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2023 F1 Grand Prix of Mexico City — Results & aftermath

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

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

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

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

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

Top 10 finishers of the Mexico City GP:

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

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

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

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Mexico City — Qualifying results

Ferrari lock out front row in Mexico City with surprise qualifying pace — Leclerc on pole, Sainz P2; Verstappen only good enough for P3: Norris bounced in Q1

In a bit of a Saturday surprise, Ferrari found unexpected pace during the final qualifying session at the high altitude and quite technical Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, with Charles Leclerc laying down a blistering lap midway through Q3 that stood all other subsequent challenges to earn the Monegasque pole position for Sunday’s Mexico City Grand Prix. His Scuderia stablemate Carlos Sainz was just a tick behind him in P2 and, to the surprise of F1 fans everywhere, as well as team Ferrari themselves, Red Bull’s peerless Max Verstappen could never close the gap to the Prancing Horses and had to settle for an uncharacteristic P3. Once again, it remains to be seen whether Ferrari can turn their one lap speed into race victory when confronted by what has been the outright superior long run pace of the Red Bull in Verstappen’s championship hands. But with hometown hero Sergio Perez only able to qualify his RB19 in P5, Ferrari have the ostensible advantage in the team game to try and thwart what is sure to be an aggressive challenge by Verstappen come Sunday.

Splitting the Red Bulls in another massive surprise was the AlphaTauri of Daniel Ricciardo. The affable Aussie, who missed several races with a fractured hand and hasn’t looked up to his old standard in the races he had driven after sitting out last year, managed to hustle his ride all the way to the fourth fastest lap in Q3. Starting from P4, Ricciardo might be asked to help out Verstappen and Perez come race day, as AlphaTauri are Red Bull’s sister team. But one has to hope that Ricciardo will be free to fly to see if can earn his own honors against the big boys at the front like in his glory days with Red Bull. Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton got as much as he could out of his Silver Arrow with a P6 time, while George Russell could only manage P8, a sign that the W14 is having real problems dealing with the thinner air at this high altitude circuit. Oliver Piastri slotted his McLaren behind Hamilton in P7 but was the lone McLaren to make it into the top ten due to teammate Lando Norris getting unceremoniously bounced out in Q1 after botching his hot laps and the team then botching their strategy in getting him out for a final flier before time expired on the young Briton. After taking an impressive P2 in the US Grand Prix at COTA a week ago, Norris will have it all to do to even score starting from way down in P19 here in Mexico.

The two Ferrari-engined Alfa Romeos of Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu also found a little something extra at altitude, with Bottas setting a final time good enough for P9 and Zhou content to save tires for the race and run only a few desultory laps en route to the tenth fastest time of Q3. Alfa Romeo’s success in quali came at the expense of Aston Martin and Alpine, with Aston’s Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll knocked out in Q2 and Q1 respectively and Alpine’s and Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon following that exact suit.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Mexico City GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:18.401 1:17.901 1:17.166 17
2 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:18.755 1:18.382 1:17.233 17
3 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:18.099 1:17.625 1:17.263 15
4 3 Daniel Ricciardo ALPHATAURI HONDA RBPT 1:18.341 1:17.706 1:17.382 15
5 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:18.553 1:18.124 1:17.423 16
6 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:18.677 1:17.571 1:17.454 18
7 81 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:18.241 1:17.874 1:17.623 18
8 63 George Russell MERCEDES 1:18.893 1:17.673 1:17.674 19
9 77 Valtteri Bottas ALFA ROMEO FERRARI 1:18.429 1:18.016 1:18.032 17
10 24 Zhou Guanyu ALFA ROMEO FERRARI 1:19.016 1:18.440 1:18.050 15

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Sunday’s race airs live on ABC beginning at 4PM Eastern here in the States. Hope to see you then to find out if Ferrari can convert their strong starting position into a win over Verstappen and Red Bull amidst the thin air and demanding challenges of Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez!

2023 F1 Grand Prix of the United States — Qualifying results

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

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

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

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

Top 10 qualifiers for United States GP:

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

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

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

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Qatar — Results & aftermath

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

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

 

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

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

Top 10 finishers of the Qatar GP:

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

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

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

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Qatar — Qualifying results

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

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

Top 10 qualifiers for the Qatar GP:

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

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Top 10 Sprint Race results:

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

Complete Sprint results available via Formula1.com.

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

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Singapore — Results & aftermath

RED BULL TAMED: Sainz & Ferrari snap Red Bull, Verstappen streaks with tense win in Singapore; Norris holds off Hamilton for P2 as Russell crashes out of podium position on final lap

In a tense and eventful Singapore Grand Prix, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Ferrari were able to do what no other driver had done in ten races and no other team had done in fifteen races: beat Max Verstappen and Red Bull respectively. With former teammate Lando Norris acting as wingman in his McLaren by holding off the hard charging Mercedes duo of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton in the final, fraught laps, Sainz mastered the circuit and his long run tire management to take his first victory for the Scuderia and Ferrari’s first since 2019 at this very same Marina Bay Circuit by a little under a second. Meanwhile, Red Bull’s struggles in Singapore proved to be too difficult to overcome in the short span of a race weekend and Max and the team both saw their record setting win streaks come to an abrupt end. With Verstappen starting from P11 and teammate Sergio Perez from thirteenth, the pair did the best they could with an inverse strategy of starting on Hard Pirellis while the rest of the top runners were on Mediums. But their best laid plans were stymied somewhat when the inevitable Singapore Safety Car was deployed on Lap 20. Due to where they were on the circuit when the SC came out, the team opted to keep running, which garnered them some track position but the front runners were all able to pit under yellow for cheaper first pit stops. Red Bull then pitted under green with Perez on Lap 40 & Verstappen the subsequent lap and ran their final 20-odd lap stint on the very effective Medium tires. Salvaging what they could on this rare bogey track for them and after that ill-timed early Safety Car, Verstappen was able to forcefully pass his way up to P5 and Perez, who had a bit of sloppy race that included a 5-second penalty for causing a collision with Oliver Piastri, was still good enough for P8. Japan and Suzuka next week should see the return of Red Bull dominance as the RB15, especially in Max’s hands, gets to stretch its legs properly again on a much faster course. But on Sunday, it was Sainz and Ferrari raising the trophies and bathing in champagne after what must have seemed an eternity for the team in the garage, pit wall, the braintrust back in Maranello and the legions of Prancing Horse devotees.

https://x.com/F1/status/1703459550270050443?s=20

It was a tale of two races, as the first part unfolded methodically with all drivers locked into their chosen tire strategies and therefore not pushing too hard on the first stint. The Safety Car on Lap 20 began spicing things up by forcing Red Bull to make the decision to stay out on their Hards while all the other contenders came in for cheap stops and switches to fresh Hards for their ostensible final stint. The utility of fresh rubber was quickly bourn out as the Red Bulls were  gobbled up by their pursuers within a handful of laps. First, Russell nabbed Verstappen for a true P2 on Lap 23. Then, Hamilton regained P5 against Perez two laps later. Hamilton passed Verstappen for P4 on Lap 27 and Leclerc followed that up with his own successful move on the Dutchman a lap after to get his Ferarri back to P5. But Leclerc never really recovered from a slow first stop when the Scuderia double-stacked their men but Leclerc was both further away from Sainz on entry and the mechanics were slow with his tire change. So, the leaders were really the quartet of Sainz, followed by Russell, then Norris and then Hamilton. The two Red Bulls finally made the decision to get off their Hards in favor of the Mediums for the rest of the race, first with Perez on lap 40, then Verstappen on lap 41. Once again, their timing was not optimal because the Alpine of Esteban Ocon, who had been having a superb race, came to an abrupt stop at Turn 2 near pit out, bringing out a Virtual Safety Car. Continue reading →

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Singapore — Qualifying results

SINGAPORE SHOCKER: Ferrari’s Sainz bests Mercedes’ Russell to take second consecutive pole, Leclerc P3; Red Bull find their bogey track as Verstappen & Perez knocked out in Q2

Saturday qualifying for tomorrow’s Singapore Grand Prix delivered a true shocker, with Red Bull, Formula 1’s dominant team by far in 2023, finally finding their bogey track by suffering unexpectedly poor performance at the tight & treacherous Marina Bay Street Circuit. Struggling with their car’s aero handling at this relatively slow speed but high downforce track since the start of practice on Friday, the team was unable to make the necessary corrections in time and watched in disbelief as first Sergio Perez spun before being able to claw his way out of the bottom five in Q2 and then Max Verstappen, the runaway championship points leader to this point, crossed the line on his final Q2 lap with a time only good enough for P10 and with several runners behind him still on hot laps. The ignominy was complete when AlphaTauri’s Liam Lawson, a raw rookie competing in only his third race weekend while subbing for the injured Daniel Ricciardo, bumped the Dutch Master down to P11 and out of qualifying. It was the first time since 2018 that neither Red Bull had advanced to Q3 and it puts the team’s 15-race winning streak, as well as Verstappen potentially extending his own record streak to 11 victories on the trot, in serious doubt at a confined circuit where passing is none too easy.

Red Bull’s first real speed bump of the season redounded to Ferrari’s success. Carlos Sainz was on his game all day, setting the pace throughout Q3 and then laying down a final last lap that withstood a very game challenge from Mercedes’ George Russell to secure pole by a whisper thin 0.072 seconds. It was the Spaniard’s second pole in a row after thrilling the fans in Monza two weeks ago. He will surely be hoping that Verstappen’s famed powers of recovery and miracle wins will be stymied come race day when the Dutchman has to fight his way up from P11 in what does not appear to be the fastest car on then track for once. Russell’s amazing final lap was obviously still good enough to secure an impressive P2 and a grid spot across from Sainz for tomorrow and the second Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, who had a few slight bobbles on his final effort that cost him, settled for P3. Ferrari have a real shot at the win tomorrow, which would be their first since 2019 when Sebastian Vettel led home Leclerc for a 1-2. The fact that long ago last win also came at Marina Bay Street Circuit will certainly buoy the team’s confidence, though they have got to avoid the sorts of unforced strategic, driver and pit execution errors that have plagued them for several years now.

McLaren’s Lando Norris, running upgrades on his car alone this weekend, was quite quick and able to secure P4 on the grid. Teammate Oscar Piastri’s quali effort were cut short by unluckily finding himself behind Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll when the Canadian driver crashed into the barriers quiet violently and brought out the Red Flag at the end of Q1. Stroll seemed OK, though his head appeared to take a wicked amount of lateral Gs on impact, but Piastri will now have to fight his way back to the points from down in P17 come tomorrow. Lewis Hamilton trailed his Silver Arrow teammate by quite a bit back in P5, while Kevin Magnussen had a spectacular effort for Hass, not only bettering teammate Nico Hulkenberg for the first time this year, P6 to P9, but also out-qualifying Aston ace Fernando Alonso. The veteran two-time champ could only muster the seventh best time in Q3, putting the team in a tough spot since Stroll will certainly struggle to score starting either last on the grid or from the pits (if in fact his car can even be rebuilt in time for the Grand Prix and he himself is healthy enough to go).

Rounding out the Top 10, Alpine’s Esteban Ocon took a decent P8, encouraging enough after the team were nowhere in Monza two weeks ago. And Liam Lawson was content to have the tenth fastest time in Q3, having already been the driver to knock out mighty Max Verstappen earlier, which certainly put the young Kiwi’s name front and center in the driver sweepstakes for next year.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Singapore GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:32.339 1:31.439 1:30.984 20
2 63 George Russell MERCEDES 1:32.331 1:31.743 1:31.056 17
3 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:32.406 1:32.012 1:31.063 21
4 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:32.483 1:31.951 1:31.270 20
5 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:32.651 1:32.019 1:31.485 16
6 20 Kevin Magnussen HAAS FERRARI 1:32.242 1:31.892 1:31.575 21
7 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 1:32.584 1:31.835 1:31.615 17
8 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 1:32.369 1:32.089 1:31.673 18
9 27 Nico Hulkenberg HAAS FERRARI 1:32.100 1:31.994 1:31.808 21
10 40 Liam Lawson ALPHATAURI HONDA RBPT 1:32.215 1:32.166 1:32.268 21

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN & ESPN+ beginning at 8AM Eastern here in the States. The Singapore night race is one of the most visually spectacular on the calendar and this jumbled up grid could also make it one of the most dramatic. Hope to see you then to find out if Ferrari can end their victory drought of if Verstappen and team Red Bull have a miracle up their sleeves to keep their streaks going!

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Italy — Results & aftermath

Verstappen outruns Ferraris to make history at Monza with tenth consecutive win; Perez rights back to take second on magic day for Red Bull; Sainz holds off teammate Leclerc for P3

Despite not starting from pole at Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen simply wouldn’t be denied in his relentless pursuit of history in what is shaping up to be an individual Formula 1 season for the ages. Bested by Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz for the top spot on the starting grid during Saturday qualifying and confronted by the rabid, Scuderia-obsessed tifosi in the stands instead of his usual adoring orange-clad army, Verstappen bided his time during the opening laps, just waiting for his car’s inherent advantages to come to the forefront. Running nose to tail with Sainz after the former’s solid start to begin the race kept him momentarily ahead, Verstappen shadowed the Spaniard and kept the pressure on the lead Ferrari even as he began to gap the third place Prancing Horse of Sainz’s teammate, Charles Leclerc. Despite the ultra-rapid pace that F1 cars run at Monza — it isn’t called the Temple of Speed for nothing and is the fastest circuit in the calendar — passing is actually not as easy as at some other tracks, especially since the DRS is not as powerful here.

But, with the confidence in his RB15’s superior tire performance, Verstappen could see early on in the game that Sainz’s Ferrari was starting to squirm around at the rear on its opening set of Medium Pirellis. When Sainz locked up on Lap 15 going into the first chicane past the start-finish straight, Verstappen saw the opportunity and pounced. The runaway points leader made the overtake for P1 coming out of the Curva Grande and finished it off successfully while steaming into the second chicane. Sainz had been game and valiant in defense from the point but Max simply controlled the race from that moment onward, as he has so many times this year, en route to his record breaking tenth consecutive win and giving the Red Bull team their own record setting 15th win on the trot dating back to last season. It’s worth remembering that the drivers’ record for consecutive wins was previously held by Sebastian Vettel, a feat he achieved also driving for Red Bull in the midst of his four straight titles. It certainly looks like nothing is going to stop Verstappen from winning his third World Championship in a row this season and he’s probably already pondering tying Vettel’s four crowns next year.

With Verstappen dancing away in the distance, the real action took place with many riveting battles up and down the order throughout the race’s 51-lap distance (shortened from 53 after the rescue of Yuki Tsunoda’s stationary AlphaTauri required two extra formation laps before the race could get underway). After the dicing with Verstappen was concluded, the major podium duel was between Sainz, the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez and the other Ferrari of Leclerc. Perez, who started P5 after another lackluster qualifying performance, made good use of a slight overcut on the Ferraris for his first and only pit stop and then maximized his second stint on Hard Pirellis to chase down the Prancing Horses. By Lap 31, he was filling up Leclerc’s mirrors and by Lap 32, he had made the decisive overtake on the Monegasque to grab P3.  Pushing hard and driving with precision, the Mexican was soon on Sainz’s gearbox, where the two soon engaged in a many-lap epic ding dong battle, with Sainz using every trick in the book to try to hold off the Red Bull. After several tussles through the tricky first chicane that saw Perez run off the circuit and then give the place back as a result, he was finally able to get by Sainz on Lap 46, gaining ownership of a richly deserved second place on the day. Sainz was then hounded mercilessly by Leclerc for the rest of the contest but was able to hold off his hard charging stablemate to secure the last step on the podium. Three-four is probably not what the tifosi or the braintrust at nearby Maranello were dreaming of after Saturday’s electrifying pole run by Sainz. But the respectable result was about the best the team could do when confronted by the superior race pace of the Red Bulls.

Further down the order, Mercedes also optimized their performance on the day, with George Russell coming home in P4 and Lewis Hamilton crossing the line in P5, albeit nearly twenty seconds adrift of his teammate. The Silver Arrows pit wall used a split strategy, with Russell running the conventional Medium-to-Hard tire one-stopper after qualifying in P4, while Hamilton did the opposite because he was starting from down in P8. It wound up coming good for the team, even after some misgivings by Hamilton over the decision, and both men even survived 5-second time penalties for causing collisions, the latter by Hamilton coming at the expense of the McLaren of Oliver Piastri when he squeezed the young Aussie too much and slapped into the McLaren’s front wing. That destroyed Piastri’s race because he required a nose change on Lap 42 and he wound up finishing outside the points in P12 as a result. Making it a decidedly meh day for the McLaren team, Williams Alexander Albon successfully held off Lando Norris to secure P7, another fine effort by the rapidly improving Thai-British pilot. Aston Martin were pretty much nowhere at Monza and Fernando Alonso had to settle for P9 and a meager two points for the team. Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas took the last point in P10 by driving a savvy, veteran race and then watching misfortune strike the faster cars of Piatsri and Esteban Ocon. Special mention should also be given to Liam Lawson, the New Zealand rookie filling in for Mark Webber at AlphaTauri while the veteran recovers from a broken hand suffered at Zandvoort during practice. Driving in his second F1 race, the young Kiwi was solid throughout the day and finished an impressive P11.

Top 10 finishers of the Italian Grand Prix:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 51 1:13:41.143 25
2 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 51 +6.064s 18
3 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 51 +11.193s 15
4 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 51 +11.377s 12
5 63 George Russell MERCEDES 51 +23.028s 10
6 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 51 +42.679s 8
7 23 Alexander Albon WILLIAMS MERCEDES 51 +45.106s 6
8 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 51 +45.449s 4
9 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 51 +46.294s 2
10 77 Valtteri Bottas ALFA ROMEO FERRARI 51 +64.056s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in a fortnight’s time — the totally different animal to Monza that is the Singapore Grand Prix. Swap out high speeds for tight confines on that tricky and challenging Marina Bay Street Circuit half a world away and maybe, just maybe Verstappen’s luck will falter and his win streak will end. I still wouldn’t bet on it but hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Italy — Qualifying results

Ferrari’s Sainz bests Verstappen & teammate Leclerc for coveted pole at Monza in front of delirious tifosi

Only a week out from a disappointing showing at the Dutch Grand Prix, team Ferrari was looking for redemption in front of their rabid fans, the tifosi, at their backyard circuit of the Autodromo Nazionale Monza during Saturday qualifying for Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix. Fast through all three practice sessions, the Scuderia maximized that impetus to take the fight to the usually supreme Red Bull of Max Verstappen at the famed Temple of Speed. Perhaps trimmed out ever so slightly more than the RB19, it was Carlos Sainz who eked out the very best fast lap of the day in Q3, earning his first pole in a year and the team’s third of the 2023 campaign by a razor thin 0.013 seconds over Verstappen. The Spanish veteran also bettered his teammate Charles Leclerc, who managed the third fastest time in Q3. While Sainz will start from the point and the SF-23 appears genuinely quick here at Monza, it remains to be seen if the Prancing Horses have the genuine race pace to go toe-to-toe with Verstappen, whose long run racing form has been nothing short of otherworldly this season. One thing’s for sure come race day: Verstappen will not give up his shot at a record breaking tenth win in a row without a fight.

Mercedes George Russell was the quickest of the rest with a time good enough for fourth on the grid. That was well ahead of his Silver Arrows teammate Lewis Hamilton, who has frankly struggled with his straight line speed all weekend long so far. The second Red Bull of Sergio Perez was also quite a distance away from team leader Verstappen in P5, nearly four-tenths down on the Dutchman’s P2 time. In contrast, Williams’ Alexander Albon continues to over-perform in what has been a breakout season for the young Thai-British driver. With the Williams quite quick & slippery on the straights, Albon hustled his mount all the way up to a P6 starting spot just a little off Perez’s pace. The two McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris struggled somewhat to put a solid lap together under the stresses of quali and were punished as a result, with Piastri only quick enough for P7 and Norris worse than Hamilton in P9. Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin rounded out the top ten on the day with a rather poky performance in P10.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Italian GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:21.965 1:20.991 1:20.294 20
2 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:21.573 1:20.937 1:20.307 21
3 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:21.788 1:20.977 1:20.361 21
4 63 George Russell MERCEDES 1:22.148 1:21.382 1:20.671 21
5 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:21.911 1:21.240 1:20.688 21
6 23 Alexander Albon WILLIAMS MERCEDES 1:21.661 1:21.272 1:20.760 21
7 81 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:22.106 1:21.527 1:20.785 24
8 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:21.977 1:21.369 1:20.820 21
9 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:21.995 1:21.581 1:20.979 23
10 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 1:22.043 1:21.543 1:21.417 19

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN beginning at 9AM Eastern here in the States. Hope to see you then to find out if Sainz and Ferrari’s qualifying pace was a one lap mirage or if he can truly hold off Verstappen to send the tifosi home in ecstasy!

2023 F1 Grand Prix of the Netherlands — Results & aftermath

Verstappen prevails for record-tying ninth win on the trot in chaotic, rain-affected Dutch Grand Prix; Alonso returns to podium with masterful P2; superb Gasly promoted to P3 due to Perez penalty

Even the unpredictable elements at the Dutch seaside Zandvoort circuit could not prevent the great Max Verstappen from adding to his record-setting victory pace at his hometown race. With rain chucking it down at the very start of Sunday’s 72-lap Dutch Grand Prix and then again during the closing stanza, forcing split second strategy decisions up and down the pit wall, Verstappen and his Red Bull brain trust made all the right calls en route to another dominant victory. It was the points leader’s record trying ninth win in a row, drawing him level with the great Sebastian Vettel, who first lifted this team named after a sports drink to the pinnacle of motorsport. Proving himself a worthy successor to the German four time champ, the Dutch wunderkind wowed the virtual sea of his sodden and ecstatic orange-clad fans by surviving the opening two laps on slicks as the rain began and then two Safety Car periods that erased his cushion. The latter deluge began on Lap 61, leading to first a VSC three laps later and then a Red Flag due to cars aquaplaning off the track en masse. Nevertheless, the Dutch master held off the late charge of wily old Fernando Alonso and pulled out his winning margin over the final five green flag laps to 3.744-seconds over the Spaniard. That also made it eleven wins from thirteen races run in 2023 and increased his points lead over teammate Sergio Perez to a whopping 128. While Verstappen’s dominance may make for sometimes less than thrilling and lopsided victories, this race had excitement galore due to the changeable weather and abundance of incident. In any event, one has to give the devil his due in saying that Verstappen is head and shoulders above all the other contenders in what is shaping up to be one of the legendary individual seasons in the sport’s history.

Nearly as good was Aston Martin’s Alonso, who started from P5 but used his mastery of touch and feel in the wet to consistently push to the front whatever the track conditions. By Lap 13 and after a switch to Intermediate wets and then back to Soft Pirellis, Alonso had worked his way to P3, a position he looked destined to be locked into for the duration. But he got a huge break when the heavy showers hit and the field were once again forced to come in for wet weather tires. The P2 Red Bull of Perez dove to the pits for Inters on Lap 61, which looked like the shrewd move at the time. The pursuing Alonso came in a lap latter for the same compound but the rain only intensified from there and the Red Bull team pulled first Verstappen in for the full Wet tires on Lap 63 and then, after Perez had slid off the track in T1, they called him in for the same on Lap 64. But with a big shunt by Alfa Romeo’s Zho Guanyu directly after Perez had his own off, the race director first deployed a Virtual Safety Car but then determined that the only safe course of action was a Red Flag. That trapped Perez in the pits as the rest of the field trundled round to get back into them for safe retrieval of Zho’s Alfa and barrier repair. While Perez was allowed to keep P3 and not relegated any further, as that was his last timed position, he had lost out to Alonso on P2. Making matters worse for the Mexican, he somehow accrued a pit speed violation on that fateful pit entry and was slapped with a 5-second time penalty. Alonso easily held off Perez, as he made a hard if eventually futile charge at catching Verstappen at the point. Meanwhile, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, who drove a superb race, kept himself close enough to the second Red Bull to inherit the last step on the podium when Perez was docked those five-seconds after the checkers flew. It was brace of brilliant drives and results by Alonso and Gasly and another difficult day at the office for Perez when all was said and done.

Carlos Sainz was the lone Ferrari to make it home after teammate Charles Leclerc DNF’d due to floor damage on Lap 42. While Sainz held on for P5, it was another confused and disappointing day for the Scuderia, with Leclerc’s pointless retirement preceded by a botched stop for Inters on Lap 2. The Monegasque driver made his own call to box but the team weren’t ready for him with the tires, making for an agonizingly long time spent stationary. Heading into Monza next week, Ferrari will be under immense pressure to do better in front of their rabid tifosi. Mercedes Lewis Hamilton was likewise his team’s lone representative in the Top 10, recovering from a poor qualifying and a P13 start to take a hard earned P6. Teammate George Russell’s day came to grief late in the race when he suffered a puncture dicing with McLaren’s Lando Norris on lap 67 and was forced into an emergency pit stop that pushed him back to P17 and last among the remaining runners. Norris survived that incident to come home P7, with teammate Oscar Piastri not quite as quick in P9. Williams’ Alexander Albon did an excellent job after running his opening stint on Soft tires all the way to Lap 44 despite the drenched circuit, a crazy feat that set him up for his eventual P8 finish. The second Alpine of Esteban Ocon took the last point in P10 after the team’s gamble to be the first to go on full Wet tires on Lap 62 didn’t quite pay off due to the Red Flag.

Top 10 finishers of the Dutch GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 72 2:24:04.411 25
2 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 72 +3.744s 19
3 10 Pierre Gasly ALPINE RENAULT 72 +7.058s 15
4 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 72 +10.068s 12
5 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 72 +12.541s 10
6 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 72 +13.209s 8
7 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 72 +13.232s 6
8 23 Alexander Albon WILLIAMS MERCEDES 72 +15.155s 4
9 81 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES 72 +16.580s 2
10 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 72 +18.346s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in but a week’s time as we head into September — the Italian Grand Prix from Monza, the Temple of Speed. Verstappen will be gunning for the record for consecutive race wins and the rest of the contenders will be hoping that somehow the ultra-fast circuit suits their hot rods a little better. And, at their home circuit, Ferrari will simply be praying for both of their cars to perform well and with no embarrassing mistakes for the Italian media to harp on. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!