Category Archives: Motorsports

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Belgium — Results & aftermath

Unstoppable Verstappen cruises to easy win at Spa despite starting sixth; Red Bull teammate Perez a solid second, Leclerc holds off Hamilton for P3

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen continued his rampage this past Sunday at legendary Spa-Francorchamps, effortlessly moving up from a gearbox penalty-induced P6 start to take an easy victory in the Belgian Grand Prix over 22-seconds ahead of his closest pursuer and teammate Sergio Perez. On a typically changeable weekend in the hills and valleys of the Ardennes that saw occasionally heavy rains leading to tricky track conditions during Friday qualifying and the Saturday Sprint spectacular, the Grand Prix itself was almost entirely dry, leading to a rather straightforward race and, with Verstappen’s incredible run of form in 2023, a seemingly predetermined outcome. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc inherited pole after Verstappen’s gearbox change penalty and he lead away Perez when the lights went out. But the lead Red Bull of the Mexican made easy work of the Prancing Horse on the opening lap and charged into the lead, albeit one that was destined to be short lived. Verstappen meanwhile set about his relentless march to the front with typical aplomb, nimbly working his way through the McLaren of Oscar Piastri and the second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz, who clashed going into Turn 1 and fatally damaged both of their cars in the process. By Lap 9, the Dutch master had disposed of Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes and was on the gearbox of Leclerc, making the decisive move to take P2 away while cruising into Les Combes. After their first round of pit stops to doff their opening set of Soft Pirrellis in favor of the more durable Mediums, on Lap 14 for Perez and the following circuit  for Verstappen, the two Red Bulls drew inexorably closer. Perez was no match for Verstappen’s pace and the runaway championship points leader overtook him without breaking a sweat easily on Lap 17, grabbing the lead for the remainder of this 44-lap contest and breezing into the summer break the undisputed top dog in F1.

After that, it was mainly a matter of where the rest of the top ten would finish, as Verstappen ran away en route to his eight consecutive victory and the Red Bull team’s unprecedented thirteenth in a row, including all twelve races run so far this year. For good measure, Verstappen also won the Saturday Sprint race for an extra 8 points, although on this day it would be Hamilton who nabbed tho bonus point for the race’s fastest lap. Perez had to settle for second but, combined with his P3 last weekend in Hungary, it still marked a solid return to form for him after some bleak outcomes following the high of his last win in Azerbaijan way back in Round 4. While Leclerc couldn’t match the pace of either Red Bull, his was still fast enough to hold off the Merc of Hamilton, the Monegasque netting the final podium position while Hamilton could never really mount a real charge and so finished in P4.

Those results were still far better than their teammates, with Sainz being forced to retire his damaged Ferrari on Lap 25 after steadily going in reverse after his opening lap contretemps with Piastri. And Hamilton’s stablemate George Russell also had a dispiriting day at Spa, losing a ton of positions on Lap 1 but then at least gamely fighting his way from P11 back to a respectable finish in P6. Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso drove steadily and smoothly all race long, maximizing the car’s performance to the tune of a P5 finish ahead of Russell after starting from P9 on the grid, while his wingman Lance Stroll could only improve his starting spot by one and came home P9. After his McLaren teammate Piastri’s race came to an abrupt halt on Lap 2 due to his tangle with Sainz, it was left to Lando Norris to fly the papaya flag. With the McLaren MCL60 seemingly carrying excessive downforce which served them well in the mixed wet conditions on Friday and Saturday but led to a draggy car during this dry race, Norris struggled to a P7 result. That made for a bit of a disappointment after the team had been so solid in recent race weekends and throughout quali and the Sprint events this weekend, Piastri having finished runner up to Verstappen in the rain-shortened Sprint race. Esteban Ocon ended his points drought with a P8 finish, a small ray of hope on a weekend that saw Alpine fire most of their team’s top officials. And Yuki Tsunoda scored the last point in P10 in his AlphaTauri, acing out the second Alpine of Pierre Gasly for the final point paying position.

Top 10 finishers of the Belgian GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 44 1:22:30.450 25
2 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 44 +22.305s 18
3 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 44 +32.259s 15
4 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 44 +49.671s 13
5 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 44 +56.184s 10
6 63 George Russell MERCEDES 44 +63.101s 8
7 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 44 +73.719s 6
8 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 44 +74.719s 4
9 18 Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 44 +79.340s 2
10 22 Yuki Tsunoda ALPHATAURI HONDA RBPT 44 +80.221s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The August recess is upon us and the next race weekend is not until August 25-27 amidst the dunes of Zandvoort in the Netherlands, Verstappen’s veritable back yard. Enjoy your summer recess and I’ll look forward to seeing you when the on track action resumes!

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Belgium — Qualifying results

Verstappen fastest in Friday qualifying but denied pole due to gearbox penalty, will start P6; P2 Leclerc promoted to pole, P3 Perez second on grid

On the last race weekend before the long summer break, qualifying for Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix took place on Friday due to this being another of Formula 1’s periodic, somewhat gimmicky Sprint Race weekends. But with the first race held at legendary Spa-Francorchamps in July instead of the traditional late August second half opener, Red Bull’s magnificent Max Verstappen was once again definitively the fastest man on track. Pulling an epic final flier out of the bag on the rapidly drying but still damp 4.35-mile circuit in the heart of the Ardennes after a typical period of deluge earlier in the day, Verstappen whipped up the pace to the tune of a whopping 8-tenths advantage over Ferrari man Charles Leclerc’s formerly fastest lap of 1:46.988. Unfortunately for Verstappen, however, that superlative effort did not result in pole position because Red Bull chose this race to take their sixth gearbox change of the season on Max’s car, resulting in a 5-place gird drop for the Dutch master. While that forces the current runaway championship leader to start from only P6 on the grid come Sunday a week after having his pole streak snapped by Lewis Hamilton in Hungary, you’d have to be braver man than I to bet against Verstappen charging all the way back to the front and contesting for the win.

Due to that penalty, Leclerc was elevated to pole for the GP, the Monegasque being truly quick all day long and definitely in contention for a podium, if not the win itself, with what looks to be an improved Prancing Horse, at least on a long, flowing track like this one. Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez qualified P3 but will now start alongside Leclerc in P2. Lewis Hamilton was fourth fastest but his Mercedes teammate George Russell could do no better than P8 in these tricky conditions. Likewise, Leclerc’s teammate Carlos Sainz lagged behind him in P5, trailed by the greatly improved McLarens of Oliver Piastri in P6 and Lando Norris in P7. Aston Martin rounded out the Top 10 qualifiers, with Fernando Alonso once again out-qualifying Lance Stroll, P9 to P10. After their gangbusters first third of 2023, Aston appear to have lost ground when their most recent “upgrade” made the car slower rather than faster and even at a favorable long, high speed circuit like Spa they couldn’t match the pace of Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes, much less Red Bull .

Top 10 qualifiers for the Belgian GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:58.515 1:52.784 1:46.168 22
2 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:58.300 1:52.017 1:46.988 23
3 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:58.899 1:52.353 1:47.045 22
4 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:58.563 1:52.345 1:47.087 24
5 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:58.688 1:51.711 1:47.152 23
6 81 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:58.872 1:51.534 1:47.365 23
7 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:59.981 1:52.252 1:47.669 21
8 63 George Russell MERCEDES 1:59.035 1:52.605 1:47.805 24
9 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 1:58.834 1:52.751 1:47.843 22
10 18 Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 1:59.663 1:52.193 1:48.841 22

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Adjusted starting grid after Verstappen’s penalty is here.

Click here for Sprint Shootout Qualifying and Sprint Race results.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN beginning at 9AM Eastern here in the States. This is Leclerc’s and Perez’s best opportunity in some time to make up at least a little ground on Verstappen  — let’s see if they take advantage of it. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Hungary — Results & aftermath

Verstappen rockets to record Red Bull victory as Hamilton fails to launch; Norris second consecutive P2; Perez fights back from P9 to podium

The mouthwatering prospect of a mano a mano tilt between Red Bull’s championship leading Max Verstappen and his old nemesis, Mercedes’ ace Lewis Hamilton, fizzled right at the start of Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix. After just nipping the Dutch master for pole on Saturday, Hamilton’s Silver Arrow failed to get away swiftly at the start of the race under hot conditions at the Hungaroring, one of the the English seven-time champion’s favorite circuits. Instead, Hamilton found himself bested not only by the P2 Verstappen as they steamed into Turn 1 off the line but also swamped by the two trailing McLaren’s of Lando Norris and Oliver Piastri. First, Piastri got by Hamilton and then, by Turn 2, Norris had also dusted the Silver Arrow. As Verstappen scampered away into the distance, Hamilton could only meekly apologize to the team for letting them down on what had seemed to be a more auspicious day. Of course, Verstappen simply dominated after that, his RB19 peerless in his hands in race trim and never even seeming to be in any jeopardy throughout this 70-lap contest. As he crossed the line at the conclusion nearly 34-seconds to the good of his nearest pursuer, Max the magnificent made it seven consecutive wins for himself and a record breaking twelve consecutive F1 victories for the Red Bull team, breaking a tie with McLaren from back in the Prost-Senna days in 1988. All those telling statistics added up to the fact that no matter how well Hamilton had gotten away on Lap 1 there was no stopping the Verstappen-Red Bull juggernaut on this day and perhaps only rarely again this season.

The real competition turned out to be for positions two through six on the day and the on track arguments over who would claim them. McLaren had another eye openingly good day after their stunner in Austria a fortnight ago. After starting the season in no man’s land amongst the latter third of the teams, Piastri and Norris had the pace in their massively upgraded MCL60 to make their early moves pay dividends. Although it was only Norris who podiumed with an impressive second consecutive P2 behind Verstappen, having benefitted from an undercut of one lap on his teammate on their first stops, and Piastri was eventually caught and passed by both Hamilton and the hard charging second Red Bull of Sergio Perez en route to a P5 finish, it was a truly impressive points haul by a team that was barely scratching at the top ten just four races ago. And while Hamilton seemed to struggle on full fuel load, his Silver Arrow seemed to come alive as the petrol burned off and the car got lighter. Despite a late second pit stop for fresh Medium Pirelli tires that dropped him back to P5, Hamilton was able to easily overtake Piatri for his rightful P4 position to finish up the race on a slightly less disappointing note. Even more positive for the team, George Russell was able to recover from some botched strategy in quali that led to him starting a lowly P18 up to an impressive P6 finish due to his masterfully patient driving and the pitfalls clever strategy. So, a good if not great result for mighty Mercedes on a day when they and Hamilton were certainly dreaming of bigger things.

Nearly as good a comeback drive as Russell’s was Perez’s recovery fight from a P9 start all the way back to taking the final podium position in P3. With seemingly renewed confidence, the veteran Mexican pilot played the long game by starting on Hard tires and deployed his usual skill in tire management to run them all the way to Lap 25. He then went on a rampage on the fresh Mediums after jumping Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in the pits, quickly passing the latter’s Scuderia stablemate Carlos Sainz for P6 on Lap 27 and then the game Russell for P5. Already free of his tire requirements, Perez then went Medium to Medium tire on his second stop on Lap  43 and then ran down Piastri for P4 which turned into that morale boosting podium after Hamilton’s pit cycle. While no one is likely to catch Verstappen, some renewed competition in the same equipment by his teammate would be a welcome development in the final third of the season. Perez just needs to qualify better to make that really happen.

Ferrari had another frustrating day, especially in light of McLaren’s massive performance gains and Mercedes’ steady improvement in form. While Carlos Sainz was able to maximize a risky strategy of starting on Soft tires to make up ground after poor qualifying saw him start P11 on the grid, Charles Leclerc could not do much to improve his starting position of P6. In fact, the painfully recurring sloppiness in execution by the Scuderia cost Leclerc whatever opportunities for advancement he may have had. First, the team botched his tire change on Lap 18 due to a jammed wheel gun at the left rear, resulting in a painfully slow 9.4 seconds spent stationary. To make matters worse for the Monegasque, he then picked up a 5-second penalty for entering the pits too hot en route to his second stop on Lap  44. While Sainz had no such dramas and was able to make his way into the points and a P8 finish, Leclerc lost out on P6 to Russell due to the penalty and had to settle for an unsatisfying P7. That at least put the two Prancing Horses ahead of the Aston Martin duo of Fernando Alonso in P9 and Lance Stroll in P10. With the next race only a week away at long and flowing Spa-Francorchamps after two very short circuits in Austria and Hungary, it’s worth taking a look in Belgium if it’s only been the previous two tracks that haven’t suited Aston or if they’re truly losing out to McLaren and Mercedes on the pace of development after such a surprisingly strong start.

Top 10 finishers of the Hungarian GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 70 1:38:08.634 26
2 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 70 +33.731s 18
3 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 70 +37.603s 15
4 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 70 +39.134s 12
5 81 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES 70 +62.572s 10
6 63 George Russell MERCEDES 70 +65.825s 8
7 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 70 +70.317s 6
8 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 70 +71.073s 4
9 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 70 +75.709s 2
10 18 Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 69 +1 lap 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in but a week’s time — the venerable Belgian Grand Prix form legendary Spar-Francorchamps. Hope to se you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Hungary — Qualifying results

Hamilton comes up huge in Hungary, upsets Verstappen to take pole;  Norris third fastest under new qualifying tire rules

With the smart money on Red Bull’s peerless Max Verstappen to nab his sixth consecutive pole position in what has evolved into an epically dominant year for the Dutchman, his old nemesis and some new qualifying rules conspired to thwart that possibility during Saturday qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix. Faced with a new experimental mandate for this weekend that cars only be allowed to run Hard Pirrelis in Q1, Mediums in Q2 and then Softs in Q3, it was Mercedes ace and seven time champion Lewis Hamilton who found the fastest form at the Hungaroring, one his favorite circuits. Hamilton out-dueled Verstappen by .003-seconds to wrest away the top spot on the grid for tomorrow’s race and earn his first pole since the penultimate race in 2021 in Saudi Arabia. That extended Hamilton’s pole record to 104, with nine of those coming here in Hungary, and left the veteran English pilot hoarse with delight at the achievement after a multi-year struggle by the Silver Arrows to get back on terms with the rapid Red Bulls. While Verstappen was his usual disgruntled self when presented with anything less than the best possible results, you can be sure he will be fired up at the start of the race tomorrow to take back what he perceives as rightfully his and rapid getaway into his seventh consecutive victory. Likewise, Hamilton will be looking to extend today’s high and fend off Verstappen for his first win since starting from pole in Jeddah that fateful year of 2021. It should be a titanic battle between two of the best in the business when the lights go out tomorrow and  let’s hope it lasts all race long.

Slotting in at P3 was not a teammate of either man but rather the McLaren of Lando Norris, with his stablemate Oscar Piastri setting the fourth fastest time, a fine result for the absolutely reinvigorated McLaren F1 program after Norris scored a P2 result at Silverstone a fortnight ago and Piastri finished P4. In fact, the Red Bull and Mercedes wingmen both had poor to disastrous days in the shadow of Hamilton and Verstappen’s mighty laps. Red Bull’s Sergio Perez was only fast enough for P9 on the day, though the veteran Mexican driver will be at least somewhat pleased that he finally got through to Q3 again after an inexplicable five race absence. It was far worse for the second Silver Arrow of George Russell when the team botched his strategy in Q1 and brought him out late amidst too much traffic, which cost the young Englishman dearly. Russell was unable to get away cleanly with so many cars trying to set up their own final runs and will be forced to start way back in P18 on the grid on a track where overtaking is nigh impossible despite what is clearly a reinvigorated Merc chassis.

It was a good day for Alfa Romeo on what has been a fairly miserable season, as Zhou Guanyu was able to get himself up to P5 and veteran Valtteri Bottas slotted in P7. They sandwiched the the lone Ferrari of Charles Leclerc in P6 after teammate Carlos Sainz struggled on his Medium tires in Q2 and wound up only eleventh fastest in that session. Rounding out the top ten qualifiers, Fernando Alonso was P8 in the now back-to-earth Aston Martin and Nico Hulkenberg had another fine quali effort in his Haas for P10. And a special mention for Daniil Ricciardo on his return to first team status in F1 after supplanting the struggling Nick Devries at AlphaTauri. The veteran Australian hot shoe with the giant smile outqualfied his teammate Yuki Tsunoda P13 to P18 on his first race weekend back in the saddle since last year’s finale in Abu Dhabi when he finsihed up an unhappy stint with McLaren. It’s good to see the affable Aussie back on the grid even in what has so far been subpar equipment.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Hungarian GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:18.577 1:17.427 1:16.609 20
2 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:18.318 1:17.547 1:16.612 21
3 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:18.697 1:17.328 1:16.694 20
4 81 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:18.464 1:17.571 1:16.905 20
5 24 Zhou Guanyu ALFA ROMEO FERRARI 1:18.143 1:17.700 1:16.971 22
6 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:18.440 1:17.580 1:16.992 21
7 77 Valtteri Bottas ALFA ROMEO FERRARI 1:18.775 1:17.563 1:17.034 20
8 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 1:18.580 1:17.701 1:17.035 21
9 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:18.360 1:17.675 1:17.045 23
10 27 Nico Hulkenberg HAAS FERRARI 1:18.695 1:17.652 1:17.186 20

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN beginning at 9AM Eastern here in the States. One can only hope that the razor’s edge battle that we saw today between Hamilton and Verstappen will continue on throughout tomorrow’s Grand Prix — hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Great Britain — Results & aftermath

Verstappen takes sixth victory in a row at competitive British GP; Norris earns P2 honors with magnificent drive for greatly improved McLaren, teammate Piastri P4; Hamilton recovers with help from Safety Car to podium after P7 start

Max Verstappen and Red Bull continued their winning ways on Sunday at the British Grand Prix, as the Dutch ace notched his sixth consecutive victory, which also made it eleven on the trot for Formula 1’s most dominant team. However, the competition seemed to step up their collective game this weekend at Silverstone and, while never really being challenged for the win, Verstappen was held to a relatively modest margin of victory by his high standards of “only” about 3.8 seconds over the runner up. Even more so than yet another Verstappen win, that runner up was the story of the day because it was McLaren’s Lando Norris who took second place, converting his excellent qualifying effort into a hard earned, stressful but ultimately joyous P2. In fact, Norris even passed Verstappen at the beginning of the race after getting the better start from the ostensibly disadvantaged P2 side of the grid. While the young Englishman could only hold off the charging Red Bull until Lap 5, it still said the world about the progress that team McLaren have made within this season to haul their car up from the midpack doldrums and into genuine contention. The English fans roared their approval for the local team’s exploits on the day, which also included rookie Oscar Piastri overcoming an ill-timed Safety Car on Lap 33 of this 52-lap contest to take P4. While the timing of that SC and missing out on the cheap stop did cost the young Aussie a position from his starting grid spot, if anyone had asked him or team McLaren if they’d have been happy with a P4 as their secondary result on the day you can bet they all would have signed up for that.

The main beneficiary of that Safety Car, which immediately followed the virtual version when the stewards determined that the stopped Haas of Kevin Magnussen was going to require significant time to remove form the circuit, was Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton. With Piastri having already pitted under green flag conditions on Lap 29, Hamilton was able to dive to the pits along with Verstappen and Norris under the full Safety Car, which then slowed the field to such an extent that Hamilton was able to come out in front of Piastri in P3. It was quite the opportunistic recovery for the seven-time World Champion after a lackluster qualifying saw him starting the race in P7. But there always seems to be magic for Lewis at Silverstone, his favorite track, where he has won an astounding eight times in his career. And, for a while on this day, it almost looked as if Hamilton might vault past Norris and maybe try to take on Verstappen for the overall victory. Both Verstappen and Hamilton made the switch off of their opening Medium Pirelli tires onto the Softs, while both McLarens decided on the relative security of new Hards to finish out the race. While it was hearts in mouths stuff for McLaren wondering if they had made a strategic error when Hamilton was all over the back of Norris on those first few laps after the restart on Lap 39, Norris was able to fend off Hamilton’s best efforts on the stickier rubber until his own tires switched on and the pace advantage evaporated. Likewise, Hamilton’s teammate George Russell could not quite get around Piastri on his slightly older Mediums against Piastri’s equally old Hards, both of them having pitted earlier on Lap 28 and 29 respectively and therefore missing out on the cheaper stop. Russell’s stop was also about a second and a half slower, which proved crucial. So, while Piastri then lost out to Hamilton on the Safety Car pit sequence, he was still able to hold off Russell for the rest of the race, with George having to make do with P5 as the checkers flew.

Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez was forced into another recovery drive after getting knocked out in the first or second round of quali for the fifth consecutive time, an absolutely perplexing turn of events for a driver of his caliber. In the end, Perez was able to work his way up to a P6 finish, which certainly deserves some plaudits. But there is no doubt that the Mexican pilot has got to put an end to his inexplicable qualifying woes if he is going to be factor in the second half of the season. Fernando Alonso made the best of a bad situation with an Aston Martin that didn’t really suit the compromise-heavy Silverstone Circuit, the Spaniard driving calmly and competently to salvage P8. The team are hoping that some new upgrades and the much different nature of the Hungaroring will again make them more competitive two weeks hence. If Aston were disappointed with their run in Britain then Ferrari have to be appalled at their dismal day in Northamptonshire. The Prancing Horses were easy meat late in the race as both Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc suffered the ignominy of being passed not only by Perez but also the Williams of Alexander Albon and could only watch helplessly as the latter secured an excellent P8 result. That relegated Leclerc to P9 and Sainz to P10, a depressing setback after the Scuderia appeared to be making progress with a P2 for Leclerc and a P6 for Sainz at the last race in Austria a week ago. The fabled team from Maranello must be praying that the one-off was here at full size Silverstone and not an illusory over performance at the very short Red Bull Ring.

Top 10 finishers of the British GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 52 1:25:16.938 26
2 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 52 +3.798s 18
3 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 52 +6.783s 15
4 81 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES 52 +7.776s 12
5 63 George Russell MERCEDES 52 +11.206s 10
6 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 52 +12.882s 8
7 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 52 +17.193s 6
8 23 Alexander Albon WILLIAMS MERCEDES 52 +17.878s 4
9 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 52 +18.689s 2
10 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 52 +19.448s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in two week’s time: the Hungarian Grand Prix at the tricky Hungaroring. While it won’t be the traditional last race before the summer break this season, it should prove an intriguing event to discover if McLaren’s massive pace improvement can be sustained, if mighty Mercedes can punch back against those upstart efforts and whether Ferrari and Aston Martin are now going the wrong way. And, of course, Verstappen’s streak has got to end sometime, doesn’t it? And Perez can’t keep qualifying outside the top ten, can he? Hope to see you in a fortnight to find out all the answers!

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Great Britain — Qualifying results

Verstappen notches fifth consecutive pole amidst tight competition at Silverstone; McLaren in the mix with stunning Norris P2, Piastri P3; luckless Perez out in Q1

On a thrilling day of Saturday qualifying for tomorrow’s British Grand Prix at the venerable Silverstone Circuit, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen overcame nine other highly competitive contenders to notch his fifth consecutive pole. In a tricky three-part quali session that started out wet and drizzly and evolved into a a dry and sunny affair by the end, Red Bull’s ace once again pulled out enough to win when it mattered to claim the top spot on the grid. Perhaps due to the track rubbering in after being washed Saturday morning or perhaps because the performance gap is tightening up, the biggest surprise of the day was who claimed P2 and P3 when the checkers flew in Q3. That would be a stunning effort by McLaren and its young studs, Englishman Lando Norris and Australian rookie Oscar Piastri, who gave Verstappen a real run for his money and outperformed Ferrari, Mercedes and Aston Martin in the process. Norris will line up alongside Max on the front row and Piastri will back them up on row two in P3. The team were ebullient with the results and it seems like their recent upgrades to both cars really paid dividends in qualifying trim. It remains to be seen if McLaren can convert that newly discovered raw single lap pace into long haul race pace but the optimism is certainly running high at the team and amidst the rabid fanbase of this storied F1 marque.

McLaren’s success at Silverstone came at the expense of a trio of more highly regarded teams. First among those was Ferrari, with Charles Leclerc only able to set the fourth fatstest time of the session and Carlos Sainz slotting in at P5. Then it was Mercedes’ turn to be disappointed, as they saw George Russel come home P6 and Lewis Hamilton behind him in P7. It must have been particularly maddening for Hamilton at his home Grand Prix in a place where he has usually dominated in his career and after looking like he might be the one challenging Verstappen earlier in Q3. Aston Martin were also miffed after the ignominy of seeing Williams Alexander Albon better the vaunted Fernando Alonso, P8 to P9, as well as watching Lance Stroll get bounced out in Q2. Alpine’s Pierre Gasly rounded out the Top 10 qualifiers.

With plenty of grouchiness to go around in an unsettled paddock, undoubtedly the most distraught driver on the day was Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez who, astonishingly, failed to make it out of Q1. Perez has now been unable to make it to Q3 in the last five race weekends, an astonishing statistic. To be fair he was hard done by today when an ill-timed Red Flag forced him to scramble to set a time but then had to wait with ever-cooling tires at the front of the pit lane until the track went green again. With the circuit damp but drying Perez set his fast lap too early as time ran out and was easily overtaken by succeeding cars and dropped into the bottom five cut line. Once again, the veteran Mexican will have to fight from way back in the field starting from P15 tomorrow after Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas was DQ’d for lack of fuel. While he was able to recover for a podium last week in Austria from the exact same starting position, that is no way for a putative championship contender to line up on a weekly basis. Still, with Perez forced into aggression, the grid somewhat jumbled and some new truly fast cars added to the mix, it should make for an exciting day at the races.

Top 10 qualifiers for then British GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:29.428 1:27.702 1:26.720 26
2 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:28.917 1:28.042 1:26.961 26
3 81 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:29.874 1:27.845 1:27.092 26
4 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:29.143 1:28.361 1:27.136 25
5 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:29.865 1:28.265 1:27.148 26
6 63 George Russell MERCEDES 1:29.412 1:28.782 1:27.155 24
7 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:29.415 1:28.545 1:27.211 25
8 23 Alexander Albon WILLIAMS MERCEDES 1:29.466 1:28.067 1:27.530 25
9 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 1:29.949 1:28.368 1:27.659 24
10 10 Pierre Gasly ALPINE RENAULT 1:29.533 1:28.751 1:27.689 24

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN2 beginning at 10AM Eastern here in the States. While Verstappen remains the overwhelming favorite to claim his sixth win on the trot, the performance gap seems to have tightened throughout the field. So, podium places are very much up for grabs, perhaps even the top step. Plus, wet weather is always a wild card in this part of England and can undo the best laid plans of even the most talented drivers. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Austria — Results & aftermath

CRUISE CONTROL: Verstappen caps off dominant Sprint weekend at Red Bull Ring with untouchable GP win; Perez makes outstanding recovery drive to take P3, Leclerc a solid second, Sainz P6 for improved Ferrari; Mercedes falter

Red Bull’s peerless Max Verstappen continued his relentless march to a third consecutive Formula 1 Drivers’ Title with a dominant victory on Sunday at the team’s namesake track in Spielberg, Austria. Verstappen capped off his imperious race weekend after winning the Sprint race on Saturday by cheekily going for the fastest lap point with a swap to Soft Pirellis with only two laps remaining in the 71-lap contest. While that erased much of his over 20-second advantage to the second place Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, the pit crew executed a perfect tire swap and Verstappen still took the checkers 5-seconds to the good, as well as the fast lap bonus point. At the end of the busy weekend in Austria, the haul was a maximum 34 championship points for marvelous Max and a stunning five wins on the trot. Now carrying an 81-point points bulge over his nearest rival, teammate Sergio Perez, Verstappen’s run to the title is looking more and more like a coronation and potentially one of the most dominant seasons by a driver in F1 history. And such is the quality of Red Bull’s superb RB19 that one of their drivers has won all nine races run this year. It would seem there is not enough time for Ferrari, Mercedes or Aston Martin to catch up with Red Bull’s pace advantage, particularly its supernatural speed when using DRS, and all will have to be satisfied with scrapping for the crumbs from Max’s table.

Perez had a much needed and outstanding recovery drive after qualifying in P15 on Friday due to track limits violations scrubbing his best times (this was to be a recurring theme for many drivers during the race, as well). The veteran Mexican steadily worked his way into contention with patient but decisive overtaking maneuvers and, thanks also to his team’s flawless pit strategy and execution, found himself in P5 by Lap 51. He then steadily closed on the McLaren of Lando Norris, capitalizing on a lockup to make his way by the English driver on Lap 56. That put Carlos Sainz’s Ferrai in his sights and the two engaged in a ding dong battle for multiple laps of a knife’s edge pas de deux. Sainz was able to cleverly survive the onslaught for a time thanks in part to catching the DRS zone just right after Perez appeared to make the overtake. But the duel came to a decisive end on Lap 62 when Perez finally made the pass that stuck to grab P3 and a satisfying podium after a series of lackluster efforts since his last podium result in Miami back in Round 5. Crucially, Perez also avoided the track limits penalties that rained down upon so many other contenders to preserve his P3 finishing time.

Despite Sainz’s thrilling defense, it was the other Ferrari of Charles Leclerc that earned the biggest plaudits for the Scuderia on this day. Leclerc finished second by a deceptively small 5-second margin — it would have been well over 20-seconds had Verstappen not gambled and won on the late stop to take a run at fastest lap — but it was still a solid effort by the Monegasque, as he was able to covert his P2 place on the grid into and equal finishing result and gain ground on his teammate in the standings. Sainz’s once encouraging day came to a bitter end, as the Spaniard was assessed 10-seconds worth of penalties for track limits post race, plummeting him down the order into P6 after crossing the line in P4. Still, it was a good day for Ferrari, which have seen steady performance gains over the last several races. Sainz’s demotion resulted in Norris being promoted to P4 and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso being elevated to P5 despite a relatively unexceptional performance by the two-time champion. Likewise, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton wracked up 10-seconds of post race penalties for track limits, demoting him to P8 and elevating teammate George Russell to P7. In truth, Mercedes lacked pace this weekend and can only be hoping that is a Red Bull Ring-specific issue and not an indicator that their recent progress was actually a mirage.

The second Aston of Lance Stroll also scored in P9 and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly took the final point in P10 when all the penalties were sorted.

Top 10 finishers of the Austrian GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 71 1:25:33.607 26
2 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 71 +5.155s 18
3 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 71 +17.188s 15
4 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 71 +26.327s 12
5 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 71 +30.317s 10
6 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 71 +31.377s 8
7 63 George Russell MERCEDES 71 +48.403s 6
8 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 71 +49.196s 4
9 18 Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 71 +59.043s 2
10 10 Pierre Gasly ALPINE RENAULT 71 +67.667s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is already fast approaching — the British Grand Prix at the venerable Silverstone Circuit. Can anyone balk Max’s seemingly unstoppable momentum — perhaps the improved Ferraris will finally break through or maybe Hamilton will find the magic of previous years at his favorite track? Hope to see you then to find out!

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Austria — Qualifying results

Verstappen barely bests Leclerc to notch fourth consecutive pole as track limits penalties wreak havoc; Sainz backs up Ferrari teammate in P3 but Perez’s fast lap deleted in Q2

With another of Formula 1’s fairly gimmicky Sprint Races looming on Saturday, qualifying for Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix took place on Friday after only one Practice session. Perhaps that lack of track time showed, because nearly every driver in the field had laps deleted at some point throughout the three quali rounds here at the short and fast Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. That even included the peerless Max Verstappen, who still managed to settle in and set a lap good enough for pole despite having to be slightly more conservative than he would have wished. The Dutch master pipped the very game and hard charging Ferrari of Charles Leclerc by a razor thin 0.048 seconds. Carlos Sainz backed up his Scuderia stablemate in P3, perhaps providing a measure of optimism that the SF-23 might finally be finding the pace to challenge for wins again. But it has been race pace that has been Ferrari’s problem this season, not to mention race strategy, so it remains to be seen on Sunday if the fabled team from Maranello have genuinely conquered the issues holding back their long run performance.

Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez was the most prominent driver to lose his time due to track limits violations. The Mexican veteran came a cropper in Q2 when he had his only fast time of the session deleted with not enough time remaining to make amends. So, while Verstappen earned his fourth consecutive pole, Perez failed to reach Q3 for the fourth race weekend in a row. Starting from a lowly P15 come race day, Perez’s Round 4 win in Azerbaijan seems a century ago and his once optimistic championship hopes are holding on by a thread. McLaren’s Lando Norris was quick all day here in Spielberg at a track he loves and set the fourth fastest time in Q3, besting the P5 Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton. Similarly to Perez, Hamilton’s teammate George Russell also lost his best lap in Q2 for track limits infringements and will be relegated to starting from P11 on the grid. Lance Stroll out-qualified his Aston Martin teammate Fernando Alonso for the first time this year, while Haas’s Nico Hulkenberg in P8, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly in P9 and Alex Albon’s Williams in P10 all benefitted from keeping their cars between the white lines while other, perhaps faster drivers went a little too far over the edge for the stewards’ liking.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Austrian GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 24
2 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 26
3 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 25
4 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 23
5 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 25
6 18 Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 25
7 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 27
8 27 Nico Hulkenberg HAAS FERRARI 24
9 10 Pierre Gasly ALPINE RENAULT 21
10 23 Alexander Albon WILLIAMS MERCEDES 21

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

The Sprint Race is tomorrow but Sunday’s GP airs live on ESPN beginning at 9AM Eastern here in the States. Can Leclerc and Ferrari finally step up and challenge Verstappen for victory in Red Bull’s own back yard? I have my doubts but hope to se you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Canada — Results & aftermath

Supreme Verstappen romps to victory in Canada; Alonso outduels Hamilton for second

With no sign of the rainy weather that shook things up during Saturday qualifying, there was a decided lack of drama concerning who would win Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix at the Circuit Gilles-Villenuve. As has become a recurring theme this season, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen once again set the ultimate pace and no other car or competitor could come close to catching him. Verstappen led the field from pole and cruised to another dominant victory, earning the Red Bull team’s 100th overall victory, as well as equalling the late, great Ayrton Senna with 41 personal wins. It was also Verstappen’s sixth win from eight races run and his teammate Sergio Perez won the other two, making for a 100% success rate for the RB19 in 2023. Verstappen held his lead despite a Safety Car period that began when Mercedes’ George Russell hit the barriers of this temporary Albert Park circuit. This compressed the field back up after the pursuing Merc of Lewis Hamilton and the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso followed Verstappen into the pits for the cheap stop and first change off of the Medium Pirelli ties and onto the durable Hards. But the Flying Dutchman simply darted away when the race restarted and quickly gapped Hamilton and Alonso, as he had done at the very start of the GP. It was drama free from there on out and Verstappen took the checkers nearly 10-seconds ahead of his closest pursuer. Yes, we are not even halfway through this year’s World Chamipnhip calendar but it is certainly looking like one of those years in F1 where a dominant driver and a dominant car merge seamlessly into an unstoppable, untouchable force. Short of some major shock event, beating Verstappen now looks like a nigh impossibility, even for his previously more competitive teammate Perez.

While Max was in a league of his own in Canada, the battles behind him were fierce and well fought. Hamilton was able to overtake Alonso for P2 going into Turn 1 after the lights went out to start the race but was only able to keep that position until Lap 22. The Spaniard and his Aston still had the legs on the Silver Arrow and, after several patient laps setting up Lewis, Alonso was able to grab his P2 spot back and then gap him. While Hamilton was later able to again come close to Alonso, he could never quite get within DRS range and find a way by and the seven-time champ had to be content with a solid P3 finish. Hamilton’s teammate Russell, while able to carry on after his fairy heavy contact on Lap 12, was eventually forced to retire the car on Lap 53 of this 70-lap contest with break issues undoubtedly caused by his shunt, costing the team what should have been a good double-points day. On the other hand, Alonso’s teammate Lance Stroll hardly set the home fans on fire with his P9 finish, especially in relation to his far quicker stablemate, but at least he did earn those two points for the team. Aston Martin is now only thirteen points behind mighty Mercedes in the Contractors’ standings, so that error and subsequent DNF by Russell could loom large down the road.

Ferrari had another kissing your sister kind of day, with Charles Leclerc able to come home in P4 and Carlos Sainz in P5. That made for good points for the Scuderia, obviously, but it is becoming clear that the SF-23 has failed to develop as a race car to this point and Ferrari are actually the fourth best team on the grid at present rather than being a credible threat to Red Bull’s dominance. While the team and drivers struck an optimistic tone post-race, particularly regarding tire degradation, their key bugaboo, the cars still look hard to handle at times and not all that fast in race trim, not to mention Mercedes and Aston Martin are not exactly standing still regarding their own upgrades. The second Red Bull of Perez was able to recover somewhat from a yet another poor qualifying effort and a P12 start to secure P6 by race’s end. But that felt more like damage limitation rather than any kind of inspiring comeback. If Perez cannot qualify either first or second in tandem with Verstappen, he has no real shot challenging his teammate for wins, much less the increasingly out of reach title.

Rounding out the Top 10, Alexander Albon converted the Williams team’s excellent Saturday strategy decisions to get him into Q3 and a P10 start into an even more impressive P7 finish, besting the Alpine of Esteban Ocon in equal conditions in the process. And the Alfa Romeo of Valtteri Bottas took the last point in P10 with a very savvy veteran drive to clear other midfield runners after starting down in P14.

Top 10

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 70 1:33:58.348 25
2 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 70 +9.570s 18
3 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 70 +14.168s 15
4 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 70 +18.648s 12
5 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 70 +21.540s 10
6 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 70 +51.028s 9
7 23 Alexander Albon WILLIAMS MERCEDES 70 +60.813s 6
8 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 70 +61.692s 4
9 18 Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 70 +64.402s 2
10 77 Valtteri Bottas ALFA ROMEO FERRARI 70 +64.432s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is is a fortnight’s time — the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg. With seemingly unstoppable momentum going in, look for Verstapppen to hunt down his team’s one hundred and first win on their eponymous home track. Hope to see you then to find out how it all skies out!

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Canada — Qualifying results

Verstappen prevails for pole but rain scrambles grid at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve; lucky Hulkenberg takes P2 when Red Flag disadvantages P3 Alonso

With variably wet and rainy conditions playing havoc during Saturday qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix, Red Bull ace Max Verstappen nevertheless prevailed over both the elements and his adversaries to earn pole in tricky conditions at a sodden Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve. While it wasn’t surprising to see Verstappen notch his third consecutive pole and fifth out of eight rounds run, he also benefitted from smart strategy by being first to set a banker lap in Q3 and then watching as conditions deteriorated and times got slower and slower as the final quali session wore on. This had the effect of scrambling the grid behind Verstappen resulting in the surprise result of Nico Hulkenberg setting the second fastest time in his Haas ahead of the P3 Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso. Alonso lost out on a higher grid spot when a Red Flag came out for Oscar Piastri’s spun out McLaren directly after Hulkenberg crossed the line but before Alonso could get there with what looked to be a superior time. The Mercedes duo of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell did well in those tricky conditions to take P4 and P5 on the grid respectively and will be the only contending team with two cars within the Top 10 to start the race.

To that point, Carlos Sainz had the lone surviving Ferrari in Q3 after teammate Charles Leclerc waited too long to make a quick switch to slicks in a briefly drying Q2 session. While the Spaniard was only able to qualify a relatively perfunctory P8, it’s likely he will be dropped form even that humble position after a couple of dangerous incidents where his Prancing Horse clearly seemed to be dawdling in the middle of the road to set himself up while other drivers sped his way at full chat. Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate and, for now, closest championship rival Sergio Perez also missed the boat on tire strategy in Q2. He frankly seemed a bit spooked by the conditions in choosing to remain on Intermediate wet tires throughout rather than gamble on slicks, as many others had done successfully. Checo missed Q3 for the third race weekend in a row and will have fight his way to the front from down in P12. And Alonso’s Aston teammate Lance Stroll also failed to emerge from Q2 after a lurid slide in that session and will to start from P13 at his home race.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Canadian GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:20.851 1:19.092 1:25.858 26
2 27 Nico Hulkenberg HAAS FERRARI 1:22.730 1:20.305 1:27.102 25
3 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 1:21.481 1:19.776 1:27.286 25
4 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:21.554 1:20.426 1:27.627 26
5 63 George Russell MERCEDES 1:21.798 1:20.098 1:27.893 25
6 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 1:22.114 1:20.406 1:27.945 25
7 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:21.998 1:19.347 1:28.046 26
8 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:22.248 1:19.856 1:29.294 26
9 81 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:22.190 1:19.659 1:31.349 24
10 23 Alexander Albon WILLIAMS MERCEDES 1:21.938 1:18.725 DNF 24

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race air live on ABC beginning at 2PM Eastern here in the States. With less of a chance of rain in the forecast for Montreal tomorrow, it should intriguing to watch the grid re-sort itself on a dry circuit. Whether anyone has anything for Verstappen is quite a different matter. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!