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2018 F1 Grand Prix of Australia — Qualifying results

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

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

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

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

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

Top 10 qualifiers for the Australian Gran Prix:

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

Complete qualifying realist available via Formual1.com.

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

2017 F1 Grand Prix of Mexico — Results & aftermath

Hamilton & Vettel collide on opening lap but Hamilton still earns 4th World Title with P9 finish; Verstappen class of the field to win Mexican GP going away

With Sebastian Vettel stubbornly clinging to a mathematical improbability to keep his championship hopes on life support and Lewis Hamilton vowing to win the Mexican GP outright and seal his fourth career Drivers’ title something had to give on Sunday. Sure enough, both supremely talented drivers refused to compromise their hard-charging styles when the lights went out at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. Starting from pole, Ferrari’s lead man faced an instant challenge from Red Bull’s upstart wunderkind Max Verstappen, who Vettel had just pipped in qualifying, as they streaked down the long front straight heading into Turn 1. Not content to play it conservatively and bide his time for the simple fifth-place or higher finish that would guarantee his championship no matter where Vettel finished, Hamilton shoved the nose of his Mercedes right in amongst the front two runners. The somewhat predictable result was 3-into-2 won’t go — when Verstappen made a power move to ward off Vettel’s Prancing Horse, damaging the German’s front wing as a result, Hamilton thought he saw an overtaking opportunity. But instead Vettel bounced back to the outside and sliced down Hamilton’s rear right tire with the now razor sharp remains of his wing endplate. In an instant the top two contenders had compromised their race and had to make first-lap pit stops. Hamilton’s fate was more severe, perhaps a just reward for tempting the racing gods with his ambitious hubris, as the Englishman had to limp his Merc around the length of the circuit at low speed with his deflated tire. After emergency service for both combatants Vettel rejoined in P18 and Hamilton dead last in P20.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

It also seemed the injuries to Hamilton’s car were more severe than Vettel’s simple wing change, perhaps due to damage to the Mercedes’ floor, as the former had a lot more trouble picking off back markers and making his way through the field than the Ferrari. While the situation must have seemed desperate to Lewis, who even asked at one point whether Vettel had hit him deliberately (which could be forgiven after Baku), it soon became clear that the biggest possible threat to Hamilton’s desire to wrap up the Championship in Mexico was the reliability of Verstppen’s power unit at the front of the field. Red Bull had to be quite nervous as they saw first Verstappen’s teammate Daniel Ricciardo’s brand new Renault engine (which necessitated a penalty that saw the Aussie start from the back of the grid) suffer turbo failure on just Lap 5. Then other Renault-powered runners Nico Hulkenberg and Toro Rosso’s new man Brendon Hartley also suffer terminal issues (Hulkenberg’s Renault teammate also retired but this was due to steering issues). If Verstappen’s engine also failed late in the race, Hamilton’s Mercedes wingman Valtteri Bottas would inherit the lead but more significantly Vettel’s Ferrari stablemate Kimi Raikkonen would be elevated to P2. That would certainly lead to the Iceman being given team orders to let Vettel through and provide the German contender the desperately needed position to keep his championship hunt alive for the next race in Brazil.

It didn’t happen. Verstappen’s lead over Bottas was so commanding that he was able to minimize the stresses on his Renault power plant and make it to the checkered flag unchallenged and without drama. In the end, the superlative Dutchman won the race by nearly 20 seconds. Bottas held his second for the honor of Constructors’ Champion Mercedes and Raikkonen salvaged third on a day that seemed to encapsulate the squandered promise of 2017 for the fabled Scuderia from Maranello. Vettel roared back for a valiant P4 but it wasn’t enough to prevent seeing his title hopes extinguished. Hamilton finished P9 and joined Vettel in the ultra-exclusive 4-time World Champions club alongside the great Alain Prost. Only Michael Schumacher with 7 and Juan Manual Fangio with 5 have more championships than Hamilton now. If it wasn’t quite the way he pictured himself taking the title in the end that will be a pure footnote. Hamilton did what he set out to do at the beginning of the season following his disappointment over coming second best to his now retired teammate Nico Rosberg last year. He has now won his fourth crown and has clearly marked himself as one of the top drivers of this or any other generation. Simply put, Lewis Hamilton is a Hall of Fame Formula 1 driver.

The rest of the field was pleasantly shuffled due to so many retirements (5 DNFs in all): Force India had another fantastic day, their best of the season in fact, that saw their talented young Frenchman Esteban Ocon come home an impressive P5 and local hero Sergio Perez take P7 in front of his adoring countrymen in the grandstands. That secured fourth in the Constructors’ points for the little team from Silverstone, a massive — and massively lucrative — achievement for this low budget team. Lance Stroll was back in the points for Williams, driving a smart and well-composed race to finish P6. That it came on his 19th birthday must have been all the sweeter. Kevin Magnussen also excelled for Haas at a track where the team really struggled because of the high altitude. Magnussen was able to bring his chassis home in the points in P8. And Fernando Alonso grabbed the last points-paying position for McLaren in P10, although the Woking-based team had to be a bit concerned by all of Renault’s unreliability in this race, as they are jumping to that engine manufacturer next year while ditching the increasingly steady Honda.

Top 10 finishers of the Mexican GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 71 1:36:26.552 25
2 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 71 +19.678s 18
3 7 Kimi Räikkönen FERRARI 71 +54.007s 15
4 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 71 +70.078s 12
5 31 Esteban Ocon FORCE INDIA MERCEDES 70 +1 lap 10
6 18 Lance Stroll WILLIAMS MERCEDES 70 +1 lap 8
7 11 Sergio Perez FORCE INDIA MERCEDES 70 +1 lap 6
8 20 Kevin Magnussen HAAS FERRARI 70 +1 lap 4
9 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 70 +1 lap 2
10 14 Fernando Alonso MCLAREN HONDA 70 +1 lap 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in but two weeks time — the Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos, the penultimate contest on the 2017 F1 calendar. The big prizes may have already been awarded but with only two races left before the long, cold winter break best to tide yourself over with some more great Formula1 memories to carry you through those long, dark nights ahead. Hope to see you then!

2017 F1 Grand Prix of Japan — Results & aftermath

Hamilton holds off Verstappen for win at Suzuka consolidating championship lead; Ricciardo P3 but Vettel out early with engine problems

Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton had an essentially prefect race weekend in Japan. The English points leader shattered the track record at Suzuka on Saturday en route to his first pole at this fabled track. Then on Sunday he was not only the fastest car and driver on the circuit but his main rival for the Drivers’ Championship was out early and did not finish. Capping off a nightmare three-race run for Scuderia Ferrari, their title aspirant, 4-time World Champion Sebastian Vettel, suffered another engine problem apparently due to a faulty spark plug of all things that saw him down on woefully power and forced the retirement of his car on Lap 5. After the team’s crash-induced double DNF in Singapore, persistent engine woes in Malaysia that saw Vettel forced to start from last and Kimi Raikkonen not make the race start at all and then this disaster for Vettel in Japan, Ferrari’s once-promising season appears to have completely unraveled. In the face of this year’s all but bulletproof Mercedes F1 W08 chassis the legendary team from Maranello are now too far behind in the Constructors’ chase to have a realistic shot and Vettel saw his deficit to Hamilton balloon to 59 points after Sunday’s latest non-scoring DNF. That leaves the victorious Hamilton on the brink of his fourth world title and he could conceivably wrap it up as soon as the US Grand Prix two weeks hence in Austin. So all-in-all it was another superb day for Hamilton and the Silver Arrows and another unmitigated disaster for Ferrari.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

Red Bull’s wunderkind Max Verstappen tried his best to spoil Hamilton’s party. After being elevated to P4 on the grid due to penalties against Valtteri Bottas, Verstappen was even quicker in race trim, besting his teammate Daniel Ricciardo early and then taking advantage of Vettel’s misfortune to firmly secure second position for the majority of the race. Even though the Red Bull lacks a bit of horsepower when stacked up against Mercedes, Verstappen wrung every ounce of performance he could from his lithe RB13 chassis, almost having enough to close down Hamilton after a late Virtual Safety Car period precipitated by Lance Stroll’s off. But lapped traffic got in the way, particularly an obstinate Fernando Alonso, and the laps ran out on the Dutchman. The Malaysian GP winner had to be content with a very stout P2 podium result just 1.2 seconds behind Hamilton’s winning time. Ricciardo was a little bit further up the road and finished P3 for the second consecutive GP. That also makes it 4 podiums in the last 5 races for the smiling Aussie.

The second Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas wasn’t able to keep pace with the frontrunners but played a valuable role for the team by allowing Hamilton by him mid-race and then stacking up the pursuing Verstappen, costing the Red Bull some valuable laps in its quest for a possible victory. Bottas would come home off the podium in P4 but surely earned a lot of credit with the team and Hamilton as a valuable wingman with that unselfish effort. Vettel’s teammate Raikkonen also drove well to fight his way back from a penalty-effected P10 start, as well as getting pushed off track by Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg and falling even further back through the order on Lap 1. Raikkonen regrouped to will the lone surviving Ferrari up to a P5 finish. It was a strong drive by the Iceman but in the end small consolation on another terrible day for Ferrari.

The Force Indias ran well yet again, with Esteban Ocon besting his nemesis Sergio Perez, P6 to P7. Despite their mutual loathing and season-long on track skirmishes the Force India duo have nonetheless performed well enough to essentially guarantee the team fourth place in the Constructor’s Championship, a massively lucrative result for the little team from Silverstone. Both Haas cars also got good points in Japan with Kevin Magnussen staying ahead of his teammate long enough to make a forceful pass on the Williams of Felipe Massa late in the race for P8 and Romain Grosjean following close behind to finish ninth despite starting from P16 after a big shunt knocked him out of qualifying early on Saturday. Massa was able to hold on against the charging McLaren of Fernando Alonso to take the last points paying position for Williams in P10. After the race Alonso was given a 2-point penalty on his Super License for not obeying blue flags and letting Vertstappen by as the Red Bull man was making his late-race charge.

Top 10 finishers of the Japanese Grand Prix:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 53 1:27:31.194 25
2 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 53 +1.211s 18
3 3 Daniel Ricciardo RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 53 +9.679s 15
4 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 53 +10.580s 12
5 7 Kimi Räikkönen FERRARI 53 +32.622s 10
6 31 Esteban Ocon FORCE INDIA MERCEDES 53 +67.788s 8
7 11 Sergio Perez FORCE INDIA MERCEDES 53 +71.424s 6
8 20 Kevin Magnussen HAAS FERRARI 53 +88.953s 4
9 8 Romain Grosjean HAAS FERRARI 53 +89.883s 2
10 19 Felipe Massa WILLIAMS MERCEDES 52 +1 lap 1

Complete race results alive via Formula1.com.

In other news, Carlos Sainz, who wiped out his Toro Rosso on Lap 1, will make the switch to Renault for the last remaining races of 2017, bouncing the star-crossed Jolyon Palmer from his seat and presumably from Forumla 1 entirely. The erratic Russian Daniil Kvyat will return to his Toro Rosso ride but his partner for Austin may or may not be Pierre Gasly, as the rookie sensation still has an opportunity to win the Super Formula title that weekend. And whether Toro Rosso keep on Kvyat in 2018 also remains an open question.

The next race is in two weeks time, the United States Grand Prix from the always fun Circuit of the Americas in Austin. Will Hamilton be able to wrap up the title there or can Ferrari get back on the beam and put up a fight? Hope to see you then to find out!

2017 F1 Grand Prix of Singapore — Results & aftermath

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

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

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

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

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

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

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

Top 10 finishers of the Singapore Grand Prix:

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

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

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

2017 F1 Grand Prix of Belgium — Results & aftermath

Hamilton too quick for Vettel at Spa as title rivals finish 1-2; Ricciardo an opportunistic 3rd

Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton returned from the summer break refreshed and ready to fight for his fourth World Championship. Needing to recapture momentum that had recently swung to his nemesis at Ferrari, points leader Sebastian Vettel, Hamilton threw down the gauntlet with a dominant performance at the legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit in the Ardennes forest, the first of two back-to-back European classics that kick off the business end of the championship. Starting from his record-tying 68th pole position, a time that also set the track record, Hamilton kept his lead when the lights went out on Sunday and managed to hold off a hard charging Vettel in the opening laps and pull out a DRS-proof lead on the Ferrari. And when the race got bunched up again for a restart after a Safety Car period later Hamilton kept his cool and managed the trick again despite Vettel being on softer, grippier tires. Perhaps Hamilton benefited from the aero disruption in close quarters of this year’s high downforce configuration chassis that seems to somewhat negate tire advantages between otherwise equally matched cars. And in the end Hamilton romped to victory in his 200th Grand Prix, his 3rd career win at Spa and the Englishman’s 58th victory overall. That cut Vettel’s championship lead back down to a mere 7 points. As the two team leaders head into Monza next weekend, which should be a frenzied sea of Ferrari red, it is clear that there is virtually nothing to choose between the Prancing Horses and the Silver Arrows. The key difference maker going forward will be the pilots. And with Hamilton and Vettel proving themselves superior to their teammates it is all but certain one of these superlative drivers will be the champion at season’s end.

Hamilton-BelgianGPSpa_2017

Another standout at Spa was Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo, who once again showed why he is likely the most opportunistic F1 driver in the paddock. Despite the RB13s lack of pure pace at this very fast and long circuit the Aussie took advantage of the post-Safety Car restart on Lap 34 to jump the Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas and hold off the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen with a lovely, gutsy pass up the Kemmel Straight. So despite running quietly in P5 for the entirety of the first two thirds of the race Ricciardo’s brave move saw him vault up into a podium spot. He made it stick and kept his pursuers behind for the rest of the race earning that ever-valuable last step on the podium with a sparkling P3 finish. That makes six podium finishes this year for Ricciardo — including that serendipitous win at Baku —  who has displayed the kind of luck in the reliability department his teammate, Max Verstappen, has sorely lacked. Verstappen’s Red Bull mount once again betrayed him, this time on Lap 8 and in front of a huge throng of orange-clad fans from nearby Holland. The Dutch wunderkind has now failed to finish an astonishing 50% of the contests so far in 2017. Will he be looking for the exits and a more reliable ride for next year? Couldn’t blame him if he is.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

Ricciardo’s ballsy pass meant Kimi Raikkonen had to settle for P4. But in truth the Iceman probably felt relieved by that result after having incurred an 10-second stop & hold penalty for failing to lift for the yellow flag brought out by Vertappen’s stalled Red Bull. Continue reading →

2017 F1 Grand Prix of Britain — Qualifying results

Hamilton runs to record pole in home Grand Prix; Raikkonen takes P2 besting Vettel in P3

Lewis Hamilton got back in the good graces of his home fans after being the only driver to skip the London F1 Live fan fest earlier this week by setting a blistering record pole time at Silverstone in the UK on Saturday. The Mercedes ace bested his nearest pursuer, Ferrrai’s Kimi Raikkonen by half a second, setting the fastest ever F1 lap at Silverstone and capturing his 5th pole at this venerable airfield circuit, which ties the great Jim Clark for most British GP poles all-time. After his fourth place finish last weekend in Austria, where his ambitions for a win were hampered by grid penalties and poor qualifying, this P1 start in front of his countrymen has to be just the tonic Hamilton needs to improve his chances in the championship fight. He must also have breathed a huge sigh of relief for not getting sanctioned for potentially blocking Haas’ Romain Grosjean in Q3. So it’s all looking good for Lewis to get back to his winning ways come Sunday. And then it will really be all-is-forgiven with the disappointed English fans.

Raikkonen bested his usually superior teammate Sebastian Vettel for only the third time in qualifying this season and will start from P2 on the grid to Vettel’s P3. Vettel was irate at his lack of pace compared to the Mercedes but Ferrari the team will have a decided advantage over the Silver Arrows come race day. This is because despite qualifying P4 Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas will face a 5-spot grid penalty of his own for a gearbox change. So the same bugaboo that bit Hamilton in Austria, a race Bottas went on to win from pole after a miracle start, has hit the other Mercedes car. That means Bottas will have to start P9 and will be hard pressed to make it to the front and be a useful ally to Hamilton against the attacks of two well-placed Prancing Horses.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen had the fifth fastest time but is promoted to P4 after Bottas’ penalty. The hard luck that has often befallen the young Dutchman this season struck his teammate Daniel Ricciardo instead. Ricciardo suffered a turbo failure in Q1 and will have to start from the last row alongside Fernando Alonso, who was levied a ridiculous amount of grid positions this week for changes made to his McLaren. Nico Hulkenberg was very impressive in dragging his pokey factory Renault up to qualify P6 and will start from P5. The two Force Indias of Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon qualified P7 and P8 respectively and will start P6 & P7. McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne was the last to leapfrog the penalized Bottas and will better his P9 time by one to start P8. The unhappy Grosjean, feeling hard done by both Hamilton’s blocking and the stewards’ lack of punishment, will start from P10.

Top 10 qualifiers for the British GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:39.069 1:27.893 1:26.600 25
2 7 Kimi Räikkönen FERRARI 1:40.455 1:28.992 1:27.147 26
3 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 1:39.962 1:28.978 1:27.356 24
4 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:39.698 1:28.732 1:27.376 26
5 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 1:38.912 1:29.431 1:28.130 23
6 27 Nico Hulkenberg RENAULT 1:39.201 1:29.340 1:28.856 21
7 11 Sergio Perez FORCE INDIA MERCEDES 1:42.009 1:29.824 1:28.902 26
8 31 Esteban Ocon FORCE INDIA MERCEDES 1:39.738 1:29.701 1:29.074 25
9 2 Stoffel Vandoorne MCLAREN HONDA 1:40.011 1:30.105 1:29.418 24
10 8 Romain Grosjean HAAS FERRARI 1:42.042 1:29.966 1:29.549 26

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on CNBC at 8AM Eastern here in the States. Can Lewis Hamilton regain momentum in the title chase and defend his home turf against the points-leading Vettel?  Can Mercedes find a way to move Bottas up the order to fend off Ferrari’s Constructors ambitions? And, of course, can the notoriously fickle Midlands weather throw some surprises into play? Hope to see you then find out!

2017 F1 Grand Prix of Austria — Results & aftermath

Bottas’ stunning start from pole seals victory at Red Bull Ring, hard charging Vettel P2; Ricciardo fends off Hamilton to keep podium streak alive

Mercedes number two driver Valtteri Bottas got a magical start from pole when the lights went out on Sunday at the Red Bull Ring pulling out a race dominating lead that he would never relinquish even in the face of fierce pressure from the hard-charging Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel. Despite doubts over wherher the Finn had jumped the start all replays seemed to show that that the first-year factory Mercedes driver simply timed his getaway perfectly. The race stewards also agreed that whatever movement Bottas exhibited pre-start was within allowable limits. Vettel’s emphatic disagreement to the contrary Bottas went on unsanctioned and pulled out an unsurmountable lead running out front to his second career F1 victory and second of the season, holding off the German Ferrari ace’s best efforts in the dying laps of the race. With all the contenders suffering from severe tire deg on long runs during a strict one-stop strategy Bottas did very well to fend off the determined four-time World Champion hunting him down.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

Once again Red Bull had a tale of two drivers. Their veteran Aussie Daniel Ricciardo scooted up the order from P5 after first lap chaos and showed his competitive fire by holding off all comers for his 5th consecutive podium with a very strong P3. Those he kept behind included Mercedes championship contender Lewis Hamilton, who was relegated to starting 8th on the grid after a 5-spot grid penalty for a gearbox change. Hamilton battled all race long, pushing his tires to their absolute limit to pull himself up to a respectable P4. But it was mainly about damage control this weekend for the Mercedes ace, who saw not only Vettel gain ground on him in the title chase but also his stoic teammate Bottas move closer, as well. Hamilton now trails Vettel by 20 points and Bottas closed to within 15 points. It should be interesting to see how a more competitive situation effects the two Mercedes drivers’ now cordial relationship. Still, Bottas did keep Vettel from the win and Hamilton made the best of a bad situation so all was not a total disaster for the English triple champion.

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The same could not be said for Ricciardo’s Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen. After his blazing ascent to the big team last season everything has gone pear shaped for the Dutch wunderkind in 2017. Sunday continued that woeful trend. Verstappen suffered clutch problems on the formation lap and then bogged down at the start when his car kicked into anti-stall mode. That sent him hurtling down through the field where he was tagged in a shunt caused by Toro Roso’s Daniil Kvyat running into the back of Fernando Alonso’s McLaren. Just like that, Verstappen’s car suffered terminal damage before he even got to Turn 1 leaving a host of his orange-clad fans hugely disappointed. That also made it five DNFs out of eight races, a disastrous campaign for young Verstappen. Despite claims to the contrary one wonders if his days with Red Bull are numbered. And yet Ricciardo’s superlative run seems to point some of the blame for this season of failure back at Verstappen. Perhaps he is simply too hard on his equipment. Would changing teams really change that?

Vettel’s Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen had a somewhat desultory effort is Spielberg. Despite qualifying fourth he ceded that position on the opening lap to Ricciardo and then after running a long first stint on Ultrasoft tires he was undercut by Hamilton on his Lap 44 pit stop for P4. The Finn was never really a factor for the podium again, struggling with undisclosed technical issues that cost him torque coming out of low speed corners. Raikkonen finished a distant P5 in the end, hardly changing the mind of Ferrari boss Sergio Marchionne who called Raikkonen a “bit of a laggard” before the race. Kimi’s status with Ferrari is the big domino waiting to fall — if he stays with the Scuderia most drivers will have to stay where they are. But if he is not rehired for 2018 we could see a lot of movement in the silly season.

Romain Grosjean had a great day for American team Haas F1 driving smoothly and confidently to keep the Force India of Sergio Perez behind him and finish P6. Perez and his teammate Esteban Ocon finished P7 and P8 respectively, another terrific points haul for little Force India, who must have been relieved that the two teammates were back on their best behavior and brought both cars home safely. And Williams had a very good recovery from a disastrous qualifying effort that saw Felipe Massa start from eighteenth on the grid and Lance Stroll nineteenth. The Williams duo showed much better race pace and were able to fight their way into the points thanks in part to attrition but also generally solid piloting by the drivers. In the end the veteran Massa took P9 and the rookie Stroll came home P10, about as good a result as the team could have hoped for this weekend.

Things were not so sunny for McLaren and Toro Rosso. After Kvyat failed to break in time on Lap 1 and clouted Fernando Alosno from behind both cars were terminally damaged in addition to Verstappen’s Red Bull. Alonso’s McLaren stablemate Stoffel Vandoorne could do no better than P12, while Kvyat’s Toro Rosso teammate Carlos Sainz also had to retire his car on Lap 45. The race’s only other retirement came from Haas’ Kevin Magnussen whose unlucky weekend culminated when his hydraulics failed on Lap 29.

Top 10 finishers at the Austrian GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 71 1:21:48.523 25
2 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 71 +0.658s 18
3 3 Daniel Ricciardo RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 71 +6.012s 15
4 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 71 +7.430s 12
5 7 Kimi Räikkönen FERRARI 71 +20.370s 10
6 8 Romain Grosjean HAAS FERRARI 71 +73.160s 8
7 11 Sergio Perez FORCE INDIA MERCEDES 70 +1 lap 6
8 31 Esteban Ocon FORCE INDIA MERCEDES 70 +1 lap 4
9 19 Felipe Massa WILLIAMS MERCEDES 70 +1 lap 2
10 18 Lance Stroll WILLIAMS MERCEDES 70 +1 lap 1

Complete race results amiable via Formula1.com.

The next contest is but a weeks away — the British GP from venerable Silverstone. Can Hamilton get his championship quest untracked or will Vettel retain the upper hand? And what about Bottas — is he a serious contender in his own right? Hope to see you then to find out!

2017 F1 Grand Prix of Austria — Qualifying results

Bottas claims pole in Austria ahead of Vettel; Raikonnen to start P3 due to Hamilton penalty

Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas claimed pole at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria on Saturday, outpacing Ferrai’s Sebastian Vettel by .04 seconds in a truncated Q3. When Romain Grosjean’s Haas came to a halt in Sector 2 and brought out the yellow flag with time running out in that third qualifying session no other drivers had the opportunity to better Bottas’ fast time. That included his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton, who slotted in third fastest but was levied a 5-spot grid penalty for a pre-quali gearbox change and will therefore be pushed back to P8 on the grid. That is a blow to Hamilton’s aspirations of overhauling Vettel in the Dirvers’ standings, something he desperately wants to do after Vettel’s out-of-control antics two weeks ago in Azerbaijan. But the Englishman will be the only driver in the top 10 starting on the harder Supersoft Pirelli tires come race day so he and the team should have some strategic cards to play to help push his Silver Arrow back up to the sharp end of the field.

Vettel’s Ferrari stablemate Kimi Raikkonen was fourth quickest and moves up to P3 on the grid after Hamilton’s penalty. Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo also gained a spot and will now start P4, as did his teammate Max Verstappen who will now start from P5. Grosjean was boosted to P6 on the grid despite his car conking out late in Q3.But with Grosjean’s teammate Kevin Magnussen suffering a suspension failure during Q1 Team Haas may have some reliability concerns that could come back to bite them in the race at this rigorous, high-curbed circuit.

Rounding out the Top 10, Sergio Perez was Hamilton’s last beneficiary and is bumped up to P7 while his increasingly estranged teammate Esteban Ocon starts P9. Carlos Sainz will start from 10th on the grid for Toro Rosso. Neither McLaren, Williams or Renault could get a car into Q3 so look for a mad scramble from the midfield as those drivers desperately try to make up ground and get into the points paying positions.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Austrian GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:05.760 1:04.316 1:04.251 18
2 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 1:05.585 1:04.772 1:04.293 17
3 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:05.064 1:04.800 1:04.424 17
4 7 Kimi Räikkönen FERRARI 1:05.148 1:05.004 1:04.779 17
5 3 Daniel Ricciardo RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 1:05.854 1:05.161 1:04.896 22
6 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 1:05.779 1:04.948 1:04.983 16
7 8 Romain Grosjean HAAS FERRARI 1:05.902 1:05.319 1:05.480 30
8 11 Sergio Perez FORCE INDIA MERCEDES 1:05.975 1:05.435 1:05.605 21
9 31 Esteban Ocon FORCE INDIA MERCEDES 1:06.033 1:05.550 1:05.674 22
10 55 Carlos Sainz TORO ROSSO 1:05.675 1:05.544 1:05.726 23

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race pre-coverage begins at 7:30 AM Eastern and will air live on CNBC here in the States. Watching Hamilton try and force his way to the front to do battle with Vettel, his fierce Ferrari rival, should be worth the price of admission. Hope to see you then!

2017 F1 Grand Prix of Canada — Results & aftermath

Mercedes’ Hamilton returns to form with dominant win in Montreal, teammate Bottas P2; Ricciardo takes P3 for Red Bull, Vettel a valiant P4 for Ferrari

The Canadian Grand Prix nearly always seems to be the tonic Lewis Hamilton needs to get back to his winning ways. And two weeks after his disappointing 7th place finish in Monaco the Mercedes ace dominated this race yet again, running away from the field after a terrific start from the pole. Leaving all pursuers in his wake at the place where he won his very first F1 race in 2007, Hamilton romped to his remarkable sixth career victory at the beautiful parkland course on the Ille Notre Dame in Montreal. There are some tracks that simply suit certain drivers and Hamilton has repeatedly proven that Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve is his personal playground. With his teammate Valtteri Bottas finishing a distant second place some 20 seconds behind it was an all round excellent day for the Mercedes factory team but an even better one for Hamilton and his championship aspirations.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

Not only was Hamilton dominant but the expected dual with his nemesis, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, never materialized. While the German points leader started from P2 on the grid and looked for all the world like he had the pace to battle Hamilton for the win he got away slowly and was tagged at the very first turn by the overtaking Red Bull of Max Verstappen. That clout damaged his Ferrari’s front wing. But when a safety car was deployed on that opening lap due to the spinning Toro Rosso of Carlos Sainz collecting the Williams of an unlucky Felipe Massa neither Vettel or the team noticed the damage. By the time they did and called Vettel into the pits for a wing change the safety car period was over and cars were back circulating at race pace. That cost Vettel a ton of track position and when he rejoined he was back at the tail of the field in P18. Nevertheless, with some patient but forceful driving and clever pit strategy to switch to two stops for tires instead of only one, Vettel worked his Prancing Horse back through the field and into contention for a potential podium. While that huge task eluded him he was able to overtake the dicing Force India’s of Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon due to his relatively fresh Ultra Soft tires, locking up a valuable P4 at the checkered flag. So though Hamilton trimmed the points lead back down to just 12 with his win it was still a good day of damage control for Vettel. However, with the Mercedes one-two Ferrari lost their lead in the Constructors’ battle and now find themselves 8 points behind the Silver Arrows.

The Scuderia was not helped by Kimi Raikkonen’s subpar performance. After also getting away slowly at the start and losing positions from his P4 grid spot, Raikkonen’s attempt to battle back into contention was thwarted late in the race by incurable break issues that forced the Iceman to back off on his pace. Running in conservation mode Raikkonen could do no better than P7. Ferrari’s misfortune was Daniel Ricciardo’s opportunity, as the senior Red Bull driver took advantage of a good start to ward off all comers and secure P3, his second consecutive podium. But all was not well for Red Bull because Ricciardo’s teammate Max Verstappen did not complete the race. Despite a lightning getaway and surviving the early contact with Vettel, the Dutch wunderkind’s troubled 2017 season continued when his car lost a battery on Lap 11 and he was forced to retire. Versttappen has now retired in three out of seven races to start the year and has only one podium so far, a P3 in China. With Red Bull’s woes and third-best status in the paddock it is distinctly possible that the talented youngster will be looking to jump to a team with greater reliability and performance next year so he can fulfill what everybody believes is his championship potential.

Motor Racing - Formula One World Championship - Canadian Grand Prix - Race Day - Montreal, Canada

What should have been a banner day for overachieving Force India was marred somewhat by internal team dissension. While Sergio Perez finished P5 and Esteban Ocon came home P6, an extremely valuable trove of points for the little squad, it seemed that for want of a little more cooperation between their drivers they could have done even better. With Ocon running faster times on fresher rubber due to pitting after Perez the young Frenchman had the pace and potential to take the fight to Ricciardo and perhaps onto the podium. Perez refused to yield his position pleading with his team to let him be the one to attack Ricciardo. But lap after lap Perez failed to get by Ricciardo while Ocon was stuck behind Perez as his tire advantage dissipated. And that enabled Vettel to pip both of them for P4 in the final laps. So while in other races Force India would be giddy with a 5-6 finish, in Canada it felt a bit like they had left points on the table.  It also remains to be seen how the two previously friendly teammates deal with Perez’s stubbornness. Ocon was certainly disappointed at not having the chance to fight for a podium during the narrow window when he had the pace in his tires to do so.

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Nico Hulkenberg had another solid run for the Renault factory team finishing in P8. And after his teammate Massa crashed out on the opening lap, young Canadian Lance Stroll flew the flag for Team Williams in his home Grand Prix scoring his first F1 points in his seventh career race with a well driven P9. After a poor start to his F1 career the 18-year-old sorely needed a good result and scoring points in front of his ecstatic countrymen should give Stroll the confidence boost all drivers require to succeed. Finally, Haas’ Romain Grosjean managed to survive the Sainz-induced opening lap shunt and, despite an early pit stop for repairs, managed to grab the last points paying position in P10.

Top 10 finishers at the Canadian GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 70 1:33:05.154 25
2 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 70 +19.783s 18
3 3 Daniel Ricciardo RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 70 +35.297s 15
4 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 70 +35.907s 12
5 11 Sergio Perez FORCE INDIA MERCEDES 70 +40.476s 10
6 31 Esteban Ocon FORCE INDIA MERCEDES 70 +40.716s 8
7 7 Kimi Räikkönen FERRARI 70 +58.632s 6
8 27 Nico Hulkenberg RENAULT 70 +60.374s 4
9 18 Lance Stroll WILLIAMS MERCEDES 69 +1 lap 2
10 8 Romain Grosjean HAAS FERRARI 69 +1 lap 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in two weeks time with the second running of the cool Baku City Circuit in Azerbaijan. With the fight between Vettel and Hamilton and Mercedes and Ferrari tight as a tick every race takes on major significance, so best not to miss any of them. Hope to see you then!

2017 F1 Grand Prix of Monaco — Results & aftermath

Ferrari & Vettel victorious in Monte Carlo, Raikonnen ; Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo P3 to keep Mercedes off the podium

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel jumped his pole-sitting teammate Kimi Raikkonen for the victory on Sunday at the legendary Monte Carlo street circuit for the team’s first Monaco GP win since 2001. While suspicious minds contemplated possible secret Scuderia team orders, Vettel was the faster driver and was able to extend the life of his preferred Ultrasoft Pirelli rubber, banking 6 valuable fast laps and pulling out a lead  greater than the pit stop delta after Raikonnen had already pitted. Vettel therefore emerged in front of Raikkonen on pit out on Lap 40 and with passing at such a premium in the tight street circuit and the bit between the 4-time World Champ’s teeth the victory was formality. In the end and, as has been the case throughout this season, Vettel simply outperformed Raikkonen, who still finished a solid if disappointing for him P2. For Ferrari, it was a fantastic points scoring day made even better by the fact that their main rivals for the Constructors’ Title, mighty Mercedes, were kept off the podium. The Prancing Horse had been stymied at the principality since the legendary Michael Schumacher’s win in 2001, and it was also the team’s first 1-2 here since 1999 when Schumacher also won and his teammate Rubens Barrichelo was P2. On a more somber note, the 2017 Monaco GP also marked 50 years since the death of the well-liked Ferrari driver Lorenzo Bandini in a fiery crash in 1967 at the very same race.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

Mercedes’ had issues all weekend long and were doomed by an uncharacteristically poor qualifying effort from Lewis Hamilton that saw the British contender forced to start from way back in P13. His Silver Arrows teammate Valtteri Bottas qualified P3 but faltered to lose a position in the race and came home P4. And while Hamilton battled back all day long, running a very long stint on his first set of tires and eventually working his way up to a hard-earned P7 finish, both the team and drivers took serious points hits. Meredes now trails Ferrari by 17 points in the Constructors’, while Hamilton saw his deficit to Vettel balloon to 25 points. Bottas still leads his countryman Raikkonen for third but now only by 8 points. While all their woes could have come down to the long wheel base of their F1 W08 chassis’ particular unsuitability to the low speed twists and turns of Monte Carlo, Mercedes’ inability to stick closer to Ferrari in this one race could come back to haunt them at season’s end. It must also be of concern to Toto Wolff, Niki Lauda and the rest of the Merc brain trust how their car will perform down the road at a track like Singapore, a place where they have often struggled even when more dominant than they are now and where rotation of the car in tight turns is nearly as paramount as at Monaco.

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Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo capitalized on Mercedes’ woes and drove a superb race to pip Bottas for the last step on the podium. A year after his team blew what seemed a sure win for the affable Aussie, Red Bull made amends to Ricciardo by running him longer his first set of tires, the preferred Ultrasfofts. And much like Vettel, that enabled him to jump his higher qualifying and earlier pitting teammate Max Verstappen when the time finally came for his pit stop. Continue reading →