Category Archives: Motorsports

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!

2021 F1 Grand Prix of Portugal — Results & aftermath

Hamilton vanquishes nearest rivals for easy win in Portugal; Vertsappen P2, Bottas struggles to P3

Sunday’s Portuguese Grand Prix, which seemed to promise so much after a very tight qualifying between the front running Mercedes and Red Bull teams, instead turned into something of a wet firecracker. In an ominous sign for the rest of the field, Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton returned to dominating form and handily trounced the rest of the field, including his pole-sitting teammate Valtteri Bottas and closest rival in terms of sheer talent, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. Despite starting from P2 and actually being passed for that position by the Dutchman when he bobbled a post-Safety Car restart on Lap 7, the superlative English seven time champion rebounded quickly, first retaking that second place from Verstappen on Lap 11 and then dusting off Bottas on Lap 20 to grab the lead of the race. While Red Bull’s other driver Sergio Perez used an exceptionally long stint on his opening set of Medium Pirellis to inherit the race lead for a large chunk after the Mercedes man made his first pit stop on Lap 38, Hamilton bided his time until the delta between his fresher Hards and Perez’s old Mediums inexorably converged. By Lap 51 the Mexican was easy meat for the Silver Arrow and Ham the man took back his rightful lead. With Hamilton and his W12 back in perfect harmony, Lewis took the checkered of this 66-lap contest just under half a minute ahead of P2 Verstappen and 33.5 seconds in front of the beleaguered Bottas. It could be that the Red Bulls were just uniquely unsuited to the track here in Portugal and they definitely struggled with the windy conditions on their aero-sensitive RB16B chassis. But Mercedes also seemed to grab a decisive pace advantage in a straight line, with the Honda-powered Red Bulls looking very much down on power by comparison. The next race in Spain will be highly instructive to discover whether Mercedes have come to grips with this year’s rule changes and are on their way to another year of domination or if Red Bull can continue improving their mounts to keep the Silver Arrows honest.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

While Verstappen settled for P2 and the cold comfort of beating Bottas to the line, he was unable to set the fastest lap and earn the bonus point after a late switch to Soft Pirellis when his quickest time was deleted due to exceeding track limits in the attempt. That meant that Bottas, who pulled the same trick with a late switch to Softs, snatched that extra point with the race’s fastest lap. However, that honor will mainly benefit his teammate’s championship pursuit and not the Finn’s own, which now looks as improbable as at any time in his tenure with the big Mercedes factory team. Perez finished where he started, in P4, despite his heroic effort in stretching his first set of tires all the way to Lap 52. Truly, the veteran Mexican is a master of keeping life in his rubber.

Best of the rest was the rapidly improving Lando Norris of McLaren, who scored a very handy P5 finish after battling with a lot of other midfield runners throughout the race. His teammate Daniel Ricciardo had a good recovery drive for the team after qualifying a lowly sixteenth on the grid. The gritty Aussie fought his way all the way back into the points and came home P9 with a determined and savvy effort. Charles Leclerc was the lone Ferrari to earn points on the day, finishing P6 and getting the better of the Scuderia’s tire strategy when the team gambled on splitting it by putting Carlos Sainz onto Mediums and Leclerc on Hard tires after their first stops. The Hards proved to be the way to go for the long haul and Sainz struggled badly late in the race and finished down in P11. The two Alpines of Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso were genuinely quick, especially as the laps wound down and the cars got lighter by nursing off their fuel, with Ocon coming home P7 and Alonso in P8. The feat was particularly impressive by the Spanish two-time champion, who battled up from a P13 start in what was his best drive since coming back to F1 after a three year hiatus in WEC. AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly took the last point with a tenth place finish.

Top 10 finishers of the Portuguese GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 66 1:34:31.421 25
2 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 66 +29.148s 18
3 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 66 +33.530s 16
4 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA 66 +39.735s 12
5 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 66 +51.369s 10
6 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 66 +55.781s 8
7 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 66 +63.749s 6
8 14 Fernando Alonso ALPINE RENAULT 66 +64.808s 4
9 3 Daniel Ricciardo MCLAREN MERCEDES 66 +75.369s 2
10 10 Pierre Gasly ALPHATAURI HONDA 66 +76.463s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in but a weeks’ time, the nearby Spanish Grand Prix at the very familiar Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, which all the teams use for preseason testing. Hopefully for the sake of a tight championship contest Red Bull were just ill-suited to Portimao this weekend and will be back to their harassing ways, bringing the fight for victory to Hamilton and Mercedes. Look forward to seeing you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2021 F1 Grand Prix of Portugal — Qualifying results

Bottas bests Hamilton for pole at Portimao as Mercedes lock out front row; Verstappen a disappointed P3, Perez P4 for Red Bull

Mercedes number two driver Valtteri Bottas looked more like a number one during tricky Saturday qualifying for the Portuguese Grand Prix, taking pole and from his championship-leading teammate Lewis Hamilton. With gusty winds whipping the cars as they made their way around the rather hilly and twisty Portimao circuit and the Pirellli tires proving a bit of a puzzlement to the teams in not particularly warm conditions, the veteran Finn was the one who was able to best hook up a fast lap to take the premier starting spot for Sunday’s race and deny Hamilton his one-hundredth pole. The normally superlative Hamilton, who similarly wrested last yer’s pole position from Bottas in this tricky little circuit’s debut on the Formula 1 calendar, found himself adrift of his Silver Arrows teammate by a mere seven-one-thousandths of a second when time ran out. It was a  nice rebound by Bottas after he was crashed out by the rash George Russell’s Williams at the last race in Emilia Romagna two weeks ago.

Intriguingly, while the Mercedes duo both chose the Medium Pirelli tires to run on when it counted most in Q3 the Red Bulls both decided the Soft tires were better suited to their chassis. It didn’t quite pay off, however, as Max Verstappen struggled with a tail wind into turns 13 and 14 that led to his fastest lap early in the final qualifying session being deleted for exceeding track limits. While the flying Dutchman was able to set a quick time later in Q3 he couldn’t quite match the pace of the Silver Arrows even on the Softs and had to settle for P3. Likewise, his Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez was also unable to really challenge the dominant Mercedes on this day and slotted in on the second row alongside Verstappen in P4. Tire strategy between these two top teams should be very interesting come race day, assuming that Mercedes continue to favor the Mediums while Red Bull prefer the Softs. The seemingly ever present winds here in the Algarve will also have their say, I’d reckon.

Ferrari continued what appears to be a nice little 2021 renaissance, with Carlos Sainz out-qualifying his more heralded stablemate Charles Leclerc P5 to P8. The Prancing Horses are already miles ahead of their woeful pace last season and could conceivably land a podium finish or two before the year is out with a little luck. Esteban Ocon did a fine job for Alpine with a stout P6 effort, really outclassing legendary teammate Fernando Alonso on this day, who was unceremoniously bounced in Q2 with only the thirteenth fastest lap. Similarly, McLaren’s Lando Norris continued to excel, nabbing the seventh fastest time, while his veteran teammate Daniel Ricciardo was flummoxed when he found himself eliminated in Q1 with a lap only good enough for P16, not to mention over a second behind the rapidly developing Norris in that session. Rounding out the top ten starters for tomorrow’s race, Pierre Gasly continued his impressive run of making it into Q3 and was able to fight his twitchy car for a time good enough for P9, while Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel had his best quali effort in some time and certainly his best for his new team, taking P10 on the grid, some seven grid spots ahead of teammate Lance Stroll. That should do some good for Vettel’s rather fragile confidence. Now the German four-time champ just needs to avoid what have become his far too frequent unforced errors and get a solid points finish in tomorrow’s race.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Portuguese GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:18.722 1:18.458 1:18.348 23
2 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:18.857 1:17.968 1:18.355 24
3 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:19.485 1:18.650 1:18.746 20
4 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:19.337 1:18.845 1:18.890 22
5 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:19.309 1:18.813 1:19.039 23
6 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 1:19.092 1:18.586 1:19.042 17
7 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:18.794 1:18.481 1:19.116 24
8 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:19.373 1:18.769 1:19.306 29
9 10 Pierre Gasly ALPHATAURI HONDA 1:19.464 1:19.052 1:19.475 26
10 5 Sebastian Vettel ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES 1:19.403 1:18.970 1:19.659 22

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live at 10AM Eastern on ESPN here in the States. Hope to see you then to find out how things shake out between not only the Mercs and Red Bulls but also between the respective teammates, as well, which could be a real ding dong battle between the four best cars on the grid!

2021 F1 Grand Prix of Emilia Romagna — Results & aftermath

Verstappen dominates at rainy & wet Imola for win; Hamilton salvages P2 with remarkable recovery drive after uncharacteristic error; Norris an impressive P3 for McLaren; Bottas crashes out, error-ridden Perez fails to score

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen dominated in tricky wet weather conditions on Sunday at Imola to take victory in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, his first win of what looks to be a very promising season for both the Dutchman and his team. While cars all around him slipped and slid off on a track that started wet after pre-race rain and never fully dried, Verstappen passed pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton for the lead on Lap 1, kept his ride on the black stuff and avoided the serious trouble that bedeviled so many of contenders throughout the day and flew away to what was eventually a fairly easy victory. Meanwhile Hamilton, his certain archrival for the 2021 championship, made an uncharacteristic unforced error when he was closing up on Verstappen nearly midway thorough the race. Carving his way through back-markers on Lap 31 of this 64-lap contest, Hamilton took it in too deep entering Tosa just three laps after pitting for a set of Medium Pirellis, his first slick tires of the day. Hamilton slid off a damp asphalt and through the gravel, nosing into a barrier. For a while it seemed he might be stuck, as it took the English seven-time champ forever to find reverse. But he finally managed to extricate himself ever so gingerly and headed towards the pits, albeit while losing a lap after such a lengthy delay. Fortunately for Hamilton, though not at all for the team, his Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas, who was already having a dismal day mired back in P8, was speared into by Williams’ (and Mercedes development driver) George Russell in a vicious shunt at high speed that sent both cars crashing out with massive damage. While both Bottas and Russell were thankfully OK physically, if none too happy with each other, the massive debris field forced a prolonged Red Flag period on Lap 34.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

But the disaster for Bottas perversely redounded to Hamilton’s benefit. Not only were the Mercedes mechanics able to change his front wing without losing any time in the pits where all cars still running were now stationary but he also got back on the lead lap at the end of the Red Flag delay, when he and the other lapped cars were allowed to drive around the circuit to get to the tail end of what was now a rolling restart. So while Hamilton had still been shuffled back to P9, he could now begin making passes for position with the resumption of the race, something he did with aplomb in an effort to make amends for his rare gaffe. While Verstappen ran away from the field easily and was now untouchable, Hamilton gradually worked his way up to P5 by Lap 42 and then dispatched the two Ferraris of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc for P4 and P3 on Laps 50 and 55 respectively. On a day where he looked to have possibly thrown a strong result away after starting from pole, the Englishman’s damage limitation drive came about as good as possible when he executed a masterful pass on the McLaren of Lando Norris to claim P2 on with only four laps remaining. And in so doing, Hamilton also managed to set the race’s fastest lap, thereby claiming the bonus point so that even when Vertsappen won the race by over 20 seconds, Hamilton still retained his Drivers’ Championship lead by a single slim point with his gutsy P2 finish and that opportunistic fastest lap bonus. That said, both Hamilton and Mercedes know they have a real battle on their hands with the Red Bulls this year and that both driver and team have got to improve their performance and consistency if they are going to hold off young Max’s determined pursuit of his first title in equal or perhaps even superior equipment.

All was not sweet music for Red Bull despite Verstappen’s glorious win, however. With Bottas crashing out, the team missed a golden opportunity to land a hard blow against Mercedes in the Constructors’ battle when second driver Sergio Perez made a mess of his opportunity to do score big points. After being handed a penalty on Lap 12 for inexplicably passing under the first Safety Car, Perez still looked to be fighting for a podium when the race resumed post-Red Flag. But on Lap 38 Perez made another unforced error, albeit under tricky wet-dry conditions. Seemingly sitting pretty in P4 with 26 laps remaining to get closer to his teammate and thwart Hamilton’s progress, Perez spun off the circuit and dropped all the way back to P14. The veteran Mexican, of whom much greater things are expected, could only manage to work his way back up to P11 when the laps ran out, scoring zero points on a day where it seemed certain Red Bull would net a far larger haul. The uncharacteristically ragged and fruitless outing by Checo opened the door to McLaren’s Lando Norris for his second career podium and while he could not hold off Hamilton’s hard charging Merc the talented Englishman did keep both Ferraris behind him to claim P3. It was an impressive drive from the ascendent Norris and along with Daniel Ricciardo’s P6 made for a very satisfying day for the much improved McLaren team.

Ferrari also must have been well pleased with a very solid run from team leader Charles Leclerc for P4 and a good comeback drive from Carlos Sainz after some early race mistakes to take P5. AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly also recovered from a nearly disastrous strategy call by the team to keep him out on full wet tires for far too long sent the Frenchman plummeting down the order. But Gasly hung tough and managed to take P7 when Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll was penalized 5-seconds for track limits abuse after the race. Still, Stroll drove well for his adjusted P8 and the points were important for the team in light of Sebastian Vettel being forced to retire due to an accumulation of mechanical gremlins late in the race. And somehow the rather pokey Alpines of Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso also managed to score points in P9 and P10 respectively by dint of simply surviving the fray and staying out of the gravel traps that led to grief for so many drivers on this wet and unpredictable day in Italy. A day that could well be remembered as the beginning of the end of Mercedes-Hamilton hegemony and the real start of the championship run of Max Verstappen.

Top 10 finishers of the Emilia Romagna GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 63 2:02:34.598 25
2 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 63 +22.000s 19
3 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 63 +23.702s 15
4 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 63 +25.579s 12
5 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 63 +27.036s 10
6 3 Daniel Ricciardo MCLAREN MERCEDES 63 +51.220s 8
7 10 Pierre Gasly ALPHATAURI HONDA 63 +52.818s 6
8 18 Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES 63 +56.909s 4
9 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 63 +65.704s 2
10 14 Fernando Alonso ALPINE RENAULT 63 +66.561s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

With the season now really rolling, the next race is but two weeks away — the Portuguese Grand Prix at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve aka Portimao. The Round 3 rematch between  Verstappen and Hamilton in what is looking like a season-long heavyweight fight can’t come soon enough for me. Hope to see you then to find out what’s next in the real inter-team rivalry we’ve been waiting for!

2021 F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain — Results & aftermath

Hamilton holds off surging Verstappen for victory in tense late race duel between top contenders; Bottas a distant P3

With Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton in the unfamiliar position of being the underdogs entering the first race weekend of the 2021 Formula 1 season and supposedly at a disadvantage to the much improved Red Bull and their superlative lead driver, Max Verstappen, the Bahrain Grand Prix proved once again that predictions don’t mean anything once the rubber meets the road and laps get turned in anger. Defending World Champion Hamilton showed that he was not ready to go gently into that good night, demonstrating once again why he has earned a remarkable seven F1 titles by holding off the onslaught of the quicker Verstappen on old tires as the laps ran down at the windblown and gritty Sakhir Circuit. With the flying Dutchman literally breathing down the Englishman’s neck and well within DRS range, Verstappen appeared to make the race winning pass on Lap 53 of this 56 lap contest. In his excitement, however, Verstappen chose a particular tricky section of the track to overtake around the outside of the Mercedes and all four of his wheels breached track limits at Turn 4, providing him with an unfair advantage. He was immediately told by the team to give the position back to Hamilton, which he did. The loss of momentum proved pivotal and Hamilton was able to hold off Verstappen in the few remaining laps to take what seemed almost a stolen victory, crossing the line a mere seven-tenths ahead of his crestfallen rival.

In hindsight, Verstappen will probably regret two thing that cost him an almost certain victory in Bahrain: not being more patient with a still-ample four laps remaining in choosing his moment to overtake Hamilton, who was clearly struggling on his older Hard Pirellis; and giving the lap back to Lewis almost immediately instead of waiting for his strategists, who certainly share some blame here for the hasty call, to figure out the most advantageous place on the track to let Hamilton by with the least amount of time lost in doing it. Verstappen also complained that he should have just taken the five-second penalty after the race, feeling that he could have pulled far enough away to still preserve victory, but this could have risked further sanctions by the stewards, not to mention there being no guarantees that he could actually have gapped Hamilton by that much. One thing is for certain — if Sunday’s race was any indication, this will be the first season since the start of the turbo-hybrid era where a team not named Mercedes has a real chance to win every weekend. Hamilton has always wanted a true inter-team rivalry to prove himself even more than he already has against his fellow Mercedes drivers over the years. And in this year’s much improved RB 16B and the superb 23-year-old Verstappen at the top of his game he looks to finally have it.

Photos from Formula1.com

Hamilton’s Silver Arrows wingman Valtteri Bottas struggled with rear grip on his opening stint, as he had all weekend, but was looking better once he switched off the Mediums onto Hards. Then all his good work closing the gap to the top two was undone by a painfully slow second pit stop when his front right tire would not come unstuck. The unlucky Finn finished some 37 seconds back of P2 Verstappen, though he did set the fastest lap of the race for an extra point after a late stop for fresh rubber. Lando Norris drove an outstanding race for McLaren to finish a strong P4 and the car looks to have genuine pace again this year, with new teammate Daniel Ricciardo also scoring well in P7. Verstappen’s new Red Bull stablemate Sergio Perez had a remarkable recovery drive after losing power on the formation lap and being forced to start from the pits. The canny Mexican veteran somehow managed to salvage an impressive P5 finish, making a three-stop strategy pay off with a passel of late race passes to maximize his and the team’s best available points.

Ferrari showed genuine improvement in race trim over last year’s disastrous lack of pace, with Charles Leclerc able to cross the line in sixth and new teammate Carlos Sainz finishing where he started in P8. Rookie Yuki Tsunoda scored on debut for AlphaTauri with an impressive P9 finish, salvaging a couple of points for the team on a day where their lead driver, Pierre Gasly, who looked like a podium contender going in, lost his front wing early in the race on Lap 4 when he collided with the rear of Ricciardo and was unable recover. The unlucky Frenchman finished way back in P17 and will have to wait to really get his promising season going until Round 2 at Imola in two weeks time. Lance Stroll took the last point in P10 for newly minted Aston Martin but his new partner Sebastian Vettel had a bit of a horror show. The four-time World Champion, who has frankly struggled with unforced errors over the past several seasons, made another big mistake when he was judged responsible for ramming into the back of the Alpine of Esteban Ocon on Lap 45 and handed a 10-second time penalty as a result. Additionally, it made a grand total of five penalty points on Vettel’s super license over the course of the debut race weekend after he was also dinged for failing to respect Yellow Flags in qualifying on Saturday. All in all, not the start the German vet was looking for in trying and reestablish himself as a top performer in the series and impress his new team with his supposed skill and savvy.

Top 10 finishers of the Bahrain GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 56 1:32:03.897 25
2 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 56 +0.745s 18
3 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 56 +37.383s 16
4 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 56 +46.466s 12
5 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA 56 +52.047s 10
6 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 56 +59.090s 8
7 3 Daniel Ricciardo MCLAREN MERCEDES 56 +66.004s 6
8 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 56 +67.100s 4
9 22 Yuki Tsunoda ALPHATAURI HONDA 56 +85.692s 2
10 18 Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES 56 +86.713s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in three weeks when Formula 1 returns to Imola in Italy for the second year in a row for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. Let’s hope the action between Hamilton and Vertstappen stays just as close in Tuscany as it was today in Bahrain. Look forward to seeing you then!

2021 F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain — Qualifying results

GAME ON: Red Bull’s pace for real as Verstappen beats Hamilton for premier pole of 2021 at Sakhir;  Bottas P3 ahead of Leclerc’s improved Ferrari

The 2021 Formula 1 season is upon us after a long, cold winter and events on track wasted no time heating up during Saturday qualifying for tomorrow’s opening round Bahrain Grand Prix. It was time to find out if Mercedes had been hiding their pace in relation to the seemingly ascendent Honda-powered RB16 B Red Bull chassis. It took three rounds of quali to answer that compelling question but in the end Red Bull superstar Max Verstappen laid down the gauntlet by putting together a seamlessly fast final lap, wresting pole away from seven-time champ and Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton by a fairly cushy six-tenths of a second. Coming off his season-ending victory last year in Abu Dhabi and with a winter’s worth of upgrades to the Red Bull, Verstappen looks like he finally has the finely honed weapon to compete with Hamilton and the Silver Arrows for at least the Drivers’ Championship if not the Constructors’. The Dutchman will be keen to continue his momentum and hunt down a victory in tomorrow’s debut contest of 2021 to show that the German behemoth will not have things their own way this year after absolutely dominating the modern hybrid era.

It was not all good vibes for team Red Bull, however, as they saw Mercedes number two Valtteri Bottas recover from some discomfort with his new W12 mount to set a solid final time good enough for P3, while their new hire Sergio Perez succumbed to the curse of being Verstappen’s stablemate and got bounced in Q2. The veteran Mexican, who was brought in to the team after a superlative season last year to add consistency and stability to the troublesome number two Red Bull pilot role, will have to start a disappointing P11 tomorrow, with a lot of ground to be made up if he is going to help his teammate hold off the dual Silver Arrows onslaught. To be fair to Perez, the team may have botched his strategy by sending him out on the Medium Pirellis rather than the faster Softs when it was crunch time in P2.

Ferrari showed that they too made significant improvements in the offseason, especially in the power department, if not quite lifting them to the level of the top two teams. Charles Leclerc drove the wheels of his SF21 to set the fourth fastest time, only about a tenth behind Bottas. New Scuderia teammate Carlos Sainz, who made the jump to Maranello from McLaren, was quite a bit off that pace after looking very close to Leclerc up until that point and could only manage a P8 starting position. Pierre Gasly was the lone AlphaTauri to make it into the top ten but again looked very sharp after his breakout year in 2020. The young Frenchman appears to be maturing and improving every season and he tucked in right behind Leclerc with a solid P5 time. Daniel Ricciardo outpaced his teammate Lando Norris in his debut for McLaren, P6 to P7, while two-time champion Fernando Alonso impressed on his return to F1 after a hiatus dating to 2018 by setting a very respectable P9 time for newly badged Alpine (formerly Renault). And Lance Stroll got through to Q3 and will start P10 for the renamed Aston Martin team (formerly Racing Point and still powered by Mercedes engines), while his new teammate, former Ferrari man Sebastian Vettel, saw his bad luck from 2020 carry over when he had to slow for yellow flags at critical moment in Q1 and could not make it out of that session. The German four-time champion will start from a lowly P18 and will have to control his emotions and make steady progress if he is to avoid a repeat of the last few years’ many mental errors. At the very least, the British Racing Green-clad livery is beautiful to look at even if team Aston Martin will have a hard time replicating last season’s success as a “mini Mercedes” under the new restrictive downforce rules.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Bahrain GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:30.499 1:30.318 1:28.997 15
2 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:30.617 1:30.085 1:29.385 18
3 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:31.200 1:30.186 1:29.586 17
4 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:30.691 1:30.010 1:29.678 15
5 10 Pierre Gasly ALPHATAURI HONDA 1:30.848 1:30.513 1:29.809 15
6 3 Daniel Ricciardo MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:30.795 1:30.222 1:29.927 18
7 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:30.902 1:30.099 1:29.974 18
8 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:31.653 1:30.009 1:30.215 17
9 14 Fernando Alonso ALPINE RENAULT 1:30.863 1:30.595 1:30.249 15
10 18 Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES 1:31.261 1:30.624 1:30.601 15

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live beginning at 10:55 AM Eastern on ESPN2 here in the States. Time to find out if Verstappen has what it takes in race trim to bring the fight to mighty Mercedes. Hope to see you then!

2020 F1 Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi — Results & aftermath

Red Bull’s Verstappen runs away from Mercedes to take easy win in season finale; Bottas P2, Hamilton P3 in procedural contest

With Mercedes engines suffering from a mysterious MGU-K issue that left them down on power, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen had no problem sprinting away from this year’s dominant Constructors’ champions to take an easy victory at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, at long last earning the supremely talented Dutchman his first win of the truncated 2020 season. After a run of unpredictable race results, perhaps none more so than last week’s surprise win for Racing Point’s Sergio Perez after Mercedes self-destructed in the pits, Sunday’s finale was a purely procedural affair at the Yas Marina circuit, a track where overtaking is always at a premium even with the DRS gimmick. The pole-sitting Verstappen easily swanned away from the Silver Arrows of Valtteri Bottas and champion Lewis Hamilton, who returned from a COVID infection and did not seem to possess his usual superlative stamina. Regardless, no one could challenge Verstappen’s Red Bull at this day-into-night race and no gambles were taken by the Mercedes brain trust that might have jeopardized Bottas’ second place in the Drivers’ points and allowed Verstappen to claim that honor if the inconsistent Finn finished below P2. After last week’s debacle, the reigning Contructors’ champs were content to play it safe and see their men come home P2 and P3, with Bottas leading home Hamilton, but Verstappen outclassing Bottas by a whopping 15.9 seconds. Don’t count on this being a harbinger of a real challenge to Mercedes’ potential dominance next season, as the Merc engines were clearly ailing and nearing end of life here in round 17, especially as they chose not develop them much further after clinching their record seventh title in a row way back at Imola in early November with eight races still to go. But For verstappen the victory was still sweet, saving the best for last in this challenging year by earning his first victory of a frustrating season when he almost always had to look at a Silver Arrows tailpipe no matter how well he drove.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

Verstappen’s much maligned teammate Alexander Albon also did his part by showing good form and staying close enough to the top three to make any strategic pit stop gamble the Mercedes pit wall may have wanted to try a nonstarter, as either Bottas or Hamilton would surely have come out behind the mercurial Thai. So he helped Red Bull keep Mercedes honest, holding off even a long shot threat to Verstappen’s supremacy on this day and coming home a solid fourth place. Along with another fourth in Styria in Round 2, a third in the first Bahrain race and another opportunistic podium earlier in Tuscany in Round 9, the result in Abu Dhabi might be enough for Albon to keep his seat at the big Red Bull team, which is what Christian Horner and the other VIPs have always said they wanted, at least in public. But if so, he will need to work hard on qualifying pace, where he was buried by Verstappen all season long, to give himself a better shot at earning high places in the races rather than constantly trying to fight his way through theoretically inferior cars with all the attendant risk that entails. Of course, Albon’s erratic track record over the course of the year still might not be enough to keep Red Bull from replacing him with the free agent Sergio Perez, who has had his best year in F1 by far. Either way, all should be revealed in this particular soap opera very soon.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

It was also a banner day for McLaren, capping a fine comeback season by not only seeing their drivers Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz finish an impressive P5 and P6 respectively but also earning a very valuable third place in the Constructors’ with that big points haul. The storied team was able to regain at least some of its past glory by leapfrogging the powerful Racing Point team for that coveted position on the final day when Lance Stroll could only muster and point in P10 and a luckless Perez DNF’d on Lap 10 with transmission failure. While Perez didn’t really get a chance to defend his wonderful win at Sakhir a week ago and Stroll somewhat underwhelmed after starting from P8, the Racing Point team still has a lot to be pleased with as they head into the offseason as the fourth best Constructor and ready for the change to Aston Martin branding and Sebastian Vettel partnering Stroll for 2021.

While Renault couldn’t overtake their nearest rivals McLaren and Racing Point and had to settle for fifth in the final Constructors’ standings it was still a good year for the French team, who will rebrand as Alpine for next year. Veteran Daniel Riccardo, who will leave to drive for McLaren next year, finished P7 and Esteban Ocon took P9. Ocon will remain at Renault/Alpine and partner with returning two-time champ Fernando Alonso in 2021. AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly, who had a breakout season including a win at Monza in Round 8, came home P8 to secure tenth in the Drivers’ Standings.

A final word on Ferrari: The Scuderia finished a woeful campaign on a woeful note, with Charles Leclerc P13 and the outgoing Vettel P14 in ostensibly his final race in a Prancing Horse, both behind the P12 of the “junior” Alfa Romeo driven by the venerable Kimi Raikkonen. Here’s hoping that Ferrari’s boasts about massive engine upgrades for next year are true — and perhaps Sainz arrival will pick things up, as well — because sixth in the Constructors’ with barely a chance of challenging Racing Point, McLaren or Renault for positions, let alone Mercedes and Red Bull for wins, simply won’t cut it for another season.

Top 10 finishers of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 55 1:36:28.645 25
2 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 55 +15.976s 18
3 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 55 +18.415s 15
4 23 Alexander Albon RED BULL RACING HONDA 55 +19.987s 12
5 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN RENAULT 55 +60.729s 10
6 55 Carlos Sainz MCLAREN RENAULT 55 +65.662s 8
7 3 Daniel Ricciardo RENAULT 55 +73.748s 7
8 10 Pierre Gasly ALPHATAURI HONDA 55 +89.718s 4
9 31 Esteban Ocon RENAULT 55 +101.069s 2
10 18 Lance Stroll RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES 55 +102.738s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

Final Drivers’ Standings are here.

Final Constructors’ Standings are here.

The next race, gods willing, will be on March 21st, 2021 back at good old Melbourne, Australia. Enjoy the offseason wherever you are and hope to see you then!