso, who took his first podium finish in seven years.

    Ahead Hamilton took the chequered flag to claim his seventh victory of the season. Behind him Verstappen made sure of the extra point on offer by taking on soft tyres for a final tour of 1:23.196. His P2 finish and that extra point mean he is now eight points ahead of Hamilton with two races remaining. In the Constructors’ battle Mercedes now head Red Bull by five points.

    Behind the top four, Ocon finished fourth for Alpine – putting them 25 points clear of AlphaTauri in the battle for fifth in the Constructors’ Championship – ahead of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and the Ferraris of Sainz and Leclerc. Norris finished ninth and the final point went to Sebastian Vettel in the second Aston.

    2021 FIA Formula 1 Qatar Grand Prix – Race
    1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 57 1:24’28.471
    2 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 57 1:24’54.214 25.743
    3 Fernando Alonso Alpine/Renault 57 1:25’27.928 59.457
    4 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda 57 1:25’30.777 1’02.306
    5 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 57 1:25’49.041 1’20.570
    6 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 57 1:25’49.745 1’21.274
    7 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 57 1:25’50.382 1’21.911
    8 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 57 1:25’51.597 1’23.126
    9 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 56 1:24’29.186 1 lap /0.715
    10 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin/Mercedes 56 1:24’34.067 1 lap /5.596
    11 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri/Honda 56 1:24’39.660 1 lap /11.189
    12 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren/Mercedes 56 1:25’02.071 1 lap /33.600
    13 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri/Honda 56 1:25’02.397 1 lap /33.926
    14 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 56 1:25’05.206 1 lap /36.735
    15 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 56 1:25’29.614 1 lap /1’01.143
    16 Mick Schumacher Haas/Ferrari 56 1:25’31.192 1 lap /1’02.721
    17 George Russell Williams/Mercedes 55 1:24’46.509 2 laps /18.038
    18 Nikita Mazepin Haas/Ferrari 55 1:25’08.856 2 laps /40.385
         Nicholas Latifi Williams/Mercedes 50 1:15’59.831 Tyre
         Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 48 1:12’40.238 Retiremen

  • Hamilton delivers superb come-back drive

    Hamilton delivers superb come-back drive

    Sao Paulo, 14 Nov 2021: Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton completed a stunning recovery from disqualification in qualifying and an engine-related grid penalty to win the São Paulo Grand Prix ahead of Red Bull’s championship leader Max Verstappen. Valtteri Bottas completed a podium double for Mercedes with third place ahead of Sergio Pérez, who rescued a point back from Hamilton with the fastest lap on the final tour of the race. 

    When the lights went out at the start both Red Bulls got good starts and Verstappen was able to pull alongside pole sitter Bottas and the muscle his way past in Turn 1. Pérez profited from a poor start by Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz to slip through from fourth on the grid to third place. Sainz was then tagged by Norris who passed the Spaniard around the outside, with the result that Charles Leclerc advanced to fourth. 

    Further back Hamilton was on a march. On Saturday morning the Briton had been disqualified from qualifying for a rear wing irregularity but powered through the pack in the Sprint to claim fifth place. That left him with a 10th-place grid spot due to an penalty for taking a new ICE ahead of the weekend. 

    The set-backs were no obstacle to the Mercedes driver however and after the start he picked up four places on the first lap. By lap four he was up to fourth after passing Leclerc and that became third as Bottas eased off at the start of the next tour and Hamilton swept around the outside into Turn 1 to take third place. 

    He then was allowed to close right up to Pérez when the race was briefly neutralised. AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda collided with Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and the Japanese driver lost his front wing. With debris at the side of the track the Safety Car was deployed and the field bunched. 

    When the track was green-flagged again at the start of lap 10, Verstappen and Pérez resisted a challenge from Hamilton to hoid the top two positions ahead of the Mercedes, with the Ferraris of Leclerc and Sainz in fifth and sixth respectively.

    Soon after, however, the Virtual Safety Car appeared when Mick Schumacher’s Haas shed its front wing and more debris was deposited on the track. When the caution ended the Red Bulls once again held their positions, though this time Pérez was under more pressure from Hamilton.

    And at the end of lap 17 the Mexican driver could resist no more. Hamilton closed through the final corner and under DRS passed the Red Bull driver around the outside to take P3. 

    However, in doing so, the Briton went slightly wide and got a poor exit. Pérez closed in on the long run to Turn 4 and retook the position with a good move. Hamilton was also not in the mood to give up and he closed one more time to pass the Red Bull for the final time and take second place. 

    Mercedes went for the undercut at the end of lap 26. Hamilton arrowed into the pit lane and took on hard tyres in a 2.4s stop. Red Bull responded by bringing Verstappen in at the end of the next lap and when he had taken on hard tyres he was just able to rejoin ahead of Hamilton whose progress was being hampered by 

    McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo. The gap between the front pair was now just 1.7s. 

    Pérez pitted soon after for hard tyres but just after his stop the VSC was deployed again when elements from the rear of Stroll’s car broke off. That allowed Mercedes to pit Bottas and with the caution requiring the Red Bull to run slowly, Bottas was able to steal third place.

    Max soon radioed through to ask the team to avoid an undercut in the next stop and just 14 laps after his first visit to pit lane the Dutchman headed in for another set of hard tyres. Bottas pitted on the next tour, followed by Pérez and then, at the end of lap 43, Hamilton made his final stop, taking on hard tyres but when he emerged Verstappen was again ahead. 

    Hamilton began to close in, however, and on lap 48 having got a good exit out of the final corner and drawn close into Turn 1, the Mercedes driver attacked into Turn 4. He drew alongside Max but the Dutchman braked later and just held on. Both cars went off into the run off area but resumed safely. The stewards noted the incident but quickly ruled that no investigation was necessary. 

    Hamilton attacked again on lap 58. This time Max was forced to defend more robustly and though he held the lead he was later given a black and white flag for weaving. Next time round, though, there was no way to hold off the challenge and with another good exit out of the Senna S Hamilton used DRS to power past the Dutch drive as they approached Descido do Lago. 

    And there the battle was decided. Armed with greater straight line speed Hamilton quickly built a lead as Max backed off in the final laps, settling for second place and damage limitation.

    However, with Hamilton holding the fastest lap, Red Bull used Perez’s substantial advantage to fifth-placed Leclerc to pit the Mexican and go for the fastest lap. And the Mexican duly posted a time of 1:11.010 to steal the precious championship point from Hamilton.

    Behind Leclerc, sixth place at the flag went to Sainz, with AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly seventh. Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso were eighth and ninth respectively and the final point on offer went to McLaren’s Lando Norris.

    In the battles for the titles, Max now leaves Brazil with his lead in the Drivers’ cut to 14 points, while in the Constructors’ championship Mercedes now lead by 11 points. 

    2021 FIA Formula 1 São Paulo Grand Prix – Race 
    1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 71 1:32’22.851 
    2 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 71 1:32’33.347 10.496
    3 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 71 1:32’36.427 13.576
    4 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda 71 1:33’02.791 39.940
    5 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 71 1:33’12.368 49.517
    6 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 71 1:33’14.671 51.820
    7 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri/Honda 70 1:32’27.043 1 lap /4.192
    8 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 70 1:32’43.369 1 lap /20.518
    9 Fernando Alonso Alpine/Renault 70 1:32’43.860 1 lap /21.009
    10 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 70 1:32’46.857 1 lap /24.006
    11 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin/Mercedes 70 1:32’48.145 1 lap /25.294
    12 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 70 1:32’53.939 1 lap /31.088
    13 George Russell Williams/Mercedes 70 1:33’20.939 1 lap /58.088
    14 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 70 1:33’23.413 1 lap /1’00.562
    15 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri/Honda 70 1:33’27.652 1 lap /1’04.801
    16 Nicholas Latifi Williams/Mercedes 70 1:33’31.663 1 lap /1’08.812
    17 Nikita Mazepin Haas/Ferrari 69 1:32’58.069 2 laps /35.218
    18 Mick Schumacher Haas/Ferrari 69 1:33’35.425 2 laps /1’12.574
         Daniel Ricciardo McLaren/Mercedes 49 1:06’27.514 Power Unit
         Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 47 1:04’21.731 Retirement

  • Bottas takes pole ahead of Max with a Sprint win: Hami 5th

    Bottas takes pole ahead of Max with a Sprint win: Hami 5th

    Sao Paulo, 14 Nov 2021: Valtteri Bottas will start Formula 1’s São Paulo Grand Prix from pole position after beating championship leader Max Verstappen in the Sprint to define the grid for tomorrow’s race. Meanwhile, following his disqualification from qualifying, Lewis Hamilton recovered fifth place thanks an aggressive drive from the back of the grid.

    At the start, Bottas’s soft tyres gave him the better start and he passed P1 starter Verstappen as the pair went into Turn 1. Further back, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, also starting on soift tyres, had made a similarly quick start and he quickly passed Red Bull’s Sergio Pérez and put prtessue on Verstappen as the field went through the Senna S.

    Sainz then slotted into Verstappen’s slipstream on the long run to Turn 4 and passed the Dutch driver on the inside, a move that forced the Red Bull driver wide.

    Verstappen then began to rattle off fastest laps and by lap five he was back ahead of Sainz and was eating into a two-second gap to Bottas.

    Meanwhile, at the rear of the field, Hamilton picked up five places on the opening lap and he soon began to scythe through the slower midfield cars and on lap tow he rose to 14th. He then used DRS on the pit straight to move past AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda, Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi and Alpine’s Fernando Alonso to reach the edge of the top 10 by the start of lap nine.

    He was briefly bottled up behind McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo but at the the end of lap 12, he closed in the final corners and again powered past on the start-finish straight. He then swiftly moved past Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel, Alpine’s Esteban Ocon AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc to sit in sixth place as the race head towards it final few laps. Hamilton made one final move, past McLaren’s Lando Norris, at the start of the final lap to claim a superb fifth place behind Pérez.

    At the front Verstappen closed the gap to Bottas and slipped within DRS range in the second half of the race. But the Finn was managing his soft tyres well and he was able to stabilise the gap to the Red Bull driver who was suffering on his mediums in the Mercedes’ wake.

    It was a similar tale for Verstappen’s team-mate Pérez. The Mexican was unable to find a way past soft tyre-shod Sainz and though he spent the bulk of the race within DRS range, the Ferrari driver defended well to take P3 at the flag.

    With Hamilton fifth ahead of Norris the top 10 was completed by Leclerc, Gasly, Ocon and Vettel. Hamilton will start 10th for Sunday’s grand prix as a result of his grid penalty for taking a new internal combustion engine for this event.

    2021 FIA Formula 1 São Paulo Grand Prix – Sprint Qualifying
    1 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 24 29’09.559
    2 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 24 29’10.729 1.170
    3 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 24 29’28.282 18.723
    4 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda 24 29’29.346 19.787
    5 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 24 29’30.431 20.872
    6 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 24 29’32.117 22.558
    7 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 24 29’34.615 25.056
    8 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri/Honda 24 29’43.717 34.158
    9 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 24 29’44.191 34.632
    10 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin/Mercedes 24 29’44.426 34.867
    11 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren/Mercedes 24 29’45.428 35.869
    12 Fernando Alonso Alpine/Renault 24 29’46.137 36.578
    13 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 24 29’51.439 41.880
    14 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 24 29’53.596 44.037
    15 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri/Honda 24 29’55.709 46.150
    16 Nicholas Latifi Williams/Mercedes 24 29’56.319 46.760
    17 George Russell Williams/Mercedes 24 29’57.298 47.739
    18 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 24 29’59.573 50.014
    19 Mick Schumacher Haas/Ferrari 24 30’11.239 1:01.680
    20 Nikita Mazepin Haas/Ferrari 24 30’17.033 1:07.474

  • Sergio Perez, first to claim podium in home race

    Sergio Perez, first to claim podium in home race

    By Malhaar Khaladkar

    Max Verstappen took a dominant win for the third time at the Mexico City Grand Prix as he extended his championship lead over rival Lewis Hamilton to 19 points. Hamilton finished second on the road as he held off home hero Sergio Perez who achieved a podium for the first time at his home race.

    London, 8 November 2021: The race got off to an explosive start as Valtteri Bottas, Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen were side by side, three-wide going into turn 1. Bottas backed off but was tagged by Daniel Ricciardo in the McLaren, the Finn spinning and falling to the back of the grid. In the process Ricciardo lost his front wing. Verstappen now lead the grand prix with Hamilton in P2 and Perez P3- a dream start for Red Bull. Behind an incident between Esteban Ocon, Yuki Tsunoda and Mick Schumacher meant that both the AlphaTauri and Haas car had to retire bringing out the safety car.

    Racing resumed on lap 5 as Verstappen pulled off quickly, building a 1s lead over Hamilton. Behind Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz overtook the Alfa Romeo of Antonio Giovinazzi for P6- the Italian gaining five positions at the start of the race. Meanwhile, Bottas and Ricciardo were stuck behind back markers at the far end of the grid.

    Verstappen gradually increased his lead over Hamilton as the Red Bull’s superior race pace was showcased, the Mercedes was unable to keep up. By lap 21 Verstappen was more than 7s ahead of Hamilton with Perez hanging onto Hamilton and staying around 2s behind the Briton. Behind the leaders, Pierre Gasly was running a superb P4 for AlphaTauri ahead of Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc and Sainz.

    Mercedes decided to bite the bullet and boxed Hamilton for a set of hard tyres on lap 29 to avoid getting undercut by Perez and lose P2. Verstappen continued for four more laps before doing the same, emerging comfortably ahead of Hamilton. Perez continued as he became the first Mexican driver in history to lead their home grand prix.

    Leclerc pitted on lap 30 and Gasly followed suit one lap later to cover him as both ran in net P4 and P5 position with Sainz continuing for longer on the medium tyres. Sainz eventually pitted on lap 42 for hard tyres gaining quickly on Leclerc as the team swapped the cars on track, so that Sainz with fresher tyres could attack Gasly up in P4.

    Perez pitted on lap 40 and emerged about 9s behind Hamilton but with 11 laps younger tyres. The chase was on! Mercedes did not have the race pace to challenge Verstappen as he was in the lead by over 10s and Perez was closing in on Hamilton rapidly, especially through the middle sector of the lap where the W12 struggled.

    By lap 60 Perez was just 1s behind Hamilton, as he looked for ways to get past Hamilton. The saving grace for Hamilton was that Mercedes had greater straight line speed compared to their rivals, which helped the 7-time world champion stay ahead of the Red Bull driver in the DRS zones.

    Ultimately Verstappen won in a dominant fashion by over 16s increasing his lead in the championship to 19 points as Hamilton held off Perez for P2 in what was a damage limitation race for him. Perez gave his all to get past Hamilton but in the end had to settle for P3, albeit first ever podium for him at his home race. Gasly delivered another consistent race to finish in P4 ahead of the Ferrari pairing of Leclerc and Sainz in P5 and P6 respectively.

    Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel finished a brilliant P7, making use of the first lap and a good strategy to get a decent haul of points. Alfa Romeo too had a good strategy to help Kimi Raikkonen finish P8, though the same cannot be said for teammate Giovinazzi as his strategy was compromised and meant he finished P11, just outside the points. Alpine’s Fernando Alonso finished in P9 ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris in P10 who had started at the back of the grid after taking a power unit penalty.

    Ricciardo could not make it back to the top 10 after lap 1 incident as he finished P12 ahead of Alpine’s Esteban Ocon in P13 and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll in P14- who received power unit penalties as well. Williams pairing of George Russell and Nicholas Latifi finished in P16 and P17 ahead oh Haas’ Nikita Mazepin in P18 with Tsunoda and Schumacher the only retirees from the grand prix.

    Red Bull had superior pace compared to Mercedes as Verstappen on average was 0.3-0.5s/lap faster than Hamilton in the race. They underperformed in qualifying as Mercedes locked out the front row but delivered on Sunday. The higher downforce nature of their car working better at the high altitude of Mexico City as air is thinner. Mercedes locking out the front row was a surprise for everyone but ultimately did not have the pace to challenge for the win on Sunday. Compounded with the fact that Bottas fell to the back of the grid they were handicapped in terms of race strategy at the front. With Red Bull in the ascendency, it looks like a tall order for Mercedes if they want to win the championships.

    AlphaTauri had an incident free weekend with Pierre Gasly as he qualified P5 and finished P4 in the race, ahead of both Ferrari and McLaren cars. With that result they are level on points with Alpine in the constructor’s championship. Ferrari achieved another double points finish and leaped ahead of McLaren in the constructor’s championship. They certainly have a superior car compared to the McLaren and it remains to be seen if the Woking squad can fight back. McLaren had a dismal weekend by their standards, Ricciardo finishing outside the points and Norris adding a single point to their tally after taking an engine penalty.

    Alpine and Aston Martin had positive race weekends as good strategy calls enabled them for points finish on Sunday with Vettel and Alonso respectively. Alfa Romeo may not have had the pace on paper for appoints finish but with a brilliant strategy and driving by Kimi Raikkonen helped them get P8. They were unable to maximise their race as they could have achieved points with Giovinazzi had he not pitted early went on for long. Williams lacked the pace in qualifying and the race to challenge for the top 10 positions and Haas finished bottom of the pace charts.

    Saturday Qualifying results were:

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

    Note – Russell drops 5 grid places for taking on a new gearbox after exceeding his allocation. Ocon, Stroll, Tsunoda and Norris start from the back of the grid after taking on new PU components.

  • Valtteri Bottas takes Mexico pole ahead of Hamilton

    Valtteri Bottas takes Mexico pole ahead of Hamilton

    Mexico City, (Mexico), 6 Nov 2021: Valtteri Bottas scored a surprise pole position as Mercedes locked out the front row for the 2021 FIA Formula 1 Mexico City Grand Prix ahead of the Red Bulls of championship leader Max Verstappen and Sergio Pérez.

    Through Friday and final practice on Saturday morning Red Bull Racing had been dominant, with local favourite Pérez topping FP3 six tenths of a second clear of the Mercedes drivers. However, in Q3 the tables turned as Mercedes found pace and the Red Bull drivers’ final runs were compromised when AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda went off at Turn 10. The incident caused Pérez to also run wide. Anticipating yellow flags Verstappen reduced speed and his lap was gone. It left the Red Bull team-mates in third and fourth as Bottas first-run time proved good enough to hand him 19th career pole position, with Lewis Hamilton second. 

    At the start of Q1, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc set the early pace with a lap of 1:17.991, half a second ahead of Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel and the second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz. 

    However, seven minutes into the session Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll lost control through the Peraltada and slid into the barriers. The Canadian hit the wall nose first and then was spun round so that the rear of the car slammed into the barriers. The red flags were immediately displayed.

    After a 25-minute delay while the TecPro barriers were repaired at the crash site, the session resumed. Bottas vaulted to top spot with a time of 1:17.516 with Hamilton second, but Pérez then took P1 with a lap of 1:17.451. Verstappen was just behind the Mexican on track though and when he crossed the line he moved to P1 with a lap of 1:16.788. Both Mercedes went for another run and Bottas moved to second place with a lap of 1:16.959 while Hamilton took P3 ahead of Pérez. The Mexican was also on another run however, and he climbed to P3.

    In the final runs, Bottas put in a good lap to take P1 with a time of 1:16.727. Leclerc took second place meaning that Max progressed in P3. AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly jumped to P3 in the final moments of the segment and Pérez went through in P5 ahead of Hamilton. 

    At the other end of the order, Alpine’s Fernando Alonso was eliminated in P16 ahead of Williams’ Nicholas Latifi, the Haas cars of Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin and the unfortunate Stroll. 

    When the green lights were lit for Q2, the bulk of the field emerged on medium tyres. Verstappen quickly found his way to top spot with a lap of 1:16.483 with Pérez in P2 thanks to a lap of 1:17.005. The Mexican was quickly shuffled down to sixth place as other first-run times came in, with one of those ahead being Tsunoda who claimed P3 as one of only two drivers on soft tyres. 

    At the end of the middle segment Hamilton took top spot with a lap of 1:16.474. Verstappen went through in P2 ahead of Tsunoda, Bottas and Gasly. Leclerc took P6 and Pérez progressed to the top-10 shootout in seventh place ahead of Ricciardo, Sainz and Norris. Eliminated, though, were Sebastian Vettel in P11 ahead of Räikkönen, George Russell, Anotnio Giovinazzi and Esteban Ocon. 

    In Q3, Bottas claimed provisional pole with a lap of 1:15.875 ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton, leaving Verstappen third and Pérez in fourth place.

    The Red Bull drivers went out for their final runs with Pérez ahead of Verstappen and it initially looked as though the Mexican’s efforts to provide his team-mate with a tow were working. But ahead of the Mexican, Tsunoda went off and triggered the end of Red Bull’s challenge for pole.

    Neither Bottas nor Hamilton could improve on their final runs and the top-four order remained as it had been after the opening runs with Bottas taking pole ahead of Hamilton and with Red Bull locking out row two.

    Behind the leading quartet, Gasly qualified fifth ahead of Sainz, the McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo and the second Ferrari of Charles Leclerc. The unfortunate Tsunoda qualified ninth but will start from the grid due to PU penalties and 10th place was taken by McLaren’s Lando Norris who will also take PU penalties.  

    2021 FIA Formula 1 Mexico City Grand Prix – Qualifying
    1 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:15.875  7 204.209
    2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:16.020 0.145 0.191 7 203.820
    3 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 1:16.225 0.350 0.461 7 203.271
    4 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda 1:16.342 0.467 0.615 5 202.960
    5 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri/Honda 1:16.456 0.581 0.766 6 202.657
    6 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:16.761 0.886 1.168 6 201.852
    7 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren/Mercedes 1:16.763 0.888 1.170 6 201.847
    8 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:16.837 0.962 1.268 6 201.652
    9 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri/Honda 1:17.158 1.283 1.691 6 200.813
    10 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:36.830 20.955 27.618 5 160.016
    11 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:17.746 1.272 1.663 7 199.295
    12 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:17.958 1.484 1.941 8 198.753
    13 George Russell Williams/Mercedes 1:18.172 1.698 2.220 6 198.209
    14 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:18.290 1.816 2.375 6 197.910
    15 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 1:18.405 1.931 2.525 6 197.620
    16 Fernando Alonso Alpine/Renault 1:18.452 1.725 2.248 7 197.501
    17 Nicholas Latifi Williams/Mercedes 1:18.756 2.029 2.644 8 196.739
    18 Mick Schumacher Haas/Ferrari 1:18.858 2.131 2.777 9 196.484
    19 Nikita Mazepin Haas/Ferrari 1:19.303 2.576 3.357 9 195.382
    20 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:20.873 4.146 5.404 3 191.589

  • Home hero Sergio Perez fastest in FP2

    Home hero Sergio Perez fastest in FP2

    Mexico City, 6 Nov 2021: Home hero Sergio Pérez set the fastest lap of final practice for the 2021 FIA Formula One World Championship Mexico City Grand, beating Red Bull Racing team-mate Max Verstappen by two tenths of a second as Mercedes Lewis Hamilton finished third, six tenths of a second off the Mexican driver.

    The session got underway with the field biding their time in the pit lane. AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda broke the silence after five minutes and the Japanese driver soon posted the opening time of the day at 1:20.922 on soft tyres. Over the next nine laps he worked his way down to 1:19.744 before being pushed out of P1 by Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Räikkönen who in turn was edged out McLaren’s Lando Norris who established new benchmark of 1:19.244 as the session passed the 20-minute mark.

    It was then that Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton made his entrance and the Mercedes driver swiftly rose to the top of the order with a lap of 1:18.770. His stay was brief. However, as team-mate Valtteri Bottas soon crossed the line in 1:18.661 to take P1.

    Just before the half hour mark, Sergio Pérez emerged to a huge roar from his home fans and the Red Bull driver rewarded them with the fastest time of the session, a 1:18.625 set on soft tyres.

    Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc jumped to P1 with a lap of 1:18.213 but Pérez restored Red Bull pre-eminence as he improved to 1:17934.

    Verstappen then made his late entrance and the championship leader powered past his team-mate’s best effort, knocking almost four tenths of a second off Pérez’s time to take top spot with a lap of 1:17.537. He then went for another flying lap and lowered the marker to 1:17.217 as the field retired to the pit lane to prepare for their qualifying simulations.

    Hamilton and Bottas were among the first back on track and though Bottas failed to improve on his first run, Hamilton jumped to third place with a lap of 1:17.903.

    Pérez then returned to the fray and though the Mexican logged personal best times in all three sector he couldn’t eclipse his team-mate’s earlier time and settled into P2 with a lap of 1:17.272, just 0.055s off Verstappen.

    The Mexican wasn’t done, however, and after returning to the pit lane he went for a second run. And after setting purple times in the final two sectors he took top spot with a lap of 1:17.024.

    Verstappen emerged for his qualifying sim but the Dutch driver couldn’t find an improvement and complained to his pit wall that his lap was “weird, no grip at all”.

    It left Pérez top, almost two tenths ahead of his team-mate.

    Hamilton improved to 1:17.675 to leapfrog Bottas and take P3 but the Briton was still over six tenths of a second off the pace of Pérez.

    With Bottas fourth, fifth place in the session went to Sainz, with Tsunoda sixth ahead of McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo and AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly. Ninth place went to Leclerc and Norris ended the session in tenth place.

    Elsewhere there was bad news for Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, with his team confirming that the Frenchman would be taking a new power unit and he will thus drop to the back of the grid for tomorrow’s race.

    2021 FIA Formula 1 Mexico City Grand Prix – Free Practice 3
    1 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda 1:17.024 15 201.163
    2 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 1:17.217 0.193 12 200.660
    3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:17.675 0.651 14 199.477
    4 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:17.708 0.684 17 199.392
    5 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:18.029 1.005 20 198.572
    6 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri/Honda 1:18.037 1.013 25 198.551
    7 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren/Mercedes 1:18.121 1.097 15 198.338
    8 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri/Honda 1:18.202 1.178 18 198.133
    9 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:18.213 1.189 20 198.105
    10 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:18.312 1.288 16 197.854
    11 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:18.352 1.328 20 197.753
    12 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:18.531 1.507 22 197.302
    13 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:18.556 1.532 19 197.240
    14 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:18.614 1.590 17 197.094
    15 Fernando Alonso Alpine/Renault 1:18.847 1.823 15 196.512
    16 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 1:18.999 1.975 17 196.134
    17 George Russell Williams/Mercedes 1:19.211 2.187 19 195.609
    18 Mick Schumacher Haas/Ferrari 1:19.238 2.214 14 195.542
    19 Nicholas Latifi Williams/Mercedes 1:19.313 2.289 12 195.357
    20 Nikita Mazepin Haas/Ferrari 1:20.479 3.455 15 192.527

  • Red Bull manages to capitalise on aggressive strategy

    Red Bull manages to capitalise on aggressive strategy

    By Malhaar Khaladkar

    Max Verstappen took his first win since the 2021 Dutch Grand Prix in early September as chief title rival Lewis Hamilton chased the dutchman but could only manage P2 ahead of the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez- his second consecutive podium after the 2021 Turkish Grand Prix.

    London, 27 October 2021: Max Verstappen won the US Grand Prix after being chased down by Lewis Hamilton the whole race as the Briton had to settle for P2, finishing just 1.3s behind the Red Bull driver. Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez finished on the podium again to help Red Bull close the gap in the constructor’s championship as Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas could only manage P6 after starting P9, taking another new Internal Combustion Engine (ICE). Charles Leclerc crossed the line in an impressive fourth (P4) in his Ferrari ahead of McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo in P5. Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz finished in P7 ahead of ex-teammate Lando Norris in P8. Japanese rookie Yuki Tsunoda finished in P9 for AlphaTauri and Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel rounded of the points paying positions.

    Italian driver Antonio Giovinazzi finished in P11 ahead of Alfa Romeo teammate Kimi Raikkonen in P13, sandwiched between them was Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll in P12. Williams duo of George Russell and Nicholas Latifi finished in P14 and P15 respectively as did the Haas duo of Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin in P16 and P17, albeit two laps down from the leaders. Alpine suffered a double DNF with Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso as AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly retired as well with a suspected suspension damage at the rear of the car.

    Title protagonists Verstappen and Hamilton started on the front row with the 7-time world champion getting a better start, keeping his car on the inside of turn 1. As they exited the corner, Hamilton emerged in the lead with Verstappen settling in P2 ahead of teammate Perez. Behind, there was a three way fight going on for P5 between Ricciardo, Sainz and Norris.

    Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (33) Red Bull Racing RB16B Honda during the F1 Grand Prix of USA at Circuit of The Americas on October 24. Photo Jared C Tilton/Getty

    It was evident that the Red Bull was the superior car as Hamilton was unable to extend his lead over Verstappen as the Dutchman stayed in and around 1s behind Hamilton. Red Bull made an aggressive strategy call to undercut Hamilton by pitting Verstappen on lap 10 for a set of hard tyres. The strategy appeared to work as Hamilton finally pitted on lap 13 for hard tyres and emerged around 6s behind Verstappen. Behind them, Perez was running his own race in P3, ahead of Leclerc in P4 and Ricciardo still maintaining P5, keeping Sainz at bay.

    As Hamilton started chasing Verstappen, before the Mercedes driver could get close enough, Red Bull pitted Verstappen again for a set of hard tyres on lap 29. Seemingly too early at that stage of the race. Hamilton carried on for another eight extra laps, pitting on lap 37 and emerging around 8s behind Verstappen, albeit on fresher hard tyres.

    Hamilton started to chase Verstappen as his lead diminished lap by lap. With only ten laps to go Hamilton was within 3s of the Dutchman and closing in rapidly. Hamilton was hovering around 1.5s with five laps to go as Verstappen was able to defend and not let the Mercedes driver close up, making full use of the dirty air characteristics of these turbo-hybrid cars.

    Verstappen held on to victory by just 1.3s ahead of Hamilton, who even with fresher tyres found it difficult to close up and get past his title rival. With this win Verstappen extended his championship lead to 12 points over Hamilton with five races to go in the 2021 season.

    Red Bull had the upper hand over Mercedes throughout the weekend as they triumphed in qualifying and the race. Even when Hamilton took the lead on lap 1, Verstappen was able to stick within 1s of the Mercedes and was able to make the undercut work. With a double podium Red Bull also closed the gap in constructor’s championship to Mercedes in first place. Mercedes lacked both qualifying and race pace. Their highly optimised rear suspension which drops the car at high speed to improve straight line speed had less effect on this circuit, owing to the circuits high speed corners where downforce is required. Mercedes also have reliability issues to deal with regarding their internal combustion engine, as Bottas took his sixth of the year and there is a possibility that Hamilton might have to take one more. The next two races coming up are Mexico and Brazil, which on paper suit the Red Bull more than the Mercedes. With the wind in Red Bull’s sails, it looks like they currently hold the upper hand in the championship.

    Ferrari once again had the superior pace compared to McLaren with Leclerc finishing in P4, 24s ahead of McLaren rival Ricciardo in P5. Their new power unit has played a key role in their ascendency over McLaren as the two team are separated by just 3.5 points for the fight for P3 in the constructor’s championship. McLaren did not have the pace to fight with Ferrari this weekend, themselves admitting that the Italian rivals have now got the upper hand in the battle going into the last five races of the season.

    Alpine and AlphaTauri are in a close fight for P5, separated by just ten points. Alpine had a disastrous race with both cars suffering DNF’s in the grand prix, so did AlphaTauri’s Gasly. A positive to take for the team from Faenza is that rookie Tsunoda scored points to help them close up to Alpine in the constructor’s championship. Aston Martin had a dismal qualifying as neither car made it to Q3 and Vettel’s power unit penalty meant he started from back of the grid. They struggled to find the race pace as well with Vettel just managing to scrape P10 after Raikkonen spun in the late stages of the race.

    Alfa Romeo once again showed improved race pace compared to qualifying pace, with Raikkonen running in the points until a mistake and spin saw him finish in P13. Giovinazzi too was on the fringes of points paying position as he finished P11. Williams once again lacked the race pace to fight for points with both cars only beating the Haas cars.

    Saturday’s Qualifying results were:

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

    Note – Bottas drops 5 grid places for taking on a new ICE after exceeding his allocation. Vettel, Alonso and Russell start from the back of the grid after taking on new PU components.

    Caption: Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (33) Red Bull Racing RB16B Honda makes a pitstop during the F1 Grand Prix of USA at Circuit of The Americas on October 24, 2021 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

  • Max Verstappen holds off late pressure from Hamilton

    Max Verstappen holds off late pressure from Hamilton

    Austin, 24 October 2021: Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen fended off intense late-race pressure from title rival Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes to claim a well-worked United States Grand Prix win at the Circuit of the Americas. Sergio Pérez doubled Red Bull’s celebrations by taking third place and the Team’s 200th podium finish. 

    When the lights went out at the start Hamilton was quickest off the line and though he was forced to take a deep inside line on the run up the hill to Turn 1 as Verstappen defended, the Mercedes driver held firm and as the title rivals went through Turn 1 the Red Bull driver had to go off track on the outside, handing the lead to Hamilton.

    Behind them Pérez held third place ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc but McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo passed Carlos Sainz at the start to take fifth position. Sainz ended the first lap in P6 ahead of Lando Norris in the second McLaren and AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda who had risen to eighth from P10 at the start. 

    Vertsappen shadowed Hamilton for the first 10 laps but unable to get close enough in the turbulent wake from the Mercedes. And with his starting medium tyres overheating, the Dutchman pitted at the end of lap 10 to take on hard rubber. He rejoined in P5 behind Ricciardo but soon passed the McLaren driver. 

    Pérez made his first stop on lap 12 taking on medium tyres and Mercedes reacted to the Red Bull stops by bringing Hamilton in at the end of lap 13. The Briton’s move to hard tyres was clean and quick but as he left his pit box Verstappen powered down the start-finish straight to take a 6.7s lead.

    The leaders then settled into the second stint, with Verstappen carefully trying to managed the gap. Hamilton though showed greater pace and he edged to within three seconds as the race headed past half distance.

    On lap 29 Verdstappen dived into the pits for another set of hard tyres. He weas followed a lap later by team-mate Pérez, with the Mexican this time taking hard tyres. Verstappen now found himself just over 16.5s behind Hamilton who was being told to extend his second stint.

    Armed with fresher tyres, Verstappen closed to within 13 seconds of Hamiltin and after 37 laps the Mercedes driver eventually made his second stop for more hard tyres. When he emerged he was 8.7s behind Verstappen but with tyres that were eight laps newer. He quickly began to once again reel in the Red Bull driver.

    With 10 laps remaining, Hamilton was within three seconds and Verstappen was warned by his pit wall to save rear tyre life to fend off attacks through the DRS zones. 

    With three laps remaining, it looked like his efforts might be in vain. Hamilton closed to within 1.2 second and then broke into DRS range of the Red Bull. Verstappen, though, had done a good job of preserving tyre life and he was able to keep Hamilton at bay. And when Hamilton made small mistake with a lap left and the gap expanded back to 1.7s, the race was won. Verstappen crossed the line to take his eighth win of the season. The victory means he extends his Drivers’ Championship lead. He now has 287.5 points, 12 more than Hamilton. 

    Hamilton finished second, 1.3s behind the Dutchman, and soon after Pérez crossed the line to hand Red Bull a double podium finish.

    Pérez’s podium, allied to a sixth place finish for Valtteri Bottas in the second Mercedes, means that Red Bull close the Constructors’ Championship gap to Mercedes to 23 points.

    Behind Pérez, Charles Leclerc claimed fourth place for Ferrari ahead of McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo and Bottas. Seventh place went to Carlos Sainz in the second Ferrari, with McLaren’s Lando Norris eighth. Yuki Tsunoda scored two points for AlphaTauri with ninth place and Sebastian Vettel finished tenth to take a single point for Aston Martin. 

    2021 FIA Formula 1 United States Grand Prix – Race
    1 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 56 1’34:36.552
    2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 56 1’34:37.885 1.333
    3 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda 56 1’35:18.775 42.223
    4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 56 1’35:28.798 52.246
    5 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren/Mercedes 56 1’35:53.406 1:16.854
    6 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 56 1’35:56.680 1:20.128
    7 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 56 1’36:00.097 1:23.545
    8 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 56 1’36:00.947 1:24.395
    9 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri/Honda 55 1’35:10.081 1 lap /33.529
    10 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin/Mercedes 55 1’35:12.119 1 lap /35.567
    11 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 55 1’35:21.613 1 lap /45.061
    12 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 55 1’35:35.793 1 lap /59.241
    13 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 55 1’35:39.194 1 lap /1:02.642
    14 George Russell Williams/Mercedes 55 1’35:41.751 1 lap /1:05.199
    15 Nicholas Latifi Williams/Mercedes 55 1’36:13.510 1 lap /1:36.958
    16 Mick Schumacher Haas/Ferrari 54 1’34:42.164 2 laps /5.612
    17 Nikita Mazepin Haas/Ferrari 54 1’36:09.665 2 laps /1:33.113
         Fernando Alonso Alpine/Renault 49 1’25:09.274 Wing
         Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 40 1’10:46.671 Retirement
         Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri/Honda 14 25:27.042 Suspension

  • Max Verstappen takes pole at COTA ahead of Hamilton

    Max Verstappen takes pole at COTA ahead of Hamilton

    Austin, 23 October 2021: Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen took his ninth pole position of the year at the Circuit of the Americas beating title rival Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes by two tenths of a second as Sergio Pérez claimed third place on the grid for the United States Grand Prix for Red Bull.

    In Q1, Verstappen led the way early on with an opening flying lap of 1:34.521 with Pérez slotting into second place just five hundredths of a second behind. They were edged out of the top two places by McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo but on their second runs the Red Bull drivers re-established supremacy, with Verstappen taking P1 with a lap of 1:34.352 and Pérez making his way to second just 0.017s behind.

    However, in the final moments of the session Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc put in a good lap of 1:34.153 to shuffle the Red Bull pair back, while Ricciardo progressed in P4 ahead of team-mate Lando Norris and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz. Hamilton and Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas went through in sixth and seventh places respectively.

    Eliminated at the end of the first session were Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll in 16th place ahead of Williams’ Nicholas Latifi, Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Räikkönen and the Haas cars of Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin.

    In Q2, on medium tyres, Verstappen powered to the top of the order with his first flying lap – 0.333s ahead of Hamilton and McLaren’s Lando Norris – but Pérez’s opening push lap was deleted, as he fell foul of track limits at Turn 19.

    After the first runs Pérez sat in 11th place and in the drop zone at the head of a squad of drivers who had either had times deleted or who had chosen to sit out the first runs due to tyre strategy. But after bolting on another set of mediums, Pérez used his second run to make his way to seventh place and safety with a lap of 1:34.178.

    The man in danger then was McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo who had also exceeded track limits on his first run. The Australian made no mistake on his set attempt and he jumped from P12 to P9 with a lap of 1:34.643.

    That pushed AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda into the drop zone in P11 but the Japanese rookie put in a good lap of 1:35.137 to clamber back to 10th place and edge out Alpine’s Esteban Ocon by two tenths of a second.

    In the final top-10 shoot-out it was Pérez who made the biggest statement of intent with a superb lap of 1:33.180 that put him on provisional pole, almost two hundredths of a second ahead of Verstappen, with Bottas third ahead of Hamilton.

    The Mercedes pair were at the head of the queue for the final runs and when Hamilton crossed the line at the end of his final flyer he jumped to P1 with a lap of 1:33.119.

    Behind him Bottas failed to improve but the Bulls were just starting their final flyers. Verstappen went purple through the first sector and then powered a sequence of personal bests in the mini-sectors of the middle part of the track. And when he crossed the line it was a convincing 0.209s clear of Hamilton and his ninth pole of the year was sealed.

    Pérez almost joined his team-mate on the front row but the Mexican missed out to Hamilton by the tiny  margin of 0.013s. The Mexican did beat Valtteri Bottas, however, to put the Team in a strong position for the race as the Finnish Mercedes driver is set to take a five-place engine-related grid penalty for tomorrow’s race.

    Behind the top four, Charles Leclerc qualified fifth for Ferrari ahead of team-mate Carlos Sainz, while McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris finished seventh and eighth. The top 10 was completed by the AlphaTauri pairing of Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda.

    2021 FIA Formula 1 United States Grand Prix – Qualifying
    1 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 1:32.910  7 213.613
    2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:33.119 0.209 0.225 7 213.133
    3 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda 1:33.134 0.224 0.241 7 213.099
    4 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:33.475 0.565 0.608 6 212.322
    5 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:33.606 0.696 0.749 6 212.024
    6 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:33.792 0.882 0.949 6 211.604
    7 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren/Mercedes 1:33.808 0.898 0.967 6 211.568
    8 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:33.887 0.977 1.052 6 211.390
    9 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri/Honda 1:34.118 1.208 1.300 6 210.871
    10 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri/Honda 1:34.918 2.008 2.161 6 209.094
    11 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 1:35.377 1.913 2.047 6 208.087
    12 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:35.500 2.036 2.178 3 207.819
    13 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:35.794 2.330 2.493 3 207.182
    14 Fernando Alonso Alpine/Renault 1:44.549 11.085 11.860 6 189.832
    15 George Russell Williams/Mercedes  5
    16 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:35.983 1.830 1.944 7 206.774
    17 Nicholas Latifi Williams/Mercedes 1:35.995 1.842 1.956 6 206.748
    18 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:36.311 2.158 2.292 7 206.069
    19 Mick Schumacher Haas/Ferrari 1:36.499 2.346 2.492 9 205.668
    20 Nikita Mazepin Haas/Ferrari 1:36.796 2.643 2.807 8 205.037

  • Sergio Perez tops timesheets in FP2: US GP

    Sergio Perez tops timesheets in FP2: US GP

    Austin, 23 October 2021: Sergio Pérez set the fastest lap of second practice for the 2021 FIA Formula 1 United States Grand Prix, beating McLaren’s Lando Norris by more than two tenths of a second. Lewis Hamilton was third, with title leader Max Verstappen eight after encountering traffic on his qualifying simulation. 

    Once again run in hot conditions, the session got underway with most drivers using the hard compound tyres. Valtteri Bottas moved to medium tyres, however, and he jumped to the top of the order with a lap of 1:38.887s. Pérez then took over thanks to a time of 1:35.883 and which he eventually lowered to 1:35.716 as the session reached the 15-minute mark.

    The field then began to switch to soft tyres for their qualifying simulations, with Bottas being the first main mover. The Finn posted a time of 1:35.360s to reclaim top spot.

    Pérez moved ahead again though with his time of 1:35.310 and Norris took second place with a lap of 1:35.203.

    Hamilton might have moved well clear with a lap of 1:34.842 but he went over the track limits in the penultimate corner and had the time deleted. The Mercedes driver continued, however, and he posted a best effort of 1:35.310 to take third place. 

    Verstappen meanwhile failed to put in a quick lap on soft tyres after he was released into traffic. He abandoned the lap, vented his frustration on the radio and pitted. He ended the session in P8.

    Earlier in the session, there was a moment of tension between title rivals Verstappen and Hamilton who had raced side by side from the final corner to Turn 1 with neither willing to back off. Verstappen was told by Red Bull to “ignore” Hamilton’s actions but consoled himself with a gesture towards the Mercedes man as he accelerated away. 

    At the flag, Bottas took fourth ahead of McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo, with Stroll sixth ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Verstappen. The top 10 was rounded out by Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi rounded out the top 10.

    2021 FIA Formula 1 United States Grand Prix – Free Practice 2
    1 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda 1:34.946 24 209.032
    2 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:35.203 0.257 20 208.468
    3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:35.310 0.364 22 208.234
    4 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:35.360 0.414 24 208.125
    5 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren/Mercedes 1:35.457 0.511 21 207.913
    6 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:35.561 0.615 25 207.687
    7 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:35.572 0.626 23 207.663
    8 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 1:35.824 0.878 23 207.117
    9 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:35.919 0.973 24 206.912
    10 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:36.138 1.192 26 206.440
    11 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 1:36.158 1.212 23 206.397
    12 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri/Honda 1:36.242 1.296 25 206.217
    13 Fernando Alonso Alpine/Renault 1:36.376 1.430 18 205.930
    14 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:36.558 1.612 25 205.542
    15 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:36.718 1.772 30 205.202
    16 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri/Honda 1:36.983 2.037 24 204.642
    17 Mick Schumacher Haas/Ferrari 1:37.041 2.095 24 204.519
    18 Nicholas Latifi Williams/Mercedes 1:37.254 2.308 26 204.071
    19 George Russell Williams/Mercedes 1:37.490 2.544 21 203.577
    20 Nikita Mazepin Haas/Ferrari 1:38.026 3.080 23 202.464