Tag Archives: Carlos Sainz

2019 F1 Grand Prix of Monaco — Qualifying results

Mercedes’ Hamilton asserts authority with blistering pole lap to best Bottas; Verstappen takes P3 ahead of Vettel, Leclerc fails to make it out of Q3 for Ferrari

Mercedes’ ostensible number two driver Valtteri Bottas set down a marker early in Q3 during Saturday qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix that seemed sure to net the Finn pole position for the race. It was a track record time of just over 70 seconds that the tricky Monte Carlo circuit had never seen before and Bottas appeared to have the measure of his teammate and only real rival, Lewis Hamilton, as well as the rest of the field. But personifying the old saying you’ve got to take the belt from then champ, Hamilton put together a pure blinder as time ran down in the last quali session to pip Bottas by a mere .09 seconds and secure his second career pole at this legendary and legendarily tight street circuit. At a place where starting track position often determines the winner, the 5-time and current reigning champion showed once again that when the big prizes are on the line he still can put it all together and perform at a higher level than anyone else in this era of Formula 1.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was quick all weekend long and finally ran a nice clean qualifying session at what had been a personal bogey track for the Dutchman to secure P3 on the grid, besting Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel who did well to grab P4 despite crashing in free practice 3 earlier on Saturday morning and brushing the wall more than once while pushing hard in qualifying. But that did only a little to offset Ferrari’s woes after the team badly miscalculated in Q1 and failed to get their second driver Charles Leclerc out in time to set a fast enough time to escape the normally perfunctory Top 15 cutoff line. The native Monegasque, who perhaps caused some team confusion by missing a mandatory call to the weigh-bridge and then had to be pushed back down the pit lane manually to make the random stewards exam, was thus saddled with a P16 time and will only start P15 due to others’ penalties. Leclerc was understandably miffed after the mishap and will have it all to do in the race to try and make a decent showing and save the blushes of the Scuderia.

Vertsppen’s Red Bull teammate did reasonably well to qualify P5 behind Vettel, while Kevin Magnusen did a terrific job for team Haas to set the sixth fastest time. Daniel Ricciardo was likewise the lone Renault to make the Top 10 in P7 and the two Toro Rossos of Daniil Kvyat and rookie Alexander Albon showed real pace at this high downforce street circuit to qualify P8 and P10 respectively. Spaniard Carlos Sainz used his experience to push his McLaren up to P9, well; ahead of his rookie teammate Lando Norris, who could do no better than P12.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Monaco GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:11.542 1:10.835 1:10.166 28
2 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:11.562 1:10.701 1:10.252 27
3 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:11.597 1:10.618 1:10.641 19
4 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 1:11.434 1:11.227 1:10.947 27
5 10 Pierre Gasly RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:11.740 1:11.457 1:11.041 24
6 20 Kevin Magnussen HAAS FERRARI 1:11.865 1:11.363 1:11.109 24
7 3 Daniel Ricciardo RENAULT 1:11.767 1:11.543 1:11.218 25
8 26 Daniil Kvyat SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO HONDA 1:11.602 1:11.412 1:11.271 30
9 55 Carlos Sainz MCLAREN RENAULT 1:11.872 1:11.608 1:11.417 30
10 23 Alexander Albon SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO HONDA 1:12.007 1:11.429 1:11.653 31

Complete qualifying results amiable via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN beginning at 9AM Eastern here in the States. Hope to see you then to see how the front row duel between Hamilton and Bottas shakes out or if Vettel or Vertsappen might get the better of the two Mercedes men!

2019 F1 Grand Prix of Spain — Results & aftermath

Hamilton romps to victory in Spain, bests P2 Bottas for 5th consecutive Mercedes 1-2; Verstappen claims last podium position in P3; indecisive Ferrari miss out

With hís teammate Valtteri Bottas proving that he is a genuine threat for the World Championship this year, the veteran Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton showed his ability to raise his game in the face of stiff competition and dominated the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday. Bottas, who was coming off an inspiring victory in Baku, Azerbaijan a fortnight ago, looked poised to extend his momentum after snatching pole in Saturday qualifying. But Hamilton got the better start from P2 when the lights went out and out raced his Finnish rival going down into pivotal Turn 1 of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Bottas would later blame a fritzy clutch for his boggy beginning and the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel also pulled alongside him, momentarily making Bottas the meat in the sandwich. Hamilton then got the superior launch off the corner and pulled away, Bottas’ Silver Arrow squirmed under the combined break-acceleration effort required to avoid the two cars surrounding hime but was able to control his car with fast hands while Vettel locked up and flat-spotted his right front tire. That moment would prove to be the decisive moment for all three men in the contest.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

Hamilton pulled a gap almost immediately, Bottas was able to recover enough to hold his P2 position and Vettel quickly slipped back into the clutches of his junior teammate, Charles Leclerc. And here Ferrari’s pit wall indecision would once again come back to bite them. With Leclerc harassing Vettel and clearly looking like the faster car as his German teammate struggled with that flat spot vibration, the Scuderia delayed the team order for their drivers to swap positions until Lap 12. And by then both Mercedes had disappeared into the distance. Vettel, who was practically pleading to pit for fresh rubber from the time he damaged his tires on the opening lap, was brought in on Lap 20 to get off the starting Soft Pirellis and onto the Medium compound tires. The stop was actually slow by about 2 seconds by modern F1 standards but the four-time World Champ promptly set the fastest laps of the race, proving that the Mediums were not greatly inferior to the Softs.

Meanwhile Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who started from P4 and passed Vettel after the German’s initial opening lap bobble, pitted a lap later on 21 going from Soft to Soft, obviously signaling that he would be doing a two-stopper. Continue reading →

2019 F1 Grand Prix of Azerbaijan — Results & aftermath

Bottas brilliant in Baku for the win, Hamilton P2 to extend Mercedes mastery; Vettel P3 for frustrated Ferrari

Valtteri Bottas entered the 2019 season vowing to be less of a wingman to his peerless 5-time World Champion teammate Lewis Hamilton and more of a threat to him for the title. So far in this young season Bottas has made good on his promise. After pipping Hamilton for pole position, Bottas was able to hold off the hard charging Hamilton on the opening lap of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Sunday at the alternately wide and tight Baku City Street circuit. It was something the Finn was unable to do in China two weeks ago but this time he kept his elbows out in a respectful but forceful manner and kept Hamilton behind him. Following that crucial first lap, the pace of Bottas’ Mercedes was untouchable by the rest of the field, including his elite teammate. Bottas was able to pull away and manage the race from the front, surviving some tricky tire strategy, as well as Hamilton’s best efforts, to eventually romp to the win by a healthy 1.5 seconds. That avenged Bottas’ heartbreaking loss here last year when a late lap puncture denied him certain victory and he now has two wins to bookend Hamilton’s own brace. Bottas leads the Englishman by a single point in the Driver’s standings, which he scored by taking fastest lap in Melbourne along with the victory there. The race in Azerbaijan, Round 4 of the Championship, also highlighted a dominant start by team Mercedes and marked their fourth consecutive 1-2 finish to start the year.

That is bad news for Ferrari and fans of the fabled Scuderia. After all the talk of the Prancing Horses having the pace advantage over the Silver Arrows, Ferrari has yet to prove that in a race this year. Mercedes appears able to turn up the performance without sacrificing reliability and they have two drivers who almost never make mistakes. Both those shortcomings bit Ferrari in Baku. Wile looking like the fastest overall during each round of practice, Ferrari’s young phenom Charles Leclerc binned his car into the TecPro barriers at the tricky Castle complex during Saturday qualifying. Yeoman’s work by the team’s mechanics enabled Leclerc to start with a healthy car on the grid on Sunday and he was elevated to P8 by the time the race started due to others’ penalties. But it was a far cry from a possible pole and put the Monegasque on an alternate tire strategy from the rest of the frontrunners, with Leclerc’s Prancing Horse starting on the Medium Pirelli’s while the other top 10 began on the softs. So Leclerc would obviously run a longer first stint and for a while it looked like the alternate strategy just might pay off with unexpectedly good results, as the Soft rubber of those around him expired much more quickly than expected.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

Leclerc made a passel of passes through the midfield to get to P5 by Lap 7 and by the time Hamilton finished off the round of pit stops for the top 3 on Lap 14 Leclerc inherited the race lead. But Ferrari may have gotten greedy — they were also understandably worried about the life of the Soft tires to close the race to be fair — and kept Leclerc out on that first set of Medium tires all the way to Lap 34. Continue reading →

2019 F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain — Qualifying results

Leclerc scores maiden pole in Bahrain ahead of P2 Vettel to lead Ferrari rebound & front row lockout; Mercedes’ Hamilton only third fastest

After showing disappointingly pedestrian pace at Formula 1’s season opener in Australia two weeks ago, Ferrari rebounded strongly during Saturday qualifying for Round Two at the Sakhir Circuit in Bahrain. And it was their precocious first year driver Charles Leclerc who bested not only the field for his first career pole position but also his 4-time World Champion teammate, Sebastian Vettel. Under the bright lights of this night race in the affluent Persian Gulf nation it was the Monégasque Leclerc who shone the brightest, setting a new track record of 1:27.866, eclipsing Vettel’s previous record lap from last year. With Ferrari back to the form they showed in preseason testing, the Scuderia dominated all practice sessions and then locked out the front row when it really mattered. And their 21-year-old ostensible Number 2 blasted a shot across not only Mercedes’ bow but also senior stablemate Vettel’s. The braintrust at Maranello have to be feeling much better about taking the fight to Mighty Mercedes than they did a fortnight ago after their underwhelming run in Melbourne. Now it’s up to the Prancing Horses to run away from the Silver Arrows come race day tomorrow and prove that it really will be game on for the Constructors’ Title in 2019.

Mercedes were clearly second best on Saturday after dominating the debut race of the season which led to Bottas’ impressive win. Lewis Hamilton did out-qualify Bottas P3 to P4 but then he also led the field from pole at Albert Park and was outclassed by his Finnish teammate. So look for Hamilton to work very hard to best Bottas tomorrow even if Mercedes do not have the pace to challenge for the win against what looks to be a resurgent Ferrari at a track that really seems to suit their blood red cars. Continue reading →

2018 F1 Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi — Results & aftermath

Hamilton finishes historic season in style with dominant win in Abu Dhabi; Vettel runner-up, Verstappen P3

Newly minted 5-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton resisted complacency and instead turned in another vintage Hammertime performance to cap off a historically successful 2018 Formula 1 season. Mercedes’ ace lead the race from pole, dominating from the front, and never faced a serious challenge in Sunday’s in Abu Dhabi Grand Prix from futuristic Yas Marina, the final race of the year. Hamilton picked up his 11th victory out of 21 contests and scored his record-setting 408th championship point. For as close as the season seemed at just a little over the halfway mark, Hamilton and Mercedes dominated Ferrari down the stretch en route to the team’s fifth Constructors’ title on the trot since the start of the current hybrid formula. Ferrari have got to be hoping that next year’s rule tweaks can slow the German juggernaut down in 2014. The fabled Scuderia were left pondering the ashes of another failed campaign and wondering where exactly they lost their way not long after the summer break. The Prancing Horses seemed poised to take their challenge to Mercedes’ dominance down to the wire after Vettel’s victory at Spa in August. But then Hamilton reeled off 6 wins in the last eight races with Kimi Raikkonen at COTA in the United States the only Ferrari driver standing on the top step during that amazing run. There will have to be a lot of midnight oil burnt at Maranello during the short winter break if Ferrari and Vettel are to have any hope of catching up to what is now officially a dynastic championship run by Hamilton and mighty Mercedes.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

The race got off to a scary start on the opening lap when the Renault of Nico Hulkenberg and the Haas of Romain Grosjean touched wheels while fighting for the same piece of real estate, sending Hulkenberg’s car airborne and barrel rolling several time before ending up in the energy-dispersing “Lego” barriers upside down. The helpless Hulkenberg was extracted from the car after some time and emerged unscathed, though the time it took to get him out did bring home the double-edged nature of the Halo system. Things might not have been so positive had his car been on fire during all the time it took to get Hulkenberg out of there safely.

Thankfully, though, the German was unhurt and the race resumed when the Safety Car came in at the end of Lap 4. Hamilton once again vaulted to the lead on the restart, while the Red Bull of Max Verstappen began making up places at a furious pace after software issues at the very start of the race saw the Dutchman drop like a stone from his initial P6 position on the grid. Continue reading →

2018 F1 Grand Prix of Mexico — Qualifying results

Ricciardo seizes pole in Mexico with mega lap, leads Red Bull front row lockout pipping Verstappen in P2; Hamilton P3 ahead of Vettel in P4

Just when it seemed that Max Verstappen would earn his first ever Formula 1 pole in Saturday qualifying from Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City, the talented wunderkind saw that elusive goal snatched from him by his Red Bull teammate. Daniel Ricciardo bested Verstappen’s seemingly untouchable sub 1:15-second fast lap by 3-one hundredths, leaving the Aussie giddy with a new track record and the 21-year-old Dutchman suddenly deflated. After looking the fastest man up until that the very last moments of Q3 Vertsapen was also looking to become the youngest pole-sitter in the sport’s history. But that dream will have to wait at least a couple of more weeks. Despite Verstappen’s disappointment, Red Bull were thrilled to have the front row lockout at a track that really seems to suit their chassis and Ricciardo was especially elated. They may have issues holding those high flying positions in the race, however, because the Red Bulls’ straight line speed is still not nearly as good as Mercedes’ or Ferrari’s, not to mention the doubt added by Ricciardo’s recent string of DNFs due to poor reliability.

Speaking of Mercedes, their ace and points leader took another step towards clinching his fifth World Championship, taking the checkered flag just behind the two Red Bulls and in front of his last remaining title rival, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel. Hamilton will line up P3 on the grid right beside Vettel in P4 and if he scores a mere 5 points in the race he will mathematically eliminate his German rival and claim the 2018 Championship. That makes their respective getaways tomorrow all the more intriguing, especially considering Vettel’s recent propensity for crashing into his nearest opponents. Hamilton’s teammate, Valtteri Bottas, had the fifth fastest time, while Vettel’s stablemate and last week’s race winner in Texas, Kimi Raikkonen, could do no better than P6.

Further down the order, Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg and Carlos Sainz qualified P7 and P8 respectively, while the two Saubers both made it into Q3 for the first time since Russia. Charles Leclerc set the ninth fastest time while Marcus Ericsson will start in P10.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Mexican GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 3 Daniel Ricciardo RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 1:15.866 1:15.845 1:14.759 16
2 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 1:15.756 1:15.640 1:14.785 15
3 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:15.673 1:15.644 1:14.894 20
4 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 1:16.089 1:15.715 1:14.970 16
5 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:15.580 1:15.923 1:15.160 22
6 7 Kimi Räikkönen FERRARI 1:16.446 1:15.996 1:15.330 20
7 27 Nico Hulkenberg RENAULT 1:16.498 1:16.126 1:15.827 18
8 55 Carlos Sainz RENAULT 1:16.813 1:16.188 1:16.084 18
9 16 Charles Leclerc SAUBER FERRARI 1:16.862 1:16.320 1:16.189 20
10 9 Marcus Ericsson SAUBER FERRARI 1:16.701 1:16.633 1:16.513 20

Complete qualifying results available via Formula.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live at 2:30PM Eastern on ABC in here in the States. With so much on the line and so much speed amongst the front runners, the dice among the top 6 on the opening lap should be epic. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2018 F1 Grand Prix of Japan — Results & aftermath

Hamilton cruises to victory in Japan putting Championship within reach; Bottas a hard fought P2 over Verstappen’s incident-filled P3 run; error-prone Vettel sinks to P6

It was a tale of two championships going in dramatically different directions at the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday. For points leader and Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton the weekend culminated in a flawless run from the 80th pole of his career, pure domination for the entire race and a relatively easy victory at the tricky figure-8 Suzuka circuit. It was Hamilton’s fourth win on the trot, sixth out of the last seven contests and his remarkable fifth career win in Japan.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

For his nearest pursuer, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, the team’s recent missteps, highlighted by Saturday’s inexplicable decision to go out on wet tires in the decisive qualifying session on a drying track, seemed to result in the German 4-time World Champion trying far too hard far too early instead of biding his time to maximize his result and his points. Vettel was in the unenviable position of starting in P9 on the grid after his team’s tire miscalculation and drove well and with the proper amount of aggression at the start of the race to pass a passel of slower cars in quick order. By Lap 3 he was already up to P4, having gotten by his teammate Kimi Raikkonen. That put him directly behind the third place Red Bull of Max Verstappen when a Safety Car came out caused by Haas’s Kevin Magnussen’s prolonged puncture spewing copious debris all over on the track. In his typically aggressive fashion, Verstappen had already had a scrap with Raikkonen, going off the track and rejoining in an unsafe manner while trying to hold off the Finn’s Ferrari. And during the Safety Car period Verstappen was handed a 5-second time penalty by the stewards for that infraction.

But whether Vettel did not get that information from his team or chose to ignore it the Ferrari man decided to battle Verstappen for the position on track in a seemingly desperate attempt to get closer to the two front running Mercedes rather than be patient, stay close to the Dutchman and let the eventual penalty take care of the overtake for him. Continue reading →

2018 F1 Grand Prix of Singapore — Results & aftermath

Hamilton cruises to victory, extends championship lead; Verstappen finishes P2 ahead of disheartened Vettel in P3

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton capped his perfect weekend with an unassailable drive to victory at the Marina Bay Street Circuit in Singapore on Sunday, making the most of his dominant pole position as a springboard to get away and stay away from any and all challengers. Better yet for Hamilton, his main title rival, Sebastian Vettel, could not overcome his P3 qualifying effort and was unable to pass Red Bull’s Max Verstappen on this very tight track either via pit strategy or pure pace. With the Dutch wunderkind battling engine gremlins and preserving his tires in a very poised and mature effort throughout the race, Vertsappen successfully held off Vettel to finish P2. Most pivotally Verstappen got the better of a very close encounter when he was just coming out of the pits on cold tires on Lap 18 and Vettel, who had already pitted 3 laps earlier, desperately tried to steam past him in the chicane. Unable to get that move done or really challenge Verstappen again after that his eventual P3 finish dealt the German’s title hopes a blow, as Hamilton pulled out his points lead to 40 with the victory.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

Both men are hunting their fifth F1 World Championship but Hamilton has now won four out of the last six contests and while Vettel has won this other two he has seen his deficit grow to an alarming level with only six more Grand Prix remaining in 2018. Worse yet for the Scuderia, the Ferrari SF71H no longer seems to be keeping up with the Mercedes W09’s continuing improvement. Vettel also appears to have lost a bit of faith in the team, frequently questioning strategy and sometimes attempting to dictate it from the driver’s seat. After their disappointment in Singapore the reality is stark: Ferrari are running out of time to simultaneously ramp up their performance and make the savvy strategy calls that will enable their superb ace to return to being a true threat to Hamilton and Mercedes.

Mercedes’ second driver Valtteri Bottas also outscored outgoing Ferrari #2 Kimi Raikkonen, P4 to P5, further boosting Mercedes lead over Ferrari to to 37 points in the all important Constructors’ Standings. Daniel Ricciardo couldn’t overcome his lackluster qualifying effort and held station to finish a desultory P6 despite hounding both Raikkonen and Bottas in the closing laps. While Singapore is often incident filled it really is exceedingly hard to overtake here. Fernando Alsonso had a great day for himself and team McLaren at his last Singapore GP, coming home “best of the rest” by finishing an impressive P7. That was ahead of the Renaults of Carlos Sainz in P8 and Nico Hulkenberg in P10. And rookie Charles Leclerc gave Ferrari no reason to doubt their decision to promote him into the factory team next year at Raikkonen’s expense. The talented young Monegasque drove a solid race and kept his nose clean to take P9 at the finish.

While there was not much action among the elite racers at the front the midfield and back markers provided many thrills and spills. Sergio Perez had a crazily self-destructive race, shoving his Force India teammate Esteban Ocon into the wall on the opening lap to bring out a Safety Car. He then engaged in a multi-lap dice with the super slow Williams of Sergei Sirotkin becoming so frustrated that when he finally got the opportunity to pass the Russian he cut him off impetuously and caused a collision. That moment of red mist caused Perez’s Force India to suffer a puncture and also earned the Mexican a stop and hold penalty that doomed him to last place. Largely due to Perez’s out of control behavior Force India scored zero points after qualifying P7 and P9. That had team boss Otmar Szafnauer muttering about reinstalling team orders on his unruly charges.

Top 10 finishers for the Singapore GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 61 1:51:11.611 25
2 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 61 +8.961s 18
3 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 61 +39.945s 15
4 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 61 +51.930s 12
5 7 Kimi Räikkönen FERRARI 61 +53.001s 10
6 3 Daniel Ricciardo RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 61 +53.982s 8
7 14 Fernando Alonso MCLAREN RENAULT 61 +103.011s 6
8 55 Carlos Sainz RENAULT 60 +1 lap 4
9 16 Charles Leclerc SAUBER FERRARI 60 +1 lap 2
10 27 Nico Hulkenberg RENAULT 60 +1 lap 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in two weeks time from Sochi Autodrom in Russia. Can Vettel and Ferrari get back to their winning ways or will Hamilton use his superlative Mercedes power to put the hammer down on Vettel’s championship dreams? Hope to see you then  to find out!

2018 F1 Grand Prix of Italy — Results & aftermath

Hamilton and Mercedes outbox & outfox Ferrari for victory at Monza; Raikkonen salvages P2; Bottas elevated to P3 after Verstappen penalty

Mercedes came to Monza and played the team game so well and with such aplomb that they took the race from Ferrari in their own backyard. With forceful and assertive driving from their ace Lewis Hamilton and then impeccable teamwork from Valtteri Bottas and the strategists on the pit wall, the Silver Arrows outlasted and outperformed the Prancing Horses despite the ardent wishes for a victory from the passionate tifosi in the stands. In the end victory at the Italian Grand Prix was Hamilton’s after elbowing the Sucderia’s Sebastian Vettel out of his way on the first lap and then passing the pole-sitting Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen late in the race with fresher tires. Hamilton could not have done it without Bottas, who stretched his first stint to hold up Raikkonen forcing the veteran Finn to use up precious rubber and enabling Hamilton to close him down.

Pics courtesy Grand Prix247.com

The action began on Lap 1 with Raikkonen, who had set the fatest F1 lap ever in Saturday qualifying for pole, getting away to a good start and holding off his teammate Vettel, who started beside him in P2 on the grid. But Hamilton, who was directly behind the Ferraris in the second row in P3 alongside his wingman Bottas, was aggressive from the get-go and made a diving move into the Variente del Rettifilo chicane directly alongside Vettel’s blood red car. Vettel appeared to try to shut the door but Hamilton’s Merc was already slipping past him. The two touched and Vettel got the worst of it with a costly spin and damage to his front wing while Hamilton cruised ahead unscathed. The contact was correctly ruled a racing incident by the stewards and fortunately for Vettel a Safety Car was deployed due to the terminally wounded Toro Rosso of Brendon Hartley needing retrieval from the track. Nonetheless, Vettel was now consigned to trying to salvage what he could from the day rather than potentially competing for the win.

When the race resumed and the Safety Car was withdrawn at the ned of Lap 3 it quickly settled down into a less frenetic rhythm. Raikkonen continued to lead and Hamilton continued to pursue but not that hard yet, with the Englishman content to combine speed with tire preservation. It would paid off for Hamilton and luck was also a factor. Raikkonen was called into the pits on Lap 21, getting off the Super Soft Pirellis for the more durable Softs, while Hamilton continued to pound around looking to shave as much as possible off the pit stop delta so that he might be closer when his time came to swap tires. Hamilton and Mercedes also caught a break when the Red Bull of the unlucky Daniel Ricciardo expired once again on track on Lap 24 but that only resulted in a local yellow flag not a Safety Car of VSC. Hamilton ran on his first set of Super Softs all the way to Lap 28, also going onto the Softs, and when he reemerged he was in P3 behind his teammate Bottas, who had yet to stop, and Raikkonen, who was desperate to get by his fellow Finn.

But despite his fresher rubber Raikkonen could not get close enough to Bottas to make a move. Continue reading →

2018 F1 Grand Prix of Italy — Qualifying results

Raikkonen edges out Vettel for pole to lead Ferrari 1-2 in front of ecstatic tifosi; Hamilton salvages P3 for Mercedes

On the ultrafast Monza circuit in these ultrafast 2018 F1 cars it was Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen who managed to take maximum advantage of his Prancing Horse’s aerodynamics and power in Saturday qualifying, setting the fastest lap in Formula 1 history en route to pole for tomorrow’s Italian Grand Prix. In front of the ecstatic tifosi at Ferrari’s home Grand Prix just a few miles from their storied Maranello base of operations, the veteran Finn managed to flip the script from his usual wingman role to get the better of team leader Sebastian Vettel. Raikkonen hooked up a flawless fast lap late in Q3 that was perhaps aided by his positioning in the slipstream of his usually superior teammate. And at 1:19.119 the veteran Finn had the rarified honor of setting the all-time fastest lap in F1 history. Combined with Vettel’s P2 time, Ferrari secured a front row lockout in front of their ultra-demanding home fans, who will be desperate to see one of the team’s blood red cars take victory in tomorrow’s race.

For Mercedes it was another ominous sign that Ferrari’s engine has increased its upside potential when the wick is turned up since returning from the summer break, as the Scuderia proved with Vettel’s race-winning performance last week at Spa. Leading the eventual top 3 across the line as the checkered flag flew in the last quali session Lewis Hamilton could only muster the third fastest time in his Silver Arrow, while his teammate Valtteri Bottas qualified P4. With the two Ferraris on the front row and the two Mercedes lined up directly behind them on the second row, the getaway from the line should produce some potentially nerve racking moments and could well determine the outcome of the entire race.

Red Bull’s Max Vertsappen set the fifth fastest qualifying lap while his teammate Daniel Ricciardo has to start from the rear due to engine-change penalties. That opened the door for Haas’s Romain Grosjean to make a run good enough to seize a solid P6 on the grid, bettering the effort of the factory Renault of Carlos Sainz, who come home slightly behind the Frenchman in P7. Esteban Ocon set the eighth fastest time for Force India, while Pierre Gasly did well to qualify P9 for Toro Rosso. Rounding out the Top 10 starters, Williams finally got a car into Q3 this year, as Lance Stroll managed to set a time good enough for P10, capitalizing on the Williams’ brute power on a circuit that does not quite punish its woeful lack of downforce as much as most of the others on the calendar.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Italian GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 7 Kimi Räikkönen FERRARI 1:20.722 1:19.846 1:19.119 21
2 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 1:20.542 1:19.629 1:19.280 20
3 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:20.810 1:19.798 1:19.294 20
4 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:21.381 1:20.427 1:19.656 18
5 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 1:21.381 1:20.333 1:20.615 15
6 8 Romain Grosjean HAAS FERRARI 1:21.887 1:21.239 1:20.936 21
7 55 Carlos Sainz RENAULT 1:21.732 1:21.552 1:21.041 17
8 31 Esteban Ocon FORCE INDIA MERCEDES 1:21.570 1:21.315 1:21.099 17
9 10 Pierre Gasly SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO HONDA 1:21.834 1:21.667 1:21.350 24
10 18 Lance Stroll WILLIAMS MERCEDES 1:21.838 1:21.494 1:21.627 14

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN2 beginning at 9AM Eastern here in the States. Will Raikonnen get his first win in ages or prove unable to withstand Vettel’s certain charge? Will Hamilton spoil the Ferrari party to gleefully break Italian hearts? Hope to see you then to see how it all shakes out!