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Tag: Malhaar Khaladkar
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Part II: Hamilton, the Last Dance
New Delhi, 2 February 2024: In the words of famous TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson, “And on that Bombshell”, Sir Lewis Hamilton has kickstarted the 2024 Formula 1 season with the announcement that he will be driving for Ferrari from 2025 onwards. This is the biggest driver transfer in Formula 1, since Hamilton himself announced he would leave McLaren for Mercedes in 2013, sending shockwaves throughout the paddock.
Part II (You can read Part I here)
The Ferrari Element
John Elkann, Stellantis and Ferrari Chairman has said to have a key role in persuading Hamilton to join the Scuderia. Vasseur already being the Team Principal means Hamilton already has people at Ferrari that he trusts. Further, a marriage between arguably the greatest driver in Formula 1 and the greatest team in Formula 1 is too enticing. When the opportunity came Ferrari jumped at signing the Briton. Just the magnitude of this announcement is a commercial dream. It also coincides with Sainz’s contract finishing at the end of 2024 and Leclerc signing a multi-year deal to continue with Ferrari.
Sweeping power unit and technical regulations give a clean sheet where Ferrari could be best placed to capitalise and leap forward of the field. This is what attracted Hamilton to join them. 2025 would be a season where he can bed in and 2026 go all out for the title. Ferrari have not won a drivers’ championship since 2007 and constructors’ championship since 2008. If Hamilton can get one or both, that too with Ferrari his status will undoubtedly be cemented as the greatest.
One could say it is a match made in heaven as both have the immense hunger to not only win again but get their dominant glory days back, especially for Ferrari as it has been long overdue. Since the Maranello squad last won, it has been plagued by mismanagement, bad strategy calls, dirty politics and mediocre engineering given the facilities they have. This is concurred by the failure of great drivers like Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso’s inability to win a title with them. Ferrari’s motivation to bring Hamilton would be to get these processes right. It has already started with Vasseur in charge and bringing positive changes in the technical departments. There is no doubt in Hamilton’s abilities, give him a car and he will deliver. Hamilton is being brought in to push and extract the best out of every single team member. His experience and knowledge will be invaluable to the team. The onus is on Ferrari then to help Hamilton and themselves to reach the summit.
Lastly, there is Sainz who is out of contract after 2024 and will not continue with Ferrari. For the Italian squad it is a no brainer, if a driver of Hamilton’s stature is available, they will make him a priority. Sainz was able to match Leclerc throughout his time at Ferrari but was never clearly faster than the Monegasque. Leclerc is the Scuderia’s golden boy but remains to be seen how the dynamic will evolve once Hamilton is there in 2025. Make no mistake Sainz is immensely talented and will land a drive for 2025 somewhere, Mercedes being one of the options. The Spaniard has been heavily linked with Stake F1 team Kick Sauber, which will be rebranded as Audi in 2026. Remains to be seen what plans Sainz has.
The Conundrum facing Mercedes
Mercedes and specifically Toto Wolff have been caught off guard by this bombshell news. Wolff said that he got to know about the news only a day before and that before going in the winter break Mercedes and Hamilton’s ambitions were aligned. Turns out the contract Hamilton signed was a 1+1 year contract which had an exit clause at the end of the first year, which Hamilton used.
A week ago, the future at Mercedes looked very different with Hamilton and George Russell embedded to bring Mercedes to the front again. That is all up in the air as Hamilton has decided agree terms with Ferrari for his future. With Hamilton being there, the team had a clear direction for development which now might be out of the window. This might backtrack Mercedes’ plans to get to the front in the short term.
This agreement between Hamilton and Ferrari has a twofold impact on the German squad. Firstly, Hamilton is still part of Mercedes for 2024. This means that Hamilton will be excluded from certain parts of the team which plan their long-term development. On track strategy and planning will also be affected by this somewhat. Wolff has commented that both drivers will be treated equally throughout the season but clearly Russell is the future for the Silver Arrows. It is a positive situation for Russell as he becomes the de facto leader of the team once Hamilton departs. Secondly, this announcement means Mercedes have to look for a driver to fill their vacant seat. Mercedes is not the formidable team they used tobe; their seat was the most coveted till 2021. Still, they are one of the big names in Formula 1 and a works team so drivers would undoubtedly want to sign for them.
There are multiple candidates for this seat. Sainz will be out of contract and could technically swap with Hamilton. But Mercedes have already been hurt by their man leaving for Ferrari and hence, they may not want Sainz as he is a former Ferrari man. They may look towards Fernando Alonso, but he may not be the right choice for long term future in the eyes of Mercedes. Alex Albon of Williams is a sound choice considering he gets along with Russell and has shown that he can be consistent. Further vacating the Williams seat means Mercedes young driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli could be placed in the Williams who share a good working relationship with Mercedes. Antonelli will be in F2 for 2024, and depending on his performances could make the jump to F1 in 2025. Esteban Ocon is another name that comes to mind as he is managed Gwen Lagrue, Mercedes’ Driver Development Advisor. Factors against Ocon might be that he was beaten by fellow Frenchman Pierre Gasly in their first season as teammates. Daniel Ricciardo is another name linked with Mercedes in the past but there are questions if Mercedes would want him due to his age and whether he would be willing to leave the Red Bull family a second time.Drivers such as Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri have already signed long term deals with McLaren. Max Verstappen would not move as he is long term contracted to Red Bull and is in the fastest car on the grid currently.
If Mercedes move in too quickly for a driver, they may end up losing an opportunity to sign a driver of a higher caliber later. Make their move too late and all their targets may be locked down to their respective teams.
Hamilton and Ferrari will be hoping for a fruitful outcome of their union from 2025 onwards whereas Mercedes will be hoping to get their new driver and development cards right for the future.
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Lewis Hamilton: The Last Dance!
New Delhi, 2 February 2024: In the words of famous TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson, “And on that Bombshell”, Sir Lewis Hamilton has kickstarted the 2024 Formula 1 season with the announcement that he will be driving for Ferrari from 2025 onwards. This is the biggest driver transfer in Formula 1, since Hamilton himself announced he would leave McLaren for Mercedes in 2013, sending shockwaves throughout the paddock.
On Thursday February 1, it was announced that Hamilton will be joining Ferrari on a multi-year arrangement starting in 2025. He will partner Charles Leclerc as Carlos Sainz will make way for the 7-time world champion.
Reports of Hamilton joining Ferrari are not a recent development in Formula 1 paddock. In fact, every time Hamilton’s contract has been up for renewal at Mercedes, rumours of the Briton joining the Prancing Horse have flared up. These rumors had little substance though and looked like a pipe dream, as nothing more than casual talks took place between Hamilton and Ferrari. Possibly, these rumors helped strengthen Hamilton’s contract negotiation with Mercedes. But joining Ferrari never seemed feasible for Hamilton as Mercedes was the place to be. Mercedes produced title winning cars from 2014 till 2021, winning eight Constructors’ Championship. Hamilton himself won six of his seven World Drivers’ Championships with the Silver Arrows.
This time it was different when the news broke. Specifically, the timing was peculiar as Hamilton had just signed a two-year (1+1 year) contractwith Mercedes in August 2023. Further multiple reports coming out of the Formula 1 paddock indicated that this was a story with substance. So, what convinced Hamilton to join the Maranello squad and leave his long-standing family of Mercedes?
A Lewis Hamilton Perspective
Hamilton has been a part of the Mercedes family since he was13 years old. His whole Formula 1 career has been powered by Mercedes engines, first at McLaren as Mercedes supplied them, then at the works team itself. He has achieved some mind-boggling statistics with the Silver Arrows powering him. He has 7 World Drivers’ Championships, 103 wins, 104 pole positions and 197 podiums in 332 grands prix. With Mercedes works team alone he has 6 World Drivers’ Championships, 82 wins, 78 pole positions and 148 podiums in 222 grands prix.
Hamilton is 39 years old now and is at the twilight of his career. It seemed as if Hamilton would hang up his gloves at Mercedes hoping to be crowned Champion for the 8th time, provided the Silver Arrows gave him a car that could challenge for it. He would be a Mercedes man life long, much like Sir Stirling Moss. It only seemed right that what had propelled him throughout his Formula 1 career would the same when closing it as well. Then what is it that made him join the most coveted team in Formula 1?
Sebastian Vettel once said, “everyone is a Ferrari fan”. In fact, there is no Ferrari without Formula 1 and no Formula 1 without Ferrari. It is every racers dream since a child to adorn the Scarlet Red overalls and drive for the Prancing Horse. Yes, there is romanticism attached to this move. For so long a Hamilton-Ferrari partnership seemed impossible, but now that Hamilton is nearer to the end of his career, it makes sense to take on a new challenge and go for a last hurrah.
The Briton must have looked at the development trajectory of Mercedes and thought that they cannot challenge for a title for another couple of seasons, combined with the sweeping technical rule changes for both the power unit and the car coming in 2026. 2021 was brutal ending as the championship was taken out of his hand on the last lap in Abu Dhabi, yet his resolve remained strong. Come 2022, a rules overhaul ushered in ground effect cars where Red Bull came out of the blocks strong and Mercedes considerably missed their mark struggling to third place in the championship. Mercedes’ car philosophy of the zero-pod and long wheelbase did not work for the new regulations. Yet, the team decided to stick with it for the W14, their challenger for the 2023 season. W14 did not fare better as it lagged behind the Red Bull- the title winners- by a big margin, even though Mercedes managed to finish 2nd come the end of the season.The Briton publicly demanded accountability and said that the Mercedes technical team had not listened to him regarding what the car needs to be at the front of the field. Hamilton would have taken into account the development of the W15 and though progress would have been made, it might not be enough to take on the title charge.
Ferrari on the other hand finished 3rd in the championship but had a better car towards the end of the season, getting narrowly beaten by Mercedes. Plus, Hamilton struggled with his Mercedes at the end of the season to challenge for podiums whereas Sainz was the only non-Red Bull driver to win a race. Combined that with Frederic ‘Fred’ Vasseur is the Team Principal of Ferrari. The Frenchman happens to be a close friend of Hamilton and he was the Briton’s team manager in GP3 and GP2, before Hamilton entered Formula 1. Since joining Ferrari in 2023, Vasseur has brought in several technical people from Red Bull and Mercedes over to Ferrari, to strengthen their technical and engineering department. One of the names that has gone from the Mercedes camp over to Ferrari is Loic Serra who was the Head of Vehicle Performance at Mercedes. He will join Ferrari from 2025 and is one of the key factors why Hamilton is joining Ferrari.
Loic Serra was said to be at odds over the zero pod and long wheelbase concept used by then Mercedes Technical Director Mike Elliot. Both Hamilton and Serra seemed to echo the same concerns. Furthermore, changes in the Mercedes structure and significant big-name departures have not only played a role in Mercedes’ downfall but Hamilton leaving as well. It started with departures of Aldo Costa and Mark Ellis in 2018. They were pivotal in design of the Mercedes cars that won them both championships from 2014 to 2018. Mercedes would experience success till 2021 though. Andy Cowell, Head of Mercedes HPP departed the team in 2020. He was regarded as the brains behind the architecture and success of Mercedes’ turbo-hybrid power unit, which used to be the field leader. Mercedes’ Technical Director James Allison moved on to a Chief Technical Officer role in 2021, though he came back as the Technical Director after the team struggled for two consecutive seasons in the ground effect era.Lastly, James Vowles, Chief Strategist and another one of Hamilton’s confidants, left Mercedes to be team principal at Williams F1. Although Allison and Toto Wolff- with whom Hamilton shares a fantastic relationship- have committed their long-term futures with Mercedes, it is reported that Allison wanted Serra alongside him due to the success achieved pre-2022.
All these factors make it look like a tall order for Mercedes to return to the top in the short to medium future. With Hamilton not getting any younger, he has to see where his chances of winning the coveted 8th title are, and his bets are on Ferrari with Mercedes progression plateauing.
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Max Verstappen suffers second retirement in three races: F1 race analysis
By Malhaar Khaladkar
Charles Leclerc took his and Ferrari’s second victory of the season as Red Bull’s Sergio Perez finished P2 after his teammate Max Verstappen retired midway through the race, second such retirement in three races. Mercedes new boy George Russell achieved his first podium for the German team by finishing P3.
New Delhi, 12th April 2022: Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen shared the front row again after the Bahrain grand prix with Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez as the rear gunner for the Dutchman. After an absence of two seasons, the Australian grand prix got underway with everyone getting away fairly cleanly.
Both Mercedes gained positions as Lewis Hamilton dove down inside of Perez to run in P3. Meanwhile, teammate George Russell went past Lando Norris’ McLaren. Sainz who had had a lowly qualifying on Saturday, starting the race in P9, chose the hard tyres whereas the majority of the grid went with medium tyres. The Spaniard suffered a slow start, dropping to P14 by lap 2. On lap 2, he tried to get past Zhou Guanyu at the fast turn 9 chicane. As a result he went off track, spun and beached his car into the gravel, marking his first retirement of the season. A safety car was called out.
As the safety car was called in on lap 7, Perez was right on the gearbox of Hamilton. By Lap 10, using the Red Bull’s superior pace he the Mexican was able to get past the 7-time world champion to run in P3. Behind, Russell was running in P5 followed by Norris and teammate Daniel Ricciardo in P6 and P7 respectively.
Both Red Bull cars struggled on the mediums with tyre graining as Verstappen fell away from Leclerc and Hamilton closed up, almost within a second of Perez. Verstappen was called into the pits for hard tyres on lap 18 with Perez doing the same on lap 20. Leclerc and Hamilton pitted on lap 22, for hard tyres as well. While Leclerc emerged in a comfortable lead, Hamilton emerged just under a second ahead of Perez on colder tyres. Perez made full use of the situation in getting past Hamilton for the second time.
The situation could not have been worse for Hamilton as a safety car was called out just after Perez went past, this time due to Sebastian Vettel spinning his Aston Martin into a barrier. This allowed Russell to pit under the safety car and emerge in P3, ahead of Perez and Hamilton.
The racing resumed on lap 27 with everyone on hard tyres, drivers like Fernando Alonso, Kevin Magnussen and Alex Albon were yet to pit, running in the top 10. Leclerc had a shaky start as Verstappen drew alongside but the Ferrari driver managed to hold on in the lead. Meanwhile, Perez attempted to get past Russell for P3 which he succeeded on lap 36. Russell tried to defend but had no answer for the Red Bull’s pace. Ahead Leclerc was leading by 5s over Verstappen with both of them trading fastest laps in the process.
Gremlins struck Verstappen as he pulled over on lap 39 with smoke billowing from his RB18. This was his second DNF in three races and his championship hopes took a deeper dent. This allowed Leclerc to cruise to victory and take home an additional point for the fastest lap.
Leclerc won his second race of the season as Perez gave achieved another podium for Red Bull while Russell bagged his first podium for Mercedes in P3. Hamilton was unfortunate with the timing of the safety car so had to settle for P4. McLaren duo of Norris and Ricciardo finished in P5 and P6 respectively. Alpine’s Esteban Ocon finished in P7 ahead of Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas in P8 and AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly in P9. Alex Albon put in a mammoth 57 lap (out of 58 laps) stint on the hard tyresto get first point of the season for Williams.
Rookie Zhou Guanyu just missed out on points ahead of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll in P12, who finished in points position but lost it due to a 5-second time penalty given to him for weaving on the straights. Both Haas cars finished out of the points, Mick Schumacher in P13 and Magnussen in P14. Yuki Tsunoda could only manage P15 for AlphaTauri, with Williams’ Nicholas Latifi finishing in P16. Alonso was the last of the finishers in P17. Verstappen, Vettel and Sainz were the three cars unable to finish the race.
Ferrari looked dominant in Australia, especially when it came to race pace. Even though they suffered more porpoising compared to the first two rounds, Red Bull could not match their pace. Had Sainz not had the problems suffered in qualifying he might have been second behind Leclerc in the world championship. Red Bull lacked pace, even to the Mercedes at certain points in the race. Majority of the blame lies with the set-up direction they chose. They opted to protect rear tyres compared to the front. As a result the front tyres suffered graining and the car lacked overall pace. Compounded with Verstappen’s DNF they have a steep mountain to climb if they want to be back in the championship battle. Mercedes struggled in qualifying but made a positive improvement in race pace. They were outqualified by McLaren and should have been by Alpine as well had Alonso not crashed in Q3. Race pace wise it was positive as once tyres phased in they had similar pace to the Red Bull cars.
McLaren had their best race weekend of the season so far, finishing best of the rest and entering Q3 with both cars. For the first time it looked McLaren had made progress with their car. Though, both drivers admitted that their car is “very track dependent” so repeat of such performances will be difficult. Alpine had a weekend of ‘what ifs’. Alonso had a great Q3 lap, almost challenging pole position before hydraulics failure resulted in a crash. According to the Spaniard Alpine were faster than Mercedes on race pace too, but safety cars ruined the strategy. They had a silver lining as Ocon managed to finish P7. Alfa Romeo showed impressive race pace once again as Bottas managed P8 while teammate Zhou just finished on the cusp of points. AlphaTauri managed to score points with Gasly but lacked the pace to match the Alpine and McLaren cars, with both cars unable to make it to Q3.
Williams did not have the qualifying or the race pace to challenge for points, but Albon managed to pull off a crazy strategy which resulted in P10. Haas struggled to covert their early season form into pace in Australia. They struggled for both qualifying and race pace. The team blamed it more on their setup issue rather than a natural pace deficit. It remains to be seen if they will recover back to form in Imola. Aston Martin had a dismal weekend with their cars crashing four times and achieving no points. Their car has balance issues which is making it difficult for them to extract the pace.
Saturday Qualifying results were:
P1: Charles Leclerc- 16 (Ferrari) P2: Max Verstappen- 1 (Red Bull) P3: Sergio Perez- 11 (Red Bull) P4: Lando Norris- 4 (McLaren) P5: Lewis Hamilton- 44 (Mercedes) P6: George Russell- 63 (Mercedes) P7: Daniel Ricciardo- 3 (McLaren) P8: Esteban Ocon- 31 (Alpine) P9: Carlos Sainz- 55 (Ferrari) P10: Fernando Alonso- 14 (Alpine) P11: Pierre Gasly- 10 (AlphaTauri) P12: Valtteri Bottas- 77 (Alfa Romeo) P13: Yuki Tsunoda- 22 (AlphaTauri) P14: Zhou Guanyu- 24 (Alfa Romeo) P15: Mick Schumacher- 47 (Haas) P16: Alex Albon- 23 (Williams) P17: Kevin Magnussen- 20 (Haas) P18: Sebastian Vettel- 5 (Aston Martin) P19: Nicholas Latifi- 6 (Williams) P20: Lance Stroll- 18 (Aston Martin) Note – Albon penalised three grid places for causing a collision at the previous round; disqualified from qualifying for a fuel infringement – races at stewards’ discretion. Stroll penalised three grid places for causing a collision during qualifying; failed to set a time within the Q1 107% requirement – races at stewards’ discretion.
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Alonso, takes podium after 7 years; Hami takes win
Lewis Hamilton took a dominant victory in the first ever Formula 1 Qatar Grand Prix, as title rival Max Verstappen recovered from a grid penalty to finish P2 ahead of Alpine’s Fernando Alonso completing the podium, the Spaniard appearing on the podium after 105 races and seven years.
London, 22 Nov. 2021: There was drama before the start of the race as Max Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas were handed out grid penalties for ignoring double and single waved yellow flags respectively. Hence, Verstappen started P7 and Bottas started P6. This left Lewis Hamilton on pole alongside Pierre Gasly in P2 and Fernando Alonso in P3. Hamilton was starting on medium tyres compared to the other two, who had soft tyres.
Hamilton got off to a clean start covering Gasly and Alonso, hence, he maintained the lead. Alonso swooped around the outside of Gasly in turn 2 to take P2 in the race. Behind the early leaders, Verstappen had a fast start as he got past Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris and was already on the tail of Gasly. Meanwhile, Bottas who had started P6 was down to P11 due to a poor getaway at the start. Similarly, Sebastian Vettel who started P10, dropped down to P17.
Hamilton extended his lead at the front as Verstappen made his way through the field. First the Dutchman cleared Gasly and then got past Alonso to settle in P2 by lap 5. Hamilton meanwhile led by around 4s. Red Bull’s Sergio Perez who started P11 was up to P6 by lap 11. Bottas was given the hurry up by Toto Wolff to be on Perez’s tail as the Finn was stuck in P11. He managed to clear Yuki Tsunoda and Lance Stroll by lap 10.
Losail Pit stop graphic by Pirelli 21Nov.2021 Hamilton was increasing his lead, now around 7s to Verstappen who in turn was 22s ahead of Alonso, a pit stops worth of gap. Red Bull made duly use of that as they pitted Verstappen at the end of lap 17 for hard tyres. Mercedes covered him as they pitted Hamilton for the same on the next lap, though Hamilton wished to go longer. Gasly was the first person to pit among the top 10, getting rid of the soft tyres on lap 13 for mediums, ensuring that he was on a two-stop strategy.
By the time race reached its halfway distance, Hamilton maintained his lead ahead of Verstappen with now Bottas in third as he was yet to make his first pitstop. Behind him were Perez, Alonso, Gasly, Norris, Esteban Ocon, Stroll and Sainz.
It was bad luck for Bottas as his left front medium tyre got punctured and delaminated on lap 33 as he slid into the gravel before recovering and limping to the pits. This incident reminiscent of the 2020 British Grand Prix. All the teams were on the lookout for their tyre situation after Bottas’ issue.
Verstappen pitted for a second time on lap 41 for medium tyres as Red Bull did not want to risk a puncture like Bottas. Hamilton followed suit the next lap and emerged in the lead. Perez too was pitted for precaution as he dropped down from P3 to P7 with 15s to make up if wanted to get on the podium, currently Alonso running in P3.
Bottas retired on lap 50 due to car damage after his tyre failure. The tyre issues resurfaced as the Williams duo of George Russell and Nicholas Latifi suffered left front tyre failures on lap 50 and lap 52 respectively. Latifi was unable to get to the pits and hence, a virtual safety car was deployed with five laps to go. Verstappen pitted for a set of soft tyres to take the extra fastest lap point during this time.
Hamilton dominated for the second consecutive weekend as he dominated the race with a lights to flag victory and in the process cutting down Verstappen’s championship lead from 14 to 8 points with two races remaining. All Verstappen could do was damage limitation in P2. Alonso had finally achieved his podium after his last one coming seven years prior, helping Alpine go ahead of AlphaTauri in the constructor’s championship. This was helped by the fact that Ocon finished P5. Perez was unable to snatch the podium off Alonso owing to the late Virtual Safety car and had to settle for P4. Aston Martin’s Stroll got one of his best results of the season in P6 ahead of Ferrari duo of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc in P7 and P8 respectively. Lando Norris finished in P9 after running in P6 for most of the race. The Briton suffering a left front tyre failure as well, but McLaren pulled him into pits right on time. Vettel completed a double points finish for Aston Martin in P10.
Longest stint PirelliGraphic 21nov21 Gasly missed out on points after starting on the front row as McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo finished behind in P12, his third consecutive scoreless race. Yuki Tsunoda finished in P13 ahead of outgoing Alfa Romeo duo of Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi. Williams’ George Russell finished in P17, sandwiched between Haas cars of Mick Schumacher in P16 and Nikita Mazepin in P18. Two retirees from the race were Nicholas Latifi and Bottas, both victim to the left front tyre failures.
Mercedes for a second race weekend in a row had superior pace to Red Bull and were dominant in the race. Albeit this time in Qatar they did not exhibit the monstrous straight line speed advantage that they had in the previous races. With Bottas having a DNF Mercedes lost some ground in the constructor’s championship while Hamilton cut down Verstappen’s lead. With the wind in Mercedes’ sails, it remains to be seen if they can show the same performance in the last two races of the season. Red Bull lacked overall pace against Mercedes, in qualifying and race. It was not helped by the fact that Perez was knocked out of Q2 and had to start P11. Red Bull have also threatened to protest against Mercedes’ straight-line speed, specifically the rear wing as the Austrian squad thinks there is something illegal with their rival’s car.
Once again AlphaTauri showed the best qualifying pace of any midfield team in the hands of Gasly and both cars making it into Q3. A slower strategy by the team meant they lost out on points and a constructor’s position to Alpine. Alpine looked racy and on pace since arriving in Qatar as they got a podium and a double points finish. They were unchallenged in the race by other midfield teams, especially McLaren and Ferrari as the French squad exhibited superior race pace. Aston Martin achieved a double points finish as well with Stroll having an understated yet solid drive to P6. Vettel lost positions at the start but was able to recover to P10 showing the decent pace of AMR01.
McLaren had arguably the second fastest car in the midfield behind Alpine in Qatar, evident by Norris running in P6 for most of the race before suffering a puncture. He recovered to P9, meanwhile teammate, Ricciardo had a dismal qualifying and was unable to reach points. McLaren yet again lost out to Ferrari in the constructor’s championship. Ferrari too had a disappointing weekend as they suffered pitstop issues with Sainz and Leclerc’s damaged Chassis meant he lacked the pace throughout. They were relieved as McLaren were unable to outscore them in the constructor’s championship.
Both Williams cars fell foul to the tyre issues as their hopes for any points finishes diminished. Alfa Romeo had a dismal qualifying with both cars getting knocked out of Q1. They recovered some positions but were ultimately unable to challenge for points. Both Haas drivers seemed to have grown their confidence in the car but Mazepin suffered a number of reliability issues this weekend and hence, was off the pace.
Saturday Qualifying Results were:
P1: Lewis Hamilton- 44 (Mercedes) P2: Max Verstappen- 33 (Red Bull) P3: Valtteri Bottas- 77 (Mercedes) P4: Pierre Gasly- 10 (AlphaTauri) P5: Fernando Alonso- 14 (Alpine) P6: Lando Norris- 4 (McLaren) P7: Carlos Sainz- 55 (Ferrari) P8: Yuki Tsunoda- 22 (AlphaTauri) P9: Esteban Ocon- 31 (Alpine) P10: Sebastian Vettel- 5 (Aston Martin) P11: Sergio Perez- 11 (Red Bull) P12: Lance Stroll- 18 (Aston Martin) P13: Charles Leclerc- 16 (Ferrari) P14: Daniel Ricciardo- 3 (McLaren) P15: George Russell- 63 (Williams) P16: Kimi Raikkonen- 7 (Alfa Romeo) P17: Nicholas Latifi- 6 (Williams) P18: Antonio Giovinazzi- 99 (Alfa Romeo) P19: Mick Schumacher- 47 (Haas) P20: Nikita Mazepin- 9 (Haas) Note: Verstappen’s fastest Q3 time of 1:21.282 was deleted for a yellow-flag infringement. Bottas and Verstappen penalised 3 and 5 grid places respectively for yellow-flag infringements during qualifying.
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Hamilton wins from P10, says one of his finest wins
Lewis Hamilton took an emphatic victory after receiving multiple grid penalties and labeling it as one of his finest drives of his career. With the victory he closed up the championship battle as Max Verstappen finished second on the road and Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas completed the podium.
London, 15 November 2021: Lewis Hamilton started the race P10 after finishing P5 for the sprint qualifying- starting last (P20) for the sprint qualifying due to his car failing rear wing technical requirement. Mercedes chose to take a new Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) for Hamilton, hence, the Briton getting a five place. Teammate Valtteri Bottas started on pole as title rival Max Verstappen started alongside on the front row.
Verstappen returned the favour to Bottas as he stole the lead of the race from Bottas by virtue of a better launch off the grid- Bottas doing the same in sprint qualifying. Behind Perez made it past Bottas into turn 4 making it a Red Bull one-two, the worst possible start for Mercedes. Meanwhile, at the start Lando Norris had a better start than Ferrari rival Carlos Sainz. He tried to sneak past Sainz on the outside but brushed his rear tyres against Sainz’s front giving Norris a puncture and dropping to last place as he nursed his car back to the pits.
By the end of lap 1, Hamilton was already in P6. By lap 4 he was already past Sainz and Charles Leclerc, with only 2s behind teammate Bottas. Bottas dulylet him by on lap 5 to go and attack Perez and Verstappen.Behind, AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda made an ambitious lunge on Lance Stroll resulting in the Japanese rookie losing his front wing and the Aston Martin car shedding its aerodynamic bodywork on the track. A safety car was called out to clear out the debris.
Racing resumed on lap 10 with Red Bull still holding one-two and Hamilton fast in pursuit of them. On lap 18 Hamilton got a good run on Perez on the start finish straight as he broke late and overtook the Mexican. But Perez got a better run out of the opening corners and returned the favour on the back straight to Hamilton. A lap later Hamilton went past Perez on the main straight, this time holding position as Verstappen was 3.8s ahead in the lead.
Hamilton pitted first to undercut Verstappen on lap 26 for a set of hard tyres. Verstappen followed suit on the next lap as he emerged only 1.6s ahead of Hamilton this time, the Briton hot on his tail. Behind Perez pitted on lap 28 as he was in a fight with Bottas for P3. Another Virtual Safety Car (VSC) was deployed on lap 30 to clear debris left by Stroll’s car. This helped Bottas pit and emerge ahead of Perez in P3.
Verstappen lead by about a second before the Dutchman bit the bullet first this time around to avoid the undercut from Hamilton and pittedat the end of lap 40 for another set of hard tyres. Bottas pitted on lap 41 and Perez on lap 42 for their respective second pitstops. Meanwhile, Hamilton carried on for three more laps than his championship rival, finally pitting at the end of lap 43 for hard tyres and emerging in P2 1.5s behind Verstappen. The undercut was not particularly powerful around the Interlagos track.
Hamilton turned up the pace on lap 48 as he closed in on Verstappen and attempted to get past around the outside of turn 4. Verstappen was not having any of it as he broke late and forced both Hamilton and himself wide and off the track. The incident was reported to stewards as they deemed it not necessary for investigation. Hamilton responded on the radio saying “of course”, unhappy with the steward’s decision.
Hamilton stuck on Verstappen’s tail hovering around under 1s behind.Hamilton trying the same move in turn 4 as Verstappen weaved on track to break the slipstream. This time Hamilton bided his time not lunging on the outside, instead waiting for the next lap. Once again the Briton getting a much better exit than the Dutchman out of the opening set of corners as they raced down towards turn 4. This time Hamilton made the move stick, completing it even before they reached turn 4 as the crowd went euphoric with this move.
The epic comeback was complete as Hamilton overcame not one but two grid penalties to win the Sao Paulo Grand Prix with Red Bull having no answer to his and Mercedes’ pace. For Verstappen it was damage limitation as his championship lead was reduced to 14 points. Bottas completed the podium which helped Mercedes pull 11 points clear of Red Bull in the constructor’s championship with Perez finishing in P4, albeit taking the fastest lap on the last lap and with that an extra championship point.
In the midfield Ferrari duo of Leclerc and Sainz finished in P5 and P6 respectively, increasing their lead over McLaren in the constructor’s championship to 31.5 points as Norris was the sole McLaren that got points in P10. AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly finished in P7, ahead of Alpine’s duo of Esteban Ocon in P8 and Fernando Alonso in P9. Alpine and AlphaTauri tied on points in the constructor’s championship with this result.
Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel just missed out on points by 1.2s as he finished in P11 ahead of Kimi Raikkonen of Alfa Romeo, the Finn winning his 2007 championship at the same track. Williams’ George Russell finished in P13 and teammate Nicholas Latifi finished in P16. Antonio Giovinazzi finished in P14 with his Alfa Romeo seat for next year still uncertain while AlphaTauri rookie Tsunoda finished in P15. Haas’ Nikita Mazepin outraced teammate Mick Schumacher as they finished P17 and P18 respectively. Stroll had to retire due to extensive damage to his car after contact with Tsunoda while McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo retired due to a power unit issue, a worrying sign for Mercedes.
Mercedes had the outright pace on this track over Red Bull, especially mega straight-line speed compared to the Austrian team, enabling Hamilton to do an impressive comeback. Mercedes dominated qualifying while they had the faster race car as well, as evident by Hamilton getting past Verstappen and finishing 10.4s ahead in the lead. Red Bull could not match Mercedes’ pace especially on the straights and hence, were vulnerable to their chief rivals. It remains to be seen if Mercedes will hold this advantage going into the last three races of the season or will Red Bull be faster as they have been for more than two-thirds of the season.
Ferrari cemented their position in P3 in the constructor’s championship as they had a faster car than AlphaTauri and McLaren, especially in race pace, helped in part by their new hybrid system introduced a few races ago. AlphaTauri showed best in midfield qualifying pace again in the hands of Gasly, but lost out in the sprint race to the Ferrari cars. Gasly still managed to outrace the McLaren and more importantly the Alpine cars with whom they are tied in the constructor’s championship. McLaren had another disaster race as they lost yet more ground to Ferrari in the constructor’s championship. Ricciardo retired due to reliability problems and Norris suffered puncture on lap 1. They may have had the pace to challenge the squad from Maranello but these problems meant they have only scored two points in the last two races.
Alpine had a positive weekend as both cars finished in the points and they are still locked in for a fight in the constructor’s championship with AlphaTauri. Aston Martin had race pace similar to Alpine but with the midfield being tight and being difficult to overtake they finished just outside the points. Alfa Romeo too had decent race pace as Raikkonen after starting from the pitlane managed to finish P12, gaining eight positions in the process.
Williams had another scoreless weekend but achieved their best result of P13 with Russell in the last four races. An encouraging result going into the last three races of the season as they still head Alfa Romeo in the constructor’s championship. Haas’ Mazepin outraced teammate Schumacher for the first time in a long while. Both drivers had positive feedback of the car on this track, a rarity for Haas in such a difficult season for the American team.
Saturday Sprint Qualifying results were:
P1: Valtteri Bottas- 77 (Mercedes) P2: Max Verstappen- 33 (Red Bull) P3: Carlos Sainz- 55 (Ferrari) P4: Sergio Perez- 11 (Red Bull) P5: Lewis Hamilton- 44 (Mercedes) P6: Lando Norris- 4 (McLaren) P7: Charles Leclerc- 16 (Ferrari) P8: Pierre Gasly- 10 (AlphaTauri) P9: Esteban Ocon- 31 (Alpine) P10: Sebastian Vettel- 5 (Aston Martin) P11: Daniel Ricciardo- 3 (McLaren) P12: Fernando Alonso- 14 (Alpine) P13: Antonio Giovinazzi- 99 (Alfa Romeo) P14: Lance Stroll- 18 (Aston Martin) P15: Yuki Tsunoda- 22 (AlphaTauri) P16: Nicholas Latifi- 6 (Williams) P17: George Russell- 63 (Williams) P18: Kimi Raikkonen- 7 (Alfa Romeo) P19: Mick Schumacher- 47 (Haas) P20: Nikita Mazepin- 9 (Haas) Note – Hamilton penalised 5 grid places for use of additional power unit element. Raikkonen required to start from the pit lane, as car modified whilst under Parc Ferme conditions.
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Sergio Perez, first to claim podium in home race
By Malhaar Khaladkar
Max Verstappen took a dominant win for the third time at the Mexico City Grand Prix as he extended his championship lead over rival Lewis Hamilton to 19 points. Hamilton finished second on the road as he held off home hero Sergio Perez who achieved a podium for the first time at his home race.
London, 8 November 2021: The race got off to an explosive start as Valtteri Bottas, Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen were side by side, three-wide going into turn 1. Bottas backed off but was tagged by Daniel Ricciardo in the McLaren, the Finn spinning and falling to the back of the grid. In the process Ricciardo lost his front wing. Verstappen now lead the grand prix with Hamilton in P2 and Perez P3- a dream start for Red Bull. Behind an incident between Esteban Ocon, Yuki Tsunoda and Mick Schumacher meant that both the AlphaTauri and Haas car had to retire bringing out the safety car.
Racing resumed on lap 5 as Verstappen pulled off quickly, building a 1s lead over Hamilton. Behind Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz overtook the Alfa Romeo of Antonio Giovinazzi for P6- the Italian gaining five positions at the start of the race. Meanwhile, Bottas and Ricciardo were stuck behind back markers at the far end of the grid.
Verstappen gradually increased his lead over Hamilton as the Red Bull’s superior race pace was showcased, the Mercedes was unable to keep up. By lap 21 Verstappen was more than 7s ahead of Hamilton with Perez hanging onto Hamilton and staying around 2s behind the Briton. Behind the leaders, Pierre Gasly was running a superb P4 for AlphaTauri ahead of Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc and Sainz.
Mercedes decided to bite the bullet and boxed Hamilton for a set of hard tyres on lap 29 to avoid getting undercut by Perez and lose P2. Verstappen continued for four more laps before doing the same, emerging comfortably ahead of Hamilton. Perez continued as he became the first Mexican driver in history to lead their home grand prix.
Leclerc pitted on lap 30 and Gasly followed suit one lap later to cover him as both ran in net P4 and P5 position with Sainz continuing for longer on the medium tyres. Sainz eventually pitted on lap 42 for hard tyres gaining quickly on Leclerc as the team swapped the cars on track, so that Sainz with fresher tyres could attack Gasly up in P4.
Perez pitted on lap 40 and emerged about 9s behind Hamilton but with 11 laps younger tyres. The chase was on! Mercedes did not have the race pace to challenge Verstappen as he was in the lead by over 10s and Perez was closing in on Hamilton rapidly, especially through the middle sector of the lap where the W12 struggled.
By lap 60 Perez was just 1s behind Hamilton, as he looked for ways to get past Hamilton. The saving grace for Hamilton was that Mercedes had greater straight line speed compared to their rivals, which helped the 7-time world champion stay ahead of the Red Bull driver in the DRS zones.
Ultimately Verstappen won in a dominant fashion by over 16s increasing his lead in the championship to 19 points as Hamilton held off Perez for P2 in what was a damage limitation race for him. Perez gave his all to get past Hamilton but in the end had to settle for P3, albeit first ever podium for him at his home race. Gasly delivered another consistent race to finish in P4 ahead of the Ferrari pairing of Leclerc and Sainz in P5 and P6 respectively.
Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel finished a brilliant P7, making use of the first lap and a good strategy to get a decent haul of points. Alfa Romeo too had a good strategy to help Kimi Raikkonen finish P8, though the same cannot be said for teammate Giovinazzi as his strategy was compromised and meant he finished P11, just outside the points. Alpine’s Fernando Alonso finished in P9 ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris in P10 who had started at the back of the grid after taking a power unit penalty.
Ricciardo could not make it back to the top 10 after lap 1 incident as he finished P12 ahead of Alpine’s Esteban Ocon in P13 and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll in P14- who received power unit penalties as well. Williams pairing of George Russell and Nicholas Latifi finished in P16 and P17 ahead oh Haas’ Nikita Mazepin in P18 with Tsunoda and Schumacher the only retirees from the grand prix.
Red Bull had superior pace compared to Mercedes as Verstappen on average was 0.3-0.5s/lap faster than Hamilton in the race. They underperformed in qualifying as Mercedes locked out the front row but delivered on Sunday. The higher downforce nature of their car working better at the high altitude of Mexico City as air is thinner. Mercedes locking out the front row was a surprise for everyone but ultimately did not have the pace to challenge for the win on Sunday. Compounded with the fact that Bottas fell to the back of the grid they were handicapped in terms of race strategy at the front. With Red Bull in the ascendency, it looks like a tall order for Mercedes if they want to win the championships.
AlphaTauri had an incident free weekend with Pierre Gasly as he qualified P5 and finished P4 in the race, ahead of both Ferrari and McLaren cars. With that result they are level on points with Alpine in the constructor’s championship. Ferrari achieved another double points finish and leaped ahead of McLaren in the constructor’s championship. They certainly have a superior car compared to the McLaren and it remains to be seen if the Woking squad can fight back. McLaren had a dismal weekend by their standards, Ricciardo finishing outside the points and Norris adding a single point to their tally after taking an engine penalty.
Alpine and Aston Martin had positive race weekends as good strategy calls enabled them for points finish on Sunday with Vettel and Alonso respectively. Alfa Romeo may not have had the pace on paper for appoints finish but with a brilliant strategy and driving by Kimi Raikkonen helped them get P8. They were unable to maximise their race as they could have achieved points with Giovinazzi had he not pitted early went on for long. Williams lacked the pace in qualifying and the race to challenge for the top 10 positions and Haas finished bottom of the pace charts.
Saturday Qualifying results were:
P1: Valtteri Bottas- 77 (Mercedes) P2: Lewis Hamilton- 44 (Mercedes) P3: Max Verstappen- 33 (Red Bull) P4: Sergio Perez- 11 (Red Bull) P5: Pierre Gasly- 10 (AlphaTauri) P6: Carlos Sainz- 55 (Ferrari) P7: Daniel Ricciardo- 3 (McLaren) P8: Charles Leclerc- 16 (Ferrari) P9: Yuki Tsunoda- 22 (AlphaTauri) P10: Lando Norris- 4 (McLaren) P11: Sebastian Vettel- 5 (Aston Martin) P12: Kimi Raikkonen- 7 (Alfa Romeo) P13: George Russell- 63 (Williams) P14: Antonio Giovinazzi- 99 (Alfa Romeo) P15: Esteban Ocon- 31 (Alpine) P16: Fernando Alonso- 14 (Alpine) P17: Nicholas Latifi- 6 (Williams) P18: Mick Schumacher- 47 (Haas) P19: Nikita Mazepin- 9 (Haas) P20: Lance Stroll- 18 (Aston Martin) Note – Russell drops 5 grid places for taking on a new gearbox after exceeding his allocation. Ocon, Stroll, Tsunoda and Norris start from the back of the grid after taking on new PU components.
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Valtteri Bottas first win of the season limits damage to Hamilton
Valtteri Bottas took his first win of the season at the Turkish Grand Prix as Max Verstappen finished P2 for a second consecutive race and his Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez took his first podium since the French Grand Prix. Verstappen assumed championship lead as title rival Lewis Hamilton finished in P5. Bottas defended stoutly and his win reduced Verstappen’s probable lead over teammate Hamilton.
London, 12 October 2021: Valtteri Bottas won a race for the first time since last season’s Russian Grand Prix over a year ago as Max Verstappen finished P2 and teammate Sergio Perez made it a double podium for the Austrian squad. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc finished in P4 after running the majority of race in podium positions, ahead of Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton who started P11 due to a change in his internal combustion engine. Pierre Gasly crossed the line in P6 in the AlphaTauri, ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz- the Spaniard starting last as he ran a brand-new power unit. Esteban Ocon did a no-stop race to finish P10, behind Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll.
Alfa Romeo duo of Antonio Giovinazzi and Kimi Raikkonen finished P11 and P12 respectively, behind them were McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo in P13, AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda in P14 and Williams’ George Russell in P15. Alpine’s Fernando Alonso suffered a first lap spin and could only recover to P16 ahead of the second Williams car of Nicholas Latifi. Sebastian Vettel was the only driver on the grid to try out slick tyres in the race as he finished in P18 ahead of the Haas duo of Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin in P19 and P20 respectively.
It was a wet race day, much like last year. Bottas started on pole and had a clean getaway, in fact most of the field did so apart from Alonso and Gasly, the Frenchman tipping the Spaniard into a spin as the Alpine car dropped dead last. Later in the lap Alonso tagged Schumacher, spinning the rookie. Both Gasly and Alonso earned themselves a 5-second time penalty for their shenanigans.
Hamilton started out of place in P11 after receiving a power unit penalty. He made up two places early on with Tsunoda proving a bit tougher to overtake. By lap 8 he had moved past the Japanese driver too. Ahead, Bottas lead by around 2.5s from Verstappen who was ahead of Leclerc.
The track was drying as the rain had stopped, but it was not drying fast enough to justify putting on slick tyres as in these wet and greasy conditions the intermediate tyres would still be faster.
By now Hamilton had caught up to Perez and tried to overtake him on lap 35. But, a stern defense from the Mexican meant that Hamilton had to stay put behind the Red Bull car and also look after his own wearing intermediate tyres.
Verstappen was the first to pit of the leaders for another intermediate set of tyres. Race leader Bottas followed suit to cover the Dutchman. Meanwhile, the second Red Bull of Perez pitted on the same lap. This left Leclerc in the lead. Leclerc tried to go to the end on one set of inters but after locking up multiple times and being passed by Bottas, Ferrari decided to pit him emerging in P5 behind Hamilton who was yet to pit and Perez.
Hamilton had not pitted yet in a gamble that the track may dry out soon enough for slick tyres, but it was not to be. As him and Mercedes deliberated whether to make it to the end on a single set of intermediates, ultimately, he was called in on lap 51 as a precaution. Hamilton was evidently frustrated over team radio for losing a podium position and points to Verstappen.
In the end, the day belonged to Bottas who dominated the Turkish Grand Prix and took his first win of the season. Meanwhile, Red Bull got a double podium, boosting Perez’s confidence and Verstappen retaking the championship lead. It was a day of what could have been for Hamilton as strategy error left him down in P5.
Mercedes clearly had the dominant car this weekend in both qualifying and race pace. They locked out the front row and if not for strategic error by both Hamilton and Mercedes he could have finished the race on the podium. Red Bull struggled for pace this weekend, particularly the car suffering from a lot of understeer. A double podium is a good result given that they lacked pace to challenge Mercedes but still lost ground to them in the constructor’s championship owing to Bottas’ win.
Ferrari had the third fastest car especially in qualifying. They introduced a brand-newpower unit in the last race giving them a horsepower boost, clearly helping them in their qualifying pace. The Ferrari was even faster than Red Bull in the speed traps. They had best of the rest race pace too, with Leclerc running his own race, unchallenged by Perez for majority of the race while Sainz finished P8 from starting last. AlphaTauri showed good pace too, albeit unable to challenge Ferrari. Both cars reached Q3 with Gasly scoring points in the race and Tsunoda running in points position until he spun and dropped back in the field.
McLaren struggled to find pace in the MCL35M as Ricciardo was unable to make it out of Q1 and Norris did not have the pace to challenge the top 5 or Gasly in P6. Ricciardo was unable to follow Sainz through the field showing the struggles of McLaren at this particular track. Aston Martin showed decent pace to challenge for points and Stroll duly delivered on that. They tried a gamble of putting slick tyres on Vettel’s car but it did not work out as the track was too wet. Alpine had similar pace to Aston Martin as both teams had one car in Q3 and in points at the end of the race. Ocon made an audacious no-stop strategy work to get in the top 10 while Alonso was tagged by Gasly and spun to the back of the grid, killing his hopes for any points.
Alfa Romeo finished just outside the top 10 with Giovinazzi almost catching up to Ocon for the last points paying position. They had mediocre qualifying pace- which was in dry conditions- as neither cars were able to make it out of Q1. Williams’ points scoring streak of 4 in 5 races ended as neither Russell nor Latifi were able to challenge for the top 10 spots, lacking pace in general to do so. Haas’ Schumacher made it to Q2 for the second time, first time on legitimate pace giving the American squad confidence. They were unable to challenge for points in the race.
Saturday’s Qualifying results were:
P1: Lewis Hamilton- 44 (Mercedes) P2: Valtteri Bottas- 77 (Mercedes) P3: Max Verstappen- 33 (Red Bull) P4: Charles Leclerc- 16 (Ferrari) P5: Pierre Gasly- 10 (AlphaTauri) P6: Fernando Alonso- 14 (Alpine) P7: Sergio Perez- 11 (Red Bull) P8: Lando Norris- 4 (McLaren) P9: Lance Stroll- 18 (Aston Martin) P10: Yuki Tsunoda- 22 (AlphaTauri) P11: Sebastian Vettel- 5 (Aston Martin) P12: Esteban Ocon- 31 (Alpine) P13: George Russell- 63 (Williams) P14: Mick Schumacher- 47 (Haas) P15: Carlos Sainz- 55 (Ferrari) P16: Daniel Ricciardo- 3 (McLaren) P17: Nicholas Latifi- 6 (Williams) P18: Antonio Giovinazzi- 99 (Alfa Romeo) P19: Kimi Raikkonen- 7 (Alfa Romeo) P20: Nikita Mazepin- 9 (Haas) Note – Hamilton drops 10 grid places for taking on a new ICE after exceeding his allocation. Sainz and Ricciardo start from the back of the grid after taking on new PU components.
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Hamilton’s century feat at Drama-filled Sochi autodrome
Lewis Hamilton achieved his 100th Formula 1 career victory at a drama filled Sochi autodrome- a feat that no driver has achieved before, as Max Verstappen finished P2 from starting last and Carlos Sainz completed the podium. Lando Norris who had lead majority of the race finished in P7 after a strategic error.
London, 26 Sept. 2021: Lewis Hamilton won a formula 1 race for the record 100th time as he continued Mercedes’ dominance of never being beaten at the Russian Grand Prix since 1913. Max Verstappen finished P2 as he limited his points damage to Hamilton after starting last due to an engine penalty, and former Toro Rosso teammate Carlos Sainz finished in P3, his third podium this season with Ferrari. McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo was classified in P4 ahead of Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas in P5 and Alpine’s Fernando Alonso in P6- the Spaniard finishing in the same position he started the race. Lando Norris who looked favorite for McLaren’s consecutive race win eventually finished P7 after the weather interfered and a wrong strategy call to sit out on slick tyres. Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen finished in P8, his best finish of the season as he returned from Covid-19 illness. The second Red Bull of Sergio Perez looked on for a podium but had to settle for P9 after rain came into play. George Russell has scored points in last four out of five races for Williams as he crossed the line in P10.
Lance Stroll finished P11 as he had a coming together with Aston Martin teammate Sebastian Vettel and AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly, earning himself a 10-second time penalty for his troubles. Vettel finished in P12 and Gasly in P13. Alpine’s Esteban Ocon finished in P14 ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in P15, Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi in P16 and AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda in P17. Haas’ Nikita Mazepin was last of the finishers in P18. Williams driver Nicholas Latifi and Haas rookie Mick Schumacher were two retirees from the race.
News broke before the race that Bottas would be starting P16 after taking another engine penalty with Leclerc and Verstappen already starting P19 and P20 respectively due to taking new engines outside of their allocation. There was a 70% chance of rain during the start of the race, but it did not materialise.
Norris starting from pole got good start, but Sainz caught the McLaren’s slipstream and was ahead at braking zone of turn 2. Behind Hamilton lost positions as he fell to P7 from P4. Russell maintained his position in P3. Stroll had an amazing start leapfrogging to P4 from P7. At the back of the grid Verstappen made up a couple of positions, as did Bottas while Leclerc jumped from P19 to P12.
Hamilton dispatched Alonso but got stuck behind the Mercedes powered DRS train of Russell, Stroll and Ricciardo. Behind, Verstappen passed Bottas for P14 with the Finn barely putting up a defense. Sainz was leading with Norris chasing the Ferrari and both were pulling away from Russell. Hamilton who had been the favorite before the start was losing time to the leaders and his chances of victory slimming lap by lap.
The tyres were graining and subsequently losing grip in cold conditions. Aston Martin decided to trigger the undercut with Stroll on lap 12 as he pitted from P4 for a set of hard tyres. Norris caught up to Sainz and passed him for the lead on the inside of turn 12. Russell and Sainz followed suit at the end of lap 13 and 14 respectively. Meanwhile, Hamilton was still held up behind Ricciardo unable to overtake him as the McLaren runs the Mercedes power unit too.
Ricciardo pitted on lap 22 for hard tyres, releasing Hamilton into free air who was around 12 seconds behind Norris. After consecutive fastest laps by the Mercedes driver, the team decided to pull in Hamilton for a set of medium tyres and capitalise on Ricciardo’s slow pit stop. Hamilton emerged behind Stroll and Gasly, dispatching them quickly by lap 31. Meanwhile Norris responded to Hamilton and pitted on lap 28, emerging in P4 behind yet to pit Leclerc, Alonso and Perez. Verstappen had pitted on the same lap as his championship rival, albeit for medium tyres but was stuck behind Ricciardo.
Leclerc pitted on lap 35 with Alonso and Perez following him in on lap 37. This meant that Norris lead the race with Hamilton some 8 seconds behind and rapidly catching. The tension built up as Hamilton was around a second behind Norris for consecutive laps. With five laps remaining the heavens opened up, andumbrellas and raincoats came out with the majority of rain focused around turn 5 and 7. Both Norris and Hamilton stayed out resisting the call to pit for intermediate tyres. As the rain worsened Mercedes were adamant to pit Hamilton and the Briton listened, pitting on lap 49. He was now around 25 seconds behind Norris but the gap shrinking rapidly has the track was properly wet. It was heartbreak for Norris as he decided to stay out on slick tyres on a wet track and slid off of it on the penultimate lap with Hamilton taking the lead. Norris limped back to pits for inters as he could only manage P7 in the end.
It was gutting for the young Briton, Norris as he almost controlled the race from start to finishonly to lose the lead on the penultimate lap. But the headlines belonged to Hamilton who became the first driver to reach a century of victories and with that retaking the championship lead as Mercedes extended their constructors championship lead too.
Mercedes once again had the fastest car of the grid in Russian but failed to capitalise in qualifying due to weather and partly driver error. Eventually they managed to win thanks to a good strategy call in the dynamic conditions. Even Bottas who was running in P14 before rain arrived, managed to gain nine positions and finish in P5. The German squad are currently leading both championships. Red Bull chose to bite the bullet for Verstappen and take an engine penalty. He achieved the best possible result of P2 with Hamilton winning to limit the damage. It is difficult to judge Red Bull’s pace this weekend due to Verstappen not taking part in qualifying and both cars running in traffic in the race.
McLaren were the best of the rest as Norris managed to pass Sainz’s Ferrari with ease. They even had the pace to hold up both Mercedes and Red Bull behind owing to their straight-line speed and evident by Hamilton being unable to pass Ricciardo and Norris, and Verstappen being caught behind Ricciardo. Strategy error meant they lost the chance to win a second consecutive race. Ferrari showed decent pace as they held a podium position with Sainz before the late rain drama begin. Even with the conditions changing the Italian team kept a cool head and Sainz achieved his fourth podium of the season. Both Alpine and Aston Martin showed good race pace to hold high top 10 positions but ultimately failed to capitalise due to the interference of weather. Only Alonso being able to finish in P6 as both Aston Martin cars and Ocon failed to score points.
AlphaTauri had a mediocre race as both cars finished outside of points. Gasly had a chance to finish in points as the conditions changed but entanglement with Stroll meant that his chances were all but over of scoring points. Alfa Romeo capitalised on the weather as they got the season’s best finish of P8 with Raikkonen. Williams and Russell scoredpoints in four races out of five. Arguable the Grove squad should have scored higher points as Russell started from P3 but a wrong strategy call meant he was stuck in traffic after the first round of pitstops. Both Haas cars had their highest starting positions of the season owing to a lot of grid penalties but were unable to challenge for points.
Saturday’s Qualifying results were:
P1: Lando Norris- 4 (McLaren) P2: Carlos Sainz- 55 (Ferrari) P3: George Russell- 63 (Williams) P4: Lewis Hamilton- 44 (Mercedes) P5: Daniel Ricciardo- 3 (McLaren) P6: Fernando Alonso- 14 (Alpine) P7: Valtteri Bottas- 77 (Mercedes) P8: Lance Stroll- 18 (Aston Martin) P9: Sergio Perez- 11 (Red Bull) P10: Esteban Ocon- 31 (Alpine) P11: Sebastian Vettel- 5 (Aston Martin) P12: Pierre Gasly- 10 (AlphaTauri) P13: Yuki Tsunoda- 22 (AlphaTauri) P14: Nicholas Latifi- 6 (Williams) P15: Charles Leclerc- 16 (Ferrari) P16: Kimi Raikkonen- 7 (Alfa Romeo) P17: Mick Schumacher- 47 (Haas) P18: Antonio Giovinazzi- 99 (Alfa Romeo) P19: Nikita Mazepin- 9 (Haas) P20: Max Verstappen- 33 (Red Bull) Note – Verstappen penalised 3 grid places for causing a collision at the previous round. Leclerc, Verstappen and Latifi required to start from the back of the grid for use of additional power unit elements. Bottas penalised 15 grid places for use of additional power unit elements. Giovinazzi penalised 5 grid places for an unscheduled gearbox change.
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Thrilling home win is 7th of the season for Max Verstappen
Max Verstappen took home victory at the first Dutch Grand Prix held at Zandvoort in 36 years as title rival Lewis Hamilton finished second and Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas completed the podium in P3.
New Delhi, 7 September 2021: Home favorite Max Verstappen took his 7th victory of the season as Lewis Hamilton finished P2, unable to challenge for victory but taking the fastest lap as a consolation. Valtteri Bottas took his seventh podium of the season achieving P3. Pierre Gasly maintained his qualifying position by finishing P4 in race. Fernando Alonso finished in P6 sandwiched by the Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc in P5 and Carlos Sainz in P7. Sergio Perez managed to finish P8 after a dismal qualifying, second Alpine of Esteban Ocon crossed the line in P9 and Lando Norris rounded out the top 10.
McLaren teammate Daniel Ricciardo missed out on points, finishing P11 ahead of Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel in P12 and P13 respectively. Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi was unable to convert his high qualifying position into points as he finished P14, one position ahead of stand in teammate Robert Kubica replacing Kimi Raikkonen due to the Finn being in isolation after testing positive for Covid-19. Nicholas Latifi was classified P16 and teammate George Russel though classified in P17, DNF’d with two laps to go. Mick Schumacher of Haas was the last finisher in P18. AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda and second Haas of Nikita Mazepin did not finish the race.
The title protagonists started from the front row with the Dutchman on pole. Both got an equal start as the race got underway and Hamilton settled himself behind Verstappen with the gap hovering around 3s. Bottas maintained his position in P3. Meanwhile, Gasly too maintained P4 ahead of both the Ferrari cars, although the three of them lost touch to the top three cars.
Hamilton was the first car to pit of the top 10 runners to undercut Verstappen. It wasn’t the smoothest pitstop from the world champions as Verstappen pitted a lap later and emerged just less than 2s ahead. Both pitting for the medium tyres. Bottas in the lead was kept out in a bid to try and hold up Verstappen and let Hamilton closeupbehind. Both caught Bottas by lap 30 who yet to make a stop. Bottas was able to hold up Verstappen for only one lap as the dutchman made use of fresh tyres and passed the Finn. Bottas let past his teammate a corner later.
In the midfield Gasly pitted on lap 24, whilst everyone else pitted lap 30 onwards either for the medium or the hard tyres. The running order midway was Verstappen and Hamilton, who were a pitstop ahead of the rest of the field. After Bottas came Gasly, Leclerc, Sainz, Norris, Perez- who had recovered till P8 now but was yet to make another pitstop, Alonso and Ocon.
With Hamilton hovering around 3s behind Verstappen, Mercedes brought him in for a second stop on another set of mediums. Verstappen followed suit a lap later albeit on the hard tyres as Red Bull did not have a set of medium tyres left. Hamilton was unable to close in the gap as he encountered traffic and remained 3-4s behind his Dutch rival.
Ultimately Hamilton was unable to fight for victory as he pitted for soft tyres with just two laps to go and set the lap record around Zandvoort. Verstappen cruised home to victory in front of his loyal supporters- the orange army as they are called, with Bottas in 3rd. Alonso fought back from P9 to P6, overtaking fellow countryman Sainz at a track where it was difficult to overtake while Perez completed his comeback from pitlane to P8.
Red Bull had a faster car and Verstappen extracted full performance out of it. They lost out in the constructor’s championship to Mercedes due to Perez being unable to advance to Q2 even. Mercedes were close behind in second as they lost out to pole position by just 0.03s to Verstappen. Mercedes and Hamilton put it down to missing FP2- due to an engine problem, as they were unable to optimise their car. Also, Mercedes struggled on the banked T3 corner as the W12 lost two-tenths there compared to the RB16B.
AlphaTauri showed great pace and were best of the rest in the hands of Pierre Gasly. The Frenchman was able to maintain his qualifying position in the race with no real challenge from the Ferrari’s as he finished in P4. Tsunoda struggled with pace the entire weekend as he barely made it to Q2 and was outqualified by Williams cars. Ferrari showed decent performance but expected better results as this was a track that suited their car with higher downforce characteristics. Sainz particularly was disappointed as he felt ‘slow’ in his own words, as he was overtaken by his childhood hero Alonso. Alpine showed decent race pace but lacked qualifying pace to challenge for higher positions. With all the cars so close it was difficult for the French cars to make progress, still Alonso maximizing the result in P6.
McLaren had an uncharacteristically dismal weekend, with both drivers calling it ‘abnormal’. They lacked the pace in qualifying as Norris was unable to make Q3 for the first time this season and Ricciardo could only manage P10. In the race they managed just a solitary point in P10, courtesy of Norris as they were unable to challenge the cars ahead of them. Aston Martin were in a no man’s land position as they were faster than the cars behind them, but traffic and superior pace of cars ahead prevented them from getting points. It was not helped by the fact that Vettel spun in the second half of the race dropping him out of contention for points.
Alfa Romeo showed impressive qualifying performance as Giovinazzi made it to Q3 and qualified P7. The Swiss based Italian team lacked race pace as well as a puncture prevented Giovinazzi from achieving points finish.Williams’ on paper result looks worse than it actually was with both drivers showing impressive qualifying performance but losing it in the barrier in Q2. The FW43B is a wind sensitive car, compounded with overdriving it meant they were unable to enter Q3 with Russell or Latifi. Russell showed impressive race pace as he maintained P11-P12 through the whole race before retiring on lap 70. Haas’ season story remains the same as Nikita Mazepin failed to finish while Mick Schumacher finished last, 3 laps down from the leader.
Saturday Qualifying results were:
P1: Max Verstappen- 33 (Red Bull) P2: Lewis Hamilton- 44 (Mercedes) P3: Valtteri Bottas- 77 (Mercedes) P4: Pierre Gasly- 10 (AlphaTauri) P5: Charles Leclerc- 16 (Ferrari) P6: Carlos Sainz- 55 (Ferrari) P7: Antonio Giovinazzi- 99 (Alfa Romeo) P8: Esteban Ocon- 31 (Alpine) P9: Fernando Alonso- 14 (Alpine) P10: Daniel Ricciardo- 3 (McLaren) P11: George Russell- 63 (Williams) P12: Lance Stroll- 18 (Aston Martin) P13: Lando Norris- 4 (McLaren) P14: Nicholas Latifi- 6 (Williams) P15: Yuki Tsunoda- 22 (AlphaTauri) P16: Sergio Perez- 11 (Red Bull) P17: Sebastian Vettel- 5 (Aston Martin) P18: Robert Kubica- 88 (Alfa Romeo) P19: Mick Schumacher- 47 (Haas) P20: Nikita Mazepin- 9 (Haas) Note – Latifi penalised five grid places for an unscheduled gearbox change; required to start from the pit lane, as car modified whilst under Parc Ferme conditions. Perez demoted to the back of the grid for use of additional power unit elements; required to start from the pit lane, as car modified whilst under Parc Ferme conditions.
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Washed out Belgian GP shows the importance of qualies
Max Verstappen was classified first in a washed out Belgian Grand Prix, which was the shortest race in the history of Formula 1. George Russell achieved his maiden podium finish in P2 while Lewis Hamilton retrieved 7.5 points coming third. Three laps took place behind the safety car as torrential rain made the track undrivable and only half points were awarded as the race distance was less than 75%.
London, 30 August 2021: Rain was forecasted for the Grand Prix, but no one expected it to be a washout. Drama ensued before the race as Sergio Perez went into the barrier on his way to the grid ruling him out of the race. Instead of the lights going out, two formation laps took place behind the safety car. Drivers complained on the radio about aquaplaning and zero visibility, hence, the race was red flagged by the FIA.
After a wait of more than three hours FIA notified that the race would resume at 18:17 local time (race start was at 15:00 local time). With the grid bunched up behind the safety car, the drivers ventured out for another couple of laps before returning to the pits. FIA declared that the race won’t resume, and half points will be awarded to the top 10 finishers.
This race showed the importance of qualifying. Due to a red flag the finishing order was exactly similar as to qualifying, barring Perez who crashed out and had to start from the pitlane, if the race had started. Verstappen closed the gap on championship rival to Hamilton while a stunning Saturday qualifying lap by Russell meant he kept his 2nd place.
The 2021 season got back underway in a less than ideal way as if the summer break was extended for another week. Weather is one of the few elements that is out of control of the organizers and the FIA, and safety being paramount it was deemed unsafe to race in such dire conditions. Onto Zandvoort, hoping for some racing action there!
Saturday Qualifying results were:
P1: Max Verstappen- 33 (Red Bull) P2: George Russell- 63 (Williams) P3: Lewis Hamilton- 44 (Mercedes) P4: Daniel Ricciardo- 3 (McLaren) P5: Sebastian Vettel- 5 (Aston Martin) P6: Pierre Gasly- 10 (AlphaTauri) P7: Sergio Perez- 11 (Red Bull) P8: Valtteri Bottas- 77 (Mercedes) P9: Esteban Ocon- 31 (Alpine) P10: Lando Norris- 4 (McLaren) P11: Charles Leclerc- 16 (Ferrari) P12: Nicholas Latifi- 6 (Williams) P13: Carlos Sainz- 55 (Ferrari) P14: Fernando Alonso- 14 (Alpine) P15: Lance Stroll- 18 (Aston Martin) P16: Antonio Giovinazzi- 99 (Alfa Romeo) P17: Yuki Tsunoda- 22 (AlphaTauri) P18: Mick Schumacher- 47 (Haas) P19: Kimi Raikkonen- 7 (Alfa Romeo) P20: Nikita Mazepin- 9 (Haas) Note: Bottas and Stroll penalised five grid places for causing a collision at the previous round. Norris penalised five grid places for an unscheduled gearbox change. Raikkonen required to start from the pit lane, as car modified whilst under Parc Ferme conditions.
