Tag Archives: Marcus Ericsson

2018 F1 Grand Prix of Brazil — Qualifying results

Hamilton takes pole with track record at Interlagos, Vettel keeps P2 after weigh-in contretemps; Bottas starts P3

Newly crowned 2018 F1 Champion Lewis Hamilton followed up his title-clinching but so-so P4 run in Mexico two weeks ago with a more Hamiltonian effort, setting a new lap record at Autodromo José Carlos Pace for pole in Saturday qualifying for tomorrow’s Brazilian Grand Prix. Showing that he is still driven to perform at the highest level even after seizing his remarkable fifth Drivers’ title, the English superstar once again got the better of his season-long pursuer Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari, laying down a hot lap of 1:07.281 for the best-ever time at Interlagos, albeit a mere .09 ahead his German rival. Once again it was Vettel looking up at Hamilton on the leaderboard, a depressing reality for both the man and the team. In truth, Vettel was lucky to retain his P2 starting position after some confusion at the weighbridge during a rain-threatened Q2 that saw Vettel hurrying the officials along in a desperate attempt to get to his pits for fresh rubber before the deluge screwed up his session. Vettel was accused of not shutting down his engine as required by the rules and “destroying the scales” by motoring away rather than being push started. Then again Hamilton also dodged the stewards’ wrath after dawdling in front of a fast-approaching Williams of Sergey Sirotkin in Q2, which very nearly led to a dangerous collision but for the lightening reflexes of the Russian rookie.

Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas secured P3 on the grid and he will line up aside Vettel’s Scuderia stablemate Kimi Raikkonen, who had the fourth fastest qualifying time. Ferrari may have some extra strategic cards to play come race day, however, in a last ditch effort to hold off the Silver Arrows from capturing the Constructors’ title, at least for another week. Continue reading →

2018 F1 Grand Prix of Mexico — Results & aftermath

Hamilton finishes P4 doing enough to earn fifth world title in Mexico

Red Bull’s Verstappen cruises to victory; Vettel a hard fought P2, Raikkonen P3 in consolation podium for Ferrari

Despite not winning the race and coming home a disappointing fourth place, Mercedes’ ace Lewis Hamilton scored enough points to claim his remarkable fifth Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City on Sunday. By dint of his consistently superlative season, which includes 9 victories out of the 19 contests so far, Hamilton’s P4 at the Mexican Grand Prix still put him mathematically out of reach of his nearest pursuer, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel. Hamilton joins 1950s legend Juan Manual Fangio and Michael Schumacher as the only drivers to win at least 5 World Championships and only Schumacher has more with a record 7. Of course, F1 fortunes can change quickly but at only 33-years of age and piloting the superlative Silver Arrow it is quite conceivable that Hamilton might tie or even break the great Schumacher’s seemingly untouchable benchmark for championships. We shall see. But for now let us appreciate one of F1’s greatest careers in any era and a man as suited to this period of the sport as Fangio, Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart, Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna and Schumacher were to theirs. Once again, in 2018 Ham is the man.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

Despite Hamilton’s massive career accomplishment it was not really Mercedes’ day. Both Hamilton and his wingman, Valtteri Bottas, struggled on the softer, quick-degrading Pirelli tires on offer for this high altitude race. Along with Hamilton’s subpar P4, Bottas would come home a lackluster P5 and a full lap down. No, the race belonged to Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who made a dynamite start from P2, pipping his pole-sitting teammate, Daniel Ricciardo, for a race lead he would never really relinquish. Verstapppen easily held off a late charge by a desperate Vettel to make it two wins in a row in Mexico, where the Red Bull really seems to thrive on the thin air, and log his fifth GP career victory. With a little better mount next year look for the Dutch wunderkind to challenge Hamilton and make a serious run for his first Drivers’ Championship.

But all was not completely well for Red Bull. With their veteran Ricciardo looking like he too would podium and doing his best to hold off Vettel for P2 as the race wound down, the Australian’s engine began to smoke ominously on Lap 62 of this 71-lap contest. Continue reading →

2018 F1 Grand Prix of Mexico — Qualifying results

Ricciardo seizes pole in Mexico with mega lap, leads Red Bull front row lockout pipping Verstappen in P2; Hamilton P3 ahead of Vettel in P4

Just when it seemed that Max Verstappen would earn his first ever Formula 1 pole in Saturday qualifying from Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City, the talented wunderkind saw that elusive goal snatched from him by his Red Bull teammate. Daniel Ricciardo bested Verstappen’s seemingly untouchable sub 1:15-second fast lap by 3-one hundredths, leaving the Aussie giddy with a new track record and the 21-year-old Dutchman suddenly deflated. After looking the fastest man up until that the very last moments of Q3 Vertsapen was also looking to become the youngest pole-sitter in the sport’s history. But that dream will have to wait at least a couple of more weeks. Despite Verstappen’s disappointment, Red Bull were thrilled to have the front row lockout at a track that really seems to suit their chassis and Ricciardo was especially elated. They may have issues holding those high flying positions in the race, however, because the Red Bulls’ straight line speed is still not nearly as good as Mercedes’ or Ferrari’s, not to mention the doubt added by Ricciardo’s recent string of DNFs due to poor reliability.

Speaking of Mercedes, their ace and points leader took another step towards clinching his fifth World Championship, taking the checkered flag just behind the two Red Bulls and in front of his last remaining title rival, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel. Hamilton will line up P3 on the grid right beside Vettel in P4 and if he scores a mere 5 points in the race he will mathematically eliminate his German rival and claim the 2018 Championship. That makes their respective getaways tomorrow all the more intriguing, especially considering Vettel’s recent propensity for crashing into his nearest opponents. Hamilton’s teammate, Valtteri Bottas, had the fifth fastest time, while Vettel’s stablemate and last week’s race winner in Texas, Kimi Raikkonen, could do no better than P6.

Further down the order, Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg and Carlos Sainz qualified P7 and P8 respectively, while the two Saubers both made it into Q3 for the first time since Russia. Charles Leclerc set the ninth fastest time while Marcus Ericsson will start in P10.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Mexican GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 3 Daniel Ricciardo RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 1:15.866 1:15.845 1:14.759 16
2 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 1:15.756 1:15.640 1:14.785 15
3 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:15.673 1:15.644 1:14.894 20
4 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 1:16.089 1:15.715 1:14.970 16
5 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:15.580 1:15.923 1:15.160 22
6 7 Kimi Räikkönen FERRARI 1:16.446 1:15.996 1:15.330 20
7 27 Nico Hulkenberg RENAULT 1:16.498 1:16.126 1:15.827 18
8 55 Carlos Sainz RENAULT 1:16.813 1:16.188 1:16.084 18
9 16 Charles Leclerc SAUBER FERRARI 1:16.862 1:16.320 1:16.189 20
10 9 Marcus Ericsson SAUBER FERRARI 1:16.701 1:16.633 1:16.513 20

Complete qualifying results available via Formula.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live at 2:30PM Eastern on ABC in here in the States. With so much on the line and so much speed amongst the front runners, the dice among the top 6 on the opening lap should be epic. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2018 F1 Grand Prix of Russia — Qualifying results

Bottas seizes pole in Sochi, Hamilton P2 for Mercedes front row lockout; Vettel P3 for potentially fading Ferrari

Valtteri Bottas upstaged his vaunted Mercedes teammate, Lewis Hamilton, by snatching pole for the Russian Grand Prix in Saturday qualifying. At the sunny, purpose-built Sochi Autodrom on the banks of the Black Sea, Bottas just seemed to have his Silver Arrow more hooked up in qualifying than Hamilton and set a lap time good enough for the top spot on the grid. In a rare occurrence in what has been a largely dominant season for the Englishman, Bottas was .25 seconds faster than his points-leading stablemate’s P2 time. It was the second pole of the season for the Finn and led to an auspicious Mercedes front row lockout, which should enable the team braintrust to engineer some solid strategy for the opening lap to try and keep the desperate Ferraris behind them on this tough-to-pass track.

Speaking of the Scuderia, their team ace Sebastian Vettel could only muster a time good enough for P3, while his wingman Kimi Raikkonen was slightly slower and will start from P4 on the grid. Ferrari will be hoping they can somehow show better race pace, as they looked thoroughly outclassed by Mercedes in quali. Vettel will be giving it his all to vault past Hamilton and somehow try and win the race. The German contender has seen his momentum badly balked in the last 5 contests where Hamilton has sandwiched four wins around Vettel’s lone victory in Belgium. With only five races remaining after tomorrow’s Russian GP, Ferrari and Vettel really need a solid result lest they see yet another promising season end up succumbing to the might of Mercedes.

Outside the elite top 4 starters the grid was pretty well jumbled by the dreaded engine penalty hammer, something that happens with depressing regularity at this time of year under the current regulations. Continue reading →

2018 F1 Grand Prix of Belgium — Results & aftermath

Vettel survives chaotic start to dominate at Spa, Hamilton a distant runner-up as championship tightens yet again; Vertsappen salvages P3 at home race

The action at the Belgian Grand Prix was all front-loaded with a large and frightening multi-car opening lap shunt starting the proceedings off in chaos and then the race settling down to a serenely dominating performance by Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel. The crash began when Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg misjudged his breaking going into Turn 1 La Source and plowed into the back of McLaren’s Fernando Alonso, sending the Spaniard airborne. Alonso came down on top of the Sauber of Charles Leclerc, showing for the first time since its introduction this year the efficacy of the Halo head protection device. Leclerc could well have had cockpit intrusion by Alonso’s car as it fell on top of him but the Halo successfully deflected any potential contact to the Frenchman’s otherwise exposed head. Hulkenberg was assessed the blame for the accident and rightfully so. The veteran German, who is not usually a reckless driver, will face a 10-spot grid penalty in Italy next weekend as well as 3 points on his super license. In addition to Hulkenberg, Alonso and Leclerc, Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen and Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo were also caught up in the mess, somewhat victims of their poor starting positions due to the scrambled wet weather conditions in Saturday qualifying They came together harshly in the resultant accordion effect and Raikkonen suffered a puncture and rear wing and floor damage and Ricciardo’s rear wing was completely ruined after someone had knocked him into Raikkonen from behind. That necessitated time consuming repairs during the Safety Car period, particularly a complete rear wing change for Ricciardo that put the Aussie a lap down. But while both soldiered on gamely their races were inevitably ruined. Raikkonen and Riccardo would both be forced to retire before the end of the race.

Meanwhile the fi the race might as well have been in a different postal code as neither Mercedes pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton or the man starting beside him from P2, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, were effected in the least by the mayhem behind them. Waging their own private championship battle and oblivious to the unfolding carnage, the two fierce championship rivals rocketed through Radillon and Eau Rouge and up the Kimmel Straight at full chat bracketed by two game but overmatched Force Indias. There Vettel made his move, scooting by Hamilton to grab the lead of the race before the Safety Car was deployed. That meant Vettel could dictate the restart when the Safety Car came in at the end of Lap 4. And while he did his best to roar away when he got the green flag the German could not quite escape Hamilton’s pursuing Mercedes. Continue reading →

2018 F1 Grand Prix of Germany — Results & aftermath

Hamilton drives from P14 to victory in damp Hockenheim; Bottas P2, Raikkonen P3; Vettel crashes out from the lead late in race

The script flipped for Ferrari and Mercedes at the German Grand Prix due to a little wet weather at the Hockenheimring in Sunday’s German Grand Prix. With the two top contenders in this year’s Formula 1 Championship looking like going in different directions due to their recent race results, Ferrari’s ace Sebastian Vettel started from pole and seemed a lock to consolidate his position as the points leader and expand on the team’s lead in the Constructors’ Championship. Meanwhile, Mercedes’ ace Lewis Hamilton was stuck back in P14 on the grid after a hydraulic failure saw the Englishman bounced out of qualifying in Q1 on Saturday. It would have to be another massive recovery drive for Hamilton to get up to his teammate Valtteri Bottas, flying the team flag up in P2, with Vettel’s wingman, Kimi Raikkonen, looking to attack his fellow Finn from just behind in P3. And when the lights went out for the start that’s how things looked like they’d shake out.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

Vettel and Bottas both got away well from the line, holding position and keeping Raikkonen just behind them who in turn was able to fight off the Red Bull of the newly circumspect Max Verstappen. Meanwhile, Hamilton began carving his way through the field, putting his superior Mercedes power and chassis to good use against a host of backmarkers. By Lap 8 Hamilton was already up to P8 and by Lap 11 he had taken P6 by passing the Renault of Nico Hulkenberg as if the German were standing still. By Lap 14 he had overtaken the Haas of Kevin Magnussen for P5 and set of for Verstappen and possible podium aspirations to try to salvage the day. And now the first round of tire stops for the frontrunners began, as on Lap 15 Raikkonen pitted for Softs in an apparent attempt to ensnare Mercedes into a similar early move for Bottas.

But Bottas’ initial Ultrasoft Pirellis retained their advantage and there was no need for Mercedes to take Ferrari’s bait. Even so, while Bottas was bale to keep Verstappen safely behind him in P3 the Mercedes #2 didn’t seem to have anything for the ultra-confident Vettel running several second to the good out front, well out of DRS range. However, Ferrari’s split strategy gambit began to backfire as Raikkonen’s pace actually seemed to drag Hamilton up to the front with him. When Vettel finally pitted on Lap 26, he did manage to come out ahead of Hamilton, still running on his initial set of the harder Soft tires, but he was behind his teammate Raikkonen. Bottas was now running from the lead and stretched his initial stint on Ultras until Lap 29, when he pitted for fresh Soft rubber. It looked as though it might be terrible timing when Daniel Ricciardo’s Red Bull, himself moving up through the field after engine penalties pushed him back on the grid, came to an abrupt stop on track. But the Aussie’s stationary Red Bull was able to be retrieved without a Safety Car, saving Mercedes and Bottas any headaches or heartbreak.

With Raikkonen now leading the race and Vettel in P2 it became apparent that Ferrari had miscalculated because Vettel was unable to take advantage of his fresher tires while Raikkonen was holding him up. After much cajoling by Vettel to the pit wall and a needlessly coy message to the Iceman by Scuderia chief strategist Jock Clear, Raikkonen ceded the top spot to his Championship leading teammate on Lap 39. Clearly that decision should have been made earlier and/or putting Raikkonen ahead of Vettel should never have been made in the first place. Somewhat remarkably Hamilton still hadn’t pitted while all this Ferrari drama was going on. Instead he simply ran competitive laps and held his position at P3. But by Lap 42 he was definitively holding up Bottas with shagged tires so he finally dove for the pits for fresh rubber, culminating a remarkable opening stint. By playing the long game and starting on the Softs, unlike the other main contenders, this meant he now had on the high performing Ultra Soft tires. This was an all the more significant decision — and a major team gamble — as foreboding rain clouds surged around the forests of Hockenheim. With a clean stop, Hamilton came back in P5.

On Lap 44 the threat of rain finally came good with light showers near the tricky hairpin. Some teams gambled on pitting for Intermediate wet tires including, surprisingly, Vertsappen from P3 who then came out behind Hamilton in P5. But the track was never fully wet and by Lap 49 the rain had decreased to the pint where it was clear that was huge mistake. Verstappen promptly pitted to get back to the Ultras, losing no more positions at least. The track did remain treacherous to those on the proper slicks, with perhaps Hamilton’s fresher, softer tires giving him some advantage. After some nervy moments for all the frontrunners it was Vettel who was the man who surprisingly cracked. The usually supremely confident 4-time World Champion, likely feeling the heat from the the surging Hamilton, overcooked it going into the tricky Sachs Turn in the Stadium section on Lap 52 and speared off the road through the gravel and into the barriers. With Vettel’s Ferrari now buried, just like that race and points leader had thrown away a nearly certain victory for himself and the team.

That brought out the Safety Car. Ferrari tired to fire up some of their patented strategy magic by bringing Raikkonen in for new tires but on this day all their moves were busts. That ceded the lead to Hamilton of all people, who had been abruptly waved off from pitting again at the last second and stayed out instead. That meant Raikkonen rejoined in P3 behind Bottas. After some tense jousting between the Mercedes teammates, Bottas was given team orders to stand down and hold position against Raikkonen. With the threat of rain omnipresent but holding off in the final laps, Lewis Hamilton held on for perhaps the most surprising and significant win of his career, driving back from a P14 start to victory and taking back the Championship lead for both himself and, thanks also to Bottas’ P2 and Vettel’s DNF, team Mercedes’ lead, as well. As Hamilton frolicked in stunned disbelieving joy on the top step of the podium the skies opened up and poured down on the resourceful and lucky Englishman, washing away the doubts that had consumed him over the last few races and leaving him poised to seize another World Championship at the expense of the suddenly mortal Vettel.

Top 10 finishers of the German GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 67 1:32:29.845 25
2 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 67 +4.535s 18
3 7 Kimi Räikkönen FERRARI 67 +6.732s 15
4 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 67 +7.654s 12
5 27 Nico Hulkenberg RENAULT 67 +26.609s 10
6 8 Romain Grosjean HAAS FERRARI 67 +28.871s 8
7 11 Sergio Perez FORCE INDIA MERCEDES 67 +30.556s 6
8 31 Esteban Ocon FORCE INDIA MERCEDES 67 +31.750s 4
9 9 Marcus Ericsson SAUBER FERRARI 67 +32.362s 2
10 28 Brendon Hartley SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO HONDA 67 +34.197s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

Notes: Ferrari boss Sergio Marchionne was replaced as CEO of the Fiat Chrysler auto group over the weekend after falling gravely ill following shoulder surgery some 3 weeks ago. All of us here at Man’s Fine Life wish the 66-year-old Italian industrialist and savior of both Fiat and Chrysler companies only the best and hope he has a full recovery no matter how grim things may look at the moment. Gianni Agnelli’s grandson, John Elkann, was appointed new Chairman of Ferrari.

The next race is in but a week’s time — the Hungarian Grand Prix from the Hungaroring. It’s the last contest before the 3-week summer break. So catch it if you can to see whether Hamilton can parlay his unlikely victory into a proper winning streak or Vettel can regain his mastery after his fumble in Germany. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2018 F1 Grand Prix of Austria — Results & aftermath

Verstappen seizes opportunity in chaotic Austrian GP to win at Red Bull Ring; Ferrari capitalize on stunning Mercedes double DNF as Raikkonen and Vettel take P2 & P3

Under punishingly hot conditions at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg Austria on Sunday, Red Bull’s own Max Verstappen capitalized on a chaotic race and parlayed a dynamite start into an unexpected victory in front of a sea of orange-clad fans. With the perfect vantage point of his P4 position on the grid, the Dutch wunderkind watched as Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen attacked both front row Mercedes by forcing his Prancing Horse between the Silver Arrows of pole-sitter Valtteri Bottas and P2 starter Lewis Hamilton. For a brief moment it looked as if that bold and ballsy effort might work but Bottas was able to recover and force Raikonnen off the circuit as Hamilton sped away into the distance. That left Raikonnen at the mercy of Max, as Verstappen was able to capitalize on the veteran Finn’s loss of momentum and pass him for P3 before the eventful first lap was even half over.

It looked as if Hamilton’s and Mercedes preferred script for the win was playing out perfectly but the track conditions made extra demands of the equipment on this very hot day. In a harbinger of things to come, first the factory Renault of Nico Hulkenberg suffered a prolonged and smokey engine failure on Lap 12. It proved to be the first of many retirements in this race, none more astonishing then when Bottas suffered complete hydraulic failure just two laps later and was forced to pull his car off into a partial escape road. It was a stunning turn of events for the pole-sitter and yet another perplexing bit of very bad luck for Bottas in what is turning into something of a snakebite season for him. Even worse for Mercedes they were once again caught flat-footed when a Virtual Safety Car was deployed to slow the field so Bottas’ car could be retrieved. The top contenders — Verstappen, his Red Bull teammate Daniel Ricciardo and the two Ferrari men Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel — all dove for the pits for fresh rubber, dispensing with their pit stops on this potential one-stopper while the race was essentially neutralized. In an inexplicably defensive decision Mercedes kept Hamilton out circulating on track at reduced speed. This made it much more likely that the English championship points leader would be forced to pit under less advantageous green flag conditions down the road. I any event his rivals had all made up valuable track position on him with their stops during the VSC.

So when Hamilton was called in for his tire change on Lap 25 he had only a 13-second cushion. And with a roughly 20-second pit delta even the typically efficient Mercedes pit work couldn’t keep Hamilton in the lead. In fact, he came out in P4 when all was said and done, behind the new leader Verstappen, Ricciardo in P2 and Raikkonen in P3. With Bottas out Mercedes were trying to cover being ganged up on by the two car teams of Red Bull and Ferrari if they split their strategies. But that didn’t materialize and it proved to be the wrong call, which the Mercedes brain trust admitted to a highly frustrated Hamilton.

In front of the lone Mercedes, Raikkonen hunted down Riccardo, whose rear tires were blistering badly, passing him for P2 on lap 38. Blistered rears were an issue that would begin to afflict the entire field as the race wore on at this high speed and very short circuit.  Ricciardo was forced to pit for fresh rubber on Lap 39, seemingly gifting back P3 to Hamilton. But Vettel forced his way by Hamilton for that position on the very same lap, as the Merc appeared to already be losing its rears in the heat. By Lap 53 Hamilton had to pit again, once more conceding valuable track position. Hamilton came out in P5 behind a seemingly rejuvenated Ricciardo. But just as it seemed the affable Aussie was going to take off and try to force his way onto the podium he suffered a sudden engine failure at the start of Lap 54. As a disconsolate Ricciardo climbed out of his stricken Red Bull the team had to be looking at Verstappen’s telemetry and wondering whether their bad luck at their home track was fated to continue.

But Hamilton’s good fortune at the expense of Ricciardo’s DNF was short lived. In an unbelievable turn of events Hamilton’s engine also let go10 laps later while running solidly in P4. While it was always going to be a race of damage limitation after the ill-fated decision not to stop under the VSC, Mercedes now had to swallow the bitterest pill of seeing both their cars scoring precisely zero points. It ended a 33-race points scoring streak for the factory team and proved to be calamitous when the race results were tallied. Verstappen finished off a race he controlled beautifully from the front for the majority of the contest with an authoritative victory. And Ferrari saw their men Raikkonen and Vettel take P2 and P3 respectively, a massive result fir the fabled team from Maranello. With their arch-rivals scoring nothing, it catapulted Ferrari into the lead of the all-important Constructors’ Championship by 10 points. Vettel also regained the points lead in the Drivers’ competition. And while that was only a 1 point margin in what has been a see-saw battle between four-time champions all season long one almost felt that the gut punch that Mercedes received in Austria could be more significant to the overall direction of these two powerhouse teams’ and their long term fortunes.

The disasters experienced by so many of the top contenders proved a veritable boon for the mid-field running teams. Haas saw the biggest benefit from others’ misery as Romain Grosjean finally put together a composed drive and came across the line in a stunning P4. His teammate Kevin Magnussen finished right behind him in P5 making it a banner day for the young American team. Force India also flourished due to the bad luck of their nearest rivals, especially pointless Renault, after looking utterly lost in qualifying. Esteban Ocon took P6 and Sergio Perez was P7 despite starting near the rear, a mega-valuable points haul for a team that had been struggling and appears to be up for sale. Fernando Alonso, who started from the pit lane, managed to salvage a remarkable P8 for McLaren, while Sauber had a rare double points day with rookie phenom Charles Leclerc taking P9 and Marcus Ericsson coming home in P10.

Top 10 finishers of the Austrian GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 71 1:21:56.024 25
2 7 Kimi Räikkönen FERRARI 71 +1.504s 18
3 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 71 +3.181s 15
4 8 Romain Grosjean HAAS FERRARI 70 +1 lap 12
5 20 Kevin Magnussen HAAS FERRARI 70 +1 lap 10
6 31 Esteban Ocon FORCE INDIA MERCEDES 70 +1 lap 8
7 11 Sergio Perez FORCE INDIA MERCEDES 70 +1 lap 6
8 14 Fernando Alonso MCLAREN RENAULT 70 +1 lap 4
9 16 Charles Leclerc SAUBER FERRARI 70 +1 lap 2
10 9 Marcus Ericsson SAUBER FERRARI 70 +1 lap 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is but a week away as F1 completes its unprecedented “triple header” — the historic British Grand Prix from Silverstone. Can Mercedes recover from this weekend’s fiasco or have Ferrari now got their number? Hope to see you then to find out!

2018 F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain — Results & aftermath

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

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

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

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

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

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

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

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

Top 10 finishers of the Bahrain GP:

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

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

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