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2023 F1 Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia — Results & aftermath

Perez holds off Verstappen’s amazing recovery drive to take victory in Saudi Arabia, notching Red Bull’s second consecutive 1-2;  Alonso loses podium then given P3 back after FIA penalty reconsideration

Red Bull’s Sergio Perez maximized his pole start in Sunday night’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and mastered the tricky Jeddah Corniche Street Circuit, all while holding off his teammate Max Verstappen’s furious comeback, to take a solid victory in F1’s second round of 2023. After a driveshaft issue prematurely ended Verstappen’s qualifying efforts on Saturday relegating the Dutchman to P15 on the starting grid, the veteran Mexican street specialist capitalized on his good fortune to run in clean air from the front on the the tight and twisty streets of Jeddah and proved to be the class of the field this evening.  Even though Perez momentarily lost his lead to the Aston Martin of the resurgent Fernando Alonso on the opening lap, the Red Bull’s pace soon proved to be too much for the Spaniard’s Aston. Perez reclaimed P1 from Alonso on Lap 4 and then simply sailed away, building a seemingly insurmountable gap to the rest of the field. Even after a short Safety Car period due to the sister Aston of Lance Stroll coming to an abrupt on-track stop on Lap 18, with the resultant cheap pit stops and tightening of the field, Perez’s Red Bull still proved the dominant car on the day. He jumped away after the end of Lap 20/beginning of Lap 21 restart, leaving the other top runners to fight over the other two podium positions en route to a solid victory and a tie with Verstappen in the Championship points.

On Verstappen’s side of the garage, it was all about recovery after the mechanical failure in qualifying and the resultant P15 start, and the two-time Champ took to his task with his usual gusto in overtaking. After a somewhat easygoing start, Verstappen really began putting the moves on after DRS became enabled on Lap 3, this year’s RB19 looking like having a nearly unfair advantage when it gets to open its rear wing on the straights. By Lap 8, Verstappen had improved to tenth in the race, and by Lap 12 he had passed the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton for P8. When that first and only Safety Car was deployed, Verstappen wisely dived to the pits for fresh rubber, doffing his opening set of Medium Pirellis for the Hards to see him through to the end of the race. The deft strategy call saw Verstappen well placed in P4 upon the restart and he made short work of Mercedes’ George Russell for P3 on Lap 23, then took P2 from Alonso two laps later. But on this night, Perez had the measure of his more decorated teammate and kept him at bay with aplomb. While Verstappen was able to nick an extra championship point for setting the race’s fastest lap to keep him level in on points, it was Perez who took home top honors some 5.35 seconds to the good. Aside from the intriguing intra-team implications, the result made it two consecutive Red Bull 1-2 finishes to open the 2023 campaign. For the moment, at least, no other team looks anywhere near their raw pace and tis year’s Drivers’ Championship could quickly be reduced to a two man, one team battle.

Alonso had a frustrating but ultimately fulfilling day after his opening-lap pass on Perez for the lead. Very quickly, word came down from the stewards that he had lined up his car incorrectly in his grid box to start the race, which incurred a 5-second penalty. While he got a break by being able to serve that time penalty under full-course yellow conditions during the Safety Car period, the stewards initially also adjudged that an Aston Martin mechanic had improperly put his rear jack onto the car while the 5-seconds were being served. That ran afoul of the interpretation of the rules of “no work may be done on the car while serving a penalty” and the team were then assessed a post-race penalty of 10-seconds for the infraction. That momentarily turned what had been a certain second consecutive podium P3 finish for the Spaniard into a P4 when the time had been added, knocking the streaking Spaniard off the podium. But then, a  day of mixed emotions for Aston Martin with Stroll’s early retirement factored in, got a final positive uplift after the race officials reviewed their decision and rescinded Alonso’s penalty. That negated Russell’s short-lived promotion to P3, the young Englishman keeping his original earned race result of P4. Russell had earlier resisted not-so-veiled team orders to allow teammate Lewis Hamilton by him during the post-Safety Car second tire stint, which saw Hamilton on the quicker Mediums and Russel running the opposite strategy after a change off Mediums to Hards. But Russell fended off Hamilton’s best on-track efforts, as well any internal politics from the pit wall, and Hamilton had to settle for a still better than expected P5 when the checkers flew.

On the other hand, Ferrari may well have categorized their day at Jeddah as a bit of a minor disaster. While it was always going to be tough with Charles Leclerc starting from P12 after already running afoul of engine component limitations for multiple energy control unit replacements in only the second race weekend, the team thought they had a decent shot at a podium with Carlos Sainz starting in P4. But the Prancing Horses never really showed good race pace compared with the Aston Martins and the Mercedes (leaving the untouchable Red Bulls out of the discussion entirely) and the Scuderia saw themselves unable to move forward against those adversaries. Leclerc stalled out after recovering to P7 and Sainz was no match for Hamilton after the Safety Car restart and eventually had to settle for P6 at the finish. Fourth Best Cars in 2023 is certainly not what Ferrari expected coming in to the new race year and it’s definitely not going to be satisfactory for the brass back at Maranello. The Ferrari F1 team is going to be under increasingly heavy pressure to improve their results and reliability and quickly.

Rounding out the Top 10, Alpine had another good double points day, with Esteban Ocon coming home in P8 and new hire Pierre Gasly taking P9. And Haas’s Kevin Magnussen scored the last point  after a late race hammer-and-tongs battle with AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda saw the veteran Dane prevail for P10.

Top 10 finishers of the Saudi Arabian GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 50 1:21:14.894 25
2 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 50 +5.355s 0
3 63 George Russell MERCEDES 50 +25.866s 15
4 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 50 +30.728s 12
5 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 50 +31.065s 10
6 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 50 +35.876s 8
7 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 50 +43.162s 6
8 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 50 +52.832s 4
9 10 Pierre Gasly ALPINE RENAULT 50 +54.747s 2
10 20 Kevin Magnussen HAAS FERRARI 50 +64.826s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in a fortnight’s time — the always enjoyable Australian Grand Prix from Melbourne’s Albert Park Circuit. All signs seem to point for a two-man internecine fight for wins between the Red Bull’s of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez with the resultant raising of tensions between the two aces. Can any other team make a dent in Red Bull’s easy season superiority? Hope to see you then to find out!

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain — Qualifying results

Reigning champ Verstappen picks up where he left off to nab pole for Round 1 of 2023 at Sakhir; Perez P2 for Red Bull front row lockout; Ferrari sacrifice Leclerc’s potential pole challenge for more strategy options in race; Aston Martin and Alonso looking dangerous

The 2023 Formula 1 campaign kicked off in earnest with the first race qualifying of the year on Saturday to set the grid for the opening round of the season at the Sakhir circuit in Bahrain. With the teams masterfully using the short winter offseason & measly on track testing sessions to solidify their understanding of the ground effects-dependent aerodynamics that debuted last year, the result was a much more tightly compacted field that promises potential podiums from more than just the two or three powerhouses of the sport. But the more things change, the more they seemed to stay the same once the teams really showed their hands in the all-out speed contest that is F1’s three rounds of knockout qualifying. 2022’s reigning champion, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, put paid to any other drivers’ hopes of bettering him on this first quali Saturday when he kept improving his pace at an untouchable rate during Q3. In the end, the Flying Dutchman cleared his teammate Sergio Perez by a little under second-and-a-half to take pole for tomorrow’s Round 1 Bahrain Grand Prix and launch his quest for a third consecutive title. Verstappen was aided somewhat by Ferarri’s mildly curious decision to stop their ace Charles Leclerc from running one last flying lap in the final qualifying session and attempt to dethrone Verstappen in favor of having more fresh tires, and therefore more strategy options, for tomorrow’s race. Leclerc had to settle for P3 with stablemate Carlos Sainz backing him up on the second row in P4. Both Red Bull and Ferrari appeared to be hiding their true pace for much of the practice sessions prior and even in Q1 and Q2. But when it really counted, the two teams threw off their sandbags and mimicked last year’s performances as the best and second best teams on the grid, at least at this admittedly extremely early portion of what will be a grueling 23-round season.

While Red Bull and Ferrari were playing it a bit coy in the earlier stages of quali, it looked as though the Aston Martin of new hire Fernando Alonso might spring Saturday’s biggest surprise and claim his first pole since 2012 in Germany. With the wicks fully turned up, however, the veteran Spaniard two-time World Champ settled for a still solid P5, which was still better than both Mercedes were able to achieve. It was a marked improvement for the Aston Martin team and certainly seems to be the payoff for poaching Red Bull’s number two aerodynamicist, Dan Fallows. While Alonso’s teammate Lance Stroll could do no better than a P8 time, the Canadian was hampered by hand and wrist injuries suffered in a pre-testing mountain bike accident so, if he can grit his way through tomorrow’s GP the signs are very promising for the team’s potential going forward. Meanwhile, the aforementioned Silver Arrows duo of George Russell and seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton, while both completely fit, had to settle for P6 and P7 respectively. Though the Mercedes braintrust appears to have mastered the extreme porpoising issues under the new aero formula that doomed their 2022 season to mediocrity, it’s clear that the cars are still not able to challenge for the front row consistently, as least not so yet. Mighty Mercedes and their ambitious and demanding driver duo will be keen to sharpen this year’s weapon in a hurry while simultaneously hoping that one again their cars are better race machines than one-lap specialists.

Rounding out the top ten on the grid, Alpine’s Esteban Ocon did very well to will his rather mediocre looking mount to P9 and Nico Hulkenberg made a solid return to F1 after several years as a super sub and reserve driver to qualify P10 for his new team, Haas. The veteran German, who looked genuinely rapid on the day, may have been hoping for even better positioning but he had his only competitive lap in Q3 deleted for exceeding track limits.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Bahrain GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:31.295 1:30.503 1:29.708 15
2 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:31.479 1:30.746 1:29.846 15
3 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:31.094 1:30.282 1:30.000 17
4 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:30.993 1:30.515 1:30.154 18
5 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 1:31.158 1:30.645 1:30.336 15
6 63 George Russell MERCEDES 1:31.057 1:30.507 1:30.340 15
7 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:31.543 1:30.513 1:30.384 15
8 18 Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 1:31.184 1:31.127 1:30.836 18
9 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 1:31.508 1:30.914 1:30.984 15
10 27 Nico Hulkenberg HAAS FERRARI 1:31.204 1:30.809 DNF 17

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s season-opening race airs live on ESPN beginning at 10AM Eastern here in the States. Hope to see you then when this much tighter field should lead to a ding dong race with multiple contenders for the podium and if anyone has anything for Verstappen for the top step!

 

 

2022 F1 Grand Prix of the Netherlands — Qualifying results

Verstappen snatches pole from Leclerc at Zandvoort, Sainz P3

Hometown hero Max Verstappen left it late but managed to wrest away pole position for tomorrow’s Dutch Grand Prix from Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc during Saturday qualifying at the short, twisty and rolling  Zandvoort Circuit. The surging Red Bull ace pipped Leclerc’s very solid best effort by a mere .021 seconds in front of the adoring, orange-clad throng of his countrymen in the stands, locking in the fastest lap of Q3 before his teammate Sergio Perez spun out at the penultimate corner to bring the final quali session to a slightly premature end. Leclerc was not overly displeased to have missed out on the pole by such a small margin and, along with Carlos Sainz setting the third fastest time, Ferrari are feeling good about their chances to match Verstappen come race day. However, it must still be in the back of the Scuderia’s collective mind that their Prancing Horses’ fine one lap pace often evaporates under race conditions in the face of Verstappen’s supreme talent and the Red Bull’s so far superior long-run performance. With the 2022 season entering its final third, Leclerc and Ferrari have got to start beating Verstappen in the remaining eight races while also hoping the points leader has few unlucky DNFs along the way.

With Perez’s spin freezing him in P5 on the grid, Mercedes Lewis Hamilton was able to cross the line just ahead of the Mexican’s incident with a time good enough for P4. Along with George Russell’s P6 quali effort, the Silver Arrows felt they had more potentially to give in qualifying and will hope to convert that into a good race tomorrow, perhaps being able to mix it up with Ferrari for the podium positions on a short, twisty track that seems to suit the enigmatic Merc much better than long and flowing Spa did a week ago. The remainder of the top ten qualifiers featured sole representatives of their respective teams: Lando Norris P7 for McLaren, Mick Schumacher earning a much needed P8 start for Haas, AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda in P9 and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll in P10. Stroll was very quick on the day but could not take part in Q3 due to a technical issue on his car. If the team can get that cleaned up by tomorrow, look for Lance to fight right up to Norris’s gearbox within the first ten laps, such has been the pace of the Mercedes-powered Aston so far.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Dutch GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING RBPT 1:11.317 1:10.927 1:10.342 12
2 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:11.443 1:10.988 1:10.363 18
3 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:11.767 1:10.814 1:10.434 18
4 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:11.331 1:11.075 1:10.648 18
5 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING RBPT 1:11.641 1:11.314 1:11.077 19
6 63 George Russell MERCEDES 1:11.561 1:10.824 1:11.147 18
7 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:11.556 1:11.116 1:11.174 18
8 47 Mick Schumacher HAAS FERRARI 1:11.741 1:11.420 1:11.442 21
9 22 Yuki Tsunoda ALPHATAURI RBPT 1:11.427 1:11.428 1:12.556 21
10 18 Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 1:11.568 1:11.416 14

Complete qualifying results viable via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN beginning at 9AM Eastern here in the States. With Verstappen looking to tighten his stranglehold on the championship at his home race and Leclerc desperate to thwart Max’s recent unstoppable momentum on a very tight track, it could be an incident filled affair. Hope to see you then to find put how it all shakes out!

2022 F1 Grand Prix of France — Qualifying results

Ferrari team tactics earn pole for Leclerc at Paul Ricard; Verstappen P2, Perez P3 for Red Bull; Sainz still headed to the back after towing teammate to the front

Knowing that the Prancing Horse of Carlos Sainz would be starting the race from the rear due to engine penalties, Ferrari cleverly sacrificed the Spaniard’s effort in the service of his non-penalized teammate, Charles Leclerc, during Saturday qualifying for tomorrow’s French Grand Prix. With the twin long straights of the eccentrically colorful Circuit Paul Ricard lending themselves to judicious use of the two car draft, Sainz was able to lead out Leclerc twice in Q3 and give his Monegasque teammate just that much of an edge over the Red Bull of Max Verstappen, who was flying solo since Sergio Perez was trying to secure his own high grid position. It worked a treat, making the best of Sainz’s bad situation after a raft of replacements were required when his engine literally blew up at the last race in Austria, and earned Leclerc his first pole since way back in Round 8 at Azerbaijan. Sainz’s team-effort tow on Leclerc ended up being good enough for a .282 advantage over Verstappen by the time session ended, though with Perez settling in at P3 and Sainz heading to the rear it will be a two-to-one Red Bull advantage when the lights go out on Sunday. It should be fascinating to see what kind of strategy the Scuderia brain trust can come up with overnight to work Sainz up through the field and hopefully put him into play against team Red Bull’s race winning aspirations.

With Sainz sacrificing himself and not setting an actual quali time of his own, Mercedes Lewis Hamilton took advantage by setting the fourth fastest time and he will line up alongside Perez on the second row. His Silver Arrows teammate George Russell was pushed down to P6 on the grid, however, when McLaren’s Lando Norris put in a fierce final lap in Q3 and snatched P5 from his fellow Brit. Wily old Fernando Alonso looked good in setting the seventh fastest time of the final session and Yuki Tsunoda flew the flag for the underperforming AlphaTauri team by qualifying in P8. Haas’s Kevin Magnussen, who also took engine component replacement penalties for this weekend, ran no laps in Q3 and was classified in P10. But the Dane will also slide to the back of the field and into P20 alongside P19 Sainz to start tomorrow’s GP. That pair’s demotions elevated the lucky duo of McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon to P9 and P10 on the grid respectively.

Top 10 qualifiers for the French GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:31.727 1:31.216 1:30.872 17
2 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING RBPT 1:31.891 1:31.990 1:31.176 14
3 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING RBPT 1:32.354 1:32.120 1:31.335 20
4 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:33.041 1:32.274 1:31.765 19
5 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:32.672 1:32.777 1:32.032 14
6 63 George Russell MERCEDES 1:33.109 1:32.633 1:32.131 20
7 14 Fernando Alonso ALPINE RENAULT 1:32.819 1:32.631 1:32.552 17
8 22 Yuki Tsunoda ALPHATAURI RBPT 1:33.394 1:32.836 1:32.780 20
9 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:32.297 1:31.081 DNF 10
10 20 Kevin Magnussen HAAS FERRARI 1:32.756 1:32.649 9

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Penalty-effected starting grid is here.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN beginning at 9AM Eastern here in the States. Leclerc will be desperate to get away from the Red Bulls cleanly, establish a gap and hold on until the calvary in the form of Sainz arrives. Verstappen and Perez will need to avoid tripping over each other in their hot pursuit of the P1 Prancing Horse. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

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 Spain — Qualifying results

Leclerc recovers from spin to set blustering final lap, earn pole in Barcelona; P2 Verstappen thwarted by engine woes, Sainz P3 on good day for Ferrari

Amidst scorching hot conditions at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya during Saturday qualifying for tomorrow’s Spanish Grand Prix, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc kept his cool. The F1 points leader recovered from a spin earlier in Q3 and, after a pit stop for fresh tires, went back out and laid down an untouchable lap that earned him pole as the checkers flew to end the final quali session. The Monegasque brought some heat of his own to this very familiar Spanish circuit, blistering the track to the tune of 1:18.750, a good quarter-second ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. While Leclerc, who at times this season has seemed be his own worst enemy in terms of unforced errors, showed good mental fortitude to recover from his clumsy spin and hook up that splendid pole lap, Verstappen was hamstrung in his efforts to respond when his DRS failed to open during his final hot lap, robbing the Dutchman of vital speed. Once again, the Red Bull showed a disconcerting fragility but on this day, at least, Ferrari’s lead driver did not.

Behind Verstappen, Leclerc’s stablemate, Carlos Sainz, earned cheers from his countrymen in the grandstands by setting the third fastest time in Q3. That made it a very promising day for Ferrari because Sergio Perez, the Red Bull number two, could hustle himself up to no better than P5 when time expired. That enabled George Russell to sneak his Mercedes into P4 with a sterling effort in what has not been an elite car to this point. So, Russell will line up alongside Sainz on the second row come Sunday, while his Silver Arrows teammate, Lewis Hamilton, qualified a respectable P6 and will be across from Perez on the third row. This circuit does seem to suit the porpoising-plagued Mercs but it is yet to be seen if they can covert that into a much needed positive double points result tomorrow or if they can really match the race pace of this year’s big dogs, Red Bull & Ferrari,  when the lights go out.

Rounding out the top ten qualifiers, Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas continued to deliver the goods for his new team by setting the seventh fastest time. And team Haas had an excellent run, with Kevin Magnussen doing yeoman’s work for P8 and P10 Mick Schumacher getting into Q3 for the first time in his young career thanks to the McLaren of Lando Norris having his best lap in Q2 disqualified for exceeding track limits. Norris’s teammate Daniel Ricciardo flew the McLaren flag with a time good enough for P9 and look for the out-of-position P11 Norris to join him in rapid order tomorrow as he fights his way to the front.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Spanish Grand Prix:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:19.861 1:19.969 1:18.750 12
2 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING RBPT 1:20.091 1:19.219 1:19.073 16
3 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:19.892 1:19.453 1:19.166 16
4 63 George Russell MERCEDES 1:20.218 1:19.470 1:19.393 14
5 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING RBPT 1:20.447 1:19.830 1:19.420 17
6 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:20.252 1:19.794 1:19.512 15
7 77 Valtteri Bottas ALFA ROMEO FERRARI 1:20.355 1:20.053 1:19.608 18
8 20 Kevin Magnussen HAAS FERRARI 1:20.227 1:19.810 1:19.682 18
9 3 Daniel Ricciardo MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:20.549 1:20.287 1:20.297 15
10 47 Mick Schumacher HAAS FERRARI 1:20.683 1:20.436 1:20.368 18

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN2 beginning at 9AM here in the States. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2022 F1 Grand Prix of Emilia-Romagna — Results & aftermath

Red Bull rebound, romp to dominant Verstappen-Perez 1-2 at Imola; Leclerc throws away sure Ferrari podium with late spin gifting Norris P3

After reliability woes cost them dearly in two of the young season’s first three races, team Red Bull came to Imola full of determination to put those issues behind them and enable their drivers to succeed to their full potential this weekend. By the end of the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, aka Imola, on Sunday it was emphatically Mission Accomplished. After both cars failed to finish in Round 1 in Bahrain and their ace Max Verstappen also DNF’d in Round 3 in Australia due to mechanical issues, Verstappen’s car ran perfectly and he dominated this first Sprint weekend of the season. The Dutch master qualified P1 on Friday, fought back against Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc to win Saturday’s Sprint race and claim pole for the GP and then blistered the field for an easy win from the front on Sunday. Verstappen finished some 16.5-seconds ahead of his P2 teammate Sergio Perez, while also running the fastest lap of the race to earn the bonus point. So that made 26 points extracted from the race plus 8 for the Sprint win for a massive 34-point haul that enabled the flying Dutchman to vault back into the championship chase with his key rival this year, Leclerc. Ferrari and Leclerc also did their best to tighten things up through a series of unforced errors at the circuit named for their founder and his son, leading no doubt to brutal headlines in the Italian papers come Monday morning.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

The first embarrassment for the fabled Scuderia from Maranello came on Lap 1 of the contest when the Prancing Horse of Carlos Sainz and the McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo collided going into Tamburello side by side. While Ricciardo was able to crawl away from the scene and restart, Sainz was beached in the gravel for the second straight race, following up his Lap 1 DNF in Australia with a Lap 1 DNF in Italy, a stunning string of disappointments for the Spaniard. While the team showed their faith in Sainz by signing him to a new 2-year contract in the weeks between the two races, it’s clear that he has got to settle down and get some results for Ferrari if they are to have a fighting shot to beat out ultra quick Red Bull for the Constructor’s title. Frankly, these serious lapses from such an experienced driver are a head scratcher and Carlos had better find his confidence and poise in a hurry.

But that wasn’t the only misfortune to befall mighty Ferrari in front of their home fans, the always passionate and vocal tifosi. Continue reading →

2022 F1 Grand Prix of Emilia Romagna — Sprint results

Verstappen charges back after slow start to win Imola Sprint race, earns pole for GP; Leclerc relegated to P2 after late pass; Perez recovers for P3

Formula 1’s somewhat gimmicky Sprint Race to determine the race day starting grid returned for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari on Saturday. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen recovered from a slow getaway at the start of this 21-lap mini-race, and eventually hunted down and passed Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc with two to go to take the win and earn pole for tomorrow’s Grand Prix. After an interminable, rain-effected three rounds of standard knockout qualifying on Friday, which saw five Red Flag stoppages due the greasy conditions catching drivers out, the bright and sunny Sprint Saturday was at least entertaining, with good wheel-to-wheel combat up and down the field to change around the initial “qualifying” results and set tomorrow’s starting order for real. Verstappen’s teammate, Sergio Perez, was able to greatly improve on his qualifying effort of P7 to take P3 in the Sprint, while Leclerc’s stablemate Carlos Sainz recovered from another unforced error that saw the Spaniard bin his Prancing Horse in Q2 in the damp on Friday and claw his way all the back to a P4 finish on Saturday. The mixed Red Bull-Ferrari front two rows provide a mouth-watering prospect for tomorrow’s opening lap, especially should rain return to Imola

McLaren had a very good day, albeit with Lando Norris losing two spots off his quali result and coming home in P5 and Daniel Ricciardo finishing where he started the Sprint in P6, which honestly seems to be where those two cars should be at this track. Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas had a nice effort to take 7 and Haas had a beautiful day in northern Italy, with Kevin Magnussen continuing his run of good form since being drafted back into the team taking P8 and teammate Mick Schumacher earning his highest ever F1 grid position in P10. Alpine’s wily old veteran Fernando Alonso filled out the Top 10 of the Saturday Sprint coming home in P9. On the glass-half-empty side of the ledger, alarm bells must be ringing at the Brackley headquarters of mighty Mercedes, as the severe porpoising that has bedeviled them from the very beginning of this year’s new ground effects-dependent formula returned with a vengeance at Imola. This race could well be a write off for the Silver Arrows — George Russell only managed a P11 finish on the day, while seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton was an astonishingly poor P14 when the checkers flew to end the Sprint. Four rounds into the 2022 campaign it’s beginning to look like by the time Mercedes figure out their aerodynamic woes it will be well and truly too late to compete for either title.

Here’s how the Top 10 qualified on Friday:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING RBPT 1:19.295 1:18.793 1:27.999 22
2 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:18.796 1:19.584 1:28.778 22
3 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:20.168 1:19.294 1:29.131 22
4 20 Kevin Magnussen HAAS FERRARI 1:20.147 1:19.902 1:29.164 21
5 14 Fernando Alonso ALPINE RENAULT 1:20.198 1:19.595 1:29.202 26
6 3 Daniel Ricciardo MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:19.980 1:20.031 1:29.742 21
7 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING RBPT 1:19.773 1:19.296 1:29.808 25
8 77 Valtteri Bottas ALFA ROMEO FERRARI 1:20.419 1:20.192 1:30.439 23
9 5 Sebastian Vettel ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 1:20.364 1:19.957 1:31.062 25
10 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:19.305 1:18.990 13

And here are the results for the Top 10 finishers of the Sprint Race on Saturday:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING RBPT 21 30:39.567 8
2 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 21 +2.975s 7
3 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING RBPT 21 +4.721s 6
4 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 21 +17.578s 5
5 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 21 +24.561s 4
6 3 Daniel Ricciardo MCLAREN MERCEDES 21 +27.740s 3
7 77 Valtteri Bottas ALFA ROMEO FERRARI 21 +28.133s 2
8 20 Kevin Magnussen HAAS FERRARI 21 +30.712s 1
9 14 Fernando Alonso ALPINE RENAULT 21 +32.278s 0
10 47 Mick Schumacher HAAS FERRARI 21 +33.773s 0

Complete qualifying & Sprint 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 how the elite Ferrari-Red Bull battle plays out in the Scuderia’s back yard — and if more more rain might throw a wrench into the teams’ best laid plans!

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 →