Category Archives: Sports

RIP Niki Lauda, 1949 – 2019

The 3-time Formula 1 World Champion Niki Lauda passed away on Monday at the age of 70.

His New York Times Obituary is here.

His remembrance by Formula1.com is here.

A blunt spoken Austrian and born racer, Lauda competed in the 1970s and the 1980s, one of F1’s most dangerous eras. The 1970s in particular was a decade when the ever-increasing speed and aerodynamic technology of the cars was not matched by any significant safety improvements in the chassis themselves, which resembled nothing so much as low flying bombs with drivers strapped into them, or the old circuits on which they raced and had been “upgraded” with only the flimsiest of safety measures amidst heavily wooded forests perilously close to the racing line. Despite constantly advocating for greater driver safety, Lauda himself nearly bought it deep in the Green Hell of the original 14-mile Nürbergring when he lost control of his Ferrari during 1976 German Grand Prix amidst slick conditions, perhaps due to suspension failure on the punishingly bumpy forest circuit. His car subsequently burst into flames after hitting a barrier, bouncing back and being hit by onrushing cars. While Lauda had his helmet ripped off in the initial impact and was badly burned on his face and head and suffered concussion and broken bones his worst injuries came from inhaling toxic fumes from his burning car that scarred his lungs and threatened his life.

Despite being close to death’s door and having the last rights administered while in hospital, Lauda prevailed through sheer force of will and bloody-minded determination to get back into the championship fight with his English arch-rival, James Hunt. Just six weeks later Lauda returned to Monza and despite his bloody and scarred appearance and fending off immense pain, he finished fourth in the Italian Grand Prix in front of the adoring, Ferrari-fanatical tifosi. Perhaps even more bravely, Lauda had the personal courage to retire early in the last race of the season at an absolutely waterlogged Suzuka Circuit in Japan, even though he had a very good shot at snatching the championship away from Hunt with a decent result. It was an act for which some at Ferrari never forgave him, though he would return to the team the next season to claim his second title, also returning the favor on Hunt by besting him for the Championship in their spirited rematch.

That famous Hunt-Lauda season of ’76 is well-chronicled in Ron Howard’s underrated 2013 film Rush. But there was more to Lauda than that admittedly compelling relationship and rivalry. A child of wealth and privilege from a prominent Austrian family, Lauda was willing to defy his family’s disapproval to pursue his passion for speed. Lauda bluffed and cajoled his way up the Formula ranks, using money to get his foot in the door but then proving he was genuinely quick in the car against all the up and coming competition of the early ’70s like Hunt and Super Swede Ronnie Peterson. By 1974, he had caught the eye of Enzo Ferrari himself and, once signed to the team, even had the stones to tell Ferrari what a pig his latest car was. But Lauda also had a legendary mechanical sympathy and ability to translate a driver’s feedback into usable technical improvements for the mechanics to implement. In 1975, his second year at Ferrari, Lauda won his first world title. After his epic 1976 season of redemption and the epic runner-up finish to Hunt, Lauda won it all again in 1977. He lost the fire and retired in 1979 to start his own private European airline but was coaxed back into the cockpit by McLaren and Ron Denis for the 1982 season. In 1984 he just pipped his rising young French teammate Alain Prost, another future legend, for his third F1 title.

Lauda retired from driving for good in 1985, focusing most of his attention to his airline businesses but always keeping a toe in the Formula 1 waters. He returned to the sport full-time with a flourish in 2010, becoming the non-executive chairman of the Mercedes factory F1 program and helping lead the Silver Arrows to one of the most dominant team runs in Formula1 history that saw them win five consecutive Constructors’ Championships from 2014-2018. Mercedes are also well ahead this year. It was a fitting final act for the one of the great hard-nosed competitors, straight shooters and all around characters in motorsports. When they say they don’t make ’em like they used to, that is Niki Lauda in a nutshell. Farewell and godspeed, you fine old warrior.

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2019 F1 Grand Prix of Spain — Results & aftermath

Hamilton romps to victory in Spain, bests P2 Bottas for 5th consecutive Mercedes 1-2; Verstappen claims last podium position in P3; indecisive Ferrari miss out

With hís teammate Valtteri Bottas proving that he is a genuine threat for the World Championship this year, the veteran Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton showed his ability to raise his game in the face of stiff competition and dominated the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday. Bottas, who was coming off an inspiring victory in Baku, Azerbaijan a fortnight ago, looked poised to extend his momentum after snatching pole in Saturday qualifying. But Hamilton got the better start from P2 when the lights went out and out raced his Finnish rival going down into pivotal Turn 1 of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Bottas would later blame a fritzy clutch for his boggy beginning and the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel also pulled alongside him, momentarily making Bottas the meat in the sandwich. Hamilton then got the superior launch off the corner and pulled away, Bottas’ Silver Arrow squirmed under the combined break-acceleration effort required to avoid the two cars surrounding hime but was able to control his car with fast hands while Vettel locked up and flat-spotted his right front tire. That moment would prove to be the decisive moment for all three men in the contest.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

Hamilton pulled a gap almost immediately, Bottas was able to recover enough to hold his P2 position and Vettel quickly slipped back into the clutches of his junior teammate, Charles Leclerc. And here Ferrari’s pit wall indecision would once again come back to bite them. With Leclerc harassing Vettel and clearly looking like the faster car as his German teammate struggled with that flat spot vibration, the Scuderia delayed the team order for their drivers to swap positions until Lap 12. And by then both Mercedes had disappeared into the distance. Vettel, who was practically pleading to pit for fresh rubber from the time he damaged his tires on the opening lap, was brought in on Lap 20 to get off the starting Soft Pirellis and onto the Medium compound tires. The stop was actually slow by about 2 seconds by modern F1 standards but the four-time World Champ promptly set the fastest laps of the race, proving that the Mediums were not greatly inferior to the Softs.

Meanwhile Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who started from P4 and passed Vettel after the German’s initial opening lap bobble, pitted a lap later on 21 going from Soft to Soft, obviously signaling that he would be doing a two-stopper. Continue reading →

2019 F1 Grand Prix of Spain — Qualifying results

Bottas coverts momentum into dominant pole at Barcelona, outperforms Hamilton in P2; Vettel P3 for Ferrari

Valtteri Bottas carried the momentum of his redemptive victory in Azerbaijan two weeks ago and converted it into a dominant pole at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain in Saturday qualifying. The ostensible Number 2 at Mercedes once again bettered his 5-time World Champion teammate Lewis Hamilton to secure his third pole position in a row and enhanced his case to be taken seriously as genuine threat for this year’s title. Hamilton did qualify in P2 but the Englishman was was a full 6-tenths behind his budding Finnish rival. Sebastian Vettel was once again the third fastest car on the track, as Ferrari find themselves unable to close down Mercedes’ superior pace despite all the pre-season hype. His talented teammate Charles Leclerc had a bit of ragged Q3 and only set the fifth fastest time.

That saw Red Bull’s Max Verstappen split the two Prancing Horses to to take P4 on the grid. Once again the Dutch wunderkind easily bested his junior Red Bull teammate Pierre Gasly, who could do no better than a P6 time. The two Haas F1 cars had their best quali session of the season showing solid speed at this most familiar of tracks, which all the teams use for preseason testing; Romain Grosjean got a much-needed confidence boost by pipping his teammate Kevin Magnussen P7 to P8. The Haas team desperately need a good result come Sunday after a rocky start to the 2019 campaign and at the very least their car looks nicely hooked up on the Barcelona circuit and should be quite competitive.

Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat did very well to score a P9 start but the Russian also needs to bring the car safely home in that points and avoid his usual unfortunate tendency to be reckless in the race. Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo was the last of the top 10 qualifiers but he was assessed a 3-spot grid penalty after backing into Kvyat in Azerbaijan so McLaren’s Lando Norris will be promoted to start P10 tomorrow.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Spanish GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:16.979 1:15.924 1:15.406 18
2 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:17.292 1:16.038 1:16.040 17
3 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 1:17.425 1:16.667 1:16.272 18
4 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:17.244 1:16.726 1:16.357 12
5 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:17.388 1:16.714 1:16.588 19
6 10 Pierre Gasly RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:17.862 1:16.932 1:16.708 17
7 8 Romain Grosjean HAAS FERRARI 1:18.042 1:17.066 1:16.911 16
8 20 Kevin Magnussen HAAS FERRARI 1:17.669 1:17.272 1:16.922 15
9 26 Daniil Kvyat SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO HONDA 1:17.914 1:17.243 1:17.573 20
10 3 Daniel Ricciardo RENAULT 1:18.385 1:17.299 1:18.106 19

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s Spanish GP airs live starting at 9AM Eastern on ESPN2 here in the States. Hope to see you then to see how it all shakes out!

2019 F1 Grand Prix of Azerbaijan — Results & aftermath

Bottas brilliant in Baku for the win, Hamilton P2 to extend Mercedes mastery; Vettel P3 for frustrated Ferrari

Valtteri Bottas entered the 2019 season vowing to be less of a wingman to his peerless 5-time World Champion teammate Lewis Hamilton and more of a threat to him for the title. So far in this young season Bottas has made good on his promise. After pipping Hamilton for pole position, Bottas was able to hold off the hard charging Hamilton on the opening lap of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Sunday at the alternately wide and tight Baku City Street circuit. It was something the Finn was unable to do in China two weeks ago but this time he kept his elbows out in a respectful but forceful manner and kept Hamilton behind him. Following that crucial first lap, the pace of Bottas’ Mercedes was untouchable by the rest of the field, including his elite teammate. Bottas was able to pull away and manage the race from the front, surviving some tricky tire strategy, as well as Hamilton’s best efforts, to eventually romp to the win by a healthy 1.5 seconds. That avenged Bottas’ heartbreaking loss here last year when a late lap puncture denied him certain victory and he now has two wins to bookend Hamilton’s own brace. Bottas leads the Englishman by a single point in the Driver’s standings, which he scored by taking fastest lap in Melbourne along with the victory there. The race in Azerbaijan, Round 4 of the Championship, also highlighted a dominant start by team Mercedes and marked their fourth consecutive 1-2 finish to start the year.

That is bad news for Ferrari and fans of the fabled Scuderia. After all the talk of the Prancing Horses having the pace advantage over the Silver Arrows, Ferrari has yet to prove that in a race this year. Mercedes appears able to turn up the performance without sacrificing reliability and they have two drivers who almost never make mistakes. Both those shortcomings bit Ferrari in Baku. Wile looking like the fastest overall during each round of practice, Ferrari’s young phenom Charles Leclerc binned his car into the TecPro barriers at the tricky Castle complex during Saturday qualifying. Yeoman’s work by the team’s mechanics enabled Leclerc to start with a healthy car on the grid on Sunday and he was elevated to P8 by the time the race started due to others’ penalties. But it was a far cry from a possible pole and put the Monegasque on an alternate tire strategy from the rest of the frontrunners, with Leclerc’s Prancing Horse starting on the Medium Pirelli’s while the other top 10 began on the softs. So Leclerc would obviously run a longer first stint and for a while it looked like the alternate strategy just might pay off with unexpectedly good results, as the Soft rubber of those around him expired much more quickly than expected.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

Leclerc made a passel of passes through the midfield to get to P5 by Lap 7 and by the time Hamilton finished off the round of pit stops for the top 3 on Lap 14 Leclerc inherited the race lead. But Ferrari may have gotten greedy — they were also understandably worried about the life of the Soft tires to close the race to be fair — and kept Leclerc out on that first set of Medium tires all the way to Lap 34. Continue reading →

2019 F1 Grand Prix of Azerbaijan — Qualifying results

Bottas sizes last-second pole at Baku at expense of teammate Hamilton; Vettel qualifies P3 for Ferrari after Leclerc crashes out in Q2

Mercedes ostensible Number 2 driver Valtteri Bottas snatched pole for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in the dying moneys of an action packed Saturday qualifying, knocking off his teammate Lewis Hamilton’s previously supreme time by .06 seconds as the checkered flag flew. For a desperate moment in Q3 it looked as if Mercedes had blown it by playing cute and loitering at pit out while a stream of cars launched onto the track for their last runs. But with the sun setting and the track cooling after several crash-induced delays to qualifying, Mercedes had the last laugh by enabling their two stars to utilize the slipstream of the closest cars in front of them — for Hamilton running last that meant Bottas — to get a tow down Baku’s enormous final high speed straight. That proved to be enough of an advantage for both Silver Arrows to once again lockout the front row. And for Bottas, who made just slightly better effect of that drafting technique than Hamilton, it meant gaining the prime position to try and avenge his loss in this race last year when he was leading handily but suffered a puncture that cost him victory just yards from the finish line.

Pics courtesy GrandPirx247.com

Mercedes’ joy once again came at the expense of Ferrari, which had been looking like the quickest cars coming into qualifying today. The fastest of the Prancing Horses on this tight and treacherous Baku City Circuit was actually the junior member Charles Leclerc who displayed a decided advantage over his teammate Sebastian Vettel and the entire field throughout each of the three practice sessions. But team and driver may have both gotten a little greedy in Q2. With Ferrari setting the pace the braintrust decided to put both cars out on the Medium Pirellis, the only cars in the remaining 15 to go out on the harder rubber. The Medium tires lacked just that bit of grip on the cooling asphalt and Leclerc misjudged his breaking by a fraction going into the very tight Turn 8 Castle complex. The young phenom tried to make the corner rather than play it safe and abort down the escape runoff but the Ferrari went straight and speared heavily into the TecPro barrier, ending the Monegasque’s day and badly damaging his chassis. From looking like a favorite for the pole Leclerc instead was left bitterly upbraiding himself and praying that his team of mechanics can rebuild a competitive car by the start of the GP tomorrow.

The surviving Ferrari of veteran Sebastian Vettel qualified P3 and the German looked like he might seize the pole that Leclerc left unclaimed. But Mercedes’ slipstream strategy nipped him at the end and relegated Vettel to the second row. He will start alongside Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who was very quick, as well, and qualified P4. The Dutchman’s Red Bull could be the dark horse for the race win because the car looks exceptionally well planted on this technical circuit and perhaps the team’s lack of straight line speed relative to the big two of Mercedes and Ferrari can be made up in race trim. Unfortunately, Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Pierre Gasly, while also very quick, was undone by incurring a major penalty for blowing by the inspection weigh station in Friday practice, which necessitates a pit lane start as draconian punishment. Look for the Frenchman to cut his way through the laggards at the back of the field in the opening laps, though of course he must stay patient in such tight quarters lest he throw the race away by clashing with slower competitors.

The misfortunes of some of the members of the top three teams proved a boon to several of the midfield runners. Now benefitted more than Sergio Perez, who did a wonderful day’s work by willing his Racing Point machine all the way up to the fifth fastest time. Similarly, Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat had one of his good days and overcame a hard kiss off the wall on his rear right to qualify P6. McLaren rookie Lando Norris qualified P7, which was the best placement of any Renault-powered chassis on the grid by far. Antonio Giovinazzi also had his best-ever qualifying result, besting his Alfa-Romeo teammate Kimi Raikkonen P8 to P9, as Alfa also made good use of slipstreaming to set their fast final laps. Unfortunately for the young Italian he will drop back 10 spots on the gird come Sunday due to power unit changes. That means even after his mishap in Q2, Leclerc is slated to be elevated to P9 on the grid for tomorrow’s start. That is if Ferrari can rebuild his car without taking any parts-change penalties in the process.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Azerbaijan GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:42.026 1:41.500 1:40.495 20
2 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:41.614 1:41.580 1:40.554 21
3 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 1:42.042 1:41.889 1:40.797 23
4 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:41.727 1:41.388 1:41.069 15
5 11 Sergio Perez RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES 1:42.249 1:41.870 1:41.593 17
6 26 Daniil Kvyat SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO HONDA 1:42.324 1:42.221 1:41.681 23
7 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN RENAULT 1:42.371 1:42.084 1:41.886 23
8 99 Antonio Giovinazzi ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI 1:42.140 1:42.381 1:42.424 21
9 7 Kimi Räikkönen ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI 1:42.059 1:42.082 1:43.068 21
10 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:41.426 1:41.995 11

Complete qualifying results amiable via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN2 at  8:00 AM Eastern here in the States. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out at this always eventful street circuit!

2019 F1 Grand Prix of China — Results & aftermath

Hamilton runs away from Bottas & field to dominate Chinese GP, Mercedes finish 1-2; Intrigue builds at Ferrari as team orders boost Vettel to P3 at Leclerc’s expense

The Chinese Grand Prix was essentially won on the getaway the moment the lights went out to start the race at the Shanghai International Circuit on Sunday. Lewis Hamilton got the better escape from the line and bested his pole-sitting Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas to take a lead he would never really relinquish. After Bottas’ inspiring pole run in Saturday qualifying it had to be deflating for the Finn to once again find himself looking at Hamilton’s war wing for nearly the entirety of the race, as so often happened last season en route to Hamilton’s fifth World Championship. After Hamilton’s somewhat lucky win in Bahrain two weeks ago where he and Mercedes were the beneficiaries of Ferrari’s fumbles, Hamilton was simply supreme in Shanghai this contest and no other driver in the field could put him under duress from Lap 1 onward. It was Hamilton stamping his authority back on team Mercedes and the series itself after Bottas had won in Round 1 in Melbourne. It also put the Englishman solidly into the lead of the Drivers’ points for the first time this young season. And when Bottas brought his Silver Arrow home safely in P2 6.5 seconds in arrears of Hamilton he was also a good 7 seconds ahead of the P3 Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel, insuring the third consecutive Mercedes 1-2 finish in three contests so far and maximum points for this era’s dominant team in the 1000th Formula 1 race. It was also Hamilton’s 75th career victory, the most by any current F1 driver and second most in the sport’s history behind only the great Michael Schumacher.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

For Ferrari the days discontents ran deeper than their cars clear inferiority to the Mercedes and Vettel’s eventual third place and Charles Leclerc’s P5 finish. The Scuderia’s brain trust made an early and consequential call from the pit wall on Lap 11 for their young phenom Leclerc to the let the veteran Vettel through. While that is never an order for any driver to swallow and Leclerc was understandably miffed it also had the net negative of not paying off. Vettel was not really that much quicker than Leclerc if at all, struggled to get the Medium Pirellis that the all the top five started on to work and never really seemed a threat to P2 Bottas up ahead. The team then tried to make a different play by splitting their strategy, calling Vettel in first on Lap 19 for the Hard compound and then telling Leclerc to stay out to Lap 31 to theoretically take advantage of fresher tires at the end with much younger Hards..

But the very abrasive Shanghai Circuit had other ideas for any team seeking to make the race a one-stopper. Continue reading →

2019 F1 Grand Prix of China — Qualifying results

Bottas wins pole in China for F1’s one thousandth race, beats out Hamilton in P2 for Mercedes front row lockout; Vettel third fastest ahead of teammate Leclerc

Mercedes’ ostensible number two Valtteri Bottas laid down a scorching final lap of 1:35.547 in Saturday qualifying at the Shanghai International Circuit to claim pole for the Chinese Gran Prix tomorrow. Bottas, who tamale Lewis Hmaitlon by a single point in the Drivers’ standings in the early going, had the superior Silver Arrow on this day and in fact had already secured the pole when Hamilton crossed the line in front of him already a few one-hundredths down on the Finn’s previous fast lap as Q3 ended. Bottas wound up improving his already excellent time on his final pass nonetheless. It was the second Mercedes front row lockout in three race weekends so far this young season and marked Bottas first pole since Round 16 in Russia last year. There is next to nothing separating the two Mercs so it should make for a tight internecine battle up front between the two hard-charging teammates.

Ferrari were slightly slower than the Silver Arrows two weeks after dominating on pure pace in Bahrain. On the tricky high abrasion Shanghai Circuit, veteran Sebastian Vettel pipped his precocious teammate, Charles Leclerc, for P3 on the grid by a mere two-hundredths of a second. Vettel will be looking to reestablish dominance and bolster his confidence after his subpar performance in the Bahrain GP, which featured a P5 finish after an unforced spin by the German while dicing with Hamilton that surely cost the team points. And Leclerc will still be hunting his first career F1 victory and be highly motivated to bag it after he was heartbreakingly robbed of a seemingly certain win by mechanical issues late in that last race.

Further back, Max Verstappen’s Red Bull was the best of the rest with a decent P5 and while his new teammate Pierre Gasly had his best qualifying and will start beside the Dutchman in P6 he was still over eight-tenths behind Verstappen. On the other hand Daniel Riccardo got the better of his Renault teammate Nico Hulkenberg, out-qualifying him P7 to P8 by a hair’s breadth. The factory Renault team will be desperate to have both cars fisinsh solidly in the points after their double DNF in the desert a fortnight ago. The two Haas F1 cars of Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean rounded out the top 10 qualifiers in P9 and P10 respectively,

Top 10 qualifiers for the Chinese GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:32.658 1:31.728 1:31.547 16
2 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:33.115 1:31.637 1:31.570 16
3 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 1:33.557 1:32.232 1:31.848 17
4 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:32.712 1:32.324 1:31.865 16
5 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:33.274 1:32.369 1:32.089 14
6 10 Pierre Gasly RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:33.863 1:32.948 1:32.930 14
7 3 Daniel Ricciardo RENAULT 1:33.709 1:33.214 1:32.958 18
8 27 Nico Hulkenberg RENAULT 1:33.644 1:32.968 1:32.962 15
9 20 Kevin Magnussen HAAS FERRARI 1:34.036 1:33.150 DNF 16
10 8 Romain Grosjean HAAS FERRARI 1:33.752 1:33.156 DNF 15

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live at 2AM Eastern on ESPN2 here in the States. So set your DVR or brew a fresh pot of late night coffee to see just who is going to win this contest in Shanghai amongst the very tightly grouped and competitive top 4. Hope to see you then to see how it all shakes out!

2019 F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain — Results & aftermath

Mercedes and Hamilton pounce as Ferrari fumble away a win in the desert; Bottas P2 ahead of hard-luck Leclerc while Vettel spins

Ferrari had the dominant car and driver all weekend long. And in Sunday’s race at the Sakhir Circuit in Bahrain everything appeared to be playing out just as it had in practice and qualifying, with a Prancing Horse firmly in the lead. It was their rising young star Charles Leclerc who was dominating from the front, showing his class by fighting back first against his 4-time World Champion teammate Sebastian Vettel when Vettel got away quicker at the start and then leaving the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas in his wake. The 21-year-old pole-sitter looked to be on course for his maiden Formula 1 victory and perhaps the establishment of a new team and driver pecking order in the paddock. But on Lap 46 the dream weekend of Ferrari dominance began to crumble as Leclerc began compiling of engine issues and his blood-red car began losing power with what appeared to be a turbo problem. With Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton running a clean race even though he lacked the pure pace of the Prancing Horse the 5-time and current World Champ was in perfect position to take advantage of the Ferrari’s ill-timed reliability issues. In heartbreaking fashion, Leclerc saw his almost certain victory evaporate as Hamilton’s Silver Arrow relentlessly closed down his previously unassailable lead. On Lap 48 the Englishman passed the wounded Ferrari easily. Worse still for the Scuderia, Bottas was also able to catch up to Leclerc and took away P2.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

In a bare minimum of good fortune for the crestfallen Ferrari pilot the race finished under the Safety Car when both Renaults suffered terminal mechanical failures on Lap 53 of this 57-lap contest. With the drivers forced to hold station for the final few laps, this insured that Leclerc at least made the podium and kept his P3 before Red Bull’s Max Verstappen could dispatch him on track, as the Dutchman most likely would have. But it was cold comfort on a day that promised so much more for the famed team from Maranello and their young Monegasque phenom. To compound Ferrari’s woes Vettel had a disappointing effort. Continue reading →

2019 F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain — Qualifying results

Leclerc scores maiden pole in Bahrain ahead of P2 Vettel to lead Ferrari rebound & front row lockout; Mercedes’ Hamilton only third fastest

After showing disappointingly pedestrian pace at Formula 1’s season opener in Australia two weeks ago, Ferrari rebounded strongly during Saturday qualifying for Round Two at the Sakhir Circuit in Bahrain. And it was their precocious first year driver Charles Leclerc who bested not only the field for his first career pole position but also his 4-time World Champion teammate, Sebastian Vettel. Under the bright lights of this night race in the affluent Persian Gulf nation it was the Monégasque Leclerc who shone the brightest, setting a new track record of 1:27.866, eclipsing Vettel’s previous record lap from last year. With Ferrari back to the form they showed in preseason testing, the Scuderia dominated all practice sessions and then locked out the front row when it really mattered. And their 21-year-old ostensible Number 2 blasted a shot across not only Mercedes’ bow but also senior stablemate Vettel’s. The braintrust at Maranello have to be feeling much better about taking the fight to Mighty Mercedes than they did a fortnight ago after their underwhelming run in Melbourne. Now it’s up to the Prancing Horses to run away from the Silver Arrows come race day tomorrow and prove that it really will be game on for the Constructors’ Title in 2019.

Mercedes were clearly second best on Saturday after dominating the debut race of the season which led to Bottas’ impressive win. Lewis Hamilton did out-qualify Bottas P3 to P4 but then he also led the field from pole at Albert Park and was outclassed by his Finnish teammate. So look for Hamilton to work very hard to best Bottas tomorrow even if Mercedes do not have the pace to challenge for the win against what looks to be a resurgent Ferrari at a track that really seems to suit their blood red cars. Continue reading →

2019 F1 Grand Prix of Australia — Results & aftermath

Game on at Mercedes — Bottas earns dominant victory in season opener, Hamilton a distant second; Red Bull’s Verstappen gets first Australian podium with strong P3; Ferrari flummoxed

After getting pipped for the pole in Melbourne by Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton in Saturday qualifying for the season opening Australian Grand Prix Valtteri Bottas and the rest of the F1 world could be forgiven for thinking “here we go again.” But come race day at the Albert Park hybrid street circuit, Bottas decided to flip the script that saw him playing wingman to Hamilton’s team leader for the past 2 seasons. After earning precisely zero victories in 2018, Bottas spent the off season hardening his body and mind. And when the lights went out to start a race for the first time in 2019 the Finnish driver leapt away from the line and left Hamilton in his rearview mirrors. Bottas quickly established such a comfortable lead over his 5-time and current World Champion teammate that Hamilton was never able to make a dent in it for the entirety of this 58 lap Grand Prix. While the team brought Hamilton in for Medium compound Pirelli tires on Lap 16 in response to the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel’s stop a lap earlier, Bottas kept swanning away on track for several more laps on the preferred Soft rubber. Running in clean air, Bottas actually increased his lead and took it all the way to Lap 23 for his first and only stop, also going onto the Mediums.

Crucially, Bottas got on better with both those tires and his machine than Hamilton, who was left grumbling about pit strategy and the poor performance of his Pirellis relative to his teammate. No on in the field had anything for Bottas in this year’s Australian GP. In the end he dusted Hamilton by over 21 seconds, laying down a promising marker — as well as the fastest lap of the race, which earns a bonus point this year — and serving potential notice that this year Hamilton could be facing the stiffest challenge since the determined Nico Rosberg was his Silver Arrows stablemate. Of course one swallow does not make a spring but the dominant performance by Bottas Down Under can only serve to increase his confidence for the fight ahead of him. It should also be interesting to see whether the previously cordial relationship between the two Mercedes drivers remains the same or if Bottas will have to deal with the head games that Lewis deployed on Rosberg now that he has a teammate who may once again pose a genuine threat.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen ran an excellent race nearly mounting a challenge against Hamilton for second place in the debut of the team’s new Honda power unit. Though the Dutchman ran out of laps he still earned his first Aussie podium and was far quicker than the Ferraris. Continue reading →