Tag Archives: Lando Norris

2022 F1 Grand Prix of Italy — Qualifying results

Pole for Ferrari & Leclerc at Monza, rest of grid scrambled due to raft of engine & parts penalties for multiple drivers

We’re now at the point of the Formula 1 season where qualifying pace gets negated by the necessity of changing engine and transmission components resulting in grid penalties for the drivers and teams who have burned through allowable parts. This silly system was at its most disruptive after Saturday’s qualifying for tomorrow’s Italian Grand Prix, which is Round 16 of the championship. While Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc delighted the scarlet-clad tifosi in the stands by hooking up a perfect final lap to claim pole for the GP at super fast Monza, he will be one of the very few competitors starting in the position in which they actually qualified. While the provisional grid for the top ten is included below, as far as true pace it was Red Bull’s Max Verstappen who was second quickest, coming home over a tenth ahead of the other Ferrari of Carlos Sainz. While Verstappen was demoted down to P7 on the grid for his own power unit penalties, Sainz will have to start from way back in P18 due to the magnitude of changes made to his engine and gearbox. Likewise, the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez was demoted from P4 to P13. Mercedes Lewis Hamilton out-qualified his teammate George Russell but, while Russell gets elevated to P2 for tomorrow’s start as a beneficiary of not taking any engine component penalties, the seven-time Champion is relegated to the penultimate place on the grid, P19. For all the out of place runners, strategy will be key come the race, so look for teams so effected to be aggressive with either early stops for Hard Pirellis or starting on Hards and running them as long as possible to try to eliminate one pit stop during the Grand Prix.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Italian GP via Formula1.com:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:21.280 1:21.208 1:20.161 14
2 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING RBPT 1:20.922 1:21.265 1:20.306 16
3 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:21.348 1:20.878 1:20.429 13
4 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING RBPT 1:21.495 1:21.358 1:21.206 15
5 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:22.048 1:21.708 1:21.524 17
6 63 George Russell MERCEDES 1:21.785 1:21.747 1:21.542 17
7 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:22.130 1:21.831 1:21.584 19
8 3 Daniel Ricciardo MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:22.139 1:21.855 1:21.925 20
9 10 Pierre Gasly ALPHATAURI RBPT 1:22.010 1:22.062 1:22.648 18
10 14 Fernando Alonso ALPINE RENAULT 1:22.089 1:21.861 17

Provisional grid after penalties are factored in via Autosport.com:

Cla Driver Chassis Engine Time Gap
1 Monaco Charles Leclerc Ferrari Ferrari 1’20.161
2 United Kingdom George Russell Mercedes Mercedes 1’21.542 1.381
3 United Kingdom Lando Norris McLaren Mercedes 1’21.584 1.423
4 Australia Daniel Ricciardo McLaren Mercedes 1’21.925 1.764
5 France Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri Red Bull 1’22.648 2.487
6 Spain Fernando Alonso Alpine Renault
7 Netherlands Max Verstappen Red Bull Red Bull 1’20.306 0.145
8 Netherlands Nyck de Vries Williams Mercedes 1’22.471 2.310
9 China Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo Ferrari 1’22.577 2.416
10 Canada Nicholas Latifi Williams Mercedes 1’22.587 2.426
11 Germany Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin Mercedes 1’22.636 2.475
12 Canada Lance Stroll Aston Martin Mercedes 1’22.748 2.587
13 Mexico Sergio Perez Red Bull Red Bull 1’21.206 1.045
14 France Esteban Ocon Alpine Renault 1’22.130 1.969
15 Finland Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo Ferrari 1’22.235 2.074
16 Denmark Kevin Magnussen Haas Ferrari 1’22.908 2.747
17 Germany Mick Schumacher Haas Ferrari 1’23.005 2.844
18 Spain Carlos Sainz Ferrari Ferrari 1’20.429 0.268
19 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton Mercedes Mercedes 1’21.524 1.363
20 Japan Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri Red Bull

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN2 beginning at 9AM Eastern here in the States. With so many drivers once again out of position and determined to speed to the front, it should be a wild and wooly affair — hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2022 F1 Grand Prix of the Netherlands — Qualifying results

Verstappen snatches pole from Leclerc at Zandvoort, Sainz P3

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

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

Top 10 qualifiers for the Dutch GP:

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

Complete qualifying results viable via Formula1.com.

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

2022 F1 Grand Prix of Hungary — Results & aftermath

Red Bull’s Verstappen rallies from P10 start to take victory in Hungary; P2 Hamilton & P3 Russell pounce for Mercedes as Ferrari fumble strategy yet again

Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix, the last race before the long August break, began with a scrambled grid that promised big swings and did not disappoint once the lights went out to start the race. Starting from an unaccustomed P10 after engine issues ruined his qualifying pace, the points-leading Red Bull of Max Verstappen gave his typically superlative effort behind the wheel to eventually take a stunning victory at the end of this 70-lap contest at the short, tight and twisty Hugaroring. He was benefitted first by his team’s clever use of the undercut and then by yet another inexplicable strategy call by Ferrari that doomed the race of his key rival, Charles Leclerc. Taking advantage of that Ferrari fumble, the Mercedes duo of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell had an excellent run to take their second consecutive double-podium finish on the trot. For Ferrari, it was a lousy way to end the first portion of their up and down season and they will have the bitter taste of Carlos Sainz’s P4 and Charles Leclerc’s P6 stuck in their mouths for a month before they can try to redeem themselves and get back on track.

Having already fought his way from that P10 start to P5 by Lap 12, Verstappen made his first pit stop for fresh rubber on Lap 17, swapping his opening set of Soft Pirellis for the more durable but still high performing Mediums. While the Mercedes of George Russell, who started the race from P1 after earning his first career F1 pole, covered the Dutchman’s move and followed him into the pits for his own Soft-to-Medium swap, Ferrari chose to keep their two drivers out. For Carlos Sainz, who started from P2 on the grid, it was just one lap more and he promptly came in for a fresh set of Medium tires, the same compound the Spaniard had started on. On the other hand, Charles Leclerc, Verstappen’s chief championship rival, stayed out until Lap 21, also opting for the Medium-to-Medium move. That meant that both Ferraris were still obligated to run a different compound later in the race unless it should rain enough to necessitate wet weather tires. The threatening weather held off on this cool and cloudy day in Hungary, however, and the decision of which tire to choose at the next stop proved to be the pivotal inflection point of the Grand Prix. Continue reading →

2022 F1 Grand Prix of Hungary — Qualifying results

Mercedes’ Russell stuns Sainz and Ferrari at Hungaroring to earn first career pole; Leclerc P3; nightmare quali for Red Bull with Verstappen P10, Perez P11

Mercedes young hard charger George Russell stunned the field and particularly Ferrari when he laid down a stonking lap at the death of Q3 during Saturday qualifying for tomorrow’s Hunagrian Grand Prix. At the short, twisty and highly technical Hungaroring, Russell bested the seemingly insurmountable fast lap of the Scuderia’s Carlos Sainz by .044 seconds to earn his first career Formula 1 pole position. It was pure joy for Russell and his side of the Mercedes garage while Sainz and Ferrari were left shaking their heads at the last second reversal. Sainz will start P2 alongside Russell on the front row tomorrow with the second Prancing Horse of Charles Leclerc earning P3 for his efforts.

If Russell’s over performance wasn’t enough to make for an extra thrilling quali, the anomalously abysmal performance of team Red Bull added another layer of intrigue and contributed to a massive shuffling of the expected grid. First, Sergio Perez was erroneously dinged for exceeding track limits during Q2, which put the Mexican off his stride. By the time the stewards had corrected their error and restored his time, Perez was at sixes and sevens and couldn’t get his pace up enough to get out of the second quali session, relegating him to P11 come Sunday on what is something of a bogey track for him. As if that wasn’t bad enough, points leader Max Verstappen experienced some sort of engine issues in Q3 that robbed him of full power and saw the rest of the other final nine runners easily blow past his best time. So Verstappen will start in the unfamiliar position of P10 come race day and will be forced to fight his way back to the front on a circuit where passing is more than a little difficult.

The Red Bulls’ twin misfortunes opened the door to McLaren’s Lando Norris to set the fourth fatstest Q3 time in a strong effort, while his teammate Daniel Ricciardo could do no better than P9. The two Alpines of Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso earned P5 and P6 respectively, somewhat surprising since Alonso had been the quicker of the two all weekend long up until that point. The second Silver Arrow of Lewis Hamilton was far off the pace of his pole-sitting junior teammate, seeming to struggle with his tires after locking up multiple times en route to only the seventh fastest lap. Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas broke a cold streak and finally made it into Q3, taking a solid P8 on the grid.

With so many cars out of expected position, Russell keen to earn his first F1 victory, Ferrari anxious to stop him and the Red Bulls determined to fight back from far back, tomorrow’s race could be bonkers.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Hungarian GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 63 George Russell MERCEDES 1:18.407 1:18.154 1:17.377 23
2 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:18.434 1:17.946 1:17.421 22
3 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:18.806 1:17.768 1:17.567 22
4 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:18.653 1:18.121 1:17.769 19
5 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 1:18.866 1:18.216 1:18.018 20
6 14 Fernando Alonso ALPINE RENAULT 1:18.716 1:17.904 1:18.078 17
7 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:18.374 1:18.035 1:18.142 21
8 77 Valtteri Bottas ALFA ROMEO FERRARI 1:18.935 1:18.445 1:18.157 20
9 3 Daniel Ricciardo MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:18.775 1:18.198 1:18.379 19
10 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING RBPT 1:18.509 1:17.703 1:18.823 21

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN beginning at 9AM Eastern here in the States. With the grid well and truly shuffled and passing at a premium in this last tilt before the summer break, it should make for a potentially conflict-filled affair where the final outcome is anyone’s guess. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2022 F1 Grand Prix of France — Qualifying results

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

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

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

Top 10 qualifiers for the French GP:

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

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Penalty-effected starting grid is here.

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

2022 F1 Grand Prix of Britain — Results & aftermath

Superb Sainz defies team orders to earn maiden F1 win in incident-packed British GP; Perez storms back to P2 as Verstappen falters to P7; Hamilton bests Leclerc for final podium spot in wild Silverstone action

In a race that had to be seen to be believed, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz emerged form the chaos and unpredictability of Sunday’s British Grand Prix with his first Formula 1 victory. The ostensible number two man at the Scuderia defied a late post-Safety Car strategy call by the Ferrari pit wall that would have had the Spaniard act as a blocker to his teammate Charles Leclerc. Instead, having come in for fresh Pirelli Soft tires under the full course yellow on Lap 39 of this 52-lap contest at the venerable Silverstone Circuit, and knowing that Leclerc had stayed out for some inexplicable reason on his old, well-worn Hard tires, Sainz vetoed that plan and quickly made short work of his stablemate to recapture and keep the lead of a race from which he started on pole.

By the time Sainz claimed that vital first F1 win, the start seemed like a million years ago. On the opening lap on a reasonably clear and sunny day at Silverstone, there was a horror shunt between Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyou, Mercedes’ George Russell and the AlphaTauri of Pierre Gasly. With numerous drivers bogging down at the start due to many closing to do their first stint on the west grip Hard Pirellis, that led to a big shuffle in the field between the quicker cars on softer rubber and the slower runners. Gasly thought he saw an opening between Russell and Guanyu and made for it. But the door quickly closed when Russell jinked to the left, causing the front of the AlphaTauri to strike both the flanking cars rear wheels. That sent Russell into a spin but the rookie Guanyu was upended and flew into a scary barrel roll at high speed across the gravel trap, eventually hitting the catch fence with some force before coming to rest in the space between the tire barrier and the actual concrete wall behind. Wedged in as he was, the Alfa Romeo rookie remained trapped in his car for some time as the medical teams and marshals worked the problem, with Russell sprinting over to see if he could lend a hand. After what seemed like an eternity, the young Chinese driver was successfully extracted and put in an ambulance to be taken to the on site care center for further evaluation. Thankfully, it turned out that Guanyu was not seriously injured. But he, Russell and the Williams’ of Alex Albon, who was also peripherally involved in the mayhem and speared sharply into the pit straight wall, were all out of the race before the first corner had been successfully navigated. Gasly also sustained damage that would eventually end his race on Lap 28. Additionally, Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel, Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, and the second AlphaTauri of Yuki Tsunoda all sustained some degree of damage in that midfield melee.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

Understandably, the clean up from the resultant debris field and the several stranded cars, as well as Guanyu’s extraction, required an extensive Red Flag period of about 45 minutes. Lost in all that drama was the fact that Red Bull’s Max Verstappen had overtaken the pole-sitting Sainz rather easily heading into that eventful Turn 1. However, as the race was stopped before even the first sector could be completed and timed, everyone went back to their original grid positions when the contest was finally ready to restart, officially on lap 3 after a second formation lap behind the Safety Car. The second time proved the charm for Sainz, as he held off Verstappen’s deja vu challenge. Continue reading →

2022 F1 Grand Prix of Britain — Qualifying results

Sainz nabs pole away from Verstappen at rainy Silverstone with superb final flying lap; Leclerc settles for P3 after late spin

Ferrari’s nominal number two, Carlos Sainz, prevailed against more heralded competitors to earn pole amidst very tricky wet and rainy conditions during Saturday’s qualifying for the British Grand Prix. With a fine last lap in Q3, the final qualifying round, Sainz bested the previous fast time of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and, when Verstappen was unable to respond on his last try, the Spanish veteran had earned his first ever pole in Formula 1. After 151 career entries, Sainz grabbing that maiden pole was a popular result with everyone in the paddock not named Verstappen, who was annoyed that he could not hook up his final try and was undone by a poor middle sector. But the Dutch points leader will still line up alongside Sainz on the front row in P2. And at the moment there is no rain forecast for tomorrow’s race so, theoretically, the drivers can put their wet weather tires away and fight it out on slicks. Then again, it is still England in the summertime, so don’t stow your Wellies and brelliies quite yet.

Sainz’s Scuderia stablemate, Charles Leclerc, was in the mix for pole, as well, right up until the moment he spun on his final Q3 attempt. The Monegasque will line up in P3 on the grid, right across from Verstappen’s teammate, Sergio Perez, who was able to haul himself up to P4 with a good late effort. Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton showed some of his old brilliance at one of his favorite circuits, willing himself to P5 in front of the absolutely soaked Silverstone faithful, while young George Russell could only manage P8 in the second Silver Arrow. McLaren’s Lando Norris was impressive in setting the sixth fastest lap on this sodden day, especially when compared to his more senior teammate, Daniel Ricciardo, who qualified a woeful P14. Alpine’s Fernando Alonso qualified P8,  Alfa Romeo’s rookie Zhou Guanyu continued to show improvement in P9 and Nicholas Latifi had another fine run in a rainy quali to get his Williams into Q3 and earn P10 on the grid.

Top 10 qualifiers for the British GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:40.190 1:41.602 1:40.983 26
2 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING RBPT 1:39.129 1:40.655 1:41.055 24
3 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:39.846 1:41.247 1:41.298 26
4 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING RBPT 1:40.521 1:42.513 1:41.616 26
5 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:40.428 1:41.062 1:41.995 23
6 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:41.515 1:41.821 1:42.084 26
7 14 Fernando Alonso ALPINE RENAULT 1:41.598 1:42.209 1:42.116 23
8 63 George Russell MERCEDES 1:40.028 1:41.725 1:42.161 23
9 24 Zhou Guanyu ALFA ROMEO FERRARI 1:40.791 1:42.640 1:42.719 28
10 6 Nicholas Latifi WILLIAMS MERCEDES 1:41.998 1:43.273 2:03.095 24

Complete qualifying results amiable via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live beginning at 10AM Eastern on ESPN2 here in the States. Can Sainz follow up his maiden pole with his first win? Or will a miffed Max strike back against the Ferrari threat? Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2022 F1 Grand Prix of Azerbaijan — Results & aftermath

Verstappen dominates at Baku, Perez P2 for maximum Red Bull points; Russell P3 after disastrous Ferrari double DNF leaves Leclerc & Sainz pointless

The Azerbaijan Grand Prix from the tricky and demanding Baku City Circuit usually throws up more than a few curveballs for the competitors and this Sunday’s 2022 edition was no exception. While Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc started from pole, he was immediately overtaken by Red Bull’s Sergio Perez going into Turn 1 right after the lights went out to start the race.  Once again, it seemed apparent that Ferrari may have the superior one lap pace but Red Bull has the complete package to actually win races. As Perez danced away from the Monegasque’s Prancing Horse, his teammate Max Verstappen applied pressure on Leclerc from P3 and the race looked to be setting up for a three car contest for supremacy and podium positions. But the ominous signs for Ferrari on the day began on Lap 9 when Leclerc’s stablemate, Carlos Sainz, running just off the pace of the elite trio in P4, lost power and pulled his F1-75 into the escape road at Turn 4. It turned out to be terminal hydraulics failure and the unlucky Spaniard was out of the race prematurely, a recurring theme for Sainz this season. And, obviously, now the Scuderia braintrust had to be wondering if their other car might suffer a similar fate.

But first a Virtual Safety Car was deployed by race control in order to clear Sainz’s stricken mount. Ferrari immediately called Leclerc into the pits for the “cheap” pit stop under the reduced VSC speeds, as did Mercedes for their two Silver Arrows. But Red Bull decided to stay out and keep track position, knowing that Baku was likely good for at least one more full-course yellow of one sort or another. While Perez still led, Leclerc’s stop vaulted Verstappen ahead of him into P2 and when the VSC ended towards the end of Lap 10, Verstappen immediately began closing down his teammate. Perez’s early aggression appeared to have taken a toll on his tires and the Mexican struggled with traction coming off the many slow speed corners of this twisty street circuit. By Lap 15 of this 51-lap contest, Verstappen was able to execute an easy overtake for the lead and Perez subsequently made his first stop for fresh Pirellis two laps later, doffing the Mediums for the more durable Hards. Verstappen then came in for his first stop on Lap 19, following the same tire sequence as Perez and while he was passed by Leclerc for the lead during that stop, the Dutch master crucially came out ahead of his Red Bull teammate. So it was Leclerc leading, Verstappen now in P2 and Perez in P3 as Lap 20 began. And then Ferrari’s  nightmare scenario became a reality. Continue reading →

2022 F1 Grand Prix of Monaco — Qualifying results

Leclerc nabs second consecutive pole at home race while avoiding last year’s drama; Sainz P2, Perez P3 but collide at end of qualifying; frustrated Verstappen only good enough for P4

A year after he had the bizarre and bittersweet experience of taking pole at his home race only to fail to start the GP due to a careless crash on his final qualifying lap, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc set another supremely good time for pole during Saturday qualifying for tomorrow’s Monaco Grand Prix. And this time Leclerc kept it both fast and clean throughout, avoiding a repeat of any dramas that could have kept him starting from P1 tomorrow. Now, the Monegasque title contender, who lost his points lead to archrival Max Verstappen a week ago in Spain, will look to return the favor on the Red Bull ace at a tight and twisty street course where track position is king and passing is always a tricky and sometimes impossible proposition. Verstappen was surprisingly just a bit off the pace today and ended up not only behind the hometown hero’s pole-sitting effort but also the second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz, who pulled his Prancing Horse up to P2 for the second Ferrari front row lockout of the year, as well as his teammate Segio Perez, who outperformed his Red Bull stablemate with a lap good enough for P3. But Perez and Sainz also came together at the end of Q3, when the veteran Mexican had a peculiar spin at Portier just before the tunnel entrance and ended up smashing the rear of his Red Bull into the armco with some force. Sainz then failed to see the resultant yellow flags going into that same corner and looped his own car, subsequently smashing his Ferrari into the front of Perez’s stricken Red Bull. That carnage brought quali to a premature end with a few minutes remaining and balked any hope of Verstappen’s to improve upon his P4 time. It will be interesting to see if Sainz, who has certainly had his share of admonishments from race control this season, will be handed a penalty of any significance after not adequately slowing under yellow. It will also be intriguing to find out if Perez’s chassis and engine components sustained any serious damage after that unfortunate double whammy.

With Verstappen a miffed and somewhat perplexed P4, the Dutchman was left hoping not only for some kind of demotion to Sainz but also a bit of rain on Sunday to spice things up, an atmospheric potentiality that is looking more and more probable at the time of the race in this famously changeable Mediterranean enclave. Behind Verstappen, McLaren’s Lando Norris was the fastest of the rest, earning a P5 start with a hairy but still very rapid final lap, where Norris’s lightning quick hands were on full display. Mercedes’ George Russell came home just a bit adrift of the McLaren in P6, while his seven-time champion teammate Lewis Hamilton could only muster P8 in a Silver Arrow that looked more like a bucking bronco at times. Alpine’s wise old head Fernando Alonso did yeoman’s work to claim P7, though the veteran Spaniard did have a mini-shunt into the barriers of his own in a moment of distraction at the end of quali. That probably didn’t cost him an even better start due to the early end to Q3 due to the mess just up the road from him, however. Aston Martin’s Sebastien Vettel and the second Alpine of Esteban Ocon rounded out the top ten qualifiers in P9 and P10 respectively.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Monaco GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:12.569 1:11.864 1:11.376 24
2 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:12.616 1:12.074 1:11.601 25
3 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING RBPT 1:13.004 1:11.954 1:11.629 25
4 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING RBPT 1:12.993 1:12.117 1:11.666 25
5 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:12.927 1:12.266 1:11.849 27
6 63 George Russell MERCEDES 1:12.787 1:12.617 1:12.112 27
7 14 Fernando Alonso ALPINE RENAULT 1:13.394 1:12.688 1:12.247 22
8 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:13.444 1:12.595 1:12.560 29
9 5 Sebastian Vettel ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 1:13.313 1:12.613 1:12.732 28
10 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 1:12.848 1:12.528 1:13.047 22

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN beginning at 9AM Eastern here in the States. Can Charles Leclerc take the ultimate honors and a dream victory in his home race? Or will Verstappen find a way to vault himself to the front and dash those Monegasque dreams? Hope to see you then to find out!

2022 F1 Grand Prix of Spain — Qualifying results

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

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

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

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

Top 10 qualifiers for the Spanish Grand Prix:

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

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

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