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2022 F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain — Qualifying results

Leclerc snatches pole for season opener, Sainz P3 in promising start for Ferrari; Red Bull’s reigning champ Verstappen qualifies P2, Hamilton only P5 as Mercedes struggle

The real beginning of Formula 1’s latest new era yielded a multitude of surprises, as the teams put the completely redesigned cars on display for the first time in earnest during Saturday Qualifying for tomorrow’s season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix. With a radical new set of rules changing the look and design of the cars, most notably in cutting down on the complexity of the wings and exterior aero elements for less downforce but with a renewed emphasis on ground effects to stick the chassis to the road surface in exchange, it was the first opportunity to see which teams came out of the box strong and which still had work yet to do. And the answer appears to be that Ferrari has made the biggest improvements under the new regulations and the famed team from Maranello could well be geared up for a mano a mano brawl with Red Bull and their reigning champion, Max Verstappen, for the big prizes at the end of the year. Obviously, one swallow does not make a spring, but Charles Leclerc was able to put his blood red Prancing Horse on pole under the lights at the Bahrain International Circuit, besting Verstappen’s vaunted Adrian Newey-designed Red Bull RB18 at the line by a relatively hefty .123-seconds. Confirming the potential power of the new Ferrari design, Leclerc’s teammate Carlos Sainz was also in contain for the pole, though in the end he slotted in at P3 just barely of Verstappen’s pace. Meanwhile, the Dutch champ’s Ref Bull teammate, Sergio Perez, looked set to reprise his pivotal wingman role once again in 2022, as the Mexican veteran could manage no better than the fourth fastest lap in the face of the Prancing Horses’ rediscovered competitiveness.

The inverse of Ferrari’s resurgent good fortune was the poor debut performance of the normally mighty Mercedes new W13 chassis. With the new ground effects also come new aero headaches and Mercedes have suffered from severe oscillations, aka “porpoising”, throughput testing and in these first days of practice. While the team’s braintrust were able to dial out some of that, especially on their seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton’s mount, Hamilton could still do no better than a P5 start for tomorrow’s race. To say the least, that is an unfamiliar position for the Briton, who frankly dominated the just completed hybrid era until the ascendence of Verstappen and his controversial championship-clinching win to end the 2021 campaign in Abu Dhabi last December. Worse still for the eight-time consecutive Constructors’ Champions, their new number two, England’s young George Russell, suffered the ignominy of qualifying down in P9, about where he would normally end up in the pokey Williams last year. If that wasn’t disheartening enough, the previous Merc second banana, Valtteri Bottas, out-qualified Russell in P6 with his new team, the Ferrari-powered Alfa Romeo. In fact, Ferrari power looked like this first weekend’s winner already, with not only Bottas keeping his Q3 streak alive at Alfa but also Kevin Magnussen marking his return to F1 with a brilliant effort to capture P7 on the grid for perpetual back marker Haas despite battling hydraulic issues. and it was a very promising day for the Scuderia on the power plant front. On the other side off the engine equation, all four Mercedes-powered McLarens and Aston Martins failed to make it into the final qualifying round. Savvy veteran Fernando Alonso willed his Alpine Renault into P8 with a fine final effort while the Red Bull (Honda)-powered AlphaTauri of Pierre Gasly struggled with overall handling rand could do no better than P10.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Bahrain GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:31.471 1:30.932 1:30.558 15
2 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING RBPT 1:31.785 1:30.757 1:30.681 14
3 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:31.567 1:30.787 1:30.687 15
4 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING RBPT 1:32.311 1:31.008 1:30.921 18
5 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:32.285 1:31.048 1:31.238 17
6 77 Valtteri Bottas ALFA ROMEO FERRARI 1:31.919 1:31.717 1:31.560 15
7 20 Kevin Magnussen HAAS FERRARI 1:31.955 1:31.461 1:31.808 12
8 14 Fernando Alonso ALPINE RENAULT 1:32.346 1:31.621 1:32.195 14
9 63 George Russell MERCEDES 1:32.269 1:31.252 1:32.216 17
10 10 Pierre Gasly ALPHATAURI RBPT 1:32.096 1:31.635 1:32.338 21

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN here in the States beginning at 11AM Eastern here in the States. Can Ferrari set the pace over the course of a full Grand Prix or will Verstappen’s superlative skills where down the Prancing Horses and deny them victory? And just how much pain will Mercedes take tomorrow as the team focuses on early season damage limitation? Look forward to seeing you then to find out how it all shakes out in the 2022 opener!

2021 F1 Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi — Qualifying results

FINAL DUEL IN THE DESERT: Verstappen and Red Bull ace Hamilton and Mercedes for all important pole at Yas Marina; Norris pips P3 from Perez

With the 2021 Formula 1 season and Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championships down to the last race at the futuristic Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, Saturday’s qualifying took on added import and Red Bull and Max Verstappen got the better of their arch rival, Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton. With the two title aspirants entering the weekend in a dead heat on Drivers’ points and Verstappen only ahead by virtue of the race wins tiebreaker, the Red Bull braintrust pulled a clever maneuver to give their star contender the edge by deploying wingman Sergio Perez to give the Dutchman the draft at a crucial time in Q3. That enabled Verstappen to set a fast lap that Hamilton, running without a draft from his teammate, Valtteri Bottas, was unable to match. So Verstappen will line up from the pole and Hamilton in P2 for tomorrow’s race. Adding another complication to the mix, Verstappen will be starting on a set of Soft Pirellis after flat-spotting his Mediums in Q2 while Hamilton will be on the theoretically preferred Medium rubber to start. It should make it a very interesting strategic race and will likely find Hamilton hunting down Verstappen on the faster Soft tires as the season reaches its fascinating climax.

Behind that elite top two, Lando Norris managed to wrest away P3 on the grid from Perez with a brilliant final hot lap, relegating the Mexican veteran to P4. But that was still better than what Bottas could accomplish, as the Finn could do no better than the sixth fastest lap in his final qualifying attempt with Mercedes. They sandwiched Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, who bettered his teammate Charles Leclerc, P5 to P7. Yuki Tsunoda was the only AlphaTauri to get into Q3 and qualified P8, while Alpine’s Esteban Ocon set the ninth fastest time and the second McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo slotted in at P10.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Abu Dhabi GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:23.322 1:22.800 1:22.109 20
2 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:22.845 1:23.145 1:22.480 19
3 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:23.553 1:23.256 1:22.931 20
4 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:23.350 1:23.135 1:22.947 24
5 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:23.624 1:23.174 1:22.992 22
6 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:23.117 1:23.246 1:23.036 20
7 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:23.467 1:23.202 1:23.122 23
8 22 Yuki Tsunoda ALPHATAURI HONDA 1:23.428 1:23.404 1:23.220 22
9 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 1:23.764 1:23.420 1:23.389 20
10 3 Daniel Ricciardo MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:23.829 1:23.448 1:23.409 19

Complete qualifying results available via Formula.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN2 beginning at 8AM Eastern here in the States. With the Drivers’ Championship coming down to this final race it should be absolutely nail-biting stuff. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2021 F1 Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia — Results & aftermath

DOWN TO THE FINAL ROUND: Hamilton wins bizarre, incident-packed Saudi GP & takes fastest lap to tie P2 Verstappen in points after multiple on-track contretemps; Bottas nips Ocon for P3 at checkers to edge Mercedes closer to Constructors’ title

In a crazy and sometimes over the line first-ever Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on Sunday, Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton emerged victorious over his archrival, Red Bull’s superlative Max Verstappen, after both drivers once again came together on track. With tempers running as high as the temperatures at this sultry, Red Sea adjacent Jeddah Corniche Street Circuit, Hamilton kept a cooler head than the Dutch wunderkind and survived multiple Red Flag, Safety Car, and Virtual Safety Car periods, as well as a baffling collision into the rear of the Red Bull, to not only pull out a win but, by dint of also setting the race’s fastest lap, score enough points to tie Verstappen in the Drivers’ points with just one race remaining. So, with the two best drivers of this generation level on points going into the final Round 21, it will literally be all to play for in next week’s season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. But how they got to that point was due to the chaotic nature of this inaugural Saudi race and it will certainly go down as one of the most controversial Grand Prix in Formula 1 history.

After the pole-sitting Hamilton got away cleanly to start the race, with his Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas doing a good job from P2 of balking any progress the P3 Verstappen might have wanted to make in the early going, the drama really started on Lap 10 when Mick Schumacher crashed out violently into the Tecpro barriers at Turn 1. While the German rookie thankfully emerged unhurt, the Safety Car was deployed and Mercedes decided to pit both their cars under the full course yellow in an ostensible bid to get a cheap tire change for their leading duo with the rest of the field running slowly. Verstappen did the opposite and stayed out, with the Red Bull team opting for track position and  the lead and perhaps hoping that they could pull some strategy later in the race. But their gamble paid off more handsomely than they could have imagined when the race director decided that the barriers needed more serious intervention and threw the Red Flag on Lap 13. Under the peculiarities of the Formula 1 rules, this now meant that Verstappen’s crew could also change his tires, only this time not just cheaply but in fact absolutely free, since all the cars were being held stationary in the pits. Hamilton complained bitterly about this decision but he has also benefitted from the same scenario in the past and that’s just the way the rules work for all competitors. When the race restarted after a loch delay and from a standing start on Lap 16, Verstappen was in the lead with equally fresh Hard Pirellis as those of Hamilton’s in P2.

But if cautions breed cautions, Red Flags also breed Red Flags. Hamilton got away well at that restart to take a precarious lead but Verstappen made a lunging move down into Turn 1 into and through the runoff area there that forced the Englishman to back out. The end result of Hamilton’s avoidance actually saw the third place car of Esteban Ocon’s Alpine also pass Hamilton, relegating the Englishman to P3. Almost immediately after that there was a huge shunt down the following straight that saw the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez taken out after contact with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and the second Haas of Nikita Mazepin crash violently into the rear of a decelerating car in front. That brought out another Red Flag to clean up the huge debris field, during which Red Bull changed Verstappen’s tires once again, interestingly to a set of the lest durable Mediums this time. After some confusion, Verstappen was also ordered to give Hamilton back P2 after being adjudged to have gained an unfair advantage during his overtaking maneuver. But Max used his anger well when the race finally started again after another long delay, passing both Hamilton and Ocon in the same sequence for the lead when things got underway again on Lap 17. With Hamilton disposing of Ocon on the subsequent lap and setting off in pursuit of Vertsappen in the lead, the real race was now well and truly on.

After a jagged stop-start period that saw five Virtual Safety Cars deployed between Lap 23 and Lap 33, things began hotting up again when Hamilton tried to make a pass on Verstappen on lap 37 of this 50-lap contest. The Dutchman once again ran off track while defending and gained an advantage. And once again, Max was ordered to give back the position to Hamilton. But apparently no one told Hamilton this small fact because, while Verstappen slowed on the final part of the course, Hamilton failed to discern the intent and smashed into the back of the Red Bull. To be fair, Verstappen also seemed to be moving around an awful lot for such a let-by — something the stewards were clearly looking at after the race — and Lewis protested vehemently that he had been brake-checked.

But fortunately Hamilton suffered only minor damage to his front wing with no noticeable loss of pace. Hamilton harassed the Red Bull and the two almost collided again as the Dutchman, desperate to keep his points lead, finally let Hamilton by only to immediately retake the point position. This time the stewards had had enough and assessed Vertsappen a five-second penalty for too many off course episodes. Combined with Verstappen’s Medium tires going off much more quickly than Hamilton’s Hards, this effectively ceded the win to the Silver Arrow. Hamilton made a pass that stuck at Turn 27 on Lap 43 and sailed into the distance, setting the fastest lap along the way. Meanwhile, Verstappen and Red Bull were unable to duck into the pits for fresh rubber and an attempt to steal back that point because Ocon and Bottas were dar too close with that time penalty factored in. So it was Hamilton coming home with his third consecutive win and the maximum twenty-six points in tis race, Verstappen in P2 and a dead heat between the two going into the last race of the season. Making matters even sweeter for Mercedes, Bottas was able to pip Ocon for P3 and the final spot on the podium at the checkers. Combined with Perez scoring zero points on the day after his DNF, that gave might Mercedes and potentially insurmountable 28-point lead over team Red Bull in the Constructors’ race.

Top 10 finishers of the inaugural Saudi Arabian GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 50 2:06:15.118 26
2 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 50 +11.825s 18
3 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 50 +27.531s 15
4 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 50 +27.633s 12
5 3 Daniel Ricciardo MCLAREN MERCEDES 50 +40.121s 10
6 10 Pierre Gasly ALPHATAURI HONDA 50 +41.613s 8
7 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 50 +44.475s 6
8 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 50 +46.606s 4
9 99 Antonio Giovinazzi ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI 50 +58.505s 2
10 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 50 +61.358s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

It all comes down to this — the twenty-first and final round of the 2021 F1 Championship is next weekend in Abu Dhabi. With emotions running high between the top two contenders and Hamilton and Verstappen desperate to outscore one another, keeping it clean has never been more important. But that’s easier said than done when these two are side by side on the track. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out and just who will wear this year’s Formula 1 crown!

2021 F1 Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia — Qualifying results

Hamilton earns pole in Jeddah after Verstappen hits wall on final attempt, relegating points leader to P3 on grid; Bottas will start P2 as Mercedes lock out front row

With time expired in Q3 during Saturday qualifying for the inaugural Saudi Arabian Grand Prix at the daunting, high speed Jeddah Corniche Street Circuit, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen looked to be setting a blistering lap good enough to snatch the pole position from Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton. But the Dutch points leader stepped just that far over the line and smacked the wall at the last corner with his right rear tire, bringing his car and his qualifying attempt to an abrupt end. That meant Hamiton’s fastest lap held up as the pole time and Verstappen was also unable to jump the second Silver Arrow of Valtteri Bottas. So Bottas will line up alongside his team leader in P2 for a Mercedes front row lockout and Verstappen will start P3… assuming that he didn’t damage his gearbox badly enough to force a pre-race change, which would demote him a further five positions on a very tight and demanding circuit where overtaking will be at an absolute premium. With Verstappen leading Hamilton by a slim 8 points in the Drivers’ Championship, it is mathematically possible for the Dutchman to take the F1 crown in this penultimate race with a net gain of 18 points. But it is also quite a bit more likely that Hamilton, who has been on a superb run of form that has seen the English seven-time champ win the last two GP on the trot, will continue to apply the pressure, eat into Verstappen’s lead if not overtake him and, either way, push this titanic 2021 title tilt to the final round in Abu Dhabi next weekend.

Behind those front three, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc landed safely in P4 after his teammate Carlos Sainz had several hairy moments of snap oversteer in Q2 and failed to advance out of that round. Sainz will have to figure out a way to move forward from P15 and help the team maximize points in their fierce fight with McLaren, which saw Lando Norris qualify in P7 and Daniel Ricciardo in P11. The second Red Bull of Sergio Perez struggled his way to a disappointing P5 qualifying time, while the two AlphaTauris performed well at this brand new track, with the talented Pierre Gasly setting the sixth fastest time in Q3 and rookie Yuki Tsunonda continuing his recent improvement by slotting in at a decent P8. Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi qualified in P9 and P10 respectively.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Saudi Arabian GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:28.466 1:27.712 1:27.511 23
2 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:28.057 1:28.054 1:27.622 25
3 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:28.285 1:27.953 1:27.653 19
4 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:28.310 1:28.459 1:28.054 24
5 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:28.021 1:27.946 1:28.123 23
6 10 Pierre Gasly ALPHATAURI HONDA 1:28.401 1:28.314 1:28.125 26
7 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:28.338 1:28.344 1:28.180 21
8 22 Yuki Tsunoda ALPHATAURI HONDA 1:28.503 1:28.222 1:28.442 26
9 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 1:28.752 1:28.574 1:28.647 22
10 99 Antonio Giovinazzi ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI 1:28.899 1:28.616 1:28.754 21

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN2 beginning at 12:30pm Eastern here in the States. It will be tense times all around with fingers crossed in the Red Bull garage that Verstappen didn’t seriously damage his car in that fateful late-quali tank slapper. Conversely, Hamilton will be looking to convert pole into the win and, perhaps with a bit of misfortune to his title rival, overhaul the Dutchman to take the lead going into the final contest. Also, if I were a betting man I would count on at least one Safety Car or Red Flag period to potentially shake things up — especially concerning is the pit out blend line where it seems to me cars exiting could come to grief with those steaming down the start-finish straight at full chat if everyone is not super careful.  Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2021 F1 Grand Prix of Qatar — Results & aftermath

Hamilton romps to win inaugural Qatar GP but Bottas DNFs; Verstappen P2, Perez P4 as Championships tighten yet again; savvy Alonso earns first podium since 2014

Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton continued his late season push for a record shattering eighth Formula 1 Championship by taking a dominant win at the inaugural Qatar Grand Prix on Sunday night. Starting from the pole, Hamilton’s raw pace made easy work of the illuminated Losail International Circuit and left his competition in the dust, earning his second win on the trot with only two contests remaining to pull closer to his main rival and current points leader, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. But despite Hamilton’s supremacy in Qatar it was not all good news for him and Mercedes on the day. With Max Verstappen being demoted down to P7 on the grid instead of alongside Hamilton where he qualified just before the race after the stewards somewhat dubiously decided that the Dutchman failed to slow properly under double yellow flags at the end of Saturday Qualifying, Hamilton could be forgiven for hoping Verstappen might get mired in the pack of reasonably fast cars in front of him and somehow leave a large haul of points on the table. It didn’t happen and instead Verstappen once again delivered a virtuoso performance in damage limitation, steaming through the field and into P2 by Lap 5 of the race, a position he would easily retain at the end of this 57-lap contest. Combined with his setting the fastest lap of the GP for the bonus point, Verstappen was able to keep Hamilton behind him by 8 points going into that final brace of races in the 2021 campaign. But Hamilton did nick 6 points back with his win and his newer-engined Mercedes is also genuinely streaking away from everyone on track. So Verstappen is going to need to somehow win one of the last contests or hope that Hamilton has some sort of unexpected issue that pushes him down the order because if Hamilton wins the last two races and Verstappen finishes second in both, the Englishman will steal back the title from him in heartbreaking fashion. As the saying goes, there is truly all to play for.

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2021 F1 Grand Prix of Qatar — Qualifying results

Hamilton blisters field for pole at inaugural Qatar GP; Verstappen P2, Bottas P3 while rest of grid jumbled by unpredictable results at Losail

Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton gave his very best effort to keep his title hopes alive and the momentum going after last week’s win in Brazil by laying down an untouchably fast lap in Saturday Qualifying, seizing the pole position for tomorrow’s inaugural Qatar Grand Prix. With the entire field coming to grips with the first time use of the Losail International Circuit for a Formula 1 race, Hamilton proved to be the fastest learner in the bunch, setting a track record 1:20.827 time, some .455 seconds faster than his closest competitor, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. It was a fairly whopping advantage in Formula 1 terms that earned Ham the Man his first pole since way back in Round 11 at Hungary and sees him peaking at the right time as the season rushes to its conclusion. With only three races remaining in the 2021 campaign including tomorrow’s final leg of a grueling, multi-hemisphere triple header and Hamilton trailing Verstappen by 14 points in the Drivers’ standings, victory will be crucial for the legendary English pilot if he is to secure his unprecedented eighth world title and hold off the Dutch wunderkind who is more than a little hungry to score the first of his already impressive career.

While the second Silver Arrow of Valtteri Bottas did his part for the team by setting the third fastest time, thereby putting him in a position to harass Verstappen from behind and support Hamilton’s quest for victory in tomorrow’s race, the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez struggled mightily at Losail. Despite having raced here back in his GP2 days, Verstappen’s Mexican wingman was unceremoniously bounced out of Q2 with only the eleventh fastest time. While this will give Checo and the team some extra tires and strategic options, starting from P11 with a ton of competitive cars in front of them can hardly be what they were hoping for on the day. In fact, perhaps due to the unfamiliarity of the circuit, there were numerous unpredictable qualifying results up and down the field. Continue reading →

2021 F1 Grand Prix of Mexico City — Results & aftermath

ECSTASY FOR RED BULL, AGONY FOR MERCEDES: Verstappen earns dominant win in Mexico City; Hamilton holds on for P2 over Perez but pole-sitter Bottas spins out of points in opening lap contretemps

Red Bull’s superlative pilot Max Verstappen took another step closer to earning his first Formula 1 Drivers’ title by cruising to a dominant victory at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in the Mexico City Grand Prix on Sunday. The Dutch wunderkind, who started from P3 on the grid after Mercedes surprised the paddock by locking out the front row during Saturday qualifying, made an outstanding overtaking move going on the outside into Turn 1 against the pole-sitting Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas and the P2 car of Lewis Hamilton. To compound the Finn’s misfortunes, Bottas was promptly spun around after contact from the rear by McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo, completely wrecking both fo their days although no penalties were assessed. With Verstappen also scooting around the outside of the English seven-time Champion in that impressive two-for-one maneuver, he took a lead in the race that he would never really relinquish again. As the lead Red Bull scampered away from him in the distance, Hamilton was forced to defend his vital second place for the latter portion of this 71-lap contest against Verstappen’s teammate and hometown hero Sergio “Checo” Perez. The hard charging Mexican harried and harassed Hamilton as best he could in an effort to strip even more points from the number two man in the Championship and aid Verstappen’s title hunt but Hamilton had enough left to hold on for those valuable P2 points when the laps ran out.

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2021 F1 Grand Prix of Turkey — Results & aftermath

Bottas excels in dominant win at wet Turkish GP; Verstappen P2, Perez P3 on good day for Red Bull; disgruntled Hamilton settles for P5 after questionable late pit stop

Mercedes’ number two driver Valtteri Bottas, who has endured such a difficult season that the team decided not to bring him back for next year, showed his quality by taking a dominant victory at the Turkish Grand Prix on Sunday. With the conditions at the Intercity Istanbul Park circuit very challenging throughout the race due to consistently drizzly and humid conditions that ruled slick tires out entirely, Bottas managed his Intermediate wet weather Pirelli tires masterfully, converting the pole position he inherited due to teammate Lewis Hamilton’s 10 grid-spot engine change penalty into a dominant win ahead of the two pursuing Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez. While Bottas bested P2 Verstappen by over 14.5-seconds and also nabbed the bonus point for the day’s fastest lap, it actually turned into a fine day for the Dutchman and team Red Bull as a whole. Not only did he get his second second place in-a-row but wingman Perez was somewhat gifted his P3 after a controversial late call by the Mercedes braintrust to pit Hamilton for a fresh Inters on Lap 51 of this 58 lap contest. Hamilton, who started down in P11 on the grid after the penalty but had fought his way all the way up to P3 by that point with a slew of determined passes, had been lobbying to stay out and run to the end on his original set of Inters. But the team instead he box and when he emerged from the pits and found himself behind Perez and also Leclerc once again the English seven-time champion was vociferously displeased with the strategy call and repeatedly questioned the wisdom of the move.

Presumably, the Silver Arrows brain trust were looking to cover a late cloudburst that would have rendered Hamilton’s nearly bald original Inters useless in standing water. But the end realist was Hamilton having to fight through the predictable graining period of the treaded Pirellis without enough laps remaining for them to return to their best performance. He could never threaten the P4 Ferrari of Charles Leclerc in front of him to advance his position as the laps ran outand had to settle for holding off Pierre Gasly’s rapidly closing AlphaTauri and coming home P5. While it was decent damage limitation on a day when he started outside the points, Hamilton will no doubt be grilling the team on their strategy call and the fact that it had net result of Lewis ceding the championship lead back to Verstappen by six points with six races left in the season.  So while it was a good day in the abstract for Mercedes, who finally got a strong showing from Bottas with his win and a decent points haul from Hamilton after chosing to take the hit and change his power unit, it somehow still felt a bit less than fulfilling due to Hamilton’s bitter disappointment with the team’s tire tactics. On the other hand, Red Bull were well pleased with their double podium results on the day when it was clear that they didn’t have the race pace to challenge Mercedes for the win. With the rounds dwindling to a mere half dozen, it will be all to play for at the next race in the USA at COTA in two week’s time.

Pics courtesy GRandPrix247.com

Not only did Leclerc have an excellent race by securing that valuable P4 for Ferrari but the Scuderia got the bonus of a spectacular recovery effort by Carlos Sainz, who started from way back in P19 due to his own engine change penalty but made a passel of passes to fight all the way back up to a P8 finish. It was easily one of the Spaniard’s best efforts on the year, if not career, and shows that if the engineers at Maranello can get next year’s chassis and engine up to snuff they have a driver combo that can potentially compete with any other duo on the grid. Gasly also did well by AlphaTauri to take that P6 just behind Hamilton, though the Frenchman and his team will be wondering what might have been if he hadn’t been handed a rather harsh 5-second penalty for contact with Fernando Alonso on the opening lap that looked pretty much like a standard racing incident. Lando Norris, who had to recover psychologically from his heartbreaking experience in Sochi two weeks ago, was the only McLaren in the points after finishing P7 at a circuit that simply did not seem to suit their papaya-colored cars due to an abundance of long, medium speed corners. With Ferrari hot on their heels for third in the all important Contructors title, McLaren will be hoping for a better fit when they unload in Austin. Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, who seems to excel in these sorts of mixed weather conditions, did well again to finish in P9, while Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, who ran the entire race on one set of Inters, held on to P10 for the final points paying position.

Top 10 finishers of the Turkish GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 58 1:31:04.103 26
2 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 58 +14.584s 18
3 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA 58 +33.471s 15
4 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 58 +37.814s 12
5 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 58 +41.812s 10
6 10 Pierre Gasly ALPHATAURI HONDA 58 +44.292s 8
7 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 58 +47.213s 6
8 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 58 +51.526s 4
9 18 Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES 58 +82.018s 2
10 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 57 +1 lap 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in two week’s time — the return of the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas after a year’s hiatus due to COVID. Hamilton will be positively champing at the bit to get back on track and put the disappointment of today’s events behind him. Verstappen will be looking to keep and expand his lead in the points with his first F1 title so close he can almost taste it. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2021 F1 Grand Prix of Turkey — Qualifying results

Hamilton quickest in quali but cedes pole to teammate Bottas on engine penalties; Verstappen third fastest

On an intriguing day of Saturday qualifying for tomorrow’s Turkish Grand Prix featuring rain at Intercity Istanbul Park just prior to the three knockout sessions commenced that then abated with consequent improvement to the grip levels by the time Q3 rolled around, Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton unsurprisingly mastered the tricky conditions to set the day’s fastest lap. But while it was a new track record on this newly repaved circuit after last year’s spin-fest on much slicker, older tarmac, Hamilton’s triumph was rather pyrrhic because engine penalties robbed him of a  start from pole and the English points leader will have to line up on the grid down in P11. That gifted the actual pole to his Silver Arrows teammate, Valtteri Bottas, who will nonetheless have it all to do tomorrow to keep Red Bull’s Max Verstappen behind him when they line up together on the front row. With Hamilton’s lead in the Driver Standings over the Dutchman a minuscule two points going into this sixteenth round after Max’s remarkable recovery drive in Sochi two weeks ago, it will be imperative for Bottas to not allow Verstappen an easy overtake at the start the race, thereby giving Hamilton time to claw his way to the front. As he showed today, Lewis certainly has the car to fight for the win if he can get back on even terms with Verstappen’s lead Red Bull, so the Mercedes brain trust have got to bring their A strategy game to pick off a few positions in the pits. But then, as we have seen several times this unpredictable season, if the weather is as changeable as it was today it could well be anyone’s race and not just the two championship contenders at that.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc saved his best for last by setting the fourth fastest time while the checkers flew in Q3, just besting the solid P5 time of AlphaTauri’s excellent pilot, Pierre Gasly. Unfortunately for the Scuderia, however, the second Prancing Horse of Carlos Sainz will have to start from the rear after his own set of engine penalties this weekend. Savvy vet Fernando Alonso enjoyed the tricky damp-to-dry conditions and wheeled his Alpine up to the sixth fastest time when all was said and done, impressively one spot better than the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez, who could only manage a lackluster P7 effort. McLaren’s Lando Norris did decently to recover from his absolute heartbreaker of a race in Russia that saw him lose the lead with just two laps remaining and qualified P8. And Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and AlphaTauri’s second driver Yuki Tsuanoda rounded out the top ten in P9 and P10 respectively.  It was the first time the struggling Japanese rookie Tsunoda progressed into Q3 since way back in Round 8 in Austria.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Turkish GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:24.585 1:23.082 1:22.868 28
2 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:25.047 1:23.579 1:22.998 27
3 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:24.592 1:23.732 1:23.196 25
4 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:24.869 1:24.015 1:23.265 30
5 10 Pierre Gasly ALPHATAURI HONDA 1:24.704 1:23.817 1:23.326 24
6 14 Fernando Alonso ALPINE RENAULT 1:25.174 1:23.914 1:23.477 24
7 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:24.963 1:23.961 1:23.706 24
8 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:25.138 1:24.642 1:23.954 25
9 18 Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES 1:25.511 1:24.601 1:24.305 23
10 22 Yuki Tsunoda ALPHATAURI HONDA 1:25.409 1:24.054 1:24.368 24

Actual grid taking into account Hamilton’s penalty here.

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN2 beginning at 8 AM Eastern here in the States. With Hamilton having to fight to the front, Verstappen determined to gap Bottas early and more potential rain possible it should be another thriller in a season chock full of them. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2021 F1 Grand Prix of Russia — Qualifying results

Norris earns surprise pole at Sochi in wet conditions; Sainz takes P2, Russell P3; Hamilton falls to P4 after late crash entering pits

With Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton’s chief rival, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, doomed to start last or nearly last in tomorrow’s Russian Grand Prix due to not only the Dutchman’s penalty for crashing into Hamilton two weeks ago at Monza but also his team’s decision to swap out Verstappen’s engine at track that doesn’t really suit them, Hamilton was looking to grab pole at the Sochi Autodrom and set himself up for maximum points for the race. However, the weather and a rare unforced error by the seven-time World Champion put paid to that plan. Somewhat stunningly, Hamilton found himself with only the fourth best time on the day, a fast lap he had set early in the final quali session while on the Intermediate wet weather Pirelli tires after a day of rain here on the shores of the Black Sea. But the rain had stopped for long enough and the track had dried to such an extent by the start of Q3 that other team’s gambled on switching to slick tires in an effort to achieve a superior time to the one Hamilton set on the Inters. Williams’  George Russell was the first to commit, followed very shortly by all the other non-Mercedes drivers. And while at first it did not appear the risk was worth the reward, the circuit continued to improve and a true dry line had formed as the time wound down in Q3. That saw the Mercedes pit wall make a somewhat tardy call to bring their boys in and match the others’ strategies by throwing on some Soft Pirellis, too. However, Hamilton badly botched his pit entrance for the change, smacking the wall at pit in hard and essentially snapping his front wing in half. Not only did the team have to take much longer time than anticipated to give Hamilton a new wing but it also backed up his teammate, Valtteri Bottas, who had to wait until those repairs to the team leader were made. By the time the Mercedes duo reemerged, the other runners had been able to get their tires heated up properly with several consecutive laps, something the two Silver Arrows no longer had the time to do.

This redounded to the benefit of several drivers not named Hamilton, as the normally superlative English hot shoe spun off track when trying to get something out of his cold tires and his earlier time on the treaded wet weather tires would have to be the one that stood. It only ended up being good enough for P4 on the grid, as first Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and then McLaren’s Lando Norris and Russell overhauled him. Continue reading →