Tag Archives: Lance Stroll

2022 F1 Grand Prix of Canada — Results & aftermath

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

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

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

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

2022 F1 Grand Prix of Miami — Results & aftermath

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

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

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

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

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

2022 F1 Grand Prix of Miami — Qualifying results

Leclerc takes pole, Sainz P2 for Ferrari front row lockout at inaugural Miami GP; Verstappen fumbles late effort, settles for P3

The first-ever qualifying for the first-ever Miami Grand Prix and Round 5 of the F1 Championship  didn’t disappoint. Under the hot Florida sun on the Miami International Autodrome, temporarily laid out around the Miami Dolphins’ Hard Rock Stadium, drivers faced a steep learning curve on this brand new, tight and twisty 5.412 kilometer street circuit where one false move might put them into the foreboding and at times claustrophobic walls. Team Ferrari earned the highest grades this Saturday, with Charles Leclerc wringing the neck of his skittish Prancing Horse to take pole and teammate Carlos Sainz backing him up in P2. Leclerc benefitted not only from his own steady efforts at mastering this virgin circuit but also from his key championship rival’s untimely Q3 error. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, coming off a dominant race win two weeks ago in Emilia-Romagna, uncharacteristically muffed his final quali effort when he ran off the circuit with snap oversteer and was unable to mount another challenge to the day’s Ferrari dominance as time expired. Verstappen will start P3 on a track where overtaking offline looks to be nigh impossible. So the Dutch reigning world champ will be hoping for not only solid strategy form his team to leapfrog the two Ferraris ahead in the pits but also perhaps some further unforced errors by the Scuderia duo. With Sainz having not completed the first lap in the last two races and Leclerc blowing a certain P3 by overdriving and binning it into the wall at Imola last race, team Ferrari will be looking for their talented but mistake prone duo to perhaps dial it back a notch and drive a clean contest come Sunday to take the maximum possible points.

Verstappen’s Red Bull wingman Sergio Perez set a final fast lap good enough to line up alongside his team leader on the second row in P4. Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas did yeoman’s work after he crashed out in Free Practice 1 on Friday, recovering all the way to set an excellent P5 time. That he bested his old Mercedes mate Lewis Hamilton by a position must have been extra pleasing. That said, Hamilton was probably satisfied to haul his twitchy Silver Arrow up to P6 on the grid, as his junior teammate George Russell struggled mightily with severe porpoising, that 2022 Mercedes bugaboo, and was unceremoniously bounced out in Q2. Russell will start way back in P12 and will be looking for strategic help and perhaps some inclement weather to fight his way forward on Sunday. AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda acquitted themselves well in Miami, qualifying P7 and P9 respectively, while Lando Norris of McLaren and Lance Stroll of Aston Martin were their lone teams’ representatives to make it into Q3, with Norris willing himself up to P8 and Stroll rounding out the front of the grid in P10.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Miami GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:29.474 1:29.130 1:28.796 25
2 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:30.079 1:29.729 1:28.986 26
3 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING RBPT 1:29.836 1:29.202 1:28.991 18
4 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING RBPT 1:30.055 1:29.673 1:29.036 21
5 77 Valtteri Bottas ALFA ROMEO FERRARI 1:30.845 1:29.751 1:29.475 20
6 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:30.388 1:29.797 1:29.625 21
7 10 Pierre Gasly ALPHATAURI RBPT 1:30.779 1:30.128 1:29.690 22
8 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:30.761 1:29.634 1:29.750 22
9 22 Yuki Tsunoda ALPHATAURI RBPT 1:30.485 1:30.031 1:29.932 21
10 18 Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 1:30.441 1:29.996 1:30.676 21

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live beginning at 3:30 PM Eastern on ABC here in the States. Look for a real street fight in Miami with potential for several Safety Cars/Red Flags to shake up the order. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

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

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

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

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

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

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

2021 F1 Grand Prix of Turkey — Results & aftermath

Bottas excels in dominant win at wet Turkish GP; Verstappen P2, Perez P3 on good day for Red Bull; disgruntled Hamilton settles for P5 after questionable late pit stop

Mercedes’ number two driver Valtteri Bottas, who has endured such a difficult season that the team decided not to bring him back for next year, showed his quality by taking a dominant victory at the Turkish Grand Prix on Sunday. With the conditions at the Intercity Istanbul Park circuit very challenging throughout the race due to consistently drizzly and humid conditions that ruled slick tires out entirely, Bottas managed his Intermediate wet weather Pirelli tires masterfully, converting the pole position he inherited due to teammate Lewis Hamilton’s 10 grid-spot engine change penalty into a dominant win ahead of the two pursuing Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez. While Bottas bested P2 Verstappen by over 14.5-seconds and also nabbed the bonus point for the day’s fastest lap, it actually turned into a fine day for the Dutchman and team Red Bull as a whole. Not only did he get his second second place in-a-row but wingman Perez was somewhat gifted his P3 after a controversial late call by the Mercedes braintrust to pit Hamilton for a fresh Inters on Lap 51 of this 58 lap contest. Hamilton, who started down in P11 on the grid after the penalty but had fought his way all the way up to P3 by that point with a slew of determined passes, had been lobbying to stay out and run to the end on his original set of Inters. But the team instead he box and when he emerged from the pits and found himself behind Perez and also Leclerc once again the English seven-time champion was vociferously displeased with the strategy call and repeatedly questioned the wisdom of the move.

Presumably, the Silver Arrows brain trust were looking to cover a late cloudburst that would have rendered Hamilton’s nearly bald original Inters useless in standing water. But the end realist was Hamilton having to fight through the predictable graining period of the treaded Pirellis without enough laps remaining for them to return to their best performance. He could never threaten the P4 Ferrari of Charles Leclerc in front of him to advance his position as the laps ran outand had to settle for holding off Pierre Gasly’s rapidly closing AlphaTauri and coming home P5. While it was decent damage limitation on a day when he started outside the points, Hamilton will no doubt be grilling the team on their strategy call and the fact that it had net result of Lewis ceding the championship lead back to Verstappen by six points with six races left in the season.  So while it was a good day in the abstract for Mercedes, who finally got a strong showing from Bottas with his win and a decent points haul from Hamilton after chosing to take the hit and change his power unit, it somehow still felt a bit less than fulfilling due to Hamilton’s bitter disappointment with the team’s tire tactics. On the other hand, Red Bull were well pleased with their double podium results on the day when it was clear that they didn’t have the race pace to challenge Mercedes for the win. With the rounds dwindling to a mere half dozen, it will be all to play for at the next race in the USA at COTA in two week’s time.

Pics courtesy GRandPrix247.com

Not only did Leclerc have an excellent race by securing that valuable P4 for Ferrari but the Scuderia got the bonus of a spectacular recovery effort by Carlos Sainz, who started from way back in P19 due to his own engine change penalty but made a passel of passes to fight all the way back up to a P8 finish. It was easily one of the Spaniard’s best efforts on the year, if not career, and shows that if the engineers at Maranello can get next year’s chassis and engine up to snuff they have a driver combo that can potentially compete with any other duo on the grid. Gasly also did well by AlphaTauri to take that P6 just behind Hamilton, though the Frenchman and his team will be wondering what might have been if he hadn’t been handed a rather harsh 5-second penalty for contact with Fernando Alonso on the opening lap that looked pretty much like a standard racing incident. Lando Norris, who had to recover psychologically from his heartbreaking experience in Sochi two weeks ago, was the only McLaren in the points after finishing P7 at a circuit that simply did not seem to suit their papaya-colored cars due to an abundance of long, medium speed corners. With Ferrari hot on their heels for third in the all important Contructors title, McLaren will be hoping for a better fit when they unload in Austin. Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, who seems to excel in these sorts of mixed weather conditions, did well again to finish in P9, while Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, who ran the entire race on one set of Inters, held on to P10 for the final points paying position.

Top 10 finishers of the Turkish GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 58 1:31:04.103 26
2 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 58 +14.584s 18
3 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA 58 +33.471s 15
4 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 58 +37.814s 12
5 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 58 +41.812s 10
6 10 Pierre Gasly ALPHATAURI HONDA 58 +44.292s 8
7 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 58 +47.213s 6
8 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 58 +51.526s 4
9 18 Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES 58 +82.018s 2
10 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 57 +1 lap 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in two week’s time — the return of the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas after a year’s hiatus due to COVID. Hamilton will be positively champing at the bit to get back on track and put the disappointment of today’s events behind him. Verstappen will be looking to keep and expand his lead in the points with his first F1 title so close he can almost taste it. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2021 F1 Grand Prix of Turkey — Qualifying results

Hamilton quickest in quali but cedes pole to teammate Bottas on engine penalties; Verstappen third fastest

On an intriguing day of Saturday qualifying for tomorrow’s Turkish Grand Prix featuring rain at Intercity Istanbul Park just prior to the three knockout sessions commenced that then abated with consequent improvement to the grip levels by the time Q3 rolled around, Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton unsurprisingly mastered the tricky conditions to set the day’s fastest lap. But while it was a new track record on this newly repaved circuit after last year’s spin-fest on much slicker, older tarmac, Hamilton’s triumph was rather pyrrhic because engine penalties robbed him of a  start from pole and the English points leader will have to line up on the grid down in P11. That gifted the actual pole to his Silver Arrows teammate, Valtteri Bottas, who will nonetheless have it all to do tomorrow to keep Red Bull’s Max Verstappen behind him when they line up together on the front row. With Hamilton’s lead in the Driver Standings over the Dutchman a minuscule two points going into this sixteenth round after Max’s remarkable recovery drive in Sochi two weeks ago, it will be imperative for Bottas to not allow Verstappen an easy overtake at the start the race, thereby giving Hamilton time to claw his way to the front. As he showed today, Lewis certainly has the car to fight for the win if he can get back on even terms with Verstappen’s lead Red Bull, so the Mercedes brain trust have got to bring their A strategy game to pick off a few positions in the pits. But then, as we have seen several times this unpredictable season, if the weather is as changeable as it was today it could well be anyone’s race and not just the two championship contenders at that.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc saved his best for last by setting the fourth fastest time while the checkers flew in Q3, just besting the solid P5 time of AlphaTauri’s excellent pilot, Pierre Gasly. Unfortunately for the Scuderia, however, the second Prancing Horse of Carlos Sainz will have to start from the rear after his own set of engine penalties this weekend. Savvy vet Fernando Alonso enjoyed the tricky damp-to-dry conditions and wheeled his Alpine up to the sixth fastest time when all was said and done, impressively one spot better than the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez, who could only manage a lackluster P7 effort. McLaren’s Lando Norris did decently to recover from his absolute heartbreaker of a race in Russia that saw him lose the lead with just two laps remaining and qualified P8. And Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and AlphaTauri’s second driver Yuki Tsuanoda rounded out the top ten in P9 and P10 respectively.  It was the first time the struggling Japanese rookie Tsunoda progressed into Q3 since way back in Round 8 in Austria.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Turkish GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:24.585 1:23.082 1:22.868 28
2 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:25.047 1:23.579 1:22.998 27
3 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:24.592 1:23.732 1:23.196 25
4 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:24.869 1:24.015 1:23.265 30
5 10 Pierre Gasly ALPHATAURI HONDA 1:24.704 1:23.817 1:23.326 24
6 14 Fernando Alonso ALPINE RENAULT 1:25.174 1:23.914 1:23.477 24
7 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:24.963 1:23.961 1:23.706 24
8 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:25.138 1:24.642 1:23.954 25
9 18 Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES 1:25.511 1:24.601 1:24.305 23
10 22 Yuki Tsunoda ALPHATAURI HONDA 1:25.409 1:24.054 1:24.368 24

Actual grid taking into account Hamilton’s penalty here.

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN2 beginning at 8 AM Eastern here in the States. With Hamilton having to fight to the front, Verstappen determined to gap Bottas early and more potential rain possible it should be another thriller in a season chock full of them. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2021 F1 Grand Prix of Russia — Qualifying results

Norris earns surprise pole at Sochi in wet conditions; Sainz takes P2, Russell P3; Hamilton falls to P4 after late crash entering pits

With Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton’s chief rival, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, doomed to start last or nearly last in tomorrow’s Russian Grand Prix due to not only the Dutchman’s penalty for crashing into Hamilton two weeks ago at Monza but also his team’s decision to swap out Verstappen’s engine at track that doesn’t really suit them, Hamilton was looking to grab pole at the Sochi Autodrom and set himself up for maximum points for the race. However, the weather and a rare unforced error by the seven-time World Champion put paid to that plan. Somewhat stunningly, Hamilton found himself with only the fourth best time on the day, a fast lap he had set early in the final quali session while on the Intermediate wet weather Pirelli tires after a day of rain here on the shores of the Black Sea. But the rain had stopped for long enough and the track had dried to such an extent by the start of Q3 that other team’s gambled on switching to slick tires in an effort to achieve a superior time to the one Hamilton set on the Inters. Williams’  George Russell was the first to commit, followed very shortly by all the other non-Mercedes drivers. And while at first it did not appear the risk was worth the reward, the circuit continued to improve and a true dry line had formed as the time wound down in Q3. That saw the Mercedes pit wall make a somewhat tardy call to bring their boys in and match the others’ strategies by throwing on some Soft Pirellis, too. However, Hamilton badly botched his pit entrance for the change, smacking the wall at pit in hard and essentially snapping his front wing in half. Not only did the team have to take much longer time than anticipated to give Hamilton a new wing but it also backed up his teammate, Valtteri Bottas, who had to wait until those repairs to the team leader were made. By the time the Mercedes duo reemerged, the other runners had been able to get their tires heated up properly with several consecutive laps, something the two Silver Arrows no longer had the time to do.

This redounded to the benefit of several drivers not named Hamilton, as the normally superlative English hot shoe spun off track when trying to get something out of his cold tires and his earlier time on the treaded wet weather tires would have to be the one that stood. It only ended up being good enough for P4 on the grid, as first Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and then McLaren’s Lando Norris and Russell overhauled him. Continue reading →

2021 F1 Grand Prix of Italy — Results & aftermath

MADNESS AT MONZA: Ricciardo wins, Norris second for shock McLaren 1-2; Hamilton and Verstappen take each other out mid race; Bottas salvages P3 for Mercedes after Perez penalty

In a stunning result for the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday, beleaguered McLaren driver Daniel Ricciardo shocked the Formula 1 paddock by passing the pole-sitting Red Bull of Max Verstappen when the lights went out to start the race and somehow held on to take the win when the full 53 laps of this classic contest at Monza had been run. Better yet for the team, their second car, driven by the talented young Englishman Lando Norris, was able to keep pace with his older teammate, tucking in right behind Ricciardo to cross the line in P2 as the checkers flew. So, not only was it the completely rebuilt team’s first victory since 2012 but that made it the first 1-2 for McLaren since back in 2010 when Lewis Hamilton was still driving for them, and Ricciardo’s first win since 2018 when he was Verstappen’s teammate at Red Bull. A truly amazing renaissance for the Aussie in Italy!

Meanwhile, behind the top two papaya colored McLarens the slow burning antagonism between this season’s top two championship contenders came to an unfortunate and dramatic new inflection point. With Verstappen and his chief rival for the drivers’ title, Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton, splitting their tire strategies to start the race, Verstappen pitted first on Lap 24 to doff his initial set of Medium Pirelli tires in favor of the Hards. But it was an uncharacteristically awful start for the normally crisp Red Bull pit crew when a problem either with the gun or the nut of the right front led to a whopping 11 seconds stationary for the Dutchman instead of the usual 2.5-3 seconds. After already losing the lead to the hard charging Ricciardo on the opening lap, that left Verstappen fuming even more as he rejoined down in P10. Meanwhile Hamilton, who had started on the Hards, pitted two laps later for fresh Mediums, ostensibly giving him the performance advantage for the remainder of the race. But Hamilton’s stop was also on the slow side, some 4-seconds, which combined with Verstappen’s incredibly slow stop, saw Hamilton reemerge from the pit lane behind Norris and nearly alongside Verstappen, who was streaking down the start-finish straight.

With Hamilton leading into the Turn 1 chicane complex by half a car, Verstappen tried to stuff his Red Bull into the tightening radius of the curves. Hamilton didn’t give a millimeter and Verstappen wound up plowing through the big sausage curbs at the edge of the chicane, launching his Red Bull directly on top of Hamilton’s Silver Arrow. Thankfully the Halo device once again did its job and showed its merit, because the full weight of the Red Bull landed on top of the Mercedes’ roll hoop and cockpit area, cracking the floor of Verstappen’s mount in a fierce spray of carbon fiber. Verstappen’s rear will did appear to make contact with Hamilton’s helmet but thankfully the Halo deflected any more serious impacts and both drivers emerged unscathed. Their races, however, were shockingly over in that instant, with Verstappen netting only two points on the weekend in Italy due to finishing second in Sprint Qualifying on Saturday and Hamilton getting exactly zero on a day when he had the pace to perhaps challenge for victory. Verstappen now leads Hamilton by 5 in the Drivers’ in a a rivalry that has officially reached the boiling point with a planned eight more rounds to go. For those who’ve wanted a return to the good old days of Prost versus Senna, it appears those dreams of fierce conflict are coming true in the season long Hamilton-Verstappen rivalry. All eyes will surely be on these two fiery competitors when racing resumes in Russia in a fortnight to see just what happens next.

That elite double DNF left it to both team’s number two drivers to salvage what they could on the day. While Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas, who was officially jettisoned from the team for next season just this past week, did yeoman’s work to drag himself up from the rear where he was forced to start due to a host of engine component change penalties, the Finn finally found himself bogged down at P4 and trailing the lone surviving Red Bull of Sergio Perez. While it looked like Bottas had finally overtaken Perez on Lap 43, the Red Bull was able to fight back and retake the position when Bottas overcooked the move just a little too much. But Perez was assessed a 5-second time penalty for leaving the track and then gaining an advantage during an earlier pass by the Mexican on Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. That meant that in the end Bottas was elevated to P3 and the last spot on the podium after his remarkably good recovery drive and Perez was demoted to P5 behind Leclerc, who also benefitted greatly from the failure of Verstappen and Hamilton to finish. Carlos Sainz slotted in at P6, making it a good enough day for Ferrari in front of their home fans, but perhaps a little less than totally pleasing, as they watched McLaren, their closest rival in the Constructors’ Standings, grab a terrific haul of points with their spectacular 1-2 finish.

Lance Stroll came home in P7 in his Aston Martin, the two Alpines of Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon were P8 and P10 respectively and George Russell, who will leave Williams for Mercedes next year, finished in P9.

Top 10 finishers of the Italian GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 3 Daniel Ricciardo MCLAREN MERCEDES 53 1:21:54.365 26
2 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 53 +1.747s 18
3 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 53 +4.921s 15
4 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 53 +7.309s 12
5 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA 53 +8.723s 10
6 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 53 +10.535s 8
7 18 Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES 53 +15.804s 6
8 14 Fernando Alonso ALPINE RENAULT 53 +17.201s 4
9 63 George Russell WILLIAMS MERCEDES 53 +19.742s 2
10 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 53 +20.868s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in two week’s time, the Russian Grand Prix from the visually stunning Sochi Autodrom on the Black Sea.  Look forward to seeing you then to find out how Verstappen and Hamilton recover from their latest contretemps!

2021 F1 Grand Prix of Austria — Qualifying results

Verstappen aces second consecutive pole at Red Bull Ring; Norris a surprisingly potent P2 for McLaren, Perez P3; Hamilton & Mercedes off the pace

A week after dominating the Styrian Grand Prix for an easy win, Red Bull’s championship-leading Max Verstappen was back to his imperious ways at the team’s home circuit, as the superlative Dutchman earned a second consecutive pole position at the Red Bull Ring, this time for tomorrow’s Austrian Grand Prix. On a track that suits him like a hand-tailored garment, Verstappen kept his positive momentum going on a day when his main championship rival, Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton, took a step backwards. Not only did Verstappen earn the top starting spot in Saturday qualifying but instead of Hamilton or the second Merc of Valtteri Bottas nipping at his heels, Verstappen will have McLaren’s hard charging young star Lando Norris alongside him on the front row of the grid in P2. The 21-year-old Englishman maximized the superior straight-line speed of his Mercedes-powered MCL35M chassis to earn his best ever Formula 1 starting spot, setting a fast time just .048 behind the points leader and, alongside the 23-year-old Verstappen, will make up one of the youngest front rows in F1 history. Norris’ success came at the expense of the factory Mercedes drivers, as Hamilton could manage no better than a P4 time and Bottas slotted in at P5, with Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez bettering them both by setting the third fastest time in Q3. That leaves Checo in prime position to play the loyal Red Bull wingman during tomorrow’s race. It’s now fairly clear that this track no longer suits the Silver Arrows as it did a year ago and that other teams have improved their performance here at the Red Bull Ring enough in the interim to make Mercedes look positively mediocre. Toto Wolff and the AMG braintrust will have to figure out a way to minimize the potential damage from tomorrow’s race by finishing both cars well up in the points and then looking forward to better days at Silverstone in two weeks. Because realistically, the Mercs have very little shot at winning against the ascendent Red Bull of Verstappen and neither Hamilton or Bottas may see the podium tomorrow after the checkers fly.

AlphaTauri had a very nice day of qualifying, with Pierre Gasly slotting in at P6 and the somewhat erratic rookie Yuki Tsunoda coming home seventh fastest. Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel was solid in P8 but will have to start behind his teammate Lance Stroll, who qualified P10, after it was judged that Vettel had impeded Alpine’s Fernando Alonso during Q2, earning the veteran German driver a three-spot grid penalty. And another up-and-coming young Englishman, Williams’ George Russell, broke through into Q3 and set a time good enough for ninth fastest in that final quali session, an exciting milestone for both the rebuilding team and their ambitious and talented young pilot.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Austrian GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:04.249 1:03.927 1:03.720 16
2 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:04.345 1:04.415 1:03.768 19
3 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:04.833 1:04.483 1:03.990 24
4 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:04.506 1:04.258 1:04.014 18
5 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:04.563 1:04.376 1:04.049 19
6 10 Pierre Gasly ALPHATAURI HONDA 1:04.841 1:04.412 1:04.107 21
7 22 Yuki Tsunoda ALPHATAURI HONDA 1:04.967 1:04.518 1:04.273 21
8 5 Sebastian Vettel ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES 1:04.846 1:04.493 1:04.570 20
9 63 George Russell WILLIAMS MERCEDES 1:04.907 1:04.553 1:04.591 15
10 18 Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES 1:04.927 1:04.547 1:04.618 21

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN beginning at 9AM Eastern here in the States. With Verstappen having won three out of the last four contests and looking to pull away from Hamilton in the championship, the stars seem aligned for him to so at this favorite track barring unexpected drama. The real question is if Norris can keep Perez, Hamilton and Bottas behind him for a very special result. It’s a big ask but young Lando has been building up to that kind of breakthrough all season. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2021 F1 Grand Prix of Styria — Results & aftermath

Verstappen romps to victory in Styrian Grand Prix; Hamilton and Bottas P2 & P3, Perez P4

The Red Bull of Max Verstappen was completely untouchable in the first of two consecutive races at the Red Bull Ring, easily going from pole to victory in Sunday’s Styrian Grand Prix in the beautiful hills of Spielberg, Austria. Verstappen handily outclassed his main championship rival, Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton, by over 35 seconds to take his second consecutive victory in this second of three back-to-back-to-back races. To be fair, Hamilton did make a penultimate lap second pit stop for new Soft Pirellis that enabled him to snatch away the extra point for fastest lap from the superlative Dutchman. Nevertheless, Verstappen increased his point lead over Hamilton, the seven-time and current reigning champion, to 18 with his second consecutive victory. The dominant win at Red Bull’s home circuit also highlighted just how far the RB16B chassis has come in a year’s time, with Verstappen gapping P2 Hamilton by just about the same margin Hamilton bested him by when Max finished P3 and Lewis was victorious in the second Austrian contest in what was Round 2 of the COVID-effected 2020 season.

Despite their glaring pace deficit to Verstappen’s Red Bull, It wasn’t all bad news for Mercedes on the day, as their beleaguered number two pilot, Valtteri Bottas, was able to hold of the hard charging second Red Bull of Sergio Perez for P3 and take the last spot on the podium. The Mexican simply ran out of laps as the 71 for today’s contest were just about the maximum for Bottas to keep that valuable position and perhaps restore some much needed confidence after an extremely demoralizing stretch for the Finn. In truth, it was solid drivel around for Bottas, as he was penalized for a sort of burnout in the pots during qualifying and had to start P5 instead of P2 where he qualified. Still, with Red Bull now consistently getting solid points results from Perez, the team now carries a 40-point lead over Mercedes in the all-important Constructors’ standings after eight rounds of the championship, which is roughly a third of the season.

McLaren’s Lando Norris was once again best of the rest and finished P5, as he has so often this season. The team were content to pull the talented young Englishman out of the top four’s elite fray and just run a steady pace to bring their man home fifth. However, the results were not so good for the second McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo, who failed to score after some sort of power issue caused the Aussie to drop like a stone just as he was making up positions early in the race and he thereafter could make no further progress, finishing down in P13. Ferrari, their closest rivals for third in the Constructors’, took full advantage of Ricciardo’s misfortune with the Prancing Horses rebounding nicely from a points shutout in France last week. Carlos Sainz overcame starting from twelfth on the grid to grab an impressive P6 finish and Charles Leclerc finished where he started in P7 but only after a lot of crazy contact with AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly on Lap 1 forced the Monegasque in for a new front wing. While Gasly suffered terminal suspension damage after getting a puncture out of the contretemps with Leclerc and then being ping ponged by nearly the entire field as he decelerated down the order, Leclerc went on to be voted Driver of the Day for his storming and determined performance. It was an honor that most decidedly did not receive Gasly’s vote.

Further down, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll drove solid race to take P8, Alpine’s wise old head Fernando Alonso scored his third consecutive points finish in P9 and Yuki Tsunoda salvaged a single point for Alpha Tauri in P10 on a day when the team were surely hoping for more.

Top 10 finishers of the Styrian GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 71 1:22:18.925 25
2 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 71 +35.743s 19
3 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 71 +46.907s 15
4 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA 71 +47.434s 12
5 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 70 +1 lap 10
6 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 70 +1 lap 8
7 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 70 +1 lap 6
8 18 Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN MERCEDES 70 +1 lap 4
9 14 Fernando Alonso ALPINE RENAULT 70 +1 lap 2
10 22 Yuki Tsunoda ALPHATAURI HONDA 70 +1 lap 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in but a week’s time and you don’t even have to make a new hotel reservation — it may be called the Austrian Grand Prix but it is at this exact Red Bull Ring next Sunday and for the same number of laps to boot. It’s doubtful that Mercedes can find the pace to challenge the supreme Verstappen here during that short window but stranger things have happened. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!