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2024 F1 Grand Prix of Spain — Qualifying results

GAME ON: Norris bests Verstappen for pole in Barcelona; Mercedes out-qualify Ferrari

The beginning to the 2024 Formula 1 campaign seemed to promise only an inevitably dominant Max Verstappen march to a fourth consecutive Driver’s title. But things have gotten well and truly more complicated and interesting with emergence of McLaren’s Lando Norris as a genuine threat to the Red Bull ace’s imperial ambitions. Beginning in Round 5 in China, Norris has shown that he can essentially match Verstappen and the RB20’s pace, either in qualifying trim or at race pace. Norris beat out Verstappen fair and square for his maiden F1 win in Miami and finished P2 to Verstappen the race before in China and two of the three races after Miami, Emilia-Romagna and Canada. And two weeks after his excellent runner-up performance in Montreal, where victory was also within his reach if not for an ill-timed Safety Car, Norris showed his form and threat are no fluke by besting Verstappen in Saturday qualifying to earn pole for Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix. Norris put in a blistering last lap around the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya to surpass what appeared to be Verstappen’s supreme final time by 0.020-seconds. It was Norris’s second career pole in F1 and first since way back in 2021 at Sochi in Russia. The Lando-Max front row should make the opening lap of tomorrow’s Grand Prix must see TV, as two young pilots at the peak of their powers fight on even terms for what each hopes will be a statement win in Spain.

Which is not to say that the drivers behind that elite duo won’t also have something to say about the outcome of the race. Looking like their performance gains in Canada might just prove illusory after two desultory rounds of quali, the factory Mercedes team came alive in Q3. The Silver Arrows ambushed Ferrari with their pace improvement on the rubbered-in track, with Lewis Hamilton out-qualifying his younger teammate George Russell for a change, P3 to P4. With Mercedes thereby locking out the second row, Ferrari were surprised to find themselves relegated to row three, with Charles Lecerc earning P5 ahead of teammate Carlos Sainz in P6. Alpine continued their momentum after their double points finish in Canada, with Pierre Gasly slotting in an impressive P7 ahead of teammate and archrival Esteban Ocon in P9. They sandwiched the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez, who sacrificed his chance of a higher placing when he helped out teammate Verstappen by giving him a tow in Q3. The team may be having second thoughts about that decision, because Verstappen would probably still have been P2 either way and Perez was then demoted to P11 on the grid due to having to serve his 3-spot penalty from Canada for choosing to drive his heavily damaged car back to the pits. While that promotes the second McLaren of Oscar Piastri to a P9 start, that will be cold comfort for the young Australian, who ran wide into the gravel on his final qualifying lap and therefore could not come close to matching teammate Norris’s pole time. Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso qualified P11 but was elevated to P10 on the grid for his home race as a result of Perez’s penalty.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Spanish GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:12.386 1:11.872 1:11.383 12
2 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:12.306 1:11.653 1:11.403 12
3 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:12.143 1:11.792 1:11.701 18
4 63 George Russell MERCEDES 1:12.456 1:11.812 1:11.703 16
5 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:12.257 1:12.038 1:11.731 12
6 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:12.403 1:11.874 1:11.736 12
7 10 Pierre Gasly ALPINE RENAULT 1:12.651 1:12.079 1:11.857 18
8 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:12.477 1:12.054 1:12.061 18
9 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 1:12.691 1:12.109 1:12.125 18
10 81 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:12.460 1:12.011 DNF 16

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN beginning at 9 am Eastern here in the States. Can Norris hold off Verstappen over the course of 66-laps and take a second victory at the Dutchman’s expense? Or will the Silver Arrows and Prancing Horses have a say in the outcome? Hope to see you then to find out!

2024 F1 Grand Prix of Monaco — Results & aftermath

Leclerc finally breaks through at home GP to take victory in Monaco; Piastri P2, Sainz P3 & Norris P4 in all-Ferrari vs McLaren competition

After years of bad luck, self-inflicted mistakes and ever-building pressure, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc finally broke through to take a comprehensive victory at his home race at the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday. The Monegasque ran from pole to the checkers, maintaining first place the whole while on this legendarily difficult to overtake street circuit, where the top cars in the world have been racing since 1929. With qualifying of supreme importance here, it became a two team battle between Ferrari and McLaren, with the four drivers finishing where they started — Leclerc in P1 and his Scuderia stablemate Carlos Sainz in P3 and the two McLarens of Oscar Piastri in P2 and Lando Norris in P4. Red Bull were uncharacteristically not a factor here, as Max Verstappen held station to also come home where he started in P6. His unlucky teammate Sergio Perez was wiped out on the opening lap in a contretemps with the overly ambitious Haas of Kevin Magnussen that also took out the other Haas of Nico Hulkenberg when the melee had concluded.

That large multi-car shunt led to a lengthy Red Flag period necessitated by an extensive cleanup of the rather large debris field of broken Red Bull and Haas bits strewn across the entirety of Beau Rivage. It also enabled Sainz, who suffered a puncture after wheel to wheel contact dicing with Piastri at the start, to save his race. The Ferrari mechanics were able to perform repairs to the Spaniard’s car with no time penalty and the restart would be in the exact order of the race start due to the Red Flag being thrown without even a full first sector being run. Unfortunately, it also gave all the teams a free change of tires, which negated any future requirement to pit for a change of Pirelli compounds, as per the rules. This meant that the front four could run a slow, tire management pace without consequences or need for any strategy calls that might have spiced up the action. But that’s Monaco — a race that is usually greater on pageantry, pomp, historical significance and prestige than in actual racing action. Nevertheless, no one can take away the pure joy of Leclerc’s boyhood dream coming true in front of his hometown fans, including Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene, who both participated in the ebullient, champagne-drenched podium ceremonies for the local boy made good.

As he was after qualifying, Dutch points leader Verstappen ended up sandwiched between the two Mercedes, with George Russell coming home in P5 and Lewis Hamilton in P7. Even with both Verstappen and Hamilton being tow of the very few to pit to get off the Mediums and back onto the Hards for their final stints, it did nothing to really shake up their respective races. Rounding out the top ten, Yuki Tsunoda claimed P8 for RB Honda, Alexander Albon was P9 for Williams and Pierre Gasly claimed his first point of the year in P10. Gasly finishing at all was impressive considering he came together with teammate Esteban Ocon on the opening lap. Ocon went airborne and was knocked out of the race, earning the wrath of his team boss in an unusually harsh public rebuke.

Top 10 finishers of the Monaco GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 78 2:23:15.554 25
2 81 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES 78 +7.152s 18
3 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 78 +7.585s 15
4 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 78 +8.650s 12
5 63 George Russell MERCEDES 78 +13.309s 10
6 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 78 +13.853s 8
7 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 78 +14.908s 7
8 22 Yuki Tsunoda RB HONDA RBPT 77 +1 lap 4
9 23 Alexander Albon WILLIAMS MERCEDES 77 +1 lap 2
10 10 Pierre Gasly ALPINE RENAULT 77 +1 lap 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in a fortnight’s time, as the teams cross the Atlantic again and return to wide open racing with the Canadian Grand Prix. Can Red Bull and Verstappen get their mojo back on the high speed straights of Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve or have Ferrari and McLaren truly made inroads to make this a genuine three-team championship battle? Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2024 F1 Grand Prix of Monaco — Qualifying results

Leclerc claims pole for hometown Grand Prix, pipping P2 Piastri; Sainz P3 on good day for Ferrari; Red Bull struggle with Verstappen only sixth fastest, Perez out in Q1

With the Memorial Day holiday weekend upon us, that means the return of the venerable Monaco Grand Prix, the crown jewel of the Formula 1 season. On this most unique of street circuits, the tightest and slowest on the F1 calendar, Red Bull’s usual straightline & DRS advantages were utterly neutralized during Saturday qualifying, as championship points leader Max Verstappen could do no better than P6 and Sergi Perez was unceremoniously bounced in Q1 with only the eighteenth fast time in the twenty car field. That left the door wide open for Ferrari and McLaren and the Scuderia’s Charles Leclerc came flying through it with a final lap good enough for pole at his home race. The Monegasque Leclerc bested the P2 McLaren of young Oliver Piastri, as well as his Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz, who will start tomorrow’s race from P3 on the grid. Piastri’s McLaren stablemate Lando Norris, who is on his own fine run of form, will line up along Sainz on the second row in P4.

Mercedes had decent if not spectacular pace on the streets of the principality, with George Russell once again out-qualifying his more senior Silver Arrow teamate Lewis Hamilton, P5 to P7, effectively making the frustrated P6 Verstappen the meat in a Mercedes sandwich. Rounding out the top 10 qualifiers, Yuki Tsunoda was P8 for RB Honda, Alexander Albon hauled his Williams up to P9 and Pierre Gasly did well to hustle his usually poky Alpine into P10.

To 10 qualifiers for the Monaco GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:11.584 1:10.825 1:10.270 26
2 81 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:11.500 1:10.756 1:10.424 24
3 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:11.543 1:11.075 1:10.518 28
4 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:11.760 1:10.732 1:10.542 27
5 63 George Russell MERCEDES 1:11.492 1:10.929 1:10.543 28
6 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:11.711 1:10.745 1:10.567 28
7 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:11.528 1:11.056 1:10.621 28
8 22 Yuki Tsunoda RB HONDA RBPT 1:11.852 1:11.106 1:10.858 25
9 23 Alexander Albon WILLIAMS MERCEDES 1:11.623 1:11.216 1:10.948 29
10 10 Pierre Gasly ALPINE RENAULT 1:11.714 1:10.896 1:11.311 30

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ABC beginning at 9 am Eastern here in the States. With Red Bull on the back foot on a very difficult to pass circuit, this could end up a Ferrari-McLaren duel amongst the top four starters, with Leclerc inspired to fend off Piastri and take victory at his prestigious home race. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi — Qualifying results

Verstappen takes pole for final race in Abu Dhabi, earns 12th of season; Leclerc fights back for P2; Piastri best McLaren in P3 as Norris slides down to P5

Red Bull’s peerless Max Verstappen took the final pole of the season with aplomb during the last Saturday Qualifying of 2023 for tomorrow’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at Yas Marina Circuit. With nothing left to prove in his historically dominant World Championship campaign this year, Verstappen nevertheless outpaced the rest of the field to make it 12 total poles out of twenty-two race weekends. The flying Dutchman will go for his record-extending nineteenth victory of the season in Sunday evening’s Grand Prix under the futuristic light show of Yas Marina and it would be a brave man indeed who would bet against him.

The real battles in tomorrow’s race should be behind the now three-time champion, as Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc pulled a scorching lap out of the bag at the death of Q3 to set the second fastest time and earn the right to start alongside Verstappen on the front row. That makes it five front row starts in a row for the Monegasque, including three poles, as Leclerc looks not only to end his year on a high note with another podium but also help pull the Scuderia ahead of mighty Mercedes for P2 in the all-important Constructors’ standings. But both Ferrari and Mercedes had only one car progress into the final Quali session, as George Russell outpaced teammate Lewis Hamilton to the tune of P4 to P11, while the second Prancing Horse of Carlos Sainz had a disastrous effort that saw him bounced out in Q1 and starting tomorrow down in P16. Sainz had a heavy shunt in Free Practice 2 on Friday so perhaps his car is still ailing after the rebuild but certainly the Spaniard is also lacking for pace and confidence at this sneakily tricky track. Continue reading →

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Las Vegas — Results & aftermath

Verstappen aces out Leclerc for win in action packed Las Vegas GP; Leclerc salvages P2 with last lap pass on Perez

Red Bull’s peerless Max verstappen continued his historic season by taking the win in the return of the Las Vegas Grand Prix after an absence of 41 years. But it was hardly smooth sailing for the already-crowned World Champion on the brand new and quite high speed Las Vegas Street Circuit. While Verstappen made his typically superior getaway to pass the pole-sitting Ferrari of Charles Leclerc at the start of the race steaming into Turn 1, he was adjudged a tad too forceful in pushing Leclerc’s Prancing Horse off the track and was eventually handed a 5-second time penalty. Meanwhile behind the skirmish at the front, a number off cars made minor contact as they got away and compressed under braking and the debris left behind prompted a quick Virtual Safety Car for cleanup. Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez and Fernando Alonso both ducked into the pits under that VSC for new front wings as a result of all that contact, which started when Alonso spun out on the slick surface. The race resumed on Lap 3 but was quickly halted again when something failed on the McLaren of Lando Norris and he went flying into the barriers in the runoff area at Turn 11. It was a heavy hit that required a full Safety Car for repairs and retrieval. Norris was eventually taken to hospital for observation but thanks fully released not long after.

The race resumed again at the end of Lap 6, with Verstappen managing the restart with aplomb but being told about the stewards’ judgement against him. With his initial set of Medium Pirellis already going off, however, Leclerc was actually able to re-pass Verstappen for the lead on Lap 16 without needing those 5-seconds, prompting the Red Bull braintrust to call their main man into the pits on the subsequent lap for a switch to fresh Hards and the serving of his sanction. Following him in were the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and the sole surviving McLaren of Oscar Piastri, who had just made contact with each other. Hamilton got the worst of the exchange and had to limp in with a puncture but Piastri also needed repairs (although the young Aussie chose to stay on Hard tires meaning he still owed a mandatory pit stop later in the race) and both drivers lost valuable track position due to the incident. Continue reading →

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Las Vegas — Qualifying results

Ferrari fastest in Vegas with Leclerc taking pole, Sainz P2; Verstappen off his usual pace in P3, as shiny new street circuit & cool nighttime temps scramble field

Ferrari were unquestionably the fastest team at the brand new Las Vegas Street Circuit during midnight Saturday qualifying for Saturday night’s Las Vegas Grand Prix. Despite not really being a similar circuit, the Scuderia harkened back to their superior pace at Singapore earlier in the season, outpacing the usually dominant Red Bull of Max Verstappen. With the only real question being which of the two Prancing Horses would take pole, it was Charles Leclerc who bested teammate Carlos Sainz by a minuscule 0.044 seconds, but over three-tenths ahead of Verstappen’s best effort in Q3. Unfortunately for Sainz and Ferrari, though, the Spaniard will be assessed a ten-place grid penalty for the race after he sucked up a drain cover earlier in Free Practice 1, resulting in heavy damage to his car and the need to take a new battery outside his allotment for the year. It seems unfair that Sainz should be penalized for something completely out of his control and due to the teething issues any new street circuit is prone to encounter, but them’s the rules, as they say, and no dispensation was given by the FIA despite Ferrari’s appeals. So that demotes Sainz down to P12 despite his superb quali effort and moves Verstappen to P2 alongside Leclerc on the front row. Continue reading →

2023 F1 Grand Prix of the United States — Qualifying results

Leclerc bests Norris for USGP pole at COTA, Hamilton earns P3 for Sunday’s race; Verstappen drops from P1 to P6 after final lap deleted due to track limits violation

Formula 1 returned to the United States for the second of three planned visits in 2023, this time to the fantastic Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas for the United States Grand Prix. Round 19 was once again another frantic Sprint weekend for the second race in a row so, qualifying for Sunday’s race took place on Friday, while the Sprint Shootout qualifying and the Sprint will occur on Saturday. On the fast and flowing COTA in front of a packed house on a hot Texas day, it was Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc who came away with pole for the actual race, once again excelling on a Sprint weekend. Leclerc was genuinely fast here but he also benefitted from a rare mistake by Max Verstappen late in Q3. The Red Bull ace, who has already been crowned World Champion with five races still to be run, was pushing hard on his final flying lap but overstepped track limits at Turn 19. So, while he crossed the line with the session’s fastest time unofficially, it was quickly deleted by the stewards for the infraction, plunging him back down the order based on his earlier official time. Unable to try again, Verstappen was eventually relegated to a P6 start for Sunday’s Grand Prix, an unenviable position even for the three-time champ on a circuit where no driver has won from below the front row.

That last, somewhat curious statistic must certainly cheer Leclerc, who is still seeking his first win of 2023, and it certainly also heartened McLaren’s Lando Norris, who ran a nice clean quali and slotted in across from Leclerc in P2, 0.13-seconds off the Monegasque’s pole-setting pace. Lewis Hamilton was also in the mix on a track where he always seems to thrive, wrestling his Mercedes to the third fastest Q3 lap, while teammate George Russell earned P5 on the grid by besting Verstappen’s previously set time. Leclerc’s Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz split the Silver Arrows in P5 and the Alpines of Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon came home P7 and P8 respectively. Sergio Perez continued his recent slump in the second Red Bull and bewilderingly could only manage the ninth fastest time. Likewise, Oliver Piastri was not close to McLaren teammate Norris’s pace a fortnight after beating him out for P2 in the Qatar GP. Starting in P10, the talented young Aussie will have his work cut out for him to get back on the podium come race day in Austin.

Most significantly outside the top 10 qualifiers, Aston Martin’s second-half slide continued, as new “upgrades” for this weekend proved to be duds due to problems getting the cars on track in the only pre-qualifying practice session earlier in the day. Fernando Alonso failed to get to Q3 for the first time this year and was unceremoniously knocked out in Q1, along with troubled teammate Lance Stroll. Alonso will start the race a lowly P17 and Stroll, who is facing heaps of criticism for shoving his physio during qualifying in Qatar, will start P19. That leaves Aston Martin praying for at least some points from the Saturday Sprint, as they feel soaring McLaren’s hot breath on their necks for P4 in the Constructors’ Championship.

Top 10 qualifiers for United States GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:36.061 1:35.004 1:34.723 21
2 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:35.110 1:35.441 1:34.853 20
3 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:35.091 1:35.240 1:34.862 18
4 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:35.824 1:35.302 1:34.945 18
5 63 George Russell MERCEDES 1:36.165 1:35.606 1:35.079 18
6 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:35.346 1:35.008 1:35.081 18
7 10 Pierre Gasly ALPINE RENAULT 1:36.158 1:35.496 1:35.089 19
8 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 1:36.131 1:35.413 1:35.154 21
9 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:35.989 1:35.679 1:35.173 17
10 81 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:36.064 1:35.576 1:35.467 20

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Sunday’s race airs live on ABC beginning at 3PM Eastern here in the States. With so many cars and drivers loving COTA’s unique challenges and showing genuine pace, and with Verstappen handicapped by a P6 grid position, it truly could be anyone’s race. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Qatar — Qualifying results

Verstappen takes race pole under tricky conditions at windy, sandy Lusail Circuit; Russell P2, Hamilton P3 — Piastri wins Saturday Sprint while Verstappen earns third consecutive championship with second place points

F1’s gimmicky Sprint Race format achieved its unintended apex when Red Bull’s peerless Max Verstappen was able to clinch his third consecutive Drivers’ Championship by finishing second in the Saturday Sprint race. Those seven points earned for P2 put him mathematically out of reach of his closest pursuer, teammate Sergio Perez, who collided with Esteban Ocon and Nico Hulkenberg to DNF in the Sprint, with only five more race weekends remaining. While it was an event-filled few days of qualifying, Sprint qualifying and then the actual Sprint due to a very green, newly repaved Lusail International Circuit plus very gusty and sandy conditions making for treacherously low grip, the early coronation in the short race does rob tomorrow’s Grand Prix of any real significance. Verstappen, who only qualified third for the Sprint and watches as the pole-sitting Oliver Piastri flight back against Mercedes’ George Russell to earn his first Formula 1 win, did earn pole for Sunday’s GP ahead of the Mercedes duo of Russell and Lewis Hamilton. Track limits were also once again a talking point, as drivers struggled for grip and then also suffered when the track was slightly reconfigured out of Pirelli’s concern for their tries abnormal rate of wear over the multiple high speed curbs at this very fast and twisty track.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Qatar GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:25.007 1:24.483 1:23.778 19
2 63 George Russell MERCEDES 1:25.334 1:24.827 1:24.219 21
3 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:26.076 1:24.381 1:24.305 20
4 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 1:25.223 1:25.241 1:24.369 21
5 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:25.452 1:25.079 1:24.424 26
6 81 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:25.266 1:24.724 1:24.540 23
7 10 Pierre Gasly ALPINE RENAULT 1:25.566 1:24.918 1:24.553 23
8 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 1:25.711 1:24.928 1:24.763 24
9 77 Valtteri Bottas ALFA ROMEO FERRARI 1:26.038 1:25.297 1:25.058 21
10 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:25.131 1:24.685 DNF 21

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Top 10 Sprint Race results:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 81 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES 19 35:01.297 8
2 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 19 +1.871s 7
3 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 19 +8.497s 6
4 63 George Russell MERCEDES 19 +11.036s 5
5 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 19 +17.314s 4
6 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 19 +18.806s 3
7 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 19 +19.860s 2
8 23 Alexander Albon WILLIAMS MERCEDES 19 +19.864s 1
9 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 19 +21.180s 0
10 10 Pierre Gasly ALPINE RENAULT 19 +21.742s 0

Complete Sprint results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN beginning at 1PM Eastern here in the States. While the major prizes for 2023 have all been handed out due to Verstappen and Red Bull’s sheer dominance, the tricky Losail track should still provide a lot of unpredictability and excitement. Hope to see you then find out how it all shakes out!

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Singapore — Results & aftermath

RED BULL TAMED: Sainz & Ferrari snap Red Bull, Verstappen streaks with tense win in Singapore; Norris holds off Hamilton for P2 as Russell crashes out of podium position on final lap

In a tense and eventful Singapore Grand Prix, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Ferrari were able to do what no other driver had done in ten races and no other team had done in fifteen races: beat Max Verstappen and Red Bull respectively. With former teammate Lando Norris acting as wingman in his McLaren by holding off the hard charging Mercedes duo of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton in the final, fraught laps, Sainz mastered the circuit and his long run tire management to take his first victory for the Scuderia and Ferrari’s first since 2019 at this very same Marina Bay Circuit by a little under a second. Meanwhile, Red Bull’s struggles in Singapore proved to be too difficult to overcome in the short span of a race weekend and Max and the team both saw their record setting win streaks come to an abrupt end. With Verstappen starting from P11 and teammate Sergio Perez from thirteenth, the pair did the best they could with an inverse strategy of starting on Hard Pirellis while the rest of the top runners were on Mediums. But their best laid plans were stymied somewhat when the inevitable Singapore Safety Car was deployed on Lap 20. Due to where they were on the circuit when the SC came out, the team opted to keep running, which garnered them some track position but the front runners were all able to pit under yellow for cheaper first pit stops. Red Bull then pitted under green with Perez on Lap 40 & Verstappen the subsequent lap and ran their final 20-odd lap stint on the very effective Medium tires. Salvaging what they could on this rare bogey track for them and after that ill-timed early Safety Car, Verstappen was able to forcefully pass his way up to P5 and Perez, who had a bit of sloppy race that included a 5-second penalty for causing a collision with Oliver Piastri, was still good enough for P8. Japan and Suzuka next week should see the return of Red Bull dominance as the RB15, especially in Max’s hands, gets to stretch its legs properly again on a much faster course. But on Sunday, it was Sainz and Ferrari raising the trophies and bathing in champagne after what must have seemed an eternity for the team in the garage, pit wall, the braintrust back in Maranello and the legions of Prancing Horse devotees.

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It was a tale of two races, as the first part unfolded methodically with all drivers locked into their chosen tire strategies and therefore not pushing too hard on the first stint. The Safety Car on Lap 20 began spicing things up by forcing Red Bull to make the decision to stay out on their Hards while all the other contenders came in for cheap stops and switches to fresh Hards for their ostensible final stint. The utility of fresh rubber was quickly bourn out as the Red Bulls were  gobbled up by their pursuers within a handful of laps. First, Russell nabbed Verstappen for a true P2 on Lap 23. Then, Hamilton regained P5 against Perez two laps later. Hamilton passed Verstappen for P4 on Lap 27 and Leclerc followed that up with his own successful move on the Dutchman a lap after to get his Ferarri back to P5. But Leclerc never really recovered from a slow first stop when the Scuderia double-stacked their men but Leclerc was both further away from Sainz on entry and the mechanics were slow with his tire change. So, the leaders were really the quartet of Sainz, followed by Russell, then Norris and then Hamilton. The two Red Bulls finally made the decision to get off their Hards in favor of the Mediums for the rest of the race, first with Perez on lap 40, then Verstappen on lap 41. Once again, their timing was not optimal because the Alpine of Esteban Ocon, who had been having a superb race, came to an abrupt stop at Turn 2 near pit out, bringing out a Virtual Safety Car. Continue reading →

2023 F1 Grand Prix of the Netherlands — Results & aftermath

Verstappen prevails for record-tying ninth win on the trot in chaotic, rain-affected Dutch Grand Prix; Alonso returns to podium with masterful P2; superb Gasly promoted to P3 due to Perez penalty

Even the unpredictable elements at the Dutch seaside Zandvoort circuit could not prevent the great Max Verstappen from adding to his record-setting victory pace at his hometown race. With rain chucking it down at the very start of Sunday’s 72-lap Dutch Grand Prix and then again during the closing stanza, forcing split second strategy decisions up and down the pit wall, Verstappen and his Red Bull brain trust made all the right calls en route to another dominant victory. It was the points leader’s record trying ninth win in a row, drawing him level with the great Sebastian Vettel, who first lifted this team named after a sports drink to the pinnacle of motorsport. Proving himself a worthy successor to the German four time champ, the Dutch wunderkind wowed the virtual sea of his sodden and ecstatic orange-clad fans by surviving the opening two laps on slicks as the rain began and then two Safety Car periods that erased his cushion. The latter deluge began on Lap 61, leading to first a VSC three laps later and then a Red Flag due to cars aquaplaning off the track en masse. Nevertheless, the Dutch master held off the late charge of wily old Fernando Alonso and pulled out his winning margin over the final five green flag laps to 3.744-seconds over the Spaniard. That also made it eleven wins from thirteen races run in 2023 and increased his points lead over teammate Sergio Perez to a whopping 128. While Verstappen’s dominance may make for sometimes less than thrilling and lopsided victories, this race had excitement galore due to the changeable weather and abundance of incident. In any event, one has to give the devil his due in saying that Verstappen is head and shoulders above all the other contenders in what is shaping up to be one of the legendary individual seasons in the sport’s history.

Nearly as good was Aston Martin’s Alonso, who started from P5 but used his mastery of touch and feel in the wet to consistently push to the front whatever the track conditions. By Lap 13 and after a switch to Intermediate wets and then back to Soft Pirellis, Alonso had worked his way to P3, a position he looked destined to be locked into for the duration. But he got a huge break when the heavy showers hit and the field were once again forced to come in for wet weather tires. The P2 Red Bull of Perez dove to the pits for Inters on Lap 61, which looked like the shrewd move at the time. The pursuing Alonso came in a lap latter for the same compound but the rain only intensified from there and the Red Bull team pulled first Verstappen in for the full Wet tires on Lap 63 and then, after Perez had slid off the track in T1, they called him in for the same on Lap 64. But with a big shunt by Alfa Romeo’s Zho Guanyu directly after Perez had his own off, the race director first deployed a Virtual Safety Car but then determined that the only safe course of action was a Red Flag. That trapped Perez in the pits as the rest of the field trundled round to get back into them for safe retrieval of Zho’s Alfa and barrier repair. While Perez was allowed to keep P3 and not relegated any further, as that was his last timed position, he had lost out to Alonso on P2. Making matters worse for the Mexican, he somehow accrued a pit speed violation on that fateful pit entry and was slapped with a 5-second time penalty. Alonso easily held off Perez, as he made a hard if eventually futile charge at catching Verstappen at the point. Meanwhile, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, who drove a superb race, kept himself close enough to the second Red Bull to inherit the last step on the podium when Perez was docked those five-seconds after the checkers flew. It was brace of brilliant drives and results by Alonso and Gasly and another difficult day at the office for Perez when all was said and done.

Carlos Sainz was the lone Ferrari to make it home after teammate Charles Leclerc DNF’d due to floor damage on Lap 42. While Sainz held on for P5, it was another confused and disappointing day for the Scuderia, with Leclerc’s pointless retirement preceded by a botched stop for Inters on Lap 2. The Monegasque driver made his own call to box but the team weren’t ready for him with the tires, making for an agonizingly long time spent stationary. Heading into Monza next week, Ferrari will be under immense pressure to do better in front of their rabid tifosi. Mercedes Lewis Hamilton was likewise his team’s lone representative in the Top 10, recovering from a poor qualifying and a P13 start to take a hard earned P6. Teammate George Russell’s day came to grief late in the race when he suffered a puncture dicing with McLaren’s Lando Norris on lap 67 and was forced into an emergency pit stop that pushed him back to P17 and last among the remaining runners. Norris survived that incident to come home P7, with teammate Oscar Piastri not quite as quick in P9. Williams’ Alexander Albon did an excellent job after running his opening stint on Soft tires all the way to Lap 44 despite the drenched circuit, a crazy feat that set him up for his eventual P8 finish. The second Alpine of Esteban Ocon took the last point in P10 after the team’s gamble to be the first to go on full Wet tires on Lap 62 didn’t quite pay off due to the Red Flag.

Top 10 finishers of the Dutch GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 72 2:24:04.411 25
2 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 72 +3.744s 19
3 10 Pierre Gasly ALPINE RENAULT 72 +7.058s 15
4 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 72 +10.068s 12
5 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 72 +12.541s 10
6 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 72 +13.209s 8
7 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 72 +13.232s 6
8 23 Alexander Albon WILLIAMS MERCEDES 72 +15.155s 4
9 81 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES 72 +16.580s 2
10 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 72 +18.346s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in but a week’s time as we head into September — the Italian Grand Prix from Monza, the Temple of Speed. Verstappen will be gunning for the record for consecutive race wins and the rest of the contenders will be hoping that somehow the ultra-fast circuit suits their hot rods a little better. And, at their home circuit, Ferrari will simply be praying for both of their cars to perform well and with no embarrassing mistakes for the Italian media to harp on. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!