Tag Archives: Alpine

2024 F1 Grand Prix of Miami — Results & aftermath

McLaren’s Norris earns maiden win in Miami with brilliant drive & a little luck; Verstappen relegated to rare P2 in fair fight, Leclerc P3 for Ferrari

McLaren’s Lando Norris drove the race of his life at the Miami Grand Prix on Sunday, using his ever improving skills as a driver, the new upgrades on his MCL38 chassis and little bit of Safety Car luck to earn his maiden win in Formula 1 in spectacular fashion. Having knocked on the door with seven podiums over the course of a F1 career that began in the middle of the 2018 season, the 24-year-old Briton finally kicked down that barrier to take the top step of the podium ahead of the usually imperious Red Bull of Max Verstappen by an impressive 7.612 seconds. After coming a cropper on the first lap of Saturday’s Sprint race, Norris excelled in Sunday’s GP, even though he started from back in P5 on the grid. With Verstappen looking fully in control and en route to another easy win midway through this 57-lap contest, and teammate Oscar Piastri actually seeming the quicker car in the early going, Norris made his own luck by running an extra-long first stint on his initial Medium Pirelli tires. While some contenders pitted under a brief Virtual Safety Car deployed on Lap 23 to retrieve a loose bollard from the chicane that Verstappen had knocked onto the track a few laps earlier, including Max himself, the two McLarens were not in position to take the risk of the VSC ending while in the pits and stayed out. It proved to be a prescient decision.

When the action resumed at the end of that lap, Verstappen had been shuffled back to P4, with Piastri now in the lead, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz in P2 and Norris in third. Piastri and Sainz then pitted under green flag conditions on Lap 28, both going from Mediums to Hards under the favored one-stop strategy, with Norris then inheriting the lead and presumably attempting a one-lap overcut strategy. But that plan paid even bigger dividends when the Haas of Kevin Magnussen came together with the Williams of local boy Logan Sargeant on the very same lap, spinning Sargent backwards into the barriers and disabling his car. A Safety Car to retrieve the stricken Williams was quickly deployed on Lap 29, enabling Norris to duck into the pits for the cheap stop under the full course yellow a lap later. Norris then reemerged still in the lead, setting up a showdown for the victory with Verstappen when the SC ended in the latter part of Lap 32. The pace in the McLaren being up to the challenge, Norris held off Verstappen with aplomb at the rolling the restart and then, to the capacity crowd’s astonishment, began pulling away from the flying Dutchman. With the tension and anticipation of something truly special unfolding as the laps wound down, Norris kept pulling away from Verstappen, who for once could do nothing to get back up to Norris and make a real challenge. Perhaps the Red Bull’s front wing was damaged from hitting that bollard or perhaps the McLaren in Norris’s hands truly had the legs on the RB20 on this day — or maybe little of both. But when the checkers flew it was an ecstatic Norris with that all important first Formula 1 victory to put McLaren back in the winners circle for the first time since 2021 and relegate the runaway championship favorite Verstappen to a wholly unaccustomed P2.

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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 Las Vegas — Results & aftermath

Verstappen aces out Leclerc for win in action packed Las Vegas GP; Leclerc salvages P2 with last lap pass on Perez

Red Bull’s peerless Max verstappen continued his historic season by taking the win in the return of the Las Vegas Grand Prix after an absence of 41 years. But it was hardly smooth sailing for the already-crowned World Champion on the brand new and quite high speed Las Vegas Street Circuit. While Verstappen made his typically superior getaway to pass the pole-sitting Ferrari of Charles Leclerc at the start of the race steaming into Turn 1, he was adjudged a tad too forceful in pushing Leclerc’s Prancing Horse off the track and was eventually handed a 5-second time penalty. Meanwhile behind the skirmish at the front, a number off cars made minor contact as they got away and compressed under braking and the debris left behind prompted a quick Virtual Safety Car for cleanup. Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez and Fernando Alonso both ducked into the pits under that VSC for new front wings as a result of all that contact, which started when Alonso spun out on the slick surface. The race resumed on Lap 3 but was quickly halted again when something failed on the McLaren of Lando Norris and he went flying into the barriers in the runoff area at Turn 11. It was a heavy hit that required a full Safety Car for repairs and retrieval. Norris was eventually taken to hospital for observation but thanks fully released not long after.

The race resumed again at the end of Lap 6, with Verstappen managing the restart with aplomb but being told about the stewards’ judgement against him. With his initial set of Medium Pirellis already going off, however, Leclerc was actually able to re-pass Verstappen for the lead on Lap 16 without needing those 5-seconds, prompting the Red Bull braintrust to call their main man into the pits on the subsequent lap for a switch to fresh Hards and the serving of his sanction. Following him in were the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and the sole surviving McLaren of Oscar Piastri, who had just made contact with each other. Hamilton got the worst of the exchange and had to limp in with a puncture but Piastri also needed repairs (although the young Aussie chose to stay on Hard tires meaning he still owed a mandatory pit stop later in the race) and both drivers lost valuable track position due to the incident. Continue reading →

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Las Vegas — Qualifying results

Ferrari fastest in Vegas with Leclerc taking pole, Sainz P2; Verstappen off his usual pace in P3, as shiny new street circuit & cool nighttime temps scramble field

Ferrari were unquestionably the fastest team at the brand new Las Vegas Street Circuit during midnight Saturday qualifying for Saturday night’s Las Vegas Grand Prix. Despite not really being a similar circuit, the Scuderia harkened back to their superior pace at Singapore earlier in the season, outpacing the usually dominant Red Bull of Max Verstappen. With the only real question being which of the two Prancing Horses would take pole, it was Charles Leclerc who bested teammate Carlos Sainz by a minuscule 0.044 seconds, but over three-tenths ahead of Verstappen’s best effort in Q3. Unfortunately for Sainz and Ferrari, though, the Spaniard will be assessed a ten-place grid penalty for the race after he sucked up a drain cover earlier in Free Practice 1, resulting in heavy damage to his car and the need to take a new battery outside his allotment for the year. It seems unfair that Sainz should be penalized for something completely out of his control and due to the teething issues any new street circuit is prone to encounter, but them’s the rules, as they say, and no dispensation was given by the FIA despite Ferrari’s appeals. So that demotes Sainz down to P12 despite his superb quali effort and moves Verstappen to P2 alongside Leclerc on the front row. Continue reading →

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Mexico City — Results & aftermath

Verstapen surges to record 16th win in Mexico City with spectacular race start; Hamilton overtakes Leclerc for P2 after Red Flag restart; luckless Perez out early after Lap 1 contact with Leclerc

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen made his typically aggressive opening lap moves stick and converted a Lap1, Turn 1 pass on both leading Ferraris into an eventual victory in Sunday’s Mexico City Grand Prix. Despite being out-qualified by the pole-sitting Charles Leclerc and P2 Carlos Sainz, Verstappen used his P3 grid spot to launch a ferocious, right down the middle attack between the two Prancing Horses, emerging as the race leader after the very first turn at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. His teammate Sergio Perez tried to manage the same trick along the outside of Leclerc but ran out of room, touching tires with the Monegasque’s mount as he tried to avoid being sandwiched by the twin Red Bulls, which sent his Perez’s car airborne and into a hard landing in the runoff area. The crowd of his countrymen, so excited all weekend long, watched in mounting despair as Perez first limped his car back to the pits and then retired a few laps later when the damage was deemed too great to continue. It was another shocking result for Perez, whose season has completely unraveled after a strong start, and at the most painful venue imaginable for the proud Mexican driver.

Verstappen’s pace advantage was such that he not only pulled out a solid lead over P2 Leclerc right from the get go but was also able to doff his first set of Medium Pirellis tires in favor of the Hards much earlier than most of his competition, coming in on Lap 19 of this 71-lap contest. While he emerged in P7, he easily passed the Mercedes of George Russell for P6 on Lap 22 and then the McLaren of Oscar Piastri for P5 a lap later. As Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton pitted his Silver Arrow on Lap 25 for his own set of Hards, Verstappen made another overtake on the overachieving AlphaTauri of Daniel Ricciardo to get up to P3. The reigning World Champion then methodically hunted down Carlos Sainz’s P2 Ferrari, getting by the Spaniard on Lap 29. Ferrari then concluded that they had extended their first stint long enough and brought first Sainz in on Lap 31 and then the race leading Leclerc a lap later to give Verstappen P1 once again.

On Lap 33 the orderly sequence of events was disrupted by a massive shunt into the barriers at Turn 8 by Haas’s Kevin Magnussen. While Magnussen was gratefully uninjured, the race was quickly Red Flagged to clean the debris from his destroyed car and repair the heavily deformed Tecpro barriers. After a 20-minute delay, the race resumed on Lap 36 with a standing start and Verstappen once again breezed away, rapidly gapping the trailing Leclerc. Hot on that P2 Ferrari’s tail, though, was now Hamilton, who had changed to fresh Mediums during the Red Flag and now had the early stint advantage over Lecerc and his Hards. By Lap 40, Hamilton had made up enough ground in methodical pursuit to make a forceful lunge down the start finish straight, going wide along the outside of the track and kicking up dirt but successfully pulling past Leclerc while steaming into Turn 1. With the remaining 30-odd laps being somewhat uneventful at the front, Hamilton was never able to truly challenge Verstappen, who cruised to his record-extending 16th victory of the season out of 19 races run by a whopping 13.875 seconds over his closest nemesis of years gone by. P2 was still a fine result for Hamilton after having started from back in P6, while teammate George Russell seemed to lack for raw pace against the other elites and had to settle for P6. Leclerc came home in third place, as once again the Ferrari could not sustain their one-lap qualifying pace over the long haul. Still, he survived a partially broken front wing after the first lap incident with Perez and was able to fend off teammate in the closing laps to keep his feet on the podium and relegate Sainz to P4.

Perhaps the best drive of the day was by McLaren’s Lando Norris, who started a lowly P17 after a messed up Saturday qualifying by both team and driver. But Norris was spectacular in optimizing a clever strategy and benefitted from a little luck and a lot of skill to finish all the way up in P5. Such was Norris’ pace that the team moved Piastri out of his way on Lap 56 so Norris could hunt down Daniel Ricciardo and Russell ahead and maximize his points on the day. This the young Briton did with aplomb, getting by the Aussie’s AlphaTauri on Lap 60 and then Russell’s Silver Arrow on Lap 67. That secured Norris a mighty fifth place result, with Piastri scoring decent points for McLaren’s Contractors’ aspirations in P8. Ricciardo also had a fine day to finish P7, scoring the first points of his rather injury and rust disrupted 2023 campaign. Rounding out the Top Ten, Alexander Albon also had an excellent drive to pull his Williams up from a P14 start after a poor qualifying effort to a P9 finish, while Esteban Ocon salvaged a point for Alpine in P10.

Top 10 finishers of the Mexico City GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 71 2:02:30.814 25
2 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 71 +13.875s 19
3 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 71 +23.124s 15
4 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 71 +27.154s 12
5 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 71 +33.266s 10
6 63 George Russell MERCEDES 71 +41.020s 8
7 3 Daniel Ricciardo ALPHATAURI HONDA RBPT 71 +41.570s 6
8 81 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES 71 +43.104s 4
9 23 Alexander Albon WILLIAMS MERCEDES 71 +48.573s 2
10 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 71 +62.879s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is but a week away as the three race weekends in a row culminated in Brazil for the São Paulo Grand Prix at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace, aka Interlagos. While Mercedes seem to be creeping closer to Red Beull’s phenomenal pace and Ferrari also look competitive anew, it’s hard not to bet on Verstappen coming out on top yet again in his amazing 2023 campaign. But, as they say, that’s why they run the race’s — and with only three of them left before the long, cold winter break I hope to see you then to savor the late season action and find out how it all shakes out!

2023 F1 Grand Prix of the United States — Qualifying results

Leclerc bests Norris for USGP pole at COTA, Hamilton earns P3 for Sunday’s race; Verstappen drops from P1 to P6 after final lap deleted due to track limits violation

Formula 1 returned to the United States for the second of three planned visits in 2023, this time to the fantastic Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas for the United States Grand Prix. Round 19 was once again another frantic Sprint weekend for the second race in a row so, qualifying for Sunday’s race took place on Friday, while the Sprint Shootout qualifying and the Sprint will occur on Saturday. On the fast and flowing COTA in front of a packed house on a hot Texas day, it was Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc who came away with pole for the actual race, once again excelling on a Sprint weekend. Leclerc was genuinely fast here but he also benefitted from a rare mistake by Max Verstappen late in Q3. The Red Bull ace, who has already been crowned World Champion with five races still to be run, was pushing hard on his final flying lap but overstepped track limits at Turn 19. So, while he crossed the line with the session’s fastest time unofficially, it was quickly deleted by the stewards for the infraction, plunging him back down the order based on his earlier official time. Unable to try again, Verstappen was eventually relegated to a P6 start for Sunday’s Grand Prix, an unenviable position even for the three-time champ on a circuit where no driver has won from below the front row.

That last, somewhat curious statistic must certainly cheer Leclerc, who is still seeking his first win of 2023, and it certainly also heartened McLaren’s Lando Norris, who ran a nice clean quali and slotted in across from Leclerc in P2, 0.13-seconds off the Monegasque’s pole-setting pace. Lewis Hamilton was also in the mix on a track where he always seems to thrive, wrestling his Mercedes to the third fastest Q3 lap, while teammate George Russell earned P5 on the grid by besting Verstappen’s previously set time. Leclerc’s Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz split the Silver Arrows in P5 and the Alpines of Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon came home P7 and P8 respectively. Sergio Perez continued his recent slump in the second Red Bull and bewilderingly could only manage the ninth fastest time. Likewise, Oliver Piastri was not close to McLaren teammate Norris’s pace a fortnight after beating him out for P2 in the Qatar GP. Starting in P10, the talented young Aussie will have his work cut out for him to get back on the podium come race day in Austin.

Most significantly outside the top 10 qualifiers, Aston Martin’s second-half slide continued, as new “upgrades” for this weekend proved to be duds due to problems getting the cars on track in the only pre-qualifying practice session earlier in the day. Fernando Alonso failed to get to Q3 for the first time this year and was unceremoniously knocked out in Q1, along with troubled teammate Lance Stroll. Alonso will start the race a lowly P17 and Stroll, who is facing heaps of criticism for shoving his physio during qualifying in Qatar, will start P19. That leaves Aston Martin praying for at least some points from the Saturday Sprint, as they feel soaring McLaren’s hot breath on their necks for P4 in the Constructors’ Championship.

Top 10 qualifiers for United States GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:36.061 1:35.004 1:34.723 21
2 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:35.110 1:35.441 1:34.853 20
3 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:35.091 1:35.240 1:34.862 18
4 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:35.824 1:35.302 1:34.945 18
5 63 George Russell MERCEDES 1:36.165 1:35.606 1:35.079 18
6 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:35.346 1:35.008 1:35.081 18
7 10 Pierre Gasly ALPINE RENAULT 1:36.158 1:35.496 1:35.089 19
8 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 1:36.131 1:35.413 1:35.154 21
9 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:35.989 1:35.679 1:35.173 17
10 81 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:36.064 1:35.576 1:35.467 20

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Sunday’s race airs live on ABC beginning at 3PM Eastern here in the States. With so many cars and drivers loving COTA’s unique challenges and showing genuine pace, and with Verstappen handicapped by a P6 grid position, it truly could be anyone’s race. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Qatar — Results & aftermath

Verstappen puts exclamation point on third championship with win in Qatar GP; Piastri, Norris P2 & P3 for high flying McLaren; Russell survives opening lap incident with teammate Hamilton, recovers to impressive P4 finish

After clinching his third consecutive Drivers’ World Championship by virtue of his second place finish in Saturday’s Sprint race, Red Bull’s peerless Max Verstappen went out and put a further stamp on his dominant 2023 by winning the Qatar Grand Prix on Sunday. Despite no longer needing the win, the flying Dutchman nevertheless put his head down during hot and humid evening conditions at Lusail International Circuit and held off the best efforts of the massively improved McLarens of Oliver Piastri and Lando Norris. In the end, it was Verstappen’s eye-popping fourteenth win of the season out of seventeen races run. That’s one behind his own record total from last year so, you can be sure he’ll be looking to exceed even that high bar with five more GP still to go. While Verstappen “only” won by 4.8 seconds over the impressive young Piastri, some of that close margin was undoubtedly due to Pirelli and the FIA mandating maximum 18-lap tire stints out of safety concerns for the durability of the rubber while being punished by the harsh curbs of Lusail, making for three to four stops durning the 57-lap contest, many more than a normal F1 race.

 

The dynamic McLaren duo of Piastri and Norris excelled during the race after starting from P6 and P10 respectively. They were aided in their podium pursuit by an opening lap incident between Mercedes teammates George Russell and Lewis Hamilton when the two collided while steaming into Turn 1. Hamilton, who would later accept the blame for  the collision, tried to force his way past Russell on the outside but there wasn’t enough room and Lewis bounced off his junior teammate, ending up beached in the gravel trap and without a rear right tire. While Hamilton was out on the spot, an exceedingly rare DNF for the seven-time champ, Russell was able to limp back to the pits for a new front wing under Safety Car conditions. That put the exasperated Englishman right at the back of the field. But Piastri was able to capitalize on the mayhem to make a passel of passes before the Lap 1 SC emerged and climbed all the way to P2. Norris was also ambitious and pushed himself to P6. With the McLaren pace advantage  now essentially second best in the field behind Red Bull due to their spectacular in season development, Piastri was able to keep a firm hold on P2 and Norris eventually hustled his way up to P3, where the talented young pair finished the race. It was the second consecutive double podium for the papaya-clad cars and also marked Piastri’s best ever F1 finish. It also elevated McLaren to a mere eleven points behind fading Aston Martin for fourth in the Constructors’ points.

With the help of some tough love from team boss Toto Wolff, Russell managed to get the better of his emotions after the unfortunate clash with Hamilton and then ran a really superb recovery race, maximizing the performance of his Hard tire stint in particular before switching to Softs to finish out the contest and securing a rather miraculous P4. Charles Leclerc was the lone Ferrari to start the race after a fuel leak was discovered on Carlos Sainz’s car  without enough time to repair it before the Formation Lap. While the Monegasque didn’t have the speed of the top four,  he kept it clean while others around him racked up track limits penalties in bunches and took P5 when all was said and done. Aston’s Fernando Alonso had an eventful race to say the least, surviving a hairy offtrack excursion on Lap 33 and then escaping with a post-race reprimand for unsafely rejoining the circuit rather than a time penalty. The Spanish two time champion was able to hang onto his unruly mount after that and survive for a decent P6 finish. Alpine’s Esteban Ocon drove well and aggressively to come home P7, while the two Alfa Romeos of Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu both finished in the points for the first time this season, in P8 and P9 respectively. Zhou was helped to that result by multiple track limits penalties leading to demotions of his closest rivals, including the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez, who survived a whopping three 5-second penalties for repeatedly going over the white lines to take the last point in P10. It was a sloppy effort by the Mexican, whose season started out looking like a genuine threat to Max’s ambitions but has comprehensively devolved into a distant and not very persuasive second in the Drivers’ points.

Top 10 finishers of the Qatar GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 57 1:27:39.168 26
2 81 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES 57 +4.833s 18
3 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 57 +5.969s 15
4 63 George Russell MERCEDES 57 +34.119s 12
5 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 57 +38.976s 10
6 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 57 +49.032s 8
7 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 57 +62.390s 6
8 77 Valtteri Bottas ALFA ROMEO FERRARI 57 +66.563s 4
9 24 Zhou Guanyu ALFA ROMEO FERRARI 57 +76.127s 2
10 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 57 +80.181s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in a fortnight’s time as Formula 1 returns to the United States for a second time this year — the US Grand Prix from beautiful Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. Can McLaren take the next step and knock Verstappen out of the top spot in a fair fight? Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Qatar — Qualifying results

Verstappen takes race pole under tricky conditions at windy, sandy Lusail Circuit; Russell P2, Hamilton P3 — Piastri wins Saturday Sprint while Verstappen earns third consecutive championship with second place points

F1’s gimmicky Sprint Race format achieved its unintended apex when Red Bull’s peerless Max Verstappen was able to clinch his third consecutive Drivers’ Championship by finishing second in the Saturday Sprint race. Those seven points earned for P2 put him mathematically out of reach of his closest pursuer, teammate Sergio Perez, who collided with Esteban Ocon and Nico Hulkenberg to DNF in the Sprint, with only five more race weekends remaining. While it was an event-filled few days of qualifying, Sprint qualifying and then the actual Sprint due to a very green, newly repaved Lusail International Circuit plus very gusty and sandy conditions making for treacherously low grip, the early coronation in the short race does rob tomorrow’s Grand Prix of any real significance. Verstappen, who only qualified third for the Sprint and watches as the pole-sitting Oliver Piastri flight back against Mercedes’ George Russell to earn his first Formula 1 win, did earn pole for Sunday’s GP ahead of the Mercedes duo of Russell and Lewis Hamilton. Track limits were also once again a talking point, as drivers struggled for grip and then also suffered when the track was slightly reconfigured out of Pirelli’s concern for their tries abnormal rate of wear over the multiple high speed curbs at this very fast and twisty track.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Qatar GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:25.007 1:24.483 1:23.778 19
2 63 George Russell MERCEDES 1:25.334 1:24.827 1:24.219 21
3 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:26.076 1:24.381 1:24.305 20
4 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 1:25.223 1:25.241 1:24.369 21
5 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:25.452 1:25.079 1:24.424 26
6 81 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:25.266 1:24.724 1:24.540 23
7 10 Pierre Gasly ALPINE RENAULT 1:25.566 1:24.918 1:24.553 23
8 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 1:25.711 1:24.928 1:24.763 24
9 77 Valtteri Bottas ALFA ROMEO FERRARI 1:26.038 1:25.297 1:25.058 21
10 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:25.131 1:24.685 DNF 21

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Top 10 Sprint Race results:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 81 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES 19 35:01.297 8
2 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 19 +1.871s 7
3 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 19 +8.497s 6
4 63 George Russell MERCEDES 19 +11.036s 5
5 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 19 +17.314s 4
6 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 19 +18.806s 3
7 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 19 +19.860s 2
8 23 Alexander Albon WILLIAMS MERCEDES 19 +19.864s 1
9 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 19 +21.180s 0
10 10 Pierre Gasly ALPINE RENAULT 19 +21.742s 0

Complete Sprint results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN beginning at 1PM Eastern here in the States. While the major prizes for 2023 have all been handed out due to Verstappen and Red Bull’s sheer dominance, the tricky Losail track should still provide a lot of unpredictability and excitement. Hope to see you then find out how it all shakes out!

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.

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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!