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Tag: Max Verstappen
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Drama-filled maiden Saudi GP leaves title rivals level on points
Lewis Hamilton took his third consecutive victory for the first time this season in a drama filled first ever Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, ahead of title rival Max Verstappen in P2. Both title protagonists are level on points heading into the season finale. Valtteri Bottas completed the podium as he got past Esteban Ocon just before the finish line on the last lap.
London, 6 December 2021: Both Mercedes cars started on the front row with Max Verstappen starting in P3. Everyone got off to a clean start as the Silver Arrows maintained formation, Lewis Hamilton leading Valtteri Bottas. Bottas job was to keep Verstappen at bay behind in P3. Meanwhile, Charles Leclerc maintained P4 ahead of second Red Bull of Sergio Perez who was unable to pass the Monegasque.
The race turned over its head on lap 10 as Mick Schumacher hit the barrier at turn 23. A safety car was called out to neutralise the race as both Hamilton and Bottas pitted for hard tyres to save time while Verstappen stayed out and assumed the lead of the race. Soon the FIA red flagged the race, a controversial decision but nonetheless safety is paramount.It meant that Verstappen would get a free tyre change and would lead the grand prix when resumed.
Graphic by Pirelli It was a standing start as the racing resumed on lap 15. Hamilton got an electric start from P2 as he went past Verstappen. But the Dutchman broke late, going off at turn 1 and then cut in front of Hamilton at turn 2, as a result both ran wide and Verstappen maintained the lead while Esteban Ocon got past Hamilton for P2. Behind there was carnage. Perez was tagged by Leclerc as the Ferrari driver had no where to go. This incident wiped out Perez’s front wing and damaged the transmission. Further back, George Russell slowed to avoid the spinning Perez as Nikita Mazepin collided in the back of the Williams driver, spewing a large amount of debris.
Graphic by Pirelli Another red flag was called out as the marshals cleared the cars and track. Meanwhile in the pits, negotiations were taking place between FIA, Mercedes and Red Bull over Verstappen’s illegal move at the second start. Ultimately all parties deciding that Ocon would start on pole, Hamilton would inherit P2 and Verstappen would start P3.
Having had poor starts the first two times, Verstappen chose the medium tyres instead of hardsfor the third restart, to go to the end of the race and so did Bottas. Hamilton stuck to hard tyres as Mercedes thought they will have better wear compared to the mediums.
Once again, Hamilton had a better start compared to Ocon in P1. Hamilton tried to cover Ocon, but Verstappen dived down the inside, sandwiching Hamilton between himself and Ocon. Thus, Verstappen assumed the lead with Ocon in P2 and Hamilton in P3. Behind, Bottas tried to get past McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo. By the end of the lap Hamilton eased past Ocon and resumed his charge to catch Verstappen.
There were three virtual safety car periods between laps 28 and 36 to pick up debris from Sebastian Vettel’s Aston Martin as he and Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen came together resulting in carbon fiber confetti.
By the time VSC ended, Hamilton was within a second and hot on the heels of Verstappen. He got DRS and pulled alongside the Dutchman on the outside on lap 37. Going into turn 1, Hamilton was slightly ahead but Verstappen broke late and went wide, Hamilton to avoid collision went wide as well and joined the track at turn 2. Meanwhile, Verstappen simply cut turn 2 and emerged with a bigger lead than he had before. Hence, he was instructed to give the position back and the lead to Hamilton.
Hamilton shines under the moon in the first Saudi Arabian GP on Sunday. Pirelli photo It was a bizarre sight as Verstappen slowed down to let Hamilton by, but the Briton had no idea about that, hence, he slowed down a well. Both drivers not wanting to cross the DRS detection line first as the car behind would get DRS. Then Verstappen seemed to brake check Hamilton as the Mercedes’ front collided with the Red Bull’s rear. Post- race investigation of the incident resulted in Verstappen getting an additional 10s-time penalty. The resultant collision damaged Hamilton’s front wing but the wing did not lose its integrity.
Race control once again told Verstappen to give up the place on lap 42. The Dutchman did so at the last corner, but immediately overtook him. Hence, again the Red Bull driver was instructed to give up the position on lap 43. This time Hamilton pushed Verstappen wide at the last corner and maintained the lead. From here on Hamilton extended his lead as Verstappen suffered with higher tyre wear. He was further awarded a 5s time penalty for going off the track and gaining an advantage on lap 37- where he pushed Hamilton off the track as well. From there on Hamilton comfortably won the race, even with a damaged front wing while Verstappen consolidated P2. Bottas at the last moment won a drag race against Ocon as he clinched the final podium position.
The win plus fastest lap for Hamilton meant that he was equal on points with Verstappen heading into the season finale at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in a week’s time. Meanwhile, Mercedes extended their lead in the constructor’s championship to 28 points.
Ocon had to settle for P4 ahead of McLaren’s Ricciardo in P5, AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly outraced both Ferrari’s to finish P6 as Charles Leclerc finished P7 and Carlos Sainz finished P8. Outgoing Alfa Romeo driver Antonio Giovinazzi finished P9 ahead of Lando Norris in P10, the McLaren driver not finishing higher than ninth in the last four races.
Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll missed out on points as he finished in P11. Williams’ Nicholas Latifi crossed the line in P12 ahead of Alpine’s Fernando Alonso in P13. Yuki Tsunoda looked to score points but his coming together with Vettel meant he finished P14 ahead of Raikkonen in P15.
The non-finishers were Vettel, Perez, Mazepin, Russell and Schumacher.
Mercedes had the faster car in race trim but struggled to switch on the soft tyres in qualifying. They did lock out the front row owing to Verstappen’s crash into the last corner as he was up by more than two and a half tenths. Mercedes and Hamilton have now won the last three races and with Hamilton equal on points and the momentum with them, Silver Arrows have a good chance to wrap up both championships. Red Bull focused more on qualifying this weekend and it showed as they had a superior car in one lap pace. They were slower in the race compared to Mercedes as they had a straight-line speed deficit as well as medium tyres wore faster than the hards.
Alpine struggled with qualifying pace as their highest position was P9. But come race day they made the most of red flags and Ocon ran in the top three for majority of the race, Alonso struggled partly due to his electric deployment not working properly and then having a spin midway through the grand prix. McLaren once again struggled in qualifying compared to immediate rivals Ferrari but again made the best use of stoppages as Ricciardo was able to finish P5. Norris lost out on positions due to pitting under the safety car and then a red flag being deployed. He was also caught out on the Perez-Leclerc incident as he had to slow down and fell to the back of the grid. Ferrari showed tremendous qualifying pace, especially in the hands of Leclerc who outqualified Perez’s Red Bull. They had decent race pace as well, achieving another double points finish and looking like they have cemented P3 over McLaren in the constructor’s championship.
AlphaTauri’s Gasly showed superior race pace compared to the Ferrari cars as he finished in P6. Tsunoda too showed pace to finish in the top 10 had he not collided with Vettel. Alpine looked to have cemented P5 over AlphaTauri in the constructor’s championship. Aston Martin had a race to forget as they showed dismal qualifying pace, both cars getting knocked out in Q1 and no car finishing in points. Giovinazzi had a brilliant race for Alfa Romeo as they close the gap to Williams in Eighth with one race to go. Williams once again were unable to score points as they lacked pace to challenge the top 10. The Haas car struggle this weekend with it being difficult to drive around this high-speed circuit.
Saturday Qualifying Results were:
P1: Lewis Hamilton- 44 (Mercedes) P2: Valtteri Bottas- 77 (Mercedes) P3: Max Verstappen -33 (Red Bull) P4: Charles Leclerc- 16 (Ferrari) P5: Sergio Perez- 11 (Red Bull) P6: Pierre Gasly- 10 (AlphaTauri) P7: Lando Norris- 4 (McLaren) P8: Yuki Tsunoda- 22 (AlphaTauri) P9: Esteban Ocon- 31 (Alpine) P10: Antonio Giovinazzi- 99 (Alfa Romeo) P11: Daniel Ricciardo- 3 (McLaren) P12: Kimi Raikkonen- 7 (Alfa Romeo) P13: Fernando Alonso- 14 (Alpine) P14: George Russell- 63 (Williams) P15: Carlos Sainz- 55 (Ferrari) P16: Nicholas Latifi- 6 (Williams) P17: Sebastian Vettel- 5 (Aston Martin) P18: Lance Stroll- 18 (Aston Martin) P19: Mick Schumacher- 47 (Haas) P20: Nikita Mazepin- 9 (Haas) -
Hamilton wins, takes F1 Championship decider to final race in Abu Dhabi
Jaddah, 5 Dec 2021: Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen will go to the final race of the 2021 FIA Formula One World Championship level on points after the Mercedes driver beat the Red Bull driver to the top spot of the podium at the end in a hugely dramatic Saudi Arabian Grand Prix that featured two re-starts, one Safety Car period, numerous Virtual Safety Cars and a controversial collision that saw Hamilton run into the back of Verstappen’s car when the Red Bull driver tried to hand the lead to the Briton after being requested to do by race officials.
At the start of the race Verstappen made a good getaway from third place on the grid but ahead of him both Mercedes also made good starts and as the field headed towards Turn 1 Hamilton led ahead of Bottas and Verstappen. Behind them Sergio Pérez also got away well and almost made it past fourth-place starter Charles Leclerc but the Mexican locked up slightly into Turn 1 and that allowed Leclerc to pull back ahead and hold fourth as they exited Turn 2.
Having missed out on the opportunity to get past Leclerc at the start, Pérez then found himself lodged behind the Ferrari in the opening laps and losing time. And though he stayed in DRS range he couldn’t find a way past and by lap six he was 6.4 seconds behind Hamilton who sat 2.7s ahead of third-placed Verstappen.
The status changed on lap 10 when Mick Schumacher hit the wall. The Haas driver lost control on entry and slid sideways into the TecPro barriers at Turn 22. As the Safety Car was deployed Mercedes opted to pit Hamilton and the race leader took on hard tyres in a 2.8-second stop. Red Bull also pitted Pérez on the same lap.
Bottas briefly took the lead before pitting but Red Bull kept Verstappen on track and the Dutchman took the lead as Hamilton and Bottas slotted into second and third respectively. Behind the top three, Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo also stayed on track during the SC and they rose to fourth and fifth respectively with Leclerc, who pitted, dropping to sixth ahead of Pierre Gasly, who stayed out, and Pérez.
The race swung towards Verstappen on lap 14 when having examined the barriers damaged by Schumacher’s Haas, Race Control waved the red flags and the race was halted.
The cars streamed back to the pit lane, where under red flag rules, the Team was permitted to change Verstappen’s tyres. He would take the re-start from pole and on fresh rubber.
A standing re-start was decreed and when the lights went out it was again Hamilton who made the best getaway and he pulled ahead of Verstappen into Turn 1. Verstappen braked late and tried to hang on around the outside but he went off track as he took the lead. Verstappen’s move also allowed Ocon to sneak past Hamilton and steal second place.
But behind them chaos was unfolding. Starting from P8 Pérez got squeezed badly, though initially he managed to avoid contact with the cars on either side. However, there was nothing he could do when Leclerc tagged him, spinning the Red Bull into the wall. And the chaos continued when Haas’ Nikita Mazepin slammed into the rear of George Russell’s Williams and the red flags were flown again.
After the incident at the first re-start, Race Control promoted Ocon to first place with Hamilton seconds and with Verstappen directed to start from third place ahead of Ricciardo and Bottas.
When the lights went out for a third standing start, it was Verstappen who made the best start. The Red Bull driver moved to the inside and as the Mercedes driver tussled with Ocon Verstappen dived to the inside and slipped past his title rival in Turn 1. And with momentum on his side he then powered past Ocon on the run to Turn 3 to brilliantly take the lead.
The front pair then rapidly pulled away from the Alpine and by lap 25 Verstappen and Hamilton were 12 seconds clear of the chasing pack and battling in a completely different league than their rivals.
On lap 29, following an earlier collision between Yuki Tsunoda and Sebastian Vettel and then contact between Vettel and Räikkönen, the VSC was deployed to clear debris and Verstappen’s medium tyres were given a breather.
The drama continued on lap 37. Hamilton closed in and attacked on the pit straight. The rivals tangled in Turn 1 and Verstappen left the track as he held the lead. The Red Bull driver was told to cede the lead but when he slowed on track to do so, Hamilton, seemingly unaware that the instruction had been given, did not slow enough and slammed into the back of the Red Bull.
Verstappen powered away into the lead again but once more handed the place back. And after being handed a five-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, and with his tyres fading, Verstappen settled for second place.
Behind the top two, Valtteri Bottas beat Esteban Ocon out of the final corner to claim third place. With the Alpine driver fourth, fifth place went to Daniel Ricciardo and Pierre Gasly took sixth for AlphaTauri. Chalrtes Leclerc was seventh and Carlos Sainz eighth for Ferrari. Ninth place went to Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi and the final point went to McLaren’s Lando Norris.
2021 FIA Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix – Race
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 50 2:06’15.118
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 50 2:06’26.943 11.825
3 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 50 2:06’42.649 27.531
4 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 50 2:06’42.751 27.633
5 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren/Mercedes 50 2:06’55.239 40.121
6 Gasly AlphaTauri/Honda 50 2:06’56.731 41.613
7 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 50 2:06’59.593 44.475
8 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 50 2:07’01.724 46.606
9 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 50 2:07’13.623 58.505
10 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 50 2:07’16.476 1’01.358
11 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 50 2:07’32.330 1’17.212
12 Nicholas Latifi Williams/Mercedes 50 2:07’38.367 1’23.249
13 Fernando Alonso Alpine/Renault 49 1 lap
14 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri/Honda 49 1 lap
15 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 49 1 lap
Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin/Mercedes 44 Retirement
Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda 14 Retirement
George Russell Williams/Mercedes 14 Retirement
Nikita Mazepin Haas/Ferrari 14 Retirement
Mick Schumacher Haas/Ferrari 8 Retirement -
Hamilton tops Friday times: Penultimate Grand Prix
Sao Paulo, 12 Nov 2021: Lewis Hamilton set the fastest lap of the opening practice session for this weekend’s FIA Formula One World Championship São Paulo Grand Prix, beating championship leader Max Verstappen by almost four tenths of a second. Sergio Pérez was third, just under a tenth of behind Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen.
With a Sprint Qualifying format in place this weekend, first practice represented teams’ only opportunity to find a way forward on set-up for qualifying and as a result the session was busy throughout.
Bottas was the first of the likely front runners to show and a medium-tyre 1:12.666s put him on top before he was nudged aside by Pérez’s 1m11.774s, also set on medium compound Pirelli tyres. Verstappen then moved ahead on a 1:11.484s eventually working his way down to a time of 1m10.189s as the opening 10 minutes came to a close.
There was then a brief lull in track action, with Hamilton being one of the few to put in extended running on medium tyres.
Soon after the halfway mark though the field began to emerge for qualifying simulations on soft tyres and Verstappen lowered the benchmark to 1:09.417 with a lap that included a purple second sector. Pérez slotted into P2, just 0.075s adrift of his team-mate. Bottas then took to the track and he took third place with a lap of 1:09.867s, 0.450s adrift of Verstappen.
Hamilton finally ventured out on the softs with a quarter of an hour left and initially finished 0.351s behind Verstappen with a lap of 1:09.768s. But the Briton went for another run on the same set of softs and over the course of two further attempts he stole top spot from Verstappen with a lap of 1:09.050s.
The Duhctman didn’t respond and so took second place, 0.367s behind Hamilton. Pérez ran late in the session but he finished third ahead of Bottas, who was over half a second off his team-mate’s pace.
AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly took fifth ahead of the Ferrari cars of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc, while Esteban Ocon was eighth ahead of Alpine teammate Alonso, the pair setting the best times on the medium tyres, and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll completed the top 10 order.
2021 FIA Formula 1 São Paulo Grand Prix – Free Practice 1
1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:09.050 31 224.654
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 1:09.417 0.367 22 223.466
3 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda 1:09.492 0.442 28 223.225
4 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:09.567 0.517 30 222.985
5 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri/Honda 1:09.880 0.830 32 221.986
6 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:10.124 1.074 31 221.213
7 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:10.142 1.092 32 221.157
8 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 1:10.145 1.095 27 221.147
9 Fernando Alonso Alpine/Renault 1:10.201 1.151 26 220.971
10 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:10.352 1.302 27 220.496
11 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri/Honda 1:10.374 1.324 33 220.427
12 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:10.413 1.363 28 220.305
13 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:10.443 1.393 31 220.212
14 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:10.587 1.537 31 219.762
15 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:10.610 1.560 27 219.691
16 Mick Schumacher Haas/Ferrari 1:10.885 1.835 27 218.838
17 Nicholas Latifi Williams/Mercedes 1:10.902 1.852 23 218.786
18 George Russell Williams/Mercedes 1:10.938 1.888 24 218.675
19 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren/Mercedes 1:10.990 1.940 25 218.515
20 Nikita Mazepin Haas/Ferrari 1:11.342 2.292 28 217.437 -
Verstappen finishes ahead of Hamilton, extends lead
Mexico City, 7 Nov 2021: Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen extended his 2021 FIA Formula One World Championship lead over Lewis Hamilton to 19 points with a controlled drive to victory ahead of the Mercedes driver at the Mexico City Grand Prix as Sergio Pérez claimed third place to become the first Mexican driver to stand on the podium at his home race.
When the lights went out Verstappen got a good start from third place on the grid and on the long run to Turn 1 he got a powerful tow from Hamilton. He drew alongside the Briton and as they went into the first corner he braked later and hung on around that outside to take the lead. H rise to the front was aided by Valtteri Bottas spinning out midway through the corner after the Finnish polesitter was tagged by McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo. That allowed Pérez to take third place, through the Mexican had to take evasive action when Bottas spun to his right.
Further back AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda and Haas’ Mick Schumacher were involved in a collision and with the cars stranded at the side of the track the safety car was deployed.
When racing resumed four laps later, Verstappen comfortably held his advantage as the safety car left the track and he quickly settled into his first stint.
And by lap 19 the Dutch driver had pulled out an almost seven-second gap to Hamilton. Pérez stuck close to the Mercedes driver, maintaining a two-second deficit as the race edged into the pit window for a one-stop race.
At the end of a long first stint, Hamilton was the first to blink and he headed towards the pity lane at the end of lap 29. He took on hard tyres in a 2.4s stop and rejoined in P5 behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
The Monegasque driver made his visit to the pit lane on the next lap and then Gasly pitted from third place. That freed Hamilton and he began setting purple laps. On lap 32 he was 17 seconds behind second-placed Pérez.
Verstappen then made his sole pit stop at the end of 33, taking on hard tyres. That promoted Pérez into the lead of his home grand prix and when Verstappen rejoined in second place he was 7.5s clear of Hamilton in third.
Pérez extended his stint to end of lap 40 and after switching to hard tyres he rejoined in third place, 9.9s behind Hamilton, but with tyres that were 11 laps newer. The Mexican quickly began to reduce the deficit and by lap 50 he was six seconds adrift of the Briton.
At the front, Verstappen was racing comfortably towards the flag and on lap 53 he set the fastest lap of the race with a time of 1:18.999. That opened the gap to Hamilton to 13 seconds and the Dutchman then began to manage his pace as he marched to his 19th career win and his third in Mexico City overall.
Behind him, Pérez was still clawing back the gap to Hamilton and by lap 56 the Mexican was 2.8s behind the Mercedes driver. Over the course of the next 10 laps he gradually reeled in the Mercedes but despite a speculative look to the outside of the Mercedes in Turn 4 on the final lap, he couldn’t find a way past and Hamilton took second place ahead of the Red Bull driver who became the first Mexican to score a podium finish at his home race.
Behind Pérez, fourth place went to AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly and the Frenchman’s 12 points put the Italian squad level with Alpine on 106 points in the battle for fifth place in the Constructors’ Championship.
Ferrari took fifth and sixth places with Leclerc ahead of Sainz, while Sebastian Vettel took seventh place fort Aston Martin. Kimi Räikkonen scored four valuable points for Alfa Romeo with eighth place, ninth place went to Alpine’s Fernando Alonso and the final point on offer went to McLaren’s Lando Norris.
Verstappen’s win means he now has a 19-point lead over Hamilton with four races remaining. The double podium finish means Red Bull Racing are now just a single point behind Mercedes in the Constructors’ Championship.
2021 FIA Formula 1 Mexico City Grand Prix – Race
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 71 1:38’39.086
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 71 1:38’55.641 16.555
3 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda 71 1:38’56.838 17.752
4 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri/Honda 71 1:39’42.931 1’03.845
5 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 71 1:40’00.123 1’21.037
6 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 70 1:38’41.516 1 lap /2.430
7 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin/Mercedes 70 1:38’49.144 1 lap /10.058
8 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 70 1:38’54.245 1 lap /15.159
9 Fernando Alonso Alpine/Renault 70 1:39’02.775 1 lap /23.689
10 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 70 1:39’05.312 1 lap /26.226
11 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 70 1:39’40.085 1 lap /1’00.999
12 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren/Mercedes 70 1:39’40.975 1 lap /1’01.889
13 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 70 1:39’52.459 1 lap /1’13.373
14 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 69 1:38’47.037 2 laps /7.951
15 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 69 1:39’12.019 2 laps /32.933
16 George Russell Williams/Mercedes 69 1:39’17.888 2 laps /38.802
17 Nicholas Latifi Williams/Mercedes 69 1:39’32.376 2 laps /53.290
18 Nikita Mazepin Haas/Ferrari 68 1:39’26.403 3 laps /47.317
Mick Schumacher Haas/Ferrari 0 Collision
Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri/Honda 0 Collision -
Red Bull manages to capitalise on aggressive strategy
Max Verstappen took his first win since the 2021 Dutch Grand Prix in early September as chief title rival Lewis Hamilton chased the dutchman but could only manage P2 ahead of the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez- his second consecutive podium after the 2021 Turkish Grand Prix.
London, 27 October 2021: Max Verstappen won the US Grand Prix after being chased down by Lewis Hamilton the whole race as the Briton had to settle for P2, finishing just 1.3s behind the Red Bull driver. Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez finished on the podium again to help Red Bull close the gap in the constructor’s championship as Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas could only manage P6 after starting P9, taking another new Internal Combustion Engine (ICE). Charles Leclerc crossed the line in an impressive fourth (P4) in his Ferrari ahead of McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo in P5. Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz finished in P7 ahead of ex-teammate Lando Norris in P8. Japanese rookie Yuki Tsunoda finished in P9 for AlphaTauri and Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel rounded of the points paying positions.
Italian driver Antonio Giovinazzi finished in P11 ahead of Alfa Romeo teammate Kimi Raikkonen in P13, sandwiched between them was Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll in P12. Williams duo of George Russell and Nicholas Latifi finished in P14 and P15 respectively as did the Haas duo of Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin in P16 and P17, albeit two laps down from the leaders. Alpine suffered a double DNF with Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso as AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly retired as well with a suspected suspension damage at the rear of the car.
Title protagonists Verstappen and Hamilton started on the front row with the 7-time world champion getting a better start, keeping his car on the inside of turn 1. As they exited the corner, Hamilton emerged in the lead with Verstappen settling in P2 ahead of teammate Perez. Behind, there was a three way fight going on for P5 between Ricciardo, Sainz and Norris.
Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (33) Red Bull Racing RB16B Honda during the F1 Grand Prix of USA at Circuit of The Americas on October 24. Photo Jared C Tilton/Getty It was evident that the Red Bull was the superior car as Hamilton was unable to extend his lead over Verstappen as the Dutchman stayed in and around 1s behind Hamilton. Red Bull made an aggressive strategy call to undercut Hamilton by pitting Verstappen on lap 10 for a set of hard tyres. The strategy appeared to work as Hamilton finally pitted on lap 13 for hard tyres and emerged around 6s behind Verstappen. Behind them, Perez was running his own race in P3, ahead of Leclerc in P4 and Ricciardo still maintaining P5, keeping Sainz at bay.
As Hamilton started chasing Verstappen, before the Mercedes driver could get close enough, Red Bull pitted Verstappen again for a set of hard tyres on lap 29. Seemingly too early at that stage of the race. Hamilton carried on for another eight extra laps, pitting on lap 37 and emerging around 8s behind Verstappen, albeit on fresher hard tyres.
Hamilton started to chase Verstappen as his lead diminished lap by lap. With only ten laps to go Hamilton was within 3s of the Dutchman and closing in rapidly. Hamilton was hovering around 1.5s with five laps to go as Verstappen was able to defend and not let the Mercedes driver close up, making full use of the dirty air characteristics of these turbo-hybrid cars.
Verstappen held on to victory by just 1.3s ahead of Hamilton, who even with fresher tyres found it difficult to close up and get past his title rival. With this win Verstappen extended his championship lead to 12 points over Hamilton with five races to go in the 2021 season.
Red Bull had the upper hand over Mercedes throughout the weekend as they triumphed in qualifying and the race. Even when Hamilton took the lead on lap 1, Verstappen was able to stick within 1s of the Mercedes and was able to make the undercut work. With a double podium Red Bull also closed the gap in constructor’s championship to Mercedes in first place. Mercedes lacked both qualifying and race pace. Their highly optimised rear suspension which drops the car at high speed to improve straight line speed had less effect on this circuit, owing to the circuits high speed corners where downforce is required. Mercedes also have reliability issues to deal with regarding their internal combustion engine, as Bottas took his sixth of the year and there is a possibility that Hamilton might have to take one more. The next two races coming up are Mexico and Brazil, which on paper suit the Red Bull more than the Mercedes. With the wind in Red Bull’s sails, it looks like they currently hold the upper hand in the championship.
Ferrari once again had the superior pace compared to McLaren with Leclerc finishing in P4, 24s ahead of McLaren rival Ricciardo in P5. Their new power unit has played a key role in their ascendency over McLaren as the two team are separated by just 3.5 points for the fight for P3 in the constructor’s championship. McLaren did not have the pace to fight with Ferrari this weekend, themselves admitting that the Italian rivals have now got the upper hand in the battle going into the last five races of the season.
Alpine and AlphaTauri are in a close fight for P5, separated by just ten points. Alpine had a disastrous race with both cars suffering DNF’s in the grand prix, so did AlphaTauri’s Gasly. A positive to take for the team from Faenza is that rookie Tsunoda scored points to help them close up to Alpine in the constructor’s championship. Aston Martin had a dismal qualifying as neither car made it to Q3 and Vettel’s power unit penalty meant he started from back of the grid. They struggled to find the race pace as well with Vettel just managing to scrape P10 after Raikkonen spun in the late stages of the race.
Alfa Romeo once again showed improved race pace compared to qualifying pace, with Raikkonen running in the points until a mistake and spin saw him finish in P13. Giovinazzi too was on the fringes of points paying position as he finished P11. Williams once again lacked the race pace to fight for points with both cars only beating the Haas cars.
Saturday’s Qualifying results were:
P1: Max Verstappen- 33 (Red Bull) P2: Lewis Hamilton- 44 (Mercedes) P3: Sergio Perez- 11 (Red Bull) P4: Valtteri Bottas- 77 (Mercedes) P5: Charles Leclerc- 16 (Ferrari) P6: Carlos Sainz- 55 (Ferrari) P7: Daniel Ricciardo- 3 (McLaren) P8: Lando Norris- 4 (McLaren) P9: Pierre Gasly- 10 (AlphaTauri) P10: Yuki Tsunoda- 22 (AlphaTauri) P11: Esteban Ocon- 31 (Alpine) P12: Sebastian Vettel- 5 (Aston Martin) P13: Antonio Giovinazzi- 99 (Alfa Romeo) P14: Fernando Alonso- 14 (Alpine) P15: George Russell- 63 (Williams) P16: Lance Stroll- 18 (Aston Martin) P17: Nicholas Latifi- 6 (Williams) P18: Kimi Raikkonen- 7 (Alfa Romeo) P19: Mick Schumacher- 47 (Haas) P20: Nikita Mazepin- 9 (Haas) Note – Bottas drops 5 grid places for taking on a new ICE after exceeding his allocation. Vettel, Alonso and Russell start from the back of the grid after taking on new PU components.
Caption: Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (33) Red Bull Racing RB16B Honda makes a pitstop during the F1 Grand Prix of USA at Circuit of The Americas on October 24, 2021 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)
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Max Verstappen holds off late pressure from Hamilton
Austin, 24 October 2021: Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen fended off intense late-race pressure from title rival Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes to claim a well-worked United States Grand Prix win at the Circuit of the Americas. Sergio Pérez doubled Red Bull’s celebrations by taking third place and the Team’s 200th podium finish.
When the lights went out at the start Hamilton was quickest off the line and though he was forced to take a deep inside line on the run up the hill to Turn 1 as Verstappen defended, the Mercedes driver held firm and as the title rivals went through Turn 1 the Red Bull driver had to go off track on the outside, handing the lead to Hamilton.
Behind them Pérez held third place ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc but McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo passed Carlos Sainz at the start to take fifth position. Sainz ended the first lap in P6 ahead of Lando Norris in the second McLaren and AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda who had risen to eighth from P10 at the start.
Vertsappen shadowed Hamilton for the first 10 laps but unable to get close enough in the turbulent wake from the Mercedes. And with his starting medium tyres overheating, the Dutchman pitted at the end of lap 10 to take on hard rubber. He rejoined in P5 behind Ricciardo but soon passed the McLaren driver.
Pérez made his first stop on lap 12 taking on medium tyres and Mercedes reacted to the Red Bull stops by bringing Hamilton in at the end of lap 13. The Briton’s move to hard tyres was clean and quick but as he left his pit box Verstappen powered down the start-finish straight to take a 6.7s lead.
The leaders then settled into the second stint, with Verstappen carefully trying to managed the gap. Hamilton though showed greater pace and he edged to within three seconds as the race headed past half distance.
On lap 29 Verdstappen dived into the pits for another set of hard tyres. He weas followed a lap later by team-mate Pérez, with the Mexican this time taking hard tyres. Verstappen now found himself just over 16.5s behind Hamilton who was being told to extend his second stint.
Armed with fresher tyres, Verstappen closed to within 13 seconds of Hamiltin and after 37 laps the Mercedes driver eventually made his second stop for more hard tyres. When he emerged he was 8.7s behind Verstappen but with tyres that were eight laps newer. He quickly began to once again reel in the Red Bull driver.
With 10 laps remaining, Hamilton was within three seconds and Verstappen was warned by his pit wall to save rear tyre life to fend off attacks through the DRS zones.
With three laps remaining, it looked like his efforts might be in vain. Hamilton closed to within 1.2 second and then broke into DRS range of the Red Bull. Verstappen, though, had done a good job of preserving tyre life and he was able to keep Hamilton at bay. And when Hamilton made small mistake with a lap left and the gap expanded back to 1.7s, the race was won. Verstappen crossed the line to take his eighth win of the season. The victory means he extends his Drivers’ Championship lead. He now has 287.5 points, 12 more than Hamilton.
Hamilton finished second, 1.3s behind the Dutchman, and soon after Pérez crossed the line to hand Red Bull a double podium finish.
Pérez’s podium, allied to a sixth place finish for Valtteri Bottas in the second Mercedes, means that Red Bull close the Constructors’ Championship gap to Mercedes to 23 points.
Behind Pérez, Charles Leclerc claimed fourth place for Ferrari ahead of McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo and Bottas. Seventh place went to Carlos Sainz in the second Ferrari, with McLaren’s Lando Norris eighth. Yuki Tsunoda scored two points for AlphaTauri with ninth place and Sebastian Vettel finished tenth to take a single point for Aston Martin.
2021 FIA Formula 1 United States Grand Prix – Race
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 56 1’34:36.552
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 56 1’34:37.885 1.333
3 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda 56 1’35:18.775 42.223
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 56 1’35:28.798 52.246
5 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren/Mercedes 56 1’35:53.406 1:16.854
6 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 56 1’35:56.680 1:20.128
7 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 56 1’36:00.097 1:23.545
8 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 56 1’36:00.947 1:24.395
9 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri/Honda 55 1’35:10.081 1 lap /33.529
10 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin/Mercedes 55 1’35:12.119 1 lap /35.567
11 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 55 1’35:21.613 1 lap /45.061
12 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 55 1’35:35.793 1 lap /59.241
13 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 55 1’35:39.194 1 lap /1:02.642
14 George Russell Williams/Mercedes 55 1’35:41.751 1 lap /1:05.199
15 Nicholas Latifi Williams/Mercedes 55 1’36:13.510 1 lap /1:36.958
16 Mick Schumacher Haas/Ferrari 54 1’34:42.164 2 laps /5.612
17 Nikita Mazepin Haas/Ferrari 54 1’36:09.665 2 laps /1:33.113
Fernando Alonso Alpine/Renault 49 1’25:09.274 Wing
Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 40 1’10:46.671 Retirement
Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri/Honda 14 25:27.042 Suspension -
Verstappen claims popular home victory; beats Hami
Zandvoort (The Netherlands) 5 Sept 2021: Max Verstappen delivered a faultless drive in front of a packaged Zandvoort to take a hugely popular home victory in the Dutch Grand Prix, the 13th of the 22-round FIA Formula 1 World Championship here on Sunday. He beat title Lewis Hamilton by more than 20 seconds after the Mercedes driver made a late pit stop to salvage the point for fastest lap. Third place went to Valtteri Bottas in the second Mercedes.
At the start of the race, pole sitter Verstappen made a superb getaway to take the lead. Hamilton also made a good start but as he and Bottas jostled for position through the first two corners Verstappen was allowed to power ahead and by the end of the opening lap the Dutch drivers has established a 1.7s gap to Hamilton.
Behind the top three, AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly got away well to hold fourth place ahead of the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. At the back of the field Sergio Pérez in the second Red Bull was forced to start from the pit lane after an overnight engine change but as he passed the Haas of Nikita Mazepin in the early laps he flat-spotted a tyres and had to pit for an early switch to medium tyres. It was the start of an impressively long first stint for the Mexican driver as he launched a recovery drive.
At the front the order was stable, with Verstappen holding a 3.5s lead over Hamilton. Bottas began to drift off the front pair, however, and by lap 18 he was more than seven seconds adrift of his team-mate.
Then, at the end of lap 20, Hamilton dived for the pits and made the switch to medium tyres. Red Bull responded by pitting Versatppen on the next lap and he saw off the undercut to rejoin two seconds ahead of Hamilton.
Pérez, meanwhile, was making stealthy progress through the pack and by lap 25 he was up to 14th place. His progress picked up two laps later when Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, Williams’ George Russell and Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi pitted ahead of him. He rose to P11 and began to hunt down McLaren’s Lando Norris. He swiftly closed up to the McLaren, but having started on medium tyres, Norris was going long and he was able to match the Red Bull driver’s times.
As the race passed half distance Verstappen was once again told to push as it became clear that Mercedes were plotting a second attempt at undercutting the Dutchman. Hamilton pitted at the end of lap 39 for a set of medium tyres but thanks to a set of potent laps Verstappen was able to make his own pit stop, for hartd tyres, of lap 40 and once againm he emerged with a clear gap to his championship rival.
Further back, Norris finally made his sole stop for tyres on lap 43 and Pérez could race into clear air.
The Mexican made his sole visit to the pit lane at the end of lap 48 and took on a set of soft tyres. He rejoined in P12 and quickly passed Russell to relaunch his assault on the points positions. He soon began to exert pressure on McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo and on lap 56 passed the Australian to claim P9.
His next target was the Australian’s team-mate, Norris, and over the next 10 laps he turned a sizeable deficit into a gap of just half a second before again passing on the around the outside of Turn 1. His final mission was to get past Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and in the final laps the Red Bull driver passed the Frenchman to claim eighth place.
In those closing stages Hamilton closed to within 1.5 seconds of the lead RBR16B but with his tyres fading and Max expertly managing the gap, the Mercedes driver eventually abandoned his pursuit of victory and pitted for soft tyres.
Hamilton took the fastest lap point on the final tour of Zandvoort, but Verstappen’s seventh win of the season puts him back on top of the Drivers’ Championship standings with 224.5 points to Hamilton’s 221.5. In the Constructors’ Championship Mercedes still top the standings with 244.5 points, 12 ahead of Red Bull Racing.
With Bottas third at the flag, fourth place went to AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly. The French driver also put in an impressive drive to finish ahead of the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc and the Alpine of Fernando Alonso. Seventh place went to Carlos Sainz in the second Ferrari and with Checo in P8 the final two points places went to Ocon and Norris.
2021 FIA Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix – Race
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 72 1:30’05.395
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 72 1:30’26.327 20.932
3 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 72 1:31’01.855 56.460
4 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri/Honda 71 1:30’17.183 1 lap /11.788
5 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 71 1:30’22.175 1 lap /16.780
6 Fernando Alonso Alpine/Renault 71 1:30’50.864 1 lap /45.469
7 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 71 1:30’52.896 1 lap /47.501
8 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda 71 1:30’53.479 1 lap /48.084
9 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 71 1:30’54.465 1 lap /49.070
10 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 71 1:30’57.725 1 lap /52.330
11 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren/Mercedes 71 1:31’10.322 1 lap /1’04.927
12 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 70 1:30’22.717 2 laps /17.322
13 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin/Mercedes 70 1:30’24.941 2 laps /19.546
14 Anotnio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 70 1:30’33.172 2 laps /27.777
15 Robert Kubica Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 70 1:31’05.853 2 laps /1’00.458
16 Nicholas Latifi Williams/Mercedes 70 1:31’07.745 2 laps /1’02.350
17 George Russell Williams/Mercedes 69 1:29’55.249 3 laps
18 Mick Schumacher Haas/Ferrari 69 1:31’08.196 3 laps /1’02.801
Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri/Honda 48 1:02’36.678 Transmission
Nikita Mazepin Haas/Ferrari 41 54’07.352 Hydraulics -
Max Verstappen beats Hamilton to put his Red Bull on pole
Zandvoort (The Netherlands), 4 Sept 2021: Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen beat Formula 1 championship rival Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes by just three hundredths of a second to claim pole position for his home race the 2021 FIA Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix. Valtteri Bottas finished third for Mercedes, while AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly put in an impressive performance to claim fourth place on the grid.
At the start of the Q1 Red Bull’s Sergio Pérez set the early benchmark with a lap of 1:10.700. Verstappen was close behind on track, however, and he powered past his team-mate’s time to reset the bar at 1:10.036.
Mercedes, meanwhile, sent both its drivers out on medium tyres and Pérez dropped to fourth place as as Hamilton took second place ahead of Bottas. Pérez extended his run, but despite getting down to 1:10.530 he dropped to P7 as better times came in. And the Mexican’s failure to set a secure time early in the session ended up being his undoing.
Knowing that the track was ramping up massively, Red Bull readied the Mexican for a final run. However, seeking a workable gap on the short track, drivers began to form a solid queue at the end of pit lane and Pérez’s exit was slowed. Thus he failed to make it across the line before the chequered flag and as rivals posted improvements the Mexican fell down the order and he was eliminated in P16 ahead of Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel, Alfa Romeo’s Robert Kubica and the Haas cars of Mick Schumacher and Nikia Mazepin.
Verstappen was straight into action at the start of Q2 and he posted a tough target at the top of the timesheet with a lap of 1:09.071. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc got closest to that time ahead of the final runs, with the Monegasque setting a time of 1:09.437 to take P2 ahead of AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly, Hamilton and Bottas.
Williams’ George Russell was one of the first out on track for the final runs of the second segment but at the end of his flying lap he carried too much speed into the penultimate corners and slid off into the barriers. The red flags were quickly displayed and the clock was stopped with just under four minutes remaining.
However, when the session eventually resumed it lasted less than two minutes as on his flying lap Nichola Latifi lost control in Turn 8 and the second Williams went into the barriers hard. The red flags were again shown and Race Control quickly indicated that the session would not be resumed. It meant that eliminated after the middle segment were Russell in 11th place followed Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, Norris, Latifi and AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda.
In Q3 Verstappen again went out early to stake his claim to pole and he claimed provisional pole with an impressive lap of 1:08.923. Neither Mercedes driver had an initial response and Bottas took P2 0.099s behind the Red Bull, with Hamilton just under five hundredths of a second further back in third place.
In the final runs Verstappen proved unbeatable. Hamilton found more time but in the end it was only enough to match the Red Bull driver’s earlier lap and Verstappen secured pole for his home grand prix with a stunning lap of 1:08.885.
Bottas was left with third place, while Gasly shone in claiming fourth spot on the grid ahead of the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. Giovinazzi was seventh, while Esteban Ocon took eighth place ahead of Alpine team-mate Fernando Alonso and McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo.
Rakkonen test COVID positive
The FIA, Formula 1 and Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN can on Saturday confirm that during onsite PCR testing for the 2021 FIA Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix, Kimi Räikkönen has tested positive for COVID-19. In accordance with COVID-19 protocols he will take no further part in this Event. All contacts have been declared.
The procedures set out by the FIA and Formula 1 will ensure no wider impact on the Dutch Grand Prix.
2021 FIA Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix – Qualifying
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 1:08.885 7 222.579
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:08.923 0.038 0.055 7 222.456
3 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:09.222 0.337 0.489 7 221.496
4 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri/Honda 1:09.478 0.593 0.861 6 220.679
5 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:09.527 0.642 0.932 6 220.524
6 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:09.537 0.652 0.947 6 220.492
7 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:09.590 0.705 1.023 6 220.324
8 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 1:09.933 1.048 1.521 6 219.244
9 Fernando Alonso Alpine/Renault 1:09.956 1.071 1.555 6 219.172
10 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren/Mercedes 1:10.166 1.281 1.860 6 218.516
11 George Russell Williams/Mercedes 1:10.332 1.261 1.826 5 218.000
12 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:10.367 1.296 1.876 5 217.891
13 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:10.406 1.335 1.933 5 217.771
14 Nicholas Latifi Williams/Mercedes 1:11.161 2.090 3.026 7 215.460
15 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri/Honda 1:11.314 2.243 3.247 4 214.998
16 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda 1:10.530 0.701 1.004 9 217.388
17 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:10.731 0.902 1.292 7 216.770
18 Robert Kubica Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:11.301 1.472 2.108 9 215.037
19 Mick Schumacher Haas/Ferrari 1:11.387 1.558 2.231 11 214.778
20 Nikita Mazepin Haas/Ferrari 1:11.875 2.046 2.930 10 213.32 -
Max Verstappen tops FP2 at Spa: F1 Round 12
Spa-Francorchamps, 27 August 2021: Max Verstappen set the pace in the second practice session for the Belgian Grand Prix, narrowly beating Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton by less than a hundredth of a second, but the Red Bull driver’s session ended in disappointment when he crashed out in the final moments of the session at Spa-Francorchamps in the Round 12 of the Formula 1 World Championship here on Friday.
Verstappen lost the back end of his RB16B as he went into the Les Combes sequence at the end of the long Kemmel straight and he spun into the barriers on the left side of the circuit, causing substantial damage to the rear right of his Red Bull.
As with the morning session, the afternoon running got off to a slow start as drivers gingerly tested the damp conditions. Once the conditions proved suitable for dry tyres, McLaren’s Lando Norris got running properly underway with a lap of 1:48.219 on hard tyres. Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and Williams’ Nicholas Latifi then took turns at the top as the track improved before Bottas then took a significant step forward with a lap of 1:44.513 on medium tyres.
Verstappen then took P2 before Hamilton went just 0.031 slower than his teammate to establish a Mercedes one-two.
The Mercedes pair were then among the first to make the switch to soft tyres though neither was able to improve on the red-banded Pirelli rubber. Verstappen, however, did make gains and he claimed top spot with a lap of 1:44.472, 0.041 ahead of Bottas.
However, his good work was then undone in the final moments when he lost the rear end of his car in Les Combes.
At the flag, Fernando Alonso set the fourth fastest time for Alpine, ahead of AlhaTauri’s Pierre Gasly and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll. Ocon finished in seventh ahead of the seodnde Aston Martin of Sebastian Vettel and Sergio Pérez, newly confirmed for another year at Red Bull Racing, completed the top 10 order.
2021 FIA Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix – Free Practice 21 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 1:44.472 12 241.350
2 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:44.513 0.041 14 241.256
3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:44.544 0.072 13 241.184
4 Fernando Alonso Alpine/Renault 1:44.953 0.481 15 240.244
5 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri/Honda 1:44.965 0.493 17 240.217
6 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:45.180 0.708 14 239.726
7 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 1:45.302 0.830 15 239.448
8 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:45.336 0.864 16 239.371
9 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:45.386 0.914 18 239.257
10 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda 1:45.404 0.932 13 239.216
11 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:45.517 1.045 14 238.960
12 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri/Honda 1:45.758 1.286 17 238.416
13 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:45.789 1.317 16 238.346
14 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:45.967 1.495 18 237.945
15 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren/Mercedes 1:46.118 1.646 14 237.607
16 Nicholas Latifi Williams/Mercedes 1:46.198 1.726 17 237.428
17 George Russell Williams/Mercedes 1:46.665 2.193 14 236.388
18 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:46.836 2.364 13 236.010
19 Nikita Mazepin Haas/Ferrari 1:47.335 2.863 14 234.913
20 Mick Schumacher Haas/Ferrari 1:47.529 3.057 15 234.489 -
Valtteri Bottas fastest in FP1
Spa-Francorchamps, 27 August 2021: After its traditional summer break Formula 1 returned to action at Spa-Francorchamps this morning, with Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas quickest in the opening practice session for the 2021 Belgian Grand Prix. The Finn set beat title hopeful Max Verstappen by just under two tenths of a second as championship leader Lewis Hamilton finished in 18th place.
The one-hour session got off to a slow start as rain the hours preceding the start of running meant that the track was still damp and teams opted to wait out the opening minutes as the track began to dry.
A number of drivers took the track on intermediates, but after 10 minutes it became clear that dry weather tyres were necessary. McLaren’s Lando Norris led the way on me3dium tyres but the Briton was soon eclipsed by Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel and then by Daniel Riccardo in the second McLaren, Pierre Gasly of AlphaTauri and then by Hungary race winner Esteban Ocon who put his Alpine in P1.
Verstappen then emerged in hard tyres and promptly bounced the French driver out of top sport with a lap of 1:46.879s. Over the course of a long run he then whittled the benchmark down to 1:45.905 before teams began to make a switch to soft tyres.
As the session entered its final quarter Bottas jumped P1 with a softy-tyre lap of 1:45.199s. Hamilton though was struggling with a larger wing than his team-mate and the Briton complained that he had poor straightline speed.
However, despite his difficulties, Hamilton looked set to edge past his team-mate on soft tyres but unfortunately he was slowed when he came across Williams’ Nicholas Latifi at the Bus Stop chicane and his run was compromised.
Verstappen then also moved to soft tyres in the final phase of the session but he failed to dislodge Bottas and had to settle for second place, 0.164 behind the Mercedes man.
Drizzle was now beginning to fall and that meant little hope of late improvement. Hamilton therefore was left languishing in P18 on the timesheet.
AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly took third place at the flag ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. The Monegasque driver’s team-mate Carlos Sainz finished fifth, while Red Bull’s Sergio Perez was sixth ahead of Vettel and Norris, with Ocon and his Alpine team-mate Fernando Alonso rounding out the top 10.
2021 FIA Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix – Free Practice 1
1 Valtteri Bottas Mercedes 1:45.199 18 239.682
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda 1:45.363 0.164 14 239.309
3 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri/Honda 1:45.699 0.500 20 238.549
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:45.818 0.619 19 238.280
5 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:45.935 0.736 20 238.017
6 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda 1:46.127 0.928 17 237.587
7 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:46.177 0.978 19 237.475
8 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:46.336 1.137 17 237.120
9 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 1:46.497 1.298 16 236.761
10 Fernando Alonso Alpine/Renault 1:46.612 1.413 16 236.506
11 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:46.649 1.450 19 236.424
12 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren/Mercedes 1:46.683 1.484 20 236.348
13 Antonio Giovinazzi Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:46.755 1.556 17 236.189
14 George Russell Williams/Mercedes 1:46.772 1.573 19 236.151
15 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri/Honda 1:46.928 1.729 19 235.807
16 Nicholas Latifi Williams/Mercedes 1:47.101 1.902 20 235.426
17 Kimi Räikkönen Alfa Romeo/Ferrari 1:48.125 2.926 15 233.196
18 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:48.224 3.025 17 232.983
19 Nikita Mazepin Haas/Ferrari 1:48.705 3.506 16 231.952
20 Mick Schumacher Haas/Ferrari 1:49.059 3.860 15 231.199
