Category Archives: Motorsports

F1 Grand Prix of Russia — Qualifying results

Hamilton takes first Pole at new Sochi track, Rosberg 2nd for yet another Mercedes front row lockout; Bottas impressive again to take 3rd in Qualifying.

Pics from the always excellent GrandPrix247.com

Pics from the always excellent GrandPrix247.com

Less than a week after a devastating freak accident at rainy Suzuka left Marussia driver Jules Bianchi in a coma the Formula 1 circus made its way to Sochi, Russia for the inaugural Russian Grand Prix. With their injured comrade much on the minds of everyone in the paddock, Mercedes ace and Drivers’ Championship points leader Lewis Hamilton put the attention back on competition with the first-ever Pole at the Sochi track. His teammate and rival Nico Rosberg took 2nd to lock out the front row yet again for the Mercedes factory team and Williams’ Valtteri Bottas continued his breakout year to grab 3rd on the grid. The young Finn had been on a flier that may have eclipsed Rosberg’s time in Q3 but had a lurid slide at the very end of the lap that cost him that chance. The new Sochi circuit was quite green, as was to be expected, and tire degradation was far more moderate than at any of the other tracks so far this year. That should make tire strategy particularly interesting come Sunday, as some teams may chose to gamble on very long stints to cement or gain superior track position. The opening lap could also be eventful with Rosberg keen to reestablish the dominance that has deserted him the last few races and desperately trying to claw back points from Hamilton.

McLaren’s Jenson Button showed very good pace to run the 4th fastest lap, while teammate Kevin Magnussen came home P6 but will receive a 5-place penalty for a subsequent gearbox change. Russian national Daniil Kvyat had a dream quali for Torro Rosso to take P5, ahead of not just teammate Jean-Eric Vergne in 10th but also both of the senior team Red Bulls, which struggled with straight line speed. Daniel Ricciardo could only muster 7th but it was even worse for Sebastian Vettel who failed to advance out of Q2 and will start a lowly 11th on race day. Ferrari also had a disappointing Qualifying after an awful zero-point race last weekend in Japan. Fernando Alonso, whose F1 future is somehow now in doubt for next year, could only get as high as 8th and teammate Kimi Raikkonen was a mediocre 9th. Between his DNF at Suzuka, his suddenly uncertain status for next season and the accident to Bianchi, the normally cocky Spaniard has seemed subdued all weekend long. It’s not too likely in the uncompetitive F14 T chassis but here’s hoping the great former 2-time Champion can find some race pace come Sunday when the lights go out.

Team Marssusia prepared Jules Bianchi’s car for the race but will not use a replacement driver. The chassis, in which the Frenchman scored the team’s only World Championship points this past summer in Monaco, will remain in the garage in silent tribute to their fallen teammate.

BianchiTribute

Top 10 Qualifiers here:

Pos No Driver Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Laps
1 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:38.759 1:38.338 1:38.513 18
2 6 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:39.076 1:38.606 1:38.713 18
3 77 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 1:39.125 1:38.971 1:38.920 23
4 22 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:39.560 1:39.381 1:39.121 22
5 26 Daniil Kvyat STR-Renault 1:40.074 1:39.296 1:39.277 27
6 20 Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes 1:39.735 1:39.022 1:39.629 21
7 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:40.519 1:39.666 1:39.635 21
8 14 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:40.255 1:39.786 1:39.709 25
9 7 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:40.098 1:39.838 1:39.771 26
10 25 Jean-Eric Vergne STR-Renault 1:40.354 1:39.929 1:40.020 27

Complete Qualifying results available at Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s inaugural Russian Grand Prix airs live beginning at 6:30 Eastern in the States on NBCSN.

F1 Grand Prix of Japan — Results & aftermath

Marussia Driver Jules Bianchi was critically injured Sunday

Marussia driver Jules Bianchi was critically injured Sunday

The Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix, already under threat from a menacing offshore typhoon, was marred by a freak accident in rapidly deteriorating weather late in the race when Marussia driver Jules Bianchi lost control at Dunlop Curve and collided at high speed with a recovery tractor on the circuit. The promising 24-year-old Frenchman, who scored Marussia’s first and only Championship points at Monaco this year, aquaplaned and his low slung car appeared to submarine the edge of the tractor, which was on the scene attempting to remove Adrian Sutil’s beached Sauber after he had also lost control on that exact corner. Bianchi was taken by ambulance to a local hospital (the mandatory medical helicopter appears to have been grounded by the weather) where he was diagnosed with a severe head injury, underwent emergency surgery and is now listed in critical but stable condition. This is the worst on-track incident in Formula 1 since 2009 when Felipe Massa was hit in the head during Qualifying at the Hungaroring by a spring that had come off of the car in front of him. Having only just seen the recently released video of the incident, this accident looks must worse than Massa’s and I can say without exaggerating that it is remarkable that Bianchi survived the shunt. It is also remarkable that the hurtling vehicle did not collect any of the safety personnel on the scene.

Formula One World Championship, Rd15, Japanese Grand Prix, Race, Suzuka, Japan, Sunday 5 October 2014.

The Bianchi incident prompted a red flag that prematurely ended the race on lap 45 and overshadowed what had been an exciting day of wet weather strategy and dynamic racing. Lewis Hamilton was declared the winner and in truth it looked like no one had anything for the Englishman even had the race gone the full 53-lap distance.  Continue reading →

F1 Grand Prix of Singapore — Results & aftermath

Reversal of Fortune: Hamilton’s Mercedes finishes first, Rosberg unable to start; Vettel & Ricciardo 2nd and 3rd for Red Bull

Pix from the always excellent GrandPrix247.com

Pix from the always excellent GrandPrix247.com

The title pursuit may have found its turning point on a hot & humid race night in Singapore as Mercedes teammates and archrivals Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg experienced diametrically opposite fates at the hands of the racing gods. While Hamilton started from Pole and was sprinted away from the field to rack up a relatively stress-free victory under the lights, Rosberg’s Silver Arrow suffered a terminal failure due to a broken steering column wiring lume and was unable to start the race even as his team desperately tried to fix the problem on the grid and in the pits. So with the car’s steering wheel unable to handle its many intricate tasks properly Rosberg was forced to retire and possibly hope that Hamilton ran into similar troubles. It didn’t happen and as Hamilton sailed away flawlessly into the night and on towards victory, the Englishman also wrested the overall Drivers’ points lead away from his despondent German teammate. With luck now seeming to have deserted Rosberg and swung to Hamilton in the last several races and Hamilton having pushed through his own rough patches to recapture the edge in the mental battle with superb results the last two races, it could well be Singapore that we point to as the decisive moment in the 2014 Championship. But with five contests left there is still time for Rosberg to dust himself off and take the fight to the now supremely confident Hamilton… provided he has no more mechanical DNFs.

Finishing behind Hamilton were the two Red Bulls of Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo who took advantage of Rosberg’s absence and the RB10’s excellent handling on the tight street circuit to storm the podium. It was Vettel’s best finish of the season and only the third time the 4-time World Champion has finished in front of his junior teammate. Ferrari performed decently the week after their big team shake up with Fernando Alonso capturing 4th and Kimi Raikkonen taking 8th to earn valuable Constructors’ points, while Williams had a mixed result with Felipe Massa a strong 5th after nursing his tires effectively but Valtteri Bottas out of the points in 11th. Outgoing Scuderia Torro Rosso driver Jean-Eric Vergne made his case to stay in F1 with a very impressive 6th place finish and the Force Indias of Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg sandwiched Raikkonen in 7th and 9th respectively. Kevin Magnussen grabbed the last point for McLaren with a gutsy drive that saw the young Dane battling severe cockpit overheating problems leaving him unable to utilize the boiling hot drinks bottle and with burns that were treated after the race.

Top 10 finishers & times here:

Pos No Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid Pts
1 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 60 2:00:04.795 1 25
2 1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 60 +13.5 secs 4 18
3 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing-Renault 60 +14.2 secs 3 15
4 14 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 60 +15.3 secs 5 12
5 19 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 60 +42.1 secs 6 10
6 25 Jean-Eric Vergne STR-Renault 60 +56.8 secs 12 8
7 11 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 60 +59.0 secs 15 6
8 7 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 60 +60.6 secs 7 4
9 27 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 60 +61.6 secs 13 2
10 20 Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes 60 +62.2 secs 9 1

Complete results for the Singapore Grand Prix available at Formula1.com.

With the next race 2 weeks away at the storied Suzuka track in Japan, team Mercedes should have just enough time to banish all gremlins and insure that the Drivers’ Championship is decided on merit and not reliability issues. We’ll find out together the weekend of October 5th at spectacular Suzuka!

F1 Grand Prix of Singapore — Qualifying results

Hamilton takes Pole over Rosberg by mere thousands of a second, Ricciardo a strong 3rd

Hamilton-F1-Singapore-Quali2014

It was truly last man standing Saturday under the enchanting lights of the Singapore street circuit as Englishman Lewis Hamilton pipped his Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg by a very Bondian .007 seconds to take Pole for Sunday’s Grand Prix. Even as it seemed that first the Williams of Felipe Massa and then the Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo had done enough to grab the top spot, the Silver Arrows surged in the dying seconds of Q3 as they have so frequently this season. Ricciardo was left with the consolation of 3rd position on the race grid, while Massa was pushed down to 6th when the other Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel took 4th and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso grabbed 5th.

It made for a strong day for the Scuderia a week after long-time leader Luca Di Montezemolo got the sack by Fiat-Chrysler chairman Sergio Marchionne with the big boss also taking over Ferrari’s race operations. If not for software issues that brought Kimi Raikkonen’s Q3 session to a premature end Ferrari’s resurgent day might have been even better. With the tight Singapore street circuit favoring downforce and handling over top line speed, as well as almost always featuring a Safety Car period due to shunts, it could be Red Bull’s or Ferrari’s chance to upend Mercedes’ seemingly inevitable script of weekly victory.

Rounding out the top 10 were Massa’s young Williams’ teammate Valtteri Bottas in 8th, McLaren’s rookie Kevin Magnussen out-qualifying veteran teammate Jenson Button again for 9th and Torro Rosso’s 20-year-old Russian sensation Daniil Kvyat grabbing 10th.

Top 10 Quali results:

Pos No Driver Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Laps
1 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:46.921 1:46.287 1:45.681 17
2 6 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:47.244 1:45.825 1:45.688 19
3 3 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:47.488 1:46.493 1:45.854 12
4 1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 1:47.476 1:46.586 1:45.902 15
5 14 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:46.889 1:46.328 1:45.907 16
6 19 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1:47.615 1:46.472 1:46.000 20
7 7 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:46.685 1:46.359 1:46.170 14
8 77 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 1:47.196 1:46.622 1:46.187 18
9 20 Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Mercedes 1:47.976 1:46.700 1:46.250 18
10 26 Daniil Kvyat STR-Renault 1:47.656 1:46.926 1:47.362 21

 

Full Qualifying results via Formula1.com.

Live coverage of tomorrow’s night race at the beautifully lit Marina Bay Street Circuit, one of the most visually captivating and physically demanding on the schedule, begins tomorrow at 7:30am Eastern on NBCSports.

F1 Grand Prix of Italy — Results and aftermath

Hamilton regains momentum with determined run to victory at Monza, Rosberg 2nd after error; Massa 3rd, Bottas 4th for Williams to move team ahead of Ferrari

F1Italypodium2014

(Pictures via the excellent GrandPrix24-7.com)

After yet another stroke of misfortune for Mercedes’ driver Lewis Hamilton at the start of the Italian Grand Prix it would have been easy for the Englishman to play it conservative and cede victory to Nico Rosberg, his teammate and archrival for the Drivers’ Championship. But “conservative” has never been in Hamilton’s vocabulary. Facing an electronic problem to start the race at the spectacularly fast Monza circuit that pushed Hamilton from Pole to 4th in the space of an eye blink, the feisty former champion fought his way back to harass Rosberg until it was the German who blinked. Directly after both had stopped for their one and only tire change, Rosberg was still leading the race on lap 29 but locked up his tires for the second time while breaking for the first chicane. Rather than flat-spotting them he again took the slow runoff route and this time Hamilton was close enough to pounce and take command of the race. Hamilton never looked back and still had plenty of rubber and fuel at the end to hold off Rosberg by over 3 seconds. After his unforced error it would now seem to be Rosberg’s turn to have a moment of doubt as to whether he can hold on to his most cherished dream, to be crowned World Champion of F1. One thing is for certain: Hamilton will keep on coming to grab another Championship no matter what fate throws his way. He’s already had a season’s worth of bad luck with 6 rounds left to be run and he is still a mere 22 points behind Rosberg overall lead. The current points leader had better buckle up and toughen up if he wants to be crowned champion because Hamilton looks to have regained the upper hand in the mental war between the two contenders.

Felipe Massa came home a distant 3rd for Williams. The veteran Brazilian, who saw so much success and heartbreak when he was a driver for Ferrari, was warmly cheered by the fans after his strong if unspectacular drive for the last spot on the Podium. His young Finnish teammate Valtteri Bottas had good run after a poor start from 3rd on the grid forced him to fight with several drivers, most notably McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen, to regain positions. Bottas was able to fight his way to 4th and in doing so lifted Williams, whose disastrous 2013 campaign seems like nothing but a bad dream now, over Ferrari for 3rd place in the Constructors’ Championship. Not at all coincidentally, it was announced that both drivers will be retained by Williams Martini racing for 2015, completing a very ecstatic weekend at Monza for the team.

At the other end of the spectrum, the great Scuderia Ferrari had an awful day at their home Grand Prix, which is just a pleasant ride on the autostrade from home base in Maranello. Continue reading →

F1 Grand Prix of Belgium — Results & aftermath

Apologies but due to logistical difficulties I was not able to file my report on the Belgian Grand Prix until now. But here’s what went down on Sunday in the Ardennes at Spa-Francorchamps…

Surging Ricciardo takes 2nd straight win for Red Bull, Rosberg relegated to 2nd after early race incident with Mercedes teammate Hamilton; Bottas grabs another strong 3rd for Williams

F1 Grand Prix of Belgium

The echoes of Senna-Prost grew a little bit stronger Sunday at Spa as Mercedes teammates and Championship contenders Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton clashed early on lap 2, damaging Rosberg’s front wing but catastrophically puncturing Hamilton’s right rear far from the pits. The Englishman, who had been ahead as Rosberg tried an inside move when tire and wing came together, then had to limp home as his tire delaminated and began buggy whipping his bodywork for nearly 4 miles. While his Silver Arrow was able to continue it put him so far back in the pack that eventually the team retired the car in order to save the engine for future use, earning Hamilton zero Drivers’ points after starting from 2nd on the grid. Rosberg, who had won the Pole in wet conditions on Saturday, was able to soldier on despite an off sequence pit stop for a front wing change, showing great pace as the race wound down and coming home in second place and with a tidy 18 Championship points. Afterwards, the acrimony between the teammates was palpable with claims by Hamilton that Rosberg had stuck his nose in deliberately to “prove a point” and Rosberg putting it all down to a racing incident but certainly not apologizing. Mercedes team management was less than thrilled with the loss of Constructors’ points from the clash and vowed to give both drivers a stern talking to. But then again, it’s racing not a Sunday drive in the forest so these things happen between intense competitors and any ill will generated by them only serves to spice up the Championship going forward, especially with Mercedes running away with it. I say keep it up, lads!

Almost lost in all that controversy was another outstanding performance by Red Bull junior driver Daniel Ricciardo, who took advantage of the Mercedes infighting to run away to victory. Continue reading →