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Tag: Max Verstappen
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Verstappen delivers superb wet win; Vettel thrills the home crowd to take 2nd from P20
Hockenheim, 28 July 2019: Max Verstappen proved to be the rain master on Sunday as he delivered an absolutely superb show winning the German Grand Prix, the 11th round of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship here.Max Verstappen took the seventh victory of his Formula 1 career at the end of a topsy-turvy, incident-packed German Grand Prix that saw Mercedes miss out on a podium finish for the first time in over a year, Sebastian Vettel rise from 20thplace on the grid to second place, and Daniil Kvyat score Toro Rosso’s first podium finish in almost 11 years.
With steady rain falling in the run-up to the race, the decision was taken to begin with four formation laps in order to assess the wet conditions and to clear any standing water.
The Safety Car then left the track and a standing start was decreed. And when the lights went out Lewis Hamilton held his pole position advantage top take the lead of the race. Fellow front-row starter Verstappen failed to make a clean getaway, however, and he was immediately passed by Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas and Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Räikkönen.
Further back, Vettel made a superb start from 20thon the grid, taking an inside line at lights out to pass a flotilla of cars before the first turn. By the end of the first lap he’d risen to 12thplace.
It was at that point that the conditions claimed the first of several victims. Racing Point’s Sergio Pérez lost control as he headed towards the stadium section and after he slide off into the trackside wall, the safety car was deployed.
Vettel was the first to react and the Ferrari driver dived into the pits for intermediate tyres. He was quickly followed by Toro Rosso’s Alex Albon and both profited from the decision vaulting into the top 10 as others followed suit.
Once those who moved to inters rejoined and the order had been ararranged Hamilton led from Haas’ Kevin Magnussen (who had not pitted), Bottas and Verstappen.
When the SC left the track, Bottas and Verstappen immediately breezed past Magnussen to take second and third respectively. It was Vettel, though, who profited most and when the German eased past the fading Magnussen he found himself in seventh place behind Alfa’s Kimi Räikkönen.
With light rain continuing to fall and with little chance of making a move to slick tyres, the race then settled somewhat. On lap 21 Magnussen became the first driver to make the switch to slicks, with the Haas driver taking on soft tyres. Vettel, followed suit almost immediately.
Magnussen’s first tour was not quicker than leader Hamilton’s but the next lap was a second under the leader’s time and on lap 25 Verstappen pitted, taking on mediums.
That sparked a general move to slick rubber, but when the rain began to intensify over the following laps the risks heightened. On lap 27 Charles Leclerc made a mistake and slid off track at the final corner. The safety car was deployed and the field began to switch back to the green-banded tyres.
Hamilton’s switch was enforced, however. The race leader lost control in the same place as Leclerc and slid into the barrier. He damaged the left side of his front wing and immediately dived for the pit.
Unprepared, the Mercedes mechanics had no intermediate tyres ready, and overall, Hamilton’s visit for a new front wing and fresh tyres took more than a minute.
The long delay dropped Hamilton to fifth. And when new Bottas pitted for inters, Verstappen claimed the race lead for the first time.
There was more woe for Hamilton soon after. In arrowing across track to the pits he had gone in on the wrong side of the bollard at the pit entrance. The offence earned the champion a five-second time penalty.
When racing resumed on lap 33, Verstappen powered away from second-placed Nico Hulkenberg and quickly opened up a five-second gap to the German. Bottas and Hamilton were soon past Hulkenberg but the gap from the lead Mercedes to the Red Bull stood at nine seconds.
However, the Dutchman’s advantage was soon erased. On lap 40 Hulkenberg also went off in the final corner and with his Renault deep in the gravel the safety car was once again released.
During the cautionary period the conditions began to steadily improve and though racing resumed on lap 46, it was the cue for a flurry of pit stops as drivers moved to exploit the improving conditions and take on slick tyres.
Verstappen was first in, at the end of lap 46, and the race leader switched to soft compound tyres. Hamilton, too, pitted during this third safety car phase and also took his time penalty during the stop to emerge in P11. At the front, after the stops had taken their effect, Max led from second and third place men Lance Stroll of Racing Point and Daniil Kvyat of Toro Rosso. Bottas lay fourth ahead of McLaren’s Carlos Sainz and Vettel, who was running well on his new soft tyres.
On lap 51, Kvyat made a bid for a Honda-powered one-two finish, with the Russian powering past Stroll to claim second place.
Behind them, though, Bottas was beginning to apply pressure and the expectation was that Verstyappen would have the Mercedes driver for company in the closing stages.
It wasn’t to be, though. On lap 56 Bottas carried too much speed into Turn 1 and the Mercedes driver lost control on the exit of the corner, he slid left into the gravel trap and hit the barrier hard. The incident brought out the safety car for the fourth time. Once again, though, Verstappen was in control and when racing resumed on lap 60 he simply powered away from Kvyat.
In the final few laps, it was Vettel who made the biggest moves. The Ferrari driver powered past Sainz as if the McLaren wasn’t there into Turn 6 on lap 60. Stroll and Kvyat were dismissed over the following two laps and Vettel settled into P2 on the final lap, having climbed from dead last at the start.
There was no denying Verstappen though and the Red Bull driver duly crossed the line to take his seventh career win. Vettel took a superb second and behind him Kvyat hung on to claim his third career podium finish and Toro Rosso’s first podium finish since Vettel won the 2008 Italian Grand Prix for the team. Fourth place went to Stroll, with the Canadian driver finishing ahead of Sainz and the second Toro Rosso of Alex Albon.
The Alfa Romeos of Kimi Räikkönen and Antonio Giovinazzi finished the race in seventh and eighth places but after the race both were handed 10-second stop and go penalties due to issues over the team’s clutch torque application at the race start.
The ruling meant that Haas’ Romain Grosjean and Kevin Masgnussen took seventh and eighth places respectively, while Hamilton jumped to ninth place to maintain a 23-race long record of points finishes stretching back to last year’s British Grand Prix. The final point on offer thus went to Williams’ Robert Kubica. The point is Williams first since last year’s Italian Grand Prix and Kubica’s first since the 2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
A delighted Daniil Kvyat (STR14-03, Car 26) said after the race: “It’s incredible to be back on the podium in what could be called my ‘second career’. I thought it would never happen again in my life, so I’m so incredibly happy. There’s so many emotions I still need some time to let it all sink in! This achievement is so great for us since it’s 11 years since Toro Rosso’s last podium with Sebastian in Monza. It was such an amazing day and I’m so happy. Thank you to everyone in the team, it was just an incredible day. I was readier than ever to fight for this kind of position. This year I feel more mature, my head is cooler, and I’m readier to fight on top, so I think I proved that today to myself and everyone around here. I hope this will become a habit soon! These kinds of races aren’t easy, it was a tough call to pit that lap earlier, but it’s a 50/50 call between the team and me, we win and lose together and today we won together.”
Lewis Hamilton praises Kvyat: What a crazy race. This has been one of the most difficult races we’ve had as a team for a long time. I thought I had the race under control, but we took a risk going out on slicks and the race fell apart from there. I went wide at Turn 16 and it was like ice out there, then hit the wall and damaged my wing. I made a mistake and paid the price. I was in the lead and then finished P11. I’m not even sure how, but that’s very painful and I’m just glad it’s over. It’s hard to perform when you’re not at 100 percent. I need to make sure I’m fit and healthy again in time for the next race. You live and you learn from days like this. It’s important now that we regroup for Hungary. I’m happy for Seb, who fought his way back to P2 from the back, and how good to see Daniil and Toro Rosso on the podium too – good for them.
Racing Point’s Lance Stroll gets P4: “I’m really happy with that. What an amazing day! The fourth-place feels great considering everything that happened this afternoon. I was running at the back for most of the race; I spun a couple of times and we pitted five times! As special as it is to finish fourth, I am disappointed that the podium slipped away from us. I think a critical moment was the mistake I made, in turn, eight on my second or third lap on slicks, which is when Daniil [Kvyat] managed to get ahead of me. We tried our best to keep the quicker cars behind, but the podium was just out of reach. Today’s race shows why you should never give up because it’s never over until it’s over. It’s great to see how much this result means to the team and it was so special to see the crew celebrating on the pit wall when I crossed the line. This important result is for everyone in the team and we will enjoy this moment.”
2019 FIA Formula One German Grand Prix – Race
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull
2 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 7.333
3 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 8.305
4 Lance Stroll Racing Point 8.966
5 Carlos Sainz McLaren 9.583
6 Alex Albon Toro Rosso 10.052
7 Romain Grosjean Haas 16.838
8 Kevin Magnussen Haas 18.765
9 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 19.667
10 Robert Kubica Williams 24.987
11 George Russell Williams 26.404
12 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo 42.214
13 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo 42.849
14 Pierre Gasly Red Bull
Valtteri Bottas Mercedes
Nico Hulkenberg Renault
Charles Leclerc Ferrari
Lando Norris McLaren
Daniel Ricciardo Renault
Sergio Perez Racing Point -
Verstappen keeps thrilling Austrian GP win after stewards’ decision; Hamilton 5th behind Vettel
Verstappen wins Austrian GP. An FIA image Spielberg (Austria), 30 June 2019: Max Verstappen recovered from a poor start to take a brilliant Austrian Grand Prix, and to score Honda’s first F1 victory in 13 years, though the Dutch driver’s sixth career win was only officially confirmed following a stewards’ investigation into the overtaking move on Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc that earned Verstappen top spot on the podium in the Austrian GP, the 9th round of the Formula 1 World Championship here on Sunday.
Polesitter Leclerc had led from the start of the race, but with a handful of laps to go Verstappen used greater pace on hard tyres to close up to the Ferrari driver. He tried to pass on the inside into Turn 3 on lap 68 but the attempt was rebuffed by the clam Leclerc who held his line and power ahead of the Dutch driver on exit from the corner.
Undaunted, Verstappen tried again on the next lap, in the same place. This time there was contact and Leclerc was forced wide. As the Ferrari driver slowed, Verstappen raced away into the lead and at the end of the 71stlap crossed the line to take a brilliant win.
Almost immediately race stewards reported that the incident was under investigation and there followed a nervous wait while the officials deliberated.
Some three hours later, Verstappen’s win was confirmed with the matter ruled to be a racing incident.
“Car 33 sought to overtake car 16 at Turn 3 on lap 69 by out-braking car 16. When doing so, car 33 was alongside car 16 on the entry of the corner and was in full control of the car while attempting the overtaking move on the inside of car 16,” read the verdict.
“However, both car 33 and car 16 proceeded to negotiate the corner alongside each other but there was clearly insufficient space for both cars to do so. Shortly after the late apex, while exiting the corner, there was contact between the two cars. In the totality of the circumstances, we did not consider that either driver was wholly or predominantly to blame for the incident. We consider that this is a racing incident.”
Verstappen’s sixth career win and the first for power unit partner Honda since the Hungarian Grand Prix of 2006 seemed unlikely when the Dutchman’s RB15 bogged down and he was immediately passed by a swarm of rivals. Leclerc powered away into the lead ahead of the Mercedes cars of Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton, the Alfa Romeo of fast-starting Kimi Räikkönen, the McLaren of Lando Norris and the second Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel. Verstappen, though, dropped to P7 and looked to be out of contention. However, both Verstappen and Vettel passed Norris with relative ease and within a handful of laps they had also cleared Räikkönen.
After a dozen laps, Leclerc was a healthy three seconds ahead of Bottas, with Hamilton a further 2.7 seconds back in third. Vettel was now fourth, 4.5s behind Hamilton, while Verstappen was a similar distance behind Vettel. Ahead of the first round of pit stops Leclerc had built an almost five-second advantage over Bottas, who triggered what would for most of the leafing pack would be a single pit stop.
Bottas made a clean stop on lap 21 but there was no such luck for Vettel who stopped at the same time4. The Ferrari driver’s crew were not ready with a set of hard tyres and the German was forced to sit stationary for six seconds as a front left wheel was located and fitted. Leclerc made his stop at the end of the following lap and he emerged in P3 behind new leader Hamilton and Verstappen .
Hamilton was now suffering with degradation to his opening set of medium tyres and as Verstappen closed the gap, the Mercedes driver pushed too hard and damaged his front wing. He pitted at the end of lap 30, not only for hard tyres but also for a new front wing.
The stop saw Hamilton stand still in his pit box for 11 seconds and Red Bull responded by pitting Verstappen on lap 31. He emerged four seconds clear of Hamilton, in fourth place. And it was then, with hard tyres on board, that the race began to come to the Dutchman
He swiftly close on third-placed Vettel and on lap 50, breezed past the German on entry to Turn 4 to take third place.
Verstappen now had Bottas in his sights and on lap 56 her took second place, dismissing Bottas effortlessly with a move down the inside into Turn 3 under DRS.
With 10 laps to go Max was just 3.8 seconds behind the race leader and five laps later the Red Bull driver arrived on Ferrari’s gearbox. The two 21-year-old racers then engaged in the epic battle that ended with Verstappen spraying champagne from the top step of the podium but also facing a stewards’ investigation.
Vettel had also been on the move during the closing stages and he passed Hamilton to take a solid fourth place after starting from P9. Hamilton was left with fifth place ahead of Norris and Pierre crossed the line in P7 to score his seventh points finish of the season to date. Eighth place was taken by Carlos Sainz who finished ahead of the Alfa Romeo cars of Räikkönen and Antonio Giovinazzi.
2019 FIA Formula One Austrian Grand Prix – Race
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing
2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 2.724
3 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 18.960
4 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 19.610
5 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 22.805
6 Lando Norris McLaren 1 Lap
7 Pierre Gasly Red Bull Racing 1 Lap
8 Carlos Sainz Jr. McLaren 1 Lap
9 Kimi Raikkonen Alfa Romeo Racing 1 Lap
10 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo Racing 1 Lap
11 Sergio Perez Racing Point 1 Lap
12 Daniel Ricciardo Renault 1 Lap
13 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1 Lap
14 Lance Stroll Racing Point 1 Lap
15 Alex Albon Scuderia Toro Rosso 1 Lap
16 Romain Grosjean Haas 1 Lap
17 Daniil Kvyat Scuderia Toro Rosso 2 Laps
18 George Russell Williams 2 Laps
19 Kevin Magnussen Haas 2 Laps
20 Robert Kubica Williams 3 Laps -
It is my best race ever, I need to enjoy today says, Valtteri Bottas
Valtteri Bootas (centre) and Lewis Hamilton (left) at the Press Conference along with Max Verstappen on Sunday. An FIA image Melbourne, 17 March 2019: Valtteri Bottas of Mercedes AMG Petronas team who won the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday along with teammate Lewis Hamilton who finished second ahead of Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing attended the FIA post-race Press Conference.
The track interviews are done by former F1 driver Martin Brundle. Transcript:
Q: Valtteri, the race of your life?
Valtteri BOTTAS: I think so! I don’t know what just happened.
Q: What a perfect start, to get away.
VB: I don’t know what to say. It was definitely my best race ever. I don’t know what happened. I felt so good and everything was under control. The car was so good today. So truly enjoyable. I need to enjoy today.
Q: You made it a one-horse race. Twenty-six world championship points with the fastest lap. You were determined to have that fastest lap.
VB: Yeah, definitely. It’s a new rule for this year. As I had really strong pace I wanted to go for that in the end and it’s always a bit risky with worn tyres but it was worth it. I’m just so happy and I can’t wait for the next race.
Q: A one-two for the team, congratulations Lewis, second place, but maybe a bit of a frustrating day for you?
Lewis HAMILTON: No it’s been a good weekend for the team, so I have to be happy for everyone and a really fantastic job from everyone. Valtteri drove an incredible race today, so he truly deserved it. We’ve just got some work to do. Still, it’s a great, great start to the year, more than we could have hoped as a team.
Q: Max launched an attack on you at the end. Did you have it covered?
LH: Yeah, no problem at all.
Q: Any idea where the pace may have gone to?
LH: I do have some ideas, but I’ll wait until I sit with my engineers to go over it. Naturally, position at the start was a little bit frustrating, especially when you have a good weekend up to that point but that’s how the game goes and I’ll just train and work hard to try and improve the next time.
Podium place for Max Verstappen. You had an interesting afternoon.
Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, I had to overtake Seb to get onto the podium, which is not easy around here, so I was happy to pull that move off, and also challenging Lewis for second, so, yeah, pretty pleased with that.
You had the Ferraris covered. You had a little trip across the grass, probably took you back from behind Lewis. But you were still coming at him.
MV: Yeah, it was unfortunate but I don’t think it would have changed the end result.
So, reasonably happy with today?
MV: Of course. To start the season on the podium, challenging the Mercedes car ahead, I think that’s a very positive start for us. Also a big well done to the team, after the difficult Friday we had. And also big thanks to Honda, also their first podium in the V6 era, so very happy for them.
PRESS CONFERENCE
Q: Well Valtteri you said on the podium that you had porridge for breakfast but was there any indication in practice that you were going to be able to unlock that sort of performance from the car?
VB: Well, first of all, as a team, in practice we saw that we were strong, both in short runs and long runs, but obviously it’s impossible to draw a proper conclusion but we saw the raw pace yesterday in qualifying, as a team, with a good margin to Ferrari, and today race pace was strong – much stronger than we expected coming into this weekend. That’s obviously good news. It shows that we have definitely done all the right things between the testing in terms of direction with the car. Also, for myself, it was definitely the best race I’ve had in my life. Obviously, the key thing for me was the race start, to get to the lead and then being at the front I could show strong pace and I could pull a gap. I think in the first stop I could also…. I stopped a bit later so I was a good tyre in the end. Just the car was feeling so good today, it was truly enjoyable.
Q: Well, many congratulations. Lewis, it all seemed to slip away from you at the start. Tell us about that moment?
LH: I don’t really remember much of it, honestly, it was quite a long time ago really. I don’t know, maybe I got wheelspin. It doesn’t really matter, Valtteri got a better start. Once we got to the first corner, we held position, we had the front row still. And Valtteri did an exceptional job throughout the race, so congratulations to him and after that it was just about bringing the car home.
Q: You talked on the radio about maybe some tyres issues. Did that play out?
LH: No, not really. I wasn’t entirely happy with the balance I had but it wasn’t the end of the world. It wasn’t a problem for me to finish second.
Q: Thanks. Coming to you Max: If we had said to you before this race that you would finish 35 seconds ahead of the lead Ferrari, what would you have said?
MV: I would tell you ‘we will find out on Sunday’. Winter testing doesn’t really show the true picture, as you can see this weekend. We had a good car. In the start, stayed out of trouble. It was just very hard to stay close to Seb, as my tyres were overheating very quickly. I just did my own pace, a manageable pace, and we could extend our stint a little bit and then when we did the pit stop afterwards we had a bit fresher tyres than Lewis and Seb ahead. I managed to get by Seb, which is not easy around this track, because it’s just so hard to follow. But very happy to get to third. Trying to challenge for second was a very positive feeling, especially after my Friday. At the end we couldn’t pull it off, but in general I’m juts very happy to be on the podium. I think we managed to turn it around in a very positive way after Friday and for Honda to have their first podium in the V6 era is a great start, so big congrats to them.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: Question for Max. How did you find the Honda engine after your first race with it – and do you think you’ll be capable enough to compete for top spot?
MV: Well, I think in terms of speed we had throughout the race, it was again a very good step forward to last year. If I just compare top speeds against the other two top teams, so I’m very pleased for that. Also, in general, the engine has been performing really well, without any issues. So, that is also very important. I guess time will tell if we can fight for top spot.
Q: Max, obviously the performance of the Red Bull Honda package, evidenced by the fact you finished third – but how encouraging was it that you were not only able to finish third on the road but were able to push Lewis and show performance all the way to the end. It didn’t look like you were having to manage the package at all towards the end.
MV: No, we didn’t. Well… you always have to manage the tyres because as soon as you get close to the car ahead they overheat, the tyres. In general, just very pleased, because I could at least have a go at it, in terms of top speed. Good progress, and there are a lot of positive things coming as well, and so far we have been working really well together. Very pleased with that. I think Valtteri was very far ahead still. It was a good result today, but we have to work hard to, of course, improve.
Q: Congratulations Valtteri. For the first time in six years, a Finnish driver is leading the championship. How does it feel to be first time there as a leader?
VB: Congrats to you as well! Thank you. Obviously, I don’t think I was ever leading a championship. Obviously I know it’s only the first race of the year. I’m not so good with the numbers of the days and statistics but all I can say is that I’m really pleased with the way the season has started. First of all for us as a team, we have such a strong package going forwards and then, for myself, after quite a tricky last year, to have started the season like this. It’s very good and I look forward to the next race.
Q: For everyone, how was it with the new aero package, following cars this weekend? In a race you find out more…
MV: Ask Valtteri how it was following!
LH: No different.
No different to previous seasons?
LH: No.
You were pretty close to Lewis at the end there Max…
MV: Yeah, I had no chance to get by. It is still very hard. The only positive thing what we improved is the DRS effect. So, as soon as it opens, it’s a lot more powerful than last year but following is still a lot of turbulence.
Anything to add Valtteri, when you were coming through traffic…
VB: It was quite… I didn’t get close enough to traffic ahead to really see a difference.
Q: Valtteri, you drove the perfect race and your pitcrew was perfect as well. How does that make you feel when you know how much everyone in the team is giving?
VB: It means a lot. It is teamwork and nothing comes for free. Or by one person’s efforts. We’ve all worked for this result we’ve got now as a team together, over the past years and over the winter, and over the weekend. I’m very proud of every single person here in the team at this race weekend but also at the factory. There’s many hidden heroes in Brackley and in Brixworth. Just want to say a massive thanks to them and I really know how much they work and how much it means.
Q: Valtteri, was there any moment during the race that you had a flashback to Russia last year and you thought maybe someone might come on the radio and say ‘slow down’?
VB: No, I didn’t think of that, actually, and there would be no reason to think about that. We are all starting a new season with zero points, we are here to fight, both me and Lewis will want to fight this season, for sure, against each other and against everyone and we are still one team so no point in thinking about those kind of things.
Q: Valtteri, you said yesterday that you approached the weekend differently, started from zero. Can you explain how your preparation was different from last year, for instance?
VB: Yeah, for sure every year you learn as a person, you learn about yourself, what works for you, what doesn’t work for you in terms of preparation and what preparation includes: how you rest, how you spend your free time, how you do the training, how much training, what kind, all those kind of things, travel plans, all sorts. So just trying to optimise everything for this year, try to maximise every single thing that is possible. I don’t know, it’s quite difficult to explain what’s been going on here last winter, inside of my head and definitely something changed in terms of the way I feel about things in life in general and in racing, but that’s all in my thoughts. I felt good in the car today and yesterday. That’s all that matters.
Q: Max, I want to ask about your mindset and the first race without Daniel. Does it change not having to look sidewards and being able to focus on yourself and not focus as much on internals and have a weekend purely about your performance? Did it feel different today without Daniel?
MV: Well, I always focused on myself so it’s not like something changes, from my side. No.
Q: Lewis, can you tell us something about (how much) wheelspin you had, wheelspin at the start?
LH: Yeah, probably too engaged with the clutch, probably, but I don’t really know because I won’t know ‘til I go back, but ultimately I didn’t do a good enough job.
Q: Lewis, the build-up to this race has been very much about your team versus Ferrari, and many people in the room have written about that. Did we have it wrong? And you just fought off a Red Bull; is this now a three way fight for the championship between those three teams?
LH: I don’t know if you wrote it wrong. It was supposed to be a three-way fight… I thought it was going to be a three-way fight so maybe you did write it wrong.
Q: You really seemed to care about the fastest lap point at the end of the race. Would you say it will be a big deal during the season and will you be ready to take a lot of risks to get it?
VB: Yeah, obviously it’s a point and if you get three of those or more it’s going to make a big difference at the end of the year. You never know. One point can make a difference in the end. For sure we’re willing to risk but still knowing that if you’re about to get 20 or 18 points or 15, whatever, they are still more important than getting one extra so you need to calculate the risk but today was worth it, within a stop for an extra set of tyres for it, but with the worn tyres I went for a quick lap and it was worth it.
I just want to say, again, thank-you Charlie and I want to say that this win is for Charlie and all his work for Formula One. He’s done a massive amount and it means a lot to all of us drivers.
LH: It’s 21 points so we’re going to fight for them.
MV: There are 21 possible points you can get so it can help but like Valtteri said, at the end of the day it’s most important to score 25 or 18, 15, 10. Try to go for one more and then it goes wrong, it can happen sometimes but anyway, I think in some situations like today, I was pushing anyway to try and get Lewis so it happened that I was doing, at that time, the fastest lap. It’s nice if it happens.
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Hamilton wins as Ocon pulls Verstappen down: Brazilian GP; Mercedes win Constructors’ title
Hamilton wins on Sunday at Interlagos. An FIA image Sao Paulo, 11 Nov 2018: Max Verstappen was denied an almost certain Brazilian Grand Prix victory when he was taken out of the lead in a collision with Racing Point Force India’s Esteban Ocon. The dramatic incident gifted Lewis Hamilton the second career Brazilian Grand Prix victory that helped Mercedes to a fifth consecutive FIA Formula 1 Constructors’ title, with the Abu Dhabi round to spare in the FIA Formula One World Championship.
Though Verstappen called Esteban Ocon `such an Idiot’ in the post-race press conference, both Ocon and his Racing Point Force India team Principal, Szafnauer, defended their action and said that the Force India was much faster at that time and the rules permitted ` unlapping.
Esteban: “It’s disappointing not to score when we had a good pace. I had made some good overtakes throughout the race, but it all came to nothing after the contact with Max [Verstappen]. He came out of the pits, I stayed behind him for nearly two laps but I was much faster than him and the team advised me to unlap myself. I went on the outside at turn one – the same move I made on Fernando [Alonso] and on many others before, but Max didn’t give me any space. Once I was beside him I couldn’t just disappear, so we collided. But it was my corner and I had the right to the space. I was saddened by his behaviour after the race: he was very aggressive and the guys from the FIA had to intervene. That’s not the way to handle these things.”
Otmar Szafnauer, team Principal and CEO said: “Esteban had done a good job making up ground from the back of the grid and would have probably finished in P11 if it hadn’t been for the clash with Verstappen. The rules state that you’re allowed to unlap yourself and Esteban was much faster than Max at that stage. Unfortunately, he wasn’t left any space in the corner and that ruined the race for both.”
Earlier, Verstappen had stormed through from fifth on the grid to put pressure on polesitter and early race leader Hamilton and the Red Bull driver eventually seized the lead from the recently crowned champion on lap 39.
On lap 44, however, Verstappen went to lap 14th-placed Ocon, making a move down the inside of the French driver’s car in Turn 1. Ocon took a wide line but appeared to fight to hold his position, and when Verstappen turned in for the second corner the pair collided.
Hamilton kneels down in gratitude after his race win on Sunday. Mercedes Photo by Steve Etherington, Verstappen was pitched into a spin, and as the Dutchman recovered, Hamilton swept past to reclaim the lead. Despite significant floor damage, Verstappen fought back in the closing stages, but he was unable to reel in the Briton and Hamilton took his 10th victory of the season. That, allied to a fifth-place finish for Valtteri Bottas, handed Mercedes an unassailable lead over Ferrari in the Constructors’ Championship.
At the race start, Hamilton held his advantage from pole position to take the lead but a poor getaway by fellow front-row starter Vettel allowed Bottas, starting third, to get past the German through the opening two corners.
Verstappen, starting from fifth, was already beginning to work his way forward. He closed on Kimi Räikkönen and at the start of lap three, he went past the Finn around the outside into Turn 1. Vettel was the Dutchman’s next target and at the start of the next lap he again used DRS to close but this time he opted for a dive down the inside to claim P3.
Behind him, team-mate Daniel Ricciardo was also gaining places, and after passing Haas’ Kevin Magnussen on lap one he quickly began to pick off the cars ahead, rising to P6 on lap seven, ahead of Sauber’s Charles Leclerc.
On lap 10 Verstappen made another move, this time choosing the inside of Turn 1 to dive past Bottas and claim second place. Race leader Hamilton was now just 1.7s ahead.
Bottas was the first of the leaders to pit, the Mercedes man heading in for medium tyres at the end of lap 18. Hamilton then ceded the lead to Verstappen at the end of lap 19, with the Briton also stopping for medium compound rubber. Hamilton emerged in P6 behind Charles Leclerc but by lap 25 he was past the Monegasque and closing on fourth-placed Daniel, who was just under six seconds ahead.
Vettel then pitted at the end of lap 27 and the German also opted for medium tyres before rejoining in ninth place. Freed from behind the Ferrari, Daniel moved up to third and set the fastest lap of the race to that point, a 1:12.919. And when Räikkönen pitted the Australian was promoted to second place behind his team-mate.
The Red Bulls began to pull out a lead from those who have already pitted but Verstappen was unable to build a big enough margin before his own stop, and when he rejoined on lap 35 he was in third place, 3.0s behind Hamilton. Verstappen was armed with newer rubber and greater pace than the champion, however, and as the pair arrowed towards the start-finish line to begin lap 39 he eased past Hamilton.
The Dutchman’s lead wouldn’t last long, however. At the start of lap 44, he went to lap Ocon, making a move down the inside of the Force India. Despite being lapped, Ocon protected his position and tried to deny the pass. Verstappen turned in to take the second corner and the pair collided. Verstappen was sent into a spin and sustained serious floor damage in the incident, while Hamilton was allowed to sweep past into the lead. Ocon was later handed a 10-second stop/go penalty for causing the collision.
Ricciardo, meanwhile, was having his own close calls, twice banging wheels with Vettel as he tried to get past the Ferrari. At the second attempt the Australian won out and he climbed fifth place behind Bottas.
Both Red Bulls began to close on the cars ahead, with Verstappen edging to within two seconds of Hamilton and Ricciardo getting inside DRS range of Räikkönen but neither could make a move stick in the closing stages and after 71 laps Hamilton crossed the line to take the second Brazilian Grand Prix win of his career, ahead of Max, with Räikkönen third ahead of Daniel.
Bottas was left with fifth place ahead of Vettel, while Leclerc finished in a best-of-the-rest seventh place. Grosjean took eighth place for Haas ahead of team-mate Kevin Magnussen and the final point on offer went to Racing Point Force India’s Sergio Pérez.
2018 Formula 1 Brazilian Grand Prix – Race
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes –
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1.469
3 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 4.764
4 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 5.193
5 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 22.943
6 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 26.997
7 Charles Leclerc Sauber 44.199
8 Romain Grosjean Haas 51.230
9 Kevin Magnussen Haas 52.857
10 Sergio Perez Force India 1 L
11 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso 1 L
12 Carlos Sainz Renault 1 L
13 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso 1 L
14 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren 1 L
15 Esteban Ocon Force India 1 L
16 Sergey Sirotkin Williams 2 L
17 Fernando Alonso McLaren 2 L
18 Lance Stroll Williams 2 L
Nico Hulkenberg Renault
Marcus Ericsson Sauber. -
Max is that go-getter guy and every now and then it bites you: Hamilton
Hamilton at the Press Conference on Sunday. An FIA image Sao Paulo, 11 Nov 2018: Hamilton said that Max Verstappen is a go-getter and sometimes incidents happen that affect you. He was talking at the post-race FIA Press Conference at Interlagos on Sunday. Verstappen who ended up second after he was pulled down by Ocon, who is lapped, also was at the press meet with Kimi Raikkonen, who came third on Sunday.
The track interviews were conducted by the former F1 driver of Force India, Paul Di Resta.
Q: Max, can you tell us what happened?
Max Verstappen: I don’t know what to say, I mean, you do everything well, you go through the field, we had a great car, and then by such an idiot you get taken out while he is being lapped. I have no words.
Q: What a fight it was. I don’t think anyone quite expected that after yesterday. I mean, the moves you were making early on, very bold into Turn 1, pushing your way through and using everything you had.
MV: I think it was better than expected today. The car was working brilliantly today. The team also gave me the right strategy, we could be going quite well on the supersoft, so we did quite a long stint. But, yeah, I don’t know what to say. Still I’m happy with second, but we should have won today.
Q: Yeah, as you say, it was almost back-to-back victories, does it give you confidence going into next year that something is going to come of this machine?
MV: Well, we should have more power, so we’ll be even better.
Q: All the best. Kimi, late pressure from Daniel coming in, but a good race from you?
Kimi Raikkonen: Yeah, it was good. Not easy, but there was some battling, so it was fun. Obviously, we hoped for better but not the easiest.
Q: Ferrari’s tyres choice didn’t look like it worked out in the end, these guys looked very strong at the beginning, certainly Max on the supersoft. Do you think that was wrong?
KR: I don’t know. My tyre was good, but it was difficult to pass and it took too long to pass. You cannot replay on other tyres, so we don’t know.
Q: Lewis, that’s 2018 Constructors’ champion as well. And you can see what that means to Toto Wolff – the barriers have fallen over twice here in Parc Ferme, which is unusual. Lewis, what does that mean to the team?
Lewis Hamilton: Honestly, these guys have worked so hard the last six years and it’s been an incredible journey for them. This is what everyone works for the whole year, you know. Everyone wakes up and goes to work every day and tries to bring the best out of themselves and they really pull together as a unit. I’ve always told you how much of an honour it is to drive for them, and this was the best style we could do it, because we were struggling. We had problems with the engine. Also he passed us like we were a sitting duck at one stage, but obviously they made a mistake and that brought us back into contention. I’m just so proud of everyone. Everyone back home, thank you so much for your continued efforts. For all our partners, for all our sponsors, who without we would not be here, powering along to a win in Brazil. So, God bless you, thank you.
Q: What goes through your mind when you see Verstappen spin? Did you know he was going to be back on a charge and coming strong?
LH: I saw it happen and it wasn’t something that… I wasn’t surprised by it or anything like that. I saw them racing but they weren’t racing for the same position. In my mind, I would have been in a different frame of mind. Fortunately, he was able to keep going, no one got hurt, and they kept going, it’s a racing incident I guess. Max is that go-getter guy and every now and then it bites you. But I’m really, really proud; I don’t care about anyone else.
Q: I’ve got one last question for you. Big credit to you, that’s 49 wins in the turbo-hybrid era of Formula 1. That’s 50% of all the races. A lot of that’s owed to you, isn’t it?
LH: I keep telling you, I’m just a chink in the chain. They give me the tools and I try to do the best I can with it. I’m proud that I’m able to sometimes bring a little bit more than is needed or that it’s capable of, but that’s what I live for.
Press Conference: Questions from the floor:
Q: (Scott Mitchell – Autosport) Max, I can only imagine the frustration, the emotions at the end of the race for you. Can you just explain what happened between you and Esteban after the race? We saw your altercation. Did he do anything to antagonise you and will you try and speak to him at once when emotions have settled down later on?
MV: I don’t really have a lot to comment on that, except that he was being a pussy.
Q: (Rodrigo Franca – Revista VIP) From a drivers’ point of view, how do you see the future of Formula One to attract a young audience as self-driving cars and electric cars are being developed so quickly? And if you see a future better between Formula E and Formula One?
LH: It’s a difficult one because I’m conflicted. The gasses that we emit with our cars are not particularly helpful for the climate and for the world, so on one side that’s a concern for me but on the other side, as a racing fan, I’m a petrol head and I will always be a petrol head. There will never be a time when I’m an electric head. I hope, at least, in my period of time, it’s always going to be a fuelled car with at least some sort of V-shaped engine, with some sort of sound. I think it’s great what Formula E are doing and it’s a great start, it’s great to see all the top brands – Audi, BMW, Mercedes – are all getting heavily invested because, particularly on the roads – just coming here, for example – you see the traffic every single day, there are thousands and thousands of cars on the road. There’s the same in every country you go to so the sooner we can get rid of the majority of those cars and then turn them into hybrids, then I think that would be a massive difference, but there are a lot of other things we can do around the world with businesses to help with those emissions. But I don’t think you are ever going to compare Formula One and Formula E. Maybe in five, ten years maybe, but the technology that we have, it’s quite far advanced compared to what they would be having and they’re slower than Formula Ford at the moment so they’ve got a long way to catch the speed of a Formula One car. I don’t know if that’s their target but I think it’s really impressive. I’ve been watching their cars on social media and they look pretty cool, so I wish them all the best and looking forward to seeing it progress.
MV: I think the boss clearly said of Formula E already that they don’t want to compete or be seen competing against Formula One so I guess that says enough. It’s just a different category. It seems like it’s getting more interesting, of course, with all the big car manufacturers joining in but at the moment I’m happy where I am and I will probably be one of the last people in the world to try and buy the last barrels of oil.
KR: Nothing to add, really. Formula E looks nice but…
Q: (Livio Oricchio – Globoesporte.com) Max, you have more of an opportunity to talk about the incident with Ocon in a more extended way. Do you think that just one stop and go of ten seconds, against the work of 900 people in your team, that this punishment is enough?
MV: I think at the end of the day it doesn’t really matter what penalty he gets. I already have the penalty of not winning the race so even if you disqualify him, give him two drive-throughs or whatever, it’s not going to make a difference to our race. I don’t know what the right penalty would be but, like I said, of course they have the right to unlap themselves but you have to be careful. I think that has always been the case.
Q: Max, can you just tell us how badly damaged your car was after the incident with Ocon?
MV: So, you know all the cut-outs you have on the side of the floor, that whole area, so I guess that’s this wide(about 15-20cms) that was completely gone so it was pretty bad. I lost a lot of downforce. I had to lock a lot of tools on the steering wheel but that was still not enough. But still the car was quick. We could have been much faster, for sure.
Q: (Dario Coronel – Gran Premioweb) Lewis, today your celebration was very emotional. Why?
LH: I think it was probably an explosion of the last race in Mexico winning the World Championship… I didn’t really feel the celebration there because I knew that we still had another championship to win and I really needed to remain focused for the team and I really came here, to build up to here, just really focused on making sure that I could deliver for them. Naturally the will to want to win is so high for everyone and the stakes are high. Ultimately, you could make mistakes and all these different things but we didn’t or I didn’t on the track, for example, so to come in and see my guys who I’ve come along this great journey with and we’ve had a lot of success but we’ve still remained fierce and competitive and I think our relationship is better than it’s ever been so just that bond, it was just a great great moment, plus it was a really hard race. I was constantly, like, talking to the car: ‘come on, keep going, keep going’ because we had this engine problem and I knew I could see Max just in my mirrors so I was doing qualifying laps every lap to keep him behind, which is how racing should be really anyway. Unfortunately that’s not the case a lot of the time this year but… We’ve just won the World Championship for the fifth time so that’s real history in the making for the team and if I was to stop today, for example, Mercedes would always remember this day and that I was a part of it, and that’s cool.
Q: (Arjan Schouten – AD) Max, over the last days, you’ve told us a lot of times that this is not a circuit for Red Bull, winning was not an option. Ending 1.6s from the winner, with a spin, what does that say about your chances in Abu Dhabi in two weeks?
MV: I don’t know, because this was much better than expected to be honest. I expected to be good in the race but not this good. We will have to wait and see.
Q: (Mattheus Sacramento – ESPN Brazil) Max, there was a similar incident – not exactly the same – but in 2001 in Brazil with Jos Verstappen and Montoya. You’re too young, I’m not sure if you ever heard of it. Montoya was in first place and Jos was 16th I guess and they had a crash. I just wanted to know if you knew that or if that came back to your mind in some ways, that impacts the way you saw Ocon?
MV: Well, I think that was completely different but yeah, that happens. I don’t know what you want me to say, it’s always bad when you get taken out from the lead.
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Flash: Daniel Ricciardo takes Mexican Pole
Mexico City, 27 Oct 2018: The smiling assassin, Australian Daniel Ricciardo took the pole position with a last-minute burst that edged out teammate Max Verstappen by 26 thousands of a second in the Mexican GP, the 19th round of the FIA Formula One World Championship at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez here in Mexico City.“I knew the pace was in the car, Max showed that all weekend. Once I heard I got pole I was – I’ve got to relax now, I’m tripping major nut-sack right now,” said the Red Bull driver, Ricciardo.
In Q2, both Esteban Ocon, and Sergio Perez of Racing Point Force India were eliminated along with Fernando Alonso, B Hartley and Pierce Gasly. Earlier, Grosjean, Vandoorne, Magnussen, Stroll and Sirotkin were eliminated in Q1.
Defending champion Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes needs to finish 7th or higher this weekend to win the title regardless of where championship rival Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel finishes.
It is after five years the two Red Bulls are starting on the first row after their last 1-2 way back in 2013 US Grand Prix. Vettel qualified P4, ahead of Valtteri Bottas and Kimi Raikkonen on P6.
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Max Verstappen tops FP3 ahead of Hamilton, Vettel: Mexican GP
Max Verstappen tops FP3 on Saturday at Mexico City. An FIA image Mexico, 27 Oct 2018: Max Verstappen completed a clean sweep of quickest time in practice for the Mexican Grand Prix, the 19th round of the Formula One World Championship here on Saturday.
The Dutchman topped the timesheet in FP3 at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, more than two tenths of a second clear of championship leader Lewis Hamilton and title contender Sebastian Vettel.
Verstappen went quickest late in a weather-compromised final practice session, moving ahead of Sauber’s impressive Charles Leclerc with his first qualifying-style lap on hypersoft tyres.
The Dutchman set a time 1:16.385 to lead the Monegasque driver by 0.674s. Mercedes driver Hamilton and Ferrari man Vettel then closed in with their quali sims, but neither could overhaul the Red Bull Racing driver and when Verstappen popped in another late flying lap he opened the gap further to end the session 0.254s behind the Dutchman. Vettel was left with third place, just under three hundredths of a second behind Hamilton.
The session began on a damp track and with drivers reluctant to run in the unrepresentative conditions, there was little action in the opening half of the session, with mots drivers completing only an installation lap before returning to the pit lane.
As the session reached the halfway point, McLaren’s Fernando Alonso was the first to bolt on slick tyres and that prompted a steady stream of lap times as driver worked their way into the session and the conditions.
Leclerc was quickest in the early phase of consistent running with the Sauber driver jumping into P1 ahead of Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkönen despite encountering traffic in the final part of his lap.
Mercedes Valtteri Bottas then dislodged the Monegasque driver with a lap of 1:18.839 but his pre-eminence was brief as Leclerc upped his pace and retook top spot. His time there was brief, however, as Vettel then became the first man to dip blow 1m17s with a time of 1:17.836.
Verstappen slotted into P2 with a time of 1:17.918, but the session was then neutralised as Bottas was forced to pull over at the side of the track in the stadium section with a suspected hydraulic issue.
While Verstappen had snuck in a lap before Bottas’ problem, the double waved yellow flags and then the deployment of the Virtual Safety Car scuppered Daniel Ricciardo’s first flying lap.
When the action resumed with a little over 11 minutes remaining, the field began their qualifying simulations and Leclerc was the first to show his hand, lapping 0.777s faster than Vettel’s earlier benchmark.
With little time remaining the track became congested in the final minutes, with all fit to run car on track. That again compromised Ricciardo’s quali simulation and as Hamilton and Vettel found the improvements to take P2 and P3 respectively, Ricciardo, who had finished second in both Friday sessions, was left with fourth place ahead of Räikkönen.
Leclerc finished as best-of-the-rest with a lap of 1:17.059. That left him just 0.775s behind Verstappen on a good morning for Sauber as its second driver Marcus Ericsson finished in P9, albeit half a second off Leclerc.
Seventh place went to Carlos Sainz, with the Renault driver finishing just under two tenths of a second ahead of Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly. With Ericsson ninth, tenths place in the session went to Nico Hulkenberg in the second Renault.
At the bottom of the order Haas’ Kevin Magnussen failed to set a time in the session, with the Danish driver restricted to the garage by an intercooler problem.
2018 Formula 1 Mexican Grand Prix – Free Practice 3
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 9 1:16.284
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 9 1:16.538 0.254
3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 11 1:16.566 0.282
4 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 7 1:17.028 0.744
5 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 16 1:17.045 0.761
6 Charles Leclerc Sauber 13 1:17.059 0.775
7 Carlos Sainz Jr. Renault 11 1:17.336 1.052
8 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso 16 1:17.525 1.241
9 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 14 1:17.565 1.281
10 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 10 1:17.623 1.339
11 Esteban Ocon Force India 10 1:17.731 1.447
12 Sergio Perez Force India 10 1:17.819 1.535
13 Romain Grosjean Haas 10 1:18.145 1.861
14 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren 15 1:18.445 2.161
15 Fernando Alonso McLaren 11 1:18.548 2.264
16 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso 10 1:18.637 2.353
17 Sergey Sirotkin Williams 9 1:18.669 2.385
18 Lance Stroll Williams 8 1:18.698 2.414
19 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 5 1:18.839 2.555
20 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1 -
Max Verstappen tops FP2 as Red Bulls dominate again: Mexican GP
Max Verstappen tops FP2 Mexican GP. An FIA image Mexico City, 26 Oct 2018: After topping the morning timesheets in FP1 at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Red Bull Racing again scored a 1-2 in the second practice session for the Mexican Grand Prix, with Max Verstappen outpacing team-mate Daniel Ricciardo by 1500ths of a second. The Dutchman stopped at the edge of the track late in the session, however, with an apparent engine issue. The 19th round of the 21-round FIA Formula One World Championship will be held on Sunday where defending champion Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes is expected to seal his fifth championship title with two rounds left. The Brazilian GP is on Nov 11 and the season concludes 15 days later in Abu Dhabi on November 29.
In the morning session the Red Bull duo were comfortably clear of the rest of the field, though Mercedes and Ferrari minimised hypersoft running in FP1, but in the qualifying runs of the second session both Verstappen and Ricciardo finished over a second clear of their chief rivals, Mercedes and Ferrari, with Sebastian Vettel leading the way for the Scuderia with a fourth-placed time of 1:17.954. That left him 0.001s behind third-placed Carlos Sainz of Renault, but 1.234s of the pace set by Verstappen.
Both Red Bull drivers were quick early in the session, on ultrasoft tyres, and when Vettel became the first to try a qualifying simulation on hypersofts he only managed to post a time good enough for P2 behind Verstappen.
The Red Bulls then bolted on hypersofts for their performance runs and upped the pace considerably.
Verstappen posted a lap of 1:16.720 that put him ahead of the impressive Sainz, and then Ricciardo found enough pace to slot into P2 with a time 0.153s behind the Dutchman.
It wasn’t all plain sailing for Verstappen, however, and towards the end of the session he coasted off track at Turn 3 and pulled over close to an escape road when his engine cut out.
Vettel’s qualifying simulation left him just one hundredth of a second ahead of Nico Hulkenberg in the second, while sixth place was taken by Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley.
Mercedes, meanwhile, had a muted session, with Lewis Hamilton the quicker of its driver pairing. The championship leader ended the session with a best time of 1:18.100, almost 1.4s adrift of Verstappen. Team-mate Valtteri Bottas finished in P9 behind the second Ferrari of US Grand Prix winner Kimi Räikkönen. Tenth place in the session went to Sergio Pérez of Racing Point Force India.
2018 Formula 1 Mexican Grand Prix – Free Practice 2
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 21 1:16.720
2 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 32 1:16.873 0.153
3 Carlos Sainz Renault 35 1:17.953 1.233
4 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 42 1:17.954 1.234
5 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 36 1:18.046 1.326
6 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso 35 1:18.061 1.341
7 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 40 1:18.100 1.380
8 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 42 1:18.133 1.413
9 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 40 1:18.140 1.420
10 Sergio Perez Racing Point Force India 24 1:18.167 1.447
11 Esteban Ocon Racing Point Force India 24 1:18.485 1.765
12 Romain Grosjean Haas 39 1:18.733 2.013
13 Charles Leclerc Sauber 39 1:19.024 2.304
14 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso 36 1:19.047 2.327
15 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren 30 1:19.096 2.376
16 Lance Stroll Williams 25 1:19.219 2.499
17 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 41 1:19.322 2.602
18 Sergey Sirotkin Williams 37 1:19.335 2.615
19 Fernando Alonso McLaren 31 1:19.543 2.823
20 Kevin Magnussen Haas 35 1:19.670 2.950 -
Max Verstappen heads Red Bull Racing’s one-two
Mexico City, 26 Oct 2018: Max Verstappen headed a Red Bull Racing one-two in the opening practice session for Sunday’s Mexican Grand Prix, with the 2017 race winner here beating out team-mate Daniel Ricciardo by almost half a second in the 19th round to the Formula One World Championship here on Friday.
Verstappen and Ricciardo set their quickest times on Pirelli’s hypersoft tyres and while both Mercedes and Ferrari ran on the pink-banded tyre during the 90-minute session, they posted their best laps on the ultrasoft tyres as they minimised running on the softest tyre in Pirelli’s range.
As such, championship leader Lewis Hamilton, who can seal the title with a seventh-placed finish on Sunday, ended the session in fifth place, with team-mate Valtteri Bottas sixth ahead of the Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen.
Verstappen seized control of the session with a lap of 1:18.588, with Ricciardo just a tenth behind his team-mate. Hamilton then moved into top spot with this best lap on hypesoft tyres, three tenths ahead of the Red Bull drivers’ early pace, but in the second half of running Red Bull again bolted on the pink-banded tyres and after exchanging improvements, Verstappen eventually stepped up the pace and set a time of 1:16.596. Ricciardo also found more improivement but in the end couldn’t get close to his team-mate’s pace and ended the session 0.483 behind the Dutchman.
Third place in the session went to Renault’s Carlos Sainz with a lap of 1:17.926, some 1.2s behind Verstappen. The Spaniard’s team-mate Nico Hulkenberg was next on the timesheet, a tenth off Sainz.
With fifth to eighth occupied by Mercedes and Ferrari, ninth place went to Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley. The New Zealander, who was running with the upgraded front wing and floor trialled last weekend on team-mate Pierre Gasly’s car, set a best time of 1:19.024 to finish 2.368s off Verstappen’s pace.
Force India tester Nicholas Latifi, standing in for Racing Point Force India regular Esteban Ocon rounded out the top ten, finishing four hundredths of a second ahead of local hero Sergio Pérez in the second Racing Point Force India.
Twelfth place was taken by future Sauber driver Antonio Giovinazzi who was in Charles Leclerc’s car for the session. The Italian driver finished 2.478s off P1 but 1500ths of a second ahead of Haas’ Romain Grosjean.
The final stand-in driver of the day was Lando Norris who took P15 in Fernando Alonso’s McLaren, behind Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson but ahead of McLaren team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne.
At the bottom of the order, Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly did not set a time. His car required an engine change, with Honda reverting to a pre-Russia spec which the manufacturer deem better for the conditions in Mexico City.
2018 Formula 1 Mexican Grand Prix – Free Practice 1
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 19 1:16.656
2 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 19 1:17.139 0.483
3 Carlos Sainz Renault 20 1:17.926 1.270
4 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 21 1:18.028 1.372
5 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 23 1:18.075 1.419
6 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 27 1:18.322 1.666
7 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 17 1:18.746 2.090
8 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 22 1:18.936 2.280
9 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso 29 1:19.024 2.368
10 Nicholas Latifi Force India 23 1:19.078 2.422
11 Sergio Perez Force India 29 1:19.124 2.468
12 Antonion Giovinazzi Sauber 25 1:19.134 2.478
13 Romain Grosjean Haas 26 1:19.276 2.620
14 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 28 1:19.312 2.656
15 Lando Norris McLaren 23 1:19.646 2.990
16 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren 29 1:19.716 3.060
17 Kevin Magnussen Haas 28 1:19.853 3.197
18 Sergey Sirotkin Williams 30 1:19.899 3.243
19 Lance Stroll Williams 26 1:20.142 3.486
20 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso 2 -
Hamilton takes pole with a blistering lap: Singapore GP
Hamilton takes Singapore pole on Saturday. An FIA image Singapore, 14 Sept. 2018: Lewis Hamilton took pole position for the Singapore Grand Prix with a blistering lap of the Marina Bay Street Circuit that left him three-tenths of a second clear of Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen. Hamilton’s title rival Sebastian Vettel could only manage third place in the qualifying session of the night race, the 15th round of the Formula One World Championship here on Saturday.
In Q1, after Kimi Räikkönen set the early pace with a time of 1:38.534, red Bull’s bypassed the Finn with a time of the 1:38.153. Verstappen then slotted into P3 with his opening lap of 1:38.715.
Vettel, who seemed to back out of his opening lap, then found clear air to post a time of 1:38.218. The was good enough for P2 behind Ricciardo. Haas’ Romain Grosjean then arrived with a time of 1:38.685 to shuffle Verstappen down to fifth, as the clock counted down towards the final runs.
In the drop zone as those runs began were McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne, Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson, Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley and Williams drivers Lance Stroll and Sergey Sirotkin.
It was Ericsson who made the jump to safety in the dying seconds. The Swede vaulted to P13 and that dropped Haas’ Kevin Magnussen to P16 and out of the session. Eliminated behind Magnussen were Hartley, Vandoorne, Sirotkin and Stroll.
The end of the session was nervous too for championship leader Lewis Hamilton. Mercedes elected to run the first session on ultrasoft tyres and as better times came in from rivals in the closing stages Hamilton plummeted down the order. Fortunately for the Briton, he dropped only as far as P14 and he was through to Q2.
In the second session, Ferrari sent Räikkönen and Vettel being out on ultrasoft tyres looking to perhaps set a time good enough to be able to start on the set. Hamilton took top spot with a time of 1:37.344, with Ricciardo slotting into P2. Verstappen then bypassed both with a lap of 1:37.214. Vettel, meanwhile, was lodged in 10th, while Räikkönen was all the way down in P15 and telling his team the ultrasoft was “just too slow”.
In the final runs, both Ferrari drivers moved to hypersofts and Räikkönen jumped to the top of the order with a time of 1:37.194. Vettel caught traffic on his run and when Bottas improved to P3 after the flag, the Ferrari driver dropped to P6 behind Ricciardo.
Eliminated at the end of Q3 were McLaren’s Fernando Alonso in 11th place, followed by Renault’s Carlos Sainz, Sauber’s Charles Leclerc, his team-mate Ericsson and Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly.
In the first runs of Q3 Hamilton staked an early claim to pole position with a superb lap of 1:36.015. Verstappen kept the championship leader in his sights by taking P2 with a time of 1:36.344 and Vettel slotted into P3, although the German was almost six tenths of a second behind title rival Hamilton.
And that was how the top six order stayed. Verstappen went quickest in the second sector on his final run but he later said he was forced to back off in the final sector as he experienced an engine issue.
Vettel, too, began well, running quickest in the first sector but the lap slipped away from the German and he had to settle for third place ahead of Bottas, Räikkönen and Ricciardo.
Seventh place went to Force India’s Sergio Pérez, with the Mexican finishing ahead of Haas’ Romain Grosjean, Force India team-mate Esteban Ocon and Renault’s NIco Hulkenberg.
2018 Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix – Qualifying
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:36.015
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1:36.334 0.319
3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:36.628 0.613
4 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:36.702 0.687
5 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:36.794 0.779
6 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 1:36.996 0.981
7 Sergio Perez Force India 1:37.985 1.970
8 Romain Grosjean Haas 1:38.320 2.305
9 Esteban Ocon Force India 1:38.365 2.350
10 Nico Hulkenberg Renault 1:38.588 2.573
11 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:38.641 2.626
12 Carlos Sainz Renault 1:38.716 2.701
13 Charles Leclerc Sauber 1:38.747 2.732
14 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:39.453 3.438
15 Pierre Gasly Toro Rosso 1:39.691 3.676
16 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:39.644 3.629
17 Brendon Hartley Toro Rosso 1:39.809 3.794
18 Stoffel Vandoorne McLaren 1:39.864 3.849
19 Sergey Sirotkin Williams 1:41.263 5.248
20 Lance Stroll Williams 1:41.334 5.319
