INDIA in F1

Tag: Spanish Grand Prix

  • Lando Norris takes pole ahead of Max, Lewis: F1

    Lando Norris takes pole ahead of Max, Lewis: F1

    Barcelona, 22 June 2024: Lando Norris beat F1 world championship leader Max Verstappen by the tiny margin of two hundredths of a second to take the second pole position of his career in qualifying for the 2024 FIA Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix. Behind the top two, Lewis Hamilton scored his best qualifying position since last year’s US Grand Prix with third place. 

    At the start of Q1 Sergio Pérez set the early pace thanks to a lap of 1:13.090, almost seven tenths of a second clear of RB’s Daniel Ricciardo. Verstappen then lowered the benchmark by another seven tenths as he claimed top spot with a lap of 1:12.306. The Red Bull drivers were then split by McLaren’s Oscar Piastri who took P2 five hundredths of a second ahead of Pérez. And then, as the opening sequence of runs came to an end, Verstappen was bumped out of P1 by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc who took top spot just under five hundredths of a second ahead of the Dutchman.

    In the final runs Of Q1 Leclerc, Verstappen, third-placed Norris and P4 driver Carlos Sainz stayed in their garages for the final flyers, but further back Pérez, who had dropped to P10 as better times came in was forced to make another attempt. His lap of 1:12.477 boosted him to P8 and into to Q2.Hamilton meanwhile, used his final flyer to good effect, claiming P1 with a lap of 1:12.143. 

    There was no place in Q2, however, for Haas’ Kevin Magnussen who was knocked out in P16 ahead of the RBs of Yuki Tsunoda and Daniel Ricciardo and the Williams cars of Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant. 

    At the start of Q2, Pérez was the first of the frontrunners across the line and once again he set the early benchmark, this time at 1:12.270. That was swiftly beaten by Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and by the McLaren pair of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, but it was Verstappen who put in the best opening time, with the title leader taking P1 thanks to a lap of 1:11.653, two tenths clear of Norris and third-placed Sainz. Piastri dropped to fourth ahead of Leclerc and Mercedes’ George Russell, while Pierre Gasly took seventh ahead of Pérez. 

    As the second runs got underway, Hamilton who had been languishing in P15 jumped to second place and when Kick Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas also jumped into the top 10, Pérez fell to P10 and was on the brink of exit. Once again, though, the Red Bull driver clawed his way forward and his final lap of 1:12.054 put him eighth ahead of the Alpines of Gasly and Esteban Ocon. 

    At the top of the order, Verstappen again sat out the final runs and this time the champion’s opening run time was good enough to hold onto top spot ahead of the Mercedes pair of Hamilton and George Russell. 

    Ruled out after Q2 were Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso in P11 followed by Bottas, Haas’ Nico Hülkenberg, the second Aston of Lance Stroll and the second Sauber of Zhou Guanyu. 

    In keeping with the rest of the session Pérez was out early in Q3, though this time on used Soft tyres. That meant his first time of Q3 was slower than his Q2 times and he ended the opening runs in P9. 

    Verstappen, though, was powering ahead and he set the benchmark at 1:11.673, a tenth ahead of Norris who was looking likeliest to challenge the Dutchman’s bid for a 40th career pole. The task looked daunting when Verstappen upped the pace even further in his final run and dropped the provisional pole time to 1:11.403. Norris was up to the challenge though and in the final seconds the McLaren driver found more pace to claw his way ahead of the champion by the tiny margin of two hundredths of a second. 

    “It was pretty much a perfect lap,” said Norris of his first pole since the 2021 Russian Grand Prix. “You know you’re on a good lap when you’re getting excited but the whole thing went perfectly in the end. So, close, still, but super, super happy. One of my, I’d say, my best pole positions. I’ve not had many but out of the ones I’ve had, my best.” 

    Verstappen was left with a 67th career front row ahead of the Mercedes cars of Hamilton and Russell. Leclerc was fifth for Ferrari ahead of team-mate Sainz, while Gasly took a welcome seventh for Alpine ahead of Pérez, Ocon and Piastri. However, with a three-place grid penalty from Canada coming his way for tomorrow, Pérez will starts the race in Barcelona from P11 on the grid. 

    2024 FIA Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix – Qualifying 
    1 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:11.383 – –
    2 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:11.403 0.020 0.028
    3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:11.701 0.318 0.445
    4 George Russell Mercedes 1:11.703 0.320 0.448
    5 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:11.731 0.348 0.488
    6 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:11.736 0.353 0.495
    7 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 1:11.857 0.474 0.664
    8 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:12.061 0.678 0.950
    9 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 1:12.125 0.742 1.039
    10 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes – – –
    11 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:12.128 0.745 1.044
    12 Valtteri Bottas Sauber/Ferrari 1:12.227 0.844 1.182
    13 Nico Hülkenberg Haas/Ferrari 1:12.310 0.927 1.299
    14 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:12.372 0.989 1.385
    15 Zhou Guanyu Sauber/Ferrari 1:12.738 1.355 1.898
    16 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 1:12.937 1.554 2.177
    17 Yuki Tsunoda RB/Honda RBPT 1:12.985 1.602 2.244
    18 Daniel Ricciardo RB/Honda RBPT 1:13.075 1.692 2.370
    19 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1:13.153 1.770 2.480
    20 Logan Sargeant Williams/Mercedes 1:13.509 2.126 2.978

  • Impeccable Bagnaia holds off Quartararo in Jerez showdown

    Impeccable Bagnaia holds off Quartararo in Jerez showdown

    Jerez (Cádiz, Spain), 1 May, 2022: It’s the showdown that has built all weekend long: Ducati Lenovo’s Francesco Bagnaia vs Monster Energy Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo. The pair were in a class of their own at the Red Bull Spanish Grand Prix with victory, despite incredible late pressure, going the way of Bagnaia as he officially announced himself as part of the title race. Quartararo was forced to settle for second but did take an outright lead in the World Championship. Meanwhile, in the fight for third, Aleix Espargaro broke clear in the final laps to end Aprilia’s MotoGP™ concessions after six long years.

    Indian fans can tune in to EUROSPORT and EUROSPORT HD to catch all the live action from the 2022 MotoGP championship, with the qualifying race in SHARK Grand Prix de France on Saturday, May 14, 2022.

    ELBOWS OUT FROM THE START

    As the lights went out in Jerez, the roars went up as the thousands of fans trackside celebrated their return to the grandstands after three years away. It was the poleman Bagnaia who launched himself into the lead, with Quartararo settling into second behind. Espargaro and Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda) were literally elbow-to-elbow off the line, with the Aprilia man diving under the eight-time World Champion into the opening corner only to run wide and allow the Honda man through to fifth. Ducati Lenovo Team’s Jack Miller was third on the opening lap, ahead of LCR Honda Idemitsu’s Takaaki Nakagami.

    Marquez was aggressive again on the opening lap as he fired up the inside, and sat up, Nakagami to claim fourth. The Japanese rider, forced wide by Marquez, also saw Espargaro squeeze through. Seconds later Pramac Racing’s Jorge Martin crashed out for the fourth time in six races and, on his 200th Grand Prix appearance, HRC’s Stefan Bradl also hit the deck at the final corner.

    Only a handful of laps had been completed but the leading duo were already flexing their muscles, edging further and further clear of Miller. By Lap 5 it was 1.5 seconds and that gap just continued to grow. Meanwhile, the Australian was more concerned about hanging onto the final podium places with both Marquez and Espargaro applying increasing amounts of pressure on the factory Ducati man.

    Darryn Binder (WithU RNF Yamaha) crashed out at Turn 2, before a big moment in the World Championship fight took place. After a sluggish start, Alex Rins’ day got worse when the Team Suzuki Ecstar man was forced to straight-line his GSX-RR through the Turn 11 gravel trap after a big moment on the front end. Pramac Racing’s disaster day continued when Johann Zarco crashed out at Turn 5.

    WITHSTANDING PRESSURE

    Half-race distance had been completed with Bagnaia having eeked out an eight-tenth advantage. The Italian would maintain that gap up until the final three laps of the race. Quartararo sliced his lead in half and was starting to close in on the factory Ducati man. Could Quartararo steal Jerez victory away from Bagnaia late on? The pair were pushing to the absolute limit, now a mind-boggling 11 seconds clear of the rest.

    They started the final lap with Bagnaia holding an advantage of just half a second. It would require something special from the World Champion on the final lap. As they came through the fourth and final sector Quartararo was closing and closing, now just a quarter of a second away from the former Moto2™ World Champion. But Bagnaia stood firm, withstanding the almighty pressure, to take a vital victory in Jerez. A first for Bagnaia since the season-closing race in Valencia last year and a second for the Bologna factory in Andalucia in as many years. Quartararo’s third podium visit of the season saw him stretch out his Championship leader from nothing to eight points, however.

    PODIUM FIGHT IGNITES

    Much like the duel for victory, the scrap over third took its time to come to life but when it did, it was pulsating. There were five laps left when Marquez made an inch-perfect move up the inside of Miller at Turn 5. Espargaro behind knew he had to respond or risked seeing the Respol Honda clear off into the distance. And the Aprilia man had an answer on the same lap as he braked hard and late into the final corner. Through went the Spaniard but it would quickly get even better for him.

    Marquez was wide into the final corner and the front-end of his RC213V folded, before he somehow, in true Marc Marquez style, picked it up off of his elbow to continue on. Espargaro and Miller both swooped through to demote the eight-time World Champion to fifth. Espargaro checked out, quickly putting half a second into Miller but Marquez wasn’t done. The factory Honda man risked it all on the final lap to take fourth, diving up the inside of Miller at Turn 8 in spectacular style.

    Ahead of them, though, Espargaro was coming across the line to take a pivotal podium for the Noale factory. Not only does the Spaniard sit second in the standings, eight points adrift of Quartararo, but Aprilia officially lost their MotoGP™ concession status after six long, hard years. Behind Marquez and Miller in fourth and fifth was Team Suzuki Ecstar’s Joan, who drifted into late contention but couldn’t find a move on the men in front of them.

    FINAL FINISHERS

    Nakagami eventually came across the line in seventh, four seconds clear of Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing) who claimed eighth. The erstwhile Championship leader picked off rookie Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing), who matched his best MotoGP™ result despite that in ninth. The final place inside the top ten went the way of Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Brad Binder.

    MotoGP™ Top 10:

    1. Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) – 25 laps

    2. Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) + 0.285

    3. Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) + 10.977

    4. Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) + 12.676

    5. Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team) + 12.957

    6. Joan Mir (Team SUZUKI ECSTAR) + 13.934

    7. Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda IDEMITSU) + 14.929

    8. Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) + 18.436

    9. Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) + 18.830

    10. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) + 20.056

  • Ferrari-Mercedes renew battle in Barcelona; Red Bull in frame as one of favourites

    Ferrari-Mercedes renew battle in Barcelona; Red Bull in frame as one of favourites

    Sebastien Vettel (Ferrari) and Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) all set to renew their rivalry. Photo: formula1.com

    Barcelona, 10 May 2018: Four rounds ticked off the Formula 1 calendar, and this season has certainly kept us on the edge of our seats. We’ve had two triumphs for Ferrari, and one apiece for Red Bull and Mercedes. So, who has the momentum as we head to Europe for the Spanish Grand Prix?

    It’s very hard to say indeed. Last time out, Baku provided us with a chaotic and thrilling race with Ferrari looking on course for a third win of the campaign before the Red Bull collision set off a chain of events that ultimately conspired to hand Mercedes their first victory of 2018.

    The Silver Arrows still trail their rivals in red by four points in the constructors’ standings, but Lewis Hamilton’s latest triumph – his first of the season – gave him the lead ahead of Sebastian Vettel in the drivers’ championship after four races this season, the Briton having waited until after round 13 to move ahead last year.

    Mercedes have locked out the front row in Barcelona in four of the past five years, but their qualifying prowess has already been questioned this year – Azerbaijan was the third race in a row they have missed out on P1.

    But as we’ve seen already this season, it won’t just be about Mercedes and Ferrari this weekend. In fact, perhaps most of the attention will be on Red Bull, following the clash between Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen in Azerbaijan.

    They have now suffered two double DNFs in the past three races, having previously not suffered one at all since the 2010 Korean GP – and after being read the riot act, their drivers will be desperate to avoid more contact in Spain.

    Barcelona is a track all the teams know extremely well – but who will come out on top?

    The form book

    Looking at the stats, Mercedes have every reason to be confident on their return to Barcelona. This track has arguably been a demonstration of their dominance in the turbo hybrid era.

    In 2014, they locked out the front row with no other car within one second of pole. In 2015, this gap dropped to 0.777s, then 0.680s in 2016, before Vettel narrowed it to 0.051s last year and became the first non-Mercedes to start on the front row here since 2012.

    The qualifying stats suggest the winner will need to come up with the goods on the Saturday. Twenty-four of the 27 Grands Prix in Catalunya have been won from the front row (89 per cent), the highest ratio of any circuit on the calendar with at least 10 previous races, such is the difficulty of overtaking at the Spanish venue.

    Over the last decade, though, we have seen plenty of different drivers triumph, including shock victories for Pastor Maldonado in 2012 and Max Verstappen – on his Red Bull debut – in 2016. Hamilton’s victory last year ended a run of 10 different winners in the same number years in Spain, but could we see another new winner this year? Neither Ricciardo nor Bottas has triumphed here, but both have been in terrific form.

    This is a race where, traditionally, the teams bring significant upgrades to their cars, so whilst no one is expecting the established top three to be toppled, in the supremely tight midfield there could be movement. McLaren, in the midst of a tight battle for P4 in the constructors’ championship with Renault, are one of the teams bringing significant revisions.

    Both teams have Spanish drivers, but it’s Renault’s Carlos Sainz who has the better recent record at Barcelona, finishing the last three races in ninth, sixth and seventh. Alonso, meanwhile, hasn’t scored points at home since 2014 when he was still driving for Ferrari.

    Elsewhere, several teams will be looking to carry momentum into Spain. Force India’s surprise podium in Baku, with Sergio Perez landing P3, kick-started their season, while Toro Rosso were boosted by Brendon Hartley’s first points-finish last time out.

    Sauber’s Charles Leclerc also scored points for the first time, while Williams got their 2018 campaign underway with Lance Stroll scoring four points for P8.

    Source: Formula1.com

  • Spanish Grand Prix: A statistical perspective

    Spanish Grand Prix: A statistical perspective

    Barcelona, 10 May 2018: This weekend’s race will mark the 28th edition of the Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Michael Schumacher tops the all-time winners list, with an impressive six triumphs here. When the drivers take to the grid on Sunday, there will be five previous victors among them – Kimi Raikkonen, Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen.

    The Stats That Matter

    • Hamilton is looking to join a small list of F1 legends to win at this circuit for a third time. Should he triumph on Sunday, he’ll be on the same number of wins as Mika Hakkinen and three behind Michael Schumacher.
    • The Briton, who won from pole here in 2014 and 2017, certainly enjoys coming to Spain. He hasn’t been off the front row here since his final year for McLaren in 2012, when he took top spot in qualifying only to be excluded for having insufficient fuel.
    • Despite leading the drivers’ standings, the four-time World champion has been suffering somewhat of a qualifying drought recently. He took pole in Australia, but has been outqualified by team-mate Bottas in four of the last six races.
    • Vettel has surprisingly never been on pole in Catalunya. But the Ferrari man has been in superb qualifying form this season, topping the timesheet at the last three races.
    • Baku ended Raikkonen’s longest run of front-row starts (3) since Spain-Monaco-Europe in 2005, but he still finished on the podium for the sixth time in the last eight races.
    • The Finn has set the theoretical best lap of qualifying at the last two races (adding up the three best sectors from any lap), without having taken pole at either of them. Consistency in Barcelona could see the Ferrari man take P1.
    • Two years ago, Max Verstappen’s triumph saw him become F1’s youngest-ever winner at 18 years 227 days, become the first Dutchman to win in F1 and the first man to win on a mid-season debut for a team since Juan-Manuel Fangio for Mercedes in 1954.
    • Force India will be hoping to spring another surprise. Perez finished fourth in Barcelona last year, his and team’s best-ever finish on this track. The Mexican is attempting to score back-to-back podium finishes for the first time in his and his team’s history this weekend.
    • Nico Hulkenberg has not been eliminated in Q1 since the 2015 Spanish GP, and this is the only circuit at which the German has never qualified higher than 10th in his F1 career (seven previous visits).
    • It’s safe to say Pierre Gasly has endured an action-packed start to his first full season in F1. And there’s no reason he cannot replicate his fourth-placed finish in Bahrain this weekend. He has scored more podium finishes in Catalunya than on any other circuit in his GP2 career, with three podiums in four starts in 2015-16.
    • Not including retirements, Nico Rosberg, who started the 2013 race in P1, is the only pole-sitter to finish outside the top-5 in a Spanish Grand Prix – regardless of venue – in the history of Formula 1.

    The circuit

    This Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is familiar territory for Formula 1 teams. Not only have they raced there every year since 1991, they also take part in extensive testing at the track.

    But this does not mean they’re in for an easy ride. In fact, the venue’s mix of high and low-speed corners plus its new track surface will once again provide the drivers with a physical and mental challenge.

    Teams often struggle to find and execute an optimum set-up here, when you consider tyre wear is particularly high and the varying winds that cut across the circuit.

    Turn 1 provides spectators with one of the best places to watch given it is one of the track’s few overtaking opportunities. The drivers, however, tend to find the latter stages of the track the more challenging. In particular, the final two turns require a fast exit in order to maximise speed down the start-finish straight into Turn 1.

    Source: Formula1.com

  • Spanish GP: Fernando Alonso, McLaren team hopeful of improved performance

    Spanish GP: Fernando Alonso, McLaren team hopeful of improved performance

    Barcelona, 9 May 2018: The first European race of the 2018 Formula One season starts with a trip to Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, a well-visited and well-loved track by all in the F1 paddock. The 28th running of the Spanish Grand Prix not only sees the return of the McLaren team’s home away from home – the buzzing Brand Centre, but a new-look pit garage, a handful of car parts to test and of course, Fernando Alonso’s home race. Look out for passionate Fernando fans with their Asturian flags, cheering on their homegrown hero and the team!

    Despite having finished on points in all the previous four races this season, Alonso believes there is still a long road ahead for the team and much scope for improvement. Being the home race for him, Alonso said he looked forward to performing well in his home country this weekend.

    Fernando Alonso

    Alonso said: “It’s great to be back in Europe, in Spain, and at home! You can never beat the feeling of racing in front of your home fans. I’m very lucky that we get to race in my country of birth as not all drivers get that opportunity, and every year the support from the Spanish fans gets bigger and better.

    “The Spanish Grand Prix represents the start of a very busy few months leading up to the summer break – both for McLaren and for me with my other racing commitments. I’m more than ready for the challenge and I’m really excited to see what the next few races bring us.

    “I know we have some developments in the pipeline, but we also know there is no magic bullet that will propel us to the front of the grid overnight. There has been a lot of work happening at the factory and there is still a lot of work to do.

    “So in Barcelona, it’s a chance to evaluate some new things, see where we are, and determine the direction that we take with car development as we progress through the season. As always, and especially after the battle we fought in Baku, I’m really looking forward to pushing hard on track again this weekend in front of my home fans.”

    Stoffel Vandoorne

    Alonso’s team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne said: “Heading back to European races always feels very satisfyingly familiar, especially in Barcelona. We all know the track very well and spend a lot of time there. In fact, it doesn’t feel that long ago that we were there during pre-season testing!

    “Thankfully, the weather should be a little bit more reliable this time around. Although we do a lot of testing here and we have a lot of data about the circuit, we weren’t able to do a lot of representative running pre-season due to the weather conditions and the issues we had.

    “However, I’ve spent time back at the factory in the simulator since Baku, so the key will be to translate that information to the track and get a read on our package as soon as possible on Friday. That package will include a few new components that we’ll be working hard to learn about and evaluate on Friday. There’ll be a lot to assess and for sure other teams will be planning the same thing, so as always we’ll need to race hard, ensure good reliability, and optimise our strategy to be able to come home with more points.”

    Eric Boullier

    Eric Boullier, Racing Director, said: “The whole team is looking forward to heading back to Barcelona. It’s a great circuit – one of the classics on the calendar – and it always feels good to start the second chapter of the season as we start racing again in Europe.

    “This also means the return of our much-loved Brand Centre, and having all the teams’ hospitality units back in the Paddock brings a real ‘back-to-school’ feeling. For us, being Fernando’s home race, the support we receive is nothing short of spectacular, and the fans always bring another level of enthusiasm.

    “Like most teams, we’re planning to bring some new parts to the car to test on Friday and decide which of these to take forward into the rest of the weekend, and the coming races. While for logistical reasons Barcelona was the most logical time to implement these, it’s part of a season-long plan to develop the car as we always do until the final race.

    “We’re taking each grand prix weekend step-by-step, and hope we can begin to address the challenges we know we face with our package. We’re all gunning for a positive weekend for both cars in front of Fernando’s home crowd.”

    The essentials

    Focus points: Gaining a quick understanding of the car and the conditions. The teams had eight days of winter testing at the Circuit de Catalunya, but the weather was unrepresentative. Snow, rain and single-digit temperatures resulted in little meaningful performance testing, which gives the teams little relevant data going into this weekend.

    Most demanding section: Turns One, Two and Three. Turns One and Two are deceptively fast, taken at 180km/h (112mph), and many drivers hit the inside kerbs to help rotate the car and aid direction change. Turn Three is a breathtakingly fast right-hander, through which the cars accelerate to 285km/h (177mph) at the exit.

    Unique difficulty: Barcelona has an eclectic mix of corners, and that is the circuit’s unique difficulty. Sectors One and Two are high-speed, through which aerodynamic efficiency is crucial; Sector Three is all about slow-speed mechanical grip. To be fast, a car needs to work in every type of corner.

    Braking: There are eight braking events around the lap, but only two significant stops – into Turns One and 10. Turn One is the most severe corner for the brakes, with the cars scrubbing off 215km/h (134mph) in just 100m/0.0621 miles, which subjects the drivers to 5.6g.

    Power: The cars use 1.7kg of fuel per lap, which is average for the season. It’s quite a demanding race for the ERS as well because there are two long periods of full deployment.

    Aero: After running a low downforce configuration in Baku, it’s back to maximum downforce in Barcelona. The eclectic mix of corners, particularly the slow-speed chicanes in Sector Three, mean the best lap times are achieved by maximising cornering performance.

    Source (text and photos): McLaren F1 team