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Tag: Lewis Hamilton
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Lewis Hamilton tops timesheets in FP2: Spanish GP
Barcelona, 7 May 2021: Lewis Hamilton topped the timesheet in second practice for the Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya beating Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas by over a tenth of a second as Max Verstappen finished in ninth place following an error during his qualifying simulation.
Bottas, the morning’s fastest man, set the early pace in the one-hour afternoon session, working his way to a time of 1:18.419, with Hamilton 0.042s slower than his team-mate, while Verstappen sat in third place, three tenths off the pace.
The session was briefly slowed when a Virtual Safety Car was deployed after 10 minutes to allow marshals to clear a piece of bodywork that had become dislodged from Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari.
When the track went green again teams set about preparing for their qualifying simulations with Bottas getting down to 1:18.309 before Hamilton toppled him with lap of 1:18.170.
It was then Verstappen turn to bolt on soft tyres and after losing a small amount of ground to Hamilton opening sector the Dutchman then went wide on the entry to Turn 10 and as he tried to recover he got a snap of oversteer that sent him off track. He kept going but backed off in the final corners and finished in ninth thanks to his earlier lap on medium times.
With Verstappen down the order, third place in the session went to Charles Leclerc. The Ferrari driver was just 0.165s slower than Hamilton. Esteban Ocon took fourth place just ahead of team-mate Fernando Alonso on an encouraging afternoon for improving Alpine, while Pierre Gasly finished in P6 ahead of AlphaTauri team-mate Yuki Tsunoda.
Sainz was eighth for Ferrari ahead of Versatappen and the Dutch driver’s team-mate Sergio Pérez, finished in P10 as he too failed to complete his qualifying simulation. He ended the session 0.748s off Hamilton’s best time.
2021 FIA Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix – Free Practice 1
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 32 1:18.170;
2 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 31 1:18.309 0.139;
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 28 1:18.335 0.165;
4 Esteban Ocon Alpine 29 1:18.466 0.296;
5 Fernando Alonso Alpine 30 1:18.518 0.348;
6 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 32 1:18.593 0.423;
7 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 30 1:18.619 0.449;
8 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 30 1:18.674 0.504;
9 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 26 1:18.785 0.615;
10 Sergio Perez Red Bull Racing 23 1:18.918 0.748;
11 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 30 1:18.947 0.777;
12 Lando Norris McLaren 28 1:19.092 0.922;
13 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo 29 1:19.122 0.952;
14 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 29 1:19.134 0.964;
15 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 28 1:19.195 1.025;
16 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo 30 1:19.213 1.043;
17 George Russell Williams 29 1:19.957 1.787;
18 Nicholas Latifi Williams 26 1:20.046 1.876;
19 Mick Schumacher Haas 30 1:20.326 2.156;
20 Nikita Mazepin Haas 27 1:20.753 2.583. -
The race was very tough, but yes, it was a great race: Hamilton
Portimao, 2 May 2021: The following drivers attended the FIA post-race Press Conference on Sunday: 1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes); 2 – Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing); 3 – Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes)
TRACK INTERVIEWS (Conducted by Paul Di Resta)
Q: Max, started third, finished second, you had a great jump on Lewis at the restart, you got in front but then you made a small mistake in Turn 14. How was your race.
Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, it was pretty decent. I had a good re-start and then I tried to put the pressure on Valtteri. At the end it think we just lacked a little bit of pace overall, so Lewis got by again and after the pit stop, the warm-up is super hard on these tyres, but I think once we settled in second you could clearly see that around here we were lacking a bit of pace compared to them. But still, second, fastest lap in the last lap…
Q: Ah well, I think you have been deleted for track limits at Turn 14, right at the end. The good thing is it didn’t go to Lewis, it went to Valtteri who took it the lap before you?
MV: That’s a bit odd because they were not checking track limits in 14, but whatever?
Q: Well, onto the next race, what’s your feeling? Did you think this was a weekend that would favour Mercedes and then on to Spain where you can make a fight back?
MV: Yeah, I think in general this was a bit of an odd weekend in terms of grip. We were not on top of it here but we’ll see again what we can do in Barcelona.
Q: Lewis, I think you’ve got to be pretty pumped for that result – absolutely textbook. But you managed to get the position back and onto the next one?
Lewis HAMILTON: Yeah, I’m telling you that was such a tough race, physically and mentally. Just keeping everything together… it was very windy out there, obviously, so it was very easy to put a foot wrong. I just didn’t get quite as good a start as Valtteri and then I lost out on the re-start, which was not good. I was not happy about that, naturally. I really had to try and position myself as best I could. I can’t remember, but I think Max made a mistake at some point in the lap, which was like perfect, and I knew that that was going to be the lap I would be as close as I could to him in the last sector. With Valtteri, I had to make the move early on, before the tyres were destroyed and I managed to just get him in Turn 1, just right on the limit. But a great race.
Q: I know you relish the challenge of people and opposition pushing you all the way. What does the next four days look like for you heading to Spain because it’s a very different year with Red Bull this close?
LH: Yeah, I think the next few days… We head back home for just a couple of days and it’s about recovery and a lot of physio. Angela will be with me. Recovery and get yourself back, turned around as quickly as possible for the next one. A lot of kind of debriefs, a lot to download today, there are improvements we can make. Today wasn’t all perfect so we look at those areas and we try to turn over the stones.
Q: Valtteri, P3. I know you would have wanted more. You got the fastest lap as Max’s lap got deleted. How did your race go?
Valtteri BOTTAS: It was a tricky day today. I don’t really know what happened in the first stint. I just didn’t have the pace, for unknown reasons. So we will need to have a look at that. But afterwards I think the second stint was pretty good but we had a bit of an issue with some sensor or something, so I couldn’t get Max.
Q: Like you say, why did the car become better when it was on half tanks, you were able to push on and even had Toto Wolff on the radio giving you that extra push. It seemed like when the fuel burned off you had the fastest race car?
VB: I don’t know really. Overall, we have had a strong package today and I don’t know why in the first stint it didn’t work. We need to look at that but otherwise good points.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Lewis, many congratulations, what a race. First of all, how good does this feel?
LH: I’ve been racing a long, long time, and we’ve had a lot of success over the years and I’m really grateful that each one feels new and different and it was a completely different journey today and this weekend to get the result we just got. It’s a much different feeling of course when you are battling so closely with two great drivers. So yeah, it feels fantastic today. I’m very grateful for and really proud of the team. We had a great pit stop and a strong strategy and everyone had just kept their head down to try and extract more and more from this car that we have. So a big thank you to everyone.
Q: You’re not one for statistics, you’ve told us that many times, but this was your 150th points finish for Mercedes.
LH: Nice. It really is incredible, right. It’s down to a lot of great, great people working so hard over all these years, so I hope they feel this success.
Q: Couple of key moments to ask you about. The re-start: you said a moment ago you weren’t happy with yours, what happened?
LH: (laughs) I lost position, that’s what happened! Well, it was interesting because I was focusing on Valtteri naturally and literally just for a split second I looked in my mirrors to see where Max was and in that split second that’s when Valtteri went.
VB: (laughs) I could see looking in the mirrors!
LH: Ha! So that wasn’t great and then I was Valtteri’s tow and you (Max) were about to pull out and I pulled out and gave you Valtteri’s tow and I was like, ‘you idiot’, to myself you know. So then after that being behind the two… what a great track. It really enabled us to fight closely in that first stint and I think that’s what the fans want and that’s what I want from a racing point of view. This track is really great because you can have certain different lines in certain corners, a bit like Austin, so it was really awesome.
Q: And eight points the gap between yourself and Max at the top of the table. It’s tight.
LH: It’s very tight. I saw that he had gone in for the fastest lap and got it but obviously Valtteri ended up with it at the end. But as you can see I think it is a great fight between Mercedes and Red Bull and I’m sure also down the field and we will be pushing each other right to the last race. We’re going to be sick of each other at the end I would imagine or sick of racing, because there are so many races.
Q: Max, well done. Are you happy with second today, given the relative pace of the cars – or do you feel this was a missed opportunity?
MV: I’m pleased. I tried everything I could really. I had a good restart because the actual start, I just missed-out a bit. We didn’t really have particularly a great launch so yeah, I couldn’t really do anything there but then yeah, it was a good fight into Turn One with Lewis. Managed to keep it on the kerb as well, so didn’t have to give the position back like in Bahrain. From there it was just super-close between the three of us. I tried to attack Valtteri but all the time I could not get close enough in those last two corners and then the run onto the straight. By pushing I had a little wobble but I didn’t really lose-out a lot from that. And then Lewis was already super-close behind and he got me into Turn One and then, of course, Lewis was putting the pressure on Valtteri and I just could not stay close to Lewis for that, to also pick up the DRS. But yeah, it was close. I just tried to put the pressure on and, of course, Lewis cleared Valtteri and then I was, I don’t know for how many laps, in Valtteri’s DRS. It was incredible – but it was good. It felt a bit more like… not flat-out racing but at least a bit more than continuously tyre saving. So, yeah, it was nice.
Q: As you say, you spent a lot of time on a Mercedes gearbox today. Tell us about the relative pace of your car and there car. Where was the Mercedes better, where were you better?
MV: To be honest, it depends a bit and it’s difficult to tell when you are so close because you anyway lose a lot of downforce. For me, I think the whole weekend we haven’t been really satisfied with the grip in general, the car. Last year this was a very difficult weekend for us and it seemed like it’s still not great for us. Let’s say it like that. It’s a bit difficult to judge, to be honest. I prefer to wait again to Barcelona and see how the progression from the beginning of the season to that track will be. This is a bit of an odd weekend in terms of grip – but clearly we still have to improve and do better because we should be fastest on every single track and in every single condition – because the track is the same for everyone. Still, second place, pretty happy with that. Good fights on the track, also with Valtteri afterwards, after the pit stop. It was quite close in Turn 4, because I washed out a bit but yeah, it was quite a decent race.
Q: Can we just get your thoughts on that gap to Lewis in the Championship? Just eight points.
MV: Yeah it’s close. I wish it was closer! It’s a long season and we can’t afford to have any retirement or silly mistakes so we just have to keep on doing what we’re doing.
Q: Valtteri, well done, podium number 58 today. How would you sum-up today’s race?
VB: Disappointing. When you start from the pole position, you have only one target for the race and that is to win the race. It didn’t happen today so I’m disappointed – but I don’t really know why in the first stint I didn’t really have the pace. I mean, I felt everything in terms of the race start, the restart, everything was good from my side but I could see quite early on in the race that, with the Mediums, I just didn’t have pace like Lewis and Max had. I have no idea way. I don’t have the explanation. It was better on the Hard tyre and at some point I was catching Max and then I had an issue with one sensor that, I started to lose power and then I lost like five seconds to Max and that was it.
Q: Did the car feel immediately better on the Hard tyre?
VB: Not on the first lap. It was really bad but we know the warm-up today with the Hard tyre was going to be tricky. Afterwards, once I got heat in the tyres, it was actually not bad and better than with the Medium. Yeah, lots of things to look at, to analyse and learn from in the next two days before starting to focus for the next race.
Q: There was some encouragement over the radio mid-race from Toto Wolff. Is it slightly unusual for him to do that?
VB: No, it’s not. There’s been many times that he’s, you know, opened the radio to say something. It’s all supportive and it shows there’s the support and the passion behind – and it never hurts. Obviously I’m always giving it every single bit I have on track. But yeah, it’s good.
VIDEO CONFERENCE
Q: (Alex Kalinauckas – Autosport) Lewis, first of all, congratulations on the win. I wonder if you can please talk us through the phase of the race just after the restart when you were behind Max and Valtteri. Were you just hanging back to see what was going to happen with the tyres and how they were going to progress ahead of you as well, or were you pushing flat-out throughout, as Max suggested earlier. Thank you.
LH: Thank you. No, I think Max was super-fast on that restart and there was a moment I think we were all very, very close. I fell back, maybe a second or something like that and I needed to get closer but for a moment there was far too big a gap. I wasn’t in the DRS, and I just had to gather my thoughts and made a couple of tweaks in terms of how I was driving and then start on the attack again. Once I did, obviously I got closer and Max, I think, had a small mistake which then put me in a nice position out of Turn 5 and then I just needed to keep that gap through the rest of the lap and that was where I was able to get past him. Then, after that, was just focussing on bridging the gap between myself and Valtteri, who was very quick out of the last corner.
Q: (Andrew Benson – BBC Sport) Lewis, two part question for you: one is we’ve seen this a number of times with you now where you are able to follow really closely behind other drivers for a period of laps and still keep the tyres in decent condition and then pull off an overtake. I’d like to ask you how you do that? And secondly, just how energised are you by this close fight you’re having with Max for the championship, and that one’s for Max as well?
LH: Well firstly, yes, massively excited and driven – I think we all are, as a team – to be in the fight with Red Bull. This weekend, I think, I feel like maybe Red Bull lost a little bit of performance this weekend, because I don’t think we improved but from the last race to here I think they took a sidestep closer to us this weekend, for whatever reasons. But this is great, this is what we all live for, we live and breathe for, to get up and fight and try and pull out the smallest bits of performance to be able to fight a great competitor. With the tyres, it’s really… I guess it’s just knowledge of the tyres, really and knowing which ones you can lean on and where you can… I can’t really say too much, to be honest. I think everyone was pushing and they put on their tyres. I think I just managed to get the balance pretty sweet, better for the race than it was for qualifying.
Q: Is it different with the new constructions this year?
LH: It’s a little bit different. The tyre is slightly different and so there’s a slightly different approach in terms of how you treat the tyres but it’s not a massive different, people wouldn’t notice otherwise normally, but here, this track, there’s not a huge amount of grip and you’ve got the hardest compounds but being that they are the hardest compounds means that they can do the race distance and there’s not a huge amount of wear, so you can push every single lap and I think that’s great, because there are races we’ve been in in the past where we have to do a lot of lift and coasts, slow down to make the tyre go the distance because the pit lane is so long. So I think it was the right tyre for this weekend.
MV: Yeah, I think it’s what everyone wants to see but of course what I want as well, because the last few years we have not been close enough so it’s a good start to the season, that’s for sure and I hope it can be like this for the rest of the season because it keeps everyone excited.
Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) Lewis and Max, Nico Rosberg called Lewis’s drive phenomenal today and said that now Max is starting to get a better understanding of how good Lewis is, so I just guess following on from that, Lewis, how good was your performance today? Was it a big statement of intent for the championship in terms of you passed Max and Valtteri on track and I guess to Max, are you now beginning to understand how good Lewis is given that you’re racing him so closely every weekend?
LH: I think none of us here are under any illusion of just how hard it is out there for us, how close the battle is and how… we’re all giving absolutely everything in our day-to-day lives in order to be best prepared and deliver at the weekends. The pressure is immense between us all and I think there’s a huge amount of respect between the three of us and obviously with the other drivers here. Of course, it’s always great when you have a race like today where you’re able to follow and overtake and capitalise on the small margins and gaps that have but at the same time, look at the restart. Max had been pulling absolutely everything out of the Red Bull and given us a great run for our money so I think it’s going to be like this for the rest of the season, which I think can be incredibly exciting.
MV: Yeah, I don’t need Nico to make me realise how good Lewis is. I know he’s very good, otherwise you don’t win so many championships.
Q: (Edd Straw – The Race) Max and Lewis: you’ve had a wheel-to-wheel fight in all three of the races this year, which is great because it’s quite rare in Formula 1 so 100% of those battles. How have you seen those battles in particular, how much are you enjoying them? They seem forceful but fair from both of you so far. Do you think that’s sustainable, especially as we could have, at this rate, another twenty of those battles this year?
MV: Yeah, it’s been really cool, especially when you race a driver, when you know that you can go to the absolute limit, I guess you can trust each other to just race super-hard. I think that’s always really nice because you can see the in the three races we’ve had we haven’t really… well, we gave each… how you say? It’s been really close to each other but predictable. Lewis has never had something like ‘oh, we’re going to crash’ or something. I always have full trust in Lewis that we all give each other enough space.
LH: Yeah, I just second that. I think it is naturally down to respect and I think both very, very hard but fair and I think that’s what makes great racing and great racing drivers and I think we will continue to keep it clean and keep it on the edge but I don’t think either of us has a plan to get any closer than we have been.
Q: (Alex Kalinauckas – Autosport) Another question to Lewis: how do you feel about Max and Valtteri being able to stop at the end of the race to chase the fastest lap point? Before they did that, you were ahead of them. I think Perez may have ended up with the fastest lap anyway but you had much more to lose if you’d come in and the pit stop had gone wrong so how did that go?
LH: Yeah, I think… you came in first, right?
VB: Max came first, I think. Did you? I don’t know.
MV: No, I think you pitted before me, one lap…
LH: Otherwise you wouldn’t have pitted. Yeah, I think, for me, I’ve come from third place so for me it was a solid job and there are days when it’s necessary to take the extra risk to take the extra lap but today wasn’t one of those. I think it was just about making sure we finished strong and bag the points, you know, because every point does count but I’d heard that Valtteri had stopped and then I heard that Max had stopped so it was going to be close between the two. At the time, Max had obviously got the point, which takes a little bit off the great result that we had but obviously it didn’t turn out in the end.
Ends
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Lewis Hamilton tops timesheets in FP2
Portimao, 30 April 2021: Lewis Hamilton set the fastest lap of second practice session beating Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to top spot by a little under 1500ths of a second in the 2021 Portuguese Grand Prix, the third round of FIA Formula 1 World Championship here on Friday.
The session start was delayed for 10 minutes to allow officials to inspect a drain cover on the outside of Turn 11 but when running eventually go underway Verstappen, second fastest in the morning behind Valtteri Bottas, quickly moved to the top of the order with a lap of 1:20.937. With almost all cars on track in a busy opening phase, the Dutchman was soon dislodged by Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and then by Bottas and Red Bull team-mate Sergio Pérez.
Verstappen then moved back to P1 with a lap of 1:20.332, but both Mercedes drivers were preparing to go out again and when they took to the track on soft compound tyres, Verstappen’s tenure at the top was always going to be fragile – and so it proved.
Bottas retook first place on the timesheet with a lap of 1:20.181. Hamilton, though, was looking more composed than in the opening session, during which he complained of poor balance, and he powered past his team-mate’s time to take P1 0.344s ahead of the Finn. Hamilton’s time of 1:19.837 would remain the fastest of the session.
Verstappen then went out for his performance run and though the Dutchman’s pace was a match for Hamilton across the first sector he lost time as the lap wore on and finished 0.143s adrift of the defending champion.
Sainz took fourth place ahead of Alpine drivers Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon, while Charles Leclerc was seventh in the second Ferrari.
Daniel Ricciardo finished in eighth place ahead of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and the second Red Bull of Sergio Pérez.
2021 FIA Formula 1 Portuguese Grand Prix – Free Practice 1
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:19.837 33 209.812
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 1:19.980 0.143 26 209.437
3 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:20.181 0.344 28 208.912
4 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:20.197 0.360 33 208.870
5 Fernando Alonso Alpine/Renault 1:20.220 0.383 32 208.810
6 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 1:20.235 0.398 31 208.771
7 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:20.360 0.523 33 208.446
8 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren/Mercedes 1:20.418 0.581 31 208.296
9 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:20.427 0.590 31 208.273
10 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda 1:20.516 0.679 28 208.043
11 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri/Honda 1:20.558 0.721 34 207.934
12 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:20.757 0.920 28 207.422
13 George Russell Williams/Mercedes 1:20.976 1.139 32 206.861
14 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri/Honda 1:21.053 1.216 33 206.664
15 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:21.074 1.237 32 206.611
16 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:21.225 1.388 22 206.227
17 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:21.238 1.401 32 206.194
18 Mick Schumacher Haas/Ferrari 1:21.537 1.700 29 205.438
19 Nicholas Latifi Williams/Mercedes 1:21.855 2.018 31 204.639
20 Nikita Mazepin Haas/Ferrari 1:22.638 2.801 28 202.700Bottas quickest in first practice
Earlier, Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas went quickest in the opening practice session for this weekend’s Portugues Grand Prix beating Red Bull’s Max Verstappen by the narrow margin of 0.025s. Third placer went to Sergio Pérez in the second Red Bull.
Bottas set the early pace as Pérez spent the opening part of the one-hour session running with a large aero rake fitted as Red Bull analysed upgrades brought to this weekend’s event in Portimão.
Bottas worked his way to a fastest time of a 1:22.938s before team-mate and championship leader Lewis Hamilton shaved two tenths off that time as both ran on hard tyres. Hamilton was unhappy with the balance of his car however and returned to the pits to make set-up changes.
Bottas later returned to the top of the leaderboard with a lap of 1:21.829s, which stood for some time before McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo jumped to P1 with a lap of 1:21.821. His stay at the top was shortlived, however, as Verstappen, making his first run of the day, immediately vaulted to the top of the order with a lap 1:21.053. Bottas beat that, though, with a lap of 1:20.506, again on hard tyres, but soon after the halfway point Verstappen went quicker again, getting down to 1:20.318.
Mercedes then sent Bottas out on soft tyres and over three laps he found his way back to the top and a best time of 1:19.648.
Verstappen also switched to the soft tyres late in the session andf though he complained of severe vibrations from his tyres he set a best time of 1:19.673 to finish a little over two hundredths of a second behind the Finn.
After completing his aero work Pérez eventually rose to third place to finish just under two tenths of a second off Bottas. Charles Leclerc took fourth place for Ferrari just under four hundredths of a second behind Pérez.
Hamilton’s unhappiness with balance extended to his runs on soft tyres and he finished in fifth place, 0.319s down on his team-mate. Pierre Gasly took sixth for AlphaTauri ahead of George Russell, who backed up Williams’s strong practice form at Imola with seventh. Lando Norris finished eighth for McLaren with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz ninth ahead of Alpine’s Esteban Ocon.
2021 FIA Formula 1 Portuguese Grand Prix – Free Practice 1
1 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:19.648 31 210.310
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 1:19.673 0.025 23 210.244
3 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda 1:19.846 0.198 22 209.788
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:19.884 0.236 27 209.689
5 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:19.967 0.319 32 209.471
6 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri/Honda 1:20.444 0.796 31 208.229
7 George Russell Williams/Mercedes 1:20.529 0.881 29 208.009
8 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:20.635 0.987 26 207.736
9 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:20.680 1.032 27 207.620
10 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 1:20.800 1.152 27 207.311
11 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:20.894 1.246 29 207.070
12 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren/Mercedes 1:20.995 1.347 31 206.812
13 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri/Honda 1:21.090 1.442 28 206.570
14 Fernando Alonso Alpine/Renault 1:21.303 1.655 31 206.029
15 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:21.381 1.733 25 205.831
16 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:21.405 1.757 31 205.771
17 Callum Ilott Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:21.806 2.158 21 204.762
18 Mick Schumacher Haas/Ferrari 1:21.939 2.291 29 204.430
19 Nicholas Latifi Williams/Mercedes 1:22.293 2.645 29 203.550
20 Nikita Mazepin Haas/Ferrari 1:24.224 4.576 29 198.883 -
Max Verstappen wins inciedent-packed race; Hamilton recovers
Imola, 18 April 2021: Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen navigated a treacherous wet start, safety cars and red flags to take his first victory of 2021 as Lewis Hamilton recovered from a mid-race spin to fight back to second place at the end of an incident-packed Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
The Imola circuit was hit by heavy downpours in the hour leading up to the race start and on the laps to grid the track proved difficult as Alpine’s Fernando Alonso when he spun off and damaged his front wing. The Spaniard made it back to the pit lane for repairs and took the start but his troubles were a sign of just how difficult the conditions would prove to be in the early stages of he race.
However, despite the treacherous conditions Verstappen made an excellent start from P3 on the grid and passed team-mate Sergio Pérezx and and pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton in the first chicane to taske the lead. In a bruising overtaking move, Hamilton was forced wide and the champion recovered recovered Pérez also tried to get past. The Mexican was forced to back off, however, and losing pace he lost a place to Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
Moments later as the field swept up the hill from Tosa, Williams’ Nicholas Latifi slid off track at Piratella. He kept his car going but as he rejoined the track he collided with Haas’ Nikita Mazepin and was bounced into the wall. The safety car was swiftly deployed.
When racing resumed at the end of lap six Verstappen controlled the re-start well to keep Hamilton at bay, while Leclerc held fourth ahead of Pérez. However, under the safety car the Mexican had a spin and afterwards was deemed to have illegally overtaken cars to return to fourth place behind Leclerc. He would later be handed a 10-second time penalty by the stewards for the transgression.
At the front, Verstappen was regularly putting in fastest laps and by lap 16 he had built a five-second gap to Hamilton. Leclerc was now 15 seconds behind the lead Mercedes, with Pérez a further eight seconds back.
As the one-third distance point arrived, Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel judged the conditions to be good enough for slick tyres and he pitted for medium compound Pirellis. Soon the German was setting personal best times and Red Bull responded by pitting Verstappen for mediums at the end of lap 27.
Mercedes then pitted the world champion at the end of the following lap. The stop was slow at 4.0 seconds, however, and as he made his way to the pit exit Max powered past in the lead once again.
Checo made his pit stop at the end of the next tour. The Mexican not only served his 10s time penalty but also changed his steering wheel and he rejoined in fifth place, behind Leclerc and Norris.
After a brief period of incident-free racing, drama erupted when Hamilton lost control and went off track at Tosa as he tried to navigate his way past back markers. He slid across the gravel and came to a halt just before the barriers. However, as he tried to get going again he hit the wall and damaged the front wing. The Mercedes driver rejoined eventually but it looked like his race was run. However, within moments he was granted a reprieve soon when Williams’ George Russell and Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas were involved in a heavy accident.
Russell went to overtake the Finn but as Bottas defended, the Williams driver put a wheel on the grass on the right side. He slammed into the side of the Mercedes and both cars hit the barriers hard. The safety car was deployed but with debris strewn across the track at Tamburello the red flags were soon shown.
The race was suspended for some time as the track was cleared but at 1625 local time the cars flowed out of pit lane to prepare for a rolling start. The track was still tricky, however, and Verstappen was almost caught out by the conditions.
Trying to warm his tyres, the race leader lost control in the final Rivazza corner. He managed to regain control, however, and narrowly avoided a costly spin just as the safety car was about to leave the track. Within seconds racing resumed and Verstappen showed great composure to fend off a challenge from Leclerc to hold the lead.
Behind them, Lando Norris, who had moved to soft tyres during the suspension, managed to get past Leclerc to steal P2, with Pérez now in fourth place ahead of Sainz. Pérez then spun at the exit of Turn 4 and dropped back to P14. The Red Bull driver managed to claw back two places by the end of the race but it was a frustrating afternoon for the Mexican.
At the front, however, his team-mate was in total control. On Medium tyres Verstappen stretched away from Norris and then set about managing his run to the flag.
Hamilton, who took the rolling start in P9, put in a determined fight back in the final third of the race, but despite dragging himself back to P2 in the closing stages, he could make no impact on the yawning gap to Max and after 63 incident-packed laps, the Red Bull driver crossed the line 22 seconds ahead of the Briton to claim his first win of the year.
Norris’ gamble on soft tyres for the re-start paid off too. Although he was unable to jeep Hamilton at bay in the final laps, the McLaren driver nursed his fading tyres to the flag in third place to take his second career podium finish.
Behind him Leclerc finished fourth with Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz in fifth. Sixth place went to Daniel Ricciardo in the second McLaren, while Lance Stroll finished in seventh place for Aston Martin ahead of AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly, Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Räikkönen and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon.
Hamilton’s determined comeback netted the Briton fastest lap in the closing stages and the extra point for that means that he leaves Imola with a single-point lead over Verstappen in the Drivers’ Championship standings.
2021 FIA Formula 1 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix – Race
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 63 2:02’34.598
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 63 2:02’56.598 22.000
3 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 63 2:02’58.300 23.702
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 63 2:03’00.177 25.579
5 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 63 2:03’01.634 27.036
6 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren/Mercedes 63 2:03’25.818 51.220
7 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 63 2:03’26.507 51.909
8 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri/Honda 63 2:03’27.416 52.818
9 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 63 2:03’39.371 1’04.773
10 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 63 2:03’40.302 1’05.704
11 Fernando Alonso Alpine/Renault 63 2:03’41.159 1’06.561
12 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda 63 2:03’41.749 1’07.151
13 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri/Honda 63 2:03’47.782 1’13.184
14 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 62 1 Lap
15 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin/Mercedes 61 Not running
16 Mick Schumacher Haas/Ferrari 61 2 Laps
17 Nikita Mazepin Haas/Ferrari 61 2 Laps
Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 30 Collision
George Russell Williams/Mercedes 30 Collision
Nicholas Latifi Williams/Mercedes 0 Spun off -
I did not expect to be ahead of the two Red Bulls, says poleman Hamilton
DRIVERS
1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)
2 – Sergio PÉREZ (Red Bull)
3 – Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull)
TRACK INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by Davide Valsecchi)
Q: Well done Checo, wonderful performance. First row for you, second position. How was your quali because you surprised everyone by improving, improving and then at the end second position?
Sergio PÉREZ: Yeah, first of all, I have to say well done to team. Yesterday I made a mistake and I made them work hard during the day, so it’s a good recovery. The most important thing is that we are showing progress. I never expected to be here today, you know, [after] where we were yesterday. We’ve been improving. It’s just important. P2 today. I should have been on pole today. I did a mistake today on my final corner. I think it’s everything positive. We just have to make sure that we keep progressing and tomorrow is what matters.
Q: Tell me about tomorrow. Usually it’s your strongest part of the weekend, the race. What do you think about the race?
SP: Yeah, I think anything can happen tomorrow. We are on a different strategy to Lewis and Max. It’s going to be interesting to see what we can do and most important, get those points, get that learning, which is the priority at the moment.
Q: Ciao, Max. How was your quali? You struggled a bit in the last part of the quali. Third position, same strategy as Lewis Hamilton for tomorrow: how was your day?
Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, not so good. In Q3 I went off at Turn 3, so a bit messy; just not a good lap. But you can’t be good every time. We’ll see what went wrong but it was definitely not the easiest in Q3, but still P3, which is a good starting position.
Q: Tell me please about tomorrow, because it seems the opposite of Bahrain, where you were alone against two Mercedes. Tomorrow you will be two Red Bulls against one Mercedes. How will be your race?
MV: Yeah, it’s going to be interesting. Of course we have the two cars on different tyres, so we will see how that will work out but we will try to make it difficult for them.
Q: Lewis, what a day. Your numbers, your quali was just amazing from outside. 99 pole positions, 30 different circuits; the record of all time. Congratulations, how was your day?
Lewis HAMILTON: Thank you. Today’s been great, obviously. I definitely didn’t expect us to be ahead of two Red Bulls. I think they have been so quick this weekend. There were times when they were six tenths ahead and we didn’t really know where we would be. But the car was already feeling a lot better from the beginning this weekend. So mad respect to the team for the hard work to really narrow down the window.
Q: Please, tell me about tomorrow, because it will be opposite to Bahrain. You are alone against the two Red Bulls behind, it will be not easy at all. What do you expect from tomorrow?
LH: Oh, I love it! I love the challenge. I think it’s great that we’ve finally got the two Red Bulls behind there. I think it’s going to definitely make strategy harder and it’s going to be a real challenge tomorrow because they’ve got great race pace. I think their pace was looking strongest for the race in the long runs yesterday. But I’m just so happy. The first lap was really, really nice, really clean. There were some improvements on the second lap but it wasn’t quite as good as the first one. I’m really grateful. I came round the last corner and heard that I got the pole and I was super grateful.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Lewis, tremendous performance, well done. It’s so close between Mercedes and Red Bull this year, just how satisfying is this pole?
LH: Thank you. I’m just amazed at how close it is and how exciting that is. It really adds to the fire and the adrenalin rush. I didn’t know whether or not these guys had improved on that last lap for quite some time and so I was definitely nervous and that’s the excitement of closer racing. But really grateful to the team. We came here and the car was feeling better already from the first lap out and I think that’s probably track dependant but really good steps forward. Just one step forward all weekend and fantastic work from everyone.
Q: You say the car feels better, can you tell us a bit more about that? Where are the improvements over Bahrain a few weeks ago?
LH: Well, Bahrain the temperatures are a lot different and the track surface is a lot different. In Bahrain we always struggle with overheating and a lot of cross winds and we don’t seem to have that here and it’s a lot cooler and we are very rarely over with the temperature of the tyres. So that’s kind of brought us more in line with the Red Bulls and I think it’s really just focusing on balance. Refining the balance is a very narrow window of tyres operating at their best and also our car is probably more on a knife edge I would say than previous years.
Q: Can you just describe the thrill of a qualifying lap around Imola? So narrow, so fast…
LH: It’s incredibly fast here and the speeds that we are doing and the accuracy we need. I mean, you saw with Lando, a couple of inches to the right and you’re off track and over the track limits and you really need to use every inch of the road. And the speed that we’re travelling through those first couple of corners – it’s all medium and high-speed corners here, there are no real slow corners – it’s phenomenal. It’s a beautiful lap. And it’s obviously got the history. I remember watching Mika and Ayrton and Michael here, so it’s pretty phenomenal to come to a circuit like this and have a good day like today.
Q: Checo, coming to you, many congratulations, this is your first front row start in Formula 1. How good was not only your Q3 lap but your session as a whole?
SP: Yeah, thanks. It was a very good session from our side, because every time we are in the car we are making big steps. So it was a good session in that regard. Every time I drive this car I’m learning something new and that’s pretty good. If there’s a place that you don’t want to come in your second race with a new team, it’s probably Imola. It’s one of the most difficult circuits around to put a lap together. The limit is… as Lewis described, everything is so narrow, you are millimetres all the time from the grass, you know. To be here in my second race is a pretty good step from our side, which shows that we are definitely making good steps. But the most important is that we keep making those steps and that the we understand today why we went quick and that we can keep that level of consistency, just getting better.
Q: You mentioned a mistake on your final lap. Just how much time do you think it cost you?
SP: Enough to be on pole position.
Q: OK, that’s frustrating, but looking ahead to the race. How important is the start?
SP: It’s very important. Today has been a good day but what matters is tomorrow. I think we have a fantastic car for the race. We are on a different strategy to Lewis and I think as a team we are going to be pushing pretty hard and hopefully tomorrow a Red Bull wins.
Q: Max, after the frustrations of yesterday with the driveshaft failure, just how good was the car today, first of all?
MV: It felt alright in FP3 and yeah, just in qualifying a few… you change tyre from Soft to Medium, try to put your lap in and it was all coming along nicely, then in Q3 the final run… yeah. I just didn’t have a good lap. I mean, I went off in Turn 3 with two wheels. I know that Honda makes good lawnmowers but I don’t think this is suited for that. At least I tried. Yeah, I know, it was really just a scrappy lap and I haven’t had that in the long time, so we just need to understand why that happened. Nevertheless, I think we were very close to that’s positive and I think, like Checo said, we have two cars close to Lewis on different tyres, so hopefully that will give some excitement tomorrow.
Q: We can sense the frustration now but looking at the positives, what is the race pace of the Red Bull like around here?
MV: Yesterday it seemed alright. I didn’t do any long runs but we’ll have a look at it. I don’t think it will be a big issue but it’s hard to overtake here, so we’ll see what we can do.
Q: Final question from me. Do you feel Mercedes have closed the gap to Red Bull here, compared to Bahrain?
MV: It’s always difficult to say but at least from what I can see it all seems a bit more, let’s say, under control, a bit more predictable on onboards.
VIDEO CONFERENCE
Q: (Alex Kalinauckas – Autosport) Question for Lewis. First all of, congrats on pole position. I was just wondering, could you please just talk us through your two runs in Q3. I think you were fractionally slower on your second run. So just what was different compared to the first one that got you pole?
LH: yep, thanks Alex. I think honestly, once we finished P3, for example, we had that gap to the Red Bulls, I couldn’t go sixth-tenths faster – but we just kept our heads down and worked on just tweaking the car a little bit into qualifying. Generally very, very smooth. Great strategy in terms of getting us out in nice clean air on all of our runs. And, of course, I managed to do my time on the Medium, and then I got to have a practice run on the Soft, and then I knew, going into qualifying and particularly that last lap, was going to take something special. It really had to be the most perfect lap that I could do – and a little bit more, in order to beat the Red Bulls. They really have been fast all weekend. So, I didn’t honestly know whether or not we could do it. Like that last lap, it started up… the first lap, for example, of Q3, started I think a tenth up out of Turns 1 and 2 and I knew that I was onto a good lap but the second sector lost a little bit in Turn 12. The second time around, unfortunately came out of Turn 2 and 3 a tenth and a half down, I think it was, or a tenth down, and by the time I got to Turn 9, I was a tenth and a half down but managed to regain that through the middle and the last sector. So, having those two together I think would have been the perfect, perfect lap – but I’m honestly so happy with that lap. The first lap really is obviously where it counted. So, grateful for it.
Q: (Scott Mitchell – The Race) Checo, you’ve said before, openly admitted that it’s going to take some time to get that one-lap performance and it looked like through most of the event so far that was the case here, you were quite a bit off Max. And then it just seems to have come to you through qualifying, especially with that big step in Q3. Can you explain where exactly that came from?
SP: Yeah, I think just understanding where to get the time. I have a pretty good reference in Max, it’s just getting 100 per cent all time out of the car, it’s just adapting myself to it, learning step-by-step. I wasn’t expecting myself to be here at the moment because I feel that I am miles away from where I should be. Things are not coming naturally yet. So it’s a good boost in confidence, not just for myself, also for the team, to make them feel that they have both drivers and that we can push the team forward together. That’s an important bit. Hopefully from here on, we just keep that progress and tomorrow, we do another step in race performance and… yeah, it’s the target just to keep step-by-step. I’m not in a hurry, I know that I’m not where I should be but certainly it’s positive to be up here just in my second race with the team.
Q: (Fred Ferret – L’Equipe) Max, appreciate that it’s a frustrating day for you today – but in which areas do you feel a different driver to the one who started in 2015? Where do you think you have changed and progressed the most?
MV: I guess just general experience – in car racing in general because I only did one year in F3. So just all of the understanding of a race car: racecraft, tyres, tyre management. A lot of things, to be honest! Which you keep learning every year, every single race. I think I had a good day again for that, to learn what went wrong and what can be done better. You just constantly keep improving, keep trying to understand things what go wrong and you try to become better. It has been like that from 2015.
Q: (Christian Menath – motorsportmagazin.com) Max, you have mentioned, it doesn’t happen very often that you make a mistake in qualifying. Do you already have an explanation, is it something different when you know you’re fighting for pole position, you’re in a different situation, different mindset or is it just that it sometimes happens?
MV: It has been going really well for a very long time so… unfortunately we are not robots. I can’t programme myself like that. But yeah, sometimes it happens that you make a mistake.
Q: (Andrew Benson – BBC Sport) Lewis, there was an exchange between you and Bono on the radio where you were both sounding incredulous about the fact that you’d managed to get pole. I notice that Valtteri’s a long way behind you today. Was this one of those laps from you like Singapore 2018 and whichever one it was last year, I forgot I’m afraid, apologies for that, where you’ve really pulled it out? Or was there a different explanation?
LH: OK. Thanks for noticing, Andrew. I guess we’ve not really hyped it up too much but the fact is that as you saw obviously in the last race there was a good gap to the Red Bulls. I think we did feel that we could close it up a little bit coming into this weekend but that was a really clean qualifying session. I guess time and time again we’d just be tweaking and adjusting. In terms of my own performance I’m really grateful that I’m still making steps in the right direction and yeah, it was a real surprise. The team definitely did not… anyone in the team, expected to be on pole today but of course that’s what I was gunning for but it really was the tidiest lap that I could put together and a little bit more. Whether or not it was a Singapore lap or not, it was a different vibe, but it definitely feels good.
Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) Lewis, I suppose it’s just a follow-up on that really. Do laps like these show the others that you’re still at the top of your game, not perhaps that you need to prove that to yourself, but to others that you’re still the main man out there and Max, I suppose the question to you is do you think that you need to finish ahead of Lewis tomorrow in terms of the championship? You probably don’t want to let Lewis continue to build a lead.
LH: Hey, Phil. I think you already saw from the get-go we knew in Bahrain that it was going to be close and it is going to be close throughout this season and it’s going to take laps like that, it’s going to take us as a team performing as close to perfection as possible, not leaving any stone unturned and I know that’s kind of the idea going into most weekends but we can’t afford any slip-ups and I think so far we’ve really been firing on all cylinders and we still are hunting, believe it or not. I think today was really fortunate. I think as Sergio was saying, it wasn’t a perfect, perfect lap for him but I think for all of us we’re operating at such a high level, the differences are milliseconds between us all and we could all go back and look at our data and say we can go faster, but at the end of the day it’s what you do on that one moment that counts and so that’s what we really try and focus on.
Q: And Max, please?
MV: Yeah, it’s a very long season so it’s not only about tomorrow.
Q: (Luke Smith – Autosport) Max, we saw last year at Imola that Mercedes essentially split strategies with their two cars to try and get the jump on you. This year it’s a bit of a role reversal: we’ve got two Red Bulls at the front of the grid and only one Mercedes. How much of a strong position do you feel compared to last year, with Checo as your teammate now?
MV: Yeah, I mean of course we have to wait and see what is going to happen tomorrow but yeah, it’s going to be interesting what can be done, but not only with that but also what the weather is going to do, if there is a bit of rain or not so I guess we just have to wait and see what’s going to happen but hopefully, in the race, it will be close again.
Q: (Alex Kalinauckas – Autosport) Sergio, can you please explain the decision to use softs in Q2; why didn’t you use the mediums like Max to get the better starting strategy?
SP: We felt as a team that the soft is nowhere near where it was last year, so it’s a good race tyre. It’s just different to the medium when it’s important… it was very important and crucial for me to get that learning, that consistency and that progression. Last time I missed Q3 and really getting those laps, you know, as Lewis described, we can all look back and all do better but just getting in that mood with the car is very important for me, to be able to put it when it matters. I needed this clean qualifying. Whether or not it is the right or wrong strategy I think there’s not much between them so we are definitely in the game for tomorrow.
Q: (Christian Menath – motorsportmagazin.com) Lewis, the other way around, there was a question to Max earlier – usually it was always two against one with Mercedes because you were always up there with Valtteri but this time it’s the other way around so what does this change for you and how difficult does it make it that Valtteri is not there?
LH: Yeah, it’s much different, Christian, from obviously past experiences. Very rarely have I seen… I can’t remember the last time I saw the Red Bulls so close, so I think tomorrow, of course, they have these… if we’re able to get off in order then they obviously have a bit of a better set of cards in terms of strategy but that doesn’t mean we can’t pull out something unique and do something different. I’m not really sure what happened with Valtteri. It’s very hard to overtake here so obviously we probably won’t have the support of him early on but nevertheless maybe he will make it through but otherwise we’ve just got to focus on our job and try and do absolutely everything and more to keep these lads behind.
-
Lewis Hamilton takes his 99th career pole
Imola, 17 April 2021: Lewis Hamilton grabbed the 99th pole position of his career by the narrow margin of just over three hundredths of a second in taut and tight qualifying session for the FIA Formula 1 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix as Red Bull’s Sergio Pérez scored the first front row start of his F1 career.
Hamilton laid down a stern marker of 1:14.411 in the opening runs of Q3, the final segment of qualifying but with both Red Bulls in close attendance it looked like the Briton’s claim on the top spot of the grid was far from secure.
But while both Red Bull drivers improved on their final runs neither could find a way past Hamilton’s time and the Briton claimed the 99th pole position of his career, despite making no improvement himself.
Pérez got closest to dislodging the Mercedes driver but in the end he feel short by 0.035s, later saying that a mistake in the final corner cost him pole. Verstappen’s hopes meanwhile ended in Turn 3 of his lap where a mistake sent him wide. He recovered but had to settle for P3 on the grid alongside Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
“Today’s been great,” said Hamilton. “I definitely didn’t expect us to be ahead of two Red Bulls. I think they have been so quick this weekend. There were times when they were six tenths ahead and we didn’t really know where we would be. But the car was already feeling a lot better from the beginning this weekend. So mad respect to the team for the hard work to really narrow down the window.”
At the start of the hour-long session, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll was the early pace setter, with the Canadian setting a P1 time of 1:16.082.
However, six minutes into Q1 AlpahTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda crashed bringing out the red flags. The Japanese rookie got out of shape through the Variante Alta chicane and lost the rear end of his car. He slid backwards into the tyre barriers sustaining heavy damage at the rear of his AlphaTauri AT02.
The session resumed after an almost 10-minute suspension and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon were quickly to the fire before Verstappen took P1 with a lap of 1:15.109.
Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas then moved P1 with a time of 1:14.926 as Hamilton slotted into P2 with a lap of 1:14.955 and McLaren’s Lando Norris took P3 with a lap of 1:15.009. Perez then put him into P5 behind Verstappen with a second effort of 1:15.395.
At the other end of the order, Alfa Romeo’s Räikkönen was eliminated in P16 ahead of 17th-placed Antonio Giovinazzi, Schumacher, Mazepin and the unfortunate Tsunoda.
McLaren’s Lando Norris set the pace in the opening runs of Q2, with the Briton using soft tyres to claim P1 with a lap of 1:14.718. Behind him, on medium tyres were Hamilton and Verstappen who took P2 and P3 respectively.
Pérez opted for soft tyres on his first run and though he initially looked set to take P1 he came across traffic in the final sector and his time of 1:15.106 was only good enough for fifth behind Bottas. The Mexican then bolted on another set of softs for his final effort and this time he got a clear run to claim P1 with a lap of 1:14.716, two thousandths of a second ahead of Norris. Leclerc also used softs to jump to third place while Hamilton finished fourth ahead of Verstappen.
Eliminated at the end of Q2 were Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz in P11 followed by Williams’ George Russell, Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel, Nicholas Latifi in the second Williams and Alonso.
In Q3 Hamilton took provisional pole with a lap of 1:14.411, while Verstappen slotted into P2 less than a tenth off the Mercedes driver, while Pérez took third place with a lap of 1:14.665.
Hamilton failed to improve on his final run and though both Red Bull drivers made gains in the final runs they ultimately couldn’t eclipse his time. Pérez’s lap of 1:14.466 left him 0.035s behind Hamilton.
Behind the top three, Leclerc took P4 in qualifying for the second race in succession, while Pierre Gasly grabbed an excellent fifth place on the grid for AlphaTauri. Daniel Ricciardo will start sixth for McLaren, while team-mate Lando Norris will start seventh. The young Briton might have started third had his final lap of Q3 not been deleted for a track limits infringement. Bottas will line up in eight place ahead of Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll.
2021 FIA Formula 1 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix – Qualifying
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:14.411 6 237.497
2 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda 1:14.446 0.035 0.047 6 237.385
3 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 1:14.498 0.087 0.117 6 237.219
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:14.740 0.329 0.442 6 236.451
5 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri/Honda 1:14.790 0.379 0.509 6 236.293
6 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren/Mercedes 1:14.826 0.415 0.558 6 236.179
7 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:14.875 0.464 0.624 6 236.025
8 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:14.898 0.487 0.654 6 235.952
9 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 1:15.210 0.799 1.074 6 234.974
10 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 6
11 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:15.199 0.483 0.646 6 235.008
12 George Russell Williams/Mercedes 1:15.261 0.545 0.729 6 234.814
13 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:15.394 0.678 0.907 6 234.400
14 Nicholas Latifi Williams/Mercedes 1:15.593 0.877 1.174 6 233.783
15 Fernando Alonso Alpine/Renault 1:15.593 0.877 1.174 6 233.783
16 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:15.974 1.302 1.744 10 232.611
17 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:16.122 1.450 1.942 9 232.158
18 Mick Schumacher Haas/Ferrari 1:16.279 1.607 2.152 12 231.681
19 Nikita Mazepin Haas/Ferrari 1:16.797 2.125 2.846 12 230.118
Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri/Honda 2 -
Hamilton resists intense pressure from Verstappen to win season opener
Sakhir, 28 March 2021: Defending F1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton resisted intense pressure from a charging Mac Verstappen to take a thrilling Bahrain Grand Prix win at the end of an epic battle between the two drivers at the Bahrain International Circuit. Valtteri Bottas took third place for Mercedes with Lando Norris fourth for McLaren, in the first round of the Formula 1 World Championship here on Sunday.
After a tight strategic battle across the first two third of the race, during which Hamilton undercut pole position man Verstappen to steal the race lead, the Red Bull driver emerged from his final pit stop eight seconds behind the Mercedes driver but on fresher tyres.
Verstappen closed in and a titanic battle ensued. Verstappen got past at one point but having done so by going off track was forced to cede the position back to Hamilton. Then, in the final laps, Hamilton defended masterfully to keep Verstappen at bay as the Dutch driver repeatedly tried to pressure the seven-time champion into a mistake. Hamilton eventually crossed the line with just seven tenths of a second in hand over his rival.
In a hugely entertaining season-opening race, there was drama even before the start. At the end of the formation lap Sergio Pérez slowed and pulled over at the side of the track on the approach to the final corner with what looked like complete electrical failure. However, after a reset he was able to get power back and as a second formation lap got underway he steered his RB16B into the pit lane from where he’d start the race.
When the lights went out, Verstappen got away well from pole to take the lead ahead of Hamilton into Turn 1. Further back Haas’ Nikita Mazepin went off track at Turn 3 and hit the barriers, causing the safety car to be deployed.
When the action resumed, Verstappen controlled the restart and after a short Virtual Safety Car period caused by Pierre Gasly clipping Daniel Ricciardo’s McLaren and losing his front wing, the Dutchman began to build a slim lead that by lap 13 had reached 1.7 seconds.
With 14 laps gone Mercedes went for the undercut, pitting Hamilton for a set of hard tyres. Verstappen and Red Bull didn’t blink, however, and the Dutchman stayed on track as Hamilton began to set quick times on fresh tyres.
Bottas made his first stop soon after, with the Finn also taking hard tyres, and then Verstappen finally accepted that his tyres were fading and made his first stop on lap 18. The Dutchman bolted on a second set of medium tyres, but as he left the pit lane, Hamilton swept past to take the lead.
At the front, the gap ebbed and flowed across the second stint, but at the end of lap 28, Hamilton again pitted early taking another set of hard tyres as Mercedes sought to prevent any potential undercut by Red Bull.
Hamilton’s pit stop handed the lead back to Verstappen. A lap later Bottas pitted but he was hampered by a long stop caused by a stuck right front wheel. After 10.9 seconds stationary the Mercedes driver rejoined in fifth place behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
Further ahead, Verstappen’s times were flagging and as Hamilton closed in Red Bull called the Dutchman in at end of lap 39 for hard tyres. That put Hamilton back into the lead but Verstappen, armed with fresher tyres, was just eight seconds behind.
He immediately began to close the gap to the leader and by lap 47 he was just over three seconds behind the world champion. And when the Briton locked up on lap 51, the red Bull driver got to within DRS range. He attacked into Turn 1 on the next lap and made his way past in Turn 4. However, he did so by going off track and had to give back the position.
Defending masterfully Hamilton then managed to keep the Dutchman at bay, forced Verstappen to settle for second place, with Bottas a distant third after his botched pit stop. Force place went to McLaren’s Lando Norris, while Pérez put in a superb drive to recover from his pit lane start by claiming fifth place after late charge following his final stop for hard tyres. He finished just five seconds behind Norris.
Sixth place wen to Leclerc, seventh place went to the second McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo, while Carlos Sainz completed a good weekend for Ferrari with eighth place. AlphaTauri rookie Yuki Tsunoda scored two points on his debut with ninth place and the last point on offer went to Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll.
2021 FIA Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix – Race
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 56 1:32’03.897
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 56 1:32’04.642 0.745
3 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 56 1:32’41.280 37.383
4 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 56 1:32’50.363 46.466
5 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda 56 1:32’55.944 52.047
6 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 56 1:33’02.987 59.090
7 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren/Mercedes 56 1:33’09.901 1’06.004
8 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 56 1:33’10.997 1’07.100
9 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri/Honda 56 1:33’29.589 1’25.692
10 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 56 1:33’30.610 1’26.713
11 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 56 1:33’32.761 1’28.864
12 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 55 1 Lap
13 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 55 1 Lap
14 George Russell Williams/Mercedes 55 1 Lap
15 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin/Mercedes 55 1 Lap
16 Mick Schumacher Haas/Ferrari 55 1 Lap
17 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri/Honda 52 4 Laps
18 Nicholas Latifi Williams/Mercedes 51 5 Laps
Fernando Alonso Alpine/Renault 32 Brakes
Nikita Mazepin Haas/Ferrari 0 Spun off -
After a dangerous crash and red flag stoppage, Hamilton gets back to take 95th win
Sakhir, 29 Nov 2020: Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton took his 11th win of 2020 ahead of Red Bulls’ Max Verstappen and Alex Albon in the FIA Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix the 15th of the 17 round World Championship. The race was red-flagged soon after the start due to a major crash involving Haas driver Romain Grosjean. It is Hamilton’s 95th career win.
When the lights went out at the start, Lewis Hamilton made a good start from pole position to take the lead. Front-row starting team-mate Valtteri Bottas got away poorly, however, and that allowed Verstappen to take second place. Sergio Perez who went around the outside of Bottas to take third ahead of Albon.
Further back the field Racing Point’s Lance went wide on the right after to avoid tussling cars ahead, then one of the Alfa Romeos left the track on the left and rercating to the situation in front of him Grosjean moved swiftly across the track. He was unsighted however and hit the AlphaTauri of Daniiil Kvyat. The Haas went straight off track at high speed and through the Armco barrier. The car was torn in two and burst into flame. Miraculously, Grosjean was able to clamber out of the burning wreckage and was helped to safety by the FIA Medical Car crew of Dr Ian Roberts and Medical Car driver Alasn van der Merwe. The red flags were immediately displayed. Grosjean, who was said to have sustained only minor burns to his hands and ankles, was eventually flown to hospital for further checks and later posted video of himself safe in his hospital bed.
After an 80-minute delay to remove and replace the damaged barrier, the race began again but the second start was also incident-packed. Hamilton again got away well ahead of Verstappen and Pérez but behind them there was contact between Stroll and Kvyat, with the result that the Canadian driver’s car was flipped upside down.
Stroll was unhurt but the safety car was deployed and during the caution Bottas pitted due to a puncture caused by debris. The Finn’s misfortune moved Albon to P4 behind Pérez.
When the safety car left the track, Hamilton managed the re-start well to keep Verstappen at bay as Pérez also made sure to keep Alex at arm’s length. Behind them Leclerc tried to pass Ocon for P6 but the Frenchman defended well to fight off the Ferrari.
Hamilton was the first of the leading cars to make a regulation pit stop and the Mercedes driver moved to medium tyres. Albon pitted at the same time and made the same switch. Verstappen made his first stop a lap later and instead moved to hard tyres.
At half distance, Hamilton led Verstappen by 4.8 seconds, while Pérez was 16 seconds further back in P3, 3.7s ahead of Albon. The man on the move during this phase of the race was McLaren’s Carlos Sainz, with the Spaniard making his way past both Renaults to take P6 behind team-mate Lando Norris.
The Red Bulls were the first of the leaders to make final pit stops, with both Verstappen and Albon pitting at the end of lap 35. The Dutch driver’s stop was slow though and he lost ground to Hamilton who made his second stop on the following lap.
The race then settled again, and it looked like the order would stay the same until the chequered flag. With a sizeable gap back to Pérez, Verstappen opted to pit again in the closing stages and after taking on a set of medium tyres the Dutchman grabbed the fastest lap of the race and an extra point with a time of 1:32.014.
Behind him, it looked like Pérez was on his way to a second successive podium finish but with just a few laps to go the Mexican’s engine expired and Albon swept past to claim the second podium of his career. Behind the Thai racer, Lando Norris was fourth for McLaren ahead of team-mate Carlos Sainz, with AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly sixth ahead of Ricciardo, Bottas, Ocon and Leclerc.
2020 FIA Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix – Race
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 57 2:59’47.515
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 57 2:59’48.769 1.254
3 Alexander Albon Red Bull/Honda 57 2:59’55.520 8.005
4 Lando Norris McLaren/Renault 57 2:59’58.852 11.337
5 Carlos Sainz McLaren/Renault 57 2:59’59.302 11.787
6 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri/Honda 57 2:59’59.457 11.942
7 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 57 3:00’06.883 19.368
8 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 57 3:00’07.195 19.680
9 Esteban Ocon Renault 57 3:00’10.318 22.803
10 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 56 2:59’48.335 1 Lap
11 Daniil Kvyat AlphaTauri/Honda 56 2:59’49.415 1 Lap
12 George Russell Williams/Mercedes 56 2:59’49.926 1 Lap
13 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 56 2:59’52.774 1 Lap
14 Nicholas Latifi Williams/Mercedes 56 2:59’53.116 1 Lap
15 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 56 2:59’56.693 1 Lap
16 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 56 2:59’57.689 1 Lap
17 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 56 3:00’09.772 1 Lap
18 Sergio Pérez Racing Point/Mercedes 53 2:51’46.894 Power Unit
Lance Stroll Racing Point/Mercedes 2 1:25’06.986 Accident
Romain Grosjean Haas/Ferrari 0 Accident -
That’s the most important thing: to enjoy what you are doing, says Hamilton
DRIVERS
1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)
2 – Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes)
3 – Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull)
TRACK INTERVIEWS
(Conducted by David Coulthard)
Q: Max, a very familiar qualifying position for you. It did look at one point like you were really putting Valtteri under pressure for that front row. Did you leave anything out on the race track?
Max VERSTAPPEN: No, I don’t think so. My lap was pretty good, just lacking a bit of rear grip in the lower speed corners to my liking. Overall I think it was quite a decent qualifying and let’s see how we will go tomorrow in the race because it is very hard on tyres, so I hope we made the right compromise on that.
Q: You say you made the compromise so what can we expect tomorrow? From what you’ve seen through free practice how hard can you push the Mercedes?
MV: It’s always a bit difficult to say. I definitely do think they picked up their pace today so tomorrow it will be hard to beat but we have different tyres available so let’s see whether that works to our advantage or not. I just hope it will be an exciting race; that’s the most important thing.
Q: Your teammate Alex lines up beside you, as a sort of rear gunner. Does that give you extra support when you are going into what is a tricky first corner here.
MV: Yeah, well let’s see what happens. I’ll just try to focus on myself and try to stay close to the Mercedes cars and I’ll see if somebody can follow us.
Q: Valtteri, well story of the season really. You are close but just a little bit lacking in the outright performance to Lewis. You have the opportunity to see the live data during qualifying, where were you better than Lewis on the lap and where did he have the legs on you today?
Valtteri BOTTAS: I don’t really know actually. It felt good and that’s the problem, when it feels good and that you are extracting everything out of the car but the lap time is not there. That’s the most confusing part. Yeah, I can’t really say much at the moment. There were no mistakes and the last lap I thought was really good. It’s just like small things here and there. There’s no one clear corner, so I need to find out, but at least it’s another front row lock-out for us.
Q: That gives you a good opportunity as it is a tricky run down to that first corner. It sounds to me that instinctively you know that was a tidy lap and you say the time is just not there. Do you think that you have an underlying issue in terms of the performance of the car or do you think it’s just one of those things, today the car doesn’t give you the feedback?
VB: I don’t think there’s any underlying issue really with the performance of the car. I think it’s there and the long runs were good so I’m looking forward to tomorrow.
Q: Lewis, your 98th pole. By the end of the season you could have done a century. That could be a nice number to round out what has been a championship-winning year. It doesn’t look like the celebration of winning that seventh title slowed you down any!
Lewis HAMILTON: That’s because I didn’t really celebrate too much. I really didn’t celebrate to be honest. I was training and making sure I was ready for this; keeping my mind and my eye on the ball. This is the continuation of what we are able to do together as a team. I continue to be amazed by my guys that work so hard weekend-in, weekend-out. Now they’re away from their families for three weeks. No matter the seasons throw at us it’s always a really tough year and I appreciate them. To be out here in Bahrain and put laps like that together… I came today and I was like ‘let’s just have fun and enjoy’. That’s the most important thing: to enjoy what you are doing. I think with the pressure a little bit off, it’s a bit of a release to go and drive like I just did.
Q: I’ve heard you before that you’ve never driven the perfect lap. That you aspire to it but there’s always somewhere you could have improved. So what was this Bahrain pole like?
LH: What was the lap like?
Q: If there was more time to be gained, could you? And why didn’t you?
LH: I am on the ragged edge naturally. You know how it is on a lap. It’s about trying to find that perfect balance. You want to take quite a lot on the way in and keep the exit. You want to have your cake and eat it. It’s about just chipping away at it during the lap. I think the lap started off really well. There was probably a little bit of time in Turn 1. Just a little underperformed I would say a little bit towards the apex but after that it was good. Six was a little slow; I probably could have gone a little better there. I could talk you through the lap and I can tell you there is always a little bit here and there but the next lap I go out maybe I’ll improve there and lose somewhere else. Otherwise it was a very clean lap. I generally stayed about two and a half tenths up throughout it, so I was really happy with it.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Lewis, a tremendous lap to taker the 98th pole of your career and your 10th of 2020. You found half a second on your final lap of Q3. How pleased were you with how it all came together?
LH: Yeah, well it has been a good weekend so far in terms of the steps we have taken and understanding the car. It was quite a difficult day yesterday, with practice and using different tyres; it was quiet confusing. But today has been a good day. We did some really good work overnight and the decisions we took after P3 into qualifying were pretty spot on. I was really happy with the car from the get-go in Q1. All the laps had been good and then I got to Q3 and Q3 run one was OK, but there was plenty of room for improvement. Fortunately I managed to do that on the last night, so really happy with that and really grateful to the guys who I think this weekend seem a little bit more relaxed, naturally, as the pressure is off. I think we are all enjoying it a lot more. It’s definitely more enjoyable when you don’t have the pressure as much and you can just do what you do to the best of your ability without any additional added pressure.
Q: After the slippery conditions of Turkey last time out, how much fun was it to push on a track like this?
LH: Oh man, it’s been night and day. To go from there to here where it’s a really aggressive track surface on our tyres, naturally. It’s not even too hot here. In times before we have come here and it’s been 50˚C or 60˚C, track temp I mean. The track is not even at 30˚C. But it’s high-speed corners and there’s a lot of surface temperature that we create with these tyres. That’s why you see us going out and doing these laps, back to what we used to do earlier on in the season. The car feels so much better when the tyres are working naturally, so I much preferred driving this weekend.
Q: Valtteri, you pulled yourself onto the front row in the dying moments of the session. Just talk us through the lap at the end of Q3?
VB: The end of Q3 lap was actually really good. It felt like there was not much more to really find, that was the feeling when I crossed the line, so I was pleased with that. But obviously it wasn’t enough for pole and I was quite surprised when I saw the gap. I think we ended up with quite different set-ups, with Lewis, and we’ll see if that makes any difference tomorrow. He’s had a really good weekend overall, every session and all the time I’ve had the feeling that I definitely have the speed but I haven’t quite put it all together. I got it together at the end but obviously it wasn’t enough.
Q: Is it unusual for Lewis and you to have different set-ups?
VB: No, not at all. There have been times when it has been nearly identical and times when it has been different. That’s how it goes.
Q: Max just one tenth of a second off Valtteri in P2. How good was your final lap in Q3?
MV: Yeah, it was alright to be honest. Just following a bit the track progression and stuff and yeah, not much to say really, it was alright.
Q: Are you pleased with your car’s performance relative to the Mercedes so far this weekend?
MV: you always want more. But it’s more important to just stay realistic and work on the little things, right? And there is of course still some work to do. Overall, I think the weekend in general was pretty positive, just lacking a little bit too much in qualifying I think. I don’t know why that was exactly. We have to find out. But first we’ll see what we can do tomorrow. It’s quite aggressive on tyres here so hopefully it will be quite an interesting race.
Q: Do you think you are in the running for victory tomorrow?
MV: This is always difficult to say at the moment. First we’ll have a good sleep and then find out tomorrow.
Q: How much track evolution was there during the session?
MV: I think initially in Q1 it was really big, because you have to drive off the rubber of the previous categories. I don’t know what was driving before, the Porsches I think. I was one of the first cars on track, which was maybe not the best choice but the lap was good enough. From Q2 to Q3 the steps were smaller but the evolution was there.
VIDEO CONFERENCE
Q: (Christian Menath – motorsport-magazin.com) Question for both Mercedes drivers. You did a lot of testing yesterday with the 2021 Pirelli tyre. Do you think you are a bit on the back foot when it comes to race simulations for this weekend?
VB: I would say that we compromised performance for this weekend to try to learn about the tyres that could be the tyres for next year. Obviously as a team we have won the Constructors’. Lewis has won the Driver’s so it’s better to focus on the future. So, for sure a little bit compromised as you’re trying different tyres. As a driver it’s more difficult to find the rhythm and, for sure, we lacked a bit of long runs with the car on tyres. I believe we still have a strong car but, as always, there is question marks. I think Red Bull is pretty good on the race pace.
Lewis, more question marks as a result of running the prototype tyre yesterday?
LH: A bit like what Valtteri said. Naturally, it’s a small compromise but I think ultimately it was the right decision for us in terms of the findings and the learnings that we decided to try to gain. I’m pretty happy with where I have my car, I think. It’s not the first time we’ve raced here so we’ll have just make do with what we have. The Red Bull’s and Max have been incredibly fast this weekend, as we’ve seen through practice. I think maybe in the race they’re potentially faster than us, so we will see that tomorrow. Hopefully it’s close between us.
MV: At least you enjoyed driving the prototype tyres, right?
LH: [laughs] How did you like it?
MV: I thought I was having difficulties – and then I was behind you, and then I saw you driving and thought ‘mmmm… I think I’m good’.
LH: Yeah… drifting.
MV: Maybe they should make it a drift championship next year…
Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) Question for Lewis please. You can get to a century of poles before the end of the year, so with the title in the bag, how much of a motivating factor is that and how proud would you be of reaching three figures? It’s a feat that no other driver has got anywhere near to doing before.
LH: I really haven’t even thought that far, and honestly I think it’s been such an incredible year so anything from now is just an added bonus. I think it’s close between the three of us and we’ve got a couple of tricky races ahead of us, I think, also. It’s not something I’m thinking about. I’ll get there eventually but it’s not necessary it’s in the next two – but I’ll be pushing as hard as I can, that’s for sure.
Q: (Scott Mitchell – The Race) Question for Lewis, and maybe Valtteri if he’s got anything to add. Mercedes said it’s stopped developing the 2020 car a while ago – so is it surprising to still have an advantage of several tenths over the Red Bull? And do you expect the knock-on effect to be significant as that obviously has an impact on preparations for 2021 and then you can devote more work next year to 2022 etcetera, etcetera.
LH: I think… the thing is, we’re always learning about our car, even if we’re not bringing upgrades. They are still developing, naturally, it is still fundamentally the same car next year so we’re constantly trying to understand the characteristics of our car more and the demands and things that we need to move the car forwards, so there’s a lot of work that goes on in the background. Yes, we have not brought updates because there are shifts and changes for next year and if definitely is amazing that we have been able to continue to improve. Whilst we’ve not brought updates we have continued to improve through the season, particularly after we’ve stopped developing the car because we’re understanding the tyres more and understanding the whole package more and more and refining how we use it more and more, so I think it’s been a really interesting process – but that’s how it often goes. I think we’re in a good position in terms of trying to prepare for next year but I haven’t’ been to the wind tunnel or anything, I haven’t been back to the factory hardly at all this year, so I have no idea where the next package is – but I have naturally full faith in the squad back at the factory. But you’ve seen the Red Bulls also continuing to improve. I think they have a very, very good car and perhaps with some more development of their engine I think they would even closer next year.
Valtteri, anything you’d like to add?
VB: No, I think Lewis said pretty much everything, nothing to add.
Max, are you surprised by the gap to Mercedes?
MV: No, not really. I mean we are pushing hard, of course, to close it but we know there are some weaknesses in the car that we can’t fix this year so we have to wait until next year. Of course, I would have liked to be closer but we’re just learning about this car. Of course we know we have to make some changes for next year and we will try to put it all together for next year and hopefully then we will be closer.
Q: (Alex Kalinauckas – Autosport) Question to the two Mercedes drivers please, and following up on what Lewis said at the start about the good work you guys, or the team, did overnight. The team also said that you didn’t do much or any set-up work on the cars because you were focussed on understanding those 2021 tyres, so how much did that change what you had to do when you finally got out on track in FP3 today, and were you still finding handling improvements as qualifying went on?
LH: It felt like a test day, a tyre test say, the days that I generally am not a fan of. I hate test days…
MV: I love them!
LH: Oh God! Fortunately it didn’t last too long, fortunately, but when you’re hopping between different tyres and you’re feeling different things, it makes it very difficult to know where the balance is. As you go on from one to the next you forget what the balance is on the most important tyre, which is the tyre that you’re racing on, so it can be very, very confusing and, at times, frustrating. You’ve just got to remember what the goal is. I still think that we got a decent amount of information at the end of yesterday, and I didn’t feel too compromised in terms of getting the set-up for today. Once you set the set-up for qualifying obviously it is what it is – but I think we looked pretty good with the direction that we took, I think. In terms of where we are tomorrow, we haven’t had any real long runs on the Medium or the Hard tyre, so it will be interesting to see how that goes tomorrow.
Valtteri?
VB: Yeah, you definitely lose some time for the set-up work but it’s nothing new really, this season. We’ve had races where it’s been racing on Friday or race weekend with just one practice but looking back this weekend, if I’d have had one more session I’d have probably tried something different based on the result today in qualifying – but the rule is when you qualify, you can’t change the car any more, that’s what it is, but I just really hope it’s good for the race trim.
Q: (Ben Hunt – The Sun) A question from memory here but I think that was Lewis’s tenth pole of the season, now looking for his 11th win of the year. I just wondered is there’s anything that Valtteri and Max think that they can do just to stop him in his tracks because we know he’s run away with the title but he keeps winning even now that the pressure of that has gone? Is there anything that they can do to stop him?
VB: Is there anything to stop Lewis? Of course there, we’re trying. I’ve tried my best and even though he’s got the title this year, knowing him from the previous years and how he is as a racing driver and how most racing drivers are – you’re here to win, you try everything you can – and I’m here to win as well. I know that starting from second on the grid, there’s all the opportunities but you need a perfect race. For sure, we’ll push hard and try and not give up. I’m pretty sure that’s what Max is thinking as well.
MV: Well, I think, as Lewis is showing, he’s definitely one of the best drivers ever in Formula 1 but at the moment I don’t have the same, like, equal chances, let’s say it like that. That doesn’t take away anything from Lewis but yeah, I’m just pushing as hard as I can with the material I have and sometimes it’s closer, sometimes it’s a bit further away. Some races it looks pretty competitive. Today was less competitive.
Q: (Christian Nimmervoll – motorsport.com) Lewis, during qualifying we could see on the driver performance page that the first mini sectors of your pole lap actually weren’t quicker than the one before, only towards the end of the first sector you really started to push. Was that a conscious decision to save tyres or did you just mess up in the first corner?
LH: Hunh. Attention to detail, that’s super detail.
MV: It sure is like +0.005s or something
LH: Well, I guess I can’t really answer that too well because it’s giving away trade secrets. I can tell you that I didn’t make any mistakes. Look, we do these really slow out laps and each time we’re trying to have the tyres in the optimal window for the start and each time we go out, they can vary between one and five degrees so most of often the result of that discrepancy is tyre temp and they generally get better to a point in the lap and then they start going over temp and then you start struggling with the tyre a little bit more and so that’s some of the answer.
Q: (Andrew Benson – BBC Sport) On the subject of the 2021 tyres – this is for all three of you – most of the drivers appear to have been pretty unhappy with them. Is there any going to be any pressure or has there already been any pressure applied to Pirelli or the teams to stick with the current tyres next year?
LH: Come on Max, give it what you’ve got man. Come on. We need you.
MV: You want me to repeat what I said yesterday? I think it’s important that we discuss these things, you know? Yeah, I think that’s the most important… we just have to talk to Pirelli and I hope they also listen a bit to the drivers. We anyway are cutting the downforce with the floor, right, so I think naturally the pressure on the tyres will be a bit less. I mean with the pressure we run in the tyres anyway it’s almost like a balloon, so I don’t think you can go much higher so I don’t think we need… well, if they would be faster than yeah, great, amazing, but I don’t think they are and of course the cars are not fully set up for these tyres but honestly, the difference we had yesterday in practice is not set-up, like you can adjust a few things but if the tyre is not turning, it’s not working, then you can turn the car upside, it’s not going to be the same speed. Yeah. I hope we will not use them but let’s see. Was that an honest answer?
LH: I already said too much yesterday about it. The problem is for me is that I – I mentioned it yesterday – I see all the guys from Pirelli and I really have so much respect for the guys here. I think I’ve got a good relationship with the majority of them. It’s difficult for us drivers to say… we try to be constructive, we try to be supportive in the back and nothing changes. And then even when we say something not too positive in the media nothing changes so… I do miss the tyre war that used to happen in Formula 1. I think with that it’s great. When you don’t have any competition you’ve got no one to base yourself on. Just imagine us as a team or for Max and his team and none of us were here, they wouldn’t develop as they do now because they’re chasing and competing against other people. Formula 1 needs to do something different in the future and that’s something we need to do.
VB: There’s not much more to add. Obviously our understanding with the new tyres, the main difference was in terms of reliability, so they got a lot heavier like just because there’s more material to try and prevent any punctures or failures that we had which is an important thing, but then on the other hand, the performance was not quite there, as expected, so quite a bit slower and not that nice feeling to drive. I wasn’t a big fan of those tyres, personally, but obviously… I don’t know who decides in the end what tyres we’re going to be using next year but we’ll see.
LH: Can I just say that the tyre that we do have right now it’s been a really good tyre, it really has. It’s been the best tyre that Pirelli has given us apart from that hyper or ultra or whatever it was, the hypersoft, which was a good compound for one lap, it was pretty awesome. I’m personally happy to continue with the tyre that we have. Of course we would want more grip moving forwards but that’s definitely not what we’ve been given so far.
Ends
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Hamilton beats Bottas to take 98th career pole
Bahrain, 28 Nov 2020: Lewis Hamilton beat team-mate Valtteri Bottas by almost three tenths of a second to claim the 98th pole position of his career as Mercedes locked out the front row for tomorrow’s Bahrain Grand Prix. Max Verstappen will line up third beside team-mate Alex Albon in an all-Red Bull second row.
Verstappen was the first to set a timed lap in Q, with the Dutchman setting an early benchmark of 1:28.885. The sparked the rest of the pit lane into life and the entire field soon took to the track.
Hamilton quickly moved ahead of the Red Bull man, with the Mercedes driver setting a new P1 time of 1:28.343. His team-mate Valtteri Bottas then took P2.
Further down the order, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc hovered close to the danger zone as the final runs began, with the Monegasque drive in P15, ahead of Russell. There were substantial improvements throughout in the final runs, however, and after jumping to P6 with his lap of 1:29.137 he eventually made it through to Q2 in P9 as better times came in.
The best of those improvements came from Racing Point’s Lance Stroll who claimed P2 three tenths of a second behind Hamilton. Albon too made a step forward, taking P3 behind the Canadian with a lap of 1:28.732. Verstappen, though, chose to stay in the garage for the final runs and he progressed to Q2 in P5 behind Bottas.
However, there was no progress for Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi who finished in P16 ahead of fellow Q1 drop outs Kimi Räikkönen in the second Alfa, the Haas cars of Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean and the Williams of Nicholas Latifi.
In Q2, the bulk of the remaining drivers went out on track on medium tyres, through the notable exceptions were the AlphaTauri drivers who stuck with the red-banded soft tyres for their first run.
The initial runs were all scrapped, however, when Carlos Sainz spun and stopped at the edge of the track in Turn 1. The McLaren driver looked in control as he started his flying lap but his right rear wheel locked unexpectedly on entry to the corner and after saying he had “no drive” he was left stranded on the kerb. His team later attributed the incident to brake failure.
Sainz’s issue brought out the red flags as the car was recovered and when the session started again there were just nine minutes left on the clock.Verstappen and Albon were quickly on track and the Dutchman went quickest with a lap of 1:28.025. Hamilton, though, was quicker and the Mercedes driver set a time of 1:27.586. Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo went through in fourth place ahead of Albon, with Norris sixth for McLaren ahead of Racing Point’s Sergio Perez, the second Renault of Esteban Ocon and the twin AlphaTauri cars of Daniil Kvyat and Pierre Gasly who took fresh medium tyres for their final efforts in the segment. Eliminated were 11th Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari team-mate Leclerc, Stroll, Russell and Sainz.
In the first runs of Q3 it looked like Verstappen might challenge for pole position when his opening lap of 1:27.83 split the Mercedes and left him just 0.146s behind Hamilton and a tenth clear of Bottas. However, all three drivers improved on their final run with Hamilton taking pole ahead of Bottas who managed to edge Verstappen by just over a tenth of a second.
Albon, meanwhile, found himself in P7 after the first runs but he made big gains on his final run to rise to fourth alongside Verstappen. Behind him Racing Point’s Sergio Pérez took fifth ahead of the Renault’s of Daniel Ricciardo and Esteban Ocon. Eighth place went to AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly, with McLaren’s Lando Norris ninth ahead of the second AlphaTauri of Daniil Kvyat.
2020 FIA Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix – Qualifying
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:27.264 6 223.267
2 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:27.553 0.289 6 222.530
3 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 1:27.678 0.414 6 222.213
4 Alexander Albon Red Bull/Honda 1:28.274 1.010 6 220.712
5 Sergio Pérez Racing Point/Mercedes 1:28.322 1.058 6 220.592
6 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 1:28.417 1.153 6 220.355
7 Esteban Ocon Renault 1:28.419 1.155 6 220.350
8 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri/Honda 1:28.448 1.184 6 220.278
9 Lando Norris McLaren/Renault 1:28.542 1.278 6 220.044
10 Daniil Kvyat AlphaTauri/Honda 1:28.618 1.354 6 219.856
11 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:29.149 1.563 5 218.546
12 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:29.165 1.579 5 218.507
13 Lance Stroll Racing Point/Mercedes 1:29.557 1.971 5 217.550
14 George Russell Williams/Mercedes 1:31.218 3.632 3 213.589
– Carlos Sainz Jr. McLaren/Renault 2
16 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:29.491 1.148 6 217.711
17 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:29.810 1.467 6 216.937
18 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 1:30.111 1.768 6 216.213
19 Romain Grosjean Haas/Ferrari 1:30.138 1.795 6 216.148
20 Nicholas Latifi Williams/Mercedes 1:30.182 1.839 6 216.043
