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2021 F1 Grand Prix of Styria — Results & aftermath

Verstappen romps to victory in Styrian Grand Prix; Hamilton and Bottas P2 & P3, Perez P4

The Red Bull of Max Verstappen was completely untouchable in the first of two consecutive races at the Red Bull Ring, easily going from pole to victory in Sunday’s Styrian Grand Prix in the beautiful hills of Spielberg, Austria. Verstappen handily outclassed his main championship rival, Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton, by over 35 seconds to take his second consecutive victory in this second of three back-to-back-to-back races. To be fair, Hamilton did make a penultimate lap second pit stop for new Soft Pirellis that enabled him to snatch away the extra point for fastest lap from the superlative Dutchman. Nevertheless, Verstappen increased his point lead over Hamilton, the seven-time and current reigning champion, to 18 with his second consecutive victory. The dominant win at Red Bull’s home circuit also highlighted just how far the RB16B chassis has come in a year’s time, with Verstappen gapping P2 Hamilton by just about the same margin Hamilton bested him by when Max finished P3 and Lewis was victorious in the second Austrian contest in what was Round 2 of the COVID-effected 2020 season.

Despite their glaring pace deficit to Verstappen’s Red Bull, It wasn’t all bad news for Mercedes on the day, as their beleaguered number two pilot, Valtteri Bottas, was able to hold of the hard charging second Red Bull of Sergio Perez for P3 and take the last spot on the podium. The Mexican simply ran out of laps as the 71 for today’s contest were just about the maximum for Bottas to keep that valuable position and perhaps restore some much needed confidence after an extremely demoralizing stretch for the Finn. In truth, it was solid drivel around for Bottas, as he was penalized for a sort of burnout in the pots during qualifying and had to start P5 instead of P2 where he qualified. Still, with Red Bull now consistently getting solid points results from Perez, the team now carries a 40-point lead over Mercedes in the all-important Constructors’ standings after eight rounds of the championship, which is roughly a third of the season.

McLaren’s Lando Norris was once again best of the rest and finished P5, as he has so often this season. The team were content to pull the talented young Englishman out of the top four’s elite fray and just run a steady pace to bring their man home fifth. However, the results were not so good for the second McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo, who failed to score after some sort of power issue caused the Aussie to drop like a stone just as he was making up positions early in the race and he thereafter could make no further progress, finishing down in P13. Ferrari, their closest rivals for third in the Constructors’, took full advantage of Ricciardo’s misfortune with the Prancing Horses rebounding nicely from a points shutout in France last week. Carlos Sainz overcame starting from twelfth on the grid to grab an impressive P6 finish and Charles Leclerc finished where he started in P7 but only after a lot of crazy contact with AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly on Lap 1 forced the Monegasque in for a new front wing. While Gasly suffered terminal suspension damage after getting a puncture out of the contretemps with Leclerc and then being ping ponged by nearly the entire field as he decelerated down the order, Leclerc went on to be voted Driver of the Day for his storming and determined performance. It was an honor that most decidedly did not receive Gasly’s vote.

Further down, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll drove solid race to take P8, Alpine’s wise old head Fernando Alonso scored his third consecutive points finish in P9 and Yuki Tsunoda salvaged a single point for Alpha Tauri in P10 on a day when the team were surely hoping for more.

Top 10 finishers of the Styrian GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 71 1:22:18.925 25
2 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 71 +35.743s 19
3 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 71 +46.907s 15
4 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA 71 +47.434s 12
5 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 70 +1 lap 10
6 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 70 +1 lap 8
7 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 70 +1 lap 6
8 18 Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES 70 +1 lap 4
9 14 Fernando Alonso ALPINE RENAULT 70 +1 lap 2
10 22 Yuki Tsunoda ALPHATAURI HONDA 70 +1 lap 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in but a week’s time and you don’t even have to make a new hotel reservation — it may be called the Austrian Grand Prix but it is at this exact Red Bull Ring next Sunday and for the same number of laps to boot. It’s doubtful that Mercedes can find the pace to challenge the supreme Verstappen here during that short window but stranger things have happened. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2021 F1 Grand Prix of Styria — Qualifying results

Verstappen grabs second consecutive pole to line up P1 for Styrian GP; hard luck Bottas betters Hamilton for P2 but will drop 3 spots due to penalty

The ascendent Max Verstappen, Red Bull’s top driver and the current points leader in the Championship after seven rounds, scored his second pole on the trot during Saturday qualifying to secure the top starting spot for tomorrow’s Styrian Grand Prix. Six days after winning at Paul Ricard in France, Verstappen earned even more satisfaction by setting the fastest time at his team’s home circuit, the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria, and setting himself up nicely for potential back-to-back victories in this second race of a three-week “triple header” of consecutive contests (the third of which will be at this exact circuit next week). Verstappen got the better of both Mercedes drivers relatively easily and the day’s competition for starting spots saw Valtteri Bottas actually outclass his more lauded teammate, Lewis Hamilton, P2 to P3, after Hamilton had a very scruffy final lap in Q3. However, true to the Finn’s luck so far this season, Bottas will be penalized three grid spots for dangerous driving in the pits earlier in practice and will have to start back amongst the midfield runners in P5, elevating Hamilton to the front row alongside his archrival Verstappen.

Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez was well off the pace of his team leader and could only set the fifth fastest time, as he saw himself bettered by the theoretically inferior McLaren of Lando Norris, who crossed the line with a flying lap good enough for P4. AlphaTauri also looked strong here in Spielberg, with Pierre Gasly setting a time good enough for P6 and the erratic rookie Yuki Tsunoda coming home eighth fastest. Tsunoda will also be penalized three grid spots, though, after the stewards ruled that the young Japanese had impeded Bottas’ qualifying efforts during Q3. Ferrari had their pace deficit exposed again since leaving the slower street circuits behind them. A week after the team scored zero points in France, Charles Leclerc was only able to muster a P7 qualifying effort, while teammate Carlos Sainz really struggled and was knocked out in Q2 with only the eleventh fastest lap. One has to wonder what the Prancing Horses will really have come race day, where they seem to be at a pace disadvantage to teams like McLaren, AlphaTauri and even Alpine and Aston Martin over the long runs.

Speaking of those latter two teams, they rounded out the top ten qualifiers, with Alpine’s Fernando Alonso enjoying his day with a P9 quali effort and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll taking P10, well ahead of his teammate Sebastian Vettel, who underperformed after a run of good results and could only set a rather pokey P14 time in Q2.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Styrian GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:04.489 1:04.433 1:03.841 20
2 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:04.537 1:04.443 1:04.035 23
3 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:04.672 1:04.512 1:04.067 25
4 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:04.584 1:04.298 1:04.120 17
5 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:04.638 1:04.197 1:04.168 21
6 10 Pierre Gasly ALPHATAURI HONDA 1:04.765 1:04.429 1:04.236 18
7 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:04.745 1:04.646 1:04.472 21
8 22 Yuki Tsunoda ALPHATAURI HONDA 1:04.608 1:04.631 1:04.514 21
9 14 Fernando Alonso ALPINE RENAULT 1:04.971 1:04.582 1:04.574 18
10 18 Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES 1:04.821 1:04.663 1:04.708 18

Complete qualifying results and the penalty-effected starting grid available via Fomula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN beginning at 9AM here in the States. With Hamilton struggling on this short little circuit and Verstappen looking dominant as he should at the aptly named Red Bull Ring, look for some early aggression on Lewis’s part to try to pull himself back on even terms with the superlative Dutchman. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2021 F1 Grand Prix of France — Results & aftermath

Verstappen rides gutsy two-stop strategy to victory over Hamilton in France; Perez P3 with late overtake on Bottas

Red Bull’s young Dutch master Max Verstappen took advantage of his team’s mid-race decision to switch to a two-stop strategy and rode that strategic masterstroke to victory in the French Grand Prix at Paul Ricard Circuit on Sunday. With tire degradation much worse than anticipated, the Red Bull pit wall decided to split their strategies between Verstappen and their second pilot, Sergio Perez, running Perez several laps longer than both rival Mercedes on the opening stint, while surprisingly calling in Verstappen for a second stop and switch back onto Pirelli Mediums on Lap 33. It was a high stakes gamble by the team’s race engineers, especially after Verstappen had retaken the lead over Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton while undercutting the English seven-time champion on his initial of tire change onto Hards on Lap 19. Although Verstappen lost track position and came out P4 when he emerged from his second stop, his Medium tires would not only be 11 laps fresher than Hamilton’s when the laps of this 53-lap contest wound down but would presumably deliver a performance advantage by virtue of their also being the softer compound to Hamilton’s aged Hard tires.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

And that’s exactly how it played out in the final stage of the race. While Mercedes were forced to pray and hope that they could use their second man Valterri Bottas to hold up Verstappen’s pursuit of P1, unlike Red Bull’s savvy decision making on the day hope and prayer is not a strategy. Perez graciously allowed Verstappen by to take over P3 on Lap 35 and the hunt for Hamilton was on. By Lap 44, Verstappen made easy work of P2 Bottas, who was livid with the Mercedes brain trust for not heeding his pleas to switch to a two-stop plan of their own earlier in the race. By Lap 51, Verstappen was right up to Hamilton’s gearbox and all the joy at Lewis’ opening lap capture of the lead when the pole-sitting Verstappen overcooked Turn 2 and slid off track seemed like ancient history. Verstappen pounced on the slowing Silver Arrow of his main championship rival and overtook Hamilton easily on the penultimate lap, streaking away down the road and towards a thrilling win that boosted his lead over Hamilton in the Drivers’ standings to twelve points. While Hamilton held on for P2, Bottas suffered the ignominy of being passed for the last podium position by Verstappen’s stablemate, Perez, making it an outstanding points haul for Red Bull at Paul Ricard and a bitter pill for mighty Mercedes to swallow. Between Verstappen’s initial undercut, which earned him back the lead when he reemerged from the pits ahead of Hamilton, the decision to split strategies by running Perez longer on his opening stint and then the brilliant call to switch to a two-stopper that ended up being the winning move, Red Bull made Mercedes’ normally sharp pit wall seem flat footed and pokey all day long. Lewis will still also be kicking himself for blowing the restart two week’s ago in Baku when Verstappen had already crashed out and the chance to score big points on him evaporated in a puff of locked up tire smoke.

With Bottas a disgruntled P4, team Mclaren were the happy best of the rest on Sunday. Lando Norris rode his team’s own long first stint strategy all the way up to a strong P5 finish, while Daniel Ricciardo had arguably his best race with his new team to come home a solid P6. AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly was in the mix with the other midfield runners all day but didn’t quite have the pace of the McLarens and finished P7. But the impressive young Frenchman did manage to fight of veteran Fernando Alonso’s Alpine effectively and Alonso had to settle for a P8 result. Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll both managed to turn super long opening stints into points-paying P9 and P10 finishes respectively. After Vettel had started in P12 and Stroll was way back on the on the grid in P19, it made for very satisfying results for improving Aston Martin when the checkers flew. On the other side of the satisfaction equation, Ferrari had a miserable race, converting Carlos Sainz’s P5 and Charles Leclerc’s P7 starts into P11 and P16 finishes respectively for a big fat goose egg for the Scuderia on the day. That will go down as well with the honchos in Maranello as a plate of buttered noodles with ketchup for lunch would at the nearby trattoria.

Top 10 finishers of the French GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 53 1:27:25.770 26
2 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 53 +2.904s 18
3 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA 53 +8.811s 15
4 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 53 +14.618s 12
5 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 53 +64.032s 10
6 3 Daniel Ricciardo MCLAREN MERCEDES 53 +75.857s 8
7 10 Pierre Gasly ALPHATAURI HONDA 53 +76.596s 6
8 14 Fernando Alonso ALPINE RENAULT 53 +77.695s 4
9 5 Sebastian Vettel ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES 53 +79.666s 2
10 18 Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES 53 +91.946s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

With the French Grand Prix actually the first of three consecutive race weekends in a row, the next two contests on this busy part of the calendar will be on Red Bull’s home turf at the eponymous Red Bull Ring, beginning with next weekend’s Styrian GP. Hope to see you then to see if Max and his team can keep up their momentum and keep Mercedes and Hamilton on the back foot!

2021 F1 Grand Prix of France — Qualifying results

Verstappen grabs pole for Red Bull at Paul Ricard, Perez P4; Hamilton P2 & Bottas P3 for Mercedes

The 2021 F1 title tilt continued to distill down to the two top drivers on the two top teams, as Red Bull’s Max Verstappen rebounded from a DNF at the last race in Azerbaijan to grab pole at the psychedelic Paul Ricard circuit during Saturday qualifying for tomorrow’s French Gran Prix. The flying Dutchman pipped his main title rival, Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton, by around three-tenths on his final flying lap in Q3. Hamilton was also seeking redemption after blowing a sure podium and perhaps victory at Baku two weeks ago when he left a break bias control on by mistake on the final restart and slid off the track and out of the points. The English seven-time champ posted a solid time good enough for P2 and a starting spot alongside Verstappen at the front of the grid, as the two resumed their back and forth battle for supremacy that seems certain to last all year long. While Verstappen and Red Bull had the one lap pace today it’s an open question as to whether they can match Hamilton’s race pace when the lights go out on Sunday.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

Hamilton’s Silver Arrows teammate Valtteri Bottas posted a very good P3 qualifying result and appeared positively giddy to have left the street circuits of Monaco and Baku behind. That put the embattled Finn one slot ahead of Verstappen’s stablemate, Sergio Perez, who will start P4 two weeks after inheriting the victory in Azerbaijan when Verstappen crashed out late in the race with tire failure. With the front four a full on Red Bull-Mercedes mix and match, look for some intense dicing on the opening lap and perhaps one or more of the top contenders getting pushed wide on the acres of multi-colored abrasive runoff areas on this most unique and frankly strange circuit in the south of France.

Behind the elite quartet, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz bested his teammate Charles Leclerc P5 to P7. The rare subpar result  by the Monegasque also ended Leclerc’s two-race pole-setting streak. AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly managed to nail his last opportunity in Q3 to set the sixth fastest lap after having his previous best effort deleted for exceeding track limits. The McLarens of Lando Norris and Daily Ricciardo qualified P8 and P10 respectively, while the veteran Fernando Alonso used all of his copious experience to over-perform and drag his Alpine up to a decent P9 starting spot.

Top 10 qualifiers for the French GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:31.001 1:31.080 1:29.990 16
2 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:31.237 1:30.788 1:30.248 20
3 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:31.669 1:30.735 1:30.376 16
4 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:31.560 1:30.971 1:30.445 16
5 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:32.079 1:31.146 1:30.840 19
6 10 Pierre Gasly ALPHATAURI HONDA 1:31.898 1:31.353 1:30.868 22
7 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:32.209 1:31.567 1:30.987 20
8 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:31.733 1:31.542 1:31.252 18
9 14 Fernando Alonso ALPINE RENAULT 1:32.158 1:31.549 1:31.340 17
10 3 Daniel Ricciardo MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:32.181 1:31.615 1:31.382 21

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live at 9AM Eastern on ESPN here in the States. A week after both men scored zero points, look for a ding dong battle between Verstappen and Hamilton in this latest high speed test of their respective title aspirations. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2021 F1 Grand Prix of Azerbaijan — Results & aftermath

Perez victorious at Baku after Verstappen loses sure victory with late tire failure; Vettel shows old form to take P2, Gasly holds off Leclerc for P3; Hamilton blows penultimate lap restart to tumble out of points

The return of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix to the Formula 1 calendar after a year’s hiatus provided the season’s most exciting race so far, as the ultra-challenging Baku City Circuit so often does. But this year’s drama hinged not on driver error but rather tire failure. With Red Bull’s Max Verstappen leading comfortably ahead of his teammate Sergio Perez and Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton and poised to extend his championship lead, the unlucky Dutchman suffered a catastrophic failure of his left rear Hard Pirelli tire while steaming down the start-finish straight around 200 miles per hour at the end of Lap 47. As his car speared off and smashed nose first into the barriers on his right, victory was snatched from Verstappen with a mere four laps remaining in the contest. It was nearly identical to an incident that took Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll out of the race back on Lap 31 in another huge shunt that was almost certainly precipitated by an unexpected tire failure. The debris from and removal of Verstappen’s stricken mount caused a Red Flag to be thrown on Lap 48, as well as the race director’s desire that all teams should have the option of switching onto new Pirellis as a precaution once they were back stationary in the pits, which all in fact did.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

After a lengthy delay, it was decided the race was safe to resume from a standing start with just two laps remaining. Perez had inherited the lead due to Max’s misfortune and Hamilton was positively licking his chops just behind him in P2, keen to get the jump on the veteran Mexican and steal a victory. But Hamilton made a crucial error by leaving his “magic” on for the actual restart, a tool that helps warm up the Silver Arrows’ brakes prior to racing speeds being achieved. So as Perez sprinted away cleanly, Hamilton locked up heading into Turn 1 and straight-lined off into the escape area. The English seven-time champ suffered the ignominy of watching the entire field pass him before he could rejoin the track, not to mention the agony of knowing he would now score zero points on a day where he should have been poised to make up massive ground against his primary title rival Verstappen. It was another crazy twist of fortune on the streets of Baku, which has seen its fair share of them, and benefitting most from the woes of the top two title contenders were Perez, the remaining Aston Martin of Sebastian Vettel and the AlphaTauri of Pierre Gasly. Perez put his foot down and never looked back after Hamilton’s fateful off, showing that Red Bull’s faith in him was justified by earning a victory to somewhat salve the team’s wounds at seeing Verstappen crash out. Vettel was also brilliant all day, showing signs of his old form by making a longer run on his opening set of tires pay off, grabbing armfuls of track position and having fresher rubber to make passes during the critical laps prior to the Red Flag and come home an elated P2. It was a fantastic result for Vettel and the team on a day where Stroll thankfully also walked away from his frightening shunt.

And Gasly was tenacious in holding off the hard charging Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, who was desperate to get to the podium after starting from pole but frankly lacked the race pace to truly compete for the top spots. Gasly kept his elbows out and kept the Monegasque behind him to grab a terrific P3. It still wound up being a decent day for Ferrari, with Leclerc’s settling for a solid P4 and Carlos Sainz coming home a rather fortunate P8 after recovering from his own unforced error earlier in the race that saw the Spaniard have to take to the escape road and grab reverse to rejoin the race. Lando Norris also hung in doggedly with what seemed to be a difficult car to handle and when the dust had settled and the checkers flew the young English McLaren driver found himself with a very pleasing P5 result. Teammate Daniel Ricciardo likewise benefitted from the race’s attrition rate and bobbles by the favorites to add some more points for McLaren in P9. Alpine’s Fernando Alonso somehow managed to work his way up to a P6 result with a great restart on that penultimate lap after being mired well out of the points for most of the day. Gasly’s AlphaTauri teammate, rookie Yuki Tsunoda, also got a much needed boost of confidence by not only running a clean race but also taking his best F1 finish in P7, adding up to a bushel full of valuable points for the team.  And the venerable Kimi Raikkonen scored his first point of the year for Alfa Romeo by coming home in P10 on day where survival and a bit of good luck trumped pure pace and skill.

As bad as Red Bull felt about Verstappen’s DNF at least they could hang their hat on Perez’s victory. For Mercedes the news on Sunday was all bad because, in addition to Lewis’ uncharacteristic blunder, their second driver Valtteri Bottas was nowhere all day and finished out of the points in P12. One wonders if the Mercedes brain trust is not quite thinking through a two car strategy, as much of this weekend’s calls seemed to be solely designed to advantage Hamilton and not really deliver performance for Bottas. Either way, with the Silver Arrows now trailing team Red Bull by 26 points in the Constructors’ standings after six rounds of the Championship the pressure on Bottas to perform better or lose his seat has got to be hotting up.

Top 10 finishers of the Azerbaijan GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA 51 2:13:36.410 25
2 5 Sebastian Vettel ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES 51 +1.385s 18
3 10 Pierre Gasly ALPHATAURI HONDA 51 +2.762s 15
4 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 51 +3.828s 12
5 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 51 +4.754s 10
6 14 Fernando Alonso ALPINE RENAULT 51 +6.382s 8
7 22 Yuki Tsunoda ALPHATAURI HONDA 51 +6.624s 6
8 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 51 +7.709s 4
9 3 Daniel Ricciardo MCLAREN MERCEDES 51 +8.874s 2
10 7 Kimi Räikkönen ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI 51 +9.576s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in two weeks’ time from the very colorful and eccentric Paul Ricard Circuit in France. After two tight street circuits in a row, it’s about as different a track from Baku and Monaco as you could want. So look for the top contenders to refocus and compete at the highest level without fear of crashing into barriers. Let’s hope the drivers can also have full confidence in their Pirelli tires by then, as well. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2021 F1 Grand Prix of Azerbaijan — Qualifying results

Ferrari’s Leclerc nabs second consecutive pole in Red Flag-marred Baku qualifying; Hamilton salvages a P2 start, Verstappen P3 after Q3 ends early

Ferrari’s ace pilot Charles Leclerc secured his second consecutive pole position at the second consecutive street circuit on the calendar, this time through the very demanding boulevards and alleyways of the Baku City Circuit during Saturday qualifying for the return of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Two weeks after setting the fastest quali time in Monaco before crashing out, Leclerc survived today’s crash-laden affair and benefitted from setting a fine fast banker lap early in Q3. That held up very nicely when that final qualifying session was ended prematurely under a Red Flag due to rookie Yuki Tsunoda misjudging his breaking point and spearing his AlpahTauri into the barriers nose first. A collateral shunt by Leclerc’s teammate, Carlos Sainz, made certain that there was not enough time to clear the track and resume, so the Monegasque was therefore awarded the top starting spot. It will be something of a deja vu do-over for Leclerc and he will be desperate to forget his heartbreaking experience in Monte Carlo when his car was unable to start his home race despite earning the pole, likely due to his untimely Q3 shunt there. This time, Leclerc kept everything clean and he and  Ferrari will have as good a chance as any team and driver of taking victory tomorrow at this demanding and highly technical track.

The Red Flag may or may not have cost Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton a shot at pole but in any event Lewis will line up beside Leclerc in P2 so he will likely try to wrest the lead from the Ferrari right when the lights go out. Hamilton was also pleased to start one spot better than the Red Bull of Max Verstappen, who was disappointed to have only the third fastest time on the board when the session was ended. After looking like he had the fastest car and Verstappen looking the fastest driver, the Monaco winner and current points leader will have to duke it out from P3 against the talented rivals ahead of him if he wants to keep his championship momentum going. The Dutchman’s Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez qualified a disappointing P7, which puts him out of position since he was very fast during practice sessions, so look for the savvy Mexican to make up places at a fairly rapid rate. And that was still miles ahead of Hamilton’s Silver Arrows partner Valtteri Bottas, who struggled for pace and grip once again and could only muster a lowly P10 time when Q3 ended. On the other hand, the second AlphaTauri of Pierre Gasly excelled by taking P4 on the grid, matching his career best qualifying performance. Sainz should line up in P5 if he did not damage his Prancing Horse too badly when he skidded and spun off into the barriers after locking up behind Tsunoda. Lando Norris qualified P6 in his McLaren, salvaging something for the team after Daniel Ricciardo crashed out heavily in Q2. But the young Englishman was later assessed a 3-spot grid penalty for not entering the pits promptly when a Red Flag came out in Q1, so that will drop him to P9 on tomorrow’s grid.

Despite his costly mistake, Tsunoda still had his best quali effort and set the eighth fastest time. And Alpine’s Fernando Alonso used the tow like a wise veteran should, managing to haul himself up to P9 by the time final session stopped after letting Hamilton’s Merc punch a whole in the air in front of him during his best flying lap.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Azerbaijan GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:42.241 1:41.659 1:41.218 19
2 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:41.545 1:41.634 1:41.450 21
3 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:41.760 1:41.625 1:41.563 19
4 10 Pierre Gasly ALPHATAURI HONDA 1:42.288 1:41.932 1:41.565 18
5 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:42.121 1:41.740 1:41.576 18
6 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:42.167 1:41.813 1:41.747 20
7 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:41.968 1:41.630 1:41.917 18
8 22 Yuki Tsunoda ALPHATAURI HONDA 1:42.521 1:41.654 1:42.211 19
9 14 Fernando Alonso ALPINE RENAULT 1:42.934 1:42.195 1:42.327 20
10 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:42.701 1:42.106 1:42.659 21

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN2 beginning at 8AM Eastern here in the States. With the grid properly scrambled and the treacherous nature of this most entertaining and demanding of street circuits it should be a real doozy. Your guess is as good as mine as to who emerges victorious after 51 grueling laps in Baku so hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2021 F1 Grand Prix of Monaco — Results & aftermath

Verstappen masterful in Monte Carlo against depleted field, as Leclerc fails to start, Bottas DNFs; Sainz salvages P2 for Ferrari, Norris P3 for McLaren; Hamilton a disgruntled P7, loses championship lead

The return of the Monaco Grand Prix to the Formula 1 calendar after a year’s hiatus due to the global COVID-19 pandemic failed to live up to the intriguing qualifying results a day earlier when pole-sitter Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari suffered a driveshaft failure on the pre-race installation lap that may or may not have been related to his crash late in Saturday qualifying. While many tifosi were angry that the team didn’t preventatively just change the gearbox and team principle Matteo Binotto claimed the issue was, in fact, unrelated to Leclerc’s heavy shunt, the end result was removing the pole sitting Prancing Horse before the lights even went out and denying the young Monegasque a chance for victory in his home Grand Prix. But for Red Bull’s Max Vertstappen, it removed arguably the Dutchman’s biggest threat for a win on the day. Despite technically starting from P2 on the grid, Max was able to lead the field away at the start in Leclerc’s absence and cut off the attacking Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas to take a lead that Verstappen would not relinquish all race long. Things got even more favorable for Verstappen and Red Bull when Bottas, the only serious challenger remaining and running solidly in P2, suffered a stripped wheel nut on his first pit stop on Lap 31. The pit crew were unable to remove his right front wheel by any means or method, forcing the unfortunate Finn to retire prematurely in freak fashion. While the second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz drove well enough to ascend to a P2 finish and salvage some good points on a day when they should have had many more, the Spaniard was unable to pose a real challenge to Verstappen’s hegemony. The Flying Dutchman easily secured his first victory — and first ever podium — on the fabled streets of Monte Carlo, a career-defining fillip for an F1 driver no matter how it comes to them.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

Making things even sweeter from the Red Bull perspective, Mercedes strategy to try and elevate Hamilton above his rather poor P7 qualifying position did not come good and he finished where he started after first the AlphaTauri of Pierre Gasly and then the Aston Martin of Sebastian Vettel rode the overcut by running slightly longer of their first tire stint to come out ahead of Hamilton after that trio’s respective first round of pit stops. Hamilton was audibly irate over his radio at this strategy failure, especially because he had really been gifted a minimum of P6 with Leclerc’s pre-race retirement. Hamilton was forced to look at Gasly’s gearbox for the entirety of the contest and while he pitted late for fresh Soft Pirellis and then set the fastest lap for the bonus point, the seven-time champion saw his points lead in this year’s Drivers’ Standings evaporate with Verstappen’s dominant win. So Hamilton now finds himself in the unfamiliar position of trailing in the championship after the Mercedes mishaps in Monaco, four points in arrears of the formidable flying Dutchman. All in all, it was a very bad weekend for for the Silver Arrows because Red Bull’s second driver, Sergio Perez, redeemed his own lackluster P9 qualifying effort, paying off the team’s clever strategy of running him all the way to Lap 35 before his first stop, a full six laps longer than Hamilton had done. That saw the Mexican emerge directly in front of his team leader with clear track in front to push hard, an advantage he maximized to jump all the way to P4. While Perez could never quite catch and pass the McLaren of Lando Norris to take it to the podium, the combined Red Bull 1-4 finish vaulted the team into the lead of Constructors’ standings ahead of Mercedes by a single point. Perez’s solid effort no doubt will boost his confidence and reaffirm the team’s commitment to him after occasionally erratic performances in the prior first four rounds of the season. Now he just needs to build on this good result and qualify better going forward.

 

Norris held on for that podium with his P3, a wonderful result for a young driver on the cusp of a really special career, though McLaren’s feelings must have been mixed when their other pilot, Daniel Ricciardo, suffered the ignominy of being lapped by his rapid teammate on Lap 52 of this 78-lap contest. Ricciardo is struggling to get to grips with his new ride at McLaren and could only manage a point-less P12 result. On the other hand, Aston Martin had their best points haul of the season with Vettel’s savvy P5 and Lance Stroll also managing to turn a long first stint to his advantage and come home P8, a good effort by driver and team after the Canadian had started down in P13. Gasly, Hamilton’s bête noire on the day, kept his calm in the face of the trailing Mercedes multiple onslaughts, confident in the ability of his AlphaTauri to keep the frustrated Hamilton behind him at this ultra-difficult-to-overtake circuit. And the Alpine of Esteban Ocon held off the Alfa Romeo of Antonio Giovinazzi to secure P9, although Alfa’s young Italian hot shoe was still positively giddy over scoring the team’s first Formula 1 World Championship point of the 2021 campaign.

Top 10 finishers of the Monaco GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 78 1:38:56.820 25
2 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 78 +8.968s 18
3 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 78 +19.427s 15
4 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA 78 +20.490s 12
5 5 Sebastian Vettel ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES 78 +52.591s 10
6 10 Pierre Gasly ALPHATAURI HONDA 78 +53.896s 8
7 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 78 +68.231s 7
8 18 Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES 77 +1 lap 4
9 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 77 +1 lap 2
10 99 Antonio Giovinazzi ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI 77 +1 lap 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in two week’s time — the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. While Baku is another street circuit, it’s a horse of a different color than the nearly single-lane Monte Carlo track, and much faster and easier to pass on if equally unforgiving in its together spots. So expect a less processional contest at this lovely city circuit by the Caspian Sea, as well as Ferrari and Mercedes teams anxious to redeem themselves, as well as an ever more intriguing championship battle between the challenger Verstappen and the champ Hamilton. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2021 F1 Grand Prix of Monaco — Qualifying results

Leclerc earns poll at home GP while crashing out late in Q3; Verstappen, thwarted by Red Flag, settles for P2; Bottas P3 but Hamilton languishes in P7

The return of the classic Monaco street race to the F1 calendar after a year’s hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic was cause for celebration enough. But Saturday’s qualifying for tomorrow’s Grand Prix was a suitably scintillating event, fitting the already festive mood of the joyful Monegasques and annual visitors in attendance. Hometown hero Charles Leclerc put his Ferrari on pole for the team’s best start this year and first pole since 2019. It was also the local lad’s best qualifying effort in four attempts at his home race, although Leclerc somewhat perversely secured the top starting spot by crashing out after he blew the entry into the chicane just past the Piscene and smashed his car into the Armco barrier late in Q3. That brought out the Red Flag with not enough time to get the final quali session restarted and thwarted the last gasp effort of Max Verstappen’s hard charging Red Bull to wrest pole away from the formidable Ferrari man. Both have looked nearly equal all weekend long so far but Verstappen will have to settle for P2 unless there is enough damage to Leclerc’s Prancing Horse to force penalties for replacement parts overnight, a possibility the Scuderia are currently denying. If things do stay status quo, it is highly probable that the race victor will be either Leclerc or Verstappen, as passing is ultra difficult at this ultra-tight, ultra-slow, ultra-legendary street circuit and the winner usually comes from the front row of the grid.

Valtteri Bottas, the nominal number two Mercedes driver, was nearly as disappointed as Verstappen by the abrupt ending, as the Finn felt that he too had a shot to take pole with his final flying lap. Bottas will have to settle for P3 and the satisfaction of besting his superlative Silver Arrows teammate and current points leader Lewis Hamilton on the day, and by quite some distance at that. The normally dominant Hamilton never seemed to have a handle on his Merc and found himself bogged downing in an unlikely P7 starting spot when the session was called off. As good as the seven-time champ is, It will be tough for Lewis get a podium finish on the morrow and Verstappen could take a big bite out of the English legends current tenuous 14-point lead in the Drivers’ Championship. Unfortunately for Verstappen, however, his teammate Sergio Perez had another poor qualifying effort and could only muster the ninth fastest time, putting in doubt how much the veteran Mexican can really be of assistance to the Dutchman’s dreams of winning the race and overhauling Hamilton. The decision to go with the experienced Perez for 2021 is already coming under second-guessing, as so far he is not really faring any better than any of Max’s other younger teammates have done in the past.

Carlos Sainz pulled the second Ferrari up to P4, although the Spaniard was still disappointed with that result, as he had been neck and neck with Leclerc and Verstappen during the practice sessions. Still, it was a fine result for resurgent Ferrari after a terrible 2020 and the fabled team from Maranello have a very good chance of scoring a ton of points come race day. McLaren’s Lando Norris kept up his excellent qualifying form, slotting in at P5. But teammate Daniel Ricciardo had another down day in an up and down first season with McLaren when he was bounced in Q2. The affable Aussie will start way back in P12 and no matter how cool the team’s new throwback Gulf-colored livery, Ricciardo will have virtually no shot at winning his second Monaco GP from that lowly position.

Pierre Gasly acquitted himself well for AlphaTauri, as usual, and will start P6, while wise old head Sebastian Vettel used his massive experience around the streets of Monaco to secure the eighth fastest lap in his Aston Martin, only around three-tenths behind Hamilton. And Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi secured tenth on the grid in his Ferrari-powered C41, making it a very good day all around for Italians as well as Monegasques.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Monaco GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:11.113 1:10.597 1:10.346 27
2 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:11.124 1:10.650 1:10.576 23
3 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:10.938 1:10.695 1:10.601 28
4 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:11.324 1:10.806 1:10.611 25
5 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:11.321 1:11.031 1:10.620 23
6 10 Pierre Gasly ALPHATAURI HONDA 1:11.560 1:11.179 1:10.900 30
7 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:11.622 1:11.116 1:11.095 30
8 5 Sebastian Vettel ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES 1:12.078 1:11.309 1:11.419 26
9 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:11.644 1:11.019 1:11.573 26
10 99 Antonio Giovinazzi ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI 1:11.658 1:11.409 1:11.779 28

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN2 beginning at 9AM Eastern here in the States. It could be a big turning point in the championship with Mercedes struggling and Red Bull and Ferrari ascendent. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2021 F1 Grand Prix of Spain — Results & aftermath

Mercedes strategy gamble pays off with victory for Hamilton in Spain; Verstappen leads most laps but is runner-up yet again; Bottas P3

Red Bull’s superstar driver Max Verstappen seemed to have a solid shot at victory on Sunday when he passed Mercedes pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton for the lead with a forceful move going into Turn 1 on the opening lap of the Spanish Grand Prix. Being out in front at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is paramount, where passing is as difficult as at any street circuit on the calendar. So Max’s stellar start boded well for the Dutch phenom and his aspiring team. But it wasn’t to be, as once again the Mercedes brain trust pulled a strategic coup at Red Bull’s expense, calling P2 Hamilton in for a surprise second pit stop on Lap 42 for a fresh set of Pirelli Medium compound tires. Red Bull failed to react to the surprise undercut in time and left Verstappen out, hoping that track position would trump tire life and performance. But it was Hamilton’s Silver Arrow that won that particular gamble, paying off the team’s gutsy move with the return pass for the lead on Verstappen, now helpless on his ancient 36-lap old set of Mediums, on Lap 60 of this 66-lap contest. While Verstappen was finally free to pit for fresh rubber and thereby set the fastest lap of the race for the bonus point, Hamilton simply scooted away to victory in deceptively dominating fashion, over 15 seconds ahead of the frustrated Dutch wunderkind. Hamilton has now won two races on the trot and three of the opening four rounds, proving once again that despite all the hype about Red Bull’s impressive pace improvements enabling them to take the fight to Mercedes, the English seven-time World Champion is still the favorite to win a record tying eighth title and Verstappen and Red Bull are still slightly behind the always superlative Silver Arrows.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

Hamilton’s teammate Valtteri Bottas finished where he started, in P3, a decent enough result for the Mercedes number two man, though he once again suffered the ignominy of being told to move aside for Lewis to aid his ultimate pursuit of Verstappen and victory. That the Finn did it quite grudgingly and forced Hamirlon to expend valuable tenths in executing a rather legitimate pass for P2 at that critical moment speaks to Bottas’ frustrations with his standing within the team. Then again, if he wants to not be treated like a wingman he has got to up his game and prove that he is a match for not only Hamilton in the same equipment but also Verstappen in the enemy car. Frankly that seems highly unlikely, Valtteri’s own ego notwithstanding. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc drove an excellent race to come home P4, maximizing his very improved but still not elite Prancing Horse. His teammate Carlos Sainz finished P7, making it a pretty good points haul for the Scuderia and improving their chances of a P3 “best of the rest” finish in the Constructors’ Championship a year after they slumped to a lowly P6 in that all-important, cash-rich contest.

Sergio Perez fought back from a poor P8 qualifying effort to earn a fifth place finish. But Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate was unable to really act as a strategic force for the team in their duel with the two Mercedes by dint of his starting so far behind to begin with. The veteran Mexican is also going to need to raise his game and qualify better and soon if he is really going to be of any assistance to Verstappen’s perhaps wistful championship aspirations. McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo has his best race with his new team, holding off Sainz and taking a solid P6 finish. The affable Aussie’s McLaren stablemate Lando Norris, who has generally outshined Ricciardo so far this season, finished in P8. But it’s very encouraging for the team that both their drivers appear to be able to score points on a weekly basis and that they seem have something for Ferrari. Alpine’s Esteban Ocon faded somewhat from the promise of his P5 qualifying position to come home in ninth, while AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly rallied after starting from twelfth on the grid and a 5-second penalty for lining up for the race outside of his designated box to take the last point in P10.

Top 10 finishers of the Spanish GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 66 1:33:07.680 25
2 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 66 +15.841s 19
3 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 66 +26.610s 15
4 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 66 +54.616s 12
5 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA 66 +63.671s 10
6 3 Daniel Ricciardo MCLAREN MERCEDES 66 +73.768s 8
7 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 66 +74.670s 6
8 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 65 +1 lap 4
9 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 65 +1 lap 2
10 10 Pierre Gasly ALPHATAURI HONDA 65 +1 lap 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in a fortnight’s time when the grandaddy of them all, the legendary Monaco Grand Prix, returns to the F1 calendar after a year’s absence due to the pandemic. While it certainly won’t be any easier to pass on the tight and twisty streets of Monte Carlo, Verstappen will surely be looking for a change of luck after two tough losses on the Iberian peninsula. Hamilton, on then the other hand, will be seeking to ride his hot streak all the way to that most prestigious of winner’s circles. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2021 F1 Grand Prix of Spain — Qualifying results

Hamilton takes 100th pole besting P2 Verstappen in Barcelona; Bottas qualifies P3

On a sunny, breezy day in Barcelona where Red Bull’s Max Verstappen topped the time sheets in Q1 and Q2 and looked like he would cruise to an easy pole position, Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton showed once again that you have to take the belt from the champ. The English seven-time World Champion pulled just that much more out of the bag in the final session of Saturday qualifying for tomorrow’s Spanish Grand Prix to become the first Formula 1 driver to reach the century mark in poles by a mere three-hundredths of a second over the Dutch hard charger. Building on his own amazing record and putting Michael Schumacher’s previous mark of 68 even further in the rearview, the mind-blowing 100th top starting spot will be all important at the highly familiar Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, which all the teams use for pre-season testing and where passing is at a premium. The winner nearly always comes from the front row, so Verstappen’s disappointment at being bested by Lewis the Legend this day will be somewhat tempered by his starting alongside the lead Silver Arrow in P2, not to mention his minuscule fast lap time deficit to the points leader. Once again, as it did last weekend in Portugal, it seemed like the Iberian winds played a bit of havoc with the aero-sensitive cars, perhaps abetted by the relatively harder compounds Pirelli has chosen to provide for these two back-to-back races, for it seemed that improvement later in the qualifying sessions was hard to come by. We’ll see if tire strategy is as paramount and potentially surprising tomorrow in Barcelona as it was at Portimao.

Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate acquitted himself well enough in the face of the unquestioned brilliance of the top two superstars, qualifying P3 about a tenth in arrears of Verstappen. He will be flanked by the Ferrari of the increasingly confident Charles Leclerc in P4. With his Scuderia teammate Carlos Sainz setting the sixth fastest time, the Prancing Horses appear to have legitimately improved enough to contend for podiums this year, especially since the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez seems to be succumbing to the dreaded curse of being Verstappen’s teammate. The Mexican veteran had a lurid spin midway through Q3 when he dropped a rear wheel into the gravel and could only recover enough to take a rather poor P8. On the other hand, Esteban Ocon continued his strong start to the season for Renault-powered team Alpine by splitting the two Ferraris and grabbing fifth on the grid. Highlighting Ocon’s prowess in the A521, his two-time champion teammate Fernando Alonso was only fast enough for P10. And McLaren also had bit of a mixed bag, seeing Daniel Ricciardo recover from his inexplicable P16 quali flub in Portugal to take a P7 time but the normally impressive Lando Norris finishing the final session down in P9. Both the MCL35M chassis and Norris usually seem to have better race pace, and Perez will be looking to make up ground in a hurry, so look for a fierce battle throughout the midfield in the early going of tomorrow’s race, to say nothing of the intriguing duel for supremacy between Hamilton and Verstappen at the front.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Spanish GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:18.245 1:17.166 1:16.741 19
2 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:18.090 1:16.922 1:16.777 14
3 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:18.005 1:17.142 1:16.873 16
4 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:18.041 1:17.717 1:17.510 18
5 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 1:18.281 1:17.743 1:17.580 15
6 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:18.205 1:17.656 1:17.620 15
7 3 Daniel Ricciardo MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:18.264 1:17.719 1:17.622 14
8 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:18.203 1:17.669 1:17.701 17
9 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:17.821 1:17.696 1:18.010 17
10 14 Fernando Alonso ALPINE RENAULT 1:18.281 1:17.966 1:18.147 17

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN beginning at 9AM here in the States. Can Hamilton dust off Verstappen and give himself a little breathing room in the championship here in Round 4 or will young Max have a lesson of his own to teach the English master? Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!