Tag Archives: Oscar Piastri

2024 F1 Grand Prix of Singapore — Qualifying results

Norris earns pole at Marina Bay in Red Flag-affected quali; Verstappen pips Hamilton for P2; Ferrari Q3 nightmare as Sainz crashes out, Leclerc time deleted

With Formula 1 entering the final third of its longest ever season and the Championship hunt as tight as it has been in several years, Saturday Qualifying for the Singapore Grand Prix was as dramatic as it was potentially consequential. McLaren’s Lando Norris, desperate to close his gap to Red Bull’s points-leading Max Verstappen after a difficult weekend in Azerbaijan, was able to take the pole for Sunday’s race with a post-Red Flag one-lap flier late in Q3. Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz had crashed out midway through Q3 in bizarre fashion during a pre-hot lap warm up, bringing out the Red Flag to retrieve the Spaniard’s stricken Prancing Horse form the final corner’s Tecpro barriers.  With a little over 8 minutes remaining when the session restarted, McLaren opted to send both their cars out first amongst the remaining nine to set times and not wait around for any potential track improvement by the time the clock ran out. It worked well for Norris, who hooked up a lap good enough for P1 but less well for teammate Oscar Piastri. Piastri, last week’s winner at Baku, had been in the top spot before the Sainz stoppage but the young Aussie could not improve and was eventually relegated to P5 by the session’s end.

After a multi-race qualifying drought, Verstappen returned to his excellent form under the pressure of the one-lap shootout, besting Mercedes Lewis Hamilton for P2 in a car that had looked nowhere for most of the session. Lining up alongside Norris on the front row, this race could come down to which driver gets away better at the very start, as passing at Marina Bay Street Circuit can be extremely difficult. Hamilton was nonetheless pleased with his P3 effort, the team unlocking pace in the car overnight after some mediocre performances in Friday’s two practice sessions. Silver Arrows stablemate George Russell was slightly less pleased with the unpredictable performance of his Pirelli tires but still  managed to set the fourth fastest time to earn a spot alongside Hamilton on Row 2. Nico Hulkenberg far out-performed his mediocre Haas and set a stunning time good enough for P6. Aston Martin’s savvy Fernando Alonso pulled the same trick to take a solid P7. RB Honda’s Yuki Tsunoda earned P8, while Ferrari suffered the indignity of not only Sainz having to start the race from P10 due to his crash but also seeing Charles Leclerc’s decent final lap deleted for a track limits violation, dropping the Monegasque to P9 and making for a very unhappy fifth-row duo for the Scuderia.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Singapore GP:

POS

NO

DRIVER

CAR

Q1

Q2

Q3

LAPS

1

4

Lando Norris

McLaren Mercedes

1:30.002

1:30.007

1:29.525

16

2

1

Max Verstappen

Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT

1:30.157

1:29.680

1:29.728

18

3

44

Lewis Hamilton

Mercedes

1:30.393

1:29.929

1:29.841

16

4

63

George Russell

Mercedes

1:30.811

1:30.153

1:29.867

17

5

81

Oscar Piastri

McLaren Mercedes

1:30.258

1:29.640

1:29.953

18

6

27

Nico Hulkenberg

Haas Ferrari

1:30.724

1:30.150

1:30.115

18

7

14

Fernando Alonso

Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes

1:30.684

1:30.450

1:30.214

17

8

22

Yuki Tsunoda

RB Honda RBPT

1:30.716

1:30.289

1:30.354

17

9

16

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

1:30.786

1:29.747

DNF

19

10

55

Carlos Sainz

Ferrari

1:30.670

1:30.108

DNS

16

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN beginning at 8 am here in the States. With tensions mounting  and time running short in the hunt for glory in 2024, as well as a very tight circuit where overtaking is very difficult and Safety Cars are de rigueur, look for loads of close quarters action between the top contenders, several of whom are out of position, in a desperate scramble for maximum points. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2024 F1 Grand Prix of Azerbaijan — Results & aftermath

Piastri shines, holds off Leclerc to take victory in scintillating Baku duel; Russell gifted P3 after Perez & Sainz crash each other out; Norris recovers to P6 ahead of Verstappen in P7

McLaren’s up and coming young ace Oscar Piastri withstood lap after lap of relentless pressure from Fearrri’s Charles Leclerc, holding off the hard charging Prancing Horse over the course of a long final tire stint at the always tricky Baku City Circuit to take victory in Sunday’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix. With those two drivers clearly the class of the field on the day, the 51-lap race came down to a two car duel for the win. As the laps wound down, Piastri was just able to hold off Leclerc despite the Monegasque’s best efforts, with both men struggling with aging Hard compound Pirelli tires after choosing the preferred one-stop strategy. Eventually, it was Leclerc’s tires that fell off the performance cliff after all that time spent in Piastri’s wake, and the young Aussie earned his second victory of the season and his career by a deceptively large ten-second margin. Leclerc started the Grand Prix from pole, the fourth of his career at Baku, but he has frustratingly yet to convert that one-lap mastery into a win. Still, his second place finish continued Leclerc’s excellent run of form that has seen him podium four races in a row and earn a monumental victory in Italy a fortnight ago.

Ferrari were hoping for even bigger things on the day, as was Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, who looked poised for a rejuvenating P3 podium finish. But the second Prancing Horse of Carlos Sainz closed the gap on Perez late in the race, the Spaniard also looking keen on grabbing a spot on the podium. With Leclerc seeming to fall into Perez’s clutches and P2 possibly on for the much maligned Red Bull driver, Perez made a lunge on the leading Ferrari steaming into Turn 1 on the second to last lap. But Leclerc was able to hold off the Mexican and Sainz pounced on the Red Bull’s loss off momentum. As Leclerc scampered away from danger, Sainz and Perez were parallel speeding towards Turn 3, with Perez looking to regain his momentum and the position. But they both drifted into each other, touched rear wheels and were shunted into the wall. In shocking fashion, it was over for both drivers with only one lap left in a race that had looked so promising for both however their own personal battle might have turned out had they not made contact.

That contretemps really hurt both Ferrari and Red Bull in the Constructors’ Standings, while McLaren vaulted into the lead of that all important contest thanks not only to Piastri’s sweet victory but also Lando Norris overcoming a poor P15 start and persevering all the way up to a post-carnage P4 finish. Norris even made a late race overtake on Red Bull’s Max Verstappen for that position on a day when Verstappen was clearly the slower of the two RB20s. It perfectly encapsulated two stark realities facing the Dutch three-time champion and team Red Bull: the car has undeniably lost pace to McLaren and to a lesser extent Ferrari; and Verstappen is now routinely struggling to extract performance from the car after being in perfect harmony with it to start the season. Things could also get worse before they get better for Red Bull and their Dutch master, as the next race is in Singapore and the Marina Bay Street Circuit is a longtime bogey track for the team. Continue reading →

2024 F1 Grand Prix of Azerbaijan — Qualifying results

Leclerc claims pole in chaotic Baku qualifying; Piastri edges Sainz for P2 but Norris knocked out in Q1 shocker; Perez out-qualifies Verstappen for once, P4 to P6

On a fascinating and chaotic day of Saturday qualifying for the Azerbaijan Gran Prix at the always challenging Baku City Circuit it was Ferrari’s Chalres Leclerc who carried the momentum from his dream win at Monza two weeks ago and converted it into pole position for Sunday’s Grand Prix. The Monegasque’s excellent run of qualifying form at Baku also continued, as he earned his fourth consecutive pole here. Leclerc, however, has never concerted those into wins in Azerbaijan, something he will be more than eager to do come race day tomorrow. McLaren’s Oscar Piastri slotted in alongside the lead Ferrari with a time good enough for P2, while Leclerc’s Scuderia stablemate Carlos Sainz laid down the third fastest lap in Q3. Unfortunately for McLaren and their highest placed driver, Lando Norris was unceremoniously bounced out of Q1 after some confusion over lifting for a yellow flag that appeared in actuality to be the “slow down” white flag. Starting from a lowly P16, Norris and his brain trust will have it all to do tomorrow to try and keep his points pursuit of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen on track. The young English contender will likely need help from a Safety Car and /or Red Flag, plus some canny strategy calls from the pit wall to get a decent result.

Speaking of Red Bull and Verstappen, it was another bewildering day for the Dutch master, as teammate Sergio Perez firmly bested him in quali, P4 to P6. It was the first time this season that the Mexican veteran, who is fighting to stay in his Red Bull seat after a massive midseason slump, has out-qualified his championship-leading teammate. Mercedes’ George Russell split the Red Bull’s with the fifth fatstest time, clinching the season’s qualifying battle with his highly decorated teammate Lewis Hamilton, 13 to 4. Hamilton could only muster P7 on the day, though the seven-time World Champion has a habit of coming good in the races. Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso over-performed his rather tepid mount to the tune of a P8 starting spot, while raw rookie Franco Colapinto go the better of his senior Williams teammate Alex Albon in only his second F1 effort, P9 to P10. Colapinto, who was drafted into the team to replace the struggling American Logan Seargeant at Monza, has looked impressive throughout the weekend at this rather daunting circuit. He was also helped by Albon not being able to get a final lap due to inexplicably leaving the pits with the airbox fan still attached. It remains to be seen if Albon will face any penalties for tomorrow’s race due to that obvious unsafe release.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Azerbaijan GP:

POS

NO

DRIVER

CAR

Q1

Q2

Q3

LAPS

1

16

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

1:42.775

1:42.056

1:41.365

20

2

81

Oscar Piastri

McLaren Mercedes

1:43.033

1:42.598

1:41.686

19

3

55

Carlos Sainz

Ferrari

1:43.357

1:42.503

1:41.805

23

4

11

Sergio Perez

Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT

1:43.213

1:42.263

1:41.813

15

5

63

George Russell

Mercedes

1:43.139

1:42.329

1:41.874

20

6

1

Max Verstappen

Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT

1:43.097

1:42.042

1:42.023

20

7

44

Lewis Hamilton

Mercedes

1:43.089

1:42.765

1:42.289

22

8

14

Fernando Alonso

Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes

1:43.472

1:42.426

1:42.369

19

9

43

Franco Colapinto

Williams Mercedes

1:43.138

1:42.473

1:42.530

20

10

23

Alexander Albon

Williams Mercedes

1:42.899

1:42.840

1:42.859

19

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race aires live on ESPN beginning at 7 am Eastern here in the States. With the grid jumbled and a lot of drivers out of position, it should be an action packed start that Leclerc and Piastri will look to stay ahead of in pursuit of victory. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2024 F1 Grand Prix of Italy — Results & aftermath

Leclerc rides audacious one-stop strategy to take surprise victory at Monza for jubilant Ferrari; Piastri out-duels McLaren teammate Norris for P2

With McLaren looking the dominant team heading into the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday, it was Ferrari that stunned Formula 1 by pushing their man Charles Leclerc to first place with an audacious, contrarian one-stop strategy and taking a sweet victory at the storied Scuderia’s home race. Lacking the outright pace of the McLaren’s, Ferrari nevertheless capitalized when the pole-sitting Lando Norris scrapped with his teammate Oscar Piastri on the opening lap and was then passed by the young Aussie for the race lead heading into the second chicane. In that tussle, the Prancing Horse of Leclerc was also able to get by the recovering Norris, setting the wheels in motion on Ferrari’s pit wall to come up with a strategy that would enable Leclerc to fight it out with Piastri for the top step of the podium. But few would have guessed that when Leclerc was undercut by Norris on Lap 15 of this 53-lap contest at the ultra-fast Autodromo Nazionale Monza that the fabled team from Maranello would figure out a way to actually win. Leclerc himself was irate at his race engineer & strategist for losing a place to Norris when he stopped a lap later, both drivers making the switch off their opening set of Medium Pirellis onto the more durable Hard compound tires. It seemed more likely that McLaren had set up a duel between their two drivers for the win, with Piastri destined to re-inherit the race lead and Norris P2 after the opening round of pit stops were completed.

But a funny thing happened on the way to that expected McLaren 1-2. With all the front running teams appearing to run the two-stopper as the best way to finish the race, Piastri made his second pit stop from the lead on Lap 39 and Norris in P2 ran a bit longer to Lap 41. But both Leclerc and Sainz stayed out and it suddenly dawned on the paddock that Ferrari were going to run the risky one-stop strategy despite the waning performance from their aging Hard tires. Leclerc’s lead was such that he was more than full pit stop ahead of the P5 Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton, meaning that the worst that could happen to Leclerc and Sainz if they absolutely had to bail in the race’s final few laps would be a likely third and fourth place finish respectively. On the other hand, now McLaren had to try to reclaim the top two spots by making overtakes on the Ferrari duo with time running out. Piastri did close down Sainz and passed the game Spaniard for P2 on Lap 45, with Norris managing the same feat three laps later. But Leclerc was able to maintain enough of a lead that the laps ran out before the desperate Piastri could even get into position to try for a pass. When the checkered flag flew, Leclerc came home some 2.66-seconds to the good of Piastri to the delight of the happily stunned tifosi in the stands, who happily stormed the field for the post-race ceremonies, as is tradition here. It was an emotional win for the Monegasque, who earlier in the season won his home race in Monaco and now has won for Ferrari at Monza, the dream of every Formula 1 driver who drives for the Prancing Horse. And it showed that the much maligned braintrust at the Scuderia could take a gamble that actually paid off for a change, leaving them still in the hunt for the Constructors’ Championship when many had already written them off this year.

With higher expectations after locking out the front row in qualifying, Piastri and Norris finished a somewhat disappointed P2 and P3 respectively, while Leclerc’s teammate Sainz claimed P4 after running a fine race of his own for himself and the team, especially in defense of Leclerc as the laps ran down. Hamilton ended up the highest placed Silver Arrow in P5 after teammate George Russell, who started from P3 on the grid, sustained opening lap damage to his front wing amidst the chaos that is the first chicane here, necessitating a premature and lengthy early pit stop for a wing change in addition to tires that set the young Briton on his back foot for the rest of the race. Russell rallied to finish P7 but it wasn’t the race he envisioned when he woke up on Sunday morning. Likewise, Hamilton was left hoping for more when the Mercedes W15 had looked so strong until the final quali session on Saturday. Team Red Bull were also more than happy to put Monza in the rearview, with points leader Max Verstappen only able to advance one spot from his starting position, finishing a relatively lowly P6, while Sergio Perez  was overtaken late by Russel and had to settle for P8. The team will be hoping that the very tricky and specific compromises needed to succeed at Monza were to blame rather than a lasting problem with the RB20’s development, as they uncharacteristically looked like merely the fourth quickest team here in Italy all weekend long.

Williams’ Alexander Albon and Haas’s Kevin Magnussen also rode the one-stopper to some level of success and points, with Albon finishing P9 and Magnussen taking the final point in P10 despite a 10-second penalty for colliding with the RB of Yuki Tsunoda early in the race, which wound up ending the Japanese driver’s day.

Top 10 finishers of the Italian GP:

POS

NO

DRIVER

CAR

LAPS

TIME/RETIRED

PTS

1

16

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

53

1:14:40.727

25

2

81

Oscar Piastri

McLaren Mercedes

53

+2.664s

18

3

4

Lando Norris

McLaren Mercedes

53

+6.153s

16

4

55

Carlos Sainz

Ferrari

53

+15.621s

12

5

44

Lewis Hamilton

Mercedes

53

+22.820s

10

6

1

Max Verstappen

Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT

53

+37.932s

8

7

63

George Russell

Mercedes

53

+39.715s

6

8

11

Sergio Perez

Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT

53

+54.148s

4

9

23

Alexander Albon

Williams Mercedes

53

+67.456s

2

10

20

Kevin Magnussen

Haas Ferrari

53

+68.302s

1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in a fortnight, the always exciting Azerbaijan Grand Prix from the challenging Baku City Circuit, so the teams will get a little breather after the back-to-back rounds coming out of the summer break. For Ferrari and Leclerc and all of Italy, it will mean an extra week to savor an improbable win. For the other contenders, it’ll be trying to figure out how to get back into victory lane in this highly unpredictable season. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2024 F1 Grand Prix of Italy — Qualifying results

McLaren mighty at Monza, lockout front row with Norris pole, Piastri P2; Russell P3 ahead of both Ferraris; Verstappen a shock P7

A week after taking the win at Zandvoort, Lando Norris and McLaren’s surge continued during Saturday qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix at the Temple of Speed, Autodromo Nazionale Monza. On a beautiful day in Northern Italy at this fatstest of F1 circuits, Norris and his teammate Oscar Piastri set an untouchable pace in Q3, with Norris taking pole over Piastri by nine-tenths of a second. McLaren is proving to be the primary challenger for both the Constructors’ and Drivers’ titles, something that was hard to envision earlier in the season when Max Verstappen and his Red Bull were laying waste to the entire Formula 1 field with ease. That all changed in Round 6, when Norris took the win in Miami and since then, the overall momentum has swung decidedly away from Red Bull and towards McLaren. As if to put an exclamation point on that fact, Red Bull were completely flummoxed by their lack of pace here in Italy, which saw them stumble to rather a lowly P7 qualifying effort for Verstappen and a P8 by struggling teammate Sergio Perez. It will be fascinating to see if Red Bull can somehow find a way to recover overnight and be able to work their way to the front come race day. But with the sheer amount of teams that look faster than them here, it certainly doesn’t look like that will happen tomorrow.

Looking like perhaps the fastest team overall heading into Q3, things did not exactly work out for mighty Mercedes when the fastest laps were set in Q3. While George Russell was able to vault himself up to P3 on the grid with a fine final effort, teammate Lewis Hamilton left a lot on the table and only qualified in P6, leaving the English seven-time champ furious with himself after the session. Russell did relegate the Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz to P4 and P5 respectively despite the ardent support of the always enthusiastic tifosi in the stands for the fabled Scuderia’s home race. The Williams of Alexander Albon in P9 and the Haas of Nico Hulkenberg in P10 rounded out the top ten qualifiers on the day.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Italian GP:

POS

NO

DRIVER

CAR

Q1

Q2

Q3

LAPS

1

4

Lando Norris

McLaren Mercedes

1:19.911

1:19.727

1:19.327

12

2

81

Oscar Piastri

McLaren Mercedes

1:20.076

1:19.808

1:19.436

19

3

63

George Russell

Mercedes

1:20.169

1:19.877

1:19.440

18

4

16

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

1:20.074

1:20.007

1:19.461

21

5

55

Carlos Sainz

Ferrari

1:20.149

1:19.799

1:19.467

18

6

44

Lewis Hamilton

Mercedes

1:20.477

1:19.641

1:19.513

18

7

1

Max Verstappen

Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT

1:20.226

1:19.662

1:20.022

18

8

11

Sergio Perez

Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT

1:20.598

1:20.216

1:20.062

17

9

23

Alexander Albon

Williams Mercedes

1:20.542

1:20.314

1:20.299

18

10

27

Nico Hulkenberg

Haas Ferrari

1:20.781

1:20.411

1:20.339

18

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN beginning at 9 am Eastern here in the States. Can Red Bull and Max Verstappen get back in the fight with so many other teams looking much faster than them here at Monza? Will McLaren hold off the desperate to win Ferraris at their home track in front of the fanatical tifosi? Is it possible for Mercedes to reclaim the pace advantage they had going into Q3 and pull the upset? Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2024 F1 Grand Prix of the Netherlands — Results & aftermath

Norris recovers from poor start to hammer Verstappen on home turf; Leclerc holds off Piastri for P3

In the halcyon days of Red Bull’s dominance, a bobble like the one McLaren’s pole-sitting Lando Norris made to start Sunday’s Dutch Grand Prix would have relegated the young Briton to a second place start once Max Verstappen pounced to take the lead amidst the rolling dunes of Zandvoort. But such are the strides that McLaren and their young duo of drivers have made that Norris not only kept his cool after ceding the lead but then set himself to relentlessly closing down the race leading Red Bull in rather astonishingly rapid fashion. Proving that the pace advantage in Formula 1 no longer rests with Red Bull, McLaren’s main man hunted down Verstappen and re-passed the Dutchman in front of his home crowd with relative ease on Lap 18 of this 72-lap contest. Norris almost immediately scampered away out of DRS range and built enough of an advantage to withstand Verstappen’s attempt at an undercut on Lap 27, emerging from his only out stop of the race a lap later just under five-seconds ahead of the Flying Dutchman. After that, it was clear that the McLaren in Norris’s hands had the legs on Verstappen’s Red Bull, and Norris never faced a real challenge for the rest of the race. He subsequently earned his second F1 victory and second this season after breaking his duck in Miami, taking the checkered flag nearly 23-seconds ahead of the Red Bull runner-up.

Ferrari’s Chalres Leclerc exceeded expectations by making a very good getaway of his own to start the race and then undercutting the field on Lap 25 to get track position on the second McLaren of Oscar Piastri and the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez. Lecerc was then able to hold off Piastri in the final stanza of the race to claim P3 and earn the last step on the podium. But with Piastri still coming home a solid P4 while Perez drifted to a rather desultory P6 finish, and combined with Norris’s maximum 26-points haul for not only winning but setting the fastest lap of the day, McLaren closed ground on Red Bull in the all-important Constructors’ Standings to the tune of a mere thirty-point deficit. Norris also sliced into Verstappen’s lead in the Drivers’ points, closing to within seventy with nine races remaining on the calendar. In a twist few would have predicted after the opening rounds of the 2024 season, Red Bull are now the ones chasing McLaren and hoping they can do just enough to hold off the papaya orange menace filling up their rearview mirrors in both title hunts.

Leclerc’s Scuderia teammate Carlos Sainz did well to come home ahead of Perez in P5 after being hampered by limited running in practice and starting down in P10. Mercedes had a step back here after their strong run of results heading into the summer break, leaving the team scratching their heads over their relative lack of pace that saw George Russell only finish P7 after starting from fourth on the grid. Teammate Lewis Hamilton at least recovered somewhat from his lowly P14 starting position and came home in P8, cold if any comfort for driver and team. Alpine’s Pierre Gasly had another solid drive to take valuable points in P9 and Fernando Alonso was the lone Aston Martin to score in P10.

Top 10 finishers of the Dutch GP:

POS

NO

DRIVER

CAR

LAPS

TIME/RETIRED

PTS

1

4

Lando Norris

McLaren Mercedes

72

1:30:45.519

26

2

1

Max Verstappen

Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT

72

+22.896s

18

3

16

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

72

+25.439s

15

4

81

Oscar Piastri

McLaren Mercedes

72

+27.337s

12

5

55

Carlos Sainz

Ferrari

72

+32.137s

10

6

11

Sergio Perez

Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT

72

+39.542s

8

7

63

George Russell

Mercedes

72

+44.617s

6

8

44

Lewis Hamilton

Mercedes

72

+49.599s

4

9

10

Pierre Gasly

Alpine Renault

71

+1 lap

2

10

14

Fernando Alonso

Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes

71

+1 lap

1

Complete race results available via Formula.com.

The next tilt is in but a week’s time — the Italian Grand Prix from the Temple of Speed, Monza. While Ferrari would dearly like to take the honors for that race weekend, it’s now looking like a two team race between Red Bull and surging McLaren. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out on the fastest circuit in Formula 1!

2024 F1 Grand Prix of the Netherlands — Qualifying results

Norris claims authoritative pole over Verstappen at Zandvoort as F1 kicks back into gear; Piastri P3, Russell P4

Formula 1’s long summer break has come and gone, as the circus reopened for Round 15 of the 2024 World Championship at the small but technical Zadvoort Circuit amidst the dunes along the coast of the Netherlands. After nothing but wet practices on Friday and Saturday morning, Qualifying itself was dry and the cars finally got to show their speed. Looking tan, ready and rested, McLaren’s Lando Norris continued his run of good form by laying down a dominant lap to earn pole position during Qualifying for tomorrow’s Dutch Grand Prix, some four-tenths to the good of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, the current points leader in the Drivers standings. Despite the throngs of orange-clad countrymen willing on the Dutch master from the stands, it was the papaya orange of Norris’s McLaren setting the pace when push came to shove. Adding to McLaren’s satisfaction, Oscar Piastri set the third fastest time, while Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez could only muster P5. Mercedes’ George Russell split those two and will line up alongside Piastri on the second row after claiming P4. But Silver Arrows teammate Lewis Hamilton, winner of two of the last three races prior to the break, had a bit of a disastrous day. First, the seven-time champion was bounced in Q2 after only being twelfth fastest in that session; then he was assessed a three-place grid penalty after being found guilty of impeding Perez in Q1. On a circuit where track position is king, Hamilton will really have to pull something out of the bag come race day now starting from a lowly fourteenth.

Charles Leclerc was the only Ferrari to make it into Q3 and will start P6 on Sunday, as teammate Carlos Sainz struggled with handling en route to an initial P11 grid spot. But Williams’ Alexander Albon, who had been looking good with the eighth fastest time at the end of quali, was DQ’d after the session due to a technical infraction on the floor of his car. That elevated not only Sainz into the top ten, but also promoted Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll to P8 on the grid, alongside his P7 teammate Fernando Alonso, and lifted Alpine’s Pierre Gasly up to P9.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Dutch GP:

POS

NO

DRIVER

CAR

Q1

Q2

Q3

LAPS

1

4

Lando Norris

McLaren Mercedes

1:11.377

1:10.496

1:09.673

14

2

1

Max Verstappen

Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT

1:11.393

1:10.811

1:10.029

14

3

81

Oscar Piastri

McLaren Mercedes

1:11.541

1:10.505

1:10.172

16

4

63

George Russell

Mercedes

1:11.049

1:10.552

1:10.244

18

5

11

Sergio Perez

Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT

1:11.006

1:10.678

1:10.416

17

6

16

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

1:11.370

1:10.689

1:10.582

24

7

14

Fernando Alonso

Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes

1:11.493

1:10.845

1:10.633

16

DQ

23

Alexander Albon

Williams Mercedes

0

8

18

Lance Stroll

Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes

1:11.518

1:10.661

1:10.857

19

9

10

Pierre Gasly

Alpine Renault

1:11.718

1:10.815

1:10.977

20

10

55

Carlos Sainz

Ferrari

1:11.327

1:10.914

18

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Revised grid taking into account multiple penalties is here.

Tomorrow’s race amidst the dunes airs live on ESPN tomorrow starting at 9 am Eastern here in the States. Hope to see you then to find out of Norris can hold off Verstappen for another win and tighten up the championships even further and we fly into the second half of the season!

2024 F1 Grand Prix of Belgium — Results & aftermath

Russell shockingly DQ’d from victory due to minimum weight violation after audacious one-stop strategy; teammate Hamilton elevated to win at Spa; Piastri P2, Norris P3 for McLaren; Verstappen recovers from P11 to P4

Mercedes’ George Russell appeared to ride an audacious one-stop tire strategy to victory over his teammate Lewis Hamilton in Sunday’s action packed Belgian Grand Prix. But the daring young English pilot was stripped of his win after post-race scrutineering discovered that his car was under the weight limit specified by the F1 regulations by 1.5 kilograms when properly drained of fuel. Ironically, it may have been due to Russell’s running the one-stopper, contrary to all the other drivers in the field, that contributed to enough rubber loss on his final set of Pirelli Hard tires to bring the car in under the limit. Additionally, the fact that there is no cool down lap at Spa, the longest track on the F1 calendar, during which drivers usually deliberately add spent rubber “marbles” back onto their tires to add weight, could have been a contributing factor. Either way, it was a stunning blow to young George after his fantastic gamble appeared to pay off, as well as team Mercedes as whole, which must shoulder the blame for the car coming in underweight regardless of any mitigating circumstances. And despite Hamilton, who drove an outstanding race of his own, being elevated to the victory, it cost the Silver Arrows a very valuable 1-2 finish and will leave a bitter taste in everyone’s mouth back at Brackley as the they and all the teams head into the long summer break.

With blue skies and sunshine bathing the famed Spa-Francorchamps Circuit on Sunday after nothing but clouds and rain the previous two days, the teams were flying blind in terms of tire data heading into the Belgian Grand Prix. With all the teams projecting a two-stop race, the variables were which tires to start on and switch to and the major unknowns were the level of degradation over 44-laps with the track temps so much hotter than in practice and Qualifying.  The top ten runners all started on the Medium Pirellis except for Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, who chose the Hards to begin the race. P11 Max Verstappen, who was fastest in qualifying but was dropped ten places due to an engine component change, also started on Mediums and when the lights went out to start the Grand Prix, Verstappen shot himself up to P9 is short order, passing the Williams of Alexander Albon and the Alpine of Esteban Ocon in the blink of an eye. Meanwhile at the front, the pole-sitting Ferrari of Charles Leclerc got away cleanly, while Hamilton dispatched the lead Red Bull of Sergio Perez to quickly nab second place. McLaren’s Lando Norris, starting in P3, ran wide heading into Turn 1 and dropped a wheel into the gravel, costing him several places and teammate and last week’s race winner Oscar Piastri inherited third as a result.

By Lap 3, Hamilton had already hunted down Leclerc and the Prancing Horse proved to be no match for the improved Silver Arrow in a straight line, the seven-time champion dispatching the Monegasque for the lead of the race while streaking down the Kemmel Straight. Things then settled down for a few laps as the teams calculated when to make their first stops for fresh rubber, with Verstappen and Russell diving to the pits on Lap 10 to try and make use of the powerful undercut strategy against their rivals, both drivers opting to doff their Mediums in favor of the Hard compound tires for the second stint. Hamilton pitted a lap later, along with P3 Piastri, handing the lead back to Leclerc briefly until Ferrari brought their point man in on Lap 12, all three contenders making the predicted Medium to Hard switch. Sainz then inherited the race lead from his teammate, with second place Norris making his stop on Lap 15, also swapping out his Mediums for Hards, while the Spaniard ran all the way to Lap 20 before finally making his first stop and utilizing the opposite strategy of Hards to Mediums.

The second stops came rather quickly for the most part, Perez pitting again on Lap 21 directly after being passed by Russell on track for P4. Leclerc ran to Lap 25 in an attempt to undercut Hamilton but he had a slightly slow 3.4-second stop while changing from Hards to Hards and when Hamilton came in a lap later, he made the same tire choice but cemented his advantage over Leclerc’s Ferrari thanks to a nifty 2.4-seconds spent stationary. The flurry of pit lane activity at the front continued, with both Verstappen and Sainz making their second stops on Lap 28, Sainz continuing to run the counter strategy by switching off his Mediums back onto Hards for the remainder of the race and Verstappen making the conventional Hard to Medium swap. Norris boxed a lap later, choosing another fresh set of Hards to finish out the race, while on track Perez let Verstappen by for P5 and a possible charge onto the podium for the Dutch Master. Piastri wound up being the last of the top ten to make his second stop on Lap 30 but the young Aussie almost ruined his race when he came into the box too hot and nearly knocked over his front jack man, who did fine work to absorb the impact, stay on his feet and hoist the car for service. The driver error resulted in a slow but not catastrophic 4.4 seconds stationary and he came back out in P5.

Meanwhile, Russell had inherited the lead after all was said and done and was insisting that his now 20-lap-old Hard tires could make it for the final fourteen circuits of the race. The Mercedes brain trust, to their credit, allowed the young Briton to execute the high risk gamble, perhaps feeling that running in clean air at the front might make up for any loss of performance due to tire degradation. His P2 teammate Hamilton looked to have the ultimate advantage on much fresher rubber, though, relentlessly closing up to within DRS range for the final five laps. Piastri, meanwhile, was closing in on both and looking to pick up any pieces as they squabbled, having dispatched Leclerc for P3 back on Lap 36. But Russell was able to hold off Hamilton’s best efforts and Lewis raced wisely enough not to throw away both their races with any desperate lunges for the lead. It all seemed like a dream finish when Russell came to the checkers still in first place and claim victory over his teammate and lead home a Mercedes 1-2. But the technical violation afterwards turned what was a great day into a nightmare and snatched away what was truly a gutsy drive and tactical decision by Russell. Mercedes will be looking into how they got their weight calculations wrong enough to cost their man a stellar victory but full credit to Russell and his outstanding efforts despite the painful DQ.

As a result of Russell’s exclusion, Hamilton not only was declared victor but Piastri was elevated to P2 and Leclerc was put on the podium in P3. Verstappen must have been pretty happy with his P4 considering where he started and the serious competition from Mercedes and McLaren, but Norris was less than thrilled with his eventual P5, in no small part feeling that his early lap bobble cost him against Verstappen and his teammate. Sainz, who has just been signed by Williams for the next two seasons, ended up P6 and Perez was classified P7, while also setting the race’s fastest lap after a late third pit stop for Softs. Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso took P8, Alpine’s Ocon grabbed P9 and the RB Honda of Daniel Ricciardo was promoted into the points in P10.

Top 10 finishers of the Belgian GP:

POS

NO

DRIVER

CAR

LAPS

TIME/RETIRED

PTS

DQ

63

George Russell

Mercedes

44

1:19:57.040

0

1

44

Lewis Hamilton

Mercedes

44

+0.526s

25

2

81

Oscar Piastri

McLaren Mercedes

44

+1.173s

18

3

16

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

44

+8.549s

15

4

1

Max Verstappen

Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT

44

+9.226s

12

5

4

Lando Norris

McLaren Mercedes

44

+9.850s

10

6

55

Carlos Sainz

Ferrari

44

+19.795s

8

7

11

Sergio Perez

Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT

44

+43.195s

7

8

14

Fernando Alonso

Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes

44

+49.963s

4

9

31

Esteban Ocon

Alpine Renault

44

+52.552s

2

10

3

Daniel Ricciardo

RB Honda RBPT

44

+54.926s

1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race weekend is nearly a month away — the Dutch Grand prix from the dunes of Zandvoort on August 23-25th. The season has really hotted up with a lot of uncertainty in the hunt for the Championships as McLaren and Mercedes relentlessly close the gap to Red Bull. So, the wait should be worth it when Formula 1 returns — hope to see you then to find out how things pick up after the hiatus!

2024 F1 Grand Prix of Belgium — Qualifying results

Verstappen fastest by far at wet Spa but will drop 10 places due to engine penalties; P2 Leclerc inherits pole for race, P3 Perez elevated to front row

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen returned to his dominating ways amidst tricky wet weather conditions during Saturday qualifying for the Belgian Grad Prix. With persistent mist and occasional rains swirling around the legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit in the Ardennes forest, Verstappen mastered the wet parts of the track and excellent on those areas that were merely damp, riding his Intermediate Pirelli tires to a six-tenths advantage over the P2 Ferrari of Charles Leclerc. Unfortunately for the flying Dutchman, who is looking to recover from an uncharacteristically ragged and testy race last week in Hungary en route to a P5 finish, Verstappen will be dropped to P11 due to a 10-place grid penalty for a new engine component outside the limit. Therefore Leclerc, whose very fast final flying lap seemed to come from nowhere, inherits the actual pole for tomorrow’s race. Also benefiting was Verstappen’s struggling teammate Sergio Perez, who finally made it into Q3 after a long drought, set the third fastest time on merit and will now be elevated to P2 and the front row for tomorrow’s start due to his teammate’s demotion. With Verstappen forced to fight his way to the front from outside the top ten and the always unpredictable weather at Spa likely to rear it’s head at any moment during the race, tomorrow’s Belgian GP could be another humdinger in a season that has already been full of them.

Lewis Hamilton was the quickest Mercedes in these tricky conditions with a final time good enough for P4, while Silver Arrows teammate George Russell struggled moreso en route to only the seventh fastest time. The two McLaren’s ended up the meat in the Mercedes sandwich, last week’s brilliant pace washed away in the slick conditoins. With Lando Norris heading Hungarian GP winner and victory debutante Oscar Piastri P5 to P6, they and the team will be hoping for better weather and the ability to push for the podium in the race. While Leclerc excelled, the second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz underwhelmed and could do no better than P8. Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso in P9 and the Alpine of Esteban Ocon in P10 rounded out the remaining qualifiers in Q3, and the P11 Williams of Alexander Albon was elevated to tenth on the grid for the GP due to Verstappen’s demotion.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Belgian GP:

POS

NO

DRIVER

CAR

Q1

Q2

Q3

LAPS

1

1

Max Verstappen

Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT

1:54.938

1:53.837

1:53.159

21

2

16

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

1:55.349

1:54.193

1:53.754

22

3

11

Sergio Perez

Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT

1:55.139

1:54.470

1:53.765

21

4

44

Lewis Hamilton

Mercedes

1:55.692

1:54.037

1:53.835

22

5

4

Lando Norris

McLaren Mercedes

1:55.582

1:54.358

1:53.981

24

6

81

Oscar Piastri

McLaren Mercedes

1:54.835

1:54.136

1:54.027

23

7

63

George Russell

Mercedes

1:55.353

1:54.095

1:54.184

22

8

55

Carlos Sainz

Ferrari

1:55.169

1:54.112

1:54.477

23

9

14

Fernando Alonso

Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes

1:55.489

1:54.258

1:54.765

23

10

31

Esteban Ocon

Alpine Renault

1:55.417

1:54.460

1:54.810

23

Complete qualifying results available via Fomrula1.com.

The amended grid with Verstappen’s penalty factored in is here.

Tomorrow’s race, the last before the month-long August break, airs live on ESPN beginning at 9 am Eastern here in the States. Will the rains return to upend the teams’ best laid plans and can Verstappen fight his way up from P11 to a podium or even a win whatever the weather? Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2024 F1 Grand Prix of Hungary — Results & aftermath

Piastri prevails for maiden win over Norris as McLaren dominate in Hungary; Hamilton earns P3 and 200th podium with savvy drive; Verstappen finishes a disgruntled P5

McLaren’s young Australian driver Oscar Piastri earned his maiden Formula 1 win at Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix, prevailing over his teammate Lando Norris after a first lap pass for the race lead and then a little help from team orders when some late race strategy calls reversed their positions. The McLaren 1-2 was their first since 2021 and confirmed the surging team’s status as the biggest threat to Red Bull and Max Verstappen’s hegemony. In a thoroughly intriguing and tense race at the high downforce Hungaroring, pit strategy came to the fore as the determining factor for the top contenders, and none more so than at team McLaren. With Norris perhaps hampered by a pre-race gremlin in his drive-by-wire throttle system, the pole-sitter saw himself out dragged by his teammate heading into Turn 1 to start the race, and Piastri made it stick for the early race lead. Piastri maintained de facto P1 after the first round of stops for McLaren despite the undercut of Norris boxing a lap earlier than him on Lap 18. But when they decided to repeat the earlier call to Norris in for his second tire stop on Lap 47 of this 70 lap contest, attempting to cover off the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton, things within the team became quite tense. Hamilton had already made his second and final stop back on Lap 41, the Mercedes braintrust deciding to stay on the durable Hard Pirellis, hoping for an advantage in the final laps. On the other hand, Norris switched off the Hards and back onto the quicker Mediums, again undercutting his teammate Piastri, who came in one circuit later on Lap 48 to make the same tire switch. This time, Piastri was unable to maintain his advantage and emerged in P2 behind the now race-leading Norris. But the team quickly informed both drivers of their intentions to switch their positions in the closing laps to rectify Piastri’s startegy-induced disadvantage, since they had contravened the gentleman’s agreement within F1 teams giving pit priority to their leading driver. While Piastri struggled to catch up to his front-running teammate and Norris required repeated cajoling from the pit wall over the final 20 or so laps, he finally and somewhat grudgingly let Piastri by with two laps to go. In the end, it all worked out for team McLaren and reflected well on Norris as a team player able to accept the bigger picture amidst his own fierce ambition to win. And for Piastri, it was his Formula 1 dream come true and, he hopes, merely the first of many Grand Prix victories to come.

 

Hamilton drove exceptionally well en route to third place and his 200th career podium. The seven-time World Champion was able to push through his doubts about the Silver Arrows tire strategy of running the Mediums to Hards to Hards, contrary to the other contenders, who ran Medium-Hard-Medium, and make his final stint work well enough to hold off a furious podium charge by Verstappen. On Lap 63, in shades of 2021, the two came together when Verstappen made a lunge steaming into Turn 1, with Verstappen catching one of Hamilton’s wheels and being sent airborne. Luckily and despite coming down quite hard, there was no significant damage to the RB20 and no penalties were assessed to either driver by the stewards. But the contretemps fatally balked the furious Dutchman’s progress and he lost out not only to Hamilton but also Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who was waiting to pounce after running a solid if unspectacular race of his own and consequently nicked P4 from the Dutchman. Relegated to an uncharacteristic P5 at the finish, it capped off a difficult and tumultuous day for Verstappen and the Red Bull team, their ace pilot repeatedly berating the car’s performance, the strategy and generally carrying on in a mighty cranky mood throughout. Perhaps the pressure of what is now a genuine and formidable title challenge from McLaren is getting to the current reigning three-time champ. And while teammate Sergio Perez did well enough to recover to a solid P7 finish after another crash out early in qualifying and lousy start from the back of the grid, the fact that Perez very rarely races at the front to be utilized as Verstappen’s wingman these days is probably also hurting the team. It is certainly hurting Perez’s standing as the second Red Bull driver and, despite being re-signed earlier this season, the Mexican’s perplexingly poor performance since then has the rumor mill on possible in-season replacements in overdrive.

Leclerc’s somewhat fortunate P4 finish covered up the rather more mediocre pace of the Ferrari here, with Carlos Sainz finishing more like where the car deserved, in P6. Hamilton’s teammate George Russell also had to execute a Perez-like recovery drive after getting caught out in wet-dry conditions on Saturday and only qualifying a lowly P17. The Briton was able to salvage P8 and also grabbed the extra point for the fastest lap of the race. But it was still a pretty bitter day at the office for Russell as he watched his more decorated teammate once again ascend to the podium. Yuki Tsunoda kept it clean enough in his RB Honda to come home P9 and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll took the last point in P10.

Top 10 finishers of the Hungarian GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 81 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES 70 1:38:01.989 25
2 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 70 +2.141s 18
3 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 70 +14.880s 15
4 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 70 +19.686s 12
5 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 70 +21.349s 10
6 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 70 +23.073s 8
7 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 70 +39.792s 6
8 63 George Russell MERCEDES 70 +42.368s 5
9 22 Yuki Tsunoda RB HONDA RBPT 70 +77.259s 2
10 18 Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 70 +77.976s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race, the last before the long summer break, is in but a week’s time — the Belgian Grand Prix at the fabled Spa-Francorchamps circuit in the Ardennes. The very long and sweeping Spa is an entirely different beast from the tight and twisty Hungaroring so, it remains to be seen if McLaren’s stunning improvements will also translate there or if Red Bull will finally have the room to again stretch what had been its supreme legs earlier in the season. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!