2018 F1 Grand Prix of France — Results & aftermath

Hamilton romps to victory in F1’s return to France; Verstappen takes an opportunistic P2, Raikkonen P3; Vettel and Bottas tangle on opening lap,

The championship momentum swung back to Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton who capped of a resurgent weekend for the Silver Arrows with a dominant win at Circuit Paul Ricard on Sunday. Hamilton took advantage of his pole position to avoid the mayhem behind him as the opening lap unspooled on this unfamiliar track, a place that F1 had not raced at since way back in 1990 (the last French GP itself was at Magny-Cours in 2008). Hamilton was able to control the race from the front easily even after a first lap Safety Car was deployed after multiple collisions during the frantic start, including the most significant one between his teammate Valtteri Bottas and his Ferrari title rival, Sebastian Vettel. Vettel misjudged his braking and ran into the back of the Finnish Mercedes man, causing an immediate puncture for Bottas and a damaged front wing for Vettel. Both drivers had to limp to the pits for premature service although Bottas got the worst of it, as he had to nurse his ride home in hopes that the wounded rear left tire did not delaminate and begin destroying all that precious body work.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

Both drivers emerged at the tail of the pack and had to pursue a strict recovery strategy to make the best fo a bad situation. With the new nose Vettel’s car was essentially unaffected and the German began carving his back up through the order in rapid fashion when racing resumed on Lap 6. Bottas’ Benz had floor damage. however, and so his progress came more deliberately. Vettel was adjudged to be at fault for the incident by the stewards, however, and received a 5-second time penalty, something he would have to factor into how hard he had to push on a set of new Soft tires that potentially he and Ferrari might run to the bitter end.

But it became clear that Vettel’s tries, after working his way all the way up to P4 before seeing himself passed by his teammate Kimi Raikkonen on Lap 39, would not stay competitive until the end of the 53 lap contest. Vettel pitted on Lap 41 for fresh rubber and to serve his 5-second penalty in the pits, coming out in time to still maintain his P5 overall. This was the moment for Mercedes and Bottas, who had himself battled up to P6, to seize the opportunity to jump the penalized Vettel in the pits or at least get close enough to challenge him with a clean stop. But mighty Mercedes uncharacteristically dropped the ball with a jack problem and Bottas’ stop was as slow as Vettel’s penalty-hampered one. In the end the two drivers held station after their excellent comebacks, with Vettel finishing P5 and Bottas an unlucky P7. While Hamilton swanned to victory, team Mercedes had to be wondering about theirs and Bottas’ bad luck as they left valuable points on the table after their front row lockout in qualifying. Ferrari were probably feeling the same way after their paladin’s first-lap misjudgment.

The main beneficiary of the opening lap melee was Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who started P4 and avoided contact with Vettel and Bottas by taking evasive action outside track limits before resuming in P2 behind Hamilton. Because it was for his own safety his excursion was deemed a legal move by Verstappen and the Dutch wunderkind thereafter drove an excellently well controlled race to maintain that lucky spot. While he never had anything for Hamilton at the front, who seemed to tease the Red Bull by conserving his tires and keeping his engine turned down, Verstappen and the team had to be well pleased by both his pace and his discipline in  keeping it clean. He finished right in the position he inherited on the opening lap, P2, an excellent podium result.

Kimi Raikkonen saved Ferrari’s blushes with a stout drive to hoist himself up from an underwhelming P6 starting spot on the grid to a fine P3 podium finish. The veteran Finn, who has frankly had a perplexingly inconsistent season, found a measure of redemption in France by overtaking his teammate as well as Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo for that precious podium spot. To be fair, Ricciardo was hampered by debris in his front wing, which compromised his aero enough to force him to reluctantly cede P3 to Raikonnen late in the going. Nevertheless the affable Aussie had a strong run overall to come home P4 well ahead of Vettel.

Further back in the order, Kevin Magnusson added to what has been a very impressive season for him and his improving Haas with a solid P6 finish. Once again Magnussen outperformed his erratic teammate, Frenchman Romain Grosjean, who was involved in a separate opening lap contretemps, incurred a penalty and saw himself finish outside the points in P11. In fact, it was not good day for any of the French drivers at their home race, as Force India’s Esteban Ocon and Toro Rosso’s Charles Gasly got entangled at the start and took each other out in front of their disappointed countrymen. In better news for the French, Carlos Sainz nursed his factory Renault home to a P8 finish. While the Spaniard ran as high as P3 in his French mount early in the race, he suffered some power loss later on and was greatly aided by a late Virtual Safety Car to salvage that 8th place finish ahead of his teammate Nico Hulkenberg, who finished P9. The standout rookie Charles Leclerc took the last points paying position by coming home P10 for Sauber. While Leclerc felt afterwards he might have done better it was nevertheless another standout drive for the Monagast pilot, who is surely on Ferrari’s radar for a future seat in the big team.

Top 10 finishers of then French Grand Prix:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 53 1:30:11.385 25
2 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 53 +7.090s 18
3 7 Kimi Räikkönen FERRARI 53 +25.888s 15
4 3 Daniel Ricciardo RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 53 +34.736s 12
5 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 53 +61.935s 10
6 20 Kevin Magnussen HAAS FERRARI 53 +79.364s 8
7 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 53 +80.632s 6
8 55 Carlos Sainz RENAULT 53 +87.184s 4
9 27 Nico Hulkenberg RENAULT 53 +91.989s 2
10 16 Charles Leclerc SAUBER FERRARI 53 +93.873s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is but a week away and will be the second of an F1-first three in three weeks: the Austrian GP from the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg. Hope to see you then to find out whether the result in France was the start of renewed dominance by Hamilton and Mercedes or if Ferrari will fight back to recapture the momentum in what has so far been an enjoyably see-saw season!

2018 F1 Grand Prix of France — Qualifying results

Hamilton takes pole, Bottas P2 for resurgent Mercedes front row lockout in F1 return to Paul Ricard; Vettel P3 for Ferrari

Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton appeared back on the pace in Forumla 1’s return to France two weeks after their disappointing showing in Canada. Championship contender Lewis Hamilton, who lost his points lead after two lackluster outings in Monaco and Montreal, put his newly upgraded engine to good use on the strange and colorful Paul Ricard circuit, pipping his teammate Valtteri Bottas for pole by just over a tenth. It made for a satisfying front row lockout for the Silver Arrows and, despite the somewhat unknown nature of a track that F1 has been absent from for 28 years, puts the factory Mercedes team in good position to reclaim winning momentum come Sunday.

Points leader Sebastian Vettel qualified third for Ferrari, which appeared down on overall power to the new generation of Mercedes engines. Worse still for the Scuderia, their second driver Kimi Raikkonen couldn’t get it together and only mustered the 6th best time. Raikkonen saw himself out-qualified by the trimmed-out Red Bull’s of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo, who will start P4 and P5 respectively. Carlos Sainz carried the colors for the French Renault team by qualifying an excellent P7. Charles Leclerc showed once again that he is a young driver to watch as he willed his usually pokey Sauber up to the eight grid spot. And Haas rounded out the top 10 starters, with Kevin Magnussen starting P9 and Romain Grosjean qualifying tenth fastest. However, the Frenchman Grosjean rather took the bloom off his achievement by having a lurid spin that led to a Red Flag period mid-Q3 but thankfully only damaged the Haas’s front wing. In Grosjean’s case, Paul Ricard’s unique and ubiquitous red and blue “friction stripes” in lieu of gravel traps showed their slowing power to excellent effect.

A week after winning Le Mans Fernando Alonso returned to the reality of a surprisingly poor McLaren machine. Both he and his teammate Stoffel Vandoorne failed to make it out of Q1, a decisive setback for McLaren after some small signs of hope this season. Williams horror season also continued, as both their cars were inexplicably the slowest in the field.

Top 10 qualifiers or the French GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:31.271 1:30.645 1:30.029 19
2 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:31.776 1:31.227 1:30.147 17
3 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 1:31.820 1:30.751 1:30.400 22
4 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 1:31.531 1:30.818 1:30.705 20
5 3 Daniel Ricciardo RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 1:31.910 1:31.538 1:30.895 20
6 7 Kimi Räikkönen FERRARI 1:31.567 1:30.772 1:31.057 22
7 55 Carlos Sainz RENAULT 1:32.394 1:32.016 1:32.126 23
8 16 Charles Leclerc SAUBER FERRARI 1:32.538 1:32.055 1:32.635 22
9 20 Kevin Magnussen HAAS FERRARI 1:32.169 1:31.510 1:32.930 24
10 8 Romain Grosjean HAAS FERRARI 1:32.083 1:31.472 DNF 20

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN2 beginning at 10AM Eastern here in the States. Hope to see you then!

Gorgeous Lady of the Week – Morena Baccarin

This beautiful Brazilian-American actress has been on our radar since the early 2000s when she graced Joss Whedon’s cult Sci-Fi series Firefly as the luminous and feisty courtesan, Inarra Serra. Baccarin’s character was not merely stunning but also winningly witty, wry and more than a match for Nathan Fillion’s captain Malcom Reynolds in the finest romance-as-combat Howard Hawks tradition. And despite the fact that Firefly only made it two seasons before being foolishly cancelled by Fox, with the very good stand-alone movie Serenity serving to tie up loose ends, Ms. Baccarin’s career was launched and her science fiction bona fides proven.

With her almond-shaped brown eyes, thick brunette mane, cheek bones to die for and a smile like a Renaissance painting, Morena found increasing success with a recurring role as an adult Adria in the Stargate SG-1 series beginning in 2007 and then had a major coup as the sinister alien antagonist Anna in ABC’s underappreciated reboot of V (2009-11).

By far her biggest success and the one that showed off her Juilliard-trained acting chops to their fullest extent was her powerful portrayal of Jessica Brody, the complex and long-suffering wife of enigmatic Marine Nicholas Brody (played by the always outstanding Damian Lewis) in Showtime’s nail-biting espionage thriller series Homeland. With Morena’s wonderfully shaded portrayal of a flawed, compassionate and intelligent woman faced with unknowable questions about her long-absent “hero” spouse newly returned to her after 8 years as an Al-Qaeda prisoner it’s no wonder she was nominated for an Emmy in 2013. As anyone who has seen the show can tell you, it was obviously a well-earned honor for the beautiful Ms. Baccarin.

Her success reached even greater heights after her run on Homeland with a major franchise role in the Marvel Universe as Vanessa Carlyse, the super sexy, super naughty girlfriend in 2016’s blockbuster Deadpool, which she reprised in the just released sequel. And since 2015 she has been a regular on the excellent Batman prequel Gotham playing Dr. Leslie Thompkins, love interest to Ben McKenzie’s Jim Gordon. In a case of life imitating art, Baccarin and McKenzie fell in love are now married, making Ben a very lucky boy in our books.

Count us thoroughly enchanted by the talented and charming Morena Baccarin. We look forward to seeing what else she achieves as an actress. With a face like that and talent to match, the sky’s certainly the limit.

Race alert — The 24 Hours of Le Mans is on!

The amazing 24 Hours of Le Mans, the greatest endurance race of them all, is now underway live from Le Mans. This year you can catch flag-to-flag action from the high speed and challenging Circuit de la Sarthe exclusively on Velocity Channel here in the States. It’ll be the Sky Sports feed with the British crew and other luminaries like 9-time Le Mans winner Tom “Mr. Le Mans” Kristensen bringing us the action for the full-on European experience over all 24 hours. So tune in now, stream on Velocity.com and set your DVR for the overnight stuff where so many eventful things seem to happen between the dusk and dawn.

Click here for the full massive Le Mans driver and team lineups via MotorSport.com.

Follow along as the world’s best drivers pilot prototypes and GT cars at the absolute limit for 24 hours of madness and mayhem. And tune in tomorrow morning to see who will claim victory at one of the most historic, prestigious and grueling racing events on the calendar. Will it be Fernando Alonso checking off another leg on his personal quest for the motorsport triple crown and bringing Toyota the trophy they so desperately desire against greatly diminished LMP1 competition? Or will the great Japanese marque find gremlins and heartbreak at Le Mans yet again? The answers will only be revealed at the end of 24 hours so don’t miss it!

tomvox1’s Watches for Sale — June selection, Pt. II

Well, we’re Just about midway through a somewhat up and down June weather-wise but look what just flew in to brighten our day? Wait for it — another fantastic vintage chronograph! Yup, this newly available beauty is a very uncommon vintage Breitling reference 2115 GMT Chrono-Matic in Jumbo 47mm case (don’t faint –it wears great). This example dates from 1970, early on in the great Heuer-Breitling Chronomatic adventure that resulted in some of the most iconic and funky chronographs of the late 1960s and ’70s.

This 2115 features not only an automatic chrono with date with the characteristic crown-on-the-left but also a classic 24-hour hand complication with calibrated “plus/minus” rotating bezel for the calculation of a second timezone. I love a good GMT watch and design-wise this Breitling is one of the cooler and more ambitious ones ever made.

Not for the faint of wrist, this Breitling GMT is nonetheless well proportioned and is a fairly rare beast with a uniquely cool and funky layout — along with the 1809 Cosmonaute one of the nicest on a Chrono-Matic, in my opinion. Check out those great hands not to mention the extra long period original signed bracelet, which is rare as hen’s teeth!

Personally I feel that vintage Breitling could well be the “next big thing” in a year or two. In my opinion the brand’s heritage is undervalued and some real collector appreciation is overdue. Plus, so many other vintage brands are overhyped and — to be honest — underwhelming and overvalued. So if you’ve got the panache to pull off this bad boy you could do a lot worse than adding this beautiful, orange-accented two-timezone beast to your stable. It’s about as fun and funky as a vintage watch gets!

Check out the full ad now over at Watchuseek with many more pictures and complete conditon report. If you like ’em big and complicated you’ll be glad you did!  SOLD

2018 F1 Grand Prix of Canada — Results & aftermath

Vettel masterful in Montreal in dominating win, reclaims championship lead over uninspired P5 Hamilton; Bottas salvages P2 for Mercedes, Verstappen P3 for Red Bull in processional Canadian GP

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel went from pole to the victory in seemingly effortless fashion at the Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday, dominating a race where once again overtaking proved exceedingly difficult. That resulted in a somewhat desultory contest where finishing positions were mainly dictated by starting positions. Once again F1 finds itself in a season with record setting fast cars but a lack of on-track action due to the overly aero sensitive nature of these magnificently engineered machines, as well as a lack of tire degradation form this year’s Pirelli rubber. All that said it is shaping up to be a seesaw season results-wise between the top contenders from the elite Mercedes and Ferrari teams. And this weekend it was Vettel’s turn to win again, as Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton exhibited a surprisingly similar malaise to the one that seemed to afflict him in slow-speed Monaco only this time at one of his favorite fast tracks here in Montreal. Hamilton couldn’t overcome his mediocre qualifying effort and in fact lost a position from his P4 start on a pit stop overcut by Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo. The Englishman could never get back at Ricciardo and came home a disappointing P5. With Mercedes holding back on their new engine for now Hamilton was definitely down on power and coupled with Vettel’s dominating victory, the 50th of his illustrious F1 career, it saw the Drivers’ Championship lead swing back to the German by a single point. So while the racing may not be of the most exciting overtaking variety, this 2018 season is providing some real suspense as to which driver will walk away with the crown at the end of it.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

Valtteri Bottas was the better of the two Silver Arrows, maintaining his P2 starting position in the face of a first lap onslaught by Red Bull’s hyper-aggressive Max Verstappen. While he didn’t really have anything to challenge Vettel in front, missing his only minor chance by running a ragged Lap 56 when he was almost within striking distance, Bottas drove well once again to come home P2. It was a good salvage job when Mercedes seemed throughly outclassed by the red cars this weekend. One wonders what the team dynamic would be had Bottas not DNF’d from the lead in Baku with an ill-timed puncture that ceded Hamilton a very lucky win. Verstappen had a much needed steady and incident-free race after a lot of erratic performances this season. While Bottas held him off early and Vertsappen never really had another shot to advance, young Max managed his race well enough to take the last step on the podium in P3. With Ricciardo’s overachieving P4 it made for another very solid day for team Red Bull and their slightly underpowered RB-14.

With the difficult nature of overtaking in this race with these cars, Ferrari’s second driver Kimi Raikkonen found himself stuck in P6 after Ricciardo also pipped him at the start of the race. Ferrari could never quite figure out how to get the veteran Finn back in the mix and so Raikkonen finished there as well. Best of the rest after the elite 6 was Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg who finished P7 followed by his teammate Carlos Sainz in P8. Rounding out the top 10 Esteban Ocon came home P9 for Force India and Charles Leclerc’s stock kept rising with another splendid drive to take the last point in P10 for perpetual backmarkers Sauber.

A scary opening lap shunt between Williams Lance Stroll and Toro Rosso’s Brendan Hartley caused a Safety Car until Lap 4. Hartley went airborne briefly and was checked at hospital but was cleared medically and released. It was another disappointing result for the struggling Kiwi, as well as for the Canadian Stroll, who found himself out of the GP before the end of the first lap in front of his home fans.

Top 10 finishers of the Canadian GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 68 1:28:31.377 25
2 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 68 +7.376s 18
3 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 68 +8.360s 15
4 3 Daniel Ricciardo RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 68 +20.892s 12
5 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 68 +21.559s 10
6 7 Kimi Räikkönen FERRARI 68 +27.184s 8
7 27 Nico Hulkenberg RENAULT 67 +1 lap 6
8 55 Carlos Sainz RENAULT 67 +1 lap 4
9 31 Esteban Ocon FORCE INDIA MERCEDES 67 +1 lap 2
10 16 Charles Leclerc SAUBER FERRARI 67 +1 lap 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

In two weeks’ time the next race will feature the return of France to the GP calendar after a decade’s absence. The first French Grand Prix since 2008, it will be back at the venerable Circuit Paul Ricard. Hope to see you then to see if Vettel can extend his points lead or if Hamilton can back to his winning ways on this new-old circuit!

2018 F1 Grand Prix of Canada — Qualifying results

Vettel untouchable at Gilles-Villeneuve for Canada pole; Bottas P2 while Verstappen bests Hamilton for P3

At Montreal on Saturday, the first return to pure speed after the ultra-slow Monaco street circuit two weeks ago, Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari showed that they definitely have the legs to go toe-to-toe with Mercedes in 2018. Vettel laid down a dominant 1:10.764 lap, a new track record at high-speed Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve, to authoritatively take pole for tomorrow’s Canadian GP. It appeared that he and the team found that little bit extra to pull away from the rest of the contenders in Q3 after everyone in the top tier looked to be very close in the prior two quali sessions. Vettel’s superb effort also marked the end of a 17-year pole drought in Canada for the famous team from Maranello.

Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas was the next quickest man and will line up alongside Vettel’s Prancing Horse in P2. Not for the first time this year Bottas bested his points-leading teammate, Lewis Hamilton, who is usually a master at this wonderful neck-stretching circuit. Worse still, Hamilton found himself bumped back to P4 when Red Bull’s Max Verstappen crossed the line at the checkered flag .06 ahead of the Englishman. Verstappen was no doubt eager to put his ill-timed practice crash at Monaco behind him and once again display his prodigious talents when he keeps his car on the track. For Hamilton, it was another disappointment after his desultory P3 finish in Monte Carlo a fortnight ago in what has been an up and down season. He also must have been bewildered as to why he could never quite hook up a full clean lap at a place where he had previously scored six poles and six victories, including his first-ever F1 win back in 2007. Come race day, Hamilton will be looking to return to his previously superlative form here but he’ll have to get by some fairly formidable talent to tie Michael Schumacher and take a seventh win in Canada.

Kimi Raikkonen muffed a chance to improve his time late in Q3 and had to settle for P5 after looking genuinely quick all day. It should be interesting to see how Ferrari can strategize to get the veteran Finn back into the fray and try to assist Vettel’s grander aspirations. Daniel Ricciardo also underperformed somewhat and seemed unable to carry the confidence of his supreme race-winning victory in Monaco across the pond. After showing some signs of perhaps contending for a front row position in Q2, Ricciardo got a reality check in Q3 and  will start back in P6. Behind the three elite teams, Renault had a good qualifying performance with Nico Hulkenberg grabbing P7 on the grid and Carlos Sainz P9. They were bracketed by the Force Indias of Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez who rounded out the top 10 in P8 and P10 respectively.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Canadian Gran Prix:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 1:11.710 1:11.524 1:10.764 18
2 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:11.950 1:11.514 1:10.857 20
3 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 1:12.008 1:11.472 1:10.937 16
4 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:11.835 1:11.740 1:10.996 21
5 7 Kimi Räikkönen FERRARI 1:11.725 1:11.620 1:11.095 20
6 3 Daniel Ricciardo RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 1:12.459 1:11.434 1:11.116 18
7 27 Nico Hulkenberg RENAULT 1:12.795 1:11.916 1:11.973 15
8 31 Esteban Ocon FORCE INDIA MERCEDES 1:12.577 1:12.141 1:12.084 14
9 55 Carlos Sainz RENAULT 1:12.689 1:12.097 1:12.168 15
10 11 Sergio Perez FORCE INDIA MERCEDES 1:12.702 1:12.395 1:12.671 13

Complete qualifying results amiable via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ABC starting at 2PM here in the States. Can Hamilton recover his mastery at Circuit Gille-Villeneuve or will it be a dual between his teammate Bottas and their Ferrari archrival Vettel? Or will young Vertsappen crash the party instead of out the race to steal the victory? Hope to see you then to find out!

tomvox1’s Watches for Sale — June selection

Sure we’ve turned the page to June but the hits just keep on coming. So I’m proud to offer yet another killer chrono, this time one of the all-time classic pilot watches, an Omega Speedmaster Professional. This example is a reference 145.022 from 1971 and features the last of the handsome and iconic stepped dials.

While not a museum piece, this classic Omega Speedmaster Professional is a solid and honest example perfect for everyday wear and its gorgeous original Tritium stepped dial has developed a pleasing creamy patina, as has the matching handset.

This great Omega is powered by the stalwart Lemania derived caliber 861, re-qualified for space flight by NASA upon its introduction as the successor to the legendary cal. 321 in the late 1960s and therefore certainly up to any and all of your terrestrial timing needs here on Earth.

This 145.022-71 also features the introduction of the modern Speedy pro back with its characteristic Speedmaster Hippocampus medallion and circular NASA print. All in all, it has lot of special little collector qualities that add up to a very appealing acquisition, not the least of which is its reasonable price in this rather overheated market. Pounce today to put this classic early 1970s Moonwatch on your wrist before prices jump yet again!

Check out the full ad with many more pictures and complete condition report over at the bustling Watchuseek Dealers & Manufacturers section. You’ll be glad you did!  SOLD

tomvox1’s Watches for Sale — May selection, Pt. III

May is winding down but there’s still time to offer up another great watch before we flip the calendar. And this one’s a pip — a double name Bell & Ross by Sinn military chronograph powered by the redoubtable and complicated Lemania 5100 movement.

This awesome 1990s watch has so many functions that I like to call it the Swiss Army Knife of chronos: engine turned sub dials for constant seconds, elapsed hours & 24-hour indicator; original Tritium luminous Arabic numerals with wonderful patina; apertures for the date and day; black anodized aluminum elapsed time bezel with a pleasing mint of WABI; and of course the iconic Lemania 5100 chronograph layout with neon orange-tipped chrono sweep seconds and “jet” minute counter.

This big fella measure in at a brawny 43mm in diameter and has a classic military pilot’s look. In fact, the Sinn M1 represents the ultimate evolution of the Bund-style aviator’s watch that Heuer-Leonides originally pioneered in the 1960s and there’s little doubt the late Helmut Sinn’s intention was to offer this model for military supply.

This excellent example features an unpolished bead blasted case and uncommon matching B&R-signed blasted bracelet. I’m even throwing in a Sinn aviator’s strap for good measure and maximum versatility. What more could you want if you’re looking for an uncommon double-signed example of a true late 20th century chrono classic?

This handsome and rugged Sinn/B&R is sure to make a great summer addition for some lucky guy. But at its maximum bang for the buck price point I can’t see it sticking around for long.

So check out the full ad now over at the always hopping Omega Forums private sales section for many more pictires and complete condition report — Sinning never looked so good.  ON HOLD

2018 F1 Grand Prix of Monaco — Results & aftermath

Ricciardo rules the streets of Monte Carlo; Vettel P2, Hamilton a desultory P3

Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo dominated the race weekend for the prestigious Monaco Grand Prix, topping the pylon in every practice session, starting from the pole and leading every lap in Sunday’s race. But it wasn’t all smooth sailing for the veteran Aussie ace. About a third of the way through the contest on Lap 28 his RB14 developed a Kers issue that robbed him of precious horsepower due to incomplete energy harvesting under braking. With his hybrid power failing him Ricciardo was forced to nurse his rear breaks due to overheating and push the bias towards the front in an effort to cope with near-critical temperatures in the rear. It began to look that once again Ricciardo would suffer another devastating heartbreak in Monte Carlo after losing a sure win 2 years ago when his team was caught flatfooted and without tires during a critical late race pit stop. The second place Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel was eating up chunks of time to the previously impervious Red Bull and seemed sure to seize this unfair advantage to hunt him down even if Ricciardo’s mount didn’t expire first.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

But Riccardo and Red Bull gritted it out and the narrow nature of the Monte Carlo street circuit worked to their advantage, as Vettel could never quite execute a pass while his tires were at their best. Even a late Virtual Safety Car period caused by Charles Le Clerc’s Sauber rear ending Brendon Hartley’s Toro Rosso when the former’s breaks failed didn’t impede Ricciardo’s momentum, as there were simply too few laps remaining for any of the other contenders to risk a last minute dive to the pits for fresh rubber. In the end Ricciardo did a superb job managing his car’s ill health, got back into a very quick rhythm and stayed out in front to capture victory and redemption at this most storied of F1 races. It was a very special moment in the talented Australian’s already excellent career and it was also Riccardo’s second victory of the year, vaulting him to an impressive third place in the Drivers’s standings.

While Vettel, who started and stayed second, could never get by the superior Red Bull it was nevertheless a decent day for the Ferrari team. Vettel maintained his P2 starting position and the pursuing Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton had no real chance of overtaking him on this notoriously narrow street circuit. Better yet, Kimi Raikkonen also ran well and kept Hamilton’s teammate Valtteri Bottas behind him, despite a gutsy early stop for the harder Super Soft compound tire by the second Silver Arrow. But tire strategy and jettisoning the new Hypersoft tires early was not enough for Bottas to make up positions after a mediocre qualifying and so Mercedes saw themselves bested by their biggest rivals at one of the rare circuits that simply does not suit their normally nonpareil chassis. The Ferraris of Vettel and Raikkonen finished P2 and P4 respectively while Hamilton & Bottas had to settle for P3 and P5. That reduced Vettel’s deficit to Hamilton down to 14 points while the Ferrari team whittled Mercedes’ advantage in the Constructors’ Championship to just 22 points. So overall a good weekend for Ferrari and a disappointing one for the Mercedes factory team who will be looking forward to stretching their legs again in Montreal in two weeks time.

Further back in the field, Esteban Ocon excelled for Force India, converting a clean and tidy run into a valuable P6 finish. Rookie Pierre Gasly once again showed his talent after a few bad luck races and brought his Toro Rosso home safely in P7. Nico Hulkenberg got a much needed result with a P8 finish, while his Renault teammate Carlos Sainz got the last point in P10, though the Spaniard was less than thrilled with the team’s decision to pit him early for the Ultra Soft Pirellis rather than what turned out to be the better option Super Softs.

Special mention should be made for Max Verstappen’s P9 finish. While that doesn’t sound very impressive for such an elite driver it was a very good salvage job by the young Dutchman after  he had put his Red Bull into the wall in free Practice 3 and damaged his gearbox severely enough to miss out on qualifying entirely. However, the Red Bull brain trust must still have been left wondering what might have been with two healthy cars in the race and perhaps starting from the 1-2 positions. While no one questions Verstappen’s supreme talent behind the wheel his costly risk taking in practice was yet another indication that in the big picture he’s got to mature into a smarter, more consistent racer if he’s ever going to take his place among the elite of F1.

Top 10 finishers of the Monaco GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 3 Daniel Ricciardo RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 78 1:42:54.807 25
2 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 78 +7.336s 18
3 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 78 +17.013s 15
4 7 Kimi Räikkönen FERRARI 78 +18.127s 12
5 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 78 +18.822s 10
6 31 Esteban Ocon FORCE INDIA MERCEDES 78 +23.667s 8
7 10 Pierre Gasly SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO HONDA 78 +24.331s 6
8 27 Nico Hulkenberg RENAULT 78 +24.839s 4
9 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 78 +25.317s 2
10 55 Carlos Sainz RENAULT 78 +69.013s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in two weeks from the always challenging and high speed Circuit Gille-Villeneuve in Montreal, Canada. Will the Silver Arrows to return to their front running form or can Ferrari build on their superior Monaco results? Or will Red Bull find the key for consistent performance and reliability from both cars & drivers to crash the Canadian party? Hope to see you then to find out!