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Tag: Malhaar Khaladkar
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Thrilling maiden F1 victory for Esteban Ocon: Race Analysis
Esteban Ocon unexpectedly won a thrilling race at the Hungaroring circuit, his first career win as Sebastian Vettel finished second but was later disqualified for a technical infringement. Subsequently Lewis Hamilton got the second spot and Carlos Sainz was promoted to the podium spot in third.
New Delhi, 2 August 2021: Esteban Ocon achieved his first career victory as he led the whole race ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton. Later the German getting disqualified due to a technical infringement as race officials could not extract the required amount of fuel sample from his car. This promoted Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz on the podium, his second podium of the year after Monaco. Ocon’s Alpine teammate Fernando Alonso finished P4 who played a pivotal role in helping his teammate win. AlphaTauri duo of Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda finished in P5 and P6 respectively. Both Williams drivers Nicholas Latifi and George Russell achieved points for the first time, crossing the line in P7 and P8. Max Verstappen could only manage P9 in his heavily damage Red Bull and Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen rounded out the top 10.
Ricciardo was unable to finish in the top 10 as he nursed his McLaren throughout the race with Haas’ Mick Schumacher and Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi the last two race finishers.
Valtteri Bottas collided with two cars of Lando Norris and Sergio Perez with all three retiring atthe start due to terminal damage. Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll skidded onto wet grass and took out Charles Leclerc and both were unable to continue in the race. An unsafe release by Alfa Romeo meant that Raikkonen tagged Nikita Mazepin in the pits, with the Russian’s car having suspension failure due to contact.
Esteban Ocon, third from left, poses with Hamilton, right and Vettel, left, after winning the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday. A Mercedes image The forecasted rain arrived before the race start as everyone changed to intermediate tyres. The race got underway, and Hamilton was cleanly off from the pole. His teammate Bottas got a less than ideal start as he fell prey to Verstappen and Norris. Bottas overcooked his breaking point in turn 1 and speared into Norris who in turn damaged the right side of Verstappen’s car. Meanwhile, Bottas lost his front wheel and tagged Perez. The Mexican carrying on for another sector before his engine shut off due to damage. Stroll tried to get on the inside of Leclerc’s Ferrari in turn 1, but he lost control on the wet grass and collected Leclerc who tagged Ricciardo’s McLaren because of the knock-on effect. Leclerc and Stroll retired on the spot. Several cars retiring on the grid and debris meant the race was red flagged.
When the race got underway, a bizarre sight was witnessed as only Hamilton started on the grid and everyone else on the grid pitted for dry tyres. Hamilton and Mercedes later realizing their mistake and pitting one lap after the race was underway as the Briton slotted into last position. Ahead briefly Russell lead the grand prix in his Williams before being asked to give the positions back due to overtaking in the pitlane. Ocon assumed the race lead with Vettel close behind followed by Sainz.
Hamilton passed Giovinazzi and Schumacher but was stuck in a train as it is notoriously difficult to overtake at this track even if the car has superior pace. Mercedes pitted Hamilton again for hard tyres on lap 19. Both Ricciardo and Verstappen pitted a lap later trying to cover Hamilton, but his undercut was superior as he got past both of them and releasing the Briton in free air. By lap 32 Hamilton was up to P5 passing the likes of Schumacher, Latifi and Tsunoda in the process.
To cover Hamilton’s undercut, Ferrari pitted Sainz on lap 32 and the Spaniard emerged in front of the Mercedes driver. Ahead Ocon was still in the lead defending from the relentless pressure of Vettel with Alonso in third. All three yet to pit. Vettel was the first to pit among the race leaders as he attempted an undercut with Ocon following suit for hard tyres a lap later. Ocon just about managed to stay in front and resume his defense for the victory. Alonso pitted on lap 39 emerging behind Sainz and Hamilton but on fresher tyres.
Mercedes pitted Hamilton again on lap 47 for medium tyres, trying to do the ‘Hungary 2019’ strategy again with even Toto Wolff assuring Hamilton on the team radio. Hamilton quickly caught up to Alonso and Sainz. Hamilton and Alonso had a titanic duel as Alonso defended hard but fair with the Briton attacking lap after lap. This battle being reminiscent of the past two decades between this pair. Finally Hamilton managed to get past Alonso by lap 65 and overtaking Sainz by lap 67. But he could not challenge for the win as the battle with Alonso had cost him too much time.
The day belonged to Ocon as he triumphed at Hungary for his first Formula 1 victory with Vettel getting another podium in his decorated career- later being disqualified. Hamilton had to settle for P3 but was happier of the two title rivals as he retook the championship lead alongside Mercedes.
The Formula 1 circus heads for a well-deserved summer break as racing will resume at the end of August for the Belgian Grand Prix. See you then!
Mercedes upgrades confirmed that they have clawed back performance compared to Red Bull. Hungaroring was expected to suit Red Bull’s car characteristics, but Mercedes got pole position by over four-tenths of a second, securing a front row lockout and had the fastest race car. If not for Mercedes’ strategy error, they would have won. Red Bull had a miserable weekend as they unexpectedly lost to their German rivals in qualifying. Already on the backfoot, both drivers’ race was ruined due to the turn 1 melee started by Bottas as they managed to salvage two points for this weekend. They lost both championship leads.
AlphaTauri had an encouraging race weekend as the Gasly out qualified both McLaren and Ferrari cars. They also achieved a double-points finish which will help them in the fight for P5 in the constructors championship. The Hungaroring circuit suiting the characteristics of the AT02 as it requires high downforce. McLaren had a dismal race weekend scoring no points as they were caught up in the turn 1 incident and therefore it is difficult to judge how they would have done in the race. Ferrari had a positive race with Sainz as they managed to achieve a podium. Ferrari had decent qualifying pace and very close to Gasly and Norris’ pace as they were just separated by 0.013s in qualifying.
This was a mega result for Alpine as Ocon got his first win. Qualifying pace wise they were behind the top three midfield teams this race but made most of the opportunity in the race. Ocon’s performance boosted in the last few races as he swapped his chassis. Alonso played a key role in Ocon’s victory as he held off Hamilton for more than 10 laps. Aston Martin arguably had a faster car in race trim than Alpine unable to pass Ocon for the race lead as it was difficult to overtake. Vettel’s car was later disqualified, and he lost P2 as the race stewards could not extract the required amount of fuel sample from his car. Aston Martin have lodged an appeal against this.
Williams finally achieved double points finish which helped them jump to P8 in constructor’s standings. They showed mediocre qualifying pace as Russell was knocked out of Q1 for the first time this season but made full opportunity of the incidents at the start to achieve points. Alfa Romeo lacked race pace to challenge Williams but still managed P10 with Raikkonen. Haas were unable to make full use of the race incidents to achieve points with Schumacher and admittedly lacked pace to do so.
Saturday Qualifying Results were:
P1: Lewis Hamilton- 44 (Mercedes) P2: Valtteri Bottas- 77 (Mercedes) P3: Max Verstappen- 33 (Red Bull) P4: Sergio Perez- 11 (Red Bull) P5: Pierre Gasly- 10 (AlphaTauri) P6: Lando Norris- 4 (McLaren) P7: Charles Leclerc- 16 (Ferrari) P8: Esteban Ocon- 31 (Alpine) P9: Fernando Alonso- 14 (Alpine) P10: Sebastian Vettel- 5 (Aston Martin) P11: Daniel Ricciardo- 3 (McLaren) P12: Lance Stroll- 18 (Aston Martin) P13: Kimi Raikkonen- 7 (Alfa Romeo) P14: Antonio Giovinazzi- 99 (Alfa Romeo) P15: Carlos Sainz- 55 (Ferrari) P16: Yuki Tsunoda- 22 (AlphaTauri) P17: George Russell- 63 (Williams) P18: Nicholas Latifi- 6 (Williams) P19: Nikita Mazepin- 9 (Haas) P20: Mick Schumacher- 47 (Haas) -
Red Bull turns the tide with Verstappen’s dominant win: Race Analysis
Max Verstappen took a second consecutive victory over Lewis Hamilton as Valtteri Bottas just managed to hold on to the final podium position in the Styrian Grand Prix, the first of two races held at the Red Bull ring.
London, 28 June 2021: Max Verstappen took a dominant fourth victory of the season as Lewis Hamilton finished a distant 2nd ahead of Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas. Sergio Perez tried to chase Bottas for the podium with an alternate strategy, but to no avail had to settle for P4 ahead of McLaren’s in form driver Lando Norris in P5. Ferrari redeemed themselves with Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc finishing P6 and P7 respectively. Lance Stroll added to Aston Martin’s points tally in P8, ahead of veteran Fernando Alonso in P9 and the points positions completed by Japanese rookie Yuki Tsunoda in P10.
Kimi Raikkonen finished just outside the points in P11, meanwhile his Alfa Romeo teammate Antonio Giovinazzi finished down in p15. Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel crossed the line in P12 ahead of reliability hampered Daniel Ricciardo who could only manage P13 in his McLaren. Alpine’s Esteban Ocon finished P14. Williams’ Nicholas Latifi finished in P17, sandwiched by both Haas cars of Mick Schumacher in P16 and Nikita Mazepin in P18. George Russell retired due to pneumatic pressure loss while Pierre Gasly suffered a rear suspension failure on lap 1.
All race weekend rain beckoned but eventually it stayed away from the track and Verstappen went off the line smoothly maintaining his lead on lap 1, Hamilton following suit. Perez moved past Norris but conceded the place back to the McLaren man as Norris made a move outside of turn 4. Bottas was running in P5, meanwhile, Ricciardo had made up five positions running in P8 from P13.
Leclerc had to pit as he damaged his front wing by nicking Gasly’s rear left tyre. The AlphaTauri driver retiring as he got suspension failure due to tyre puncture and, in the process, spun Giovinazzi and Latifi. A few laps later, Ricciardo suffered momentary engine power loss due to which he plummeted back to P13, promoting Williams’ Russell in P8.
On lap 10 Perez moved past Norris, Bottas doing the same a lap later as the McLaren did not put up much of a defense due to faster nature of the Red Bull and Mercedes cars. At the front Verstappen was leading Hamilton by 3s. The duo led Perez and Bottas by over 12s. Behind the top four it was Norris, Stroll, Alonso, Russell, Tsunoda and Sainz.
Perez was the first one to pit for hard tyres on lap 26 and suffered a slow pit stop. This gave Mercedes the opportunity to pit Bottas and with a smooth pitstop emerged ahead of Perez and running into the podium positions. Hamilton pitted on lap 28, already behind Verstappen by 5s. Verstappen copying his title rival and emerging in the lead once again. There was another bout of bad luck for Russell as he was comfortably running in points before reliability problems struck and eventually retiring the car on lap 36 after falling to P18.
Pit Stops – A Pirelli graphic In the midfield both Sainz and Ricciardo pulled off a mammoth 41 lap stint on medium tyres before pitting for hard tyres. Everyone else in the midfield had pitted between lap 26 and 31. The outlier being Leclerc who pitted a second time on lap 37 after pitting on lap 1 to change his front wing.
Ahead, Perez was unable to get past Bottas and pitted again on lap 51 to try and pull of another “Hungary 2019” on Bottas to get the podium. It was to no avail as Perez just finished 0.5s behind Bottas who continued and finished on his ageing hard tyres.
In the lead, Hamilton was unable to make a dent in Verstappen’s lead as the lead extended over 10s. The Briton pitting on lap 69 for a set of soft tyres to get an extra point for setting the fastest lap, a consolation for what had been a dominant victory by the Red Bull team.
Red Bull clearly dominated this race weekend and the same can be expected next weekend as the Austrian grand prix takes place at the same venue. Only weather and rain have a chance to stop their momentum. Red Bull brought an upgrade to their diffusers leading edge, making it serrated to enhance the rear downforce creation. By doing this they can run a lower downforce rear wing compared to Mercedes which gave them an advantage of about 0.2s on the straights without compromising cornering speed. Mercedes have lost out to Red Bull especially in race pace as Hamilton kept losing time in relation to Verstappen. Mercedes have not brought any upgrades instead aiming to optimise their current package. They have a lot of work to do if they want to consistently challenge Red Bull. It has been four races since the German squad won a race.
McLaren once again proved to be the clear best of the rest with them being the leading team in midfield in qualifying and race. Ricciardo is still unable to maximise the potential of the MCL35M and therefore, McLaren are unable to operate at their potential. Also, reliability hampered them in Styria as Ricciardo too would have finished in points. Ferrari have seemed to recover their race pace after a dismal French grand prix where the car chewed through its tyres. In Styria the car looked more balanced and tyre wear was not an issue for the Italian squad. It remains to be seen if they have fixed the problem or is it a track specific issue. AlphaTauri failed to capitalise on their potential pace, like many other races this season. Both drivers showed impressive qualifying pace with Gasly even beating both Ferrari’s. His race was over on lap 1 due to the Leclerc incident and Tsunoda was able to finish in the points. AlphaTauri can challenge for higher points if they have incident free and clean race.
Aston Martin struggled in qualifying but showed competitive race pace. Due to one lap pace being their issue and midfield teams being closely matched in race pace, Aston Martin were unable to break through the midfield to challenge the likes of McLaren and Ferrari with only Stroll adding to team’s tally. Alpine are on similar level as Aston Martin, operating on the fringes of top 10. Alonso maximised while Ocon struggled in qualifying and race, like the French grand prix. With race pace to rivals being similar it is all about maximizing qualifying and maintaining track position.
Williams genuinely for the first time this season showed points potential and having the pace to match teams like Aston martin and Alpine in the hands of Russell. Russell was comfortably running in the top 10 and even putting pressure on Alpine’s Alonso before reliability gremlins struck and robbed him his points finish. Williams needs a reliable race car if they want to challenge the top 10 because clearly, they have made steps forward with the FW43B.
Alfa Romeo were in no man’sland this weekend as they did not have the pace for top 10 but were faster than fellow Ferrari customer Haas. They fell back behind Williams, but Raikkonen maximised the cars potential by finishing P11, one position outside points. Their race pace is better than qualifying but both need improvement to consistently challenge the lower top 10. Haas have had the same story for much of the season as they struggled once again at the back of the field but both rookie drivers gaining experience in Formula 1.
Saturday Qualifying Results were:
P1: Max Verstappen- 33 (Red Bull) P2: Valtteri Bottas- 77 (Mercedes) P3: Lewis Hamilton- 44 (Mercedes) P4: Lando Norris- 4 (McLaren) P5: Sergio Perez- 11 (Red Bull) P6: Pierre Gasly- 10 (AlphaTauri) P7: Charles Leclerc- 16 (Ferrari) P8: Yuki Tsunoda- 22 (AlphaTauri) P9: Fernando Alonso- 14 (Alpine) P10: Lance Stroll- 18 (Aston Martin) P11: George Russell- 63 (Williams) P12: Carlos Sainz- 55 (Ferrari) P13: Daniel Ricciardo- 3 (McLaren) P14: Sebastian Vettel- 5 (Aston Martin) P15: Antonio Giovinazzi- 99 (Alfa Romeo) P16: Nicholas Latifi- 6 (Williams) P17: Esteban Ocon- 31 (Alpine) P18: Kimi Raikkonen- 7 (Alfa Romeo) P19: Mick Schumacher- 47 (Haas) P20: Nikita Mazepin- 9 (Haas) Note – Bottas penalised three grid places for dangerous driving in the pit lane during practice. Tsunoda penalised three grid places for impeding Bottas during Q3.
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Max beats Hami with superior Red Bull strategy: Race Analysis
Max Verstappen extended his championship lead over Lewis Hamilton as he took his 3rd victory of the season with Hamilton finishing 2nd and the other Red Bull driver Sergio Perez completing the podium.
London, 21 June 2021: Red Bull claimed their third consecutive win in 2021 after Max Verstappen used a superior strategy to pass Lewis Hamilton one lap from the end of the race. Sergio Perez completed the podium as Valtteri Bottas finished P4. McLaren finished best of the rest with Lando Norris in P5 and Daniel Ricciardo in P6. Pierre Gasly finished in P7 in his home race ahead of Alpine’s Fernando Alonso in P8. Aston Martin got double points finish as Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll finished in P9 and P10 respectively.
Carlos Sainz finished in P11 and Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc in P16, both cars unable to score points. George Russell gave Williams another solid finish in P12 ahead of AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda in P13. Esteban Ocon finished a lowly P14. Alfa Romeo pairing of Antonio Giovinazzi and Kimi Raikkonen finished P15 and P17 respectively, ahead of Williams’ Nicholas Latifi. Haas cars of Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin rounded up the grid with all 20 cars finishing the race.
Hamilton got ahead in the lead after polesitter Verstappen lost control and went off track in turn 1. He slotted into P2 ahead of Bottas in P3 and Perez in P4. Meanwhile, Ricciardo made up two places as Alonso passed Norris as well. Norris ultimately losing two places at the start.
Hamilton maintained a gap of 2s over Verstappen with both matched on pace with Bottas not far behind. Perez was in P4 and behind him were Sainz, Gasly, Leclerc, Alonso, Ricciardo and Norris. Ricciardo hunted down Alonso and was finally able to pass him on lap 11, with Norris getting past Alonso two corners later.
Leclerc triggered the pitstops in the midfield by pitting on lap 14 for hard tyres to undercut his rivals. Ricciardo following in the next lap with Sainz and Gasly, Alonso pitting another lap later.Leclerc emerged ahead of everyone as he undercut his rivals including Ricciardo.
Meanwhile, at the front Mercedes triggered the pitstops as they called in Bottas on lap 17 for hard tyres, to make gains on Verstappen. Verstappen pitted on lap 18 to cover Bottas. Hamilton pitted a lap later and to no avail emerged behind Verstappen as Mercedes had underestimated the undercut. Hamilton hunting Verstappen but unable to get past him. Perez pitted on lap 24 to emerge back in P4.
Both Verstappen and Mercedes drivers were vocal about their tyre degradation as they were increasingly favoring a two stopin the cockpit. With the wounds of Barcelona still fresh in the minds of Red Bull, they pitted Verstappen on lap 32 for medium tyres to not fall prey to Mercedes’ undercut. Both Mercedes cars decided to stay out favoring track position.
In the midfield, both Ferrari’s were struggling due to tyre wear and Leclerc pitted for a second time emerging out of the points. Norris had pitted on lap 24 and Ricciardo let him by so he could utilise the superior pace of his McLaren.
On lap 44 Verstappen had closed up to Bottas and made the pass before turn 10. Bottas making his frustration known to Mercedes pit box about not changing to a two stop. With 9 laps to go Hamilton was 5s ahead.Verstappen closed up by lap 52, passing the Briton using DRS and re-taking the lead.
Verstappen extends his championship lead on a track where Mercedes was expected to be dominant. It is a good momentum for Red Bull heading into the next two races of the triple header which will held in Austria.
Red Bull had a clear advantage in qualifying over Mercedes. Race pace wise they were closely matched, but a superior strategy by Red Bull enabled them to win. Red Bull had the upper hand this weekend where Mercedes previously dominated. This shows that their car has clearly improved compared to Barcelona, which was the last conventional circuit visited by Formula 1. Red Bull did not suffer with high tyre degradation and ran lower downforce to achieve higher straight-line speed. Mercedes were running with higher downforce levels than Red Bull, thus, having inferior straight line speed. This was to keep the tyre temperatures under control by preventing them from sliding. Their race pace was on par with the Austrian squad but with an inferior strategy were forced to stay out and concede the win. It has been three races since Mercedes has not won a race and they have lost ground in both drivers and constructors’ championship.
McLaren were best of the rest. Their qualifying pace is not the benchmark of midfield, but they were miles faster than their immediate rivals Ferrari in race. They did not suffer tyre degradation unlike their Italian rivals and maximised points with both their cars. McLaren brought a small upgrade to their rear wing endplate. They retake 3rd in the constructor’s championship from Ferrari. Ferrari had the worst weekend of their 2021 season, with no cars scoring points and losing 3rd in the championship. They showed encouraging qualifying pace, with Sainz qualifying best of the rest in P5. However, in the race they struggled with tyre degradation and inferior straight-line speed meant they were sitting ducks down the two straights.
AlphaTauri in the hands of Gasly showed its points potential with good qualifying performance as well. Gasly has been able to extract the full potential of the AT02. On the other side of the garage Tsunoda has struggled with consistency as he got knocked out of Q1 due to his mistake. Alpine too has shown improvement in pace after introduction of new upgrades in the previous races. Like the AlphaTauri, Alpine showed encouraging qualifying and race pace with Alonso achieving points and Ocon not far off. Aston Martin have scored points for the third consecutive race in what has been a turnaround compared to the start of the season. The 4-time champion is more comfortable with car and with Aston Martin executing good strategies they seem to maximise their races.
Russell in the Williams had a commendable race as he finished P12 on merit with the FW43B showing signs of improvement in race pace and being less affected by the winds which was a problem at the start of the season. Alfa Romeo had a mediocre race as they could not challenge for points. Both drivers lamenting that the car was too slow to be in the top 10. Haas reached Q2 for the first time this season with the help of Schumacher, admittedly due to a red flag caused by him. Nevertheless, it is a silver lining for them and another positive step for the young driver.
Saturday Qualifying Results were:
P1: Max Verstappen- 33 (Red Bull) P2: Lewis Hamilton- 44 (Mercedes) P3: Valtteri Bottas- 77 (Mercedes) P4: Sergio Perez- 11 (Red Bull) P5: Carlos Sainz- 55 (Ferrari) P6: Pierre Gasly- 10 (AlphaTauri) P7: Charles Leclerc- 16 (Ferrari) P8: Lando Norris- 4 (McLaren) P9: Fernando Alonso- 14 (Alpine) P10: Daniel Ricciardo- 3 (McLaren) P11: Esteban Ocon- 31 (Alpine) P12: Sebastian Vettel- 5 (Aston Martin) P13: Antonio Giovinazzi- 99 (Alfa Romeo) P14: George Russell- 63 (Williams) P15: Mick Schumacher- 47 (Haas) P16: Nicholas Latifi- 6 (Williams) P17: Kimi Raikkonen- 7 (Alfa Romeo) P18: Nikita Mazepin- 9 (Haas) P19: Lance Stroll- 18 (Aston Martin) P20: Yuki Tsunoda- 22 (AlphaTauri) Note – Stroll and Tsunoda failed to set a time within the Q1 107% requirement and race at the stewards’ discretion.
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Hamilton achieves 150th points-finish; Bottas gets fastest lap and a point
Lewis Hamilton took his 97th career victory and second of the season ahead of chief title rival Max Verstappen in 2nd and Mercedes teammate and pole sitter Valtteri Bottas in 3rd. The race win also meant that Hamilton achieved points for the 150th time since joining Mercedes in 2013.
London, 3 May 2021: Lewis Hamilton passed Max Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas on track to take a well-managed victory with the latter two completing the podium, Bottas bagging an extra point for the fastest lap of the race. The second Red Bull of Sergio Perez finished P4, his highest result since joining the Austrian squad. McLaren’s Lando Norris achieved P5, meaning he’s finished in the top 5 in all three races this season. Charles Leclerc brought home his Ferrari in P6 as Alpine achieved consecutive double points finishes with Esteban Ocon in P7 and Fernando Alonso in P8. Daniel Ricciardo recovered his McLaren to P9 after a disappointing qualifying with AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly rounding out the top 10.
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz crossed the line in P11 due to a strategy mistake, ahead of Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi. Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll finished P13 and P14 respectively for Aston Martin. Japanese rookie Yuki Tsunoda came home in P15. George Russell complained the Williams of being undrivable as he only managed P16 by the end of the chequered flag. Mick Schumacher overtook Williams’ Nicholas Latifi in the last stages of the race to finish P17. Haas teammate Nikita Mazepin finished last- P19 and the only retiree was Kimi Raikkonen.
The top four cars of Bottas, Hamilton, Verstappen and Perez started on the medium tyres. The top 3 got off the line well as they maintained the order heading into the uphill turn 4, while Perez lost a position to Sainz. Behind Ocon had jumped Norris, but the Briton pulled off a move on the outside of turn 11 to regain his position. Ricciardo too had made up three positions from P16. Meanwhile, Raikkonen was trying to slipstream Alfa Romeo teammate Giovinazzi when he ran into the back of him, dislodging his front wing and going into the gravel at turn 1. This brought out the safety car.
Bottas did a brilliant restart on lap 7 as Hamilton was slow to react, eventually being overtaken by Verstappen for P2. Behind, Sainz made a mistake as he dropped to P6 and Norris passed Perez for P4. Perez complaining that the McLaren driver had passed him off the track.
Hamilton repaid the favour to Verstappen on lap 11, using DRS and sling shotting past the Dutchman in turn 1, with the Red Bull power unit unable to match Mercedes. With that Hamilton was on the gearbox of Bottas, eventually passing his teammate on lap 20 to take the lead. The running order now was Hamilton, Bottas, Verstappen and Perez, albeit Perez far behind the top 3. Norris was best of the rest ahead of Sainz, Leclerc, Ocon, Gasly and Ricciardo.
Ferrari blinked first as they brought in Sainz for medium tyre on lap 21. To cover Sainz, Norris and Ocon pitted on lap 22, McLaren opting for the medium tyres whereas Alpine choosing the hard tyres. Gasly pitted on lap 24, choosing mediums as well while Leclerc pitted a lap later changing from mediums to hard tyres.
Pirelli Graphic At the front of the field to undercut Bottas, Verstappen pitted on lap 35 for hard tyres. Bottas following suit the next lap came out just ahead of Verstappen but on colder tyres. As Bottas struggled for traction Verstappen with help of DRS moved ahead of the Finn before turn 5. Meanwhile race leader Hamilton pitted on lap 37 for hard tyres, emerging in P2 but having the net lead as Perez was yet to pit.
Behind the Leclerc passed Sainz on the instructions from Ferrari as the Spaniard struggled on the medium set of tyres. Ocon passed Sainz on lap 44. A fast-charging Alonso was flying on his set of the hard tyres as he passed Ricciardo and Sainz in quick succession to take P8. The final nail in the coffin came when Gasly passed Sainz dropping the Ferrari driver out of points.
Meanwhile, at the front Perez did a mammoth 51 lap stint on the medium tyres, eventually pitting for soft tyres in a bid to set the fastest lap of the race. Bottas was closing in on Verstappen but an exhaust sensor issue meant he suffered a power loss and lost 4s to the Red Bull. Bottas had enough of a gap to pit for soft tyres and emerge in front of Perez, in a bid to set the fastest lap. On lap 63 bolting on the softs the Finn set about going for the fastest lap point. Verstappen did the same thing next lap and although he did set the fastest lap due to track limits the time was deleted and the point went to Bottas.
With Hamilton’s second victory of the season, he now leads the championship by 8 points over Verstappen while Mercedes double podium means that they lead the constructor’s championship over Red Bull by 18 points. With 20 more races yet to come it is game on!
Pirelli Graphic Mercedes was the outright fastest car this weekend as can be seen in both qualifying and the race. It is not the case that Mercedes have brought upgrades but more of the circuit characteristics suiting the W12 compared to the Red Bull. Red Bull evidently struggled in the low grip of the Portimao circuit, especially in race trim. Red Bull brought some upgrades to their floor and bargeboard area which seemed to make gains for them. The picture between the top 2 will be clearer next time out in Barcelona which is a more conventional circuit.
McLaren once again were the best of the rest behind the top 2, though this time they had a less of an advantage over immediate rivals Ferrari. Ferrari will be happy to beat McLaren in qualifying, but they struggled in the race to manage the tyres, especially mediums. Once again, the caveat being that this race was an outlier in terms of surface grip being very low. Alpine will be positive about the aerodynamic package introduced in the last race at Imola, as they achieved double points finish. The A521 showing top 10 qualifying pace in the hands of Ocon as well. AlphaTauri lacked both qualifying and race pace to challenge any of the midfield cars with Gasly picking up a solitary point in P10. After showing promising pace in the opening two rounds of the season they will be looking to bounce back at Barcelona next week.
A safety car period at Round 3 at Portimao on Sunday. A Mercedes AMG F1 team image Aston Martin were nowhere near top 10 this weekend. Vettel impressed in qualifying as he reached Q3 but that pace disappeared come race day. Stroll’s car had some new aerodynamic parts, but it remains to be seen if they are enough to make a leap forward for the British racing team. Alfa Romeo were on the fringes of points once again but could not break through to top 10. With Raikkonen retiring they had one less car on the strategy side, but the potential is there to achieve points. Williams had a contrasting weekend with Russell showing blistering qualifying pace, starting P11. But the FW43B was edgy and undrivable on heavy fuel in the race. Williams need to sort out these unpredictable characteristics of the car if they are to achieve points in 2021. Haas had a positive weekend with Schumacher able to split the Williams in the race and both drivers able to complete the race without any major incidents.
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: Carlos Sainz- 55 (Ferrari) P6: Esteban Ocon- 31 (Alpine) P7: Lando Norris- 4 (McLaren) P8: Charles Leclerc- 16 (Ferrari) P9: Pierre Gasly- 10 (AlphaTauri) P10: Sebastian Vettel- 5 (Aston Martin) P11: George Russell- 63 (Williams) P12: Antonio Giovinazzi- 99 (Alfa Romeo) P13: Fernando Alonso- 14 (Alpine) P14: Yuki Tsunoda- 22 (AlphaTauri) P15: Kimi Raikkonen- 7 (Alfa Romeo) P16: Daniel Ricciardo- 3 (McLaren) P17: Lance Stroll- 18 (Aston Martin) P18: Nicholas Latifi- 6 (Williams) P19: Mick Schumacher- 47 (Haas) P20: Nikita Mazepin- 9 (Haas) -
Hamilton charges through to 2nd after a mistake as Verstappen takes facile win
Max Verstappen took an excellent victory in a drama filled Emilia Romagna Grand Prix held at the iconic Imola circuit as Lewis Hamilton recovered to P2 after making a mistake and Lando Norris’s superb drive earned him 3rd position.
London, 19 April 2021: Max Verstappen took his 11th career victory as Lewis Hamilton charged through the field and recovered to P2 and got the fastest lap of the race with Lando Norris completing the podium at Imola. Home favorites Ferrari finished in P4 and P5, Charles Leclerc finishing ahead of Carlos Sainz. McLaren’s new recruit Daniel Ricciardo finished in P6, who admitted he could not match the pace of his younger teammate Norris. Alpha Tauri’s Pierre Gasly finished P7, ahead of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll as he received a 5-second post-race penalty for overtaking Gasly illegally. Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso completed the top 10, earning Alpine their first points of the season.
Red Bull’s other driver Sergio Perez had a dismal race as he finished P11, ahead of Japanese rookie Yuki Tsunoda. Kimi Raikkonen received a 30-second post-race penalty for start infringement which demoted him to P13, ahead of Alfa Romeo teammate Antonio Giovinazzi. Sebastian Vettel was classified in P15 but retired two laps from the end due to gearbox issue. Haas duo of Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin finished in P16 and P17 respectively. Valtteri Bottas and George Russell were involved in big crash as they DNF’d, as did Nicholas Latifi on lap 1.
The heavens opened up 30 min before the race start as it poured down on the track. This meant it would be a wet start. 16 of the 20 drivers chose to start on intermediate tyres whereas, the Haas drivers, Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly chose full wet tyres. Verstappen got an excellent start in 2nd gear and jumped Hamilton, who started from pole. Hamilton and Verstappen made slight contact and the Mercedes driver went over high kerbs in turn 2 damaging his front wing endplate. Behind Perez lost P3 to Leclerc as well. On lap 2 the safety car was called out as Latifi and Mazepin came together, taking Latifi out of the race.
At the race restart, Hamilton tried to pull a move around Verstappen but to no avail had to back out and settle in P2. Meanwhile Perez was handed a 10-second time penalty for overtaking under the safety car. Gasly being on the wet tyres was much slower and therefore held up a train of cars. Eventually Norris, Ricciardo, Sainz, Stroll and Bottas made their way through. Gasly got rid of the wet tyres for intermediates on lap 14, emerging 17th in the race.
Team orders were at play at McLaren as Norris was allowed to pass Ricciardo due to the Britain having much stronger pace.Sainz caught up to the struggling McLaren of Ricciardo after making multiple mistakes and going off track.
The track had started to dry up with Vettel being the first one to pit for dry tyres on lap 20. At the front, Red Bull called in Verstappen for dry tyres on lap 27, meanwhile, Hamilton stayed out hoping to overcut the leader. Hamilton had a fast in lap, but due to a slower pitstop than usual he emerged 5-seconds behind the leader. As he tried hunting down Verstappen, in getting past a lapped car, he went onto a wet part at turn 7, slid off track and into the barrier thus, damaging his front wing. He slowly reversed and recovered his car onto the track.
Behind a huge crash happened as Russell in an attempt to overtake Bottas went onto the wet grass and lost control of the car. He collected Bottas and both went into the barrier taking them out of the race. The race was red flagged. This was a blessing for Hamilton as he had pitted and emerged a lap down, with red flag he would be on the lead lap again, in P9.
A Pirelli Graphic The race resumed in the form of rolling start, as Verstappen half spun but maintained the lead before green flag was waived. Both Norris and Ricciardo had changed to soft tyres in a bid to overtake the Ferrari’s early on. That is exactly what happened as Norris got past Leclerc in P2. Meanwhile, Verstappen had started to check out in the lead. Behind, a fast-charging Hamilton was making up positions. By lap 43 he overtook Ricciardo for P5, by lap 50 he was past Sainz for P4, lap 55 he overtook Leclerc for P3 and on lap 60 Hamilton was able to get past Norris for P2, in the process setting the fastest lap of the race and recovering to where he was before his off-track mistake.
Verstappen finished 22 seconds in the lead as he had a near perfect race. It means he is now just one point behind championship leader Hamilton. This was another close race with the honours going to Red Bull this time.
Red Bull did not have the dominant pace like they showed in Bahrain as Mercedes were much closer. But a near perfect execution of the race enabled them to take victory. Perez had a disappointing race as he spun and dropped out of the points. Red Bull will be hoping to have the support of the second car next time around. Mercedes showed improvement compared to Bahrain with drivers having much more confidence in the W12. It is evident from Hamilton’s pole position on Saturday. Mercedes has also worked on the drivability of the engine which has helped in better torque distribution and a more stable rear end.
McLaren had the pace to challenge Mercedes and Red Bull in one lap pace as evident from Norris’s lap in Q3 (which was deleted due to track limits violation). Race pace wise they are still behind the top 2 but look like the class of the midfield, ahead of rivals Ferrari. Ferrari has considerably improved compared to 2020 with Leclerc qualifying and fighting for podium on merit rather than being a one-off chance. AlphaTauri again impressed in qualifying but failed to capitalise in the race due to wrong strategy. They have showed good pace but remains to be seen if they can consistently challenge McLaren and Ferrari over the whole season.
Aston Martin have struggled to adapt to the new regulations as they argue that the low rake cars were hit harder than the high rake cars. They have taken the subject matter over to the FIA. On pace terms they seem slower than AlphaTauri or Ferrari but have managed points through Stroll in both the races. Alpine too, seem to be struggling as they were on the fringes of points. Their car has been unable to challenge the upper midfield teams so far even though they introduced an extensive aerodynamic package at Imola. It remains to be seen if produces the expected performance.
Both Alfa Romeo and Williams had positive race weekend as they had pace to run in the top 10. Raikkonen finished in the points but the post-race time penalty meant he scored nil. For Williams it was a positive weekend in that both cars had the pace to finish in the points. The negative was that either of them failed to finish the race. Haas had another dismal weekend, but it is to be expected a both the rookie drivers are getting up to speed and their car is underdeveloped compared to the rest of the field.
Saturday Qualifying results were:
P1: Lewis Hamilton- 44 (Mercedes) P2: Sergio Perez- 11 (Red Bull) P3: Max Verstappen- 33 (Red Bull) P4: Charles Leclerc- 16 (Ferrari) P5: Pierre Gasly- 10 (AlphaTauri) P6: Daniel Ricciardo- 3 (McLaren) P7: Lando Norris- 4 (McLaren) P8: Valtteri Bottas- 77 (Mercedes) P9: Esteban Ocon- 31 (Alpine) P10: Lance Stroll- 18 (Aston Martin) P11: Carlos Sainz- 55 (Ferrari) P12: George Russell- 63 (Williams) P13: Sebastian Vettel- 5 (Aston Martin) P14: Nicholas Latifi- 6 (Williams) P15: Fernando Alonso- 14 (Alpine) P16: Kimi Raikkonen- 7 (Alfa Romeo) P17: Antonio Giovinazzi- 99 (Alfa Romeo) P18: Mick Schumacher- 47 (Haas) P19: Nikita Mazepin- 9 (Haas) P20: Yuki Tsunoda- 22 (AlphaTauri) Note – Tsunoda failed to set a qualifying time within the Q1 107% requirement, so races at stewards’ discretion. Penalised five places for an unscheduled gearbox change and required to start from the back of the grid for use of additional power unit elements.
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Superb last few laps gets Hamilton his 96th victory
Lewis Hamilton took a sensational win at the 2021 season opening Bahrain Grand Prix by just 0.7s from the rapid Red Bull of Max Verstappen, breaking Michael Schumacher’s record of most laps led in the process. Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas completed the podium as he set the fastest lap of the race on lap 56.
London, 29 March 2021: Defending superbly and nurturing the tyres in the last few laps, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton took his 96th career victory ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen who fought for the lead till the last lap. Valtteri Bottas finishing P3 with an extra point for the fastest lap for the race. McLaren’s Lando Norris finished P4 in their new Mercedes powered challenger, ahead of his latest teammate Daniel Ricciardo who crossed the line in P7. Sergio Perez finished P5 in his new Red Bull machinery, after starting from the pitlane due to power unit issues on the formation lap. Charles Leclerc finished in P6 in the much-improved Ferrari SF21, two places ahead of new teammate Carlos Sainz. AlphaTauri rookie Yuki Tsunoda achieved his first points as he finished P9 on debut, ahead of Lance Stroll in the re-branded Aston Martin team.
Alfa Romeo pair of Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi finished P11 and P12 respectively. It was an unsuccessful race for Alpine after Esteban Ocon only managed P13- partly due to being hit by Sebastian Vettel from behind- and veteran returnee Fernando Alonso retiring due to break failure. Williams’ George Russell finished P14, ahead of Sebastian Vettel in P15 as his teammate Nicholas Latifi DNF’d from the race. Other DNF’s included Pierre Gasly and Nikita Mazepin. Mick Schumacher was the last to finish in P16.
Drama ensued before the race started as Perez’s car shut down on formation lap at turn 13 and came to a standstill. Due to this, an extra formation lap took place while Perez’s car could be recovered. As luck would have it, Perez was able to start his car, but had to start from the pitlane as per regulations.
Verstappen covered Hamilton at the start and both maintained positions. Leclerc was aggressive and got ahead of Bottas in P3. Meanwhile, Norris got ahead of his new teammate Ricciardo. The new Aston Martin Vantage safety car was called into action as Mazepin spun and went into the wall at Turn 3, ending his first F1 race.
Red Bull better equipped for Qualifying sessions. A Pirelli image from 2021 Bahrain GP The race got underway on lap 4, with Verstappen leaving the restart as late as possible, to decrease the chances of Hamilton slip streaming and overtaking him. As Hamilton started chasing Verstappen, Bottas passed Leclerc for P3, Norris followed suit and passed Leclerc for P4. Gasly’s front wing unfortunately touched Ricciardo’s rear left tyre and dislodged it, sending the Frenchman to the back of the grid.
Alpine and Alonso pulled the trigger to initiate the first round of pitstops on lap 11, with Alonso electing the medium tyres. Lap 12 saw Norris, Leclerc, Stroll and Giovinazzi pit. Everyone going on the mediums except for the Alfa Romeo who chose hard tyres. At the front, Mercedes pulled the trigger and pitted Hamilton for a set of hard tyres in a bid to undercut Verstappen. It seemed to work as the Dutchman pitted four laps later albeit for medium tyres. Once he came out, Hamilton had a six second advantage on him.
Hamilton’s advantage eroded quickly as Verstappen was within 1.5-2s, this time Hamilton in a danger of being undercut. Bottas was close behind to the top two cars. Behind, Norris maintained P4, ahead of Leclerc, Ricciardo, Stroll and Sainz- who battled with former Ferrari drivers Alonso and Vettel to get up to P8.
Mercedes once more protected against the undercut, pitting Hamilton on lap 28 for another set of hard tyres, Bottas followed suit 2 laps later. Although a slow stop by Mercedes meant Bottas came out in P5, though, Norris and Leclerc were yet to pit, giving him a net P3. With Hamilton in P2 and steadily reducing the gap to Verstappen, Red Bull boxed him on lap 39 for hard tyres. This meant he would have 10 laps fresher tyres compared to Hamilton. He came out 8.6s behind the Mercedes.
Alonso’s F1 return ended abruptly on lap 33 due to brake issues. Meanwhile, Perez behind was making steady gains as he was now behind Ricciardo and Leclerc. Vettel too had a dismal debut for Aston Martin as he ploughed into the back of Ocon, spinning them both and earning the German a 10-second time penalty.
At the front, Verstappen was right on the gearbox of Hamilton as the difference was around about 1s. On lap 53, Verstappen with help of DRS got a run on Hamilton exiting turn 3 and seemed to get past him on the exit of turn 4. Only he had gone too wide and extended the track limits while overtaking the Mercedes car and thus, was instructed to give the place back to Hamilton. After that point Verstappen couldn’t get close enough to mount another challenge ultimately finishing second.
Straight-line speed is not Ferrari’s weakness anymore. Action shot from Bahrain GP by Pirelli. The first blow was dealt by Mercedes, but Red Bull know they can consistently challenge the Silver Arrows in the upcoming races. It is game on for 2021!
Mercedes clearly lacked qualifying pace as they for three-tenths off the pole position. In race trim they were matched with Red Bull as aggressive strategy and brilliant tyre management by Hamilton earned them the victory and double podium. The W12 is not in the sweet spot and clearly has lots of room for improvement. Mercedes will be hopeful to iron out these issues as soon as possible to challenge Red Bull, especially in qualifying. Red Bull’s RB16B looks like the class of the field at the moment. The car looks stable and with immense work put in by Honda over the winter they are the favorites this season. Once again reliability hampered them as Perez had to start from the pitlane. It will be interesting to watch the development race between Mercedes and Red Bull this season.
McLaren have made a step forward, owing to the new Mercedes power unit as they still look like the best midfield car, though, it is early to say that. Ferrari too, have made a step forward, especially in the power unit department as both cars were able to achieve points finishes, similar to their papaya orange rivals. The AlphaTauri car has looked stable and fast, but their true pace cannot be gauged due to Gasly’s incident which resulted in damage and Tsunoda’s starting position compromised due to qualifying.
The same can be said about both the Aston Martin and Alpine cars. Both teams did not have the best qualifying result, with only one of their cars reaching Q3. Race Pace remains a question mark too, as both teams exhibited good pace in the middle stints of the race but were unable to be consistent or reliability hampering their progress. Aston Martin admitted that the low rake (rake is the difference between the front and rear ride height of the car) cars getting disadvantaged the most from the new regulations.
A Pirelli graphic of Pit Stops – Round 1 Bahrain GP Alfa Romeo have made a clear step forward as they just missed out on points. Thanks to the brand-new Ferrari power unit, straight line speed is not their weakness anymore. Williams look like they have made a step forward with the car, as raw pace suggests they are faster than Haas. It remains to be seen if they can challenge for the points in future. Haas have admitted that their car is underdeveloped, and that the final version will make an appearance at Imola in round 2.After that no upgrades will be introduced for the whole of 2021 as they have shifted their focus and resources on 2022.
Saturday Qualifying results were:
P1: Max Verstappen- 33 (Red Bull) P2: Lewis Hamilton- 44 (Mercedes) P3: Valtteri Bottas- 77 (Mercedes) P4: Charles Leclerc- 16 (Ferrari) P5: Pierre Gasly- 10 (AlphaTauri) P6: Daniel Ricciardo- 3 (McLaren) P7: Lando Norris- 4 (McLaren) P8: Carlos Sainz- 55 (Ferrari) P9: Fernando Alonso- 14 (Alpine) P10: Lance Stroll- 18 (Aston Martin) P11: Sergio Perez- 11 (Red Bull) P12: Antonio Giovinazzi- 99 (Alfa Romeo) P13: Yuki Tsunoda- 22 (AlphaTauri) P14: Kimi Raikkonen- 7 (Alfa Romeo) P15: George Russell- 63 (Williams) P16: Esteban Ocon- 31 (Alpine) P17: Nicholas Latifi- 6 (Williams) P18: Sebastian Vettel- 5 (Aston Martin) P19: Mick Schumacher- 47 (Haas) P20: Nikita Mazepin- 9 (Haas) -
Top-Down on 2021 F1 pre-season: A viewpoint from our Technical Writer Malhaar
London, 11 March 2021: The Formula 1 pre-season testing is set to begin on March 12 through to March 14. This year it is being held at the Sakhir International circuit for the first time since 2014. With the 2021 cars about to hit track, here is all you need to know about teams and drivers in pre-season testing.
Key regulations changes in 2021 include floor-space reduction ahead of the car’s rear tyre which is aimed at downforce reduction. The length of diffuser strakes has been shortened as well to aid the reduction in downforce. Reduction in downforce was stipulated by the FIA so that the Pirelli tyres can handle the lateral forces going through them as they were effectively introduced in 2019 and meant for slower (2019) cars.
Other key change is the carry-over of the survival cell, the monocoque chassis to reduce costs for teams due the ongoing Covid pandemic with the revolutionary new cars to be introduced in 2022 instead of 2021. The FIA also introduced a two-token system by which the teams can use their tokens to develop certain homologated parts of their cars. Aerodynamic surfaces can be developed freely. The ingenious DAS system introduced by Mercedes last year has been banned as well. Other small changes include the weight of Power Unit increasing slightly and the weight of cars going up by 3 kgs to 749 kgs.
Mercedes AMG F1:
The reigning champions will be gunning for a record-extending eighth consecutive Drivers’ and Constructors’ title this season as they ended the 2020 season on a high with 15 pole positions and 13 wins.
Formel 1: Präsentation des Mercedes-AMG F1 W12 E Performance Formula One: Launch of the Mercedes-AMG F1 W12 E Performance. A Mercedes AMG Petronas image Their 2021 car is called the W12, which has a major carry over of parts and monocoque chassis (as stipulated by the 2021 regulations). They have openly admitted to keeping their cards close to their chest and not showing either the new floor or where they have spent the tokens to develop their car. Mercedes stopped the development of W11 (2020 car) midway through last season to focus on the W12. A lot of work has also gone in the Power Unit side, with Mercedes claiming it to be more powerful and reliable than last year. So, expect them to come out of the blocks quickly.
Mercedes keep their drivers unchanged, only one of the three teams to do so, with Lewis Hamilton signing a one-year contract in February and Valtteri Bottas staying on. For Mercedes this means stability as this gives them the best opportunity to gun for both the titles yet again.
Red Bull Racing:
Red Bull on paper are the closest rivals and challengers to Mercedes for this season. Them winning the season ending Abu Dhabi GP in 2020, means momentum is on their side going in 2021.
The RB16B will be their challenger for 2021. Red Bull, too, have kept their cards close to the chest as they barely revealed the RB16B to the public. They are also hiding their floor details. Red bull have spent their tokens on a new gearbox transmission and rear suspension of the car. Honda has also introduced a new engine, which has the upgrades planned for 2022 originally, but brought forward as they will be leaving the sport at the end of this season. Red bull will be hoping to start the year much closer to Mercedes as this year’s car is 60% carry over of last year’s car.
In the driver department, Red Bull chose to go for Sergio Perez instead of retaining Alex Albon to partner Max Verstappen. Perez brings the consistency and the knowledge of Mercedes power unit to Red Bull which could be key for them to win both the championships. It remains to be seen how Perez adapts to the Red Bull car which in recent history has been tricky to get grips with.
McLaren Racing:
McLaren’s P3 in the constructor’s championship was their best result in the turbo-hybrid era. With a new driver line-up and a new car under the skin they look set to consolidate P3 and move closer to the top 2 teams.
The MCL35M’s biggest change is the power unit. McLaren swapped the Renault power unit for the Mercedes one in 2021, reinvigorating the classic McLaren-Mercedes brand. Mercedes has arguably been the class leading Power Unit since 2014, thus the switch. As Mercedes PU has a different architecture compared to the Renault PU, they have had to modify their monocoque chassis to fit the Mercedes PU, thus, spending their two tokens on it. According to McLaren, this year’s car is a better package compared to last year with the integration of Mercedes.
Daniel Ricciardo replaces Carlos Sainz and will be partnered by Lando Norris. Ricciardo brings race winning experience to McLaren while this will be Norris’ third season with the papaya squad. With Ricciardo having the ability to adapt to a car quickly, podiums can be expected from this season.
Aston Martin F1:
Famous rebranding and signing of a four-time world champion show the intent and commitment of Aston Martin, previously Racing Point to reach the top and… winning! They almost achieved P3 last season and were narrowly beaten by McLaren, Aston Martin will be determined to finish as close as possible to the top-2 teams, beating their rivals in the process.
Aston Martin during the Test. Photo by Aston Martin added on 15 March Their new car is called the AMR21, which is the most different car compared to last year’s car of any team. That is due to them having spent their tokens on a new monocoque chassis, to redesign the sidepod inlets and cooling configuration. They have also got the 2020 Mercedes rear suspension and the improved Mercedes PU. Aston martin have retained the Mercedes low-rake aerodynamic philosophy for this year.
Sebastian Vettel has come on-board to be alongside Lance Stroll. Once again, Vettel brings championship winning experience and feedback to improve the car. If the drivers are able to capitalise on the car’s “expected” potential, then they could finish P3 by the end of the season.
Alpine F1:
Another team which had a re-brand and signed a world champion for this year. Alpine, previously Renault, will be hoping to make gains to consistently challenge McLaren and Aston Martin in the fight for P3.
The A521 is an evolution of the RS20 with main changes coming internally. They have introduced a new power unit. To supplement that Alpine has spent its tokens on the rear of the car with a new gearbox transmission and rear suspension. As Alpine do not have power unit customers, they will be at a disadvantage in testing due to less data compared to other manufacturers. It remains to be seen if this will hinder their progress in 2021.
Alpine have signed two-time champion Fernando Alonso in the wake of Ricciardo leaving for McLaren. Alongside him will be Frenchman, Esteban Ocon. Alpine are hoping that with the speed and experience of Alonso they can take the fight to McLaren and Aston Martin, with achieving regular podiums their top priority.
Scuderia Ferrari:
Ferrari had their worst season in F1 in 40 years as they finished P6 with a draggy car and a sub-par engine. They will be looking to bounce back getting ahead of the pack with the new engine and new driver line-up.
The SF21 is a radical evolution of previous year’s car. It has a new front wing and nose, coupled with an all-new Ferrari engine which is better than last year. According to Mattia Binotto their straight-line speed for this year has improved compared to last year. Ferrari have spent their tokens on a new gearbox transmission and rear suspension as they look to make the rear of the car even tighter for aerodynamic gains.
Ferrari have signed another young blood, in the name of Carlos Sainz who though young, will be going in his seventh season in F1. Alongside him will be Charles Leclerc in his third season with Ferrari. Both drivers are proven so it remains to be seen if the car can propel them to the front of the field and at least secure P3 in the constructors by the end of the season.
AlphaTauri:
AlphaTauri had a good baseline to end with last season and with the introduction of a newly promoted driver it could be a fantastic season for the Faenza based team.
Pierre and Yuki sample the AT02 for the fist time on March 11. Alpha Tauri pic AlphaTauri’s 2021 challenger is called the AT02. With a good baseline from last year, AlphaTauri elected not to use Red Bull’s 2020 rear suspension, instead sticking with 2019 rear suspension setup in a bid to optimize it fully. Instead, they have spent their tokens on a new thinner nose cone structure and a new front suspension setup. Along with that, they too receive the upgraded 2021 Honda engine.
AlphaTauri has retained 2020 race winner Pierre Gasly and signed a promising F2 driver, Yuki Tsunoda. AlphaTauri team principal Franz Tost is confident that if they maximise the potential of their car, they will be able to challenge the likes of McLaren and Aston Martin.
You can watch the 11 March 2021 video here.
Alfa Romeo:
Alfa Romeo had a difficult season in 2020 as their chassis was not up to their expectations and the slower Ferrari engine accentuated their problem. They have also opted for stability in sticking with the same drivers this season.
The C41 shows promise according Alfa Romeo as they have heavily reworked the car. They hope to get better performance from the new Ferrari engine. They have spent their tokens on the new thinner nose cone as well as a new front suspension setup to iron out the inherent understeer in previous years car.
As mentioned, Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi will stay with Alfa Romeo for a third consecutive season as they hope the experience of both will propel them into the mid field fight.
Haas F1:
Haas had another mediocre season as they finished P9 at the end of the 2020 season. With a completely new driver lineup and injection of funds, Haas will be hoping to turn their fortunes around.
Haas have not revealed their 2021 challenger, the VF21 yet. This will be done on the morning of pre-season testing in Bahrain. They did reveal the livery of the car. Haas are also yet to fire up their power unit for the first time as due to covid restrictions it has not been possible. Haas have also confirmed that no upgrade packages will brought to the VF21 as the team will fully focus on 2022 car.
Haas field a new driver lineup of Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin. Both are rookies and will be their first season in F1. Inexperienced yet both are fast as Schumacher won the 2020 F2 title and Mazepin finished in the top 5.
Williams F1:
A fast driver lineup and improving car Williams look on the rise as they will try to get back in the midfield and contest for points regularly. Their aim is to beat Alfa Romeo and Haas this season.
The Williams 2021 car, the FW43B is an evolution of last year’s FW43. A Williams image The FW43B is an evolution of last year’s FW43. Their main focus has been weight reduction of the car for 2021. Williams have not spent any development tokens this year, instead electing to fully optimise their package. Williams have also said that they will aggressively develop the FW43B in the early stages of the season in a bid to challenge the mid field rivals.
Williams will continue with George Russell and Nicholas Latifi. With this stability and speed of both driver Williams are hoping to be consistently in the midfield battle and score points.
*Malhaar Khaladkar writes on F1 and technical aspects of the sport. The passionate student based in London, is also a keen student of the sport. After successfully completing one year of an analysis piece, after every race last year, Malhaar will continue to bring to you the nuances of the sport with a Monday comment piece after every race. We invite your comments and suggestions.
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Will his first victory in last season, change the fortunes for Sergio Perez, ex-Force India star?
Sergio Perez recorded a career first victory- in what could be his last ever season in Formula 1- amidst a nightmare race for Mercedes as Renault’s Esteban Ocon achieved his first podium of the career in P2 and Lance Stroll took P3 for the second time in 2020.
London, 7 Dec 2020: Sergio Perez took advantage of Mercedes’ mishaps to win the Sakhir Grand Prix, after being last on lap 1, ahead of Esteban Ocon and teammate Lance Stroll.
For once all the three on the podium, are those who have done service to the Indian outfit, Sahara Force India, before the team went into `Administration’ and later, became BWT Racing Point midway through 2018 season in late July. Till then Mercedes were in contract to supply engines and were in the 10-year relationship that has grown to allow Mercedes’ junior driver Esteban Ocon to take a driver seat as an understudy to Perez, who has been with Force India for five years till then.
The double podium helping Racing Point, formerly Force India, leap to P3 in the Constructor’s Championship. McLaren’s Carlos Sainz finished in P4 and teammate Lando Norris in P10, as they lost out P3 to their pink rivals in the constructor’s championship. Daniel Ricciardo finished P5 in the other Renault, ahead of the sole Red Bull of Alex Albon. Daniil Kvyat finished a respectable P7 in his AlphaTauri ahead of Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas in P8 as he had a forgettable race after a shambolic 27s pitstop. Lewis Hamilton tested positive for Covid-19, thus, he was replaced by Williams’ George Russell for the weekend- who is also part of the Mercedes driver program. Russell impressed in qualifying as he secured P2 and led 2/3rd of the race before a pitstop in which he was fitted with wrong tyres and a puncture cost him a certain debut win. Ultimately, he finished in P9.
Three former Force India drivers celebrating on podium, representing other teams, two still with the same pink colours of BWT of Racing Point. Photo by BWT Racing Point Pierre Gasly just missed out on points, finishing in P11 ahead of the outgoing Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel. Alfa Romeo duo of Antonio Giovinazzi and Kimi Raikkonen finished in P13 and P14 respectively. Haas’ Kevin Magnussen finished in P15 as his new teammate, Pietro Fittipaldi finished in P17- subbing in for the injured Romain Grosjean. Williams’ new driver Jack Aitken finished in P16 as his teammate Nicholas Latifi DNF’d. Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc DNF’d on lap 1 after a kerfuffle in turn 4.
At the start, new boy Russell leapt ahead of Bottas and took the lead. Meanwhile, behind Leclerc dive bombed Verstappen but misjudged, locked up and made contact with Perez. The Ferrari was damaged and retired immediately while Perez spun, pitted and fell to the back of the grid. Meanwhile, Verstappen tried to avoid the spinning Perez but to no avail ran out of space as his car went into the barrier. Safety car was deployed.
At the safety car restart on lap 8, Russell bolted away putting distance between himself and Bottas. Perez was at the back of the grid but by lap 15 he had made his way up to P11. Russell ahead had the race in control as he maintained a 2sec gap over Bottas.
Kvyat was the first one to pull the trigger and pitted for hard tyres on lap 27 in an attempt to undercut Ricciardo, which was successful. McLaren’s Sainz pitted on lap 28 to protect from the Russian’s undercut while Ricciardo pitted on lap 29, losing a place to Kvyat. By halfway point, lap 44, Perez was once again running in P3 while the two Mercedes out front were yet to pit.
As Russell was leading, he pitted first for hard tyres on lap 45. 4 laps later Bottas pit, slotting into P2 now the gap between him and Russell hovering around 5 sec. On lap 62, a second safety car was called out as Aitken went off in the final corner and swiped his front wing, which had to be cleared off the track.
Mercedes with their advantage, pitted and double stacked the two cars. As Russell went off and Bottas came in, there was confusion in the Mercedes pit box and seemingly after 27s Bottas was sent out on the same set of tyres. Meanwhile, Russell had to pit again as he was fitted with one of Bottas’ tyre. This meant that Bottas dropped to P5 and Russell to P6, promoting Perez in the lead.
As the safety car pulled in, Russell used his pace and tyre advantage to get past Bottas, Stroll and Ocon. It looked like the victory was still on the cards for him. But it was not to be as he was informed, he had a slow puncture and therefore, had to pit and fell to P15.
Ultimately, Perez cruised to victory as the only consolation for Russell was that he got his first Formula 1 career points. It was an impressive display by the young Englishman who has been touted as the successor to statistically greatest driver Hamilton at Mercedes in the future. Perez has time and again shown why he deserves a seat in F1, with one such display again on Sunday. Only time will tell if he can make it to the grid for 2021.
Mercedes maintained their dominance on such a short track- only 2.2miles- by locking out the front row and having the pace to win. Their pit stop mistake and an unfortunate puncture cost them the win. Russell more than stepped to the challenge and undoubtedly beat Bottas when it mattered, showing why he deserves to be in the Mercedes seat. Hamilton is on the path to recovery from Covid, but if he is not available for the Abu Dhabi GP, Russell will step in and have another opportunity to fight at the front.
Red Bull had a bad weekend as Verstappen crashed out of the race and Albon could not capitalise on the misfortunes of the Mercedes. They have another headache of deciding the fate of the second Red Bull seat. Albon did achieve a podium in last week’s Bahrain GP, but Perez pulled a win and capitalised on other people’s mistake when it mattered. Surely a headache for Christian Horner and Helmut Marko eh?
Racing Point showed great pace over the weekend and crucially they were the fastest in the speed traps. The straight-line speed enabling the drivers to overtake and achieve a double podium finish, and potentially P3 in the constructor’s championship. Renault and Ocon capitalised on the mistakes of front runners too. Their car worked well in low drag set up. Even though they struggled in qualifying, their straight-line speed helped them to stay ahead of their orange rivals McLaren and Ocon to achieve a podium. McLaren performed poorly compared to Racing Point and Renault. With a P4 and P10 they slipped back to 4th in the constructor’s championship, 10-points behind Racing Point and 12-points ahead of Renault.
Full BWT Racing Point team cheers as Sergio Perez takes his maiden win with the team and his own on Sunday in Shakir in the penultimate F1 round. A BWT RP photo AlphaTauri did not have the race pace to challenge for higher points at the Sakhir GP as Gasly finished out of points and Kvyat managed a P7. Ferrari had a pointless race weekend as Leclerc crashed out and Vettel finished out of the points. This track layout yet again exposing their power disadvantage. It was the same with Ferrari-customer cars of Alfa Romeo and Haas as they too finished outside the points. Haas also announced that 2020 F2 Champion Mick Schumacher and F2 driver Nikita Mazepin will drive for them in 2021. Williams had the pace to challenge the likes of Haas especially in the hands of Nicholas Latifi. But to no avail he DNF’d and Aitken’s incident meant that he finished second to last.
Saturday Qualifying results were:
P1: Valtteri Bottas- 77 (Mercedes) P2: George Russell- 63 (Mercedes) P3 Max Verstappen- 33 (Red Bull) P4: Charles Leclerc- 16 (Ferrari) P5: Sergio Perez- 11 (Racing Point) P6: Daniil Kvyat- 26 (AlphaTauri) P7: Daniel Ricciardo- 3 (Renault) P8: Carlos Sainz- 55 (McLaren) P9: Pierre Gasly- 10 (AlphaTauri) P10: Lance Stroll- 18 (Racing Point) P11: Esteban Ocon- 31 (Renault) P12: Alex Albon- 23 (Red Bull) P13: Sebastian Vettel- 5 (Ferrari) P14: Antonio Giovinazzi- 99 (Alfa Romeo) P15: Lando Norris- 4 (McLaren) P16: Kevin Magnussen- 20 (Haas) P17: Nicholas Latifi- 6 (Williams) P18: Jack Aitken- 89 (Williams) P19: Kimi Raikkonen- 7 (Alfa Romeo) P20: Pietro Fittipaldi- 51 (Haas) -
Horrific F1 accident and miraculous escape puts safety in perspective
Seven-time world Champion Lewis Hamilton took his 5th consecutive victory of the season as Red Bull pair of Max Verstappen and Alex Albon completed the podium in a race which was overshadowed by the horrific accident and miraculous escape of Haas driver Romain Grosjean. This case of accident was handled by traffic accident lawyers based in Highland area. You can also get their help if you want to deal with legal accident issues. You can get info from moto accident lawyers based in Atlanta area based, if you need help with car accidents. Since accidents are inevitable on the road, it is a smart move to hire personal injury attorneys located in Riverside, CA area who can help legally.
London, 30 Nov 2020: With a 5th consecutive win, Lewis Hamilton won his 11th race of the season ahead of Max Verstappen in P2 and Alex Albon completed the podium for Red Bull’s first double-podium since the 2017 Japanese GP, even as the race finished under the safety car.
The McLaren duo of Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz finished fourth and fifth respectively, their 22 points haul shooting McLaren to 3rd place in the Constructor’s Championship overtaking a disappointed Racing Point, as Sergio Perez, running in third was forced to park the car with an MGU-K issue with three laps remaining. AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly finished in P6 ahead of Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo in P7 and teammate Esteban Ocon crossed the line in P9. Valtteri Bottas placed his Mercedes in P8 as his race was compromised by tyre puncture and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc rounded out the top-10.
Daniil Kvyat finished P11 in his AlphaTauri. Kvyat’s future looks uncertain in F1, as F2 star Yuki Tsunoda is tipped to replace him next year. George Russell dragged his Williams FW43 to P12 ahead of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel who was seemingly unhappy about the antics of his Monegasque teammate during the race. Nicholas Latifi finished 14th ahead of both Alfa Romeos of Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi. Haas’ Kevin Magnussen was P17 and was the last person to be classified. The injury attorneys from The Galvan Law Firm, PLLC can help with the legalities when it comes to accident cases. Accidents are not always road accidents. You can get help with construction accidents too.
Sergio Perez, who had heartbreak as he retired from a podium position with an engine failure, was philosopohic. “It’s really hard for both myself and the team to take today’s result, but in the grand scheme of things, it almost becomes irrelevant after Romain’s crash at the start. At the end of the day, it’s either one more or one less podium or trophy for me, but the important thing is that Romain is still with us and that he’s ok. I wish him all the best.”
Racing Point scored no points as Lance Stroll too DNF’d after his car was flipped over with contact from Kvyat’s car. The story of the day was Romain Grosjean as his car plunged through the barrier after turn 3, split in half and was engulfed in fire. It was a technological miracle that Grosjean was able to get out of the car and was saved. The day belonged to Dr. Ian Roberts and Medical car driver Alan van der Merwe and all the marshals who responded to the accident. In all the hullabaloo, the tweets, the articles and stories around the world has forgotten the `unsung heroes’, the Marshals, who were the first to reach the spot with their fire extinguishers. INDIAinF1.com is trying to get their names with a special article soon.
The start of the race was hectic. Bottas lined up 2nd on the grid but fell down to P6 as he had a bad start and was overtaken by Verstappen, Perez, Albon and Ricciardo. Meanwhile, behind Grosjean saw free space on the right-hand side of the track and tried make through. In the process he tagged Kvyat and his car plunged into the barrier at 221 kmph, bursting into flames. The session was immediately red flagged and cars returned to the pitlane.
There was a delay of one hour and 25 minutes as the charred Haas car was recovered and the barriers repaired. Meanwhile, video footage of the incident appeared as all the drivers looked visibly shaken by what had happened. Positive news came about that Grosjean was conscious and was being taken to a hospital for a checkup.
The race would be initiated by a standing start. Bottas this time started from P4 as he was in that position before the safety car line 2. The race started on lap 3 as everyone lined up on the grid. Vettel was unimpressed by his teammate Leclerc’s dive-bomb on him in turn 1, which according to the German ruined his race. Meanwhile, a bit ahead Stroll was tagged by Kvyat and sent barrel rolling. The safety car was called out as Stroll emerged from his car unhurt and his car recovered. Bottas, had a suspected puncture and therefore, pitted under the safety car for hard tyres to rejoin in P16.
Racing got underway on lap 9 with Hamilton leading the way, Verstappen and Perez following him. Leclerc was running in P7, by lap 13 he fell down to P10 as he was overtaken by future teammate Sainz, Ricciardo and Gasly. Ricciardo was the first person to pit among the midfield on lap 16, changing from mediums to hards. Ocon, Kvyat and Norris followed suit. Hamilton was the first to pit of the leaders on lap 19, Albon following him in, the same lap. Hamilton bolted another set of mediums, while Verstappen and Perez pitted on the next lap for hard tyres. Meanwhile, Sainz had managed his soft tyres to last till lap 21 and pitted for medium tyres.
The second round of pitstops occurred on lap 34, as Verstappen pitted for another set of hard tyres as he was unable to cut into the 4-sec lead of Hamilton. Albon followed the Dutchman. Hamilton was brought in on lap 35 for hard tyres and subsequently, Perez did the same thing on lap 36.
Behind, Ocon had pitted on lap 34 and undercut Ricciardo when he emerged out of the pits on lap 36, Renault teammates seemingly tripped over each other and lost time. Norris and Sainz pitted for hard tyres on lap 38 and 39 respectively. Gasly, on the other hand, was trying an audacious one-stop after switching to hard tyres on lap 25.
Albon, Norris and Sainz overtook Gasly and slotted into P4, P5 and P6 respectively. Everything unravelled for Perez on lap 54 as his car started producing plumes of smoke from its exhaust. Ultimately the car caught fire and he retired from P3, what could have been his second successive podium. This promoted Albon into the podium position. Meanwhile, Verstappen had pitted for medium tyres on lap 46, to set the fastest lap. Due to the recovery of Perez’s Racing Point, the Safety Car was deployed again.
The race finished under safety-car conditions for a second consecutive year in Bahrain as Hamilton took the victory at the chequered flag and both Red Bull drivers completed the podium. McLaren were the happiest of the midfield teams as they outscored rivals Racing Point who scored zero and Renault who wasted time by having an intra-team battle between Ricciardo and Ocon. It was a day to forget for Bottas as bad luck struck again and he could only manage P8. Same goes for Ferrari as Leclerc managed one point and Vettel finished outside of the points.
Sunday belonged to all the marshals and medical staff of the FIA for bravely handling the situation of Grosjean. It also shows how far the safety of racing and F1 has advanced and that racing is and will always be dangerous. Each and every driver should be respected, for every time they step in a car, they put their life on the line and it is not as easy as it looks.
Mercedes dominated this weekend especially in terms of qualifying and race pace. Returning to a familiar circuit showed that Mercedes W11 is still the fastest car on the grid and Turkish GP qualifying result was down to extenuating circumstances. Red Bull closed the gap in terms of race pace but were ultimately unable to challenge Hamilton at the front. Racing Point had a weekend of `what could have been’ as they were pointless at the Sakhir international circuit. Stroll’s unfortunate incident and Perez’s car’s unreliability has made achieving P3 in the constructor’s championship much more difficult. They showed Red Bull challenging race pace as Perez was able to keep a check on Albon throughout.
McLaren may not have been the fastest midfield car but made most of the opportunities that came their way. They are still behind Racing Point in terms of car performance. Their Anglo-French rivals Renault faltered too, as strategic errors and teammate battles cost them higher-finishing positions. Renault showed good qualifying performance as they were able to beat both McLaren and AlphaTauri. AlphaTauri have shown improved qualifying pace in recent races as once again both their cars made it to Q3. Gasly finished an impressive P6 while Kvyat too finished on the fringes of points as once again clever strategy had enabled them to challenge the upper midfield. Ferrari had a dismal weekend as they were unable to make to Q3 and salvaged one point from the race. All this owed to their inferior power unit for 2020, and as the Sakhir circuit is a power-limited circuit, their weakness was magnified.
Williams showed improved race pace as both drivers finished ahead of Alfa Romeo and Haas drivers. This bodes well for them looking ahead for 2021. Alfa Romeo and Haas too were plagued by the Ferrari engine as horsepower disadvantage to rivals meant they neither could make it to Q2 nor challenge for points on Sunday.
Saturday Qualifying results were:
P1: Lewis Hamilton- 44 (Mercedes) P2: Valtteri Bottas- 77 (Mercedes) P3: Max Verstappen- 33 (Red Bull) P4: Alex Albon- 23 (Red Bull) P5: Sergio Perez- 11 (Racing Point) P6: Daniel Ricciardo- 3 (Renault) P7: Esteban Ocon- 31 (Renault) P8: Pierre Gasly- 10 (AlphaTauri) P9: Lando Norris- 4 (McLaren) P10: Daniil Kvyat- 26 (AlphaTauri) P11: Sebastian Vettel- 5 (Ferrari) P12: Charles Leclerc- 16 (Ferrari) P13: Lance Stroll- 18 (Racing Point) P14: George Russell- 63 (Williams) P15: Carlos Sainz- 55 (McLaren) P16: Antonio Giovinazzi- 99 (Alfa Romeo) P17: Kimi Raikkonen- 7 (Alfa Romeo) P18: Kevin Magnussen- 20 (Haas) P19: Romain Grosjean- 8 (Haas) P20: Nicholas Latifi- 6 (Williams) -
Champion drive under adverse conditions brings Hamilton a 7th World crown
Lewis Hamilton put in a sublime drive to win the wet-and-greasy Turkish Grand Prix, securing his 7th Formula 1 World Championship for drivers, equaling the record of legend Michael Schumacher. Racing Point’s Sergio Perez achieved highest career finishing position in P2 as Sebastian Vettel got his first podium of the season in P3.
London, 15 Nov 2020: Lewis Hamilton put in a champions drive to win the Turkish Grand Prix by over 30-seconds after starting from P6. Last lap overtaking moves saw Perez finish in P2, ahead of Vettel and Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc- who lost a podium place on the last lap. Leclerc’s future teammate and McLaren driver Carlos Sainz finished in P5, while Lando Norris finished in P8, taking the bonus point for the fastest lap. Red Bull had a disappointing day as spins for both drivers meant that Max Verstappen and Alex Albon finished P6 and P7 respectively. Polesitter and Racing Point driver Lance Stroll’s race unravelled in the latter half, eventually finishing in P9, ahead of Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo in P10.
Esteban Ocon recovered to P11, after being tagged by teammate Ricciardo during the start, spinning and puncturing his tyre. AlphaTauri duo of Daniil Kvyat and Pierre Gasly finished in P12 and P13. The only person who could stop Hamilton from winning the title, Valtteri Bottas, finished P14, spinning 6-times and being lapped by Hamilton en route to the chequered flag. Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen crossed the line in P15 and Williams’ George Russell was the last driver classified in P16. Haas duo of Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean as well as Nicholas Latifi and Antonio Giovinazzi DNF’d.
The start of the race was wet. There was drama even before the race had begun as, Giovinazzi slipped into the gravel while going to the grid and Russell damaged his front wing coming into the pit lane.
At the start, Stroll and Perez launched well, while Verstappen incurred wheel spin and was overtaken by Hamilton and both Renaults. As Hamilton looked to get past Ricciardo, in an attempt to avoid the Brit, Ricciardo took evasive action and tagged teammate Ocon. Ocon spun, so did Bottas behind him- first of his six spins. Vettel had jumped from P11 to P4. Hamilton running in P3 fell to P6 as he locked up his cold brakes and was passed by Vettel, Verstappen and Albon.
Hamilton leads Sergio Perez in the 2020 Turkish Grand Prix, Sunday – LAT Images Leclerc was first to pit and change from full wets to intermediate tyres on lap 6. He lit up the timing boards as the inters were much faster than wet tyres. This prompted Mercedes to pit Bottas on lap 7 and subsequently Hamilton on lap 8 for inters.
The whole field pitted by lap 13, Stroll extending his leading by 10s over Perez, with Verstappen in running in P3, who had jumped Vettel in P4. Hamilton was all over Vettel but locked up his breaks and fell to P6 after being overtaken by Albon. The Red Bull then overtook Vettel’s Ferrari. Meanwhile, Hamilton could not find a way past the prancing horse.
Verstappen and Leclerc were the fastest cars on track. By lap 17 Verstappen caught up to Perez, who in turn was catching race leader Stroll. With the help of DRS Verstappen tried to overtake Perez on the back straight. His impatience led to his downfall, as he got behind Perez’s gearbox through the kink of turn 11, edged onto the slippery run off and spun. He flat spotted the tyres as a result of the spin, pitted and emerged in P8.
The track was drying out, but no one wanted to risk putting on dry tyres as the track was still slippery with no grip from the tarmac. By lap 29, Stroll’s lead was slashed down to 3s over Perez, Albon right behind the Mexican and, Vettel and Hamilton closing in on the top three, all of them within 10 seconds of the leader.
In the midfield, Ricciardo running in P6, spun and was overtaken by Sainz. Leclerc pitted again for intermediate tyres as he started the second round of pitstops. Vettel pitted on lap 33, releasing the fast-charging Hamilton in free air in P3. Albon pitted on lap 34 and Stroll followed suit on lap 36. All pitting for intermediate tyres. Polesitter Stroll spiraled as he could not make his new inters work as Vettel, Leclerc, Albon and Sainz passed him on lap 41.
Hamilton closed up to Perez, passed him using DRS and assumed the lead of the Grand Prix. By lap 46, he had an 18s lead and he was still on 38 laps old inters. While Leclerc passed Vettel and Verstappen and was running in P3. Verstappen pitted for the third time, as his tyres were worn out and emerged in P8. Bottas’ race worsened as he got lapped by race leader Hamilton, which also signalled that he was out of contention for the championship.
Valtteri Bottas, left, greets, Hamilton, after he won the 7th World title on Sunday – LAT Images With five laps to go, dark clouds and rain threatened to arrive on the last lap. Hamilton and Perez had only pitted once and were running on inters so old, they had effectively become slick tyres. The rain did not materialise as Hamilton won his 94th F1 grand prix by 31s and with it record-equalling 7th world drivers title.
Behind the drama was not over as Perez made a mistake on the last lap and Leclerc slotted into P2. But he overdid and went wide in turn 12, allowing Perez to repass him for P2 and Vettel for his first podium of the season in P3. Sainz finished just six tenths behind Leclerc as the Red Bulls capped off a disappointing race, finishing in P6 and P7.
The accolades belonged to Hamilton as he equalled yet another record and one wonders what new heights he will reach.
Racing Point showed supreme qualifying pace as they secured pole position and P3 on the grid. They had decent race pace but could not challenge for the win as they struggled with overheating and wear in the latter stages of the race. Stroll, the early leader, suffered graining due to which he fell back to P9. Renault like Mercedes struggled with tyre warm-up as neither Ricciardo nor Ocon was rapid in the early stages. Spin for Ocon, and a mistake by Ricciardo, meant they could not maximise their race result and lost ground in the constructor’s championship. McLaren showed a good turn of form in qualifying and race. Grid penalties before the race hampered them, otherwise, both cars had the potential to challenge the squad from Maranello.
Mercedes were clearly not the fastest car, especially on Saturday as they struggled with tyre warm up due to the lack of grip from the tarmac. As the race progressed, the Mercedes got stronger due to tyres warming up and Hamilton was able to extract the maximum from the W11. Red Bull arguably had the fastest car this weekend but seemed to work better on the wet tyres than the intermediates. Verstappen was disappointed not to start on pole as they switched to inters during qualifying. Ferrari had a disappointing qualifying but showed good race pace in the wet conditions as both drivers finished in the top-5.
Hamilton car with World Champ tag in the 2020 Turkish GP Sunday – LAT Images AlphaTauri struggled in the wet conditions and on the newly re-surfaced tarmac as both cars finished outside of the points. Alfa Romeo showed impressive qualifying pace as both cars made it to Q3 but could not hold their positions, Giovinazzi retired with a mechanical problem from the race and ultimately it was a no scoring race for them. Haas’ both cars got knocked out in Q1 and they struggled in the race with their tyres. Ultimately both cars retired. Williams story is similar as well, unable to challenge for Q2 on Saturday and points on Sunday.
Hamilton on way to victory in the 2020 Turkish Grand Prix, Sunday – LAT Images The race was preceded by wet qualifying on Saturday. Starting grid for the Turkish GP.
P1: Lance Stroll- 18 (Racing Point) P2: Max Verstappen- 33 (Red Bull Honda) P3: Sergio Perez- 11 (Racing Point) P4: Alex Albon- 23 (Red Bull Honda) P5: Daniel Ricciardo- 3 (Renault) P6: Lewis Hamilton- 44 (Mercedes) P7: Esteban Ocon- 31 (Renault) P8: Kimi Raikkonen- 7 (Alfa Romeo) P9: Valtteri Bottas- 77 (Mercedes) P10: Antonio Giovinazzi- 99 (Alfa Romeo) P11: Sebastian Vettel- 5 (Ferrari) P12: Charles Leclerc- 16 (Ferrari) P13: Kevin Magnussen- 20 (Haas) P14: Lando Norris- 4 (McLaren)*** P15: Carlos Sainz- 55 (McLaren)** P16: Daniil Kvyat- 26 (AlphaTauri) P17: Romain Grosjean- 8 (Haas) P18: Nicholas Latifi- 6 (Williams) P19: Pierre Gasly- 10 (AlphaTauri) P20: George Russell- 63 (Williams)* *Russell and Gasly required to start from back of grid for use of additional power unit elements.
**Sainz penalised three places for impeding Perez during Qualifying.
***Norris and Russell penalised five places for not respecting yellow flags during Qualifying.
