Tag Archives: Haas F1

2018 F1 Grand Prix of Austria — Qualifying results

Mercedes lock out front row in Austria as Bottas takes pole, Hamilton P2; Vettel salvages P3 for Ferrari but is demoted for blocking

Mercedes Number 2 Valtteri Bottas looked more like numero uno in Saturday qualifying at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. At a short and fast track that he seems to love, Bottas launched his Silver Arrow into pole position, outperforming his championship-leading teammate Lewis Hamilton, who still was able to complete a Mercedes front row lockout with a solid lap good enough for P2 as time ran out in Q3. This was Bottas’ second consecutive pole at the Red Bull Ring in Speilberg and Valtteri also won last year’s Grand Prix. In a hard luck season where a couple of breaks here and there might have seen then Finn much closer to his teammate in the points Bottas will be looking for the top step once again on Sunday even if it comes at Hamilton’s expense.

Ferrari could not match the pace of the upgraded Mercs, with Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen setting only the third and fourth fastest times in Q3. If the Scuderia were disappointed by that deficit to their German arch-rivals it was deepened to when Vettel received a 3-place grid penalty for impeding Renault’s Carlos Sainz in Q2. That meant Hamilton’s main championship rival will now start sixth on race day instead beside his teammate Raikkonen and directly behind the two Silver Arrows. Look for Vettel to recover quickly, however, in an attempt to hound and harass Hamilton all race long.

In front of a veritable sea of orange-clad Dutch fans Max Verstappen was the best of the Red Bulls at their home track and qualified P5, while his Aussie teammate Daniel Ricciardo struggled mightily to wring speed from his chassis and could do no better than P7. They were split but a mighty performance by Haas’ Romain Grosjean, who had the sixth-fastest lap. It was a much needed boost for the Frenchman’s confidence after a number of sea-inflicted errors have led to a ragged season for him so far. Haas will definitely be looking for him to race cleanly and mistake-free when the lights go out and to bring the car home unscathed and well in the points. Grosjean’s teammate was also quick and qualified P8. That made Haas the “best of the rest” so far this weekend, as they were well ahead of the factory Renaults. Sainz qualified P9 and Nico Hulkenberg will was only tenth fastest.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Austrian GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:04.175 1:03.756 1:03.130 18
2 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:04.080 1:03.577 1:03.149 21
3 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 1:04.347 1:03.544 1:03.464 18
4 7 Kimi Räikkönen FERRARI 1:04.234 1:03.975 1:03.660 21
5 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 1:04.273 1:04.001 1:03.840 18
6 8 Romain Grosjean HAAS FERRARI 1:04.242 1:04.059 1:03.892 17
7 3 Daniel Ricciardo RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 1:04.723 1:04.403 1:03.996 22
8 20 Kevin Magnussen HAAS FERRARI 1:04.460 1:04.291 1:04.051 20
9 55 Carlos Sainz RENAULT 1:04.948 1:04.561 1:04.725 19
10 27 Nico Hulkenberg RENAULT 1:04.864 1:04.676 1:05.019 20

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN2 starting at 9AM Eastern here in the States. Can Bottas make it two in a row at the Red Bull ring or has Hamilton got something up his sleeve to seize victory? Hope to see you then to find out!

2018 F1 Grand Prix of France — Results & aftermath

Hamilton romps to victory in F1’s return to France; Verstappen takes an opportunistic P2, Raikkonen P3; Vettel and Bottas tangle on opening lap,

The championship momentum swung back to Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton who capped of a resurgent weekend for the Silver Arrows with a dominant win at Circuit Paul Ricard on Sunday. Hamilton took advantage of his pole position to avoid the mayhem behind him as the opening lap unspooled on this unfamiliar track, a place that F1 had not raced at since way back in 1990 (the last French GP itself was at Magny-Cours in 2008). Hamilton was able to control the race from the front easily even after a first lap Safety Car was deployed after multiple collisions during the frantic start, including the most significant one between his teammate Valtteri Bottas and his Ferrari title rival, Sebastian Vettel. Vettel misjudged his braking and ran into the back of the Finnish Mercedes man, causing an immediate puncture for Bottas and a damaged front wing for Vettel. Both drivers had to limp to the pits for premature service although Bottas got the worst of it, as he had to nurse his ride home in hopes that the wounded rear left tire did not delaminate and begin destroying all that precious body work.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

Both drivers emerged at the tail of the pack and had to pursue a strict recovery strategy to make the best fo a bad situation. With the new nose Vettel’s car was essentially unaffected and the German began carving his back up through the order in rapid fashion when racing resumed on Lap 6. Bottas’ Benz had floor damage. however, and so his progress came more deliberately. Vettel was adjudged to be at fault for the incident by the stewards, however, and received a 5-second time penalty, something he would have to factor into how hard he had to push on a set of new Soft tires that potentially he and Ferrari might run to the bitter end.

But it became clear that Vettel’s tries, after working his way all the way up to P4 before seeing himself passed by his teammate Kimi Raikkonen on Lap 39, would not stay competitive until the end of the 53 lap contest. Vettel pitted on Lap 41 for fresh rubber and to serve his 5-second penalty in the pits, coming out in time to still maintain his P5 overall. This was the moment for Mercedes and Bottas, who had himself battled up to P6, to seize the opportunity to jump the penalized Vettel in the pits or at least get close enough to challenge him with a clean stop. But mighty Mercedes uncharacteristically dropped the ball with a jack problem and Bottas’ stop was as slow as Vettel’s penalty-hampered one. In the end the two drivers held station after their excellent comebacks, with Vettel finishing P5 and Bottas an unlucky P7. While Hamilton swanned to victory, team Mercedes had to be wondering about theirs and Bottas’ bad luck as they left valuable points on the table after their front row lockout in qualifying. Ferrari were probably feeling the same way after their paladin’s first-lap misjudgment.

The main beneficiary of the opening lap melee was Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who started P4 and avoided contact with Vettel and Bottas by taking evasive action outside track limits before resuming in P2 behind Hamilton. Because it was for his own safety his excursion was deemed a legal move by Verstappen and the Dutch wunderkind thereafter drove an excellently well controlled race to maintain that lucky spot. While he never had anything for Hamilton at the front, who seemed to tease the Red Bull by conserving his tires and keeping his engine turned down, Verstappen and the team had to be well pleased by both his pace and his discipline in  keeping it clean. He finished right in the position he inherited on the opening lap, P2, an excellent podium result.

Kimi Raikkonen saved Ferrari’s blushes with a stout drive to hoist himself up from an underwhelming P6 starting spot on the grid to a fine P3 podium finish. The veteran Finn, who has frankly had a perplexingly inconsistent season, found a measure of redemption in France by overtaking his teammate as well as Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo for that precious podium spot. To be fair, Ricciardo was hampered by debris in his front wing, which compromised his aero enough to force him to reluctantly cede P3 to Raikonnen late in the going. Nevertheless the affable Aussie had a strong run overall to come home P4 well ahead of Vettel.

Further back in the order, Kevin Magnusson added to what has been a very impressive season for him and his improving Haas with a solid P6 finish. Once again Magnussen outperformed his erratic teammate, Frenchman Romain Grosjean, who was involved in a separate opening lap contretemps, incurred a penalty and saw himself finish outside the points in P11. In fact, it was not good day for any of the French drivers at their home race, as Force India’s Esteban Ocon and Toro Rosso’s Charles Gasly got entangled at the start and took each other out in front of their disappointed countrymen. In better news for the French, Carlos Sainz nursed his factory Renault home to a P8 finish. While the Spaniard ran as high as P3 in his French mount early in the race, he suffered some power loss later on and was greatly aided by a late Virtual Safety Car to salvage that 8th place finish ahead of his teammate Nico Hulkenberg, who finished P9. The standout rookie Charles Leclerc took the last points paying position by coming home P10 for Sauber. While Leclerc felt afterwards he might have done better it was nevertheless another standout drive for the Monagast pilot, who is surely on Ferrari’s radar for a future seat in the big team.

Top 10 finishers of then French Grand Prix:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 53 1:30:11.385 25
2 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 53 +7.090s 18
3 7 Kimi Räikkönen FERRARI 53 +25.888s 15
4 3 Daniel Ricciardo RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 53 +34.736s 12
5 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 53 +61.935s 10
6 20 Kevin Magnussen HAAS FERRARI 53 +79.364s 8
7 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 53 +80.632s 6
8 55 Carlos Sainz RENAULT 53 +87.184s 4
9 27 Nico Hulkenberg RENAULT 53 +91.989s 2
10 16 Charles Leclerc SAUBER FERRARI 53 +93.873s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is but a week away and will be the second of an F1-first three in three weeks: the Austrian GP from the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg. Hope to see you then to find out whether the result in France was the start of renewed dominance by Hamilton and Mercedes or if Ferrari will fight back to recapture the momentum in what has so far been an enjoyably see-saw season!

2018 F1 Grand Prix of France — Qualifying results

Hamilton takes pole, Bottas P2 for resurgent Mercedes front row lockout in F1 return to Paul Ricard; Vettel P3 for Ferrari

Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton appeared back on the pace in Forumla 1’s return to France two weeks after their disappointing showing in Canada. Championship contender Lewis Hamilton, who lost his points lead after two lackluster outings in Monaco and Montreal, put his newly upgraded engine to good use on the strange and colorful Paul Ricard circuit, pipping his teammate Valtteri Bottas for pole by just over a tenth. It made for a satisfying front row lockout for the Silver Arrows and, despite the somewhat unknown nature of a track that F1 has been absent from for 28 years, puts the factory Mercedes team in good position to reclaim winning momentum come Sunday.

Points leader Sebastian Vettel qualified third for Ferrari, which appeared down on overall power to the new generation of Mercedes engines. Worse still for the Scuderia, their second driver Kimi Raikkonen couldn’t get it together and only mustered the 6th best time. Raikkonen saw himself out-qualified by the trimmed-out Red Bull’s of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo, who will start P4 and P5 respectively. Carlos Sainz carried the colors for the French Renault team by qualifying an excellent P7. Charles Leclerc showed once again that he is a young driver to watch as he willed his usually pokey Sauber up to the eight grid spot. And Haas rounded out the top 10 starters, with Kevin Magnussen starting P9 and Romain Grosjean qualifying tenth fastest. However, the Frenchman Grosjean rather took the bloom off his achievement by having a lurid spin that led to a Red Flag period mid-Q3 but thankfully only damaged the Haas’s front wing. In Grosjean’s case, Paul Ricard’s unique and ubiquitous red and blue “friction stripes” in lieu of gravel traps showed their slowing power to excellent effect.

A week after winning Le Mans Fernando Alonso returned to the reality of a surprisingly poor McLaren machine. Both he and his teammate Stoffel Vandoorne failed to make it out of Q1, a decisive setback for McLaren after some small signs of hope this season. Williams horror season also continued, as both their cars were inexplicably the slowest in the field.

Top 10 qualifiers or the French GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:31.271 1:30.645 1:30.029 19
2 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:31.776 1:31.227 1:30.147 17
3 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 1:31.820 1:30.751 1:30.400 22
4 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 1:31.531 1:30.818 1:30.705 20
5 3 Daniel Ricciardo RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 1:31.910 1:31.538 1:30.895 20
6 7 Kimi Räikkönen FERRARI 1:31.567 1:30.772 1:31.057 22
7 55 Carlos Sainz RENAULT 1:32.394 1:32.016 1:32.126 23
8 16 Charles Leclerc SAUBER FERRARI 1:32.538 1:32.055 1:32.635 22
9 20 Kevin Magnussen HAAS FERRARI 1:32.169 1:31.510 1:32.930 24
10 8 Romain Grosjean HAAS FERRARI 1:32.083 1:31.472 DNF 20

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN2 beginning at 10AM Eastern here in the States. Hope to see you then!

2018 F1 Grand Prix of Spain — Results & aftermath

Hamilton flies to victory in Spain as Mercedes dominate & Ferrari founder; Bottas P2, Verstappen holds off Vettel for P3

The Mercedes factory team displayed their usual superiority at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, dominating the Spanish Gran Prix on Sunday. Reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton rocketed to the victory from pole, avoiding the mayhem and mistakes of the pursuers behind him to take his second win on the trot after starting the season 0-3. The mini-streak has boosted Hamilton in the Drivers’ standings over his nearest rival, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, opening up a 17 point lead over the German. Hamilton’s victory was also he third of his career the Spanish GP and made it a remarkable 4 out of the last 5 wins for the Silver Arrows at this most familiar and yet somewhat treacherous track, which all the teams use for preseason testing but somehow bites many of them come race day. While Hamilton lucked into his first win of the season at Baku two weeks ago when his teammate Valtteri Bottas suffered an ill-timed puncture while leading in the closing laps, the English ace drove one of his classic dominating “Hammer Time” races in Barcelona and the outcome was never really in doubt. Suddenly, after a bit of a inconsistent start and a serious threat by Ferrari, Hamilton and the Silver Arrows look like the championship favorites once again. The team were helped immensely by another strong drive from Bottas, who put aside the massive disappointment of his lost win in Azerbaijan, recovered from a so-so start to the race and then outpaced the rest of the field to come home P2, a massive points haul for mighty Mercedes.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

Everything good for Mercedes came at the expense of Ferrari, as unreliability and questionable strategy came back to bite the fabled team from Maranello. The most serious setback for the Scuderia came when their number two man, Kimi Raikkonen, who podium at the last race and was running easily in the top five on Sunday, experienced a mechanical failure on Lap 25 that forced his retirement shortly thereafter. That removed a key strategic piece from the Scudeia’s chessboard their after the team had already gambled with Vettel’s tire strategy by pitting him early on only Lap 18 for the hardest compound Medium Pirelli’s. The decision was all the more peculiar in that the cars had run behind a Safety Car for 5 laps after a big first lap shunt caused by Haas’ Romain Grosjean losing control and careering across the track in a cloud of smoke, collecting Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg and Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly in the process. So when Ferrari brought Vettel in even after all that slow running in the first part of the race it look like they were playing out a two-step strategy and Raikkonen would be the insurance policy. However, Hamilton ran all the way to Lap 26 on his original Soft tires and it was soon clear that the performance of the Mediums did not deteriorate as much as perhaps Ferrari suspected when Ham the Man kept laying down lap records despite the switch to the harder rubber. It all still might have worked out when Vettel dived for the pits again under a Virtual Safety Car on Lap 41 due to the on track engine failure of Esteban Ocon’s Force India, a favorite Ferrari tactic this year and one that has paid them good dividends.

But the stop went long at over 5 seconds when the team had to hold Vettel until the other Force India of Sergio Perez could clear him in the pits. That enabled Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to come round Turn 1 in front of Vettel’s exiting Ferrari at the blend line. And despite damaging his front wing when he ran into the back of the slow Williams of Lance Stroll after the end of the VSC, the Dutch phenom was still able to keep Vettel behind him lap after lap on this circuit where overtaking is very difficult. It was an excellent drive from Verstappen at the scene of his maiden victory back in 2016 and a much better result than the double DNF he and teammate Daniel Ricciardo managed two weeks ago after a tangle on the city streets of Baku. For Ferrari it was a big disappoint with only one car finishing and then with only fourth place points. It’s an ominous sign that Mercedes appear to be back on the top of their game, although their cars may not be as well suited for the next race at slow and tight Monaco as we well and truly enter the European part of the schedule.

Ricciardo did decently but could never match the pace of the front for and was clearly slower than his teammate Verstappen even with a sound front wing. He also didn’t help his chances with a needless spin coming out of the VSC period. The Australian veteran finished P5 but it still made for a much needed strong points day for the Red Bull team overall. Even as his Haas stablemate Grosjean appears to have taken two steps backwards with a terrible start to the 2018 campaign, Kevin Magnussen is definitely on the ascent. The Dane seems to have bonded very well with his Ferrari powered chassis and even if his fellow drivers regard him as reckless on the road he has used that aggression to good effect more often than not. Running virtually a solo race in Spain with big gaps in front and behind him and with no one to tangle with, Magnussen piloted his Haas to an outstanding P6 finish. Carlos Sainz drove his lone remaining factory Renault to a strong P7 finish at his home Grand Prix as his fellow countryman and boyhood idol Fernando Alonso took his McLaren to P8. Sergio Perez managed to salvage P9 for Force India and Chrles Leclerc was once again impressive in taking the last points paying position at P10 in the normally underwhelming Sauber. There is good reason to think that the eyes of Ferrari are upon Leclerc for a seat at the big team when the day finally comes and they put Raikkonen out to pasture.

Top 10 finishers of the Spanish GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 66 1:35:29.972 25
2 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 66 +20.593s 18
3 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 66 +26.873s 15
4 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 66 +27.584s 12
5 3 Daniel Ricciardo RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 66 +50.058s 10
6 20 Kevin Magnussen HAAS FERRARI 65 +1 lap 8
7 55 Carlos Sainz RENAULT 65 +1 lap 6
8 14 Fernando Alonso MCLAREN RENAULT 65 +1 lap 4
9 11 Sergio Perez FORCE INDIA MERCEDES 64 +2 laps 2
10 16 Charles Leclerc SAUBER FERRARI 64 +2 laps 1

Complete race results available via Fomula1.com.

The next race is in two weeks time, the grand old dame of F1, Monaco on Memorial Day Sunday. Hope to see you then for one of the true highlights of the autosport year!

2018 F1 Grand Prix of Spain — Qualifying results

Hamilton leads Mercedes to front row lockout with pole, Bottas P2; Vettel good enough for P3 for Ferrari

After lucking into a win at Baku two weeks ago at the expense of his teammate, Lewis Hamilton beat Valtteri Bottas to the pole at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Saturday the old fashioned way: he earned it. The reigning World Champ mustered just enough speed at Barcelona, the track that every F1 driver knows better than any other, to best Bottas for the top spot on the grid by a mere .04 seconds. Hamilton’s 1:16.173 lap shattered the old track record and Mercedes appeared to sandbag Ferrari after the legendary Scuderia started strong in the earlier parts of qualifying, appearing for all the world that they would put a Prancing Horse on pole. But in Q3 it was clear that the Silver Arrows still had supreme pace at this most familiar circuit, which all the teams use for pre-season testing and at which Mercedes has now won the pole for the last seven years straight. In the end Sebastian Vettel could do no better than P3 with his teammate Kimi Raikkonen just behind him in P4. It was Mercedes’ first front row lockout of the year and should make for a very interesting opening lap to the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday as both Ferraris will be lined up directly behind. This is a very difficult track to overtake on so look for a frantic start.

Red Bull ran its customary third fastest pace, at one point putting a scare into Ferrari by leading them in the early part of Q3 but then settling into P5 and P6, with Max Verstappen just pipping Daniel Ricciardo for those third row honors. Let’s hope they can keep from taking each other out like they did in Azerbaijan while they fight for intra-team glory and perhaps a sneaky podium if misfortune should befall one or more of the Mercs and Ferraris.

Further back in the field, Haas had a very good qualifying session with the aggressive Kevin Magnusson setting the pace over his more inconsistent teammate, Romain Grosjean, P7 to P10. Fernando Alonso also performed well in front of his home crowd to push his McLaren up into a P8 starting spot. Fellow Spaniard Carlos Sainz was the lone Renault in Q3 after Nico Hulkenberg couldn’t get out of the first session with fuel pickup issues and he did decently to set the ninth fastest time.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

Toro Rosso’s Brendan Hartley had a scary shunt in Free Practice 3, losing his car at high speed going into Turn 9 after putting a wheel on the grass. He bashed into the SAFER-style barrier rear end-first and did tremendous damage to his chassis. While there was no way the team could get the car repaired in time for quali the Kiwi was thankfully unharmed. The error did not do any favors for Hartley’s chances of keeping his F1 seat with Toro Rosso, however, when rumors had already been swirling about his possibly being replaced mid-season.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Spanish GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:17.633 1:17.166 1:16.173 17
2 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:17.674 1:17.111 1:16.213 14
3 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 1:17.031 1:16.802 1:16.305 16
4 7 Kimi Räikkönen FERRARI 1:17.483 1:17.071 1:16.612 15
5 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 1:17.411 1:17.266 1:16.816 15
6 3 Daniel Ricciardo RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 1:17.623 1:17.638 1:16.818 19
7 20 Kevin Magnussen HAAS FERRARI 1:18.169 1:17.618 1:17.676 27
8 14 Fernando Alonso MCLAREN RENAULT 1:18.276 1:18.100 1:17.721 21
9 55 Carlos Sainz RENAULT 1:18.480 1:17.803 1:17.790 19
10 8 Romain Grosjean HAAS FERRARI 1:18.305 1:17.699 1:17.835 26

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on EPSPN2 starting at 9AM Eastern here in the States. Hope to see you then to find out if mighty Mercedes can maintain their momentum or if Ferrari (or perhaps even Red Bull) can spoil their fiesta!

2018 F1 Grand Prix of China — Results & aftermath

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

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

Pics courtesy GrandPrix24.com

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

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

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

Top 10 finishers of the Chinese GP:

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

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

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

2018 F1 Grand Prix of China — Qualifying results

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

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

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

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

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

Top 10 qualifiers for the Chinese GP:

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

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

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

2018 F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain — Results & aftermath

Vettel victorious for Ferrari in Bahrain but Raikkonen DNFs after pit lane mishap; Bottas P2, Hamilton P3 for Mercedes

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel parlayed his pole-setting pace into a thrilling victory in the desert in Sunday’s action packed Bahrain Grand Prix. Vettel was able to hold off the hard charging Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas on worn rubber in the dying minutes of the race despite the Finn’s best efforts. Both drivers were on a one-stop strategy, Bottas by choice and Vettel by necessity, and the German 4-time world Champion was able to nurse his Soft compound Pirellis just long enough to keep him out front at the finish. Bottas, who was switched to Medium tires on his only pit stop exactly like his teammate Lewis Hamilton, had the better rubber at the end. But perhaps Mercedes waited to long in asking hime to turn up the wick. In the end, while Bottas took chunks of time out of the leading Ferrari he couldn’t make the pass for the win when needed on the very last lap. That made it one of the most satisfying victories in Vettel’s illustrious career and gave him a 17 point lead over, Hamilton, his nearest rival.

Hamilton had a reasonably good race despite starting from P9 due to a mediocre qualifying time with a gearbox penalty layered on top. He survived opening lap contact with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, passed the midfield runners forcefully and managed to make the best of a bad starting situation, taking the last step on the podium by finishing P3. Still, the reigning champion now trails Vettel by 17 points and things have definitely not gone Mercedes way in the first two races. So far Ferrari’s pace appears to be for real and Mercedes also seem to be lacking in strategic thinking and decisiveness, a mix that could lead to Maranello’s first Constructors’ Championship in a decade if mighty Mercedes cannot up their game.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

All was not sunshine and roses for Ferrari, however, as the team’s second car was the victim of a serious pit mishap that cost them not only valuable points but also severely injured one of their mechanics. When Kimi Raikkonen came in for his scheduled pit stop on Lap 37 all went awry. The Iceman, who had been within striking distance of a podium as well as acting as Vettel’s wingman against the Silver Arrows onslaught, got a false green light signal to go even though his rear left tire had not yet been changed. Raikkonen took off while a mechanic, Francesco Cigarini, was standing in front of the enormous rear tire and ran the poor fellow over, resulting in a badly broken leg for Cigarini. Raikkonen was then ordered to stop, as he now had illegal mismatched tires, and while the mechanic was being tended to in the pit box the team were unable or unwilling to pull his car back and complete the service, which would have been legal if done by hand. The result was a DNF for the second Ferrari and a 50,000 Euro fine to the team for an unsafe release. Despite the huge haul of points left on the table by the Scuderia the really good news is that the mechanic had surgery and is expected to recover despite the unsettling incident.

On the other end of the spectrum, there was absolute joy in the Toro Rosso garage when young Pierre Gasly drive his Honda-powered chassis to a remarkable P4 finish, a much needed boost for both the team and the besieged engine manufacturer. While his teammate Brendon Hartley finished outside the points in 17th after accruing a penalty for contact early in the race, Gasly drove a superb race. The 21-year-old Frenchman actually improved upon his already excellent P6 starting position, stayed out of trouble and showed real pace as he came home nearly 13 seconds ahead of Kevin Magnussen’s fifth-place Haas. A season after their acrimonious split from McLaren this was just the result that Honda was so feverishly working towards. Obviously in a very competitive F1 midfield Toro Rosso will take it, too. And a superb drive like that should also put Gasly in prime position for promotion to Red Bull when the time is right, as has happened to other talented young Toro Rosso trainees such as certain fellows by the name of Vettel and Verstappen.

Gasly was helped enormously by the surprising double DNFs of Toro Rosso’s parent team. After his first-lap tangle with Hamilton while trying to make up positions quickly after crashing out in qualifying the hyper-aggressive Verstappen’s Red Bull came off second best with a puncture to his left rear. While he was able to limp his machine back to the pits and run a few more laps his transmission was mortally wounded and the young Dutchman had to retire the car. His teammate Daniel Ricciardo also had a catastrophic race when his car suffered complete power failure on Lap 2 and switched off. All in all a disastrous day for Red Bull, which saw their race points scoring streak snapped at 38.

As mentioned above, Haas got good points from Kevin Magnussen who drive aggressively but survived to come home P5. Their other driver, Romain Grosjean, probably should have been black flagged as pieces of his car’s body work kept depositing themselves on the circuit but in any event the Frenchman finished a disappointing P13. Nico Hulkenberg was P6 for the Renault factory team and Renault-powered McLaren had an excellent double points day with Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne finishing P7 and P8 respectively despite both starting well outside the Top 10. Marcus Ericsson gave a much needed boost to perennial back markers Sauber with a somewhat stealthy P9, the Swede’s first points in 50 races. And Esteban Ocon was the lone Force India to score, coming home in the last points paying position at P10.

Top 10 finishers of the Bahrain GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 57 1:32:01.940 25
2 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 57 +0.699s 18
3 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 57 +6.512s 15
4 10 Pierre Gasly SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO HONDA 57 +62.234s 12
5 20 Kevin Magnussen HAAS FERRARI 57 +75.046s 10
6 27 Nico Hulkenberg RENAULT 57 +99.024s 8
7 14 Fernando Alonso MCLAREN RENAULT 56 +1 lap 6
8 2 Stoffel Vandoorne MCLAREN RENAULT 56 +1 lap 4
9 9 Marcus Ericsson SAUBER FERRARI 56 +1 lap 2
10 31 Esteban Ocon FORCE INDIA MERCEDES 56 +1 lap 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is but a week away at the Shanghai International Circuit in China. Can Ferrari & Vettel maintain their winning ways or will Mercedes turn up with the key to their first victory in 2018? Hope to see you then to find out!

2018 F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain — Qualifying results

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

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

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

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

Top 10 qualifiers for the Bahrain GP:

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

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

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

2018 F1 Grand Prix of Australia — Results & aftermath

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

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

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

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

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

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

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

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

Top 10 finishers of the Australian Grand Prix.

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

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

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