Tag Archives: Carlos Sainz

2018 F1 Grand Prix of China — Results & aftermath

Ricciardo pulls off stunning upset in China for Red Bull; Bottas savages second for Mercedes, Raikkonen P3 for Ferrari; Vettel and Verstappen tangle

A Safety Car on Lap 31 upended the prevailing order of an already unpredictable Chinese Grand Prix this Sunday, opening the door for some canny strategy by team Red Bull. That enabled their most senior driver, Daniel Ricciardo, to stun the main contenders and take a massive upset win for the team after nearly missing out in Saturday qualifying due to turbo issues. Once again Formula 1’s peculiar open pit rules came into play when the Safety Car was deployed after the leading quartet or Mercedes and Ferraris had passed the pit entrance but just as the Red Bulls were just approaching. This enabled the team to call both their drivers in for back-to-back pit stops that switched their men off the long lasting but slow Medium Pirellis, which the other contenders had also switched to, and back onto the grippier Soft tire compound that they had started the race on. When proceedings resumed it was clear that the new tires had given the Red Bulls a decisive performance advantage. Ricciardo was then able to pick off the front runners one by one, vaulting by first the Ferraris of Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel and then the leading Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas with a forceful move on Lap 45. Riccardo would’nt be seen by the rest of the field after that, steaming home to his first victory of the year in this eventful 56-lap GP. It made up for some recent bad luck and the affable Aussie was all smiles after the race.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix24.com

However, Ricciardo’s teammate Max Verstappen once again took one too many risks even though he had a decisive advantage over the competition and would have been better served biding his time to make clean passes. The 20-year-old Dutchman has been driving like his hair is on fire on these first 3 rounds of the World Championship so far this year and it was no exception in Shanghai. First he tried a couple of over ambitious passes on Louis Hamilton that resulted in Verstappen running off track and losing positions. Then when he finally did get by Hamilton he bashed into Vettel at the hairpin on the very next lap, spinning both cars and destroying Vettel’s race. Verstappen was later handed a 10-second penalty for causing the accident which cost the wunderkind a likely podium finish if not the win and dropped him down to P5. Vettel never really recovered from the contact and burning out his rear tires trying to get his Prancing Horse pointed back in the right direction. The pole-sitter limped home a forlorn P8, even suffering the ignominy of being passed by Fernando Alonso’s McLaren on the closing laps, as the Spaniard took an opportunistic P7.

It was a stunning turnaround for Vettel and Ferrari, who had reason to hope for overall victory after they showed blistering speed all weekend long. In truth, however, while the team could do nothing about the fortuitous track position of the Red Bulls when the Safety Car was deployed Ferrari had somewhat botched their strategy earlier in the race. They unwisely kept the at that time front-running Vettel out a lap too long while Mercedes executed the undercut with Valtteri Bottas to perfection. Bottas came around in the lead as Vettel exited the pits and Vettel was all of a sudden the hunter rather than the hunted. Obviously it all came a cropper after his contact with Vertsappen but it is still worth remembering that the pit wall of Ferrari dropped the ball even before that dramatic later incident.

Bottas managed to keep his incredibly degraded Medium Pirellis under him long enough to secure a P2 finish, his second consecutive second place. Raikkonen managed to avoid his teammate’s troubles and secured the last place on the podium in P3. Hamilton had a desultory race and could only secure P4 and that only after Verstppaen was demoted. Mercedes need to figure out how to make the car more to their 4-time champion driver’s liking, as so far this season it appears that  Bottas is much more in tune with his machine. Nico Hulkenberg took advantage of the chaos to bring his factory Renault home an impressive P6, while his teammate Carlos Sainz snuck across the line in a valuable P9 despite running out of the points for most of the day. The Haas of Kevin Magnussen rounded out the Top 10 with the last points paying position, another good day for the hard-nosed Dane who is off to a good start to his campaign for the American team.

Top 10 finishers of the Chinese GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 3 Daniel Ricciardo RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 56 1:35:36.380 25
2 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 56 +8.894s 18
3 7 Kimi Räikkönen FERRARI 56 +9.637s 15
4 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 56 +16.985s 12
5 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 56 +20.436s 10
6 27 Nico Hulkenberg RENAULT 56 +21.052s 8
7 14 Fernando Alonso MCLAREN RENAULT 56 +30.639s 6
8 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 56 +35.286s 4
9 55 Carlos Sainz RENAULT 56 +35.763s 2
10 20 Kevin Magnussen HAAS FERRARI 56 +39.594s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in two weeks time on April 29th from Baku in Azerbaijan. Last year’s race on that street circuit was an absolute cracker so hopefully F1 can keep the excitement from today’s  unpredictable clash in China going. Hope to see you then to find out!

2018 F1 Grand Prix of China — Qualifying results

Vettel edges Raikkonen for pole, leads Ferrari front row lockout in Shanghai; Bottas again quicker than Hamilton for Mercedes as Silver Arrows qualify P3 and P4

Ferrari displayed definitive pace over their arch-rivals Mercedes in Saturday qualifying at the Shanghai International Circuit in China indicating that they may well have shifted to the favorites to win the one or both of the F1 championships this season. Their ace Sebastian Vettel was able to dig deep and take pole from his teammate Kimi Raikkonen with a sterling lap in the dying seconds of Q3. The Iceman had been looking good for his first-ever top starting spot in China but Vettel once again saved his best fo last, thwarting the best laid plans of his Finnish teammate by a mere .09 seconds. It was Vettel’s fourth career pole in China and it also marked two consecutive front row lockouts for Ferrari, the first time the famed Italian team have achieved that feat since the great Schumacher-Barrichello years back in 2006. Three race weekends into 2018 the Prancing Horses appear to be for real and Mercedes have so far not been able to match Maranello’s significant performance improvements.

That deficit by the Silver Arrows to Ferrari was clearly evident when Mercedes’ ostensible number two, Valtteri Bottas, lagged behind Raikkonen’s P2 time by nearly half a second. Worse yet for the team, its reigning champion Lewis Hamilton botched his last attempt in Q3 and had to settle for the fourth best time over all. It was the second time in a row that Bottas out-qualified Hamilton, an uncommon circumstance to say the least. The only potential external excuse Mercedes may have had for their lack of pace was the unusually cold weather in Shanghai, where temperatures hovered only in the low teens Celsius/50s Fahrenheit. Mercedes will hope to make a good start behind the Ferraris with their dynamic duo and then ride some sort of tire strategy to a potential upset. However Ferrari are starting on the same Pirelli Soft tires as the Silver Arrows so it remains to be seen which team can really play an advantage via savvy pit calls.

Further down the grid Red Bull are hoping for a bounce-back result after a double DNF in Bahrain. Max Verstappen was able to secure P5 on the grid, while his teammate Daniel Ricciardo and his crew did yeoman’s work to take P6. The Ricciardo side of the garage just got the Aussie veteran’s machine out in Q1 fir one flying lap good enough to go through after a blown engine in the last practice session and then an under-built Renault replacement engine almost caused the team to miss quali completely.

Nico Hulkenberg and Carlos Sainz qualified P7 and P9 for the Renault factory team respectively. They were split by the improving Force India of Sergio Perez in P8. Romain Grosjean drove well in his Haas to take P10 on the grid, outperforming his teammate Kevin Magnussen in qualifying for the first time this season.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Chinese GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 1:32.171 1:32.385 1:31.095 15
2 7 Kimi Räikkönen FERRARI 1:32.474 1:32.286 1:31.182 17
3 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:32.921 1:32.063 1:31.625 20
4 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:33.283 1:31.914 1:31.675 17
5 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 1:32.932 1:32.809 1:31.796 12
6 3 Daniel Ricciardo RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 1:33.877 1:32.688 1:31.948 12
7 27 Nico Hulkenberg RENAULT 1:33.545 1:32.494 1:32.532 15
8 11 Sergio Perez FORCE INDIA MERCEDES 1:33.464 1:32.931 1:32.758 13
9 55 Carlos Sainz RENAULT 1:33.315 1:32.970 1:32.819 18
10 8 Romain Grosjean HAAS FERRARI 1:33.238 1:32.524 1:32.855 19

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Sunday’s race airs live on ESPN2 starting at 2AM Eastern here in the States. So set that DVR or brew that late night pot of coffee because all six cars of the contending teams barreling into Turn 1 should alone be worth the price of admission!

2018 F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain — Qualifying results

Vettel seizes pole in Bahrain desert, Raikkonen P2 to secure Ferrari front row lockout; Bottas salvages P3 on grid for Mercedes but Hamilton relegated to P9 after gearbox penalty

Ferrari again showed that they have the pace to challenge and perhaps dethrone Mercedes in 2018, at least based on qualifying results at the dusty desert Bahrain International Circuit on Saturday. The Scuderia’s ace, Sebastian Vettel, laid down a track record 1:27.958 lap to secure the pole for Sunday’s Grand Prix, a solid .143 in front of his stablemate, Kimi Raikkonen. That secured a Ferrari front row lockout, as Mercedes’ second driver, Valtteri Bottas, could set a lap no better than third fastest. To make matters worse for the Silver Arrows, while Lewis Hamilton was not only off the pace and qualified behind Bottas and his main rivals in P4 the English current World Champion also faces a 5-spot gearbox penalty and will have to start from back in P9 on the grid. At least in the very early going this year the racing gods seem to be favoring Ferrari’s challenge to the previously unmatched might of Mercedes.

Daniel Ricciardo was fifth fastest but his headstrong teammate Max Verstappen crashed out in Q1, allegedly after a “horsepower spike” sent his car careering off track and into a barrier. Vertapeppen will have to fight his way through the back of the pack, which should at least make for some exciting racing for the young Dutchman as he scrambles to secure precious points for team Red Bull. Perhaps most impressive of all qualifying efforts, Pierre Gasly piloted his previously woeful Honda-powered Toro Rosso all the way up to the sixth fastest time, out performing Haas, Renault and Force India in the process. With his teammate Brendan Hartley qualifying just outside of Q3 in P11 it could be that Honda power is finally coming good a year after the McLaren divorce. Making matters more awkward for McLaren neither of their Renault-powered chassis were able to get through to Q3, with Fernando Alonso & Stoffel Vandoorne mired back in P13 and P14 respectively.

Rounding out the Top 10 in quali, Kevin Magnussen made it to P7 for improving Haas a week after their twin pit disasters led to heartbreak in Australia; Nico Hulkenberg was P8 and Carlos Sainz was P10 for the Renault factory team; and Esteban Ococn was the sole Force India to make it into Q3 at P9. Once formidable Williams look to be in deep trouble as they were essentially as slow as the pitiful Saubers, with Lance Stroll having the dubious distinction of setting the worst time of the day.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Bahrain GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 1:29.060 1:28.341 1:27.958 13
2 7 Kimi Räikkönen FERRARI 1:28.951 1:28.515 1:28.101 13
3 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:29.275 1:28.794 1:28.124 16
4 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:29.396 1:28.458 1:28.220 16
5 3 Daniel Ricciardo RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 1:29.552 1:28.962 1:28.398 12
6 10 Pierre Gasly SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO HONDA 1:30.121 1:29.836 1:29.329 18
7 20 Kevin Magnussen HAAS FERRARI 1:29.594 1:29.623 1:29.358 16
8 27 Nico Hulkenberg RENAULT 1:30.260 1:29.187 1:29.570 15
9 31 Esteban Ocon FORCE INDIA MERCEDES 1:30.338 1:30.009 1:29.874 16
10 55 Carlos Sainz RENAULT 1:29.893 1:29.802 1:29.986 18

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

The Bahrain Grand Prix airs live on Sunday, April 8 starting at 11AM on ESPN2 here in the States. Hope to see you then to see if Ferrari can put the fear of god into Mercedes to make it two wins in a row to start this year’s campaign!

2018 F1 Grand Prix of Australia — Results & aftermath

Vettel and Ferrari score opportunistic win in Round 1, Hamilton a disappointed P2 for Mercedes; Raikkonen P3

For the second year in a row Ferrari and their ace driver Sebastian Vettel used clever strategy — plus  a little luck this time — to score an upset over favored Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes. Despite qualifying third fastest behind pole-sitter Hamilton and Scuderia stablemate Kimi Raikkonen, Vettel ran a longer stint on his opening set of Super Soft Pirelli tires than his nearest competitors. Thus while Raikkonen pitted on Lap 19 and Hamilton on Lap 20, Vettel gambled and stayed out until Lap 26, where he was able to take advantage of a well-timed Safety Car for Romain Grosjean & Kevin Magnussen’s disabled Haas cars, which inexplicably left the pits with unsecured wheels. Whether by calculation, blind luck or a combination of the two that meant that Vettel could dive to the pits while the field had to slow and close up behind the Safety Car, erasing the impact of the lost to the dreaded pit lane delta and, in fact, emerge just ahead of Hamilton upon reentry to the circuit. Also, due to a quirk in the rules, Vettel was able to gun his Ferrari out of the short pit lane blend line while Hamilton had to run the slower set pace, thereby giving the German 4-time world champion a crucial advantage. It was one Vettel and Ferrari would not relinquish as, despite his best efforts, Hamilton could never get his car to work well enough or keep his engine cool enough in Vettel’s aero wake to make an overtaking move.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

After Vettel’s somewhat fluky strategic victory F1 may need to look at their pit stop/Safety Car rules anew because there seems to be a net gain for a car that dives for the pits under full course yellow as opposed to most other forms of motorsport, where the pits generally stay closed after a safety car is deployed for at least a set number of laps. That negates the advantage of a car entering the pits directly after yellow, though of course it’s fair play if the team is lucky enough to call their driver in just before the full course yellow is thrown.

Nevertheless, Ferrari takes the season opening victory just as they did last year when their strikingly similar long-run tire strategy with Vettel also paid off with a win. Hamilton was left to console himself with a somewhat hard luck P2 and the knowledge that his Mercedes did have superior pace to the Ferraris in both qualifying and when running out front. Once again things look to be shaping up as a contest between Vettel and Hamilton to see who can secure the Championship, what would be the fifth for either very accomplished ace. Mighty Mercedes must surely be hoping that once again they prevail in the long run, as they have the previous four seasons. However they will need more from their second driver, Valtteri Bottas, who binned his car in qualifying, started from 15th and could only manage to claw his way back to P8 at the checkered flag.

Raikkonen also got burned by the Safety Car but was able to hold off the hard charging Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo for the last spot on the podium at P3, making it a very good day for Ferrari as a team. The Aussie native Ricciardo raced very well after starting from a penalty-hampered eighth spot on the grid to come home a competitive P4 in front of his adoring home fans, a very hopeful sign of improvement for the team’s upgraded engine. However, Ricciardo’s Red Bull teammate, Max Verstappen, had a scrappy race, overcooking his tires in pursuit of the Haas of Kevin Magnusson, who had passed him with a fine move at the start, and even losing a passel of positions by spinning out at one point. Young Max was able to recover and take advantage of a host of retirements to finish in P6 but the 20-year-old Dutch wunderkind had better begin showing more maturity and poise in this his fifth year in Formula 1 if he is ever going to start realizing his undoubted potential as a threat for consistent podiums.

McLaren made a solid statement that this year will be different than their desultory last three campaigns. Flashing their new Renault power plant in anger for the first time, Fernando Alonso drove like the two-time champion he is for a P5 finish, while Stoffel Vandoorne added to the valuable points haul with a solid P9. The Renault factory team also had an excellent day, with veteran Nico Hulkenberg taking a solid P6 and Spaniard Carlos Sainz fighting off an upset stomach to grab that last point in P10.

Missing out on any glory were Force India, which looks to have taken a step backwards against their closest mid-field rivals, and Williams, which simply looks lost and could potentially be in for an awful season. Sauber was again nowhere despite their Ferrari engines and Toro Rosso looked awful after their switch to Honda (under)-power, both slow and unreliable. Most depressing of all here in Round 1 was the double DNF for Haas. Despite showing pace that should have found Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean in the points, the team was undone done by twin catastrophic pit stops that saw both cars released with one improperly attached wheel each. Ironically it was Ferrari-powered Haas’s fatal blunder that enabled Vettel and the factory team to win the opening round of the 2018 season.

Top 10 finishers of the Australian Grand Prix.

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 58 1:29:33.283 25
2 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 58 +5.036s 18
3 7 Kimi Räikkönen FERRARI 58 +6.309s 15
4 3 Daniel Ricciardo RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 58 +7.069s 12
5 14 Fernando Alonso MCLAREN RENAULT 58 +27.886s 10
6 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 58 +28.945s 8
7 27 Nico Hulkenberg RENAULT 58 +32.671s 6
8 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 58 +34.339s 4
9 2 Stoffel Vandoorne MCLAREN RENAULT 58 +34.921s 2
10 55 Carlos Sainz RENAULT 58 +45.722s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in two weeks time and half way around the world in Bahrain. Hope to see you the to find out if Vettel and Ferrari’s good luck continues or Hamilton and Mercedes can get back on the top step!

2018 F1 Grand Prix of Australia — Qualifying results

The long winter break is finally over and Formula 1 is back for its new season and starting once again from the Albert Park street circuit in Melbourne, Australia. There is good news and bad news for the new cars this year. The good news is that the 2018 spec s the fastest yet of the new V6 turbo era. The bad news is that the addition of the driver-protecting halo device has made the cars not only ugly but also ruining the on-car camera perspective. Still I suppose if the Halo prevents another driver head injury like the one that lead to the death of Jules Bianchi at Suzuka in 2016 then it will be worth the rather awful aesthetics. On the other hand I’m not quite sure I see how the Halo will stop small debris from striking a driver’s helmet through the open spaces, as happened to Felipe Massa when a spring hit him at 200mph at the Hungaroring in 2009. But caveats aside let’s find out what happened on the first day of real racing in anger as the 2018 F1 field competed for the pole in Saturday Qualifying in Melbourne!

Hamilton & Mercedes still the ones beat after blistering season debut  pole; Raikkonen outguns favored Ferrari teammate Vettel, P2 to P3; Bottas crashes out of Q3

In Formula 1 the more things change the more they stay the same apparently. On the first qualifying of the 2018 season Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, the reigning World Champion, thrashed his Silver Arrow around Albert Park in Melbourne setting a time that no others could match. The result was Hamilton fifth consecutive and seventh career pole in Australia. After all the hype in testing about Ferrari’s potential for dominance when it came down to a mano-a-mano between manufactures Mercedes retained the edge that has propelled them to the last 4 consecutive Constructors’ Titles. Ferrari does appear to have the pace over the rest of the field and Kimi Raikkonen utilized his SF71H chassis the best on Saturday, setting a quick time about 7 tenths in arrears of Hamilton but good enough for P2 and .01 faster than his more heralded teammate, Sebastian Vettel, who slots in at P3 on the grid.

All was not completely rosy for mighty Mercedes, however, as their second driver, Valtteri Bottas, continued to have bad luck Down Under. Hamilton’s Finnish wingman had a lurid, spinning crash when he dropped his tires off track and onto the slippery grass shortly after starting his first hot lap in Q3. His Silver Arrow appeared badly damaged and no doubt Bottas will be starting from the pit come Sunday.

Red Bull once again did not have the sheer pace of the top two teams, which has to be a disappointment for anyone hoping they had made an engine breakthrough over the winter and were ready to seriously threaten Mercedes or Ferrari. Wunderkind Max Verstappen qualified P4 and Aussie Daniel Ricciardo earned P5 but will be penalized 3 positions on the grid at his home Grand Prix for a dubious speeding-under-red-flag penalty in Friday practice. On the flip side American team Haas showed definite improvement to their Ferrari powered chassis and threw down an early claim to be “best of the rest” with Kevin Magnusson qualifying in P6 and Romain Grosjean in P7. That meant, somewhat surprisingly, that both Renault factory drivers will start behind the upstart Haas cars, with Nico Hulkenberg in P8 and Carlos Sainz in P9. The steadily improving Haas and Renault performance could bode ill for last year’s 4th place team, perennial overachiever Force India. On this first qualifying day, at least, they were nowhere on pace, with both their talented drivers out in Q2. Sergio Perez could do no better than P13 while young Esteban Ocon was way back in P15. Newly Renault-powered McLaren did better than Force India as well, if not quite good enough to dent the Top 10 starting grid — international superstar Fernando Alonso was P11 and his Belgian teammate Stoffel Vandoorne was right behind in P12.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Australian Gran Prix:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:22.824 1:22.051 1:21.164 20
2 7 Kimi Räikkönen FERRARI 1:23.096 1:22.507 1:21.828 17
3 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 1:23.348 1:21.944 1:21.838 20
4 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 1:23.483 1:22.416 1:21.879 18
5 3 Daniel Ricciardo RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 1:23.494 1:22.897 1:22.152 17
6 20 Kevin Magnussen HAAS FERRARI 1:23.909 1:23.300 1:23.187 17
7 8 Romain Grosjean HAAS FERRARI 1:23.671 1:23.468 1:23.339 17
8 27 Nico Hulkenberg RENAULT 1:23.782 1:23.544 1:23.532 16
9 55 Carlos Sainz RENAULT 1:23.529 1:23.061 1:23.577 17
10 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:23.686 1:22.089 DNF 16

Complete qualifying realist available via Formual1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live early this Sunday at 1AM on ESPN2. ABC and the ESPN family of network are F1’s new broadcast partner in the States in partnership with Sky Sports and ESPN will simply utilize the Sky feed complete with their lead British announcing team of David Croft and former racer Martin Brundle. After so many years of David Hobbs and Steve Matchett bringing us F1 this will undoubtedly take some getting used to, though what I heard on Saturday was quite good in its own way.

2017 F1 Grand Prix of Brazil — Qualifying results

Bottas snatches pole from Vettel while Hamilton crashes out in Q1 during unpredictable quali at Interlagos; Raikkonen P3

In a stunning qualifying session for the penultimate race of the 2017 campaign in Brazil on Saturday newly crowned World Champion Lewis Hamilton crashed out on his opening lap in Q1. The Mercedes ace lost it speeding into Turn 7 at Interlagos, bashing his Silver Arrow heavily into the barriers sideways. While the Englishman was unhurt his pride probably wasn’t by the unforced error just two weeks after he claimed his fourth F1 title in Mexico City. It only proved that it can happen to the best of drivers but it opened up the chase for pole to his only true rivals this season, his teammate Valtteri Bottas and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel. And while Vettel looked like the favorite after laying down a track record lap relatively early in Q3, Bottas showed his mettle by besting that seemingly supreme time even though a light drizzle was falling and the checkered flag was waving. The Finn lifted Mercedes’ pride across the line with him at the death with a remarkable 1:08.322, good enough to take the pole and break Ferrari’s hearts. Vettel will start beside Bottas in P2 and his teammate Kimi Raikkonen will be right behind the Mercedes in P3. Hamilton, on the other hand, will have to start towards the back of the grid and will have to battle his way to the front, although other drivers facing grid spot penalties may move him up a spot or two by the time Sunday rolls around. Right now, however, the current F1 champ is starting from a lonely and lowly P20 after his very uncharacteristic cock up. (In fact it has just been announced that Hamilton will start from pit lane tomorrow, as Mercedes have decided to make changes to the car after the crash.)

The two Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo qualified P4 and P5 respectively but that success was somewhat illusory for the team. Ricciardo is one of the drivers facing engine-change penalties, 10 spots in his case, and so the affable Aussie was pushed back to P15 on the grid. And though Verstappen was spared any such FIA demerits the young Dutchman, winner of the last Grand Prix in Mexico two weeks ago, was forced to retrofit old components onto his ailing Renault engine. Verstappen could be heard complaining about shifting issues during qualifying and can only hope that his bad luck, so frequent in the earlier part of the season, doesn’t return in the form of yet more mechanical failures costing him a race finish. Sergio Perez was the lone Force India to make it into Q3 and had the 6th fastest time, while McLaren’s Fernando Alonso continued the team’s late season upward trajectory by qualifying an impressive P7 at this very fast circuit. The yellow factory Renaults of Nico Hulkenberg and Carlos Sainz were back-to-back with the 8th and 9th fastest times respectively. And Felipe Massa set the 10th quickest lap in what should really be his final Brazilian GP after last year’s tearful false alarm. It looks like the fine Brazilian veteran, who has the 6th most starts in Formula 1 history, will actually hang it up for good after being drafted back into Williams when Bottas made the unexpected leap to Mercedes following Nico Rosberg’s surprise retirement at the end of 2016. We can only wish Massa, a classy and plucky competitor with 15 F1 campaigns to his credit, the very best at his final home race as he heads for the exits at season’s end after a superb career.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Brazilian Grand Prix:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:09.452 1:08.638 1:08.322 22
2 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 1:09.643 1:08.494 1:08.360 21
3 7 Kimi Räikkönen FERRARI 1:09.405 1:09.116 1:08.538 18
4 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 1:09.820 1:09.050 1:08.925 18
5 3 Daniel Ricciardo RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 1:09.828 1:09.533 1:09.330 19
6 11 Sergio Perez FORCE INDIA MERCEDES 1:10.145 1:09.760 1:09.598 21
7 14 Fernando Alonso MCLAREN HONDA 1:10.172 1:09.593 1:09.617 17
8 27 Nico Hulkenberg RENAULT 1:10.078 1:09.726 1:09.703 21
9 55 Carlos Sainz RENAULT 1:10.227 1:09.768 1:09.805 17
10 19 Felipe Massa WILLIAMS MERCEDES 1:09.789 1:09.612 1:09.841 16

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on NBC Sports starting at 11:00 AM Eastern here in the States. With wet weather always the wild card at Interlagos it could once again be the factor that shakes up the field and produces an unexpected result. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2017 F1 Grand Prix of Mexico — Qualifying results

Ferrari’s Vettel bests Red Bull’s Verstappen for pole in Mexico City; Mercedes off the pace with Hamilton P3, Bottas P4

Showing the fight of a true champion, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel laid down a track record lap of 1:16.488 for pole in the rarified air at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City on Saturday. Still mathemeaically alive in the Drivers’ Championship, albeit barely so, Vettel earned his 50th career pole by besting Red Bull’s ultra-quick wunderkind, Max Verstappen, by a scant .09 seconds. Verstappen had looked like the quicker man coming into Q3 but the young Ducthman, driving with a chip on his shoulder after being denied the podium by the stewards a week ago in Austin, couldn’t quite hook his laps up in the final qualifying round. Still, the Red Bull man was faster than both Mercedes, who struggled for outright pace against their usually inferior rivals a week after securing their fourth consecutive Constructors’ title. Points leader Lewis Hamilton, who can secure his fourth championship even if Vettel wins by finishing fifth or better on Sunday, could muster a time good enough for only P3 on the dusty, low-grip circuit. His wingman Valtteri Bottas vaulted himself to P4 on his only timed run in Q3 after a promising early attempt was spoiled by nearly colliding with a slowing Verstappen in the final sector (this tike Vertsappen escaped the stewards’ wrath). So for once in that proverbial blue moon the mighty Mercedes look like the third fastest cars on track, an unusual position to say the least and one that may be caused by the shortness of the circuit and the longness of their wheelbase. However the race could be a different proposition, particularly as the Silver Arrows are at least grouped to fight together while Vettel & Verstappen’s teammates are both separated from them further down the grid.

In fact, Ferrari #2 Kimi Raikkonen will start behind the two Mercs in P5, while the second Red Bull of Daniel Riciciardo looked a bit lost and could do no better than a P7 time. The affable Aussie saw himself bested by Force India’s Esteban Ocon, who qualified ahead in P6. The young Frenchman also outdid his teammate and archrival, Mexican national Sergio Perez, by a considerable margin. Perez could manage no better than P10 despite the passionate encouragement of his countrymen in the stands for his home Grand Prix. Rounding out the top 10, Nico Hulkenberg pipped his new Renault teammate Carlos Sainz, P8 to P9.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Mexican GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 1:17.665 1:16.870 1:16.488 20
2 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 1:17.630 1:16.524 1:16.574 19
3 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:17.518 1:17.035 1:16.934 21
4 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:17.578 1:17.161 1:16.958 17
5 7 Kimi Räikkönen FERRARI 1:18.148 1:17.534 1:17.238 20
6 31 Esteban Ocon FORCE INDIA MERCEDES 1:18.336 1:17.827 1:17.437 19
7 3 Daniel Ricciardo RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 1:18.208 1:17.631 1:17.447 15
8 27 Nico Hulkenberg RENAULT 1:18.322 1:17.792 1:17.466 17
9 55 Carlos Sainz RENAULT 1:18.405 1:17.753 1:17.794 17
10 11 Sergio Perez FORCE INDIA MERCEDES 1:18.020 1:17.868 1:17.807 19

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on NBC at 3PM Eastern here in the States. Can Vettel live to fight another day or will Hamilton issue the coup de grâce and be crowned 2017’s champion? Might Verstappen steal the spotlight from both veterans by laying down a marker as next year’s man to beat? Hope to see you then to find out!

2017 F1 Grand Prix of the United States — Results & aftermath

Hamilton moves closer to title with dominant win in Texas as Mercedes clinch fourth straight Constructors’ Championship; Vettel salvages P2, Raikkonen third after Verstappen penalized

Mercedes’ ace Lewis Hamilton had a superb weekend for both himself and the team at an American track that has come to seem like a second home to the Englishman. Starting from pole at The Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, the championship points leader was able to overcome a fast start by the last remaining obstacle to the pursuit of his fourth Formula 1 crown, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel. Vettel was quicker on the opening lap and got by Hamilton with authority. For a brief moment it seemed that Ferrari could put their miserable 3-race tailspin behind them and get back on level footing with mighty Mercedes. But Hamilton’s Silver Arrow proved the stronger car as the laps accumulated and the tires settled in. Hamilton closed down the German relentlessly and by getting to within DRS range was able to pass Vettel on Lap 6, taking a lead he would never really relinquish again.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

Perhaps because of Ferrari having to trim downforce off the car to match Mercedes’ pace at this long flowing track the Prancing Horses were not quite as good on their tires as they had been in other races. While Vettel had to stop for fresh rubber on Lap 17, Hamilton ran until Lap 20 (although one could argue this was a lap too late as he really hit the cliff by then). Hamilton was then able to run his Soft tires until the end of the race on his way to the victory, while Vettel threw the dice for a second tire change on Lap 39 of 56. It didn’t pan out for the Scuderia man — he had lost too much track position. In the end Hamilton won decisively by over 10 seconds while Vettel pushed his way back to the front and then was let through by his teammate Kimi Raikkonen for P2, keeping the Drivers’ Championship mathematically alive for another race weekend. Hamilton’s win in the States also helped earn the Mercedes factory team their fourth Constructors’ title on the trot. And to think that most people thought Hamilton was mad to jump from McLaren to Merc back in 2013. It was also Hamilton’s astounding fifth win at COTA in six attempts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlnhuSGM_Mc

Raikkonen was awarded the last step on the podium in controversial fashion after Red Bull’s Max Verstappen made a stunning pass on him for P3 on the very last lap of the race. But the Dutch wunderkind who hurtled himself all the way up from a 16th place starting position after engine penalties, slicing through the field like a hot knife along the way, was deemed by the stewards to have exceeded track limits in gaining the advantage on Kimi. He was hit with a 5-second time penalty while waiting in the podium green room and had to give way to Raikkonen in shocking fashion. The 20-year-old phenom was justifiably livid at the decision in a race where track limits seemed to have been abused all day long with no similar consequences. In the end, though, the now fourth place Vertsappen could only take satisfaction in adding to his growing resume of superb overtaking drives, as well as signing a new multi-year contract with Red Bull, a smart move by the team in locking up such a prodigious if still maturing talent. Adding to the mixed feeling for Red Bull after the US Grand Prix their other driver, Daniel Ricciardo, suffered engine failure on Lap 16. It was a major disappointment for the Aussie after a roaring start from P4 on the grid and some hot and heavy wheel-to-wheel action with Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas.

Bottas lost ground late and finished P5 but it was still enough of a points haul to put Mercedes over the top for the title. Force India’s Esteban Ocon drove well despite battling the flu and finished P6, while his teammate and jousting partner Sergio Perez came home P8. That consolidated the team’s fourth place in the Constructors’ title, a remarkable result for the little Force India team. Carlos Sainz was extremely impressive in his maiden run for the factory Renault team, driving superbly to a P7 finish. Felipe Massa took P9 for underachieving Wiliams and Sainz’s old teammate Daniil Kvyat was P10 in his return to his Toro Rosso seat after a two-race enforced absence by the team.

Top 10 finishers of the US Grand Prix:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 56 1:33:50.991 25
2 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 56 +10.143s 18
3 7 Kimi Räikkönen FERRARI 56 +15.779s 15
4 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 56 +16.768s 12
5 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 56 +34.967s 10
6 31 Esteban Ocon FORCE INDIA MERCEDES 56 +90.980s 8
7 55 Carlos Sainz RENAULT 56 +92.944s 6
8 11 Sergio Perez FORCE INDIA MERCEDES 55 +1 lap 4
9 19 Felipe Massa WILLIAMS MERCEDES 55 +1 lap 2
10 26 Daniil Kvyat TORO ROSSO 55 +1 lap 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in but a week’s time, just south of the border from Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City. Can Sebastian Vettel prolong the inevitable or will Lewis Hamilton join the German in the elite 4-time F1 Champions’ club? Hope to see you then to find out!

2017 F1 Grand Prix of the United States — Qualifying results

Hamilton fastest at COTA pipping Vettel for pole; Bottas P3

In just completed qualifying at the fantastic purpose-built F1 track Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, Mercedes’ ace Lewis Hamilton pipped Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel for pole by a mere 0.24 seconds. Hamilton had been looking the strongest by far in all three qualifying sessions setting track record after track record. But Vettel managed to show the Ferrari’s true pace in his final opportunity. The German 4-time world champ put it all together with time running out in Q3 to vault up to P2 on the grid and give himself a chance to take the fight to Hamilton and keep his own championship aspirations on life support. After Ferrari’s wretched three-race run of self-induced bad luck all Hamilton has to do is win the race and see Vettel finish 6th or lower and the Englishman will win his own fourth F1 title. Vettel showed on Saturday that he intends to make that as difficult as possible.

Vettel’s superb last-minute effort pushed Hamilton’s teammate Valtteri Bottas back to P3, while the Red Bulls of Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen qualified P4 and P6 respectively. Unfortunately for Verstappen, the young Dutchman will have to start from the back of the grid due to a host of penalties for equipment changes on his car. Vettel’s Ferrari stablemate Kimi Raikkonen seemed to regress a bit as qualifying entered its crucial phase, dropping from a front row contender down to no better than a P5 time. The Force Indias of Esteban Ococn and Sergio Perez qualified P7 and P10 respectively and Carlos Sainz willed his factory Renault all the way up to P8 in his maiden drive for the team after making the leap from Toro Rosso. McLaren’s Fernando Alonso was the 9th fastest qualifier, making best use of some new aero upgrades added to his car for this weekend at COTA.

Top 10 qualifiers for then United States GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:34.822 1:33.437 1:33.108 18
2 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 1:35.420 1:34.103 1:33.347 18
3 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:35.309 1:33.769 1:33.568 17
4 3 Daniel Ricciardo RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 1:35.991 1:34.495 1:33.577 14
5 7 Kimi Räikkönen FERRARI 1:35.649 1:33.840 1:33.577 17
6 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 1:34.899 1:34.716 1:33.658 13
7 31 Esteban Ocon FORCE INDIA MERCEDES 1:35.849 1:35.113 1:34.647 17
8 55 Carlos Sainz RENAULT 1:35.517 1:34.899 1:34.852 17
9 14 Fernando Alonso MCLAREN HONDA 1:35.712 1:35.046 1:35.007 15
10 11 Sergio Perez FORCE INDIA MERCEDES 1:36.358 1:34.789 1:35.148 19

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

In other F1 news, endurance racer and this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans overall winner Brendon Hartley came in to replace Sainz at Toro Rosso and put in a creditable effort in his first time back in a single seater in about 6 years. The New Zealander ran P18 in qualifying and will be partnered by a returning Daniil Kvyat for Sunday’s GP, though whether the out-of-favor Russian remains with the team for the next race in Mexico remains highly doubtful.

Tomorrow’s US GP airs live on NBC at 3PM Eastern here in the States. Hope to see you then to find out whether Hamilton can wrap up his fourth world title or if Vettel can extend the championship hunt for at least one more contest!

2017 F1 Grand Prix of Singapore — Results & aftermath

Hamilton romps to victory after chaotic opening lap in rainy Singapore; Ricciardo survives to come home P2, Bottas P3; Vettel, Raikkonen & Verstappen crash out in Turn 1 melee

Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton spoke of needing a miracle after qualifying a lowly P5 on Saturday in Singapore well behind the Ferraris and Red Bulls. On Sunday the weather and recklessness of his rivals gifted him a pivotal victory in the hunt for his fourth Drivers’ Championship. With a cloudburst hitting the already tricky Marina Bay Stret Circuit right before the start of the race, teams were forced to start on wet weather tires on a very slippery and now quite green track. But instead of feeling out conditions when the lights went out the Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen and the Red Bull of Max Verstappen decided to fight it out on the greasy asphalt going into Turn 1. It wound up taking all three contenders out and seriously damaged pole-sitter Vettel’s championship aspirations.

Starting from P4 on the grid, Raikkonen launched well and made a power move to the outside of the P2-placed Verstappen. At the same time Vettel moved his line to the left, squeezing the young Dutchman directly into the path of Raikkonen’s Ferrari. That spun Raikkonen into his teammate Vettel’s side pod and sent the veteran Finn careening across the track. Verstappen likely had a broken front suspension anyway after being the meat in the Ferrari sandwich but ironically Raikkonen’s unsteerably out of control car found him again, smashing into his side and doing unquestionably terminal damage to his Red Bull chassis. McLaren’s Fernando Alonso, who had made a dynamite start of his own, was collected by the two combatants as an innocent bystander, sending his car vaulting through the air and forcing the Spaniard to retire later in the race. Despite being able to continue past the initial point of contact, Vettel’s car had radiator leakage that caused a hard spin into the wall up the road form the main accident. Just like that the 4-time World Champion was also bounced out of the race before one full lap had been completed.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

That meant that Hamilton, who avoided the carnage skillfully, was now the front runner at a circuit that generally ill-suits the longer wheel base Mercedes. Given such a gift, the English championship contender never relinquished that lucky lead and cruised home to a significant victory that saw him extend his advantage over Vettel to 28 points in the race for the title. Despite a representative drive from Ricciardo in the last remaining Red Bull, which finished P2, Hamilton was untouchable on wet tires and then dry rubber when the surface finally was ready for slicks. As the old saying goes, luck is the residue of design and while everything that could go right for Hamilton certainly did in Singapore he still kept his nose clean and let others make the unforced errors. Hamilton has now won the last three Grand Prix on the trot and must be extra confident claiming victory in a place where a podium would have been considered a very good result before the state of the race.

Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas was also a big beneficiary of the melee up front, vaulting himself from a poor P6 start all the way to the last step of the podium with a P3 finish. That drove home just how disastrous a day it was for Ferrari on a track where they had aspirations of a 1-2 finish and instead got zero points. Because of the Scuderia’s untimely double DNF Mercedes extended their lead in the Constructors battle to a whopping 98 points.

Further back in the field, Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz also had good fortune when his future teammate Nico Hulkenberg’s Renault suffered race-ending hydraulic issues. The Spaniard drove a very smart and consistent race to take a terrific P4, showing his future French employers that they made the right choice in hiring him for 2018. Force India’s Sergio Perez also kept it clean and finished a solid P5. The man Sainz is replacing at Renault, Jolyon Palmer, had his best finish of the year with what must have been a bittersweet P6. The lone surviving McLaren of Stoffel Vandoorne also ran well with a valuable P7 for the beleaguered team form Woking. And Williams rookie Lance Stroll had a quietly remarkable race battling back from a lowly P18 starting position all the way up to P8. Romain Grosjean was P9 for Haas and Esteban Ocon took the last points-paying position at P10 in his Force India.

Top 10 finishers of the Singapore Grand Prix:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 58 2:03:23.544 25
2 3 Daniel Ricciardo RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 58 +4.507s 18
3 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 58 +8.800s 15
4 55 Carlos Sainz TORO ROSSO 58 +22.822s 12
5 11 Sergio Perez FORCE INDIA MERCEDES 58 +25.359s 10
6 30 Jolyon Palmer RENAULT 58 +27.259s 8
7 2 Stoffel Vandoorne MCLAREN HONDA 58 +30.388s 6
8 18 Lance Stroll WILLIAMS MERCEDES 58 +41.696s 4
9 8 Romain Grosjean HAAS FERRARI 58 +43.282s 2
10 31 Esteban Ocon FORCE INDIA MERCEDES 58 +44.795s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in two weeks time from Malaysia. Will Vettel and Ferrari overcome their dreadful disappointment at Singapore to get back into the championship hunt? Or will Hamilton’s winning ways continue for a stranglehold on the title? Hope to see you then to find out!