2020 F1 Grand Prix of Styria (Austria II) — Qualifying results

Mercedes’ Hamilton secures scintillating pole amidst torrential conditions at Red Bull Ring; Red Bull’s Verstappen P2 despite late spin, Sainz P3 for improving McLaren; Ferrari in trouble

For the first time in Formula 1 history two races will be run at the same circuit on back-to-back weekends, and the dubious honor goes to the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. But it was the weather that lent real distinction to this second race weekend of the 2020 season and not the fig leaf of a new title, the Grand Prix of Styria, for what is in reality simply a second identical Austrian GP. With the travel and logistics concerns necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic forcing this normally globe-hopping motorsport series to compress the schedule and repeat races at some European circuits on consecutive weekends, this Saturday’s “Styria” qualifying  was nonetheless completely distinct from last weekend’s sunny “Austrian” affair and offered up a lot of excitement and surprising results to match.

Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton bested this generation’s nominal Rainmeister, Red Bull’s Max Vertstappen, to seize the pole in torrential and thoroughly treacherous conditions at this valley track nestled among the Styrian Mountains. Verstappen and Hamilton had been trading provisional pole throughout Q3, during which the weather actually deteriorated again, after slightly lightening up for the delayed start of Q1 and into Q2. But when Vertsappen lost control and spun harmlessly late in his final try with time expired in the final session, it meant Hamilton had secured pole after an outstanding and supremely well controlled effort under these adverse circumstances. Continue reading

2020 F1 Grand Prix of Austria — Results & aftermath

FORMULA 1 RETURNS — Bottas takes victory in long-delayed first race of 2020 season but Hamilton loses P2 due to penalty; Leclerc promoted to P2 and Norris to P3 in wild opening round

After a nearly four month delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 Forumla 1 season finally kicked off on Sunday at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. After such a long layoff between seasons it was a somewhat predictably wild and ragged race, although Mercedes was once again the class of the field. With their new black livery, the Silver Arrows took pole and second fastest times during Saturday qualifying, with their usual number 2 man, Valtterri Bottas  claiming pole position for Sunday’s race ahead of P2 teammate and reigning World Champion Lewis Hamilton. In a harbinger of things to come, Hamilton was demoted 3 spots for failing to slow properly for yellow flags during quali. That meant Hamilton, on a quest for his record-tying seventh Drivers’ Championship, had to start from back in P5 on the grid, while Max Verstappen, whose Red Bull team had lodged the last minute complaint against Lewis, was elevated to P2 alongside Bottas.

Image courtesy GrandPrix247.com

When the lights went out to start the race, though, Bottas blew the Red Bull off the line and shot away from the rest of the field, leaving the rest of the top 9 squabbling amongst themselves and the speedy Hamilton fighting his way back to the front. After avoiding contact going into Turn 1, the Champ quickly began dispatching his slower rivals, getting by McLaren’s Lando Norris for P4 on Lap 4 and subsequently past the competitive second Red Bull of Alexander Albon on Lap 9 for P3. It should have set up a fascinating tussle with Verstappen but on Lap 11 the Dutchman’s Red Bull went haywire with the electrical system repeatedly putting his machine into anti-stall mode. Unfortunately the malfunction proved terminal and Verstappen was out of the race just like that. Once again, as it has been so many times since 2014, mighty Mercedes saw their two drivers dominating yet another Grand Prix from the front.

Verstappen’s was the first of many retirements on a very hot summer’s day in Austria, with Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo going out on Lap 18, Racing Point’s Lance Stroll calling it a day on Lap 21 and beleaguered Haas’ Kevin Magnussen suffering break failure on Lap 26, which brought out the day’s first Safety Car. It would not be the last. Continue reading

RIP Sir Stirling Moss, 1929 – 2020

A Formula 1 season already delayed indefinitely by the Coronavirus pandemic suffered another heavy blow on Sunday as the legendary British motoring ace, Sir Stirling Moss, passed away peacefully at his London home at the age of 90. The New York Times obituary is here.

Widely considered to be one of the best racers of his or any other era, with some rating him second only to Juan Manuel Fangio in Formula 1’s golden decade of the 1950s, Moss won 16 Grand Prix and had 24 podiums between 1951 and 1961 but never managed to win the title. Moss famously defended his chief rival for the 1958 Championship, countryman Mike Hawthorn, from the stewards’ wrath after Hawthorn’s unorthodox recovery maneuvers following a spin during the Portuguese GP. That sporting gesture, not altogether dissimilar to Peter Collins handing over his car to Fangio at Monza in 1956 to enable the Argentinian great to win that year’s Championship, allowed Hawthorn’s second place points to stand. So despite winning four Grand Prix to Hawthorn’s one victory that season, including that fateful Portuguese contest, Moss was edged out by Hawthorn for the 1958 title by a single point. It is also widely acknowledged that Moss’s steadfast desire to race British cars in F1 most likely cost him other championships, as they were often inferior to their Italian or German competition during that era. But that same stubborn nationalism earned him a fanatically loyal and adoring following in Great Britain that remains to this very day. If you’re looking for Britain’s top heroes in their national psyche there is Churchill, James Bond and Moss.

A prolific winner in other classifications of motorsport at a time when the world’s top drivers tended to compete in nearly every high level event, Moss was also victorious at 1956’s 24 Hours of Le Mans driving an Aston Martin DB3S along with Collins and owner David Brown; he had two overall victories at the 12 Hours of Sebring in 1954 and 1957; and a 12 Hours of Reims win in 1953. Perhaps most famously, Moss and co-driver/navigator, the revered racing journalist Denis Jenkinson, took the overall victory in 1956 at the always treacherous Mille Miglia while piloting the stunning Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR. That victory, chronicled by jenkinson in the seminal motorsport article “With Moss In the Mille Miglia” was made all the sweeter in that it came at the expense of the second place Fangio, who so frequently bested Moss in Formula 1 for the ultimate prize — the Drivers’ Championship — throughout the 1950s. Continue reading

BREAKING: 2020 Formula 1 season postponed due to coronavirus pandemic

Formula 1, the most international sporting series and a true global world championship, postponed the start of the 2020 season, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne was cancelled after a McLaren team member tested positive for the coronavirus and follows the earlier postponement of the Chinese GP, as well as the first-ever Vietnamese Grand Prix & the long-standing Bahrain GP. Sadly, it appears doubtful that the always enjoyable and popular Australian GP can be rescheduled this year.

Formula 1 management issued a statement stating that they hope they can get the season underway in Europe at the end of May. But of course this will be dependent on the status of the participating countries, as the viral outbreak continues to rapidly spread across that continent. F1’s decision follows those of NASCAR to interrupt their season and IndyCar to postpone the start of their championship, which was also scheduled for this weekend in St. Petersburg, Florida. There are also interruptions to IMSA racing, which moved the 12 Hours of Sebring to November, as well as Moto GP and Australian Supercars. Elite motorsport has now joined essentially all major sporting events and leagues worldwide in suspending, cancelling or postponing events in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19 by limiting large gatherings and practicing social distancing.

Formula 1’s complete statements on delaying their 2020 campaign can be read here via Formula1.com. Driver reaction is here. When racing resumes we’ll certainly let you know. In the meantime stay safe and wishing you the best of luck & good health wherever you may be.

Earworm of the day — From the Beginning by Emerson Lake & Palmer

I’m not the biggest fan of Emerson Lake & Palmer or Prog Rock in general — the genre’s artistic pretensions and musical self indulgences simply haven’t aged very well — but this song of theirs has been bouncing around my head since it popped up on an oldies Pandora station of mine (and, of course, once you thumb something up in Pandora you’re likely to hear it again a lot).

A highlight of 1972’s Trilogy, “From the Beginning,” like “Still… You turn Me On”from the following year’s Brain Salad Surgery or “Lucky Man” from their eponymous debut, is one of those nicely melodic Greg Lake compositions that gave ELP some radio presence in the ’70s amidst their usual decidedly non-single length, over-the-top synth workouts and artfully deranged takes on classical standards. It’s almost got a bossa nova feel in the way it subtly swings and seduces. And Lake’s vocals feature his usual appealingly masculine timbre and restrained romanticism. I think because ELP were such a instrument-driven band Lake doesn’t really get the credit he deserves as a very solid Rock vocalist. But his pleasantly refined charms as a singer are all on fine display here.

The only thing distinguishing “From the Beginning” from, say, a Classics IV song like “Spooky,” which it kind of resembles if we’re being honest, is Keith Emerson’s well deployed Moog synthesizer solo which floats in during the last minute of the tune. It hovers above Lake’s acoustic guitar and overdubbed bass and Carl Palmer’s loose but anchoring conga beat and is actually a very restrained and effective use of the then-new gadget. Fading out into some seagull-like peals, it supplies the song with an otherworldly and haunting hook that leaves the listener wanting more. The bright synth also brands “From the Beginning” as a definitively Emerson Lake & Palmer song even if the simplicity and straightforwardness of its composition, not to mention its relatively compact 4-minute run time, is not all that characteristic of the normally bombastic Prog Rock outfit’s usual baroquely expansive output. That makes “From the Beginning” something like the exception that proves the rule for ELP and a damned tuneful one at that.

2019 F1 Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi — Results & aftermath

Hamilton dominates in Abu Dhabi to end championship campaign in style; Verstappen P2, Leclerc P3, as Bottas battles from last to fourth

Mercedes’ ace Lewis Hamilton capped off his sixth championship season with a dominant win at Yas Marina Circuit in Sunday’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. In the final race of the 2019 F1 campaign, a late afternoon affair that goes from day to night conditions, Hamilton and his Silver Arrow were as untouchable as they gave been throughout the year. The newly minted 6-time champ claimed his 11th victory of the year out of twenty-one GPs and finished far ahead of his closest pursuers. Hamilton won from pole and also set the fastest lap of the race for a bonus point, coming home a whopping 16.77 seconds ahead of the second place Red Bull of Max Verstappen. It was a suitably perfect performance in what has been another banner year for the 34-year-old, who was justifiably left wishing that the season could continue after his effortless win. It also gave Hamilton 84 career wins, shockingly close to what seemed to be Michael Schumacher’s record F1 total of 91. No doubt Lewis will be dreaming of overtaking Schumacher for that milestone in 2020, as well as tying the German legend’s even more awesome achievement by racking up a seventh Drivers’ title. But all that is in the future and for now Hamilton can ride off into the winter break knowing that he was unquestionably the supreme Formula 1 ace in 2019 and has put himself in the conversation as one of the best in the sport’s fabled history.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

For Verstappen it was also a relatively easy day that saw the Dutchman hold off challenges from Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and turbo lag issues from his own car to secure a P2 finish and lock down third place in the Drivers’ ahead of the hard-charging Leclerc. The Monegasque Ferrari man, who had  breakout year and seems destined for greatness if given the right equipment, finished P3 in the race and survived an after-race investigation for fuel irregularities that led to a hefty fine for Ferrari but no penalties for Leclerc. Behind the top three, Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas drove a superb race after starting from the rear of the grid due to engine penalties, clawing his way all the way up to a P4 finish just about a second behind Leclerc for the last podium place. One wonders if the Finn’s result might have been even better had a technical glitch not prevented the DRS system from operating until Lap 18. Continue reading

2019 F1 Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi — Qualifying results

Hamilton earns pole for final race of the season; Bottas second quickest but starts at rear due to engine penalties; Verstappen qualifies P3

Lewis Hamilton, looking to close out his 2019 championship season in suitably dominant style, earned his first pole position since Germany in Saturday qualifying for tomorrow’s season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The Mercedes ace and newly minted 6-time World Champion was head and shoulders above his nearest competition en route to the top spot on the timing sheets, besting his teammate Valtteri Bottas by 2-tenths of a second. Unfortunately for Bottas that strong effort in the gloaming of Yas Marina Circuit was for nought, as the Finn will be relegated to the back of the grid due to multiple power unit replacement penalties. It should make for an exiting race for the Silver Arrow’s number two man, who has already clinched second overall in the Drivers’ standings, as he powers his way through back of the field in the opening laps of tomorrow’s race.

Third fastest was Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who struggled to keep his rear tires under him when pushing hard but crucially out-qualified Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in his quest to take third in the Drivers’ points when the curtain comes down after tomorrow’s GP. Leclerc somehow managed to muff his timing and could not set a better fast lap than P4 before the checkers flew to end Q3. The talented Monegasque, who had a breakout year and seems to be on the cusp of greatness, will be pushing hard at the start of tomorrow’s race to try and overtake Verstappen and claim third overall in the season’s standings for himself. Continue reading

2019 F1 Grand Prix of Brazil — Results & aftermath

Verstappen rolls to victory for Red Bull in wild Brazilian GP; Gasly an ecstatic P2, Sainz promoted to P3 after Hamilton penalized for late race collision with Albon; Ferrari teammates crash out

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen had the wings all day long and rolled to a dominant win at the Brazilian Grand Prix, his peerless performance the one constant in a topsy-turvy contest at sunny Interlagos on Sunday. With no bad weather to throw curveballs during the proceedings the contestants themselves provided the unpredictability and occasional rashness that led to a thrilling race and the unexpected result of having Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly and McLaren’s Carlos Sainz take P2 and P3 respectively to share the podium with Verstappen and grab their highest career finishes in Formula 1. Meanwhile, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton was demoted from P3 after a late race gamble to pit from the lead for fresh rubber under Safety Car conditions backfired. Instead, it led to a major loss of track position when the Englishman emerged in P4 and a desperate attempt to get back to the front when the Safety Car was withdrawn with only three laps remaining. But while the newly minted six-time champ got by Gasly for P3 easily enough he couldn’t make a clean pass on the P2 Red Bull of Alexander Albon. Hamilton stuck his nose in forcefully on the penultimate lap going into Turn 10 but the door closed quickly and he ended up spinning out the impressive Thai rookie, denying Albon a probable second place result — a first potential podium for the youngster — and what could have been an even more amazing day for the Red Bull team. Hamilton, perhaps a bit too honestly, accepted full responsibility for the incident and was promptly penalized off the podium down to P7, much to Sainz’s and McLaren’s overjoyed advantage. Worse still for Mercedes, the second car of Valtteri Bottas suffered an oil pressure failure on Lap 52 that led to the Finn’s first retirement since the rainy crahfest at Hockenheim in late July.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

But as disappointing as things ended up for mighty Mercedes they went even more sideways for Ferrari. With Charles Leclerc making a heroic effort to claw back positions after a pre-race grid penalty saw him start down in P14 and Sebastian Vettel running solidly at the front and hunting a podium, it seemed almost inevitable that the two intra-team rivals would end up fighting over the same piece of track as the laps wound down. With Leclerc on slightly fresher Soft Pirellis, having pitted four laps later than Vettel during the Bottas Safety Car period, the Monegasque was able to close the gap to his senior teammate, who had lost precious time and, in fact, lost out while dicing with Albon for P3. On Lap 66 of this 71-lap contest, Leclerc was close enough to make a move and pass Vettel coming out of Turn 3 heading into the Reta Oposta. But Vettel got the DRS on Leclerc as they both steamed into Turn 4, the Descido do Lago. Vettel got his nose ahead but pressed his advantage just a little too aggressively, pushing across the track and into Leclerc’s front tire and wing with his left rear tire. As quickly as that, both Ferraris were out of the race, with the hard-charging Leclerc’s day of brilliant recovery work done in by a broken front right suspension courtesy of his teammate. Simultaneously, Vettel’s left rear tire delaminated badly after the contact and the carcass became a buzz saw whipping away at all that precious carbon fiber body work. It was a hell of a finish for the famed Scuderia going from a guaranteed strong points day to zero and will certainly not please the braintrust at Maranello. It’s also sure to worsen the already strained relations between the upstart would-be team leader and the decorated veteran, who has in truth made more than his fair share of mistakes during his tenure at Ferrari.

But whatever drama and fireworks happened behind them, the day belonged to the trio of Verstappen, Gasly and Sainz. No one could touch the Dutchman all race long and both Red Bulls seemed to be way ahead of their key rivals in terms of getting their tires to both turn on and maintain performance here at this very short and busy 4.3 kilometer circuit. Continue reading

2019 F1 Grand Prix of Brazil — Qualifying results

Verstappen seizes pole in Sao Paolo for Red Bull; Ferrari’s Vettel P2, Hamilton P3 for Merecedes

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen earned his second career pole position and second of the year during Saturday qualifying for the Brazilian Gran Prix. The Dutch wunderkind was consistently faster than the more vaunted Ferraris and Mercedes, as the Red Bull team look to finish the season strong and stick it to the big boys in the penultimate race of the Formula 1 calendar tomorrow at Autódromo José Carlos Pace in Sao Paolo, more commonly know as Interlagos. Verstappen was over a tenth quicker than Sebastian Vettel’s P2 Prancing Horse and the P3 Silver Arrow of newly minted 6-time champion Lewis Hamilton. Known for having driven one of the best ever wet weather races here back in 2016, Verstappen will be looking to keep his top spot until the checkered flag flies on Sunday and earn his first Brazilian GP win.

With the teams originally mixed and matched at the front of the grid, Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas was promoted to P4 alongside his teammate Lewis Hamilton even though Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc bested the Finn in quali because Leclerc faces a 10-spot grid penalty come race day due to a power unit change. It should be fun watching the talented young Monegasque motor his way back up to the front from a lowly P14 start. Continue reading

Omega SM 120 Deep Blue

tomvox1’s Watches for Sale — Vintage Omega ref. 166.073 Seamaster 120 “Deep Blue” Dive Watch

Just listed for sale — this cult classic late 1960s/early 1970s reference 166.073 Omega Seamaster 120 with amazing “Deep Blue” dial. This big steel diver was the next iteration in Omega’s increasingly diverse “professional” divers line during that era, following on from the legendary Seamaster 300 and immediately preceding the famed PloProf. And it features the same sort of rugged build quality as those others with a large all-steel “pontoon” lug case measuring 41mm x 46mm and originally boasting superior water resistance for open water diving.

Omega SM 120 Deep Blue

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This fantastic Seamaster came to me via trade with a re-done dial and re-lumed hands. So I hunted down a correct period blue Tritium dial in beautiful glossy Near Mint condition. I also sourced a genuine Omega modern Luminova gladiator handset that actually matches quite well, although it will obviously hold its glow for quite a long time unlike the Trit dial and bezel. Additionally, while my watchmaker was swapping out the dial & hands late last year I had him overhaul the very high grade in-house caliber 565 movement.

Omega SM 120 Deep Blue

Overall, the watch itself is in Excellent properly restored vintage condition and this big blue beauty is a real stunner on the wrist. In a world of cookie cutter Submariner wannabe divers, the Seamaster 120 Deep Blue stands out from the crowd with its bold, individualistic design and that , applied markers with heavily luminous background and stunning liquid blue dial. And so will you when you strap it on.

Omega SM 120 Deep Blue

Get it now — click here to contact me for more info on this great vintage Omega SM 120 Deep blue! SOLD

Click here for many more photos and complete condition report