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2020 F1 Grand Prix of Sakhir — Results & aftermath

Perez earns first career win in wild Sakhir GP; Ocon P2, Stroll P3 after Mercedes throw away near-certain Russell debut victory with sloppy pit stop

With Mercedes ace and reigning World Champion Lewis Hamilton sidelined with COVID the Sakhir Grand Prix always had the potential to be a wide open affair. But few could have imagined how crazy Sunday’s race would actually turn out to be. The normally supreme Mercedes factory team blew what should have been another easy one-two Silver Arrows finish when a risky double-stack pit stop to try to take advantage of a Safety Car on Lap 63 backfired spectacularly, opening the door to the surviving “best of the rest” to take advantage. The Silver Arrows team confused the drivers’ tires, sending out Hamilton’s stand-in and race leader, George Russell on a set of Medium Pirellis allotted to regular driver Valtteri Bottas and forcing the team to also remount the same set of old Hard tires back onto then-P2 Bottas’s car in desperation. The blunder not only left the luckless Bottas stationary in the pits for an excruciating 24 seconds while the team scrambled to make sense of the situation but also necessitated ordering Russell, who normally drives for the backmarker Williams team but was surely dreaming of his maiden F1 victory in the world’s fastest race car, back in for the correct set of his matching tires, as per the regulations. When the insanity was finally sorted it found Racing Point’s Sergio Perez leading the race, with Renault’s Esteban Ocon now in P2, the second Racing point of Lance Stroll in third and the nonplussed Mercedes duo of Bottas and Russell demoted to P4 and P5 respectively. But with the Safety Car withdrawing at the end of Lap 68 and 19 laps remaining the ultra-fast Mercedes duo still had a chance to claw their way back to the front.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

As he had been all race prior, It quickly became apparent that Russell was again the faster man, especially with fresh Mediums giving him a major advantage over Bottas’ older Hard tires. The young Englishman quickly dispatched his teammate to ascend to P4 and then on Lap 72 passed Stroll for P3 and at least a consolation podium position if not the win of his dreams. Any points would be Russell’s first in F1 but he was clearly still hunting for victory, making quick work of Ocon for P2 on lap 73 and taking chunks of time out of Perez’s lead. But on Lap 78 Russell’s promising charge was again thwarted by a slow rear left puncture that forced yet another trip to the pits for new rubber. It was heartbreak for Russell and the team, who rejoined down in fifteenth and could only make it back up to P9 before the laps ran out, earning him his first-ever championship points but also wondering forlornly what might have been.

For the veteran Perez, however, it was sweet vindication when he took the checkered flag as the winner, the Mexican’s fist victory in 190 F1 career races. With Checo inexplicably slated to lose his Racing Point seat for next season he made the best possible advertisement for his services for any potential suitors out there. He not only ended up winning thanks to Mercedes’ own goals but that he did was all the more remarkable because he had to recover from an opening lap collision with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc that pushed him to the rear after he had to immediately pit for a front wing change. Perez never gave up, though, but kept on pushing and put himself in position to capitalize when Mercedes needlessly overcomplicated their strategy and then failed to execute. If not for last week’s bitter disappointment when he suffered engine failure while in position to finish P3, Perez would be looking at three consecutive podiums. If he doesn’t get a drive for next year it won’t be because of performance that’s for sure, as he’s had a tremendous second half and may well have cemented fourth place in the Drivers’ standings with today’s remarkable win. In the even bigger picture, Perez became only the second Mexican national to win a Formula 1 GP and the first since the late, legendary Pedro Rodriguez took victory at Belgium way back in 1970.

For Renault’s Ocon it was nearly as special a result when he came home P2, his first ever podium and by far his best result in an on again, off again career. And for Perez’s Racing point teammate Lance Stroll it was a second P3 podium in a somewhat inconsistent and COVID-interrupted season. The duo’s win and third place made for a banner points haul for Racing Point after they were shutout last week, solidifying their third place in the massively valuable Constructors’ standings where positions equal literally millions of dollars. With Daniel Ricciardo finishing P5 it was also a nice day for team Renault, who sit solidly at fifth in the Constructors’ with an outside chance of overtaking McLaren in the points in the final race next week at Abu Dhabi. Also contributing to the wide open nature of this contest, the opening lap kerfuffle between Perez and an over-ambitious Leclerc knocked out Leclerc’s Ferrari and also saw Red Bull’s Max Verstappen crash out while he was taking evasive action and skidded through the gravel, spearing nose-first into a crash barrier. Just like that two of the potential high points contenders were instantly erased and many midfield runners had opportunities to capitalize. The McLaren of Carlos Sainz couldn’t touch the eventual top three but still scored an opportunistic P4 result. Verstappen’s teammate Alexander Albon did well enough to haul himself up to a P6 finish and will be hoping to quiet the rumors of Perez replacing him at Red Bull. The AlphaTauri of Daniil Kvyat came home ahead of the luckless Bottas in P7 while the two Mercedes were doomed to a P8/P9, Bottas leading the crestfallen Russell. The second McLaren of Lando Norris took the last point in P10.

Final note: While a relatively healthy Romain Grosjean was a welcome sight in the Bahrain paddock after last week’s horror crash his injuries will prevent the Frenchman from competing in the final race next week. Pietro Fittipaldi, who finished last of the active runners after facing a very steep learning curve, will likely drive for Haas again in Grosjean’s place at Yas Marina for the season finale.

Top 10 finishers of the Sakhir GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 11 Sergio Perez RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES 87 1:31:15.114 25
2 31 Esteban Ocon RENAULT 87 +10.518s 18
3 18 Lance Stroll RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES 87 +11.869s 15
4 55 Carlos Sainz MCLAREN RENAULT 87 +12.580s 12
5 3 Daniel Ricciardo RENAULT 87 +13.330s 10
6 23 Alexander Albon RED BULL RACING HONDA 87 +13.842s 8
7 26 Daniil Kvyat ALPHATAURI HONDA 87 +14.534s 6
8 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 87 +15.389s 4
9 63 George Russell MERCEDES 87 +18.556s 3
10 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN RENAULT 87 +19.541s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next and last race of the 2020 season is in but a week’s time — a short trip for the teams to neighboring Abu Dhabi and the beautifully futuristic Yas Marina circuit. With Hamilton’s return uncertain, young George Russell may well have a chance for a second bite of the cherry to salve today’s disappointment. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2020 F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain — Results & aftermath

Hamilton wins Bahrain GP marred by horrific Grosjean opening lap crash; Verstappen P2, Albon elevated to P3 as late-race failure dooms Perez’s podium hopes

Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix, one of Formula 1’s most seemingly anodyne races, provided a frightening reminder of the inherent risks of the sport when Romain Grosjean’s Haas speared off the track on the opening lap and hit an oblique-angle armco barrier head-on at nearly 140 mph, sending the cockpit area with the Frenchman through the barrier like a missile and tearing the rear completely off the car. That catastrophic structural failure also breached the fuel system, igniting the car on impact and engulfing Grosjean in a huge fireball. It was one of the most spectacular and horrifying crashes during an F1 race in probably decades but the constant advances in safety throughout that time ensured that the Frenchman survived the shunt with only relatively minor injuries. The halo device in particular appeared to have done the life-saving work it was designed for, protecting the driver not only from a serious head injury, as befell the late Jules Bianchi when he slid under a crane on track under yellow at a rainy Suzuka in 2014, but also miraculously keeping Grosjean conscious after impact and able to release his own belts to escape the inferno engulfing him within a little under 20 seconds. The first-lap medical car, which follows directly behind the pack on the opening lap for just such an incident and was the brainchild of the legendary Professor Sid Watkins back in the early ’90s, also did exemplary work, with Dr. Ian Roberts and driver Alan van der Merwe getting to the scene promptly and able to assist Grosjean’s escape and treat the shaken driver immediately. It might have been a different story had the halo device, as well as the now standard HANS device, not kept Grosjean conscious, as the safety personnel would have had to somehow extract him from within the fire. As it was, the fortunate Frenchman suffered only burns to his hands and is recovering in a nearby military hospital and in good spirits.

After that, the race itself mainly seemed an afterthought, with a very long Red Flag period delay to repair the barrier at Turn 6, which was designed at an angle for cars to skid off of not strike directly, offering drivers and the entire paddock far too long to watch replays of the horrific incident and consider the danger of their profession that all too often is minimized in this generally hyper-safe era of F1. But after over an hour stationary in the pits, the drivers did what they are paid to do, remounting their vehicles and getting back out to restart the race. It was only Lap 3 of this 57-lap contest and while Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton led Red Bull’s Max Verstappen from a second stationary grid start, the race one again came to an unceremonious halt when the Racing Point of Lance Stroll flipped over after contacting Daniil Kvyat’s AlphaTauri while contesting the same apex real estate at Turn 8. Kvyat’s car had also been the one that touched wheels when Grosjean cut across the track abruptly to send him into that lurid crash but the Russian was not at fault there. In the case of the Stroll incident, however, he was deemed to be the culprit and was levied a 10-second time penalty by the stewards. After a much quicker Safety Car period, the race restarted yet again on Lap 9 and Hamilton put his foot down and got on with the business of winning the Grand Prix.

Obviously it’s never easy driving a Formula 1 car, especially after witnessing such a traumatizing crash, but Hamilton blocked out all distractions and made it look that way, holding off Max Verstappen’s Red Bull handily throughout the remainder of the race and keeping it clean to take yet another win, his eleventh out of fifteen races this year, as well as extending his F1 record victory total to 95. With Hamilton’s teammate Valtteri Bottas having an off day after suffering an early puncture that essentially ruined his race, Verstappen gave yet another effort good enough for P2 but his car never really matched the pace of the lead Silver Arrow. Verstappen’s teammate, Alexander Albon, got a much needed bit of luck late in the race when the Racing Point of Sergio Perez, running comfortably in third and looking for his second successive podium, suffered what looked to be a turbo failure on Lap 54 and tumbled out of the points. That promoted Albon to P3 and the last spot on the podium, marking the first time this year both Red Bull’s had made it to the post-race champagne celebration, and perhaps taking Albon off the hot seat. With Bottas also finishing in eighth after his poor race, that elevated Verstappen to only 12 points behind the Finn for second in the Drivers’ Championship with only two races remaining. Bottas will now have to put his head down, regroup quickly for next week’s GP at this same Sakhir circuit and then do the business to hold off the hard charging Dutchman and stave off the ignominy of finishing third in this year’s most dominant chassis.

Further down the order, the rest pf the top 10 also benefitted from Perez’s heartbreaking late-race retirement, with the McLaren’s of Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz making out particularly well by coming home P4 and P5 respectively. With both Stroll and Perez failing to finish for Racing Point, McLaren’s solid points haul on the day saw them elevated to P3 in the valuable Constructors’ Championship with a 12 point gap to now-P4 Racing Point. AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly did well to make the most of a two-stop strategy, running an exceptionally long second stint and avoiding the drama that befell his teammate Kvyat to take a solid P6. The Renaults of Daniel Ricciardo and Esteban Ocon battled each other all race long and eventually would up sandwiching Bottas at the finish in P7 and P9 respectively. And perhaps the biggest beneficiary of Perez’s engine failure was Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who snuck into the last points paying position at P10 with a car that was frankly terrible on anything less than the freshest rubber.

A final word about Grosjean’s accident: This exact type of impact with a stationary barrier is what killed Francois Cevert at Watkins Glenn in 1973 and Grosjean’s angle of entry would also probably have led to the same of cockpit intrusion that resulted in Jules Bianchi’s eventually fatal brain injury when he submarined that ill-placed crane in the rain in Japan. There can be no doubt that the halo saved Romain Grosjean’s life on this day in Bahrain. It may be “ugly” fro  an aesthetic perspective but it absolutely did its job in the Haas’s crash even if the cause of the fuel cells breach and ignition require further investigation. The debate over whether cockpit protection is really needed in open wheel/single seater racing is well and truly over and it needs to be mandated right down to the lowest professional levels of the sport. The safety of the drivers, famous and anonymous, demand nothing less.

Top 10 finishers of the Bahrain GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 57 2:59:47.515 25
2 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 57 +1.254s 19
3 23 Alexander Albon RED BULL RACING HONDA 57 +8.005s 15
4 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN RENAULT 57 +11.337s 12
5 55 Carlos Sainz MCLAREN RENAULT 57 +11.787s 10
6 10 Pierre Gasly ALPHATAURI HONDA 57 +11.942s 8
7 3 Daniel Ricciardo RENAULT 57 +19.368s 6
8 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 57 +19.680s 4
9 31 Esteban Ocon RENAULT 57 +22.803s 2
10 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 56 +1 lap 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in but a week’s time — at this exact circuit for the Sakhir Grand Prix, the penultimate race of the delayed, abbreviated and very weird 2020 season. Look for some track safety improvements following Sunday’s incidents and hopefully a cleaner race by the drivers overall.

2020 F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain — Qualifying results

Supreme Hamilton smashes Bahrain track record for pole; Bottas qualifies P2, Verstappen P3

Fresh on the heels of earning his record-tying seventh Drivers’ Championship with a fine come-from-behind wet weather win in Turkey two weeks ago, Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton showed no sign of slowing down. The English living legend blistered the bone dry Bahrain International Circuit under the lights during Saturday night qualifying, setting a new track record en route to taking pole position for tomorrow’s Grand Prix. Team Mercedes also returned to their front row lockout ways after having that season-log streak snapped last time out in Turkey when Valtteri Bottas set the second fastest lap time in Q3, albeit nearly three-tenths adrift of Ham the Man. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen sounded less than distraught at qualifying behind the Silver Arrows in P3, as that will put the Dutchman on the clean side of this often sandy track. He should also get a good tow from Hamilton when the lights go out to perhaps aid an overtaking move down into the first corner. Verstappen’s teammate Alexander Albon will start alongside him on the second row and behind Bottas in P4, only the second time this year the young Thai has managed to pull himself within one spot of his superlative teammate during qualifying, the other being at Mugello in Tuscany in early September.

Behind the front four, Sergio Perez was the lone Racing Point to start in the top 10 with a fine P5 qualifying effort. Hard to believe the savvy Mexican veteran still does not have a F1 drive for next year. Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo and Esteban Ocon qualified P6 and P7 respectively, while AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly and Daniil Kvyat were P8 and P10, sandwiching the McLaren of Lando Norris, who will start P9.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Bahrain GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:28.343 1:27.586 1:27.264 16
2 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:28.767 1:28.063 1:27.553 16
3 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:28.885 1:28.025 1:27.678 15
4 23 Alexander Albon RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:28.732 1:28.749 1:28.274 18
5 11 Sergio Perez RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES 1:29.178 1:28.894 1:28.322 20
6 3 Daniel Ricciardo RENAULT 1:29.005 1:28.648 1:28.417 17
7 31 Esteban Ocon RENAULT 1:29.203 1:28.937 1:28.419 14
8 10 Pierre Gasly ALPHATAURI HONDA 1:28.971 1:29.008 1:28.448 14
9 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN RENAULT 1:29.464 1:28.877 1:28.542 17
10 26 Daniil Kvyat ALPHATAURI HONDA 1:29.158 1:28.944 1:28.618 17

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s night race in the desert airs live on ESPN2 beginning at 9AM Eastern here in the States. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2020 F1 Grand Prix of Turkey — Results & aftermath

Hamilton earns record-tying seventh Drivers’ Championship with come from behind win in Turkey; Perez P2 & Vettel P3 after masterful wet weather drives

In typical Lewis Hamilton fashion the Mercedes ace battled back from a mediocre qualifying effort and extraordinarily difficult track conditions to take a storming victory in the return of the  Turkish Grand Prix at Intercity Istanbul Park on Sunday. Starting from P6 on the grid and with his Silver Arrow struggling to heat up the wet weather tires necessitated by both a wet and unaturally smooth track, Hamilton survived the treacherous early portion of the race, biding his time and steadily improving his track position until by Lap 37 of this 58-lap contest he passed Racing Point’s Sergio Perez to take the lead. It was a lead he would somewhat astoundingly never relinquish, as Ham the Man hung on to his aging Intermiediate Pirelli tires for so long they eventually turned into slicks and actually benefitted his performance by dint of their baldness on what was a rapidly drying circuit during the closing laps. Keeping his head down and waving off a potential late safety stop for fresh Inters floated by his team braintrust, Hamilton not only went on to win the race by a massive 31.6 seconds, thereby locking up this year’s Drivers’ Championship, but with that accomplishment tied the great Michael Schumacher’s record of seven overall Formula 1 titles. With his nearest rival, teammate Valtteri Bottas, having a disastrous day that featured multiple spins and saw the Finn finish well out of the points in P14, the only thing that might have kept Lewis from clinching this year’s crown was a last lap squall that could have proven difficult to navigate on his well worn, 50-lap old Inters. But more rain never came and so Lewis Hamilton drove his way to victory and into the Formula 1 firmament with a terrific drive that showed yet again why he is not only the greatest driver of this era but also now firmly in the argument for greatest F1 pilot of all time.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

Perez also drove a superb race, outlasting his pole-sitting Racing Point teammate Lance Stroll by matching Hamilton’s one-stop strategy and holding off a brace of hard-charging Ferraris on the treacherous final corner to secure a highly impressive P2 finish. The veteran Mexican driver, who used all his guile and experience to collect the third P2 finish of his career, also did himself a world of good in his quest to remain in F1 next year after being unceremoniously sacked by Racing Point earlier in the year. Conversely, Stroll had a hard luck day after making his first-ever start from pole. The young Canadian led much of the first half of the race but a second stop for fresh Inters on Lap 36 proved to be his undoing, as the circuit had evolved into a very strange condition where it’s freshly laid asphalt was still too wet for slick Pirellis but also too dry for the Intermediates to work effectively. That swung the advantage to drivers like Hamilton and Perez, who stayed out on their old Inters and worked off most of the tread to a better performance effects. As a result, Stroll lost a ton of positions over the final twenty laps and had to settle for P9. Combined with Perez’s superb P2 it was still a great day for the Racing Point team and their quest for third in the Constructors’ standings. But Stroll had to be crestfallen to not even make the podium after such an auspicious start to the day, much less having his dreams of an F1 win unceremoniously dashed.

With Sebastian Vettel starting from P11 and teammate Charles Leclerc a lowly P12, both Ferraris actually came good in the race for once. While both drivers made the dreaded double pit stop, on this day the Prancing Horses actually seemed to like these slick conditions and maximize the performance of their tires. Vettel in particular drove like the four-time champion he is rather than the completely lost-at-sea aging veteran he has looked like for much of this misbegotten year. After impressive early work to deftly advance through the field while others slid and skidded all around him, Vettel was able to snatch P3 and a podium from his junior teammate when Leclerc out-breaked himself while dicing with Perez on the final lap. Leclerc had to settle for P4 but it was still one of the best days — if not the best —  that have Ferrari have had in a generally miserable 2020. A bit further back of the Ferrari duo, McLaren also had an excellent result, with Carlos Sainz taking an impressive P5 and Lando Norris moving up to P8 with a strong late-race push. Team Red Bull had a trying day with both Mex Verstappen and Alexander Albon spinning multiple times en route to disappointing P6 and P7 finishes respectively. Renault’s Daniel Riccardo, who also struggled in these challenging conditions, held on well enough to take the last point in P10.

In the end, though, it was Hamilton’s day through and through. With rare emotion stifling his normally talkative and ebullient nature, the Englishman reflected the weight of his mighty accomplishment in tying Schumacher’s iconic record of seven World Championships, a mark of excellence previously thought to be untouchable. That he deserves all the accolades that are sure to come his way for joining that elite company and making it a two man club was more than validated by his wonder drive to somehow take victory against all the odds and run of play here in Turkey on this fateful Grand Prix Sunday. That he can potentially earn his eighth title and stand alone at the top of the Formula 1 summit next year seems right now less of a possibility and more of a fait accompli. Of course, as the wise old hand once said, that’s why you go racing. But at this point it’d be very difficult to bet against Hamilton because in his heart of hearts you know he wants to be the all-time leader in F1 Championships. And what Lewis Hamilton puts his mind to he always seems to achieve.

Top 10 finishers for the Turkish GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 58 1:42:19.313 25
2 11 Sergio Perez RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES 58 +31.633s 18
3 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 58 +31.960s 15
4 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 58 +33.858s 12
5 55 Carlos Sainz MCLAREN RENAULT 58 +34.363s 10
6 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 58 +44.873s 8
7 23 Alexander Albon RED BULL RACING HONDA 58 +46.484s 6
8 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN RENAULT 58 +61.259s 5
9 18 Lance Stroll RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES 58 +72.353s 2
10 3 Daniel Ricciardo RENAULT 58 +95.460s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in a fortnight’s time — the Bahrain Grand Prix from the arid Bahrain International Circuit. While it’s highly doubtful there will be any rain to spice things up who knows what spanners the Formula 1 gods will yet throw into the works? Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2020 F1 Grand Prix of Turkey — Qualifying results

Stroll grabs wonder pole in wet & wild Turkish GP qualifying, Perez P3 in banner day for Racing Point; unhappy Verstappen settles for P2 after key Red Bull strategy call; Mercedes’ season-long pole streak ends

With an already slick new surface giving drivers fits during dry practice sessions for Formula 1’s return to Turkey and Intercity Istanbul Park, traction was even further compromised by a deluge at the start of Saturday qualifying for tomorrow’s Grand Prix. The rain on top of the new asphalt resulted in a long Red Flag period in Q1 to try and wait the weather out after the best drivers in the world went skating around the circuit as if on ice. Clearly, no slick Pirellis would be used and the treacherous track conditions meant the day was ripe for unexpected qualifying results. And that’s just what happened. The Racing Point of Lance Stroll put in a perfect, highly technical lap and coaxed his car around, keeping it out the gravel traps to seize pole away from the usual suspects. Stroll made the most of the team’s pivotal Q3 decision to run him and his teammate, Sergio Perez, on Intermediate rather than full Wet tires on a tricky but marginally improving track. Crucially, when Perez temporarily set the fastest lap on his Inters and bested the Red Bull of Max Verstappne’s time early in the final session the Red Bull brain trust reacted and pulled Verstappen in from a very tasty hot lap to have the Dutch rainmeister match Racing Point’s move off the full Wets and onto the Inters. However, Versteppen simply couldn’t get the Inters to perform as well as the Racing Point duo and had to watch Stroll take his first career pole ahead of his P2 time nearly 4-tenths in arrears. Perez slotted in at third fastest and a disgruntled Verstappen was left rueing the team’s strategy call, although one can certainly understand their logic in looking to find the magic crossover point in tire performance. For the young Canadian Stroll, who has struggled mightily since missing the Eiffel GP with what was eventually diagnosed as COVID, there were no regrets only jubilation. His joy might not be long lived because holding on to that top spot tomorrow in the face of Verstappen’s onslaught could be more than a little tricky. But grabbing an F1 pole is nonetheless something he can carry with him as a badge of honor for the rest off his life. And who knows? If the weather is the same in Istanbul tomorrow, which it could well be, Stroll and the two Racing Points may just be able to excel again in these funky conditions.

Stroll’s wonder pole in the wet was also the first time this season a non-factory Mercedes hadn’t claimed that honor. If Verstappen was miffed by his team’s decisions the Mercedes duo of points-leader Lewis Hamilton and second place Valtteri Bottas were utterly flummoxed, as the normally superlative Silver Arrows stubbornly refused to get any of their wet weather tires to turn on and perform. Continue reading →

2020 F1 Grand Prix of Emilia Romagna — Results & aftermath

Hamilton makes his own luck for victory at Imola; Bottas P2 as Mercedes earns unprecedented 7th consecutive Constructors’ title; Ricciardo P3 after Verstappen’s late tire failure

Luck was truly the residue of design for Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton at Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari on Sunday, as the Englishman converted a P2 start and a poor getaway into yet another brilliant race win at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. Despite losing a position to the hard-charging Red Bull of AMx Verstappen on the opening lap, Hamilton recovered, held off the hungry AlphaTauri of Pierre Gasly and ran an exceptionally long 30-lap first stint on his opening set of Medium Pirelli tires, eleven more laps than his pole-sitting teammate Valtteri Bottas and twelve more than Verstappan. That put Lewis in prime position to take advantage of a perfectly timed and exceedingly short Virtual Safety Car deployment necessitated by the removal of Esteban Ocon’s disabled Renault on race lap 29. Ever the opportunist, Hamilton nipped into the pits to take on a fresh set of Hard tires with the efficient stop under the VSC taking around ten seconds less than the green flag stops that Bottas and Verstappne had made earlier. Hamilton came out comfortably ahead of both of his main rivals on the day and never looked back on his way to his record extending 93rd Grand Prix victory. The superlative six-time Champion also ballooned his points lead to a massive 85 points over Bottas, including the bonus point for fastest lap, and in his current form and run of good fortune it seems inevitable that he will tie the great Michael Schumacher’s seven Drivers’ titles before the season is over.

For Bottas, it seemed that his recent bad luck would simply continue when he picked up floor damage after running over debris early in the race. That cost the Finn a ton of downforce and he was easy meat for Verstappen to hunt down and eventually overtake after Bottas locked up defending against the Red Bull man on Lap 43. The podium looked set with Bottas resigned to the last step at P3 but on Lap 51 out of 63 Verstappen’s right rear tire blew out, sending the Dutchman careening off the road into the gravel and out of contention. Bottas was back in second and both he and Hamilton pitted a lap apart for fresh rubber under the resultant Safety Car, which was extended for a few laps after Williams’ George Russell overcooked it trying to heat up his tires and bashed into the barriers. The two Silver Arrows held station after an intense restart to come home 1-2, with Hamilton beating Bottas to the line by well over five-seconds. If it wasn’t the result Bottas was hoping for at the start of the race after earning pole he could at least take satisfaction from the undeniable fact that he had helped team Mercedes clinch an unprecedented seventh consecutive Constructors’ Championship with his constant contributions over the course of the year and on this day at Imola.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

Verstappen’s abrupt retirement left that last podium position an open question for several hungry aspirants behind the untouchable top two. Racing Point’s Sergio Perez and the lone remaining AlphaTauri of Daniil Kvyat, his unfortunate teammate Gasly having retired on Lap 8 with a water pressure issue, both opted to pit under the Safety Car and had the advantage over Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Red Bull’s sole survivor, Alexander Albon, who had all stayed out on older rubber. When the race restarted on Lap 58 there was fierce jockeying for position between those five, with Kvyat making the most hay by getting by Perez, Albon and Leclerc to elevate himself up to P4 with P3 Ricciardo next on his hit list. Meanwhile, Perez dusted off Albon and then the young Thai inexplicably spun himself out, doing himself no favors with the Red Bull brass as he fights to keep his seat with the big team. Ricciardo drove brilliantly to hold off the quicker Kvyat, also desperate to keep his F1 seat, and the veteran Aussie was able to take a his highly gratifying second podium of the year, though his time with Renault will end when the season does. Kvyat did himself a world of good with that hard-earned P4, while Leclerc bested Perez for P5. The Mexican had second thoughts about that second pit stop and came home a disgruntled P6. The two McLaren’s of Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris avoided drama to come home a decent P7 and P8 respectively, while the Alfa Romeos of Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi took advantage of the chaos on track and a disastrously slow pit stop for Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel to celebrate the news that they would both be returning to the team next year by taking the last points in P9 and P10 respectively.

With Vettel plunging out of the points after a terrible 13 seconds stationary in the pits for a stuck wheel nut it brought to mind days of old when a disfavored driver might be made an example of by the Machiavellis of Maranello. More likely it was just another bit of rotten luck in an extraordinarily rotten season for the beleaguered four-time champion. It was also not a great day for Red Bull, who scored zero points after Verstappen’s late race blowout and Albon’s own goal spin-o-rama.

Top 10 finishers of the Emilia Romagna GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 63 1:28:32.430 26
2 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 63 +5.783s 18
3 3 Daniel Ricciardo RENAULT 63 +14.320s 15
4 26 Daniil Kvyat ALPHATAURI HONDA 63 +15.141s 12
5 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 63 +19.111s 10
6 11 Sergio Perez RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES 63 +19.652s 8
7 55 Carlos Sainz MCLAREN RENAULT 63 +20.230s 6
8 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN RENAULT 63 +21.131s 4
9 7 Kimi Räikkönen ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI 63 +22.224s 2
10 99 Antonio Giovinazzi ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI 63 +26.398s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in a fortnight’s time, as F1 returns to Turkey and Intercity Istanbul Park for Round 14 of this COVID-effected 17-round 2020 season. Hope to see you then to see what new records Hamilton can break and find out how it all shakes out!

2020 F1 Grand Prix of Emilia Romagna — Qualifying results

Bottas wrests pole from Hamilton at Imola; Verstappen takes P3 after rebounding from engine troubles

A week after Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton set the record for most Formula 1 wins his overshadowed wingman Valterri Bottas knocked the English legend down a peg some small measure by snatching pole from the six-time champion and current points leader during Saturday qualifying for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. As F1 returned to the fateful Imola circuit, aka Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari, for the first time since 2006 and Italy for the third time this season, Bottas set a blistering final lap of 1:13.609  at a circuit he has never raced at in anger before, bettering Hamilton’s already excellent time by a tenth as the checkers flew. While Hamilton has a stranglehold on this year’s title and is essentially a mortal lock to rack up his record-tying seventh Drivers’ Championship to match the great Michael Schumacher after passing the German legend in wins last week in Portugal, Bottas remains mathematically alive and anytime he can better his intimidating teammate can only be good for the Finn’s psyche. Whether this pole position translates into a win tomorrow is another matter, of course, but Hamilton could be facing a mental letdown after such a historic win last weekend so we shall see who has the edge when the lights go out for Sunday’s GP.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen qualified third nearly half a second behind Hamilton’s P2 Merc. Still, the Dutchman was fairly fortunate to even make it into Q3 after a rare spark plug issue caused a scramble by his mechanics to fix the misfire during Q2 when Verstappen hadn’t yet set a time. The remarkable Red Bull crew, who routinely have the fastest pit stops during the races, came through again with flying colors, enabling their man Max to set a lap quick enough to get through to the final quali session and then set the third best time overall. Continue reading →

2020 F1 Grand Prix of Portugal — Results & aftermath

HAMMER TIME — Lewis Hamilton becomes winningest Formula 1 driver with dominant 92nd victory at Portuguese GP; Bottas a distant P2, Verstappen P3

Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton rewrote the Formula 1 record books on Sunday by breaking a tie with the great Michael Schumahcer and becoming the all-time leader in victories with 92 after a dominant win in the Portuguese Grand Prix at Autódromo Internacional do Algarve in Portimao, Portugal. Racing away from pole, the English six-time World Champion and current points leader actually ceded his lead during a chaotic Lap 1 multi-car shuffle that saw McLaren’s Carlos Sainz surge forward from P7 on the grid to lead the race. Appearing to struggle for grip on cool Medium Pierrelli tires, his teammate and Mercedes Number 2, Valtteri Bottas, also passed Hamilton, relegating him to P3 in the order. But Sainz’s lead would prove to be short-lived. The Spaniard who started on the Soft tires, saw rapid performance degradation while the Medium-shod Mercs rapidly came into their own. Bottas passed Sainz on Lap 6 and Hamilton followed suit the following lap, setting up the usual internecine battle between the Silver Arrows. By Lap 19 Hamilton had closed the gap to Bottas and was harassing the Finn from directly behind his gearbox. On Lap 20, Hamilton made a decisive pass for a lead that he would never relinquish for the rest of the race.

Pics courtesy GrandPirx247.com

Clearly excelling on a long tire stint compared to his rivals, Hamilton ran all the way to Lap 41 on his first set of Mediums and then came in for a new set of Hards to finish off the 66-lap contest, having built enough of a gap over Bottas to still come out ahead, especially since Bottas was called in directly after him. While Bottas playfully pleaded to go to an alternate strategy and take a gamble on the least-favored Soft tires, that option was nixed by the Mercedes brain trust and Bottas had to hold station on matching Hards behind his superlative teammate for the remainder of the race. With the bit between his teeth and a historic prize to be grasped, Hamilton carved through backmarkers, lapping all but the top four finishers to cruise home to his record-setting win number 92. In the end, Lewis crossed the line over 25.5 seconds ahead of his P2 teammate. With a maximum points haul of 26 after also setting the fastest lap, Hamilton now leads Bottas, who races as number 77, by 77 points in the Championship with only four rounds remaining in the bizarre but entertaining 2020 season. So it’s nearly a lock that Hamilton will also tie Schumacher’s once unfathomable title record of seven Drivers’ Championships by the end and almost guaranteed that Hamilton returns in 2021 to break that mark with this era’s most dominant car before the new, cost saving and more spec-oriented formula kicks in 2022.

But for now, it is time to savor this individual accomplishment in what is already Hall of Fame career with first McLaren and now Mercedes and to pay respect to Lewis Hamilton for breaking a record that was previously thought to be untouchable. Simply put, Ham the Man is in the conversation for greatest all-time F1 pilot regardless of the era and no matter how easy he makes it look the 35-year-old Englishman is also making history every time he hits the track. With several more years of racing at the top level likely to come, Hamilton should continue to rewrite the record book in a way that will truly never be matched again.

Continue reading →

2020 F1 Grand Prix of Portugal — Qualifying results

Hamilton snatches pole from Bottas for inaugural Portimao race, aims to break Schumacher’s victory record tomorrow; Verstappen third fastest

In this most unusual COVID-effected year, which has forced Formula 1 to confine itself to Europe for the bulk of an improvised season, the drivers faced another challenge when they made the first-ever Grand Prix qualifying attempts at Autódromo Internacional do Algarve, aka Portimao, on Saturday. After a long delay precipitated by the need to secure several loose and potentially dangerous drainage grates around the rolling 4.653 kilometer circuit, the unfamiliar and very green track still produced a familiar result when Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton bested his teammate Valtteri Bottas in the dying moments of Q3, grabbing pole position for Sunday’s Portuguese Grand Prix by a tenth and earning the best possible starting spot to try to win the race and break a tie with the great Michael Schumacher for most-ever wins by a Formula 1 driver. Hamilton will be gunning for an astounding win number 92 tomorrow and it’d be a brave person who would bet against him getting it. Bottas must have been crestfallen to once again play second fiddle to his championship points-leading teammate, having led every practice and qualifying session prior to that final, most important one. The Mercedes braintrust put both their men on the Medium Pirellis for Q3, a somewhat risky and counterintuitive move, especially with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen looking quick enough to threaten the Sliver Arrows’ hegemony while running the ostensibly faster Soft tires. But the gamble paid off and the Mediums wound up being the better performing tire during crunch time, at least if one was driving the peerless Mercedes W11. Interestingly, Hamilton set the fastest overall lap for pole after running two hot laps on his tires on this recently repaved, low abrasion surface, while Bottas ran only the traditional single hot lap and had to once again settle for P2. But the unlucky Finn was still quick enough by around two-tenths to hold off Verstappen, even with the Red Bull man on the softer rubber. The talented Dutchman will start behind the Mercs in the second row in P3 and will be keen to overtake one or both of the top two at the start, perhaps taking advantage of a contretemps between Mercedes teammates heading into Turn 1. Continue reading →

2020 F1 Grand Prix of Germany — Results & aftermath

Hamilton romps to victory, equals Schumacher’s win record, as bad luck befalls Bottas; Verstappen a distant runner-up, joyful Ricciardo P3

Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton scored a decisive win in Sunday’s German Grand Prix, aka the Eiffel GP, taking advantage of his teammate Valtteri Bottas’s misfortune and putting the rest of the field in the dust to earn his 91st career F1 victory. That ties the English six-time champion with the legendary Michael Schumacher for all-time wins in Formula 1 and Hamilton has six more races left on the calendar to exceed a mark that many through would never be approached much less surpassed. Recovering decisively from the two previous relatively lost race weekends where he shot himself in the foot with avoidable penalties, Hamilton now has a 69-point bulge in the Driver’s standings over Bottas after the latter DNF’s through no fault of his own. Hamilton is also on track to tie another epic Schumi record by earning his seventh Drivers’ Championship, putting his name in the hat for best-ever F1 pilot and potentially transforming a very weird and belated, COVID-marred 2020 campaign into a season for the ages. In a nicely symbolic coda to the race weekend, Hamilton was gifted one of Schumacher’s race helmets from 2012, the German legend’s last season, by son Mick Schumacher. The fast-rising Mick hopes to be able to dice with Hamilton on track in the very near future and one day try for a championship season of his own to carry on family tradition. But that is for the future. In this present, Hamilton has proven to be the greatest driver of this generation by some distance and Sunday’s easy win just reinforced that.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

Despite starting from pole, Bottas was rounded up by Hamilton relatively quickly when his team leader passed the Finn for P1 on Lap 13. Hamilton would never look back and while Bottas was hoping to use an undercut strategy with an early pit stop to try and get back to the front it all came to naught when his Silver Arrow suffered terminal loss of power and he was forced to retire on Lap 19. Suddenly all the talk of Bottas mounting a late season challenge to Hamilton’s supremacy fizzled just like his power unit. That left one putative contender remaining with the majority of the 60-lap event still to be contested: Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. But despite looking quick enough to challenge the front running Merc at times, the Dutch wunderkind could never really match Hamilton’s pace over the long runs. This was proven when a Safety Car on Lap 44 erased nearly all of Hamilton’s lead by bunching up the field and seemed to give Verstappen the late-race opening he was looking for. But when the Safety Car was withdrawn on Lap 49, Verstappen could make no inroads over the remaining eleven laps and Hamilton ended up cruising home over four-seconds to the good. Red Bull may be gradually getting closer to Mercedes’ supreme pace but they are running out of races to truly overhaul them.

Bottas’ misfortune opened the door to a podium position from one of the “best of the rest” in the field and Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo seized the opportunity by charging through it with a masterful drive to take a skillful P3. Holding off the game Racing Point of Sergio Perez down the stretch, the veteran Aussie grabbed his first podium since 2018, his first as Renault driver and the factory team’s first since way back in 2011. It seems almost a pity that Ricciardo will be moving on to McLaren next year after such a satisfying achievement for both driver and team but that’s the way the F1 world turns. Just ask Perez, who was racy all day long to continue his strong streak of points finishes with a solid P4. Racing Point declined to re-sign the steady Mexican earlier and he still doesn’t have a ride for next season. And just ask today’s other Racing Point driver, Nico Hulkenberg, who pinch hit for the team on short notice for the second time, this time repacking the ill Lance Stroll, and fought his way from dead last on the grid all the way up to a terrific P8 finish, earning him rightful Driver Of The Day accolades. The German will be back broadcasting the next race assuming Stroll makes a full recovery from whatever is ailing him.

Carlos Sainz took P5 for McLaren, Pierre Gasly was P6 for AlphaTauri and the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc finished behind those two ostensible midfield runners in P7, which was still far superior to his Scuderia stablemate Sebastian Vettel’s latest pointless P11. Roman Grosjean scored his first points of the year for Haas in P9, as did Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi in P10, who bested Vettel’s factory Ferrari with the laps winding down in a desperate bid to extend his F1 career, which is likely in jeopardy.

Top 10 finishers of the German GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 60 1:35:49.641 25
2 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 60 +4.470s 19
3 3 Daniel Ricciardo RENAULT 60 +14.613s 15
4 11 Sergio Perez RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES 60 +16.070s 12
5 55 Carlos Sainz MCLAREN RENAULT 60 +21.905s 10
6 10 Pierre Gasly ALPHATAURI HONDA 60 +22.766s 8
7 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 60 +30.814s 6
8 27 Nico Hulkenberg RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES 60 +32.596s 4
9 8 Romain Grosjean HAAS FERRARI 60 +39.081s 2
10 99 Antonio Giovinazzi ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI 60 +40.035s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in a fortnight’s time — the Grand Prix of Portugal from the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve, which has never hosted an F1 race. Regardless, look for the peerless Hamilton to continue his onslaught on the Formula 1 record books there now that he seems to have put his brief bumpy patch well and truly behind him. Hope to see you then!