Tag Archives: Kimi Raikkonen

2019 F1 Grand Prix of Hungary — Results & aftermath

Hamilton redeems Mercedes’ 2-stop gamble by hunting down Verstappen Red Bull for victory late in the game; Ferrari’s Vettel & Leclerc P3 & P4 but miles off the pace

The last race before the summer break turned into a thrilling affair in Hungary on Sunday, with Red Bull’s Max Vertsappen seeking to win his first race from pole and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton looking for redemption after a disastrously sloppy run at a rainy Hockenheim a week ago. It all came down to a crucial strategy call by the Silver Arrows braintrust that even the supremely skilled Hamilton was uncertain would succeed. With an insurmountable lead to the trailing Ferraris behind him and having wrung the life out his Hard Pirellis chasing down Verstappen in the lead for 18 laps, his best attempts to pass all thwarted, Mercedes gambled and called Hamilton back in for a fresh set of Medium tires on Lap 49. The strategists had worked the sums and believed that Hamilton’s fresher and better performing rubber would be able to make up huge chunks of time on the Dutchman, who was running a conventional one-stopper and had switched to the Hards off of Mediums way back on Lap 25. While it took several laps to begin paying off and Hamilton voiced his doubts about the call during that limbo period the maneuver finally started coming good on Lap 59 when the delta between Hamilton’s tire performance increase and Vertsappen’s aging Pirrellis’ drop off began to intersect.

At first it crept up to over a second a lap pace advantage for Hamilton. By Lap 65 the English defending champion was more than 2 seconds a lap faster than the struggling Vertasppan, who could do nothing to avert his fate at the front of the race. With the Red Bulls’ tires completely shagged, Hamilton made an easy pass down into Turn 1 on Lap 67 to take the lead with three laps remaining at the Hungaroring. Verstappen subsequently dove to the pits on Lap 68 to change to Soft tires and set the fastest lap for the bonus point but it was cold comfort for the surging prodigy, who was looking for his third victory in the last four GP, as well as running then table in Hungary after his first-ever career pole position. But Verstppen was a victim of his success to a degree and the team were unwilling to roll the dice on throwing away his front-running track position with a like-for-like stop when Hamilton hit the pits for his second stop. So Hamilton rewarded team Mercedes’ excellent strategy gamble with qualifying lap after qualifying lap to take the win and restore what the 5-time champ will certainly see as the natural pecking order of F1 in 2019. But one thing is for certain — Verstappen in the intpoving Red Bull versus Hamilton in the on-the-limit Mercedes is the fight that every Formula1 fan has been anticipating for some time now. If the second half of the season is going to be anything like these last several tight races that battle is going to be epic.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

It was certainly not all good news for Mercedes, or Red Bull for that matter. Their second driver, Valtteri Bottas, who appears to be genuinely at risk for keeping his factory Merc seat, had just the start he didn’t need after out-qualifying Hamilton in P2. Continue reading →

2019 F1 Grand Prix of Hungary — Qualifying results

Verstappen finally grabs maiden pole at Hungaroring for ascendent Red Bull; Bottas bests Hamilton P2 to P3; Ferrari trails

Red Bull’s phenom Max Verstappen finally came good with his first career pole position during Saturday qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix. Despite having seven F1 GP victories already under his belt by the age of 21 pole position has eluded him in this Mercedes dominated era. Not any more. The Dutch wunderkind blistered the Hungaroring to the tune of 1:14.572, shattering the lap record and besting the next closest competitor, Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas, by a slim .018. Although it may be too late to do anything about Mercedes hegemony after their mostly dominant first half this year Verstappen and Red Bull are showing signs of challenging the inconsistent Ferrari for second in the Championships. Young Max has won two of the last three Grand Prix, including his masterclass at the rain-soaked Hockenheimring last weekend, and the RB15 with him behind the wheel is clearly on the ascent. Ferrari and Mercedes had better watch out.

Bottas’ P2 was a welcome respite after whispers have begun about his future at the Mercedes factory team after crashing out in Germany last week. That he grabbed the second spot on the front row at the expense of his teammate Lewis Hamilton, who could do no better than a P3 start on the grid, was all the more satisfying for the Finn. Hamilton will line up in Row 2 alongside the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, who recovered after spinning his Prancing Horse firmly into the barrier on the exit of the last turn in Q1 to qualify in P4. Leclerc is another star driver who, like Hamilton and Bottas, will be looking for redemption after a miserable time of it in Germany last race. Leclerc’s teammate Sebastian Vettel, who conversely had a terrific run from last to P2 in Hockenheim, could do no better than the fifth fastest lap in qualifying. The second Red Bull of Pierre Gasly was once again well behind his team leader in P6. But McLaren’s Lando Norris out-performed expectations with a very solid P7 time.

The other McLaren of Carlos Sainz was P8, proving that the team have finally found consistent pace for the first time in years. Rounding out the top 10 qualifiers, Romain Grosjean drove his older-spec Haas up into P9 and the Alfa-Romeo of Kimi Raikkonen will start P10.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Hungarian GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:15.817 1:15.573 1:14.572 16
2 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:16.078 1:15.669 1:14.590 19
3 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:16.068 1:15.548 1:14.769 22
4 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:16.337 1:15.792 1:15.043 17
5 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 1:16.452 1:15.885 1:15.071 18
6 10 Pierre Gasly RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:16.716 1:16.393 1:15.450 19
7 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN RENAULT 1:16.697 1:16.060 1:15.800 18
8 55 Carlos Sainz MCLAREN RENAULT 1:16.493 1:16.308 1:15.852 20
9 8 Romain Grosjean HAAS FERRARI 1:16.978 1:16.319 1:16.013 21
10 7 Kimi Räikkönen ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI 1:16.506 1:16.518 1:16.041 20

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race, the last before the big summer hiatus, airs live on ESPN2 beginning at 9AM here in the States. Hope to see you then to find out of Verstappen can once again take it to the Formula 1 super powers and drive Red Bull back into the conversation when we talk about elite teams.

2019 F1 Grand Prix of Germany — Qualifying results

Hamilton takes advantage of Ferrari mechanical woes to grab opportunistic pole in Hockenheim; Vertsappen bests Bottas for P2 on the grid

After looking like the fastest cars throughout the three practice sessions for the German Grand Prix Ferrari’s 2019 bad luck resurfaced once again in Saturday qualifying. First Sebastien Vettel’s Prancing Horse took ill with a turbo issue in front of his home fans before he could even set a flying lap in Q1. Then his talented young teammate Pierre Gasly’s mount suffered a fuel system issue that forced the Monegasque to end his Q3 pole effort before it really even began. Ferrari’s woes were all the invitation Mercedes Lewis Hamilton needed to take advantage and set the quickest lap of the day for pole for tomorrow’s GP. Even though the Silver Arrows could not match the Ferraris on pure pace during their reliability once again won the day when it counted. The fabled Scuderia from Maranello will have it all to do come race day with Leclerc starting from P10 and Vettel all the way in the back row. Weather may also play a part as rainy skies are forecast for Sunday.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen continued his excellent run in the rapidly improving RB15 and was able to best the second Merc of Valtteri Bottas for P2 on the grid alongside Hamilton. Verstappen’s teammate will start alongside the P3 Bottas in the second row after a solid P4 qualifying time. And veteran Kimi Raikkonen did yeoman’s work in his Alfa Romeo to hoist it all the way up P5 putting him in the ironic position of starting well in front of both the factory Ferraris, his former employer until this year.

Top 10 qualifiers for the German GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:12.852 1:12.149 1:11.767 19
2 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:12.593 1:12.427 1:12.113 17
3 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:13.075 1:12.424 1:12.129 19
4 10 Pierre Gasly RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:12.991 1:12.385 1:12.522 15
5 7 Kimi Räikkönen ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI 1:13.066 1:12.519 1:12.538 18
6 8 Romain Grosjean HAAS FERRARI 1:13.146 1:12.769 1:12.851 20
7 55 Carlos Sainz MCLAREN RENAULT 1:13.221 1:12.632 1:12.897 21
8 11 Sergio Perez RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES 1:13.194 1:12.776 1:13.065 15
9 27 Nico Hulkenberg RENAULT 1:13.186 1:12.766 1:13.126 15
10 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:12.229 1:12.344 9

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live at 9AM Eastern on ESPN here in the States. Hope to see you then to see how it all shakes out!

2019 F1 Grand Prix of Great Britain — Results & aftermath

Hamilton continues mastery at Silverstone with lucky win, hard-luck Bottas P2 after missing out during Safety Car; Leclerc salvages P3 for Ferrari as Vettel collides with Verstappen

In a barnburner of a British Grand Prix on Sunday Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton took advantage of a mid-race Safety Car period to duck into the pits for his one and only tire change and gain an advantage on the race leader and his teammate, Valtteri Bottas. Worse still for Bottas, he had already stopped for a like-for-like tire switch for another set of Medium Pirellis, meaning the Finn would definitely have to stop again for the mandatory second tire compound. So Hamilton not only got a relatively “free” pit stop under the greatly reduced Safety Car-induced speeds of his competitors but also gained the race lead via that maneuver. It was one he would never relinquish as both Mercedes pulled away from the field when the Safety Car was withdrawn at the end of Lap 23. The pole-sitting Bottas was doomed to make another stop on Lap 46 for fresh rubber during fully green flag track conditions costing him in the neighborhood of 20 seconds as Hamilton, who had shrewdly gambled on holding out for a one-stopper, raced around the course. And even though Bottas went onto the Soft Pirrelli’s Hamilton still maintained that gap of over 20 seconds and even set the fastest lap for the extra point on his won Hard tires en route to his record 6th British GP victory at Silverstone. Once again, the fact that Formula 1 does not immediately close the pits and force the drivers to bunch up together before the pits do open when a full course caution occurs like so many other top series do — IndyCar, IMSA, NASCAR — led to a driver at a fortuitous position on the track gaining a major advantage over his competitors. Bottas will feel hard done by the way his strategy failed to play out amidst the roulette-like luck of the Safety Car deployment. But Hamilton and his home fans were jubilant as the victorious Englishman grabbed a Union Flag from one of the marshals after finishing first, happily driving it around and wearing it proudly on the podium for all to see.

Safety Car shenanigans aside, the race itself was undoubtedly one of the best of the season with battles all over the field and fierce whee-to-wheel jousting. While Mercedes eventually showed their clear superiority, the battle between the Ferraris and Red Bulls was race-long and decidedly intense. Ferrari’s Chalres Leclerc and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen renewed their door-banging acquaintance of two weeks ago in Austria for lap after lap to open this race. They even took it into the pits with Verstappen muscling his way past Leclerc after both cars had been serviced on Lap 14 for a momentary advantage. But Verstappen struggled with grip on exit and Leclerc immediately passed the Dutchman back on track, maintaining his P4 position with authority. When Alfa-Romeo’s Antonio Giovinnazi beached it in a gravel trap on Lap 20 bringing out that fateful Safety Car Leclerc pitted again for Hard tires but still emerged in front of Vertsappen. But once the race went green again Verstappen was able to dispatch Leclerc and his own teammate Pierre Gasly, who was finally running a competitive race, for P4. This puts him directly behind the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel and Verstappen set about hunting the German down. In short order Vertsappen was on the Prancing Horse’s tail and on Lap 36 he made a forceful pass for P3 streaking into Stowe. But as Verstappen decelerated for the upcoming corner, Vettel, certainly keen to retake the position, failed to slow enough and rammed into the back of the Red Bull bouncing Vertsppen’s car off the track with some force. Amazingly Vertsppenn’s mount was intact and able to continue. Vettel, however, was forced to pit for a new nose due to his miscalculation, a race-destroying own goal by the 4-time champion that saw him drop from a possible podium to a lowly P16 finish. Once again the formerly peerless Vettel committed an unforced error with dire consequences for his championship aspirations.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

Leclerc was able to take advantage of the Verstappen-Vettel melee and zip on by both cars to inherit the P3 position that the Monegasque would never relinquish. It was Leclrec’s fourth consecutive podium finish and the young driver is surely looking like the future at Ferrari. Gasly also took advantage of his teammate’s misfortune to seize P4, the young Frenchman’s best finish of the season. The stricken car of Verstappen was badly wounded but still managed to drive home P5. If Red Bull can stay this close to Ferrari on performance for the remainder of the year there should be plenty more great battles to come between these four closely matched drivers.

Further back in the top 10 McLaren’s Carlos Sainz stayed out fo trouble and patiently worked his way up to a solid P6 finish. The two Renaults of Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Huilkneberg both finished in the points in P7 and P10 respectively. And the veteran Kimi Raikkonen showed his savvy and skill at Silverstone by willing his overmatched Alfa Romeo up to P8, while Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat also did well to come home P9.

Top 10 finishers of the British GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 52 1:21:08.452 26
2 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 52 +24.928s 18
3 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 52 +30.117s 15
4 10 Pierre Gasly RED BULL RACING HONDA 52 +34.692s 12
5 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 52 +39.458s 10
6 55 Carlos Sainz MCLAREN RENAULT 52 +53.639s 8
7 3 Daniel Ricciardo RENAULT 52 +54.401s 6
8 7 Kimi Räikkönen ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI 52 +65.540s 4
9 26 Daniil Kvyat SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO HONDA 52 +66.720s 2
10 27 Nico Hulkenberg RENAULT 52 +72.733s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in two weeks time — the German Grand Prix at the Hockenheimring. Hopefully the action at the British Grand Prix is a harbinger of good things to come as the battle between Ferrari and Red Bull heats up even more. And of course Bottas will be looking for retribution against his championship leading teammate Hamilton. Hope to see you then to see how it all shakes out!

2019 F1 Grand Prix of Austria — Results & aftermath

Verstappen overcomes disastrous start to take thrilling victory in Austrian GP; Leclerc bumped to P2 after leading most of race for Ferrari; Bottas salvages P3 for flummoxed Mercedes

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen had a nightmare start to the Austrian Grand Prix on Sunday but, showing that he is one of the best talents of this generation of drivers, managed to fight back brilliantly to snatch victory from the leading Ferrari of Charles Leclerc late in this 71 lap contest. With the two most promising young Formula 1 competitors starting side-by-side on the front row on Sunday at the Red Bull Ring, Verstappen’s car went into anti-stall mode when the lights went out to begin the contest. The Dutchman found himself swamped by the two Mercedes Silver Arrows behind him, as well as the McLaren of Lando Norris, and promptly dropped from P2 back to P7 before even one lap’s distance had been completed. Meanwhile pole-sitter Leclerc raced away from his nearest pursuer, pulling a nearly 2 seconds gap to Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas by the start of Lap 3. Finally, it looked like the breaks would go Ferrari’s way after with Leclerc’s dominant start from start and the starcrossed Sebastian Vettel had even vaulted up to P6 after failing to turn a lap in Q3 on Saturday due to mechanical gremlins forced the German to start P9 on race day.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

But Verstappan and the Red Bull team kept their heads in the game and didn’t panic after their bad start. They ran the Dutch wunderkind longer than any of the other top contenders on his opening stint, going all the way to Lap 32 before switching off the Medium Pirellis in favor of the long lasting Hard compound. That gave Verstappen tires that were 9 laps fresher than Leclerc’s, who came in to swap off of his opening set of the less durable Softs for the Hards on Lap 23. The Red Bull’s tires were even one lap fresher still than those of the other Ferrari of Vettel, who had tried to cross up Bottas by pitting on the same lap, 22, to slow the Mercedes crew down. But that somewhat backfired when the Scuderia didn’t have the tires laid out properly, costing Vettel at least 3 valuable extra seconds in the pits while the crew scrambled to get things right. By Lap 48 Vertsappen was harassing Vettel and by Lap 50 the Red Bull man passed the second Ferrari easily for P3. Next on Vertsppen’s hit list was Bottas and despite complaining of a brief power loss he was able to fix this issue via resetting controls on the steering will and then blew by the overmatched Finn for P2 on Lap 56.

That left it down to the leading Leclerc and the pursuing Vertsppen for the ultimate prize of this riveting Grand Prix. Continue reading →

2019 F1 Grand Prix of Austria — Qualifying results

Leclerc snatches pole in Spielberg for Ferrari but Vettel misses out on Q3 with mechanical; Hamilton demoted 3-spots for Q1 infraction after running second fastest

It was an intriguing qualifying session at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria on Saturday as Ferrari found superior pace on this short, high speed circuit and actually managed to put Mercedes on the back foot. Confirming the trends in practice, young Charles Leclerc pushed his Prancing Horse to the pole position for Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix, besting Lewis Hamilton’s fastest lap in his Silver Arrow by a rather hefty .26 seconds. Worse still for Hamilton and team Mercedes the season’s points leader was demoted three places via a penalty for blocking Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen in Q1. So that will give Hamilton that much more to do come race day when he starts from P5 on the grid instead of on the front row.

But, as has so often been the case this year, the news for Ferrari was not all good despite their pace advantage over the Mercs. Their senior driver, Sebastian Vettel, continued his recent run of bad luck when an air pressure line to his engine failed, denying the German the chance to run in Q3 and relegating him to a P10 start. It was exactly the sort of thing the star-crossed German did not need on a day when he should have been contending for pole against his upstart teammate, as well as sticking it to Mercedes. Hamilton’s teammate Valtteri Bottas also continued to sputter, or perhaps find his true level after a deceptively strong start to 2019, when he was out-qualified by Red Bull’s Max Vertsappen, P3 to P4. Hamilton’s penalty also elevates both drivers and that means the Dutchman, who enjoyed boisterous support from his orange-clad countrymen in the stands here, will start on the font row alongside Leclerc. Watching those two young guns duke it out as they race away from the starting line could be worth the price of admission by itself, especially as the Ferrari will run its opening stint on Soft Pirrellis while the Red Bull will be on the Mediums.

Kevin Magnussen gave scuffling Haas a bit of hope by posting the fifth fastest time but he will drop five positions on the grid due to a gearbox change penalty. Lando Norris was the only McClaren to make it into Q3 and laid down the sixth fastest lap. The two Ferrari-powered Alfa Romeos acquitted themselves very well, with Raikkonen slotting in at P7 and Antonio Giovinazzi in P8. And Verstappen’s teammate Pierre Gasly was once again miles behind him with only the ninth fastest time, which must be disappointing for the Red Bull team as well as ominous for Gasly’s future in that notoriously impatient squad.

Top 10 qualifying times for the Austrian:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:04.138 1:03.378 1:03.003 19
2 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:03.818 1:03.803 1:03.262 27
3 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:03.807 1:03.835 1:03.439 18
4 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:04.084 1:03.863 1:03.537 25
5 20 Kevin Magnussen HAAS FERRARI 1:04.778 1:04.466 1:04.072 20
6 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN RENAULT 1:04.361 1:04.211 1:04.099 19
7 7 Kimi Räikkönen ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI 1:04.615 1:04.056 1:04.166 23
8 99 Antonio Giovinazzi ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI 1:04.450 1:04.194 1:04.179 22
9 10 Pierre Gasly RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:04.412 1:03.988 1:04.199 18
10 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 1:04.340 1:03.667 9

Complete qualifying results — and adjusted grid — available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live beginning at 9AM Eastern on ESPN2 here in the States. Hope to see you then to find out if Ferrari’s race pace is as good as what they showed today in quali!

2019 F1 Grand Prix of France — Results & aftermath

Hamilton romps to dominant victory in France, Bottas a distant P2; Leclerc P3, Vettel P5 as Ferrari’s hopes dim

Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton was untouchable at Circuit Paul Riccard as he went on to dominate the French Grand Prix from pole and blow away the field for a dominant win on Sunday. On the hunt for his remarkable sixth F1 title the Englishman scored the Grand Slam in this eighth round of the World Championship — pole position, fastest lap, leading all race laps and the win — and aced his nearest competitor, teammate Valtteri Bottas in ostensibly the same equipment, by a whopping 18 seconds to the checkered flag. It was Hamilton’s fourth win on the trot and he has now won six out of the eight contests so far in 2019 and already leads Bottas by 36 Drivers’ points. That’s bad news for anyone hoping that either Bottas or Ferrari would take down the most dominant driver of this new turbo hybrid era, as man and machine once again look to be in perfect harmony and Hamilton is beginning to demoralize his closest rivals.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

With Bottas’s performance fading after a splitting the first four races with his peerless Silver Arrows rival, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel is also showing signs of losing the metal war to Lewis. After a controversial penalty at the Canadian GP stripped him of victory two weeks ago the German four-time champ seemed to be suffering the psychological hangover during a very poor qualifying run on Saturday that saw Vettel related to a P7 start from the grid. While Vettel raced hard and kept it clean he was only able to claw back two positions to come home a rather tepid P5. His younger teammate Charles Leclerc finished where he qualified, P3, an encouraging sign for the Monegasque after some inconsistent quali runs lately. But it was all a bit of cold comfort for the legendary Scuderia from Maranello, who have been outclassed for the most part by mighty Mercedes and have seen potential victories in Bahrain and Canada undone by mechanical reliability and driver error respectively. While the Ferrari camp were still keeping their heads high and talking up their chances for major improvements going forward it’s becoming harder to see that happening because Mercedes, already the dominant car, will hardly be resting on their laurels as the summer moves along.

Further back in the pack, Max Verstappen did his usual fine work to finish ahead of Vettel in P4 but the Red Bull simply doesn’t have the pace to compete for victory unless one of the front running teams has a major mishap. Continue reading →

2019 F1 Grand Prix of Azerbaijan — Results & aftermath

Bottas brilliant in Baku for the win, Hamilton P2 to extend Mercedes mastery; Vettel P3 for frustrated Ferrari

Valtteri Bottas entered the 2019 season vowing to be less of a wingman to his peerless 5-time World Champion teammate Lewis Hamilton and more of a threat to him for the title. So far in this young season Bottas has made good on his promise. After pipping Hamilton for pole position, Bottas was able to hold off the hard charging Hamilton on the opening lap of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Sunday at the alternately wide and tight Baku City Street circuit. It was something the Finn was unable to do in China two weeks ago but this time he kept his elbows out in a respectful but forceful manner and kept Hamilton behind him. Following that crucial first lap, the pace of Bottas’ Mercedes was untouchable by the rest of the field, including his elite teammate. Bottas was able to pull away and manage the race from the front, surviving some tricky tire strategy, as well as Hamilton’s best efforts, to eventually romp to the win by a healthy 1.5 seconds. That avenged Bottas’ heartbreaking loss here last year when a late lap puncture denied him certain victory and he now has two wins to bookend Hamilton’s own brace. Bottas leads the Englishman by a single point in the Driver’s standings, which he scored by taking fastest lap in Melbourne along with the victory there. The race in Azerbaijan, Round 4 of the Championship, also highlighted a dominant start by team Mercedes and marked their fourth consecutive 1-2 finish to start the year.

That is bad news for Ferrari and fans of the fabled Scuderia. After all the talk of the Prancing Horses having the pace advantage over the Silver Arrows, Ferrari has yet to prove that in a race this year. Mercedes appears able to turn up the performance without sacrificing reliability and they have two drivers who almost never make mistakes. Both those shortcomings bit Ferrari in Baku. Wile looking like the fastest overall during each round of practice, Ferrari’s young phenom Charles Leclerc binned his car into the TecPro barriers at the tricky Castle complex during Saturday qualifying. Yeoman’s work by the team’s mechanics enabled Leclerc to start with a healthy car on the grid on Sunday and he was elevated to P8 by the time the race started due to others’ penalties. But it was a far cry from a possible pole and put the Monegasque on an alternate tire strategy from the rest of the frontrunners, with Leclerc’s Prancing Horse starting on the Medium Pirelli’s while the other top 10 began on the softs. So Leclerc would obviously run a longer first stint and for a while it looked like the alternate strategy just might pay off with unexpectedly good results, as the Soft rubber of those around him expired much more quickly than expected.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

Leclerc made a passel of passes through the midfield to get to P5 by Lap 7 and by the time Hamilton finished off the round of pit stops for the top 3 on Lap 14 Leclerc inherited the race lead. But Ferrari may have gotten greedy — they were also understandably worried about the life of the Soft tires to close the race to be fair — and kept Leclerc out on that first set of Medium tires all the way to Lap 34. Continue reading →

2019 F1 Grand Prix of Azerbaijan — Qualifying results

Bottas sizes last-second pole at Baku at expense of teammate Hamilton; Vettel qualifies P3 for Ferrari after Leclerc crashes out in Q2

Mercedes ostensible Number 2 driver Valtteri Bottas snatched pole for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in the dying moneys of an action packed Saturday qualifying, knocking off his teammate Lewis Hamilton’s previously supreme time by .06 seconds as the checkered flag flew. For a desperate moment in Q3 it looked as if Mercedes had blown it by playing cute and loitering at pit out while a stream of cars launched onto the track for their last runs. But with the sun setting and the track cooling after several crash-induced delays to qualifying, Mercedes had the last laugh by enabling their two stars to utilize the slipstream of the closest cars in front of them — for Hamilton running last that meant Bottas — to get a tow down Baku’s enormous final high speed straight. That proved to be enough of an advantage for both Silver Arrows to once again lockout the front row. And for Bottas, who made just slightly better effect of that drafting technique than Hamilton, it meant gaining the prime position to try and avenge his loss in this race last year when he was leading handily but suffered a puncture that cost him victory just yards from the finish line.

Pics courtesy GrandPirx247.com

Mercedes’ joy once again came at the expense of Ferrari, which had been looking like the quickest cars coming into qualifying today. The fastest of the Prancing Horses on this tight and treacherous Baku City Circuit was actually the junior member Charles Leclerc who displayed a decided advantage over his teammate Sebastian Vettel and the entire field throughout each of the three practice sessions. But team and driver may have both gotten a little greedy in Q2. With Ferrari setting the pace the braintrust decided to put both cars out on the Medium Pirellis, the only cars in the remaining 15 to go out on the harder rubber. The Medium tires lacked just that bit of grip on the cooling asphalt and Leclerc misjudged his breaking by a fraction going into the very tight Turn 8 Castle complex. The young phenom tried to make the corner rather than play it safe and abort down the escape runoff but the Ferrari went straight and speared heavily into the TecPro barrier, ending the Monegasque’s day and badly damaging his chassis. From looking like a favorite for the pole Leclerc instead was left bitterly upbraiding himself and praying that his team of mechanics can rebuild a competitive car by the start of the GP tomorrow.

The surviving Ferrari of veteran Sebastian Vettel qualified P3 and the German looked like he might seize the pole that Leclerc left unclaimed. But Mercedes’ slipstream strategy nipped him at the end and relegated Vettel to the second row. He will start alongside Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who was very quick, as well, and qualified P4. The Dutchman’s Red Bull could be the dark horse for the race win because the car looks exceptionally well planted on this technical circuit and perhaps the team’s lack of straight line speed relative to the big two of Mercedes and Ferrari can be made up in race trim. Unfortunately, Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Pierre Gasly, while also very quick, was undone by incurring a major penalty for blowing by the inspection weigh station in Friday practice, which necessitates a pit lane start as draconian punishment. Look for the Frenchman to cut his way through the laggards at the back of the field in the opening laps, though of course he must stay patient in such tight quarters lest he throw the race away by clashing with slower competitors.

The misfortunes of some of the members of the top three teams proved a boon to several of the midfield runners. Now benefitted more than Sergio Perez, who did a wonderful day’s work by willing his Racing Point machine all the way up to the fifth fastest time. Similarly, Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat had one of his good days and overcame a hard kiss off the wall on his rear right to qualify P6. McLaren rookie Lando Norris qualified P7, which was the best placement of any Renault-powered chassis on the grid by far. Antonio Giovinazzi also had his best-ever qualifying result, besting his Alfa-Romeo teammate Kimi Raikkonen P8 to P9, as Alfa also made good use of slipstreaming to set their fast final laps. Unfortunately for the young Italian he will drop back 10 spots on the gird come Sunday due to power unit changes. That means even after his mishap in Q2, Leclerc is slated to be elevated to P9 on the grid for tomorrow’s start. That is if Ferrari can rebuild his car without taking any parts-change penalties in the process.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Azerbaijan GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:42.026 1:41.500 1:40.495 20
2 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:41.614 1:41.580 1:40.554 21
3 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 1:42.042 1:41.889 1:40.797 23
4 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:41.727 1:41.388 1:41.069 15
5 11 Sergio Perez RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES 1:42.249 1:41.870 1:41.593 17
6 26 Daniil Kvyat SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO HONDA 1:42.324 1:42.221 1:41.681 23
7 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN RENAULT 1:42.371 1:42.084 1:41.886 23
8 99 Antonio Giovinazzi ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI 1:42.140 1:42.381 1:42.424 21
9 7 Kimi Räikkönen ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI 1:42.059 1:42.082 1:43.068 21
10 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:41.426 1:41.995 11

Complete qualifying results amiable via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN2 at  8:00 AM Eastern here in the States. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out at this always eventful street circuit!

2019 F1 Grand Prix of China — Results & aftermath

Hamilton runs away from Bottas & field to dominate Chinese GP, Mercedes finish 1-2; Intrigue builds at Ferrari as team orders boost Vettel to P3 at Leclerc’s expense

The Chinese Grand Prix was essentially won on the getaway the moment the lights went out to start the race at the Shanghai International Circuit on Sunday. Lewis Hamilton got the better escape from the line and bested his pole-sitting Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas to take a lead he would never really relinquish. After Bottas’ inspiring pole run in Saturday qualifying it had to be deflating for the Finn to once again find himself looking at Hamilton’s war wing for nearly the entirety of the race, as so often happened last season en route to Hamilton’s fifth World Championship. After Hamilton’s somewhat lucky win in Bahrain two weeks ago where he and Mercedes were the beneficiaries of Ferrari’s fumbles, Hamilton was simply supreme in Shanghai this contest and no other driver in the field could put him under duress from Lap 1 onward. It was Hamilton stamping his authority back on team Mercedes and the series itself after Bottas had won in Round 1 in Melbourne. It also put the Englishman solidly into the lead of the Drivers’ points for the first time this young season. And when Bottas brought his Silver Arrow home safely in P2 6.5 seconds in arrears of Hamilton he was also a good 7 seconds ahead of the P3 Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel, insuring the third consecutive Mercedes 1-2 finish in three contests so far and maximum points for this era’s dominant team in the 1000th Formula 1 race. It was also Hamilton’s 75th career victory, the most by any current F1 driver and second most in the sport’s history behind only the great Michael Schumacher.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

For Ferrari the days discontents ran deeper than their cars clear inferiority to the Mercedes and Vettel’s eventual third place and Charles Leclerc’s P5 finish. The Scuderia’s brain trust made an early and consequential call from the pit wall on Lap 11 for their young phenom Leclerc to the let the veteran Vettel through. While that is never an order for any driver to swallow and Leclerc was understandably miffed it also had the net negative of not paying off. Vettel was not really that much quicker than Leclerc if at all, struggled to get the Medium Pirellis that the all the top five started on to work and never really seemed a threat to P2 Bottas up ahead. The team then tried to make a different play by splitting their strategy, calling Vettel in first on Lap 19 for the Hard compound and then telling Leclerc to stay out to Lap 31 to theoretically take advantage of fresher tires at the end with much younger Hards..

But the very abrasive Shanghai Circuit had other ideas for any team seeking to make the race a one-stopper. Continue reading →