Tag Archives: Max Verstappen

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 the United States — Results & aftermath

Raikkonen breaks win drought with victory in Texas stymieing Mercedes celebration; Verstappen banks another wonder drive for P2; Hamilton a disappointing P3 as Vettel lives to fight another day after spin

One of the more captivating and enjoyable Grand Prix of the 2018 season ended up providing one of the more popular results, as well — a win by Ferrari’s hard luck Kimi Raikkonen at the United States Grand Prix on Sunday. Racing brilliantly at the beautifully designed Circuit of the Americas, Raikkonen passed the pole-sitting Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton going into the uphill Turn 1 on the opening lap. The Finnish veteran refused to be shoved out of the way by the aggressive Englishman, commandeered the optimal apex and exit angle and promptly pulled away from the normally superlative Silver Arrow and into the race lead. Ferrari’s strategy of starting Raikkonen on the Ultra Soft Pirelli tires paid instant dividends in that high traction moment against Hamilton’s Soft-running Merc and Raikkonen instantly established a commanding race lead. But Ferrari’s opening lap joy was short-lived, as their team leader and sole remaining championship contender, Sebastian Vettel, once again could not control his aggression. The German 4-time Champion, desperate to keep his slim title hopes alive and recover from a foolish 3-spot grid penalty incurred by speeding under a Red Flag in Friday practice, diced with the Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo as he tried to pull himself up from P5. But Vettel pushed too hard, wheel banging with the tough-to-pass Aussie and coming off second best with yet another catastrophic spin. Just as he had done in Suzuka two weeks ago, Vettel watched as the field streamed by him. He rejoined far down the order and another difficult day of recovery in front of him.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

The race’s first major strategy decision came on Lap 9 when Ricciardo’s Red Bull ground to a halt on track and necessitated a Virtual Safety Car. Told to do the opposite of the lead Ferrari, Hamilton watched Raikkonen jink slightly to the pits but then continue on. So Hamilton dove in for his first tire change for the Soft compound. It seemed a shrewd move by the Mercedes pit wall, as their ace only lost a fraction of the time to the field under yellow as he would have during a normal stop. However, by pitting so early it put the possibility one-stop strategy into serious doubt. Hamilton rejoined in P4 behind his teammate Valtteri Bottas, who lost a position to the hard charging Red Bull of Max Verstappen on an undercut during their own respective pit stop sequences. Amazingly Verstappen had battled his way up to P2 from way back in P18 on the grid yet another passing clinic by the just-turned-21 Dutch phenom.

Hamilton did indeed have to make a second stop for fresh rubber late in the race on Lap 41, unlike Raikkonen and Verstappen who were able to make the one-stopper work by running longer opening stints. Continue reading →

2018 F1 Grand Prix of the United States — Qualifying results

With championship in sight Hamilton nabs pole at COTA; Vettel qualifies P2 but face 3-spot drop; Raikkonen best Bottas for P3

With his potential fifth Drivers’ World Championship tantalizingly close, Mercedes’ ace Lewis Hamilton did his best to make that illustrious dream come true by setting a new track record lap at the Circuit of the Americas on Saturday to take pole for tomorrow’s United States Grand Prix. As if emerging on the top of the pylon in a very tight and tense qualifying session at COTA was not a favorable enough omen, the English points leader had the double satisfaction of seeing his last remaining title rival, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, not only come home runner up to him over 6-tenths behind in P2 but also facing a 3-grid spot penalty for a Red Flag speeding infraction in Friday practice. Once again the German superstar, who is also dreaming of a fifth championship, proved to be his own worst enemy by needlessly picking up a penalty that will make winning in Austin extraordinarily difficult. And trailing Hamilton by a whopping 67 points with only four races to go including tomorrow’s contest Vettel really needs to compete for the win in every remaining GP if he’s to keep his title hopes alive. Vettel will have to start P5 come race day tomorrow and hope that he can somehow surge to the front without making any more mental mistakes that might just seal the deal for Hamilton on Sunday.

Vettel’s outgoing teammate Kimi Raikkonen put in a solid effort to qualify P3, which could enable Ferrari to try to play some games to try and bring Vettel further to the front, especially as Hamilton’s wingman Valtteri Bottas could qualify no better than P4. Look for the Finn to be the meat in a Ferrari sandwich going into the steep uphill Turn 1 here at COTA. Continue reading →

2018 F1 Grand Prix of Japan — Results & aftermath

Hamilton cruises to victory in Japan putting Championship within reach; Bottas a hard fought P2 over Verstappen’s incident-filled P3 run; error-prone Vettel sinks to P6

It was a tale of two championships going in dramatically different directions at the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday. For points leader and Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton the weekend culminated in a flawless run from the 80th pole of his career, pure domination for the entire race and a relatively easy victory at the tricky figure-8 Suzuka circuit. It was Hamilton’s fourth win on the trot, sixth out of the last seven contests and his remarkable fifth career win in Japan.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

For his nearest pursuer, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, the team’s recent missteps, highlighted by Saturday’s inexplicable decision to go out on wet tires in the decisive qualifying session on a drying track, seemed to result in the German 4-time World Champion trying far too hard far too early instead of biding his time to maximize his result and his points. Vettel was in the unenviable position of starting in P9 on the grid after his team’s tire miscalculation and drove well and with the proper amount of aggression at the start of the race to pass a passel of slower cars in quick order. By Lap 3 he was already up to P4, having gotten by his teammate Kimi Raikkonen. That put him directly behind the third place Red Bull of Max Verstappen when a Safety Car came out caused by Haas’s Kevin Magnussen’s prolonged puncture spewing copious debris all over on the track. In his typically aggressive fashion, Verstappen had already had a scrap with Raikkonen, going off the track and rejoining in an unsafe manner while trying to hold off the Finn’s Ferrari. And during the Safety Car period Verstappen was handed a 5-second time penalty by the stewards for that infraction.

But whether Vettel did not get that information from his team or chose to ignore it the Ferrari man decided to battle Verstappen for the position on track in a seemingly desperate attempt to get closer to the two front running Mercedes rather than be patient, stay close to the Dutchman and let the eventual penalty take care of the overtake for him. Continue reading →

2018 F1 Grand Prix of Japan — Qualifying results

Mercedes guess right to help Hamilton seize pole at soggy Suzuka, Bottas P2 for Silver Arrows lockout; Ferrari miscalculate badly leading to Vettel starting P9; Red Bull’s Verstappen qualifies P3

Lewis Hamilton scored his remarkable 80th pole position at soggy Suzuka during Saturday qualifying for tomorrow’s Japanese Grand Prix. The Mercedes ace continued his strong run down the stretch of this 2018 season, having won a dominating five out of the last six races. The English points leader was also helped immensely by his team’s correct take on the damp weather that so often proves decisive at this fabled circuit. Running ahead of but close to Ferrari going into Q3 and with the previous two quali sessions rain-affected to some degree, Mercedes decided to keep their men on slicks for the final session. Meanwhile Ferrari gambled and lost with the weather forecast, sending their duo of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen out on Intermediate wet Pirellis for a track that stubbornly refused to stay rainy enough to utilize. Instead Ferrari quickly realized their error and called their men back to the pits, a crucial loss of time in the short final 12-minute session. So while Hamilton and his teammate Valtteri Bottas were already setting fast banker laps in case more rain might be on the way, the Prancing Horses found themselves seriously behind the 8 ball.

And as so often happens when an all-or-nothing wager goes south, Vettel was unable to hook up a clean lap when the track was at its best, had to come in to top up on fuel and rejoined at the very moment that the skies decided open up again. Facing an uphill fight for the Championship with only 5 more races to go and Hamilton leading him by 50 points, Vettel’s car could find no grid and he could do no better than the P9 lap that his untidy earlier run earned him. Coming at a circuit where passing is extraordinarily difficult and the race is won from pole about 50% of the time, Vettel faces a long day in the saddle trying to do damage control and keep his title hopes alive. In starting from pole, on the other hand, Hamilton is firmly in the catbird seat. His teammate Bottas will start in P2 for yet another Silver Arrows front row lockout, while Vettel’s wingman Kimi Raikkonen will try to keep in touch with the leaders from P4 and hope that Sebastian can meet up with him somewhere down the road.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was third quickest and will line up alongside Raikkonen in P3. But he may also be worried about the reliability of his mount after seeing his teammate Daniel Riccardo’s car suffer some sort of engine failure in Q1. Haas’s Romain Grosjean scored an opportunistic P5 spot on the grid amid Vettel’s and Riccardo’s respective misfortunes. Toro Rosso also had a good day with Brendan Hartley getting a much needed confidence boost by out-qualifying his teammate Pierre Gasly, P6 to P7. The Force Indias of Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez rounded out the top 10 in P8 and P10 respectively. But Ocon will be docked three grid positions for failing to slow adequately during a red flag period during Free Practice 3.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Japanese GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:28.702 1:28.017 1:27.760 11
2 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:29.297 1:27.987 1:28.059 12
3 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 1:29.480 1:28.849 1:29.057 10
4 7 Kimi Räikkönen FERRARI 1:29.631 1:28.595 1:29.521 13
5 8 Romain Grosjean HAAS FERRARI 1:29.724 1:29.678 1:29.761 17
6 28 Brendon Hartley SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO HONDA 1:30.248 1:29.848 1:30.023 15
7 10 Pierre Gasly SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO HONDA 1:30.137 1:29.810 1:30.093 15
8 31 Esteban Ocon FORCE INDIA MERCEDES 1:29.899 1:29.538 1:30.126 13
9 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 1:29.049 1:28.279 1:32.192 13
10 11 Sergio Perez FORCE INDIA MERCEDES 1:30.247 1:29.567 1:37.229 16

Complete qualifying results available via Formula.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live starting at 1AM Eastern on ESPN2 here in the States. With rain just as likely to throw more strategic curveballs as it did today I hope you’ll join me then — or at least set the DVR for this overnighter — to find out how this Far East battle shakes out!

2018 F1 Grand Prix of Russia — Results & aftermath

Mercedes’ Hamilton wins in Russia via team tactics at expense of P2 Bottas; Vettel salvages P3 for Ferrari, Verstappen fights from P19 to P5

Mercedes acted with ruthless efficiency to thwart any threat from Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel during the Russian Grand Prix at Sochi Autodrom on Sunday, utilizing team tactics in an unsentimental way to insure victory for their ace, Lewis Hamilton. With their other driver Valtteri Bottas having won the pole and leading the race after the first and only round of pit stops, the team ordered Bottas to step aside for the championship points leader nearly midway through, ceding the lead and subsequently acting as a blocker to Vettel’s Prancing Horse for the remainder of the contest. It wasn’t the most popular move to make, as it seemed unfair to the Finnish driver who hadn’t put a foot wrong all weekend and was seeking his first win of the season. But through the cold-eyed prism of the overall Constructors’ and Drivers’ Championship it was the right call.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

The Ferraris of Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen lacked the pure pace of the Mercedes Silver Arrows and could never get close enough to get by Bottas for the remainder of the race let alone challenge Hamilton. Afterwards a subdued Hamilton credited Bottas’s “gentlemanly” teamwork for his victory, the Englishman’s eighth of the season and fifth out of the last six contests. That stunning run of success has now ballooned Hamilton’s lead over Vettel in the Drivers’ Championship to a whopping 50 points with just five GP remaining. Mercedes also pulled away from Ferrari a little more in the Constructors’ and now lead by 53 points. But Bottas could be forgiven if all that good news for the team and Lewis came as cold comfort for him after having a chance for victory snuffed out by the having to move aside for the “greater good.”

A lot of the intrigue at Mercedes was caused by the near-miraculous drive of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who was forced to start form way back in 19th on the grid after several engine modification penalties. But the Dutch wunderkind, who turned 21 on race day, was not about to let technical infractions spoil his party. Continue reading →

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 Singapore — Results & aftermath

Hamilton cruises to victory, extends championship lead; Verstappen finishes P2 ahead of disheartened Vettel in P3

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton capped his perfect weekend with an unassailable drive to victory at the Marina Bay Street Circuit in Singapore on Sunday, making the most of his dominant pole position as a springboard to get away and stay away from any and all challengers. Better yet for Hamilton, his main title rival, Sebastian Vettel, could not overcome his P3 qualifying effort and was unable to pass Red Bull’s Max Verstappen on this very tight track either via pit strategy or pure pace. With the Dutch wunderkind battling engine gremlins and preserving his tires in a very poised and mature effort throughout the race, Vertsappen successfully held off Vettel to finish P2. Most pivotally Verstappen got the better of a very close encounter when he was just coming out of the pits on cold tires on Lap 18 and Vettel, who had already pitted 3 laps earlier, desperately tried to steam past him in the chicane. Unable to get that move done or really challenge Verstappen again after that his eventual P3 finish dealt the German’s title hopes a blow, as Hamilton pulled out his points lead to 40 with the victory.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

Both men are hunting their fifth F1 World Championship but Hamilton has now won four out of the last six contests and while Vettel has won this other two he has seen his deficit grow to an alarming level with only six more Grand Prix remaining in 2018. Worse yet for the Scuderia, the Ferrari SF71H no longer seems to be keeping up with the Mercedes W09’s continuing improvement. Vettel also appears to have lost a bit of faith in the team, frequently questioning strategy and sometimes attempting to dictate it from the driver’s seat. After their disappointment in Singapore the reality is stark: Ferrari are running out of time to simultaneously ramp up their performance and make the savvy strategy calls that will enable their superb ace to return to being a true threat to Hamilton and Mercedes.

Mercedes’ second driver Valtteri Bottas also outscored outgoing Ferrari #2 Kimi Raikkonen, P4 to P5, further boosting Mercedes lead over Ferrari to to 37 points in the all important Constructors’ Standings. Daniel Ricciardo couldn’t overcome his lackluster qualifying effort and held station to finish a desultory P6 despite hounding both Raikkonen and Bottas in the closing laps. While Singapore is often incident filled it really is exceedingly hard to overtake here. Fernando Alsonso had a great day for himself and team McLaren at his last Singapore GP, coming home “best of the rest” by finishing an impressive P7. That was ahead of the Renaults of Carlos Sainz in P8 and Nico Hulkenberg in P10. And rookie Charles Leclerc gave Ferrari no reason to doubt their decision to promote him into the factory team next year at Raikkonen’s expense. The talented young Monegasque drove a solid race and kept his nose clean to take P9 at the finish.

While there was not much action among the elite racers at the front the midfield and back markers provided many thrills and spills. Sergio Perez had a crazily self-destructive race, shoving his Force India teammate Esteban Ocon into the wall on the opening lap to bring out a Safety Car. He then engaged in a multi-lap dice with the super slow Williams of Sergei Sirotkin becoming so frustrated that when he finally got the opportunity to pass the Russian he cut him off impetuously and caused a collision. That moment of red mist caused Perez’s Force India to suffer a puncture and also earned the Mexican a stop and hold penalty that doomed him to last place. Largely due to Perez’s out of control behavior Force India scored zero points after qualifying P7 and P9. That had team boss Otmar Szafnauer muttering about reinstalling team orders on his unruly charges.

Top 10 finishers for the Singapore GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 61 1:51:11.611 25
2 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 61 +8.961s 18
3 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 61 +39.945s 15
4 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 61 +51.930s 12
5 7 Kimi Räikkönen FERRARI 61 +53.001s 10
6 3 Daniel Ricciardo RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 61 +53.982s 8
7 14 Fernando Alonso MCLAREN RENAULT 61 +103.011s 6
8 55 Carlos Sainz RENAULT 60 +1 lap 4
9 16 Charles Leclerc SAUBER FERRARI 60 +1 lap 2
10 27 Nico Hulkenberg RENAULT 60 +1 lap 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in two weeks time from Sochi Autodrom in Russia. Can Vettel and Ferrari get back to their winning ways or will Hamilton use his superlative Mercedes power to put the hammer down on Vettel’s championship dreams? Hope to see you then  to find out!

2018 F1 Grand Prix of Singapore — Qualifying results

Mercedes’ Hamilton lays down wonder lap for pole in Singapore; Verstappen starts P2 for Red Bull besting Ferrari’s Vettel in P3

After years of sruggle in Singapore at what has often been described as their  bogey track Mercedes and their ace driver Lews Hamilton altered the plot of that tired old script by seizing pole under the lights at the beautiful and tricky Marina Bay street circuit in Saturday qualifying. Hamilton hooked up a wonder lap midway throygh Q3, smashing the previous track record with a stunning 1:36.015 and flummoxing his closest rival, Ferrari’s Sebastain Vettel. While Hamilton could not improve his time with nearly half the session remaining and so remained vulnerable to someone bettering it no other competitor could. Only Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who has a decidedly mixed record on tight street circuits, came closest for P2 but was still over 3-tenths adrift of the Englishman’s blazing time.

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel appeared to fall victim to poor track managment by the team and more than once found his best efforts stymied by coming up on ill-timed traffic, which obvioulsy cost him valuable time. That said, it didn’t really look like Vettel’s Prancing Horse had anything for Hamilton’s Silver Arrow on thos day and the German could only salvage P3. The Ferrari’s then saw themselves split by Mercedes #2 man Valtteri Bottas who outqulaified his fellow Finn, Kimi Raikkonen, P4 to P5. It was also announced in the two weeks after the  Italian GP that Raikkonen will be out at Ferrari in 2019 and the young Sauber driver Charles Leclerc will take his place. Raikkonen will go to Sauber on a 2-year deal. That’s a hefty demotion for the Iceman down to a certain-to-be non-competitive car when he has still been driving decently this year in support of Vettel. But Ferrari have clearly decided that Leclerc is a special talent and youth must be served.

Lining up further back on the grid, Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Daniel Ricicardo could only muster the sixth fatstest time, while the Force Indias of Sergio Perez and Esteban Ocon qualified P7 and P9 respectively. Haas’s Romain Grosjean split those Force Indias and will start P8 and Renault ‘s Nico Hulkenberg qualified P10.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Singapore GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:39.403 1:37.344 1:36.015 17
2 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 1:38.751 1:37.214 1:36.334 14
3 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 1:38.218 1:37.876 1:36.628 17
4 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:39.291 1:37.254 1:36.702 20
5 7 Kimi Räikkönen FERRARI 1:38.534 1:37.194 1:36.794 17
6 3 Daniel Ricciardo RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER 1:38.153 1:37.406 1:36.996 12
7 11 Sergio Perez FORCE INDIA MERCEDES 1:38.814 1:38.342 1:37.985 19
8 8 Romain Grosjean HAAS FERRARI 1:38.685 1:38.367 1:38.320 15
9 31 Esteban Ocon FORCE INDIA MERCEDES 1:38.912 1:38.534 1:38.365 20
10 27 Nico Hulkenberg RENAULT 1:38.932 1:38.450 1:38.588 18

Complete qualifying results availabe via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN2 starting at 8AM Eastern here in the States. Hope to see you then to find out whether Hamilton  can keep his momentum going and put a stranglhold on the title chase or Vettel can force his way to the front and back into the winner’s circle.