Tag Archives: McLaren

2022 F1 Grand Prix of Mexico City — Results & aftermath

Red Bull’s Verstappen cruises to victory in Mexico City; Hamilton out-duels teammate Russell P2 to P4 in strong showing for Mercedes; Perez P3, Ferrari far off the pace

2022 Formula 1 Champion Max Verstappen continued his winning ways at Sunday’s Mexico City Grand Prix, setting a new record  with his 14th victory of the season and doing so with relative ease. With the peerless Red Bull ace starting from pole, the now two-time champ lead the field from the moment the lights went out in this 71-lap contest at Autódromo Hermanos Rodriguez and never really looked back. Verstappen made the most of a one-stop Soft-to-Medium Pirelli tire strategy on a day where tire degradation was less than expected and Mercedes appeared to guess wrong by betting on the Hard tires for their second stint after starting on the Mediums. With Verstappen’s Mediums holding up well despite being swapped out on Lap 25, it was really all over but the shouting as both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell were left to lament lack of performance on their Hards in their radio calls back to the Mercedes pit wall while the lead Red Bull disappeared into the distance. Hamilton had executed a flawless pass for P2 on stablemate Russell on the opening lap, forcing his junior teammate to ride the curbs off the racing line and seizing P2 from Russell, but the English seven-time champ was left over 15-seconds adrift of Verstappen by the time the checkers flew.

That opening lap tussle with his Silver Arrows teammate cost Russell not only a position to Hamilton but also a podium, as the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez was able to capitalize on that pivotal loss of momentum and take P3 from Russell shortly thereafter on Lap 1 to the delight of his countrymen in the stands. The veteran Mexican pilot then followed suit on tire strategy to his teammate, having come in two laps earlier on Lap 23 for the same Soft-to-Medium switch. Perez used that tire advantage to run away from Russell and secure a satisfying P3 podium finish at his home race. Further back of the top four, Ferrari had a majorly off day and were never seriously in contention. Perhaps dialing back their engines to save them for another day or perhaps just struggling at the high altitude and thin atmosphere of this Mexico City circuit, the Prancing Horses never really looked like contenders. Carlos Sainz struggled to a P5 finish some 9-seconds behind Russell and Charles Leclerc, who seems to have lost a bit of the fire since his championship dreams were extinguished a few races back, muddled through to P6. One can only hope that Ferrari put up more of a fight once back at sea level for the next race in Brazil in a couple of weeks.

Rounding out the Top 10, McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo drove his best race of the season, making a slew of aggressive overtaking maneuvers after wheel banging contact with AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda on Lap 51. Despite being handed a 10-second time penalty as a result of the contretemps, the affable Aussie drove like a man possessed to secure P7, making the most of a final stint on Soft tires to maximize the McLaren’s performance and dust his midfield competitors. Teammate Lando Norris was for once overshadowed by Ricciardo and could only muster a P9 finish, still adding up to solid points for McLaren in their battle with Alpine for fourth in the Contractors Championship. They were aided in that quest by Alpine’s increasing reliability issues, which saw Fernando Alonso retire with an engine issue with just six laps to go. That left Esteban Ocon as the lone Alpine to score, coming home P8, and it will be all to play for for the big fourth-place payout between the French team and McLaren in the final two rounds. Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas hung on for the last point in P10, not really having the race pace in his C42 despite qualifying P6.

Top 10 finishers of the Mexico City GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING RBPT 71 1:38:36.729 25
2 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 71 +15.186s 18
3 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING RBPT 71 +18.097s 15
4 63 George Russell MERCEDES 71 +49.431s 13
5 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 71 +58.123s 10
6 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 71 +68.774s 8
7 3 Daniel Ricciardo MCLAREN MERCEDES 70 +1 lap 6
8 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 70 +1 lap 4
9 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 70 +1 lap 2
10 77 Valtteri Bottas ALFA ROMEO FERRARI 70 +1 lap 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in a fortnight’s time — the Sao Paolo Grand Prix at Interlagos in Brazil. Can Mercedes maintain their improved performance back t sea level and possibly grab a win off of Red Bull or will Verstappen continue to add to his race-win record? Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2022 F1 Grand Prix of Mexico City — Qualifying results

Red Bull’s Verstappen pips Russell for first pole in Mexico City, Hamilton P3 as Mercedes show late season strength; Ferrari adrift at high altitude Autódromo Hermanos Rodriguez

After struggling for grip at the always tricky high altitude/thin air Autódromo Hermanos Rodriguez, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen hooked up a lap to perfection when it counted most, as he so often has this championship season. Trailing the suddenly resurgent Mercedes duo of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell late in Q3, Verstappen was able to lay down an untouchable final fast lap at the death during Saturday qualifying to secure pole for Sunday’s Mexico City Grand Prix. With the Red Bulls struggling for grip in the hot, high altitude conditions and Mercedes paying less of a penalty for what has been a draggy car this season, it seemed that Hamilton might snatch his first pole of 2022. But it was not to be, as the English seven-time champion ultimately fell short not only of the flying Dutchman’s pace but also his teammate Russell, who will slot in alongside Verstappen on the front row with Hamilton settling for P3. Despite that momentary disappointment, this could be Mercedes best chance to win that elusive first race of the already 19-round-old campaign. In addition to Hamilton’s recent personal resurgence and Russell’s slowly improving consistency, if they can keep their tires under them for the duration of the GP, Mercedes may actually have the pace under these conditions to best Verstappen for once.

While Verstappen’s teammate and local hero Sergio Perez struggled to a P4 qualifying effort in front of his home fans, it was worse for Ferrari. The Prancing Horses seemed unmoored at high altitude, with Carlos Sainz only setting the fifth best time in the final quali session and stablemate Charles Leclerc even further off the pace in P7. The loss of downforce here really seemed to effect the F1-75 when putting power down through the low speed corners, of which there are many at this twisty 4.3 kilometer circuit. Such were their struggles that Valtteri Bottas, representing Ferrari’s secondary team Alfa Romeo, split Sainz and Leclerc with a superb P6 effort. Rounding out the top ten qualifiers, McLaren’s Lando Norris was eighth quickest and the Alpines of Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon qualified P9 and P10 respectively.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Mexico City GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING RBPT 1:19.222 1:18.566 1:17.775 16
2 63 George Russell MERCEDES 1:19.583 1:18.565 1:18.079 18
3 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:19.169 1:18.552 1:18.084 19
4 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING RBPT 1:19.706 1:18.615 1:18.128 18
5 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:19.566 1:18.560 1:18.351 17
6 77 Valtteri Bottas ALFA ROMEO FERRARI 1:19.523 1:18.762 1:18.401 18
7 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:19.505 1:19.109 1:18.555 18
8 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:19.857 1:19.119 1:18.721 19
9 14 Fernando Alonso ALPINE RENAULT 1:20.006 1:19.272 1:18.939 15
10 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 1:19.945 1:19.081 1:19.010 18

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Sunday’s Mexico City Grand Prix airs live on ESPN beginning at 4PM Eastern here in the Sates. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2022 F1 Grand Prix of Japan — Qualifying results

Verstappen survives stewards after contretemps with Norris to keep pole at Suzuka; Leclerc P2 & Sainz P3 for Ferrari

Inching ever closer to his second consecutive Formula 1 World Championship, Red Bull’s Dutch master Max Verstappen set the fastest lap during Saturday qualifying for the return of the Japanese Grand Prix after a two year hiatus. Verstappen held off not only the hard charging Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz but also survived a stewards inquiry into his leisurely weaving through 130R during Q3, forcing McLaren’s Lando Norris to take evasive action at full chat to avoid the out of shape Red Bull. While Verstappen received a reprimand, he was not penalized and so will start from pole for tomorrow’s race, where he will have the best possible chance of clinching the title with both a win and the bonus point for fastest lap no matter where his rivals finish. Ferrari’s Leclerc, starting alongside Max on the front row in P2, and Sainz in P3, as well as his Red Bull teammate and last race’s winner in Singapore, Sergio Perez, lining up in P4, will all surely give their best efforts to deny the Dutchman that most coveted motorsport prize, if only for one more race.

Outside that elite top four, Alpine’s Esteban Ocon out-qualified his more heralded teammate, Fernando Alonso, P5 to P7 respectively, while Lewis Hamilton got the better of his Mercedes teammate George Russell, P6 to P8. Sebastian Vettel willed his Aston Martin into Q3 and P9 on the grid in the last F1 qualifying effort of his illustrious career at his favorite Suzuka Circuit. And Norris could do no better than P10, perhaps due to the limitations of his McLaren chassis and perhaps as a result of being thrown off rhythm from his earlier hairy encounter with Verstappen.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Japanese GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING RBPT 1:30.224 1:30.346 1:29.304 13
2 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:30.402 1:30.486 1:29.314 13
3 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:30.336 1:30.444 1:29.361 13
4 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING RBPT 1:30.622 1:29.925 1:29.709 15
5 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 1:30.696 1:30.357 1:30.165 18
6 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:30.906 1:30.443 1:30.261 20
7 14 Fernando Alonso ALPINE RENAULT 1:30.603 1:30.343 1:30.322 15
8 63 George Russell MERCEDES 1:30.865 1:30.465 1:30.389 19
9 5 Sebastian Vettel ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 1:31.256 1:30.656 1:30.554 15
10 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:30.881 1:30.473 1:31.003 18

Complete qualifying results available via Fomrula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN2 beginning at 1AM Estern here in the States. So set your DVR or brew that extra pot of coffee to find out of Verstappen can clinch the title in Japan or if Leclerc, Sainz or Perez can spoil his day!

2022 F1 Grand Prix of Singapore — Results & aftermath

Perez delivers masterclass on slippery streets of Singapore, survives Safety Car infraction to take victory; Leclerc a game P2, Sainz a distant P3, as Verstappen rallies to P7 in incident-filled race

Red Bull’s Sergio Perez bookended his magnificent Monaco win in late May with an even more impressive drive to victory on the slick and slippery streets of Singapore on Sunday. With the entire field starting on Intermediate wet weather Pirelli tires after a late afternoon downpour dampened the streets of the ultra-tight Marina Bay Street Circuit, Perez started from P2 but made quick work of the pole-sitting Ferrari of Charles Leclerc to take the lead on the opening lap. Meanwhile, Leclerc’s Scuderia teammate Carlos Sainz pushed his way past Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton to take P3, while the second Red Bull of Max Verstappen, starting from P8 after the team botched his fuel calculations during qualifying, bogged down at the start and dropped even further to P12. By Lap 3, the Dutch points leader had recovered somewhat to P10 but he had his work cut out for him on a track that is more than a little difficult to overtake on.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

The first of many incidents that would complicate this intriguing contest throughout the day occurred on Lap 7 when the Williams of Nicholas Latifi banged into the Alfa Romeo of Zhou  Guanyu, damaging both cars and necessitating the deployment of a Safety Car in order to safely retrieve the stricken Alfa. With the track not drying quickly in the sultry tropical conditions, nobody chose to risk changing to the slick tires at that juncture. The field had another opportunity to gamble when Fernando Alonso’s Alpine came to an abrupt stop with engine failure on Lap 21 of this ostensible 61-lap GP. This time, Mercedes’ George Russell, mired in the rear of the pack after a poor quali and subsequently taking engine change penalties, rolled the dice and dove into the pits under Virtual Safety Car conditions for a swap off of Inters and onto Medium slick tires. When Russell emerged and began tiptoeing around the circuit as if driving on ice it became apparent that for those with a real shot at winning on the day it was still far too soon to risk taking off the wet weather rubber.

After two more brief VSC periods due to a crash by Williams Alex Albon on Lap 26 and the second Alpine of Esteban Ocon also suffering an engine failure on Lap 28 during which no one else opted to make the switch to slicks, Hamilton had a crash of his own Lap 33 that, though it did not end his race, damaged his front wing and severely compromised the remainder of it when he was forced to pit for the requisite lengthy nose change. Simultaneous to that, Russell finally began setting the fastest sector times, signaling that the crossover point had been achieved and the time was now for dry weather tires. One by one, drivers dove to the pits for slicks, with the P2 Leclerc coming in on Lap 35 and suffering a slow-ish 5.3 seconds stationary stop, while the race -leading Perez came in a lap later and benefitted from a typically spiffy 2.8-second effort by the Red Bull crew. Between the difference between their respective time in the pits and the difficult nature of getting the tires up to temp on the out lap, Perez came out comfortably ahead of Leclerc, the undercut not paying off for Ferrari on this day. No sooner had that all cycled out than Yuki Tsunoda promptly crashed his AlphaTauri, leading to yet another Safety Car and also meaning that the race would now be timed to two hours total upon the restart due to all the delays,

When the race finally got underway again with 34:40 remaining, Leclerc took advantage of the compressed gap to Perez under the Safety Car to mount a fierce challenge. The Ferrari man harried the veteran Mexican for several laps, their cars both squirming around at the edge of adhesion when they put the power downcoding out of the still-wet corners. When DRS was finally enabled by race control with just 27-minutes remaining it seemed the Prancing Horse might have a shot. But with passing so difficult in the slow speed corners and Leclerc forced to run so closely behind to even have a chance of an overtake, the Monegasque seemed to take the life out of his tires and his car lost its fine edge in handling. As Leclerc sawed away at his wheel and Perez began disappearing up the road, Ferrari were now left hoping that a race control investigation into Perez for getting too far behind that final Safety Car would lead to a results-altering penalty at the end. The Red Bull pit wall urged Checo to push and build a penalty-proof gap and he obliged, with Leclerc fading to an over seven-second deficit to the P1 Perez when the checkers finally flew in this enthralling tilt. Such was Perez’s excellence on the day and particularly in that final push that he was able to cling to the victory even after being assessed a 5-second penalty for that Safety Car infringement. That drive in the return of the Singapore Grand Prix after a two-year Covid-induced hiatus will go down as one the best in F1 history and proves that Red Bull not only have the best car this year but also, in Verstappen and Perez, the two best drivers in 2022.

Top 10 finishers of the Singapore GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING RBPT 59 2:02:20.238 25
2 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 59 +2.595s 18
3 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 59 +10.305s 15
4 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 59 +21.133s 12
5 3 Daniel Ricciardo MCLAREN MERCEDES 59 +53.282s 10
6 18 Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 59 +56.330s 8
7 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING RBPT 59 +58.825s 6
8 5 Sebastian Vettel ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 59 +60.032s 4
9 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 59 +61.515s 2
10 10 Pierre Gasly ALPHATAURI RBPT 59 +69.576s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

After the first race in three weeks, the F1 hustle is back on and the next race is in but a week’s time — the Japanese Grand Prix from venerable Suzuka. Hope to see you then to find out if the second Far East GP in-a-row can rival the thrills from Singapore!

2022 F1 Grand Prix of Italy — Results & aftermath

Red Bull’s Verstappen recovers from P7 start to take victory at Safety Car-shortened Italian GP; Ferrari’s Leclerc P2, Mercedes’ Russell P3

Red Bull’s peerless Max Verstappen continued his relentless march to a second consecutive World Championship on Sunday, recovering from a penalty-influenced P7 start on the grid to surge to victory at the Italian Grand Prix, relegating the pole-sitting Ferrari of Charles Leclerc to runner-up status in the process. In somewhat anticlimactic fashion, the tifosi at the jam-packed Autodromo Nazionale Monza were denied a potential late race shootout when the McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo came to a stop between the Lesmo curves on Lap 47 of this 53-lap contest. Hoping for a potential Red Flag to compress Verstappen’s large lead over  Leclerc, the race officials instead allowed the race to peter out behind the Safety Car in non-competitive fashion, despite the fact that extracting the McLaren its parking place required the use of a crane on the track while the cars were circulating behind the SC Nevertheless, Verstappen was clearly the class of the field on this day, as he has been for the majority of the season, and there was little reason to believe that Leclerc could have matched the Red Bull’s pace in a three or four-lap shootout. For Verstappen, it was his first career victory at Monza but his fifth win in a row and astonishing eleventh victory in the 16 rounds of the F1 season so far. Now with a seemingly unassailable 116-point lead over Leclerc in the Drivers’ standings it looks like all but a formality that the Dutch master will wear his second Formula 1 crown when the twenty-second and final round is run at Abu Dhabi in late November.

While Ferrari tried to give Leclerc every strategic advantage, pitting the Monegasque early and cheaply during a brief Virtual Safety Car on L13 to try and gain time on Verstappen in the pits, the on-track pace of the Red Bull was simply too much for the Prancing Horses to handle. Before that final Safety Car, Verstappen’s advantage to Leclerc was some eighteen seconds with only the six laps remaining, an impossible deficit for the P2 Ferrari to overcome under green flag conditions. The second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz did well to haul himself up to a P4 finish after being forced to start from P18 due to engine component penalties, a major issue for not only Verstappen and Sainz but many contenders throughout the field. Mercedes’ George Russell was able to better Sainz for the last spot on the podium in P3 despite running a long stint on the rather poorly performing Hard tires, while Lewis Hamilton drove an outstanding race to recover from a penalty-induced P19 start to a solid P5 finish. Hamilton ran an exceptionally long 34-lap first stint on Medium Pirellis before switching to the faster Soft tires and then carved his way through the midfield and back up to that impressive P5.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

The second Red Bull of Sergio Perez started P13 and finished P6, although he might have done better had the team not been concerned about possible tire failure and called the Mexican in for a late change on Lap 43. Still, Perez was able to nick the point for fastest lap of the race due to that fast and fresh rubber. With Riccardo out after looking like scoring good points, the sole remaining McLaren of Lando Norris salvaged P7 for the team on a day where their closest rivals in the Constructors’ standings, Alpine, scored zero points. AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly had a positive P8 finish in what has been a nightmare season for the team that has the talented young Frenchman eyeing a move to the more competitive Alpine team for next season. Rookie Nyck De Vries not only made his F1 debut in the Williams, subbing on short notice for the ailing Alexander Albon who was stricken with appendicitis overnight on Saturday, but the young Dutch Mercedes reserve driver scored points in his first F1 GP by coming home in P9. He showed enough talent and poise to warrant another race start sometime soon and skillfully kept the Alfa Romeo of Zho Guanyu behind him and relegating the Chinese rookie to P10.

Top 10 finishers of the Italian GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING RBPT 53 1:20:27.511 25
2 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 53 +2.446s 18
3 63 George Russell MERCEDES 53 +3.405s 15
4 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 53 +5.061s 12
5 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 53 +5.380s 10
6 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING RBPT 53 +6.091s 9
7 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 53 +6.207s 6
8 10 Pierre Gasly ALPHATAURI RBPT 53 +6.396s 4
9 45 Nyck De Vries WILLIAMS MERCEDES 53 +7.122s 2
10 24 Zhou Guanyu ALFA ROMEO FERRARI 53 +7.910s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

After a grueling stretch of three races in a row coming out of the summer break, the next tilt is in three weeks’ time — the return of the dazzling nocturnal Singapore Grand Prix street race after a two-year Covid-induced absence. While nobody seems able to stop Verstappen these days, the tricky and ultra-tight Marina Bay Street Circuit always throws up it’s fair share of surprises. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

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!