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2023 F1 Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi — Qualifying results

Verstappen takes pole for final race in Abu Dhabi, earns 12th of season; Leclerc fights back for P2; Piastri best McLaren in P3 as Norris slides down to P5

Red Bull’s peerless Max Verstappen took the final pole of the season with aplomb during the last Saturday Qualifying of 2023 for tomorrow’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at Yas Marina Circuit. With nothing left to prove in his historically dominant World Championship campaign this year, Verstappen nevertheless outpaced the rest of the field to make it 12 total poles out of twenty-two race weekends. The flying Dutchman will go for his record-extending nineteenth victory of the season in Sunday evening’s Grand Prix under the futuristic light show of Yas Marina and it would be a brave man indeed who would bet against him.

The real battles in tomorrow’s race should be behind the now three-time champion, as Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc pulled a scorching lap out of the bag at the death of Q3 to set the second fastest time and earn the right to start alongside Verstappen on the front row. That makes it five front row starts in a row for the Monegasque, including three poles, as Leclerc looks not only to end his year on a high note with another podium but also help pull the Scuderia ahead of mighty Mercedes for P2 in the all-important Constructors’ standings. But both Ferrari and Mercedes had only one car progress into the final Quali session, as George Russell outpaced teammate Lewis Hamilton to the tune of P4 to P11, while the second Prancing Horse of Carlos Sainz had a disastrous effort that saw him bounced out in Q1 and starting tomorrow down in P16. Sainz had a heavy shunt in Free Practice 2 on Friday so perhaps his car is still ailing after the rebuild but certainly the Spaniard is also lacking for pace and confidence at this sneakily tricky track. Continue reading →

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Mexico City — Qualifying results

Ferrari lock out front row in Mexico City with surprise qualifying pace — Leclerc on pole, Sainz P2; Verstappen only good enough for P3: Norris bounced in Q1

In a bit of a Saturday surprise, Ferrari found unexpected pace during the final qualifying session at the high altitude and quite technical Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, with Charles Leclerc laying down a blistering lap midway through Q3 that stood all other subsequent challenges to earn the Monegasque pole position for Sunday’s Mexico City Grand Prix. His Scuderia stablemate Carlos Sainz was just a tick behind him in P2 and, to the surprise of F1 fans everywhere, as well as team Ferrari themselves, Red Bull’s peerless Max Verstappen could never close the gap to the Prancing Horses and had to settle for an uncharacteristic P3. Once again, it remains to be seen whether Ferrari can turn their one lap speed into race victory when confronted by what has been the outright superior long run pace of the Red Bull in Verstappen’s championship hands. But with hometown hero Sergio Perez only able to qualify his RB19 in P5, Ferrari have the ostensible advantage in the team game to try and thwart what is sure to be an aggressive challenge by Verstappen come Sunday.

Splitting the Red Bulls in another massive surprise was the AlphaTauri of Daniel Ricciardo. The affable Aussie, who missed several races with a fractured hand and hasn’t looked up to his old standard in the races he had driven after sitting out last year, managed to hustle his ride all the way to the fourth fastest lap in Q3. Starting from P4, Ricciardo might be asked to help out Verstappen and Perez come race day, as AlphaTauri are Red Bull’s sister team. But one has to hope that Ricciardo will be free to fly to see if can earn his own honors against the big boys at the front like in his glory days with Red Bull. Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton got as much as he could out of his Silver Arrow with a P6 time, while George Russell could only manage P8, a sign that the W14 is having real problems dealing with the thinner air at this high altitude circuit. Oliver Piastri slotted his McLaren behind Hamilton in P7 but was the lone McLaren to make it into the top ten due to teammate Lando Norris getting unceremoniously bounced out in Q1 after botching his hot laps and the team then botching their strategy in getting him out for a final flier before time expired on the young Briton. After taking an impressive P2 in the US Grand Prix at COTA a week ago, Norris will have it all to do to even score starting from way down in P19 here in Mexico.

The two Ferrari-engined Alfa Romeos of Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu also found a little something extra at altitude, with Bottas setting a final time good enough for P9 and Zhou content to save tires for the race and run only a few desultory laps en route to the tenth fastest time of Q3. Alfa Romeo’s success in quali came at the expense of Aston Martin and Alpine, with Aston’s Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll knocked out in Q2 and Q1 respectively and Alpine’s and Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon following that exact suit.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Mexico City GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:18.401 1:17.901 1:17.166 17
2 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:18.755 1:18.382 1:17.233 17
3 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:18.099 1:17.625 1:17.263 15
4 3 Daniel Ricciardo ALPHATAURI HONDA RBPT 1:18.341 1:17.706 1:17.382 15
5 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:18.553 1:18.124 1:17.423 16
6 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:18.677 1:17.571 1:17.454 18
7 81 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:18.241 1:17.874 1:17.623 18
8 63 George Russell MERCEDES 1:18.893 1:17.673 1:17.674 19
9 77 Valtteri Bottas ALFA ROMEO FERRARI 1:18.429 1:18.016 1:18.032 17
10 24 Zhou Guanyu ALFA ROMEO FERRARI 1:19.016 1:18.440 1:18.050 15

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Sunday’s race airs live on ABC beginning at 4PM Eastern here in the States. Hope to see you then to find out if Ferrari can convert their strong starting position into a win over Verstappen and Red Bull amidst the thin air and demanding challenges of Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez!

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Japan — Qualifying results

Verstappen and Red Bull back on form at Suzuka with dominant pole; Piastri impresses with P2, McLaren teammate Norris P3

After their uncharacteristically modest performance at a rare bogey track in Singapore a week ago, Red Bull and their peerless ace Max Verstappen retuned to their dominating form during Saturday Qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix. The uniquely twisty and flowing figure-eight Suzuka circuit allowed the RB15 to stretch its legs again after the cramped confines of Singapore’s Marina Bay Street Circuit and Verstappen blistered the field with the fastest Q3 lap, well over half second ahead of the P2 McLaren of Oscar Piastri. It was the biggest quali margin at Suzuka since way back in 2004 when the great Michael Schumacher set the pace that day. The result bodes well for Verstappen to get back to his winning ways after that anomalous hiccup a week ago, as well as for the team to clinch the Constructors’ title quite early if everything goes just right on Sunday. Conversely, it was an ominous portent for the rest of the competitive teams, Ferrari in particular, if they were hoping that Red Bull’s Singapore slump would somehow continue when they unloaded in Japan.

The rookie Piastri has been have a very fine second half of the season, as the team’s upgrades have really kicked in and the young Aussie seems to improve a little bit more every week. He bettered his more experienced teammate Lando Norris by a mere four-one hundredths and the papaya-clad duo really did seem to be the only ones within even sniffing distance of Verstappen in one-lap performance. That included the second Red Bull of teammate Sergio Perez, who found himself in P5 nearly eight-tenths down on Max. Perez also ended up in a Ferrari sandwich, with Charles Leclerc a bit quicker than him and taking P4 on the grid for tomorrow and last week’s race winner, Carlos Sainz, just behind of Perez in P6 but across from him come race day Those three are likely to be going at it hammer and tongs in tomorrow’s Grand Prix, which could hamper any of them from getting up to the McLarens and trying to climb onto the podium. Look for differing tire strategies to be a key part in just how the race unfolds among the top contenders.

Further down the order, Lewis Hamilton out-qualified Mercedes teammate George Russell for the first time since Belgium, P7 to P8. Rounding out the top ten qualifiers for tomorrow’s race, Yuki Tsunoda did himself proud in front of his countrymen and women by getting his AlphaTauri into Q3 and a final time good enough for ninth on the grid, while Fernando Alonso barely survived Q2 and couldn’t improve in Q3 either, settling for P10 in what seems to be a rapidly fading Aston Martin.

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:29.878 1:29.964 1:28.877 12
2 81 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:30.439 1:30.122 1:29.458 14
3 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:30.063 1:30.296 1:29.493 12
4 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:30.393 1:29.940 1:29.542 14
5 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:30.652 1:29.965 1:29.650 18
6 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:30.651 1:30.067 1:29.850 14
7 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:30.811 1:30.040 1:29.908 18
8 63 George Russell MERCEDES 1:30.811 1:30.268 1:30.219 15
9 22 Yuki Tsunoda ALPHATAURI HONDA RBPT 1:30.733 1:30.204 1:30.303 18
10 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 1:30.971 1:30.465 1:30.560 15

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN2 beginning at the ungodly hour of 1AM Eastern here in the States  So set that VCR or brew an especially strong pot of coffee to find out if Verstappen can get back to his usual winning ways and help team Red Bull clinch the Constructors’ title after only 16 races run!

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Singapore — Results & aftermath

RED BULL TAMED: Sainz & Ferrari snap Red Bull, Verstappen streaks with tense win in Singapore; Norris holds off Hamilton for P2 as Russell crashes out of podium position on final lap

In a tense and eventful Singapore Grand Prix, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Ferrari were able to do what no other driver had done in ten races and no other team had done in fifteen races: beat Max Verstappen and Red Bull respectively. With former teammate Lando Norris acting as wingman in his McLaren by holding off the hard charging Mercedes duo of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton in the final, fraught laps, Sainz mastered the circuit and his long run tire management to take his first victory for the Scuderia and Ferrari’s first since 2019 at this very same Marina Bay Circuit by a little under a second. Meanwhile, Red Bull’s struggles in Singapore proved to be too difficult to overcome in the short span of a race weekend and Max and the team both saw their record setting win streaks come to an abrupt end. With Verstappen starting from P11 and teammate Sergio Perez from thirteenth, the pair did the best they could with an inverse strategy of starting on Hard Pirellis while the rest of the top runners were on Mediums. But their best laid plans were stymied somewhat when the inevitable Singapore Safety Car was deployed on Lap 20. Due to where they were on the circuit when the SC came out, the team opted to keep running, which garnered them some track position but the front runners were all able to pit under yellow for cheaper first pit stops. Red Bull then pitted under green with Perez on Lap 40 & Verstappen the subsequent lap and ran their final 20-odd lap stint on the very effective Medium tires. Salvaging what they could on this rare bogey track for them and after that ill-timed early Safety Car, Verstappen was able to forcefully pass his way up to P5 and Perez, who had a bit of sloppy race that included a 5-second penalty for causing a collision with Oliver Piastri, was still good enough for P8. Japan and Suzuka next week should see the return of Red Bull dominance as the RB15, especially in Max’s hands, gets to stretch its legs properly again on a much faster course. But on Sunday, it was Sainz and Ferrari raising the trophies and bathing in champagne after what must have seemed an eternity for the team in the garage, pit wall, the braintrust back in Maranello and the legions of Prancing Horse devotees.

https://x.com/F1/status/1703459550270050443?s=20

It was a tale of two races, as the first part unfolded methodically with all drivers locked into their chosen tire strategies and therefore not pushing too hard on the first stint. The Safety Car on Lap 20 began spicing things up by forcing Red Bull to make the decision to stay out on their Hards while all the other contenders came in for cheap stops and switches to fresh Hards for their ostensible final stint. The utility of fresh rubber was quickly bourn out as the Red Bulls were  gobbled up by their pursuers within a handful of laps. First, Russell nabbed Verstappen for a true P2 on Lap 23. Then, Hamilton regained P5 against Perez two laps later. Hamilton passed Verstappen for P4 on Lap 27 and Leclerc followed that up with his own successful move on the Dutchman a lap after to get his Ferarri back to P5. But Leclerc never really recovered from a slow first stop when the Scuderia double-stacked their men but Leclerc was both further away from Sainz on entry and the mechanics were slow with his tire change. So, the leaders were really the quartet of Sainz, followed by Russell, then Norris and then Hamilton. The two Red Bulls finally made the decision to get off their Hards in favor of the Mediums for the rest of the race, first with Perez on lap 40, then Verstappen on lap 41. Once again, their timing was not optimal because the Alpine of Esteban Ocon, who had been having a superb race, came to an abrupt stop at Turn 2 near pit out, bringing out a Virtual Safety Car. Continue reading →

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Singapore — Qualifying results

SINGAPORE SHOCKER: Ferrari’s Sainz bests Mercedes’ Russell to take second consecutive pole, Leclerc P3; Red Bull find their bogey track as Verstappen & Perez knocked out in Q2

Saturday qualifying for tomorrow’s Singapore Grand Prix delivered a true shocker, with Red Bull, Formula 1’s dominant team by far in 2023, finally finding their bogey track by suffering unexpectedly poor performance at the tight & treacherous Marina Bay Street Circuit. Struggling with their car’s aero handling at this relatively slow speed but high downforce track since the start of practice on Friday, the team was unable to make the necessary corrections in time and watched in disbelief as first Sergio Perez spun before being able to claw his way out of the bottom five in Q2 and then Max Verstappen, the runaway championship points leader to this point, crossed the line on his final Q2 lap with a time only good enough for P10 and with several runners behind him still on hot laps. The ignominy was complete when AlphaTauri’s Liam Lawson, a raw rookie competing in only his third race weekend while subbing for the injured Daniel Ricciardo, bumped the Dutch Master down to P11 and out of qualifying. It was the first time since 2018 that neither Red Bull had advanced to Q3 and it puts the team’s 15-race winning streak, as well as Verstappen potentially extending his own record streak to 11 victories on the trot, in serious doubt at a confined circuit where passing is none too easy.

Red Bull’s first real speed bump of the season redounded to Ferrari’s success. Carlos Sainz was on his game all day, setting the pace throughout Q3 and then laying down a final last lap that withstood a very game challenge from Mercedes’ George Russell to secure pole by a whisper thin 0.072 seconds. It was the Spaniard’s second pole in a row after thrilling the fans in Monza two weeks ago. He will surely be hoping that Verstappen’s famed powers of recovery and miracle wins will be stymied come race day when the Dutchman has to fight his way up from P11 in what does not appear to be the fastest car on then track for once. Russell’s amazing final lap was obviously still good enough to secure an impressive P2 and a grid spot across from Sainz for tomorrow and the second Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, who had a few slight bobbles on his final effort that cost him, settled for P3. Ferrari have a real shot at the win tomorrow, which would be their first since 2019 when Sebastian Vettel led home Leclerc for a 1-2. The fact that long ago last win also came at Marina Bay Street Circuit will certainly buoy the team’s confidence, though they have got to avoid the sorts of unforced strategic, driver and pit execution errors that have plagued them for several years now.

McLaren’s Lando Norris, running upgrades on his car alone this weekend, was quite quick and able to secure P4 on the grid. Teammate Oscar Piastri’s quali effort were cut short by unluckily finding himself behind Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll when the Canadian driver crashed into the barriers quiet violently and brought out the Red Flag at the end of Q1. Stroll seemed OK, though his head appeared to take a wicked amount of lateral Gs on impact, but Piastri will now have to fight his way back to the points from down in P17 come tomorrow. Lewis Hamilton trailed his Silver Arrow teammate by quite a bit back in P5, while Kevin Magnussen had a spectacular effort for Hass, not only bettering teammate Nico Hulkenberg for the first time this year, P6 to P9, but also out-qualifying Aston ace Fernando Alonso. The veteran two-time champ could only muster the seventh best time in Q3, putting the team in a tough spot since Stroll will certainly struggle to score starting either last on the grid or from the pits (if in fact his car can even be rebuilt in time for the Grand Prix and he himself is healthy enough to go).

Rounding out the Top 10, Alpine’s Esteban Ocon took a decent P8, encouraging enough after the team were nowhere in Monza two weeks ago. And Liam Lawson was content to have the tenth fastest time in Q3, having already been the driver to knock out mighty Max Verstappen earlier, which certainly put the young Kiwi’s name front and center in the driver sweepstakes for next year.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Singapore GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:32.339 1:31.439 1:30.984 20
2 63 George Russell MERCEDES 1:32.331 1:31.743 1:31.056 17
3 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:32.406 1:32.012 1:31.063 21
4 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:32.483 1:31.951 1:31.270 20
5 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:32.651 1:32.019 1:31.485 16
6 20 Kevin Magnussen HAAS FERRARI 1:32.242 1:31.892 1:31.575 21
7 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 1:32.584 1:31.835 1:31.615 17
8 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 1:32.369 1:32.089 1:31.673 18
9 27 Nico Hulkenberg HAAS FERRARI 1:32.100 1:31.994 1:31.808 21
10 40 Liam Lawson ALPHATAURI HONDA RBPT 1:32.215 1:32.166 1:32.268 21

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN & ESPN+ beginning at 8AM Eastern here in the States. The Singapore night race is one of the most visually spectacular on the calendar and this jumbled up grid could also make it one of the most dramatic. Hope to see you then to find out if Ferrari can end their victory drought of if Verstappen and team Red Bull have a miracle up their sleeves to keep their streaks going!

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Belgium — Results & aftermath

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

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

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

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

Top 10 finishers of the Belgian GP:

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

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

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

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Monaco — Qualifying results

Verstappen grabs first Monaco pole with mighty effort in dying seconds of Q3, bumps game Alonso to P2; Leclerc slots in at P3 at home GP; Perez crashes out heavily in Q1

Formula 1 returned to action after the unfortunate cancellation of last week’s planed Emilia Romagna Grand Prix due to the catastrophic flooding in that beautiful region with a thrilling Saturday qualifying for tomorrow’s Monaco Grand Prix. Under clear and sunny skies and with the famed street circuit ever-evolving to the bitter end of Q3, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen pulled out a miracle final lap at the death to earn his first-ever pole in Monte Carlo, bumping the seemingly supreme time of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and relegating the veteran Spaniard to P2. That sets things up nicely for the points-leading Dutchman as he seeks to build on his seemingly unstoppable championship momentum after a frankly amazing run from ninth to victory in Miami twenty days ago. As for Alonso, even though he’s now still hunting his first pole in F1 since 2012, he’s certainly in the mix for the win tomorrow if he can get away to a good start and get ahead of Verstappen. The Aston Martin in Alonso’s hands is arguably the second best car on the grid and the Red Bull’s usual DRS advantage should be quite muted at this tight, slow speed circuit. Not to mention that Alonso also out-qualified both Ferraris on the day, bettering hometown hero Charles Leclerc*, who came home with the third fastest time, and teammate Carlos Sainz, who was not as quick at P5. (*Leclerc was subsequently penalized three grid positions post-qualifying when he was adjudged to have impeded Lando Norris.)

Alonso was also aided by Verstappen’s teammate and main title rival Sergio Perez’s unforced error in Q1, when the veteran Mexican, who has had his share of drama in Monte Carlo, overcooked it going into Sainte Devote and crashed heavily into the outside barriers at Turn 1 there. While Perez was unhurt, it was a heavy shunt that literally smashed the normally robust carbon fiber side pod to smithereens and likely ruined the gearbox and rear suspension, as well. So, on a day where team Red Bull were thrilled to have one driver on pole after a tight multi-car duel, don’t be surprised if Perez is forced to start from the pits tomorrow, making any sort of points finish a rather remote possibility on this near-impossible to overtake track. If Verstappen saunters away from Perez in the championship fight, his teammate’s rather inexplicable crash so early in quali will be pointed at as the season’s key turning point.

Alpine also showed really good pace on the day, with Esteban Ocon at one point topping the timing sheets late in Q3 but settling for P4 when the big boys had their say, and teammate Pierre Gasly notching a solid P7 effort. Lewis Hamilton out-qualified his Mercedes teammate George Russell, P6 to P8, despite having a shunt in the final practice session earlier in the day that required repairs and then struggling for pace in much of qualifying. And AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda did very well to take a solid P9, while McLaren’s Lando Norris had to settle for P10 after damaging his car in Q2 by hitting the outside barrier in the Nouvelle Chicane, his team nonetheless having done yeoman’s work in getting it repaired and able to turn some laps in Q3.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Monaco GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:12.386 1:11.908 1:11.365 30
2 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 1:12.886 1:12.107 1:11.449 25
3 16 Charles Leclerc* FERRARI 1:12.912 1:12.103 1:11.471 26
4 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 1:12.967 1:12.248 1:11.553 26
5 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:12.717 1:12.210 1:11.630 28
6 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:12.872 1:12.156 1:11.725 30
7 10 Pierre Gasly ALPINE RENAULT 1:13.033 1:12.169 1:11.933 25
8 63 George Russell MERCEDES 1:12.769 1:12.151 1:11.964 29
9 22 Yuki Tsunoda ALPHATAURI HONDA RBPT 1:12.642 1:12.249 1:12.082 29
10 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:12.877 1:12.377 1:12.254 23

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live at 9AM on ABC here in the States. While qualifying is usually the more exciting event than the actual race in Monaco, look for Alonso to keep Verstappen on his toes in the early going, as there is really nothing between the Aston and the Red Bull on this short street course. It should also be interesting to see if the Red Bull braintrust can figure out a way to get Perez back in the mix with some sort of bold strategy maneuver. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Azerbaijan — Results & aftermath

Perez cruises to victory with help from timely Safety Car, Verstappen P2 as Red Bulls run away in Baku; pole-sitter Leclerc P3 for first Ferrari podium of season

Confirming on Sunday what has been abundantly clear since Round 1 this season, the Drivers’ championship hunt is a two-man, intra-team Red Bull battle, with ostensible number two driver Sergio Perez surging to within 6 points of leader Max Verstappen after an absolutely dominant weekend in Azerbaijan. Making the most of the first Sprint race of the season, Perez won that 17-lap affair in fine fashion on Saturday to take the 8 points on offer. The veteran Mexican then powered his way from a P3 starting grid spot to another impressive victory in Sunday’s full length Grand Prix on the very tricky and treacherous Baku City Street Circuit. Perez took advantage of a slight strategic error by Verstappen’s side of the pit wall when they called the Dutchman in on Lap 10, when AlphaTauri rookie Nyck De Vries came to a stop on track after clipping a barrier. With Verstappen leading the race after an early Lap 4 pass on the pole-sitting Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, his strategists gambled on a momentary local yellow flag  or Virtual Safety Car period to make the switch off the opening-stint Medium Pirellis and onto the Hard compound to execute the preferred one-stopper. But De Vries was unable to restart, necessitating a Safety Car, which then allowed the rest of the main contenders to get ultra-cheap 11-second pit stops and allowed the second place Perez to emerge as the leader and Leclerc now also ahead of Verstappen in P2. When the race resumed on the very end of Lap 13, Perez scampered away deftly, while Verstappen showed the pace advantage inherent in the Red Bull chassis by dusting off Leclerc for that second position without delay and without need of the not yet reenabled DRS. While Verstappen could occasioanally close the gap to his teammate, the longer the 51-lap contest went on, the more Checo inched away from his grasp, in the end coming home over two-seconds ahead of his two-time champion teammate. That made it a massive 33 point haul for Perez over the race weekend to Verstappen’s 24. With no other cars able to challenge Red Bull to this point, it also signaled game on for what could be the best intra-team battle since Hamilton vs. Rosberg in 2016.

While Ferrari’s Leclerc earned pole in both the Sprint and the GP, the Monegasque was unable to convert either of those into victory due to the obvious limitations of the SF-23 in race conditions. In fact, Lecerc has technically won four poles in a row in Azerbaijan if this year’s Sprint is included but has yet to take a victory in Baku. Nevertheless, the Monegasque drove efficiently and held off a hard charging Fernando Alonso for the latter part of the contest to take P3 and earn the Scuderia’s first podium of the season. As things stand now in relation to the peerless Red Bulls, that’s probably about the best result Ferrari can expect barring reliability issues for their rivals. While Alonso didn’t quite have the pace on old Hard tires to hunt down Leclerc he did score another impressive result for the massively improved Aston Martin team, crossing the line in P4 as the checkers flew. Teammate Lance Stroll, who suffered with grip more than Alonso, nearly losing it going into Turn 1 at one point, was able to come home safely in P7, shoring up the team’s improbable P2 in the Constructors’ standings. The second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz drove well enough to keep the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton at bay and finish P5, while Hamilton recovered from a poorly timed pre-Safety Car pit stop to take P6, overtaking Stroll on Lap 20 for that position after the Canadian made an error going into Turn 16. On a weekend when Mercedes were pretty clearly the fourth best team, the second Silver Arrow of George Russell had a fairly lackluster time of it in Baku and had to settle for P8, though the young Briton did set the fastest lap for an extra point after a late switch to Soft Pirellis on the penultimate lap. McLaren’s Lando Norris and AlfaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda rounded out the Top 10 finishers in Azerbaijan coming home in P9 and P10 respectively.

Top 10 finishers of the Azerbaijan GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 51 1:32:42.436 25
2 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 51 +2.137s 18
3 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 51 +21.217s 15
4 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 51 +22.024s 12
5 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 51 +45.491s 10
6 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 51 +46.145s 8
7 18 Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 51 +51.617s 6
8 63 George Russell MERCEDES 51 +74.240s 5
9 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 51 +80.376s 2
10 22 Yuki Tsunoda ALPHATAURI HONDA RBPT 51 +83.862s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in but a week’s time — the Miami Grand Prix, the first of three United States-hosted contests this year. With Perez full of confidence and a master of the street race, look for the Mexican to be right on pace with teammate Verstappen and up for the increasingly intriguing championship fight. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Australia — Results & aftermath

Verstappen prevails is chaotic, incident-filled Aussie GP; Hamilton runs to a clean P2, Alonso survives late-race carnage & rulings for P3

The only predictable thing in Sunday’s absolutely bonkers Australian Grand Prix at the tricky Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne was Red Bull’s Max Verstappen taking victory. The rest of the race was pure chaos that featured a record three Red Flag periods for debris clean up, followed by nail-biting two standing restarts from the grid, and, not coincidentally, a whopping eight retirements. With the race already having been effected by the first Red Flag on Lap 9 after Williams’s Alexander Albon lost control and crashed out at Turn 7, spewing gravel all over the track that necessitated a lengthy cleanup, it seemed that the results would come down simply to long run tire management by the top 3 of Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso. But right after Verstappen seemed to show a hint of vulnerability on Lap 54 of this 58-lap contest by running off track and through the grass after locking up on his aging Hard Pirellis, the real drama began in earnest. On that same lap, Haas’s Kevin Magnussen misjudged his exit coming out of Turn 2 and bashed his rear right into the concrete barrier. That knocked the rubber off the rim as well as shattering Magnussen’s suspension and a second Red Flag was thrown on Lap 55 to clean up the debris field & haul away the stricken Haas, as well as preserve a few precious final racing laps and not end under yellow. The stewards then made the momentous decision to restart the race from the grid once again, rather than a more conventional rolling start behind the Safety Car, thereby turning the Down Under GP into a 2-lap shootout.

This backfired rather spectacularly when the cars sped off in anger again, as first the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz got into Alonso’s Aston Martin, spinning his fellow Spaniard around amidst a pack of snarling F1 cars. Directly or indirectly, that had the knock-on effect of forcing the Alpine of Pierre Gasly across the road and into the front left tire of his teammate Esteban Ocon, wrecking both of their cars in the process and robbing the team of a certain double-points finish. As a result of all that mayhem, another Red Flag was thrown with no chance of any more competitive laps being left to run. Now the debate within the FIA race directors and rules experts was on how to classify the field for the final ceremonial restart. After another long delay, it was decided that the order would be determined by the positions upon the prior restart, as the field had not even completed one sector before the last Red Flag had come out. That was great news for Alonso and Aston teammate Lance Stroll, the latter having also lost a ton of spots outbreaking himself amidst the mayhem. And while it seemed to be good news for the lone surviving Ferrari of Carlos Sainz in P4, that joy was extremely short lived when the stewards handed down a 5-second penalty to Sainz for the earlier contact with Alonso. With the twelve cars surviving to take the checkered flag all bunched together behind the Safety Car and no racing on the final lap, that saw the disconsolate Sainz dropped out of the points to dead last of the runners in P12. It made for a miserable, pointless day for the fabled Scuderia, which also suffered the ignominy of seeing their other pilot, Charles Leclerc, crash out and beach himself on the very first lap while  going into Turn 1 after contact with Stroll. To say Ferrari and their drivers are seriously in trouble in their championship pursuits after just three rounds would be an understatement.

Possibly lost in all that drama and incident was Verstappen’s first win in Australia and second of the season. And while it didn’t look as if Hamilton or Alonso really had anything for the Dutch points leader, particularly in the face of the Red Bull’s seemingly invincible advantage while using DRS, it was still an excellent race for both veterans, who joined Verstappen on the podium to make it three World Champions taking home trophies when the GP finally ended. Hamilton withstood Alonso’s best efforts and kept it clean to maintain a solid P2, even briefly taking the lead from Verstappen early in the race. That gives some hope and momentum to the Silver Arrows in their quest to creep closer to the imperious Red Bulls. It was also doubly important that Hamilton scored big points on the day because teammate George Russell was forced to retire on Lap 18 when something in his engine caught on fire. For Alonso, who looked like he had been punted out of the points by Sainz, it was another sweet day on what is turning out to be a 2023 renaissance. With his P3 restored after the collision with Sainz and teammate Stroll promoted back up to P4 after Sainz’s penalty, it was also a banner day for Aston Martin, which have made themselves a genuine fourth powerhouse team in F1. Spare a kind word for Sergio Perez, as well. The second Red Bull had to start from the pits after a disastrous qualifying and some engine tweaks while in parc fermé. But the talented Mexican, who excels at driving through the field, patiently worked his way up to P7 at the time of the penultimate Red Flag. And, while he went dirt tracking through the mayhem on that fateful final proper restart, losing several spots in the process, between the ruling on the actual race positions reverting to prior to that start, the double DNF of the Alpines and the penalty to Sainz, that pulled Checo all the way up to a very respectable and hard-earned P5.

If Alpine had a disaster with their late race shunt between teammates and subsequent double DNF, team McLaren finally caught a break after a dismal zero-points start to this year’s campaign. Lando Norris was able to finish in P6 and rookie teammate & Melbourne native Oscar Piastri got a fairy tale P8 in his literal hometown Grand Prix.  Alfa Romero’s Zho Guanyu and AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda also capitalized on the carnage to come home safely in P9 and P10 respectively.

Top 10 finishers of the Australian GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 58 2:32:38.371 25
2 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 58 +0.179s 18
3 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 58 +0.769s 15
4 18 Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 58 +3.082s 12
5 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 58 +3.320s 11
6 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 58 +3.701s 8
7 27 Nico Hulkenberg HAAS FERRARI 58 +4.939s 6
8 81 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES 58 +5.382s 4
9 24 Zhou Guanyu ALFA ROMEO FERRARI 58 +5.713s 2
10 22 Yuki Tsunoda ALPHATAURI HONDA RBPT 58 +6.052s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

Somewhat suitably after this epic, bizarre and frankly exhausting contest in Australia, the next race is in three weeks time — the equally unpredictable Azerbaijan Grand Prix on the perilous streets if Baku. So rest up and I’ll hope to see you then for what should be even more crazy F1 action!

2022 F1 Grand Prix of Italy — Results & aftermath

Red Bull’s Verstappen recovers from P7 start to take victory at Safety Car-shortened Italian GP; Ferrari’s Leclerc P2, Mercedes’ Russell P3

Red Bull’s peerless Max Verstappen continued his relentless march to a second consecutive World Championship on Sunday, recovering from a penalty-influenced P7 start on the grid to surge to victory at the Italian Grand Prix, relegating the pole-sitting Ferrari of Charles Leclerc to runner-up status in the process. In somewhat anticlimactic fashion, the tifosi at the jam-packed Autodromo Nazionale Monza were denied a potential late race shootout when the McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo came to a stop between the Lesmo curves on Lap 47 of this 53-lap contest. Hoping for a potential Red Flag to compress Verstappen’s large lead over  Leclerc, the race officials instead allowed the race to peter out behind the Safety Car in non-competitive fashion, despite the fact that extracting the McLaren its parking place required the use of a crane on the track while the cars were circulating behind the SC Nevertheless, Verstappen was clearly the class of the field on this day, as he has been for the majority of the season, and there was little reason to believe that Leclerc could have matched the Red Bull’s pace in a three or four-lap shootout. For Verstappen, it was his first career victory at Monza but his fifth win in a row and astonishing eleventh victory in the 16 rounds of the F1 season so far. Now with a seemingly unassailable 116-point lead over Leclerc in the Drivers’ standings it looks like all but a formality that the Dutch master will wear his second Formula 1 crown when the twenty-second and final round is run at Abu Dhabi in late November.

While Ferrari tried to give Leclerc every strategic advantage, pitting the Monegasque early and cheaply during a brief Virtual Safety Car on L13 to try and gain time on Verstappen in the pits, the on-track pace of the Red Bull was simply too much for the Prancing Horses to handle. Before that final Safety Car, Verstappen’s advantage to Leclerc was some eighteen seconds with only the six laps remaining, an impossible deficit for the P2 Ferrari to overcome under green flag conditions. The second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz did well to haul himself up to a P4 finish after being forced to start from P18 due to engine component penalties, a major issue for not only Verstappen and Sainz but many contenders throughout the field. Mercedes’ George Russell was able to better Sainz for the last spot on the podium in P3 despite running a long stint on the rather poorly performing Hard tires, while Lewis Hamilton drove an outstanding race to recover from a penalty-induced P19 start to a solid P5 finish. Hamilton ran an exceptionally long 34-lap first stint on Medium Pirellis before switching to the faster Soft tires and then carved his way through the midfield and back up to that impressive P5.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

The second Red Bull of Sergio Perez started P13 and finished P6, although he might have done better had the team not been concerned about possible tire failure and called the Mexican in for a late change on Lap 43. Still, Perez was able to nick the point for fastest lap of the race due to that fast and fresh rubber. With Riccardo out after looking like scoring good points, the sole remaining McLaren of Lando Norris salvaged P7 for the team on a day where their closest rivals in the Constructors’ standings, Alpine, scored zero points. AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly had a positive P8 finish in what has been a nightmare season for the team that has the talented young Frenchman eyeing a move to the more competitive Alpine team for next season. Rookie Nyck De Vries not only made his F1 debut in the Williams, subbing on short notice for the ailing Alexander Albon who was stricken with appendicitis overnight on Saturday, but the young Dutch Mercedes reserve driver scored points in his first F1 GP by coming home in P9. He showed enough talent and poise to warrant another race start sometime soon and skillfully kept the Alfa Romeo of Zho Guanyu behind him and relegating the Chinese rookie to P10.

Top 10 finishers of the Italian GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING RBPT 53 1:20:27.511 25
2 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 53 +2.446s 18
3 63 George Russell MERCEDES 53 +3.405s 15
4 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 53 +5.061s 12
5 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 53 +5.380s 10
6 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING RBPT 53 +6.091s 9
7 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 53 +6.207s 6
8 10 Pierre Gasly ALPHATAURI RBPT 53 +6.396s 4
9 45 Nyck De Vries WILLIAMS MERCEDES 53 +7.122s 2
10 24 Zhou Guanyu ALFA ROMEO FERRARI 53 +7.910s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

After a grueling stretch of three races in a row coming out of the summer break, the next tilt is in three weeks’ time — the return of the dazzling nocturnal Singapore Grand Prix street race after a two-year Covid-induced absence. While nobody seems able to stop Verstappen these days, the tricky and ultra-tight Marina Bay Street Circuit always throws up it’s fair share of surprises. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!