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Tag: F1
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Stunning lap gives Hamilton his 101st career pole
Budapest, 31 July 2021: Lewis Hamilton will start tomorrow’s Hungarian Grand Prix from the front of the grid after he grabbed an emphatic 101st career pole position at the Hungaroring beating Mercedes’ team-mate Valterri Bottas by three tenths of ahead with championship leader Max Verstappen over four tenths of a second off the pace in third in the 11th round of the Formula 1 World Championship qualifying session here on Saturday.
At the beginning of the hour-long qualifying session the expected frontrunners were quickly into action, with Bottas taking an early P1 with a lap of 1:16.610. However, he was soon demoted by Hamilton who stole top spot thanks to a lap of 1:16.424. Verstappen wasn’t far behind the Mercedes pair on track, though, and the Red Bull driver jumped ahead of both with his opening push lap of 1:16.214.
Verstappen’s team-mate Sergio Pérez looked to be struggling, however. The Mexican opened with a lap of 1:17.300 but as better laps flooded in he soon dropped to ninth place. He opted for a second attempt but only improved to 1:17.233 and still held ninth ahead of the final runs.
Despite the risk to Pérez, Red Bull chose to keep both drivers in the garage for the final runs. And it proved the right choice as there were few improvements in the final moments and Verstappen held top sport as Pérez progressed in P11.
Eliminated at the end of the first session were AlphaTauri’s Tsunoda in P16, Williams’ George Russell and Nicholas Latifi in P17 and P18 respectively and Haas’ Nikita Mazepin in P19. The Russian’s team-mate, Mick Schumacher, didn’t make it out on track in the session with Haas unable to repair his car following an earlier crash in FP3.
At the start of Q2, Hamilton set the pace on medium tyres with a lap of 1:16.553. Verstappen also opted for mediums and slotted into P2 with a time of 1:16.769. However, the Dutchman was pushed to P3 as Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, on soft tyres, set an impressive time of 1:16.725.
The session was then halted as Carlos Sainz lost control of his Ferrari in the final corner and slid into the barriers. The red flags were quickly displayed.
After a short delay the action resumed and both Red Bulls mopved to soft tyres. Verstappen jumped to the top of the timesheet with a lap of 1:15.650 while Pérez went through to Q3 in P4 thanks to an improved time of 1:16.443. Both Mercedes drivers opted to back out of their final laps and after progressing in P6 and P8 will start on medium tyres.
Eliminated at the end of Q2 were 11th placed Danile Ricciardo of McLaren, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Räikkönen and Antonio Giovinazzi and the unfortunate Sainz.
In the first runs of Q3, Hamilton laid down a tough marker with an opening time of 1:15.419. Bottas followed on 1:15.734 and Max sat in P3 with an opening time of 1:15.984. Verstappen then improved on his final run but the tenth of a second he found was not enough to trouble Hamilton and the Mercedes driver claimed pole position with Bottas second and Vrestappen third.
Pérez claimed fourth place on the grid with his opening run time, while Pierre Gasly put in an impressive lap of 1:16.483 to take fifth place on the grid ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris. Leclerc will start seventh for Ferrari with Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and Fernando in eighth and ninth. The final top 10 position went to Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel.
2021 FIA Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix – Qualifying
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:15.419 6 209.119
2 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:15.734 0.315 0.418 6 208.249
3 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 1:15.840 0.421 0.558 6 207.958
4 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda 1:16.421 1.002 1.329 5 206.377
5 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri/Honda 1:16.483 1.064 1.411 6 206.210
6 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:16.489 1.070 1.419 6 206.194
7 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:16.496 1.077 1.428 6 206.175
8 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 1:16.653 1.234 1.636 6 205.753
9 Fernando Alonso Alpine/Renault 1:16.715 1.296 1.718 6 205.586
10 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:16.750 1.331 1.765 3 205.493
11 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren/Mercedes 1:16.871 1.221 1.614 6 205.169
12 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:16.893 1.243 1.643 6 205.110
13 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:17.564 1.914 2.530 6 203.336
14 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:17.583 1.933 2.555 3 203.286
– Carlos Sainz Ferrari 2
16 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri/Honda 1:17.919 1.705 2.237 8 202.410
17 George Russell Williams/Mercedes 1:17.944 1.730 2.270 8 202.345
18 Nicholas Latifi Williams/Mercedes 1:18.036 1.822 2.391 8 202.106
19 Nikita Mazepin Haas/Ferrari 1:18.922 2.708 3.553 9 199.837 -
Valtteri Bottas tops FP2 ahead of Hamilton: Hungarian GP
Hungaroring (Budapest, Hungary), 30 July 2021: Valtteri Bottas went quickest in the second practice session for Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix, shading team-mate Lewis Hamilton by two hundredths of a second as championship leader Max Verstappen finished three tenths of a second off the pace after struggling with handling issues.
Earlier, Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen went quickest in the opening practice session for the Hungarian Grand Prix, outpacing Mercedes Valtteri Bottas by six hundredths of a second with Lewis Hamilton a further tenth of a second back in third place in the other Mercedes.
In FP2, after an opening period in which Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc held way on medium tyres, Bottas moved to the front on the same compound with a lap of 1:18.376. Hamilton then moved into P2 three tenths of a second. Verstappen then emerged for his first run of the afternoon and he immediately split the Mercedes, with team-mate Sergio Pérez slotting into fourth place.
Hamilton then found a solid gain ands rose to the top of the order with a lap of 1:18.140 that remained the quickest lap before the field began to switch to soft tyres for their qualifying simulations.
Bottas bolted on a set of the red-banded tyres close to the half hour mark and he jumped to a time of 1:17.012 that remained the benchmark for the rest of the session.
Hamilton almost bested his team-mate but though the seven-time champion was quicker in the final sector good work early on from Bottas gave him a slim edge on the timesheet.
Verstappen, meanwhile, was busy trying to dial out persistent understeer but try as he might the championship leader couldn’t find a sweet spot with his RB16B and he had to settle for third place.
Alpine’s Esteban Ocon have the Anglo-French squad hope of a good weekend with a lap of 1:17.759 that was good enough for fourth place ahead of Pérez who finished with a best time of 1:17.824.
Pierre Gasly was sixth for AlphaTauri ahead of Fernando Alonso in the second Alpine while Sebastian Vettel put his Aston Martin in eighth place ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris and Aston Martin team-mate Lance Stroll.
2021 FIA Formula 1 Hungarian Grand Prix – Free Practice 2
1 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:17.012; 29 204.794
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:17.039; 0.027 27 204.722
3 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 1:17.310; 0.298 24 204.004
4 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 1:17.759 0.747 29 202.826
5 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda 1:17.824 0.812 23 202.657
6 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri/Honda 1:18.113 1.101 31 201.907
7 Fernando Alonso Alpine/Renault 1:18.169 1.157 27 201.762
8 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:18.228 1.216 31 201.610
9 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:18.313 1.301 25 201.391
10 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:18.320 1.308 30 201.373
11 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:18.370 1.358 30 201.245
12 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:18.441 1.429 32 201.063
13 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren/Mercedes 1:18.737 1.725 26 200.307
14 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:19.277 2.265 21 198.942
15 George Russell Williams/Mercedes 1:19.292 2.280 29 198.905
16 Nicholas Latifi Williams/Mercedes 1:19.479 2.467 30 198.437
17 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri/Honda 1:19.671 2.659 3 197.959
18 Mick Schumacher Haas/Ferrari 1:19.817 2.805 29 197.597
19 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:20.186 3.174 28 196.687
20 Nikita Mazepin Haas/Ferrari 1:21.881 4.869 28 192.616.Free Practice 1
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 1:17.555 21 203.360
2 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:17.616 0.061 26 203.200
3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:17.722 0.167 25 202.923
4 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:18.115 0.560 24 201.902
5 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri/Honda 1:18.181 0.626 27 201.731
6 Fernando Alonso Alpine/Renault 1:18.385 0.830 26 201.206
7 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:18.391 0.836 23 201.191
8 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda 1:18.466 0.911 20 200.999
9 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:18.649 1.094 26 200.531
10 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:18.755 1.200 25 200.261
11 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 1:18.765 1.210 26 200.236
12 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri/Honda 1:18.770 1.215 18 200.223
13 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:18.989 1.434 22 199.668
14 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren/Mercedes 1:19.265 1.710 27 198.973
15 George Russell Williams/Mercedes 1:19.724 2.169 24 197.827
16 Nicholas Latifi Williams/Mercedes 1:19.824 2.269 24 197.579
17 Mick Schumacher Haas/Ferrari 1:20.383 2.828 26 196.205
18 Robert Kubica Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:20.639 3.084 23 195.582
19 Nikita Mazepin Haas/Ferrari 1:20.992 3.437 23 194.730
20 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:21.889 4.334 5 192.597. -
Hamilton takes 8th British GP win despite penalty for Verstappen collision
Silverstone, 18 July 2021: Lewis Hamilton overcame a penalty for causing a lap one collision with Max Verstappen that ended the Red Bull driver’s race to take an eighth British Grand Prix win ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas in the Round 10 of the Formula 1 World Championship here on Sunday.
Verstappen started the race from pole position and at the start the Dutchman made a good getaway to take the lead as the field streamed through the first corner. Hamilton, though, was quickly on the attack and though Verstappen resisted, the Mercedes driver attacked once again on the high-speed run to Copse. He went down the inside of the Red Bull and as Verstappen turned in the Mercedes clipped the right-rear wheel of the Dutchman’s car.
Verstappen was sent off track at high speed and he hit the tyre barriers hard, severely damaging his car. Fortunately, Verstappen was able to climb out of his wrecked car and was taken to the medical centre and later to a nearby hospital for precautionary checks.
With the tyre barrier severely damaged the race was soon red flagged and the race stewards quickly placed the incident under investigation.
Under the red flag, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was in first place, the Ferrari driver having passed Hamilton on track in the immediate aftermath of the lap one incident. And after a 35-minute stoppage the cars formed up on the grid once again.
When the lights went out, Leclerc made a good getaway from pole position to take the lead ahead of Hamilton, with Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas third ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris.
At the back, Sergio Pérez took the restart from 19th place on the grid but he was quickly on the march and within a handful of laps he had climbed to 12th-place and was chasing down AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly, though his progress was halted as he joined a DRS train containing 10th-placed Kimi Räikkönen and 11th-placed Pierre Gasly.
At the front, meanwhile, Hamilton was handed with a 10-second time penalty by the race stewards. Leclerc was now experiencing difficulties with his engine and that gave Hamilton hope that he might attack for the lead but the Ferrari driver managed to solve the issues with the aid of his pit wall.
Hamilton then made his way to the pit lane on lap 28. He served his time penalty and then switched to a set of hard tyres and rejoined in fifth place. Leclerc made his stop soon after and he was able to resume in the lead.
Further back, as the pit stops played out, Pérez rose to ninth but once again in a train of cars he was unable to salvage anything better for Red Bull. The result was that Sergio pitted again on lap 39 for another set of mediums and dropped back to P17.
At the front, Hamilton had overcome his penalty with relative ease and he was pushing to catch Leclerc. The Monegasque driver resisted as hard as he could but with two laps remaining Hamilton, armed with fresher tyres and more pace, powered past to claim the lead and then the race win.
With Hamilton holding fastest and the point associated with it, the gap to Verstappen in the Driver’s standings would have been narrowed to just seven points. Red Bull therefor sacrificed Pérez’s hopes of clawing his way back to the points and pitted the Mexican for
soft tyres. And in the closing moments he grabbed the fastest lap of the race to deny Hamilton and Mercedes.
Behind Hamilton and Leclerc, Bottas took third place ahead of Norris, with Daniel Ricciardo fifth in the second McLaren. Carlos Sainz fought back from a slow pit stop to finish sixth in the second Ferrari, while Fernando Alonso took seventh place for Alpine. Lance Stroll finished eighth for Aston Martin ahead of Esteban Ocon and the final point was taken by AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda.
2021 FIA Formula 1 British Grand Prix – Race
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 52 1:58’23.284
2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 52 1:58’27.155 3.871
3 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 52 1:58’34.409 11.125
4 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 52 1:58’51.857 28.573
5 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren/Mercedes 52 1:59’05.908 42.624
6 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 52 1:59’06.738 43.454
7 Fernando Alonso Alpine/Renault 52 1:59’35.377 1’12.093
8 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 52 1:59’37.573 1’14.289
9 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 52 1:59’39.446 1’16.162
10 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri/Honda 52 1:59’45.349 1’22.065
11 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri/Honda 52 1:59’48.611 1’25.327
12 George Russell Williams/Mercedes 51 1:58’23.643 1 lap /0.359
13 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 51 1:58’28.035 1 lap /4.751
14 6 Nicholas Latifi Williams/Mercedes 51 1:58’29.618 1 lap /6.334
15 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 51 1:58’30.736 1 lap /7.452
16 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda 51 1:58’35.676 1 lap /12.392
17 Nikita Mazepin Haas/Ferrari 51 1:59’29.823 1 lap /1’06.539
18 Mick Schumacher Haas/Ferrari 51 1:59’31.393 1 lap /1’08.109
Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin/Mercedes 40 1:41’35.184 Retirement
Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 0 Collision -
Verstappen wins F1’s first Sprint Race to qualify on pole
Silverstone, 17 July 2021: Max Verstappen made history by winning the first Sprint Qualifying of the FIA Formula One World Championship Round 10 at Silverstone after he beat title rival Lewis Hamilton off the line in a thrilling fight to the flag that left Hamilton with second place ahead of Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas. However, the new format was tough on Verstappen’s team-mate Sergio Pérez who spun off early on. He dropped to 19th place and then retired his car just before the chequered flag.
Verstappen’s win was secured at the race start and he took the pole for the main race on Sunday ahead of Hamilton. From his P2 grid slot the Red Bull driver made a superb getaway to power ahead of Hamilton as the frontrunners roared towards Turn 1. Behind them, Bottas settled into third place ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and the Alpine of Fernando Alonso who also made a great start, climbing from 11th place to fifth at the end of the opening lap.
Behind them, though, Pérez dropped back. He quickly fought back to seventh place but then, on lap six, as he pushed to close in on McLaren’s Lando Norris, he lost control and spun off. He managed to keep his car out of the wall but he rejoined in P19.
At the front Verstappen was beginning to build a gap and on lap eight he had two seconds in hand over title rival Hamilton. Bottas was a further three seconds back with Leclerc fourth, while Norris was now fifth after managing to get past Alonso.
The Alpine driver, who had started on soft tyres, was trying to hang on but Norris’ team-mate Ricciardo was next to attack and the Australian muscled his way past the Spaniard on lap nine.
With three laps to go, Verstappen was firmly in control and despite noticeable blistering on his front right medium compound tyre, the Dutchman was a comfortable 2.3 seconds clear of the Mercedes driver who was also suffering with tyre wear.
Towards the rear of the field Pérez was struggling. He had climbed to P18 but in the final moments his team told him to retire from the Sprint and he thus qualified for the race in last place behind the Haas cars of Mick Schumacher and 19th-placed Nikita Mazepin.
Eventually, after 17 exciting laps, Verstappen crossed the line 1.4s ahead of Hamilton to claim the eighth pole position of his career in a novel manner.
In a reverse to the front row after qualifying yesterday, Hamilton will start second, while Bottas will line up at the front of row two alongside Leclerc. McLaren locked out row three, with Norris ahead of Ricciardo and Alonso took seventh ahead of Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettell, Williams’ George Russell and the second Alpine of Esteban Ocon.
2021 FIA Formula 1 British Grand Prix – Sprint Qualifying
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 17 25:38.426
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 17 25:39.856 1.430
3 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 17 25:45.928 7.502
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 17 25:49.704 11.278
5 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 17 26:02.537 24.111
6 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren/Mercedes 17 26:09.385 30.959
7 Fernando Alonso Alpine/Renault 17 26:21.953 43.527
8 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin/Mercedes 17 26:22.865 44.439
9 George Russell Williams/Mercedes 17 26:25.078 46.652
10 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 17 26:25.821 47.395
11 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 17 26:26.224 47.798
12 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri/Honda 17 26:27.189 48.763
13 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 17 26:29.103 50.677
14 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 17 26:30.605 52.179
15 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 17 26:31.651 53.225
16 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri/Honda 17 26:31.993 53.567
17 Nicholas Latifi Williams/Mercedes 17 26:33.588 55.162
18 Mick Schumacher Haas/Ferrari 17 26:46.639 1:08.213
19 Nikita Mazepin Haas/Ferrari 17 26:56.074 1:17.648
20 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda 16 25:09.289 Not running -
Verstappen achieves third consecutive victory: Austrian GP Analysis
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.
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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 -
Red Bull turns the tide with Verstappen’s dominant win: Race Analysis
Max Verstappen took a second consecutive victory over Lewis Hamilton as Valtteri Bottas just managed to hold on to the final podium position in the Styrian Grand Prix, the first of two races held at the Red Bull ring.
London, 28 June 2021: Max Verstappen took a dominant fourth victory of the season as Lewis Hamilton finished a distant 2nd ahead of Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas. Sergio Perez tried to chase Bottas for the podium with an alternate strategy, but to no avail had to settle for P4 ahead of McLaren’s in form driver Lando Norris in P5. Ferrari redeemed themselves with Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc finishing P6 and P7 respectively. Lance Stroll added to Aston Martin’s points tally in P8, ahead of veteran Fernando Alonso in P9 and the points positions completed by Japanese rookie Yuki Tsunoda in P10.
Kimi Raikkonen finished just outside the points in P11, meanwhile his Alfa Romeo teammate Antonio Giovinazzi finished down in p15. Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel crossed the line in P12 ahead of reliability hampered Daniel Ricciardo who could only manage P13 in his McLaren. Alpine’s Esteban Ocon finished P14. Williams’ Nicholas Latifi finished in P17, sandwiched by both Haas cars of Mick Schumacher in P16 and Nikita Mazepin in P18. George Russell retired due to pneumatic pressure loss while Pierre Gasly suffered a rear suspension failure on lap 1.
All race weekend rain beckoned but eventually it stayed away from the track and Verstappen went off the line smoothly maintaining his lead on lap 1, Hamilton following suit. Perez moved past Norris but conceded the place back to the McLaren man as Norris made a move outside of turn 4. Bottas was running in P5, meanwhile, Ricciardo had made up five positions running in P8 from P13.
Leclerc had to pit as he damaged his front wing by nicking Gasly’s rear left tyre. The AlphaTauri driver retiring as he got suspension failure due to tyre puncture and, in the process, spun Giovinazzi and Latifi. A few laps later, Ricciardo suffered momentary engine power loss due to which he plummeted back to P13, promoting Williams’ Russell in P8.
On lap 10 Perez moved past Norris, Bottas doing the same a lap later as the McLaren did not put up much of a defense due to faster nature of the Red Bull and Mercedes cars. At the front Verstappen was leading Hamilton by 3s. The duo led Perez and Bottas by over 12s. Behind the top four it was Norris, Stroll, Alonso, Russell, Tsunoda and Sainz.
Perez was the first one to pit for hard tyres on lap 26 and suffered a slow pit stop. This gave Mercedes the opportunity to pit Bottas and with a smooth pitstop emerged ahead of Perez and running into the podium positions. Hamilton pitted on lap 28, already behind Verstappen by 5s. Verstappen copying his title rival and emerging in the lead once again. There was another bout of bad luck for Russell as he was comfortably running in points before reliability problems struck and eventually retiring the car on lap 36 after falling to P18.
Pit Stops – A Pirelli graphic In the midfield both Sainz and Ricciardo pulled off a mammoth 41 lap stint on medium tyres before pitting for hard tyres. Everyone else in the midfield had pitted between lap 26 and 31. The outlier being Leclerc who pitted a second time on lap 37 after pitting on lap 1 to change his front wing.
Ahead, Perez was unable to get past Bottas and pitted again on lap 51 to try and pull of another “Hungary 2019” on Bottas to get the podium. It was to no avail as Perez just finished 0.5s behind Bottas who continued and finished on his ageing hard tyres.
In the lead, Hamilton was unable to make a dent in Verstappen’s lead as the lead extended over 10s. The Briton pitting on lap 69 for a set of soft tyres to get an extra point for setting the fastest lap, a consolation for what had been a dominant victory by the Red Bull team.
Red Bull clearly dominated this race weekend and the same can be expected next weekend as the Austrian grand prix takes place at the same venue. Only weather and rain have a chance to stop their momentum. Red Bull brought an upgrade to their diffusers leading edge, making it serrated to enhance the rear downforce creation. By doing this they can run a lower downforce rear wing compared to Mercedes which gave them an advantage of about 0.2s on the straights without compromising cornering speed. Mercedes have lost out to Red Bull especially in race pace as Hamilton kept losing time in relation to Verstappen. Mercedes have not brought any upgrades instead aiming to optimise their current package. They have a lot of work to do if they want to consistently challenge Red Bull. It has been four races since the German squad won a race.
McLaren once again proved to be the clear best of the rest with them being the leading team in midfield in qualifying and race. Ricciardo is still unable to maximise the potential of the MCL35M and therefore, McLaren are unable to operate at their potential. Also, reliability hampered them in Styria as Ricciardo too would have finished in points. Ferrari have seemed to recover their race pace after a dismal French grand prix where the car chewed through its tyres. In Styria the car looked more balanced and tyre wear was not an issue for the Italian squad. It remains to be seen if they have fixed the problem or is it a track specific issue. AlphaTauri failed to capitalise on their potential pace, like many other races this season. Both drivers showed impressive qualifying pace with Gasly even beating both Ferrari’s. His race was over on lap 1 due to the Leclerc incident and Tsunoda was able to finish in the points. AlphaTauri can challenge for higher points if they have incident free and clean race.
Aston Martin struggled in qualifying but showed competitive race pace. Due to one lap pace being their issue and midfield teams being closely matched in race pace, Aston Martin were unable to break through the midfield to challenge the likes of McLaren and Ferrari with only Stroll adding to team’s tally. Alpine are on similar level as Aston Martin, operating on the fringes of top 10. Alonso maximised while Ocon struggled in qualifying and race, like the French grand prix. With race pace to rivals being similar it is all about maximizing qualifying and maintaining track position.
Williams genuinely for the first time this season showed points potential and having the pace to match teams like Aston martin and Alpine in the hands of Russell. Russell was comfortably running in the top 10 and even putting pressure on Alpine’s Alonso before reliability gremlins struck and robbed him his points finish. Williams needs a reliable race car if they want to challenge the top 10 because clearly, they have made steps forward with the FW43B.
Alfa Romeo were in no man’sland this weekend as they did not have the pace for top 10 but were faster than fellow Ferrari customer Haas. They fell back behind Williams, but Raikkonen maximised the cars potential by finishing P11, one position outside points. Their race pace is better than qualifying but both need improvement to consistently challenge the lower top 10. Haas have had the same story for much of the season as they struggled once again at the back of the field but both rookie drivers gaining experience in Formula 1.
Saturday Qualifying Results were:
P1: Max Verstappen- 33 (Red Bull) P2: Valtteri Bottas- 77 (Mercedes) P3: Lewis Hamilton- 44 (Mercedes) P4: Lando Norris- 4 (McLaren) P5: Sergio Perez- 11 (Red Bull) P6: Pierre Gasly- 10 (AlphaTauri) P7: Charles Leclerc- 16 (Ferrari) P8: Yuki Tsunoda- 22 (AlphaTauri) P9: Fernando Alonso- 14 (Alpine) P10: Lance Stroll- 18 (Aston Martin) P11: George Russell- 63 (Williams) P12: Carlos Sainz- 55 (Ferrari) P13: Daniel Ricciardo- 3 (McLaren) P14: Sebastian Vettel- 5 (Aston Martin) P15: Antonio Giovinazzi- 99 (Alfa Romeo) P16: Nicholas Latifi- 6 (Williams) P17: Esteban Ocon- 31 (Alpine) P18: Kimi Raikkonen- 7 (Alfa Romeo) P19: Mick Schumacher- 47 (Haas) P20: Nikita Mazepin- 9 (Haas) Note – Bottas penalised three grid places for dangerous driving in the pit lane during practice. Tsunoda penalised three grid places for impeding Bottas during Q3.
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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
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 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.
