Tag Archives: Romain Grosjean

2019 F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain — Qualifying results

Leclerc scores maiden pole in Bahrain ahead of P2 Vettel to lead Ferrari rebound & front row lockout; Mercedes’ Hamilton only third fastest

After showing disappointingly pedestrian pace at Formula 1’s season opener in Australia two weeks ago, Ferrari rebounded strongly during Saturday qualifying for Round Two at the Sakhir Circuit in Bahrain. And it was their precocious first year driver Charles Leclerc who bested not only the field for his first career pole position but also his 4-time World Champion teammate, Sebastian Vettel. Under the bright lights of this night race in the affluent Persian Gulf nation it was the Monégasque Leclerc who shone the brightest, setting a new track record of 1:27.866, eclipsing Vettel’s previous record lap from last year. With Ferrari back to the form they showed in preseason testing, the Scuderia dominated all practice sessions and then locked out the front row when it really mattered. And their 21-year-old ostensible Number 2 blasted a shot across not only Mercedes’ bow but also senior stablemate Vettel’s. The braintrust at Maranello have to be feeling much better about taking the fight to Mighty Mercedes than they did a fortnight ago after their underwhelming run in Melbourne. Now it’s up to the Prancing Horses to run away from the Silver Arrows come race day tomorrow and prove that it really will be game on for the Constructors’ Title in 2019.

Mercedes were clearly second best on Saturday after dominating the debut race of the season which led to Bottas’ impressive win. Lewis Hamilton did out-qualify Bottas P3 to P4 but then he also led the field from pole at Albert Park and was outclassed by his Finnish teammate. So look for Hamilton to work very hard to best Bottas tomorrow even if Mercedes do not have the pace to challenge for the win against what looks to be a resurgent Ferrari at a track that really seems to suit their blood red cars. Continue reading →

2019 F1 Grand Prix of Australia — Results & aftermath

Game on at Mercedes — Bottas earns dominant victory in season opener, Hamilton a distant second; Red Bull’s Verstappen gets first Australian podium with strong P3; Ferrari flummoxed

After getting pipped for the pole in Melbourne by Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton in Saturday qualifying for the season opening Australian Grand Prix Valtteri Bottas and the rest of the F1 world could be forgiven for thinking “here we go again.” But come race day at the Albert Park hybrid street circuit, Bottas decided to flip the script that saw him playing wingman to Hamilton’s team leader for the past 2 seasons. After earning precisely zero victories in 2018, Bottas spent the off season hardening his body and mind. And when the lights went out to start a race for the first time in 2019 the Finnish driver leapt away from the line and left Hamilton in his rearview mirrors. Bottas quickly established such a comfortable lead over his 5-time and current World Champion teammate that Hamilton was never able to make a dent in it for the entirety of this 58 lap Grand Prix. While the team brought Hamilton in for Medium compound Pirelli tires on Lap 16 in response to the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel’s stop a lap earlier, Bottas kept swanning away on track for several more laps on the preferred Soft rubber. Running in clean air, Bottas actually increased his lead and took it all the way to Lap 23 for his first and only stop, also going onto the Mediums.

Crucially, Bottas got on better with both those tires and his machine than Hamilton, who was left grumbling about pit strategy and the poor performance of his Pirellis relative to his teammate. No on in the field had anything for Bottas in this year’s Australian GP. In the end he dusted Hamilton by over 21 seconds, laying down a promising marker — as well as the fastest lap of the race, which earns a bonus point this year — and serving potential notice that this year Hamilton could be facing the stiffest challenge since the determined Nico Rosberg was his Silver Arrows stablemate. Of course one swallow does not make a spring but the dominant performance by Bottas Down Under can only serve to increase his confidence for the fight ahead of him. It should also be interesting to see whether the previously cordial relationship between the two Mercedes drivers remains the same or if Bottas will have to deal with the head games that Lewis deployed on Rosberg now that he has a teammate who may once again pose a genuine threat.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen ran an excellent race nearly mounting a challenge against Hamilton for second place in the debut of the team’s new Honda power unit. Though the Dutchman ran out of laps he still earned his first Aussie podium and was far quicker than the Ferraris. Continue reading →

2019 F1 Grand Prix of Australia — Qualifying results

Hamilton lays down marker for 2019 with pole run in Melbourne, pipping Bottas to lock out front row for Mercedes; Ferrari’s Vettel only good enough for P3 start in first race of new season

After the long, dark winter the new 2019 Formula 1 season began in earnest at the sunny Albert Park circuit in Melbourne, Australia on Saturday with the first qualifying session of the year at the now traditional opening weekend from down under. Proving that the more things change the more they stay the same, Mercedes’ ace Lewis Hamilton, the current reigning World Champion, snatched pole out of the hungry hands of his Finnish teammate, Valtteri Bottas. With Bottas entering his third year with the factory Mercedes team desperate to give Hamilton more of a challenge and shed his wingman reputation it looked midway through Q3 that he’d done enough to get the better of Lewis. But Hamilton marshaled a mighty final lap of just 1:22.043, good enough for the lap record, as well as the pole over his crestfallen teammate by a mere .012 seconds.

If Bottas was dismayed yet again by Hamilton’s unearthly quali pace Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel must also have had a sinking feeling of deja vu. After finishing second to Hamilton in the championship for the last two seasons and working under a new team boss after Maurizio Arrivabene was canned in favor of former technical director Mattia Binotto, Vettel could only have been disheartened to find the pace of this year’s model of Prancing Horse still wanting that certain bit of magic in comparison the peerless Silver Arrows. Vettel could do no better than P3 with a time some seven-tenths slower than his pole-sitting nemesis. Vettel’s new teammate Charles Leclerc, who made the leap from last year’s sister Sauber team to Ferrari’s second seat, displacing veteran Kimi Raikkonen in the process, acquitted himself very well with a solid P5 run his first time out of the chute. Leclerc was bested, though, by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who pushed his now-Honda powered chassis to the very edge and up to a P4 qualifying time. It was difficult to get a true read on Red Bull and their engine partners, however, as Verstappen’s new teammate Pierre Gasly, who was promoted from Toro Rosso, got caught out by rapidly improving track conditions in Q1 and was bounced with only the 17th fastest time in that first session. Look for a lot of passing from Gasly early in tomororw’s race as he looks to atone for that lackluster effort and show that team Red Bull made the right choice is letting Daniel Ricciardo to give him the first team drive.

Further down the order, the Haas F1 team made a strong opening bid to earn the “best of the rest” moniker, as the returning duo of Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen qualified P6 and P7 respectively. Continue reading →

2018 F1 Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi — Results & aftermath

Hamilton finishes historic season in style with dominant win in Abu Dhabi; Vettel runner-up, Verstappen P3

Newly minted 5-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton resisted complacency and instead turned in another vintage Hammertime performance to cap off a historically successful 2018 Formula 1 season. Mercedes’ ace lead the race from pole, dominating from the front, and never faced a serious challenge in Sunday’s in Abu Dhabi Grand Prix from futuristic Yas Marina, the final race of the year. Hamilton picked up his 11th victory out of 21 contests and scored his record-setting 408th championship point. For as close as the season seemed at just a little over the halfway mark, Hamilton and Mercedes dominated Ferrari down the stretch en route to the team’s fifth Constructors’ title on the trot since the start of the current hybrid formula. Ferrari have got to be hoping that next year’s rule tweaks can slow the German juggernaut down in 2014. The fabled Scuderia were left pondering the ashes of another failed campaign and wondering where exactly they lost their way not long after the summer break. The Prancing Horses seemed poised to take their challenge to Mercedes’ dominance down to the wire after Vettel’s victory at Spa in August. But then Hamilton reeled off 6 wins in the last eight races with Kimi Raikkonen at COTA in the United States the only Ferrari driver standing on the top step during that amazing run. There will have to be a lot of midnight oil burnt at Maranello during the short winter break if Ferrari and Vettel are to have any hope of catching up to what is now officially a dynastic championship run by Hamilton and mighty Mercedes.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

The race got off to a scary start on the opening lap when the Renault of Nico Hulkenberg and the Haas of Romain Grosjean touched wheels while fighting for the same piece of real estate, sending Hulkenberg’s car airborne and barrel rolling several time before ending up in the energy-dispersing “Lego” barriers upside down. The helpless Hulkenberg was extracted from the car after some time and emerged unscathed, though the time it took to get him out did bring home the double-edged nature of the Halo system. Things might not have been so positive had his car been on fire during all the time it took to get Hulkenberg out of there safely.

Thankfully, though, the German was unhurt and the race resumed when the Safety Car came in at the end of Lap 4. Hamilton once again vaulted to the lead on the restart, while the Red Bull of Max Verstappen began making up places at a furious pace after software issues at the very start of the race saw the Dutchman drop like a stone from his initial P6 position on the grid. Continue reading →

2018 F1 Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi — Qualifying results

Hamilton nails pole for last race of the season, Bottas P2 for Mercedes front row lockout; Vettel third fastest at Yas Marina

With all the prizes claimed on this last race weekend of the 2018 Formula 1 season, team Mercedes and their ace Lewis Hamilton showed they are still driven to win during Saturday qualifying for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. At this most stunning of venues, the brilliantly lit day-into-night Yas Marina Circuit, Hamilton decided to set a new track record instead of resting on his laurels as a newly crowned five-time F1 World Champion. The Englishman’s stunning 1:34.794 time in Q3 was over a tenth faster than his teammate, Valtteri Botas, and the two works Mercedes drivers locked out the front row easily for tomorrow’s contest. They also set their fastest times in Q2 on the preferred Ultrasoft Pirellis, which therefore will be the compound they both start on, making for an advantageous race strategy, as well.

The Silver Arrows once again outshone the Prancing Horses of Ferrari, a result all too familiar to the fabled team from Maranello this year. Sebastian Vettel, the championship runner-up, qualified in P3 and Kimi Raikkonen, who departs the team after tomorrow’s race for Sauber, set the fourth fastest time. Ferrari will be hoping their race pace is better, though, if only to salvage a win tomorrow and give Mercedes something to think about in the off season. Daniel Ricciardo out-qualified his more heralded teammate Max Verstappen P4 to P5 in what is also the Aussie’s last race for the Red Bull team as he prepares to move over to Renault. Romain Grosjean pulled his Haas all the way up to P7 on the grid, while Charles Leclerc, who takes Raikkonen’s seat with the big team next year, managed to hustle his Ferrari-powered Sauber up to P8. Esteban Ocon qualified P9 in his last drive for Force India and Nico Hulkenberg’s Renault set the tenth fastest time.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:36.828 1:35.693 1:34.794 19
2 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:36.789 1:36.392 1:34.956 19
3 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 1:36.775 1:36.345 1:35.125 18
4 7 Kimi Räikkönen FERRARI 1:37.010 1:36.735 1:35.365 18
5 3 Daniel Ricciardo RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 1:37.117 1:36.964 1:35.401 16
6 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 1:37.195 1:36.144 1:35.589 14
7 8 Romain Grosjean HAAS FERRARI 1:37.575 1:36.732 1:36.192 15
8 16 Charles Leclerc SAUBER FERRARI 1:37.124 1:36.580 1:36.237 20
9 31 Esteban Ocon FORCE INDIA MERCEDES 1:36.936 1:36.814 1:36.540 18
10 27 Nico Hulkenberg RENAULT 1:37.569 1:36.630 1:36.542 15

Complete qualifying results available via Formula.com.

Tomorrow’s race, the last of the year, airs live beginning at 8AM Eastern on EPSN2 here in the States. Hope to see you then to farewell F1 before the long, cold winter break!

2018 F1 Grand Prix of Brazil — Results & aftermath

Hamilton gifted win in Sao Paolo after Verstappen tangles with backmarker, Bottas P5 to secure Contructors’ title for Mercedes; Raikkonen P3, Vettel P6 as Ferrari fall short once again

Newly crowned World Champion Lewis Hamilton is never one to pass up an opportunity for victory despite having already clinched his fifth world title. Looking like a certain runner-up to  the dominant Red Bull of Max Verstappen in the Brazilian Grand Prix on Sunday, Mercedes’ ace pilot instead took advantage of Verstappen’s misfortune and possible impatience to positively snipe the win at Interlagos in Sao Paolo. After running a flawless race with great strategy and a surprisingly quick Red Bull beneath him, Verstappen’s race was undone in an instant a mere 8 laps after he made his first stop for tires and just four laps after passing Hamilton on the circuit to take what looked to be an unassailable lead. It all went sideways on Lap 44 when a backmarker, the Force India of Esteban Ocon, tried to unlap himself and raced the Dutch wunderkind hard going into the Senna esses.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

Perhaps expecting Ocon to back off, Verstappen appeared to turn in as the Frenchman instead dove down the inside to try and stay on the lead lap. The two cars collided with the result that Verstappen spun off the track and watched helplessly as Hamilton steamed by him to regain the lead while his Red Bull waited to reenter the track safely. Verstappen also incurred significant damage to his RB14 chassis’ floor but was able to maintain his P2 position and even hound Hamilton a bit towards the end of this 71-lap contest. But despite having to nurse his slower Medium compound Pirellis to the end of the race and with some potential engine gremlins creeping into the mix, Hamilton had enough pace to hold off the irate Dutchman and win his tenth Grand Prix this year out of twenty races. Hamilton’s victory coupled with his teammate Valtteri Bottas’s P5 finish locked up the Constructors’ title for mighty Mercedes, their fifth in a row, and ensured that this resurrected Mercedes factory effort will go down as one of the most dominant teams of any era.

After the race, a livid Verstappen confronted Ocon at the post-race weigh-in and initiated a shoving match. Continue reading →

2018 F1 Grand Prix of Brazil — Qualifying results

Hamilton takes pole with track record at Interlagos, Vettel keeps P2 after weigh-in contretemps; Bottas starts P3

Newly crowned 2018 F1 Champion Lewis Hamilton followed up his title-clinching but so-so P4 run in Mexico two weeks ago with a more Hamiltonian effort, setting a new lap record at Autodromo José Carlos Pace for pole in Saturday qualifying for tomorrow’s Brazilian Grand Prix. Showing that he is still driven to perform at the highest level even after seizing his remarkable fifth Drivers’ title, the English superstar once again got the better of his season-long pursuer Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari, laying down a hot lap of 1:07.281 for the best-ever time at Interlagos, albeit a mere .09 ahead his German rival. Once again it was Vettel looking up at Hamilton on the leaderboard, a depressing reality for both the man and the team. In truth, Vettel was lucky to retain his P2 starting position after some confusion at the weighbridge during a rain-threatened Q2 that saw Vettel hurrying the officials along in a desperate attempt to get to his pits for fresh rubber before the deluge screwed up his session. Vettel was accused of not shutting down his engine as required by the rules and “destroying the scales” by motoring away rather than being push started. Then again Hamilton also dodged the stewards’ wrath after dawdling in front of a fast-approaching Williams of Sergey Sirotkin in Q2, which very nearly led to a dangerous collision but for the lightening reflexes of the Russian rookie.

Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas secured P3 on the grid and he will line up aside Vettel’s Scuderia stablemate Kimi Raikkonen, who had the fourth fastest qualifying time. Ferrari may have some extra strategic cards to play come race day, however, in a last ditch effort to hold off the Silver Arrows from capturing the Constructors’ title, at least for another week. Continue reading →

2018 F1 Grand Prix of the United States — Qualifying results

With championship in sight Hamilton nabs pole at COTA; Vettel qualifies P2 but face 3-spot drop; Raikkonen best Bottas for P3

With his potential fifth Drivers’ World Championship tantalizingly close, Mercedes’ ace Lewis Hamilton did his best to make that illustrious dream come true by setting a new track record lap at the Circuit of the Americas on Saturday to take pole for tomorrow’s United States Grand Prix. As if emerging on the top of the pylon in a very tight and tense qualifying session at COTA was not a favorable enough omen, the English points leader had the double satisfaction of seeing his last remaining title rival, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, not only come home runner up to him over 6-tenths behind in P2 but also facing a 3-grid spot penalty for a Red Flag speeding infraction in Friday practice. Once again the German superstar, who is also dreaming of a fifth championship, proved to be his own worst enemy by needlessly picking up a penalty that will make winning in Austin extraordinarily difficult. And trailing Hamilton by a whopping 67 points with only four races to go including tomorrow’s contest Vettel really needs to compete for the win in every remaining GP if he’s to keep his title hopes alive. Vettel will have to start P5 come race day tomorrow and hope that he can somehow surge to the front without making any more mental mistakes that might just seal the deal for Hamilton on Sunday.

Vettel’s outgoing teammate Kimi Raikkonen put in a solid effort to qualify P3, which could enable Ferrari to try to play some games to try and bring Vettel further to the front, especially as Hamilton’s wingman Valtteri Bottas could qualify no better than P4. Look for the Finn to be the meat in a Ferrari sandwich going into the steep uphill Turn 1 here at COTA. Continue reading →

2018 F1 Grand Prix of Japan — Results & aftermath

Hamilton cruises to victory in Japan putting Championship within reach; Bottas a hard fought P2 over Verstappen’s incident-filled P3 run; error-prone Vettel sinks to P6

It was a tale of two championships going in dramatically different directions at the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday. For points leader and Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton the weekend culminated in a flawless run from the 80th pole of his career, pure domination for the entire race and a relatively easy victory at the tricky figure-8 Suzuka circuit. It was Hamilton’s fourth win on the trot, sixth out of the last seven contests and his remarkable fifth career win in Japan.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

For his nearest pursuer, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, the team’s recent missteps, highlighted by Saturday’s inexplicable decision to go out on wet tires in the decisive qualifying session on a drying track, seemed to result in the German 4-time World Champion trying far too hard far too early instead of biding his time to maximize his result and his points. Vettel was in the unenviable position of starting in P9 on the grid after his team’s tire miscalculation and drove well and with the proper amount of aggression at the start of the race to pass a passel of slower cars in quick order. By Lap 3 he was already up to P4, having gotten by his teammate Kimi Raikkonen. That put him directly behind the third place Red Bull of Max Verstappen when a Safety Car came out caused by Haas’s Kevin Magnussen’s prolonged puncture spewing copious debris all over on the track. In his typically aggressive fashion, Verstappen had already had a scrap with Raikkonen, going off the track and rejoining in an unsafe manner while trying to hold off the Finn’s Ferrari. And during the Safety Car period Verstappen was handed a 5-second time penalty by the stewards for that infraction.

But whether Vettel did not get that information from his team or chose to ignore it the Ferrari man decided to battle Verstappen for the position on track in a seemingly desperate attempt to get closer to the two front running Mercedes rather than be patient, stay close to the Dutchman and let the eventual penalty take care of the overtake for him. Continue reading →

2018 F1 Grand Prix of Japan — Qualifying results

Mercedes guess right to help Hamilton seize pole at soggy Suzuka, Bottas P2 for Silver Arrows lockout; Ferrari miscalculate badly leading to Vettel starting P9; Red Bull’s Verstappen qualifies P3

Lewis Hamilton scored his remarkable 80th pole position at soggy Suzuka during Saturday qualifying for tomorrow’s Japanese Grand Prix. The Mercedes ace continued his strong run down the stretch of this 2018 season, having won a dominating five out of the last six races. The English points leader was also helped immensely by his team’s correct take on the damp weather that so often proves decisive at this fabled circuit. Running ahead of but close to Ferrari going into Q3 and with the previous two quali sessions rain-affected to some degree, Mercedes decided to keep their men on slicks for the final session. Meanwhile Ferrari gambled and lost with the weather forecast, sending their duo of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen out on Intermediate wet Pirellis for a track that stubbornly refused to stay rainy enough to utilize. Instead Ferrari quickly realized their error and called their men back to the pits, a crucial loss of time in the short final 12-minute session. So while Hamilton and his teammate Valtteri Bottas were already setting fast banker laps in case more rain might be on the way, the Prancing Horses found themselves seriously behind the 8 ball.

And as so often happens when an all-or-nothing wager goes south, Vettel was unable to hook up a clean lap when the track was at its best, had to come in to top up on fuel and rejoined at the very moment that the skies decided open up again. Facing an uphill fight for the Championship with only 5 more races to go and Hamilton leading him by 50 points, Vettel’s car could find no grid and he could do no better than the P9 lap that his untidy earlier run earned him. Coming at a circuit where passing is extraordinarily difficult and the race is won from pole about 50% of the time, Vettel faces a long day in the saddle trying to do damage control and keep his title hopes alive. In starting from pole, on the other hand, Hamilton is firmly in the catbird seat. His teammate Bottas will start in P2 for yet another Silver Arrows front row lockout, while Vettel’s wingman Kimi Raikkonen will try to keep in touch with the leaders from P4 and hope that Sebastian can meet up with him somewhere down the road.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was third quickest and will line up alongside Raikkonen in P3. But he may also be worried about the reliability of his mount after seeing his teammate Daniel Riccardo’s car suffer some sort of engine failure in Q1. Haas’s Romain Grosjean scored an opportunistic P5 spot on the grid amid Vettel’s and Riccardo’s respective misfortunes. Toro Rosso also had a good day with Brendan Hartley getting a much needed confidence boost by out-qualifying his teammate Pierre Gasly, P6 to P7. The Force Indias of Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez rounded out the top 10 in P8 and P10 respectively. But Ocon will be docked three grid positions for failing to slow adequately during a red flag period during Free Practice 3.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Japanese GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:28.702 1:28.017 1:27.760 11
2 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:29.297 1:27.987 1:28.059 12
3 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 1:29.480 1:28.849 1:29.057 10
4 7 Kimi Räikkönen FERRARI 1:29.631 1:28.595 1:29.521 13
5 8 Romain Grosjean HAAS FERRARI 1:29.724 1:29.678 1:29.761 17
6 28 Brendon Hartley SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO HONDA 1:30.248 1:29.848 1:30.023 15
7 10 Pierre Gasly SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO HONDA 1:30.137 1:29.810 1:30.093 15
8 31 Esteban Ocon FORCE INDIA MERCEDES 1:29.899 1:29.538 1:30.126 13
9 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 1:29.049 1:28.279 1:32.192 13
10 11 Sergio Perez FORCE INDIA MERCEDES 1:30.247 1:29.567 1:37.229 16

Complete qualifying results available via Formula.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live starting at 1AM Eastern on ESPN2 here in the States. With rain just as likely to throw more strategic curveballs as it did today I hope you’ll join me then — or at least set the DVR for this overnighter — to find out how this Far East battle shakes out!