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Tag: Malhaar Khaladkar
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Mercedes dominance over one-lap and race pace continues: Imola Race analysis
Lewis Hamilton won at the 29th different circuit in his Formula 1 career as Valtteri Bottas completed a Mercedes 1-2 and Daniel Ricciardo completed the podium, a second time in three races, at the history-ridden Imola circuit. A 1-2 finish for Mercedes fetched them the constructor’s champions for a seventh-consecutive season, breaking Ferrari’s record of six-straight championships.
London, 3 Nov 2020: Hamilton took his 93rd F1 career victory. In the process, he also set the fastest lap and led more than 5000 laps. A P2 was a consolation for Bottas, and Ricciardo achieved his second podium of the season. Kvyat finished a brilliant P4 for AlphaTauri, ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in P5. Sergio Perez rued the decision of pitting as the team gave away a podium finish. McLaren got a double points finish as Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris finished in P7 and P8 respectively. Alfa Romeo had their best race of the season, as they too, achieved double-points, finishing ninth and tenth, Raikkonen, ahead of Giovinazzi.
Williams’ Nicholas Latifi was ever so close to points in P11, ahead of Sebastian Vettel who would have finished in the top 10 if not for the slow pit stop. Lance Stroll finished in P13, and Haas driver Romain Grosjean in P14. Alex Albon spun around his Red Bull trying to maintain his position after the safety car restart, ultimately finishing last in P15.
2020 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix action, Sunday – LAT images for Mercedes Mercedes clinched a historic 7th consecutive constructor’s championship, breaking Ferrari’s record of 6 consecutive titles. They have taken all the pole positions in 2020 so far and have maintained an advantage in race pace over rivals Red Bull. Red Bull were unable to close the gap to Mercedes at Imola, especially in qualifying as Max Verstappen never looked in contention for pole position. Ferrari’s one lap and race pace has improved significantly since Nürburgring as Leclerc has finished in the top 10 for three consecutive races. They could have achieved a double-points finish, if not for Vettel’s slow pit stop.
Renault looked like the lead midfield car as they qualified in the top-5 and Ricciardo managed a podium. Racing Point still have the best race pace, as evident from Perez’s overcut. They threw away a podium by pitting for fresh soft tyres. McLaren looked to have lost ground to Racing Point and Renault, as they lacked both the qualifying and race pace to challenge them. AlphaTauri have improved their qualifying pace significantly as they qualified P4 and P8. It remains to be seen if it is track specific or they have genuinely made a step up.
Alfa Romeo achieved double points finish as they have unlocked pace by exploring different set up directions. They still lack qualifying pace owing to the slow Ferrari power unit. Williams are making marginal gains in race pace which will help them for 2021 and they still have decent qualifying pace as Russell once again made it to Q2 on Saturday. Haas revealed a fundamental problem with their car, regarding the rear suspension. The rear suspension overheats due to which they have to raise the rear ride height, which compromises their aero performance. It is not a quick fix, but the team hopes they can rectify it for 2021, even though it will be the same chassis.
For the first time, Formula 1 experimented with a two-day weekend. One practice session on Saturday, followed by qualifying and the race on Sunday.
The predicted fastest strategy was mediums to soft tyres.
The start was hectic as Hamilton lost out to Verstappen. And had to settle for P3. Meanwhile, behind Gasly was squeezed by Hamilton and subsequently lost a position to Ricciardo. The other Renault of Ocon tagged Stroll’s front wing, resulting in damage as the Racing Point had to pit. Vettel tagged Magnussen as well which resulted in the Dane spinning and Vettel losing a part of his front wing endplate. Giovinazzi from the back of the grid was up to P14.
As the race settled the top three were covered by 2.5-3s, as Bottas lead with Verstappen 1.5s behind in P2 and Hamilton hot on his heels. There was sad news for Gasly as AlphaTauri had to retire his car due to terminal damage on lap 8. Norris, Ocon and Leclerc started the round of pit stops as they pitted on lap 13. The degradation on soft tyres was worse than expected, therefore, the early pit stops. Ricciardo, Kvyat and Albon followed suit one lap later.
Verstappen was the first to pit, in an attempt to undercut Bottas on lap 18, changing onto a set of hard tyres. Bottas did the same next lap, emerging 1.5s ahead of Verstappen. Meanwhile, Hamilton told the pit wall not to box as he carried on, setting fastest laps in the process and extending his gap to Bottas and Verstappen. Bottas’s car had picked up damage as well, which cost him around 0.7s per lap. Verstappen was held up behind the damaged Mercedes, as Hamilton extended his gap to over a pit stop.
Ocon retired on lap 30 due to a gearbox issue due to which a VSC was deployed for a half a lap. Hamilton made full use of VSC to pit and come out in the lead 4s ahead of Bottas. Verstappen was hounding Bottas for P2, and due to his ailing car, Bottas locked up and ran wide in second to last corner. This allowed Verstappen to close up and pass on the main straight using DRS for P2. Behind, Perez was running in P4 after making a pit stop, overcutting Ricciardo, Leclerc, Sainz & Kvyat. Meanwhile, a mammoth stint from Vettel and Raikkonen on mediums gave them points potential. A botched pit stop by Ferrari robbed Vettel of a top-10 finish, whereas Raikkonen pitted on lap 48 to emerge in the top 10.
Bad luck struck Verstappen on lap 50 as his rear right tyre blew up and pitched him into the gravel trap. Russell, by then running in the points, made a rookie error and crashed behind the safety car while warming his tyres. Both Mercedes pitted under the safety car for soft tyres, and so did Perez- giving up P3- and Kvyat. Ricciardo, Leclerc and Albon stayed out on hard tyres. Green flag running resumed on lap 58, as Hamilton and Bottas made clean getaway. Behind, Ricciardo was running in P3 and Kvyat gained three positions, running in P4, courtesy of the new soft tyres. Perez was unable to do the same as he was stuck behind Leclerc in P6.
Earlier on Saturday, Mercedes locked out the front row as Bottas claimed pole and Hamilton had to settle for P2. Behind, Verstappen lined up in customary P3. Alongside him, a fantastic qualifying saw Pierre Gasly start P4 and AlphaTauri teammate Daniil Kvyat started in P8. Renault’s Ricciardo started in P5, alongside the second Red Bull car of Albon with Leclerc qualifying one position ahead of Kvyat in P7. McLaren duo of Norris and Sainz completed the top 10. Both Racing Point cars were unable to make it to the top 10 as Perez started in P11 and Stroll in P15. Ocon started P12 in his Renault. For the second race in a row Williams’ Russell out-qualified Ferrari’s Vettel as they started P13 and P14 respectively. Haas drivers Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen started 16th and 17th respectively. Alfa Romeos of Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi started P18 and P20, sandwiched Latifi’s Williams in P19.
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Double blow for Hamilton; Bottas gets his second win: Russian GP analysis
Valtteri Bottas took his second win of the season at the Sochi Autodrom, Max Verstappen finished P2 in his Red Bull and pole man Lewis Hamilton recovered to P3 after serving 10-second time penalty for practice start infringement.
London, 3 Oct 2020: Lewis Hamilton took pole position as Max Verstappen split the Mercedes cars in P2 and Valtteri Bottas lined up in P3 for the Round 10 FIA F1 World Championship last Sunday.
Alongside him was Sergio Perez of Racing Point. Renault and McLaren lined up in chequerboard pattern with Daniel Ricciardo in P5, Carlos Sainz in P6, Esteban Ocon in P7 & Lando Norris in P8. Pierre Gasly of AlphaTauri started the race in P9. Alex Albon qualified a dismal P10 in his Red Bull but started P15, due to a 5-place grid penalty for changing the gearbox. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc lined up in P10, Gasly’s teammate Daniil Kvyat in P11. Lance Stroll had a mechanical issue in qualifying and therefore, could only start as high as P12 ahead of Williams’ George Russell in P13. Sebastian Vettel started in P14 after crashing his car in qualifying. Romain Grosjean and Haas teammate Kevin Magnussen started in 16th& 18th respectively, with Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi between them. The last row was occupied by Kimi Raikkonen and Williams rookie Nicholas Latifi.
Hamilton was already at a disadvantage regarding strategy as he had to start on the soft tyre, compared to Bottas and Verstappen who started o the mediums. This was due to Hamilton’s initial lap getting deleted due to track limits in Q2, then Red Flags barring him from setting the second lap.
The fastest strategy was a one stop, from medium tyres to hard tyres.
The race start was eventful. Bottas caught the slipstream from Hamilton and passed Verstappen. Behind Sainz went wide at Turn 2 and therefore, had to go through the bollards to join the track. In doing so, he hit the circuit wall and was out. His teammate Norris ran through the debris and damaged the steering of his car. Ahead at Turn 4, Leclerc tagged the rear wheel of Strolls Racing Point, thus, sending him spinning into the barrier. The safety car was called out.
The safety car came in on lap 5 and racing resumed with Hamilton in the lead, trailed by Bottas and Verstappen. Meanwhile, Russell, Norris and Albon had pitted under the safety car for hard tyres. Sergio Perez slotted into P5 after overtaking Ricciardo as Ocon was running in P4. On lap 7 Mercedes got the confirmation that Hamilton will get a 10-second time penalty (2×5-seconds).
Lewis Hamilton pitted on lap 16 for hard tyres, serving the penalty in the process and emerged in P11. Ricciardo had pitted one lap before to try and undercut Perez but came out in traffic and was unable to gain time on Perez. Ocon pitted on lap 18 and slotted behind Hamilton but ahead of Ricciardo. Perez managed to overcut Ocon on lap 20 as he too pitted for hard tyres.
Pit stops at Sochi. Graphic courtesy Pirelli Eventually Verstappen pitted on lap 25 for Hard tyres and Bottas followed suit one lap later. Bottas holding a steady 7-second gap to Verstappen. Hamilton emerged in P3 but 10-seconds behind Verstappen due to his penalty. Renault employed team orders and switched Ocon and Ricciardo, Ricciardo now ahead. In that process, Ricciardo cut turn 2 and got a 5-second time penalty. Leclerc who had pitted on lap 28, was behind Ricciardo and looked like he could take the advantage of his penalty.
Bottas scored his second victory of the season as Verstappen in P2 and Hamilton in P3 completed the podium. Perez had an uneventful race but scored good points for Racing Point in P4. Ricciardo maintained P5 as he finished well ahead of Leclerc making the time penalty of no consequence. Leclerc dragged the Ferrari to P6, their best result since the 70th Anniversary GP in Silverstone. Ocon got P7 as Renault managed another double-points finish. Kvyat and Gasly finished in 8th and 9th respectively, Kvyat coming very close to overtaking Ocon in the final laps. Albon occupied the final points paying position.
Vettel finished in P13, behind Ferrari PU customer Alfa Romeo’s Giovinazzi and Haas’ Magnussen in P11 & P12 respectively. Raikkonen crossed the finish line in P14, ahead of Norris in McLaren. The Williams cars finished P16 & P18, Latifi finishing ahead of Russell as Grosjean split them in P17.
Bottas won his first race since the season opener in Austria as Mercedes continued their dominant run this season. They have taken every pole position this season, 8 of them going to Hamilton. Mercedes have also won every Russian GP in the history of F1. Red Bull expected themselves to struggle at Sochi, having never achieved a podium finish here prior to 2020. Verstappen was able to split the Mercedes in qualifying and the race. On the other side, Albon struggled with the balance of the car as he barely made his way to the top 10. Ferrari brought upgrades to the under nose cape, barge boards and rear wing. These upgrades were more to do with correlation of data than performance. The upgrades performed as expected by the simulation which will give them a direction to develop their car. Ferrari have a long way to go if they want to catch the likes of Renault, McLaren and Racing Point.
Renault have unlocked the pace from their car since the Belgian GP. They got another double points finish. The drivers are happy with the setup and balance of the car. They seem to be on par if not better than McLaren when it comes to race pace. Encouraging signs for them then, for rest of the season and next year. McLaren showed improved performance compared to the Tuscan GP, especially in qualifying. They were running two different cars, Norris had the new Mercedes style slim nose whereas Sainz was running with their older specification of broader nose. The performance difference is yet unknown, but McLaren confirmed it is part of a bigger upcoming upgrade package and they were correlating the simulation data. As Sainz crashed out and Norris picked up damage their true race pace could not be seen this race. Racing Point are arguably the fastest midfield team as Perez managed P4 in the older specification of the RP20. Stroll once more had the upgraded version but unfortunately DNF’d due to Leclerc tagging him on the opening lap.
AlphaTauri too achieved a double points finish as they are making most of the opportunities awarded to them. Their car still lacks the pace to challenge the upper midfield teams consistently but given the right circumstances, they are able to beat them. Alfa Romeo have made strides as they are making it to Q2, but the lack of straight line performance still hurts them. Haas’ car has balance issues with both drivers complaining about it in free practice, particularly Grosjean being vocal on the team radio. Lack of upgrades this year and straight line performance of the Ferrari PU is accentuating their problems. Williams were encouraged by their performance at Sochi compared to last year, which proved the improvements they have made this season. Russell once more made it to Q2 as well. They struggled with tyre temperatures, therefore, could not make headway in the race. They have also managed to reduce the drag on their car, making full use of the class leading Mercedes PU to give them a higher straight line speed.
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Multiple crashes mark Ferrari’s 1000th race and a record 90th win for Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton won the first-ever Grand Prix held at Mugello as Valtteri Bottas finished second and Alex Albon scored his maiden F1 podium. The 1000thrace for Ferrari saw multiple car crashes and two red flags as Hamilton took the 90th race win of his career, one behind Michael Schumacher.
London, 19 Sept 2020: Qualifying saw Mercedes maintain their Saturday pace advantage as Hamilton qualified on pole and Bottas second. Max Verstappen and Alex Albon lined up astern of the Mercedes drivers in P3 & P4. Charles Leclerc managed to qualify P5 in an inferior Ferrari, ahead of the two Racing Points of Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll. Ricciardo wasP8 and Renault teammate Esteban Ocon in P10. McLaren’s Carlos Sainz qualified in P9. His teammate Lando Norris lined up in P11- missing out on Q3 for the first time this season. Daniil Kvyat started in P12, while his AlphaTauri teammate and surprise Monza race winner, Pierre Gasly could not get out of Q1 and settled for P16 on the grid. Kimi Raikkonen dragged his Alfa Romeo up to P13, his ex-teammate Sebastian Vettel could only manage to qualify his Ferrari in P14. Haas drivers Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen qualified in 15th& 20th respectively. Antonio Giovinazzi was in P17 and the Williams duo of George Russell and Nicholas Latifi lined up in 18th& 19th.
P2 looked like the place to start from the grid as Bottas got a better start than Hamilton and used the slipstream to get ahead of the championship leader. Behind them, Verstappen too had a good start, but due to power unit issues bogged down and lost places. As the field approached turn 2, Sainz spun with contact from Stroll and Gasly was squeezed by Raikkonen and Grosjean. The trio of Raikkonen, Gasly and Grosjean collected Verstappen. Due to the contact Gasly and Verstappen were beached in the gravel trap. Raikkonen escaped with front wing damage and Grosjean survived but with lot of car damage resulting in downforce loss. Understandably, Verstappen showed frustration as this was his second consecutive DNF. Meanwhile Vettel had collected spun Sainz and damaged his front wing.
The safety car was called- which was red in colour as a tribute to Ferrari’s 1000th Grand Prix. The race resumed on lap 7. The start/finish line is halfway down the straight on this circuit. Therefore, so as to not give slipstream to Hamilton, Bottas left it late for the restart. The middle of the pack accelerated as they pre-empted Bottas’s start. This resulted in a horrific crash which included Giovinazzi who reared into Magnussen and collected Latifi. Sainz could not evade Giovinazzi and crashed into him. Barely 3 corners of racing had taken place and the race was red flagged-second time in as many races.
The two Mercedes and Williams’ Russell changed to medium tyres as the field got ready for a second standing start. This time it was Bottas on pole and Hamilton in advantageous P2. Leclerc had made up to P3 before the safety car and red flag.
History repeated itself, Hamilton darting past Bottas into P1 as they exited turn 1. Behind them Leclerc was running in P3, Stroll P4, Ricciardo P5, Albon P6 and Perez in P7. As Leclerc’s tyres faded he fell down to P7. He pitted on lap 21 for hard tyres.
Hamilton takes the flag for his 90th win at the Tuscan Grand Prix, on Sunday – A LAT Image for Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 team Stroll was in P3, in the running for a second consecutive podium. Renault pulled the trigger and boxed Ricciardo from P4 in an attemptto undercut Stroll. It worked as Stroll emerged behind Ricciardo on lap 30 after pitting for medium tyres. Meanwhile Perez and Norris had pitted on lap 27 & 28 respectively. Ahead Bottas was unable to close up to Hamilton and requested for an alternate tyre strategy. Due to vibrations on Bottas’s medium tyres Mercedes pitted him on lap 31 for hard tyres, subsequently pitting Hamilton for the same on lap 32. Bottas request was overruled by Mercedes as they had flashbacks to the British GP and tyre blowouts. As the race progressed Ricciardo maintained his P3 and Russell was running in P9, on the cusp of achieving his first career points.
The drama was not over yet. On lap 43 Stroll smashed into the barriers at turn 9, fortunately unhurt. The safety car was once more called to duty. The race was red flagged a second time as the damaged barrier had to be repaired. The whole grid bolted on soft tyres for a 12-lap sprint race in the end. This was the first race to see 2 red flags since 2016 Brazilian GP.
This time Bottas was in P2- prime position to take the lead as Hamilton was once again on pole for the third start. Hamilton had his best start of the race, as Bottas had the opposite and fell behind Ricciardo. Bottas was able to overtake the Renault on the next lap. Behind Ricciardo’s dream of a podium was shot down as Albon passed him for P3.
Hamilton won the race and with it took the fastest lap point as Bottas completed 1-2 finish for Mercedes. Albon achieved his first podium in F1, thanking Red Bull after the race for sticking with him. Ricciardo missed out on podium and unfortunately Ocon retired under the second red flag as his brakes overheated. Perez finished in P5, Norris had an uneventful race in P6 and Kvyat finished in P7. Leclerc finished in P8, Raikkonen in P9 due to a 5-second penalty because of entering the pit lane after the pit line.Vettel rounded of the top 10.Russell just missed out on his inaugural points in P11 and Grosjean finished last in P12. There were 8 car retirements in the race.
Mercedes still maintain pace advantage over Red Bull. Red Bull looked closer to Mercedes in terms of race pace, but due to Verstappen DNF, we do not know if Red Bull could have challenged for the race victory. Renault did not have the pace in qualifying as they could not find the optimum downforce set up. Their race pace was much better as Ricciardo might have got a podium had there not been the second red flag. McLaren performed below their expectations in qualifying and race as they finished behind Racing Point and Renault. Interesting to note, McLaren trialed Mercedes style thin nose cone in Friday practice. It remains to be seen if they will incorporate it permanently on their car.
Racing Point arrived at Mugello with significant upgrades around the bargeboard and sidepod area. The opening of the sidepods was overhauled, they start behind the mandatory crash structure for better airflow management. The sidepod shape changed too, they drooped down at the rear and made a sharper coke bottle shape to accelerate the airflow for greater downforce generation. This upgrade was worth three-tenths of a second (0.3s). Only Stroll had the package on his car because only one was available. After their surprise win, AlphaTauri slipped into their customary midfield position. Gasly underperformed & DNF’d while Kvyat made the most of red flags to finish in a respectable P7. Ferrari were disappointing in their 1000th GP as their race pace was slower than Alfa Romeo and Williams. Vettel barely managed to get to Q2 while Leclerc was overtaken quickly as he neither had straight line speed nor the tyres as he was unable to conserve them. Alfa Romeo and Williams can be encouraged as they showed better pace than Ferrari, especially in the latter stages of the race when tyre wear was a factor. Haas’s true pace could notbe seen as Magnussen retired and Grosjean had damage through which he lost 70 points of downforce.
Breaking story before the race weekend was that Vettel would be joining Racing Point next season (2021) as Sergio Perez was let go. It remains to be seen if Perez will drive for any team next season.
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Mercedes excel even without `Party Mode’ but it was Pierre Gasly’s race day
Pierre Gasly took a surprise but well-deserved win for Alpha Tauri at the iconic Monza circuit as McLaren’s Carlos Sainz and Racing Point’s Lance Stroll completed an unexpected podium in the Italian Grand Prix.
By Malhaar Khaladkar
New Delhi, 7 Sept 2020: Prior to this weekend, FIA had issued a technical directive (TD) stating that all teams must use the same engine mode from start of the qualifying to the end of the race. This effectively banned `party mode’ during qualifying for the power unit (PU) manufacturers. Party mode is the most powerful PU mode which is run over one lap to give maximum power. It cannot be run constantly as it damages the engine over a period of time.
The TD did not seem to affect Mercedes as even without ‘party mode’ they locked out the front row, Lewis Hamilton taking 6th pole position of the year. Nearest non-Mercedes car was of Carlos Sainz in the McLaren, 0.8s behind, with Racing Point’s Sergio Perez alongside in P4. Max Verstappen could only qualify as high as P5, with the second McLaren of Lando Norris is P6. Daniel Ricciardo’s was the only Renault car in top 10, ahead of Lance Stroll in P8 and Alex Albon in P9. Pierre Gasly rounded off the top 10, his teammate Daniil Kvyat put his AlphaTauri in P11. Esteban Ocon in Renault was P12 and behind was Charles Leclerc with what was the worst qualifying for Ferrari at Monza in recent years. His teammate Sebastian Vettel failed to make it out of Q1, to start P17. Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen was P14, behind him the two Haas cars of Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean. The second Alfa Romeo of Antonio Giovinazzi qualified in P18. Williams occupied the last row, with what was the last weekend for the Williams family in Formula 1 after their team was bought over.
Top 10 cars started on the soft tyre. Predicted strategy was a one-stop, from soft to medium tyres. Magnussen and Vettel were the only two cars to start on the Hard tyre.
The race got underway and Hamilton maintained P1. Valtteri Bottas, who started P2, fell down to P6 by the end of lap 1 due to a bad start. Behind Hamilton, Sainz was P2, Norris in P3, Perez in P4 and Ricciardo in P5. Verstappen too had a bad start and fell down to P7. On lap 6, Vettel went straight on towards the run off area instead of turn 1 and later confirmed via team radio that he had a break failure. Eventually his car was retired.
The drama in the race started on lap 19 as Magnussen pulled over his Haas near the entry of the pitlane which duly brought out the safety car. On lap 20, Hamilton and Giovinazzi pitted, no one else. As the FIA had closed the pitlane (no cars are allowed to enter the pits) to recover Magnussen’s car, everyone stayed out. Hamilton& Mercedes overlooked this, so did Giovinazzi and his team. Eventually, both drivers were handed a 10-second stop-go penalty for their actions. This costed the race win to then-leader Hamilton. Once the pit lane was opened on lap 22, everyone pitted to change tyres. As racing got underway on lap 25, Leclerc lost his car under acceleration and went into the barrier at turn 11. Thankfully he was not harmed. The crash had a big impact on the tyre barrier and therefore needed repair. Thus, the FIA decided to red flag the session and all cars returned to the pit lane.
Hamilton pats Pierre Gasly Sunday – LAT Images Teams are allowed to change tyres and damaged parts under red flag conditions. Stroll effectively got a free pit stop as he did not pit under the safety car. Meanwhile, Hamilton changed to hard tyres as the looming penalty, once served after the start would put him in last place.
After a 25-minute stoppage, cars once more lined up on the grid for at the start procedure, Hamilton on pole once again. He maintained the lead, behind him were Gasly, Raikkonen and Stroll. Hamilton served his penalty on the next lap and came out in last place. Gasly inherited the lead, with Sainz overtaking Raikkonen and Stroll to slot into P2. Raikkonen was on soft tyres and as his pace faded away Stroll occupied P3. Eventually Raikkonen finished out of the points.
Lap 31 saw Max Verstappen retire due to a power unit issue, while his teammate Albon was already running outside of the points after damaging his floor in the opening segment of the race. Sainz tried to pile pressure on the leader Gasly but ultimately finished just 0.415s behind. Stroll completed the podium. Norris finished in P4 giving McLaren their highest points tally of the season in one race. Bottas’s car had overheating issues thus, could not overtake and finished in P5. Renault’s Ricciardo finished P6 while his teammate Ocon finished 8th. Kvyat and Perez completed the top 10. Haas and Alfa Romeo were unable to finish in the points, so was the sole Red Bull of Albon. The Williams boys finished out of the top 10 as well, in what was the last race for Claire and Sir Frank Williams. Hamilton finished P7 after falling back to P16 by virtue of serving the penalty. He was the fastest man on track after the restart. But all the accolades belong to Gasly, who drove superbly to take his first career victory and second win for AlphaTauri/Toro Rosso.
The technical directive regarding engine modes did not affect Mercedes as they maintained their dominance in qualifying and race pace advantage. Due to a bad start from Bottas and an error from Hamilton & Mercedes during the safety car meant that they lost the win. Still, Hamilton increased his championship lead by two points as Bottas overtook Verstappen for second place. Red Bull had a bad race as they failed to score a point and Verstappen retired. To rub salt on their wounds, their slower sister team and a driver they demoted last year won the race. Low downforce circuits seem to be the Achilles heel of Red Bull as they could not qualify for the front two rows. They had setup issues throughout the weekend and their race pace vanished as neither driver gained positions in the race. Ferrari had a nightmare home race as both cars retired and a second consecutive no points race. Ferrari customers Alfa Romeo have looked faster than the Maranello squad for the last two races.
McLaren looked second best the whole weekend, behind the dominant silver arrows. Qualifying and race pace is encouraging as they were able to hold off Racing Point and Renault in the before the safety car intervention. Renault had a mediocre weekend as they were expected to fight for the podium, especially after a good showing at Spa- Francorchamps a week before. Both Ricciardo and Ocon were unable to challenge their orange and pink rivals. Racing Point had decent qualifying with Perez but Stroll languished in P8. Their race pace was good enough to challenge Red Bull and Renault. AlphaTauri got a second win in their history (the first win was with Vettel in 2008 at Monza in their first avatar as Toro Rosso). They were slower than their midfield rivals but made the most of the safety car and red flag opportunity. Once in the lead, Gasly was able to control the pace.
Low drag set up seems to suit Alfa Romeo as they once again outperformed Ferrari. Though they do not have the consistency to achieve regular points finishes. Haas too have a consistency problem as they are unable to unlock the pace from VF-20. The slow Ferrari power unit is not helping their cause as they look to advance in the midfield. The Williams car is draggy (has too much drag for the amount of downforce produced) and was expected to struggle on high-speed circuits like Spa and Monza. They can take the learnings from these races and chip away their deficit to the midfield.
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Mercedes dominates; bad week-end for Ferrari
Lewis Hamilton took his 5th win of the season at the iconic Spa- Francorchamps circuit as his teammate Valtteri Bottas finished second to earn Mercedes their 50th 1-2 finish since returning as a constructor in 2010. Max Verstappen completed the podium by finishing third.
New Delhi, 31 August 2020: Lewis Hamilton secured pole by half a second over his 2nd placed teammate Valtteri Bottas on Saturday. Max Verstappen came ever so close to the front row as he was slower by 0.015s to Bottas. Daniel Ricciardo achieved his best result at the track, qualifying P4. It was a chequerboard pattern as Red Bull’s Alex Albon qualified in P5 and Renault’s Esteban Ocon in P6. Carlos Sainz outqualified his McLaren teammate Lando Norris as they lined up P7 & P10 respectively. Sandwiched between them were the Racing Point cars of Sergio Perez in P8 and Lance Stroll in P9. Daniil Kvyat outqualified Pierre Gasly for the first time in ten races as they started in P11 & P12. Ferrari had a disastrous qualifying as their cars started in P13 & P14, Charles Leclerc ahead of Sebastian Vettel. George Russell once again made it to Q2, starting in P15, his teammate Nicholas Latifi in P18. Both Alfa Romeos sandwiched the Haas of Romain Grosjean as Kevin Magnussen qualified last.
Predicted strategy was a one stop, starting on softs and then onto a set of medium tyres to finish the race. The top 3 cars were starting on the medium tyres. Alternate predicted strategy was to start on the mediums and end the race on soft tyres.
The predicted rain never arrived for Sunday as the grid formed under a cool sunny day in Belgium. Sainz could not start the race due to a broken exhaust discovered while taking his car on the grid.
The start was uneventful as the top 4 maintained their positions going into turn 5.Slipstream is a big factor at this circuit, especially at the start as the grid is bunched up. Due to a tail wind into turn 5 (rather than a head wind), Hamilton was able to keep the lead and not get overtaken by Bottas.Behind, Ocon had jumped Albon at the start. Leclerc made his way into the top 10 while Magnussen was up to P15 after starting last.
Gasly was the only person starting on the durable hard tyre. The hard tyre was working well with heavy fuel loads at the start of the race as Gasly was hunting down Stroll in P7 by lap 4. Meanwhile, Leclerc started falling back as he started to struggle on his soft tyres and inferior straight-line speed. By lap 7 he was out of the points paying position.
Pit Stops graphic by Pirelli The safety car was called into action on lap 11 as Giovinazzi spun into the barrier and Russell was unable to avoid a collision. The whole grid pitted on lap 10-11 bar Gasly and Perez. Albon was the only car to pit for medium tyres, everyone else chose the hard tyre for the end of the race. Albon also managed to overtake Ocon in the pits as Renault lost time due to a double stack.
Racing got underway on lap 14 as Hamilton comfortably pulled away from Bottas, who did the same from Verstappen. By lap 18 Perez pitted for hard tyres dropping to last place. Gasly did the same on lap 26, bolting on the medium tyres as he had started on the hard tyres. There was tension in the Ferrari camp as both cars could be seen going wheel to wheel and touching for P12. Leclerc had to pit for a second time on lap 24 due to loss of hydraulic pressure which dropped him last. Only Perez and Gasly were moving up the field as everyone else maintained their positions. Raikkonen overtook Vettel to run as the lead Ferrari powered car.
The end of the race was tense. Both Mercedes cars and Red Bull’s Verstappen were worried about tyre failures as they started to experience vibrations in them. All three reduced their pace significantly towards the end. Ultimately the worries were unfounded as Hamilton cruised to 5th win of the season- 4th win at Spa- Francorchamps. Hamilton dedicated his win to late actor and friend Chadwick Boseman who passed away on 28th August. Behind him were Bottas and Verstappen to complete the podium.Ricciardo set the fastest lap on the last lap, as he finished P4. His Renault teammate passed Albon on the last lap to finish P5 as the sole McLaren of Norris finished P7.Gasly made the most of his medium tyres to finish in P8, ahead of both of the Racing Point cars who completed the top 10. Gasly’s teammate Kvyat missed out on points as he finished in P11. Raikkonen finished as the leading Ferrari powered car, ahead of the works Ferrari team. Vettel finished in P13 & Leclerc in P14. Behind them were the two Haas cars and sandwiched between them was Latifi in P16.
Mercedes had brought an extensive low drag aerodynamic package. It included revised horns on the top of the nose of the car, new bargeboards and side pod endplates to increase their straight-line speed. They also brought a new floor which had six vertical fins added to manage the airflow around the rear tyre. This package worked well as they maintained their qualifying and race pace advantage. Though, they were slower on the straights compared to Red Bull, which indicates Mercedes were running more downforce. Red Bull had an encouraging showing, especially with Verstappen as he almost qualified on the front row. In the race they were more subdued.
The Renault car works very well in low drag, high-speed circuits as evident from Silverstone and now Spa- Francorchamps. Their race pace was on par with Red Bull and had there been 2-3 more laps, Ricciardo could have overtaken Verstappen for the podium. Alas, at least they got their first fastest lap of the race in a decade. McLaren also looked promising, though not as fast as they Anglo-French rivals. Norris could have finished higher, but compromised his race due to losing positions on the opening lap. McLaren too, like Mercedes brought a low drag sidepod endplate to increase their straight-line speed. Interesting to NOTE: McLaren tested a 2021 specification floor on Friday to collect some real-world data. The AlphaTauri showed pace in the hands of Gasly as he was able to finish in the points. His teammate was unable to capitalise on the advantage of his car as he finished outside the points.
Pirelli graphic Ferrari had the worst race of the season. After taking a pole here a year ago, they plummeted to outside of the points. They were the only team on the grid not to improve on their previous year lap time. They could not find the right set-up, and as they were already behind in the power unit department, they compromised their downforce levels. A weekend to forget then. They may have the same struggles in the next race in Monza, their home Grand Prix. Alfa Romeo and Raikkonen were faster than the Ferraris. They can be somewhat content as their car works better on low drag circuits. Haas and Williams continued in a positive direction, as both teams improved their lap time compared to the previous year, though it is not enough to achieve points.
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Hamilton beats Schumy record for highest number of F1 podiums
Lewis Hamilton romped to a dominant victory in the Spanish GP as he broke Michael Schumacher’s record for the highest number of podium finishes achieved by a driver in Formula 1. With his 88th win, he was on the podium for the 156th time in his career. Max Verstappen split the Mercedes cars and Valtteri Bottas completed the podium in P3.
New Delhi, 17 August 2020: In qualifying, it was the usual suspects who occupied the front row. Hamilton on the pole, while sister Mercedes of Bottas in P2. Verstappen qualified P3 and his teammate showed better form to qualify P6 on the grid. Sandwiched between them were the two Racing Points of Sergio Perez and Lance Stroll in P4 & P5 respectively. Carlos Sainz out-qualified his younger teammate Lando Norris, who has reached Q3 at every race this season. Ferrari only started as high as P9 with Leclerc, as Vettel was knocked out in Q2, starting P11. Gasly completed the top 10 and Kvyat was one place behind Vettel. Renault had a dismal qualifying as Ricciardo started P13 and Ocon in P15. Brilliant effort in qualifying by Raikkonen saw him start P14 while his teammate Giovinazzi started last for the first time in his career. Then it was a two by two grid as Haas occupied out P16 & P17, Williams locked out P18 & P19.
All cars in the top-10 were starting with soft tyres. The track temperature was around 50C. But Friday Practice showed that the hard tyre offered a low level of grip, thus, to be avoided for the race. The predicted strategy was a two-stop, starting on the softs and then two sets of mediums.
Hamilton had a clean race start and maintained P1. Contrary to him, Bottas bogged down at the start and fell to P4 behind Verstappen and Stroll. Norris too lost out by two positions and fell to P10. As the DRS was enabled, Bottas got past Stroll on lap 5 to run P3 and started his hunt for Verstappen. Hamilton was maintaining a constant gap of 1.5-2s to Verstappen in P2.
The big question mark was that would Mercedes have tyre blistering issues again, similar to last week, as track temperatures were hovering around 50 C. This was answered on lap 10. Hamilton opened his taps and started extending his lead on Verstappen. Verstappen tried to keep up, but as soon as he pushed, the Red Bull overheated its tyres. He was struggling to match Hamilton’s pace, meanwhile Bottas was catching him from behind. A frustrated Verstappen signalled to his team that his rear tyres were finished.
Pirelli Graphic – Pit Stops Verstappen’s teammate Albon was first to pit on lap 17 and surprisingly put on hard tyres-only driver in the race to do so- which everyone wanted to avoid. Maybe this was a way by Red Bull to check the pace on hard tyre and if Verstappen could be fitted onto them to make a one-stop work. Ultimately this move compromised Albon’s strategy as he was stuck behind slower cars and was overcut by Sainz who finished ahead of him in the race. Both the McLaren’s were on a two stop as they looked to use the fresh rubber to get past their rivals.
Red Bull finally pitted Verstappen at the end of lap 21 on a new set of mediums, Hamilton and Bottas followed suit two laps later for the same tyre. Behind them both Racing Point cars pitted for medium tyres as well and made way to their original positions of P4 & P5 by lap 35. Renault were trying a one-stop strategy with both their cars, as at one stage Ricciardo was running in P4 and Ocon in P9.Leclerc and Vettel pitted on lap 29 for medium and soft tyres respectively.
Meanwhile, dark clouds appeared north of the circuit, with Vettel’s race engineer indicating rain to hit the track around lap 50. Alas, rain failed to materialise just like it had in the middle of the Hungarian GP. Hamilton now was around 8s clear of Verstappen and Bottas just behind the Dutchman. The one-stop strategy looked like a miss hit from Renault as both cars dropped out of points once pitted. Gremlins struck Leclerc on lap37, as his engine was cut off and he spun in turn 15. He managed to start the car but ultimately retired, later diagnosed as an electrical issue.
Verstappen pit for a second time on lap 41, taking another set of medium tyres to get to the end. Hamilton was not in the undercut range and therefore, carried on. Bottas went long till lap 48 and then pitted onto soft tyres, to create a tyre offset to Verstappen. The soft tyre didn’t work well for Bottas as he was unable to close the gap for Verstappen, let alone overtake him. Hamilton pitted on lap 50 for a second set of medium tyres, as he cruised home to a dominant victory, 24.177 seconds ahead of Verstappen. Bottas pitted for a third time to bolt on a set of medium tyres, to score a fastest lap point and in the process broke the lap record of the circuit. He finished P3.
Racing Point cars finished in lofty P4 & P5, Stroll finishing ahead of Perez as the Mexican got a 5-second time penalty for ignoring blue flags. Sainz finished P6, a confidence boost after couple of bad races in Silverstone. Vettel held off Albon to finish P7 thanks to an audacious one stop strategy and good tyre management. Vettel did 36 laps on the soft tyres. The top 10 was completed by Gasly and Norris. Interesting to note, only the podium finishers finished the race on the lead lap, everyone else was lapped in the race. Renault cars finished out of the points, so did the cars of Alfa Romeo, Haas and Williams.
Mercedes were expected to struggle once again in hot conditions, but they did not. They had a big advantage over Red Bull regarding race pace and also looked after their tyres better. Tyre management from Mercedes drivers was on point as they did not face any issues similar to last week. Mercedes had reverted to their Hungary specification high downforce rear wing with double swan neck pillars and a t-wing on the engine cover. Red Bull are inherently slower than Mercedes and they were slightly worse on their tyres as Verstappen complained of the rear tyres being finished. Albon also struggled to preserve his tyres, especially in the first two stints.Red Bull too reverted to Hungary specification rear wing with louvred endplates and a deeper main plane.
Like Mercedes and Red Bull, Racing Point, Renault, Ferrari and AlphaTauri used high downforce rear wings with a deeper main plane. The reason being, rear stability is essential in high speed corners and sector 3 is made up of slow speed corners.
Racing Point showed expected pace, just behind the top 2. McLaren had a resurgence in race pace as Sainz was able to finish in P6 and Norris in P10. Arguably Norris could have finished higher, had he had a better start. Ferrari and AlphaTauri were similar on pace. Ferrari’s move to put both drivers on one stop worked as Vettel finished ahead of the two stopping Gasly and Leclerc would have finished in points had he not retired. Renault slumped after two encouraging races as they could score no points on the basis of pace-which they lacked compared to their rivals- or the strategy.
Alfa Romeo showed improvement in pace as Raikkonen briefly ran in the top-10. Meanwhile, Haas have to find answers as they looked competitive on Friday but were unable to explain their loss of pace on Saturday and Sunday. Williams will be encouraged by the race pace and the ability to fight other cars. Saying that Russell was unable to make it to Q2, for the first time since round 1, prompting Williams to find answers for their lack of one-lap pace.
*Malhaar Khaladkar is an intern with INDIAinF1. You can read his articles here. We invite your comments below.
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Unexpected tyre deflations bring in drama to British GP race
New Delhi, 3 August 2020: Defending champion Lewis Hamilton limped home to a record 7th British GP victory on three tyres, in the dramatic last few laps. A controlled, dominant victory and 1-2 finish for Hamilton and Mercedes was not on the cards as Valtteri Bottas finished out of points after suffering a similar issue, albeit two laps earlier, and Hamilton scraped through to take the win from the charging Bull of Max Verstappen.
Mercedes have taken pole position at this track since 2013, and this year is no exception. Hamilton started on pole with Bottas lining up second. Behind them were the duo of Verstappen and Leclerc. McLarens started in P5 and P7, Lando Norris out-qualified Carlos Sainz and Lance Stroll was sandwiched between them in P6. Renault lined up in P8 & P9. Sebastian Vettel’s miserable weekend continued as he could only manage P10 on the starting grid. Gasly and sister teammate Albon started alongside. F1 returnee Nico Hulkenberg was due to line-up P13 on the grid but didn’t start the race due to drivetrain issues was held up in the garage. George Russel had a 5-place grid penalty for infringement of yellow flags in qualifying starting last, two places behind his teammate. Haas and Alfa Romeo had a miserable qualifying, unable to make it out of Q1.
The predicted and fastest strategy was a one-stop from either the medium or the soft onto the hard tyre to the end of the race. Pirelli predicted the hard tyre could do about 40 laps.
Graphic courtesy Pirelli By the end of Lap 1, Safety Car was out as Alex Albon collided with Kevin Magnussen, subsequently, the latter went into the barrier. Safety Car came in on Lap 5 as Normal running resumed. Safety Car was leading the field again on Lap 12 as Daniil Kvyat lost control of his car entering Maggots, the Turn 10. It was suggested according to Alpha Tauri team principal Franz Tost, that the crash happened due to a rear right tyre puncture.
The whole field, barring Romain Grosjean and Alex Albon pitted for hard tyres on Laps 12 and 13 to go till the end. This resulted in Grosjean running in P5 ahead of the likes of McLaren, Renault and the sole Racing Point of Lance Stroll but the gamble failed to yield the expected result. Safety Car came in at the end of Lap 18. Till this point, only half a dozen laps of normal racing had taken place.
As racing got underway Norris made his way past Ricciardo as the McLaren’s overtook Grosjean and running P5 and P6 by Lap 27. Ricciardo followed suit on Lap 36. Grosjean hit the cliff as he pitted on Lap 38 dropping him to P15. Meanwhile, Albon was slapped with a 5-second time penalty for his altercation with Magnussen. He served it when he made a second pitstop on Lap 31. At the front it was relatively smooth sailing for the top 4. Hamilton maintained a 2-second lead over his teammate Bottas while Verstappen was in no-man”s land. Charles Leclerc was 4-seconds ahead of future teammate Sainz.
Stroll started losing pace as he was overtaken by Ocon and eventually Gasly. With that Racing Point’s promising pace faded away in the later stages of the race. Ultimately, Stroll finished in P9. Gasly rubbed salt on the wounds of Vettel as he overtook him on Lap 39, outside of Stowe (Turn 15). Vettel’s weekend plummetted further…
Bottas pits in 2020 British Grand Prix, Sunday- Steve Etherington Ten laps to the end, Bottas informed the team of vibrations in his left front tyre. He dropped significantly from the back of his teammate. Sainz had similar issues. Meanwhile, Raikkonen went off track and damaged half of his front wing, leaving debris on track.
It all kicked off on Lap 49 as Bottas’ left front tyre deflated while going through Turn 3. He managed to get back to the pits but lost time and track position due to running on three tyres. Eventually, he finished P11. Thus with P2 assured, Verstappen pitted for soft tyres on Lap 50 to set the Fastest Lap, for that extra point. Sainz too had his left front tyre lose its shape on the penultimate lap, ultimately finishing P13. Hamilton was instructed by his team to back off to preserve tyre integrity. The drama was not finished yet, as Hamilton’s front left tyre deflated on the old start/finish straight. With only half a lap to go, and Verstappen 30 seconds behind and closing fast, Hamilton limped home to a record his 7th British GP victory. Verstappen finished 5.856s behind and Leclerc got an unexpected podium. Daniel Ricciardo finished P4 and Esteban Ocon P6, earning Renault their best result of the season. Lando Norris finished P5. Albon recovered to P8. Alfa Romeo and Williams were unable to score points but Russell finished an encouraging P12.
Silverstone further cemented the advantage of the Mercedes as they qualified over a second to the nearest car. They are also a class apart as far as race pace is concerned. Red Bull were trying a lot of new pieces on the car to improve the balance. Both drivers commented about the improved race pace compared to leaders Mercedes. Ferrari had a radical approach to this GP as they stripped the car off, of downforce, for gains in straight-line speed, their weakness, and better qualifying performance. It meant they would struggle in the race. Less downforce means less energy going through tyres and difficulty in their warm-up. They were quite off the pace to Mercedes and Red Bull but had enough race pace to hold off the McLaren, in part helped by Grosjean being a mobile chicane behind Leclerc.
One more disaplpointing week-end for Sebastian Vettel. A Ferrari image Renault has weaker qualifying pace and stronger race pace compared to rivals McLaren who are in a vice versa situation. McLaren had brought new bargeboards to this race for airflow management around the sidepods. They were faster than Racing Point in one-lap but seemed to lose out in the race to Renault.
Racing Point were predicted to be second quickest car before the start of the weekend, owing to a similar design concept to Mercedes. But they underperformed again, in qualifying and lost out in race pace to McLaren, Renault and even Alpha Tauri. Williams showed improved race pace while both Ferrari customers, Haas and Alfa Romeo, struggled through the weekend.
The left-front tyre deflations were unexpected and none of the three cars showed immediate signs apart from vibrations. Pirelli launched an investigation and are still analysing the cause. The left-front tyre is frequently loaded due to a majority of high-speed corners being right-hand turns on this circuit. Abbey (T1), Copse (T9), Stowe (T15) and Club (T18). The left-front tyre had started delaminating on both Mercedes cars. Another reason for the tyres deflating could be due to the debris left on track by Raikkonen’s front wing.
It is surprising that as soon as Bottas suffered the puncture and Verstappen pitted, Mercedes left Hamilton out. Hamilton also commented about pitting on the last lap as they had over a pit stops gap to Verstappen. In hindsight, if Verstappen had not pitted he would have overtaken Hamilton and won. Red Bull later justified their decision to pit, by confirming that they had “no guarantee Verstappen would have got till the end”. The hard tyre that came off of Verstappen’s car had deep grooves and quite a lot of lacerations. It was safer to pit and cement P2 rather than lose everything.
The Emirates Formula 1 – 70th Anniversary Grand Prix 2020, the fifth round will be at the same track in Silverstone next Sunday.
*Malhaar Khaladkar is an intern with INDIAinF1 and will be writing on F1 and technical aspects of the sport. The passionate student is also a keen student of the sport. This is his second article and you can read the first article here. We invite your comments below.
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Hungarian Grand Prix race analysis
Starting with this race-Monday, a young F1 enthusiast and fan from Delhi, Malhaar Khaladkar, will do an analysis of the race weekend, every Monday after the F1 race.
By Malhaar Khaladkar*
New Delhi, 20 July 2020: Rain before the start of the race meant that the track was wet. Therefore, the whole grid started on the intermediates, barring two cars of Magnussen and Romain Grosjean which started on the wets. Verstappen crashed his car in turn 12 during the lap to the grid. He managed to recover his car on to the grid but damaged the suspension and front wing. Red Bull mechanics had a monumental task to get the car ready before the start, they did so with 20 seconds remaining.
Mercedes were expected to dominate given their qualifying pace. Behind them were the Racing Points and Ferraris. Verstappen was looking to make up ground after an underwhelming qualifying. Behind him were two McLarens and the sole Alpha Tauri of Gasly. Ricciardo and Russel started in P11 & P12 respectively. Albon had a torrid time on Saturday being the only 13th. Behind him was the other Renault and Williams. Haas had cars in P16 & P18, Kvyat slotting between them and Alfa Romeo occupied the last row.
As the formation lap ended, both Haas’s pit for slick tyres which turned out to be an excellent decision. Kvyat wanted to do the same but he was instructed to stay out. Hamilton arguably had the best start and behind him was Stroll in turn 1. Bottas jumped the start and then bogged down, getting overtaken by 5 cars. Cars starting on the right side of the circuit had worse starts compared to cars starting on the left i.e. on the racing line. Nicholas Latifi in the Williams was running P10 after a quick start.
Graphics courtesy Pirelli F1 Media By Lap 5 everyone had switched to slick tyres with Hamilton in the lead. Verstappen overcut Stroll to be in P2, while the strategy gamble by Haas at the start meant that Magnussen and Grosjean were running P3 & P4 for a brief time. Leclerc struggled with the degradation on his soft tyre compared to the medium tyres of other cars. Due to strategy, his race was compromised. Both McLarens lost time while pitting, thus, ran outside of the points-paying position. Raikkonen in his Alfa Romeo ran in P11 briefly before being handed a 5-second time penalty for starting on the wrong grid slot.
The expected rain did not arrive and passed to the south of the circuit. Around lap 29 the second round of pitstops occurred with Vettel putting on the hard tyres. Others followed in till lap 37 for either the medium or the hard tyres. Bottas caught up to Verstappen in P2 but was unable to pass him as following another car at this circuit is very difficult. Meanwhile Hamilton had a 22 second, over a pit stop lead to Verstappen.
Mercedes executed a very similar strategy to last year as they pit Bottas on lap 49 for a set of hard tyres to hunt down Verstappen for last 21 laps. Bottas did catch him with two laps to go, but was unable to pass him. Hamilton took a free pitstop on lap 66 to switch to soft tyres and gun for the fastest lap of the race. He set a track record of 1:16.627 on the last lap. Lance Stroll achieved the highest position of the season with P4. Behind him were the second Red Bull of Albon and Vettel. Perez recovered to P7 after a bad start and Ricciardo finished in P8 in his Renault. Haas achieved first points of the season as Magnussen finished P9 on road, but got demoted to P10 after both Haas cars were awarded a time penalty of 10-seconds due to using driver aids on formation lap. Sainz was P9, maintaining McLaren’s record of finishing in top 10 in Hungary since the turbo hybrid era. Leclerc due to bad strategy missed out on points. Behind him were Kvyat, Norris and Ocon. Both Alfa Romeo and Williams lacked pace to challenge the top 10. Gasly was the sole retirement in the race due to power unit problems.
The Hungarian GP proved that the Mercedes W11 was strong at low downforce circuits i.e. Austria and high downforce circuit like Hungary. They are the class of the field. Behind them Racing Point have shown better understanding of their car and improvement in pace. They outqualified both Red Bulls and matched them in race pace. The favourite contenders for the win, Red Bull had balance issues the whole weekend. The car understeered in some corners and oversteered in others. This was evident in their qualifying pace. They had much better race pace as Verstappen was able to fight off Bottas and Albon was able to overtake Vettel on track. Their upgrades, specifically the rear wing endplates and floor did not give them the gains they expected and worsened the balance of the car.
Pirelli Graphics The Ferraris were much improved this weekend. They got both cars in Q3 and one finished in P6. If they had got the strategy right, both cars could have finished in the points. This track inherently suited their car with lack of straights and twisty corners. Ferrari front wing and floor upgrades seemed to improve their pace marginally as the balance and pace of the car improved. McLaren had predicted they would struggle after Friday as the car was having balance issues through the weekend. Due to this, neither of the driver was comfortable with the car and was able to extract maximum pace. Renault once more finished in P8 showing signs of improvement in the closely packed midfield. Ricciardo put a mammoth 40+ laps stint on the medium tyres which gave him the tyre offset in the second stint. The tyre advantage wasn’t enough for him to overtake as the Renault is not the outright fastest car in the midfield.
Alpha Tauri could’ve scored points with Gasly but they were struck with reliability gremlins. Haas achieved points and outraced one of the Ferrari cars due to good strategy. On pure pace, they would not have achieved points. Alfa Romeo is arguably the slowest car in qualifying while their race pace is not encouraging either. Williams have improved their qualifying pace immensely mixing it with the midfield and George Russel out-qualifying a Red Bull. They still lack race pace but as evident from qualifying it’s a matter of when they unlock it rather than if they have the pace.
*Malhaar Khaladkar is an intern with INDIAinF1 and will be writing on F1 and technical aspects of the sport. The passionate student is also a keen student of the sport. This is his first article. We invite your comments below.
