Tag Archives: Esteban Ocon

2022 F1 Grand Prix of Austria — Sprint Qualifying results

Verstappen wins Sprint race at Red Bull Ring to earn P1 start in Austrian GP; Ferrari’s Leclerc & Sainz duke it out for P2 & P3

Formula 1’s gimmicky Sprint Qualifying format returned for this first time this season to set the grid for Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix. On a sunny day at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen converted his “pole” from Friday’s standard qualifying into a victory in the 23-lap Sprint Race on Saturday, earning the top starting spot for tomorrow’s race and 8 championship points in the process. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc will line up alongside the Dutch points leader in P2, having out dueled his teammate and last week’s race winner Carlos Sainz, in a rather fierce internecine on track battle. In the event, Sainz came off second best after a series of mutual hip checks and had to settle for P3. Mercedes’ George Russell will start from P4, while his teammate Lewis Hamilton battled back from a nasty sideways shunt during Friday qualifying to take the last point available in this format in P8. Verstappen’s Red Bull stablemate Sergio Perez also had to fight his way to the front after being penalized for exceeding track limits during quali and being relegated to P13 for the start of the Sprint. The veteran Mexican ace picked his way through the field expertly in the limited laps available and ended up all the way up in P5 when the checkers flew. Alpine’s Esteban Ocon secured P6 but teammate Fernando Alonso’s car wouldn’t fire up on the grid and he will go back to P19 on the grid tomorrow, a far distance from his original P8 qualifying effort. The two Haas of Kevin Magnussen and Mick Schumacher seem genuinely quick here and finished the Sprint in P7 and P9 respectively. Schumacher held off Hamilton for several laps before finally giving up the last point paying position to the seven-time champ’s Silver Arrow.

Top 10 finishers of the Sprint race to set the grid for tomorrow’s Austrian GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING RBPT 23 26:30.059 8
2 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 23 +1.675s 7
3 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 23 +5.644s 6
4 63 George Russell MERCEDES 23 +13.429s 5
5 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING RBPT 23 +18.302s 4
6 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 23 +31.032s 3
7 20 Kevin Magnussen HAAS FERRARI 23 +34.539s 2
8 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 23 +35.447s 1
9 47 Mick Schumacher HAAS FERRARI 23 +37.163s 0
10 77 Valtteri Bottas* ALFA ROMEO FERRARI 23 +37.557s 0

*Bottas took a new power unit after the Sprint and so will start from P20 tomorrow.

Complete Sprint results available via Formula1.com.

Complete “qualifying” results from Friday also via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live beginning at 9AM Eastern on ESPN2 here in the States. At a track where the home team and their main man Max dominate it’s an open question if the Ferraris have anything at all to challenge the flying Dutchman, as he seeks to gap his nearest championship rivals. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2022 F1 Grand Prix of Britain — Results & aftermath

Superb Sainz defies team orders to earn maiden F1 win in incident-packed British GP; Perez storms back to P2 as Verstappen falters to P7; Hamilton bests Leclerc for final podium spot in wild Silverstone action

In a race that had to be seen to be believed, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz emerged form the chaos and unpredictability of Sunday’s British Grand Prix with his first Formula 1 victory. The ostensible number two man at the Scuderia defied a late post-Safety Car strategy call by the Ferrari pit wall that would have had the Spaniard act as a blocker to his teammate Charles Leclerc. Instead, having come in for fresh Pirelli Soft tires under the full course yellow on Lap 39 of this 52-lap contest at the venerable Silverstone Circuit, and knowing that Leclerc had stayed out for some inexplicable reason on his old, well-worn Hard tires, Sainz vetoed that plan and quickly made short work of his stablemate to recapture and keep the lead of a race from which he started on pole.

By the time Sainz claimed that vital first F1 win, the start seemed like a million years ago. On the opening lap on a reasonably clear and sunny day at Silverstone, there was a horror shunt between Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyou, Mercedes’ George Russell and the AlphaTauri of Pierre Gasly. With numerous drivers bogging down at the start due to many closing to do their first stint on the west grip Hard Pirellis, that led to a big shuffle in the field between the quicker cars on softer rubber and the slower runners. Gasly thought he saw an opening between Russell and Guanyu and made for it. But the door quickly closed when Russell jinked to the left, causing the front of the AlphaTauri to strike both the flanking cars rear wheels. That sent Russell into a spin but the rookie Guanyu was upended and flew into a scary barrel roll at high speed across the gravel trap, eventually hitting the catch fence with some force before coming to rest in the space between the tire barrier and the actual concrete wall behind. Wedged in as he was, the Alfa Romeo rookie remained trapped in his car for some time as the medical teams and marshals worked the problem, with Russell sprinting over to see if he could lend a hand. After what seemed like an eternity, the young Chinese driver was successfully extracted and put in an ambulance to be taken to the on site care center for further evaluation. Thankfully, it turned out that Guanyu was not seriously injured. But he, Russell and the Williams’ of Alex Albon, who was also peripherally involved in the mayhem and speared sharply into the pit straight wall, were all out of the race before the first corner had been successfully navigated. Gasly also sustained damage that would eventually end his race on Lap 28. Additionally, Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel, Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, and the second AlphaTauri of Yuki Tsunoda all sustained some degree of damage in that midfield melee.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

Understandably, the clean up from the resultant debris field and the several stranded cars, as well as Guanyu’s extraction, required an extensive Red Flag period of about 45 minutes. Lost in all that drama was the fact that Red Bull’s Max Verstappen had overtaken the pole-sitting Sainz rather easily heading into that eventful Turn 1. However, as the race was stopped before even the first sector could be completed and timed, everyone went back to their original grid positions when the contest was finally ready to restart, officially on lap 3 after a second formation lap behind the Safety Car. The second time proved the charm for Sainz, as he held off Verstappen’s deja vu challenge. Continue reading →

2022 F1 Grand Prix of Canada — Results & aftermath

Verstappen holds off dogged Sainz to take victory in Canada; Hamilton finishes a strong P3, Russell P4 on good day for Mercedes; Leclerc salvages P5 after starting last

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen survived a late Safety Car that allowed Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz to get back up to the Dutchman’s gearbox and hound him for the lead over the final laps to earn his first victory at the Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday. Under sunny & clear skies following Saturday’s rain-effected Qualifying, Verstappen saw his comfortable lead erased when Yuki Tsunoda inexplicably binned his AlphaTauri coming out of the pits on cold tires. With the Safety Car deployed almost immediately to retrieve the disconsolate Tsunoda’s mount, Sainz took the opportunity to dive into the pits for a cheap stop time-wise under yellow and a set of fresh Pirelli rubber, which also gave the Spaniard 6-lap younger tires compared to the race-leading Red Bull. Sainz was absolutely primed and ready to get past Verstappen once the Safety Car withdrew at the end of Lap 54 and racing got back under way. As Verstappen restarted the proceedings coming out of the last chicane, turned close to the Wall of Champions and steamed down the start/finish straight, Sainz didn’t let Max gain an inch on him, sticking to the Red Bull like glue. But even with a full 15 laps remaining and Sainz hounding him the rest of the race, Verstappen had the pace and skill to hold off the hard charging Prancing Horse filling his mirrors. Such is the excellence of this year’s Red Bull and its championship leading number one driver that, despite the Ferrari having the advantage of DRS for so many laps, it was Verstappen who took the checkered flag and his first victory at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. It was also Max’s impressive fifth win in the last six contests, which is some serious mo in his title hunt. For Sainz, it was a valiant effort in a season full of a lot of errors and he even set the race’s fastest lap while in pursuit. But he’ll have to be satisfied with another P2 and the elusive quest for his first-ever F1 win will have to wait until at least the next round at Silverstone in a fortnight.

For as bad as Mercedes looked all weekend long, the Silver Arrows had a remarkably good race. While they didn’t really have the pace to challenge the leading Red Bull and Ferrari on even terms, Lewis Hamilton finally got some breaks and drove a savvy and clean race to take the last step on the podium in P3. At a track where he has a record seven F1 victories, Hamilton was also clearly the better Merc for once this season, easily besting his ambitious young teammate, George Russell, who nonetheless scored a very satisfying P4. Mercedes are definitely improving after the troublesome and very bouncy rollout of their new W13 chassis and this was their second consecutive 3-4 finish, this time swapping the order from Azerbaijan a week ago with Hamilton happily on the podium. But compared to the pace of Red Bull and Ferrari, team Mercedes know that they’ve still got a lot of work to ahead if they’ve got even the slimmest shot of getting back into title contention.

Sainz’s more heralded teammate Charles Leclerc did yeoman’s work to haul himself up from last place on the grid after upgrading his power unit and subsequently being assessed several penalties at once. Continue reading →

2022 F1 Grand Prix of Azerbaijan — Results & aftermath

Verstappen dominates at Baku, Perez P2 for maximum Red Bull points; Russell P3 after disastrous Ferrari double DNF leaves Leclerc & Sainz pointless

The Azerbaijan Grand Prix from the tricky and demanding Baku City Circuit usually throws up more than a few curveballs for the competitors and this Sunday’s 2022 edition was no exception. While Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc started from pole, he was immediately overtaken by Red Bull’s Sergio Perez going into Turn 1 right after the lights went out to start the race.  Once again, it seemed apparent that Ferrari may have the superior one lap pace but Red Bull has the complete package to actually win races. As Perez danced away from the Monegasque’s Prancing Horse, his teammate Max Verstappen applied pressure on Leclerc from P3 and the race looked to be setting up for a three car contest for supremacy and podium positions. But the ominous signs for Ferrari on the day began on Lap 9 when Leclerc’s stablemate, Carlos Sainz, running just off the pace of the elite trio in P4, lost power and pulled his F1-75 into the escape road at Turn 4. It turned out to be terminal hydraulics failure and the unlucky Spaniard was out of the race prematurely, a recurring theme for Sainz this season. And, obviously, now the Scuderia braintrust had to be wondering if their other car might suffer a similar fate.

But first a Virtual Safety Car was deployed by race control in order to clear Sainz’s stricken mount. Ferrari immediately called Leclerc into the pits for the “cheap” pit stop under the reduced VSC speeds, as did Mercedes for their two Silver Arrows. But Red Bull decided to stay out and keep track position, knowing that Baku was likely good for at least one more full-course yellow of one sort or another. While Perez still led, Leclerc’s stop vaulted Verstappen ahead of him into P2 and when the VSC ended towards the end of Lap 10, Verstappen immediately began closing down his teammate. Perez’s early aggression appeared to have taken a toll on his tires and the Mexican struggled with traction coming off the many slow speed corners of this twisty street circuit. By Lap 15 of this 51-lap contest, Verstappen was able to execute an easy overtake for the lead and Perez subsequently made his first stop for fresh Pirellis two laps later, doffing the Mediums for the more durable Hards. Verstappen then came in for his first stop on Lap 19, following the same tire sequence as Perez and while he was passed by Leclerc for the lead during that stop, the Dutch master crucially came out ahead of his Red Bull teammate. So it was Leclerc leading, Verstappen now in P2 and Perez in P3 as Lap 20 began. And then Ferrari’s  nightmare scenario became a reality. Continue reading →

2022 F1 Grand Prix of Monaco — Qualifying results

Leclerc nabs second consecutive pole at home race while avoiding last year’s drama; Sainz P2, Perez P3 but collide at end of qualifying; frustrated Verstappen only good enough for P4

A year after he had the bizarre and bittersweet experience of taking pole at his home race only to fail to start the GP due to a careless crash on his final qualifying lap, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc set another supremely good time for pole during Saturday qualifying for tomorrow’s Monaco Grand Prix. And this time Leclerc kept it both fast and clean throughout, avoiding a repeat of any dramas that could have kept him starting from P1 tomorrow. Now, the Monegasque title contender, who lost his points lead to archrival Max Verstappen a week ago in Spain, will look to return the favor on the Red Bull ace at a tight and twisty street course where track position is king and passing is always a tricky and sometimes impossible proposition. Verstappen was surprisingly just a bit off the pace today and ended up not only behind the hometown hero’s pole-sitting effort but also the second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz, who pulled his Prancing Horse up to P2 for the second Ferrari front row lockout of the year, as well as his teammate Segio Perez, who outperformed his Red Bull stablemate with a lap good enough for P3. But Perez and Sainz also came together at the end of Q3, when the veteran Mexican had a peculiar spin at Portier just before the tunnel entrance and ended up smashing the rear of his Red Bull into the armco with some force. Sainz then failed to see the resultant yellow flags going into that same corner and looped his own car, subsequently smashing his Ferrari into the front of Perez’s stricken Red Bull. That carnage brought quali to a premature end with a few minutes remaining and balked any hope of Verstappen’s to improve upon his P4 time. It will be interesting to see if Sainz, who has certainly had his share of admonishments from race control this season, will be handed a penalty of any significance after not adequately slowing under yellow. It will also be intriguing to find out if Perez’s chassis and engine components sustained any serious damage after that unfortunate double whammy.

With Verstappen a miffed and somewhat perplexed P4, the Dutchman was left hoping not only for some kind of demotion to Sainz but also a bit of rain on Sunday to spice things up, an atmospheric potentiality that is looking more and more probable at the time of the race in this famously changeable Mediterranean enclave. Behind Verstappen, McLaren’s Lando Norris was the fastest of the rest, earning a P5 start with a hairy but still very rapid final lap, where Norris’s lightning quick hands were on full display. Mercedes’ George Russell came home just a bit adrift of the McLaren in P6, while his seven-time champion teammate Lewis Hamilton could only muster P8 in a Silver Arrow that looked more like a bucking bronco at times. Alpine’s wise old head Fernando Alonso did yeoman’s work to claim P7, though the veteran Spaniard did have a mini-shunt into the barriers of his own in a moment of distraction at the end of quali. That probably didn’t cost him an even better start due to the early end to Q3 due to the mess just up the road from him, however. Aston Martin’s Sebastien Vettel and the second Alpine of Esteban Ocon rounded out the top ten qualifiers in P9 and P10 respectively.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Monaco GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:12.569 1:11.864 1:11.376 24
2 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:12.616 1:12.074 1:11.601 25
3 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING RBPT 1:13.004 1:11.954 1:11.629 25
4 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING RBPT 1:12.993 1:12.117 1:11.666 25
5 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:12.927 1:12.266 1:11.849 27
6 63 George Russell MERCEDES 1:12.787 1:12.617 1:12.112 27
7 14 Fernando Alonso ALPINE RENAULT 1:13.394 1:12.688 1:12.247 22
8 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:13.444 1:12.595 1:12.560 29
9 5 Sebastian Vettel ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 1:13.313 1:12.613 1:12.732 28
10 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 1:12.848 1:12.528 1:13.047 22

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN beginning at 9AM Eastern here in the States. Can Charles Leclerc take the ultimate honors and a dream victory in his home race? Or will Verstappen find a way to vault himself to the front and dash those Monegasque dreams? Hope to see you then to find out!

2022 F1 Grand Prix of Miami — Results & aftermath

Red Bull’s Verstappen gets ahead early, survives late Safety Car to win in Miami; Ferrari consoled by Leclerc & Sainz P2, P3 finish

After muffing his challenge for pole during Saturday qualifying, Red Bull’s peerless Max Verstappen resolved to fight his way to the front on Sunday at the inaugural Grand Prix of Miami. Starting from P3 on the grid behind the two Ferraris of pole-sitter Charles Leclerc and his stablemate Carlos Sainz, Verstappen got away swiftly when the lights went out to start the race on this hot South Florida day, making quick work of Sainz going into Turn 1 on the opening lap and grabbing P2. Next, the Dutchman set his sights on Leclerc, his key rival this year, and the Red Bull showed that it had the legs on the Ferrari, at least on this temporary street circuit with not only tight and twisty corners and esses but also some long, high speed straights. By Lap 8, Verstappen’s RB18 was right on the gearbox of the Monegasque’s F1-75 and on Lap 9 Verstappen was able to pass the Prancing Horse easily with a probably too powerful DRS assist steaming by down the main straight to take the lead.

The first round of pit stops failed to change the equation and Verstappen swanned off into the distance, seemingly on his way to an easy victory. But on Lap 41 of this 57-lap contest AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly, running off the pace after earlier contact, collided with the fast-running McLaren of Lando Norris, sending Norris’s car into a spin and crash that littered the track with debris and knocked the young Englishman out of the race. This brought out first a Virtual Safety Car and then the inevitable actual Safety Car since the area of the crash required extensive clean up. It was all Leclerc and Ferrari could have hoped for, as it erased Verstappen’s large lead and bunched the field up again behind the Safety Car. When the race restarted on Lap 47 Leclerc was able to stick with Verstappen, both of whom were on older Hard tires dating back to their first pit stops, and then hound the Dutch wunderkind for the next few laps. The Ferrari man was even within DRS range for a few laps but still could not execute the overtake, such was the all around strength of the Red Bull. With the last life of his tires burned off in that final frantic chase, Leclerc faded away over the last few laps and Verstappen came home the victor nearly four-seconds ahead of P2 Leclerc. To make matters even sweeter, Max also got the bonus point for the race’s fastest lap for the maximum 26 available on the day.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

But Ferrari still had to be pleased with not only Leclerc’s solid P2 but also Carlos Sainz ability to hold off the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez and secure a P3 finish. Continue reading →

2022 F1 Grand Prix of Australia — Results & aftermath

Leclerc romps to dominant win in Melbourne; Perez P2, Russell P3; Verstappen, Sainz DNF

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc absolutely dominated Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix, winning the race handily after starting from pole and leaving even his closest pursuers far, far behind. The Monegasque’s pace in his Prancing Horse here at Albert Park was somewhat of a a surprise, because even after qualifying in the top spot on Saturday the savvy take around the paddock was that Red Bull would have the true race pace. But the famed Scuderia’s return to championship contending form after several years mired in mediocrity was confirmed in this first Aussie GP in two years, as neither the Red Bull of Max Verstappen or Sergio Perez could touch Leclerc on this day. In fact, Verstappen was forced to retire the car on Lap 39 of this 58-lap contest when his engine or hydraulic lines developed a leak leading to a small conflagration in the engine bay. The Dutch reigning world champion, who had been sitting comfortably in second during the race despite not being able to truly challenge Leclerc for victory, instead was forced to resign himself to his second DNF in three races to start the 2022 campaign. The Red Bull is certainly fast but reliability could well be its Achilles heal in what is shaping up to be a season long battle against Ferrari. That left it to Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez to fly the Red Bull team’s flag, which the Mexican did with aplomb by taking an easy P2 on the day, albeit over 20.5-seconds in arrears of Leclerc. To put the exclamation point on his performance, the Ferrari man also took the bonus point by setting race’s fastest lap, reaping the full 26 on a day when his key rival Verstappen scored a big fat zero.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

All was not totally sunshine and roses at the fabled Scuderia from Maranello, however. Their number two Carlos Sainz had a disastrous weekend, following his somewhat unlucky P9 qualifying when he and the team were caught out but a late Red Flag in Q3 with an early DNF on Sunday when the veteran Spaniard misjudged his braking going into Turn 10 on Lap 2, overshot and then beached himself in the gravel. So like Verstappen, Sainz failed to score for his team in Melbourne, as well, only in his case he barely notched any laps at all and it appeared to be entirely his fault. Sainz will probably not be happy that the next race is two week’s away, since he’ll have all that time to stew on what he freely admitted was a “disaster” of a GP weekend. Continue reading →

2022 F1 Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia — Results & aftermath

GAME ON: Verstappen strikes back for Round 2 victory in Saudi Arabia with late pass on P2 Leclerc; Sainz P3 & unlucky Perez P4, as 2022 appears to be two-team battle between Ferrari & Red Bull

After failing to finish in Round 1 of the 2022 Formula 1 season last week in Bahrain and starting from a disappointing P4 for this Sunday’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen received not only improved reliability but also the key breaks during the race to out-duel Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and take his first win of the season. Leclerc and Ferrari had been brilliant all day, using a devious head fake that lured the pole-sitting Red Bull of Sergio Perez into an early stop on Lap 16 while Leclerc stayed out despite team radio suggesting otherwise. It proved to be the first pivotal moment of an eventful race because Williams’ Nicholas Latifi crashed out on the very next lap and forced the deployment of a Safety Car. That allowed the rest of the field to come to the pits for cheap stops for fresh rubber while Perez had just completed his for the full fare. When everyone had cycled through behind the Safety Car, Leclerc now led the race, with Verstappen leapfrogging both Sainz and his teammate Perez for second, while Sainz and Perez squabbled over P3 and P4 respectively. At that point, it looked for all the world that Leclerc had the best car and he seemed to lead out Verstappen fairly easily once the race went back to green on Lap 21.

But the tricky and tight Jeddah Corniche Street Circuit was not done doling out surprises on the day and after twenty-six fairly straightforward laps with the main contenders staying in lockstep the proceedings were again interrupted. First, the Alpine of a hard charging Fernando Alonso lost power and slowed to a stop just in front of pit entry on Lap 37 and then the McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo followed suit in practically the exact same area a lap later. This forced the race director not only to engage the Virtual Safety Car in order to retrieve the stranded pair of cars but also to keep the pits closed this time due to their proximate location. Interestingly, by the time the VSC ended on Lap 41 Verstappen had crept a little closer to Leclerc than he was able to at race pace and now only trailed the lead Prancing Horse by just under a second, the delta necessary to activate the Drag Reduction System in the rear wing. It also set things up for a grandstand finish between the two drivers, who so far have to be seen as the favorites for this year’s championship. Continue reading →

2022 F1 Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia — Qualifying results

Red Bull’s Perez snatches pole from Ferrari’s Leclerc at tricky Jeddah Corniche Street Circuit; Sainz P3, Verstappen P4; Hamilton shockingly knocked out in Q1; Schumacher airlifted to hospital after vicious Q2 shunt

On an incident-filled and frankly scary Saturday qualifying for tomorrow’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, it was Red Bull’s ostensible Number Two who managed to come out on top of the timing sheets. Veteran Sergio Perez bested not only his much more heralded teammate, Max Verstappen, but also both Ferraris, the team that looks most likely to challenge Red Bull for the big prizes this season. With a rebel drone strike on a nearby oil facility yesterday sending a a wave of unease through the paddock, the simmering tension was further compounded when Haas’s Mick Schumacher lost it during Q2 and suffered a vicious shunt  Turn 10 of this very tight and tricky Jeddah Conriche Street Circuit that shot him into one concrete barrier and then across to the other side of the track and down the road for quite some ways. While the Haas was completely destroyed, the car also did its part by breaking apart at the rear, as designed, thereby dissipating energy away from the driver. So, despite the massive impact, the initial medical reports on Schumacher were all positive and he was airlifted to hospital for precautionary reasons rather than emergency ones. However, the young German, who is trying to follow in his seven-time champion father Michael’s footsteps, was preemptively ruled out for the Grand Prix and it looks like Haas will only be fielding Kevin Magnussen’s car when the lights go out for tomorrow’s race. Magnussen kept his cool after his teammate’s disturbing crash and qualified P10.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

Schumacher’s accident led to a lengthy Red Flag period with just under five minutes in Q2, both for Schumacher’s painfully slow extraction from his wrecked car and then for some serious track cleanup and barrier repair at the scene of the crash site. But the marshals and race directors did yeoman’s work and were able to get Quali back underway, leading to the all important top ten shootout in Q3. Ferrari had looked the strongest on overall one-lap pace through the race weekend so far, so it was no surprise to see Charles Leclerc, last week’s race winner and pole-sitter in Bahrain, lay down the quickest lap as the seconds ticked down in the final qualifying session. His teammate Carlos Sainz slotted in right behind him by a little over a tenth on his final lap, making it a provisional Ferrari front row lockout, But Perez had other ideas. The veteran pilot drove a flawless final lap, coming nerve wrakingly close to the barriers at times, but wringing the maximum speed out of the Red Bull to earn his first-ever Formula 1 pole and beat back the Ferrari challenge for today. Interestingly, his normally superlative teammate Verstappen struggled to get his Soft Pirelli tires into their optimal operational window durning a cool and breezy night in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah and the Dutch reigning world champion could only muster the fourth fastest time. So it will be Perez and Leclerc on the front row and Sainz and Verstappen on row two, which should make for a really intriguing and likely contentious opening lap in tomorrow’s GP. Continue reading →

2022 F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain — Results & aftermath

Leclerc victorious in season opener, Sainz P2 in promising start to 2022 campaign for Ferrari; disastrous late double DNF for Red Bull leads to podium for Mercedes’ Hamilton, P4 for Russell

In the first race of the 2022 Formula 1 season, team Ferrari proved that its early mastery of the new ground effect-dependent chassis and new engine specs was not a fluke. The famed Scuderia from Maranello, which suffered a prolonged period of mediocrity for much of the prior turbo-hybrid era, saw a spring resurgence as their blood red Prancing Horses finished one-two in the Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday. Charles Leclerc, who clearly was the fastest man of the weekend, earned victory after starting from the pole, while his stablemate Carlos Sainz fought hard and took advantage of the terminal failures of both contending Red Bulls late in the race to come home a happy  P2. That marked the first one-two Ferrari finish in a GP since 2019 in Singapore when Sebastian Vettel led home Leclerc. While Leclerc was relatively dominant all day, he was effectively harassed by Verstappen’s Red Bull for the lead throughout, including a ding dong, see saw battle between the two after the first round of pit stops between Laps 16 and 20. Verstappen and his team made effective use of the undercut coming in a lap earlier than then Monegasque to gain track position on Leclerc, which led to several laps of Verstappen passing Leclerc going into Turn 1 and Leclerc snatching the lead back coming out of Turn 4, where the Ferrari’s excellence in the slow speed corners neutralized the Red Bull’s straight line pace advantage. After a period of holding stations and status quo for many laps after that while Verstappen bided his time, it looked like it would be game on again between the two contenders when a full Safety Car was deployed on Lap 46 of this 57-lap contest after Pierre Gasly’s AlphaTauri stopped on track and unceremoniously burst into flames. It proved to be a very bad omen for other Red Bull-engined cars.

With the field now bunched up again behind Leclerc after pretty much everyone dove to the pits for the cheap stop and a switch to the high performing Soft Pirelli tires to finish out the race, Leclerc’s advantage over Verstappen was reduced to less than a second. But by the time the Safety Car tucked in at the end of Lap 50, Verstappen had been on the radio complaining about a heavy feel to the steering, perhaps having something to do with the power steering hydraulics. Leclerc initiated the restart superbly and gapped Verstappen, although the Dutch reigning world champion still seemed able to stay on the lead Ferrari’s gearbox. But Verstappen’s radio messages to and from the pit wall kept getting more fraught and there was clearly trouble brewing in the car. Sure enough, on Lap 54 something in Verstappen’s engine let go and he was quickly overtaken by most of those behind him. Verstappen wound up limping his mount to the pits but the issue was terminal and he was forced to retire. Climbing out of the car in stunned disbelief as the race stormed to its conclusion without him was a sad way to begin the defense of his first championship.

Continue reading →