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2022 F1 Grand Prix of Azerbaijan — Results & aftermath

Verstappen dominates at Baku, Perez P2 for maximum Red Bull points; Russell P3 after disastrous Ferrari double DNF leaves Leclerc & Sainz pointless

The Azerbaijan Grand Prix from the tricky and demanding Baku City Circuit usually throws up more than a few curveballs for the competitors and this Sunday’s 2022 edition was no exception. While Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc started from pole, he was immediately overtaken by Red Bull’s Sergio Perez going into Turn 1 right after the lights went out to start the race.  Once again, it seemed apparent that Ferrari may have the superior one lap pace but Red Bull has the complete package to actually win races. As Perez danced away from the Monegasque’s Prancing Horse, his teammate Max Verstappen applied pressure on Leclerc from P3 and the race looked to be setting up for a three car contest for supremacy and podium positions. But the ominous signs for Ferrari on the day began on Lap 9 when Leclerc’s stablemate, Carlos Sainz, running just off the pace of the elite trio in P4, lost power and pulled his F1-75 into the escape road at Turn 4. It turned out to be terminal hydraulics failure and the unlucky Spaniard was out of the race prematurely, a recurring theme for Sainz this season. And, obviously, now the Scuderia braintrust had to be wondering if their other car might suffer a similar fate.

But first a Virtual Safety Car was deployed by race control in order to clear Sainz’s stricken mount. Ferrari immediately called Leclerc into the pits for the “cheap” pit stop under the reduced VSC speeds, as did Mercedes for their two Silver Arrows. But Red Bull decided to stay out and keep track position, knowing that Baku was likely good for at least one more full-course yellow of one sort or another. While Perez still led, Leclerc’s stop vaulted Verstappen ahead of him into P2 and when the VSC ended towards the end of Lap 10, Verstappen immediately began closing down his teammate. Perez’s early aggression appeared to have taken a toll on his tires and the Mexican struggled with traction coming off the many slow speed corners of this twisty street circuit. By Lap 15 of this 51-lap contest, Verstappen was able to execute an easy overtake for the lead and Perez subsequently made his first stop for fresh Pirellis two laps later, doffing the Mediums for the more durable Hards. Verstappen then came in for his first stop on Lap 19, following the same tire sequence as Perez and while he was passed by Leclerc for the lead during that stop, the Dutch master crucially came out ahead of his Red Bull teammate. So it was Leclerc leading, Verstappen now in P2 and Perez in P3 as Lap 20 began. And then Ferrari’s  nightmare scenario became a reality. Continue reading →

2022 F1 Grand Prix of Azerbaijan — Qualifying results

Ferrari’s Leclerc earns fourth consecutive pole with blistering lap in Baku; Perez bests Red Bull stablemate Verstappen, P2 to P3; Sainz qualifies P4

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc earned his fourth pole position on the trot, giving a supreme effort on his last lap in the last session of Saturday qualifying for tomorrow’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix. On the uber charming yet uber technical Baku City Circuit, Leclerc maximized his lap time by minimizing the distance between his blood red Ferrari and the ever encroaching walls, often kissing them with his tires en route to Q3’s fastest lap. The Monegasque continued his fantastic qualifying form and showed wonderful technique and bravery at Baku, besting the two rapid Red Bull’s of Sergio Peres and Max Verstappen, who qualified P2 and P3 respectively. The problem for Leclerc, however, is he has zero wins to show for those previous three poles in Miami, Spain and, most painfully, in his home Grand Prix in Monaco a fortnight ago, where it all went went pair shaped for the Monegasque in the rain and he fell from pole to P4. Trailing as he now does in the championship to Verstappen, you can bet that Leclerc will have the bit between his teeth as he looks to hustle his Prancing Horse around this demanding street circuit and score a win on Sunday to get his title aspirations back on track.

It was also intriguing to see Perez just get the better of his usually peerless teammate over the course of their final flying laps. Coming off his spectacular win at Monaco, a career defining moment for the veteran Mexican, not to mention a brand new contract with Red Bull, Perez is brimming with confidence and now must be reckoned as a near-equal threat for the Drivers’ Championship to Leclerc and his Dutch teammate. The relationship between the rapidly ascending Perez and current world champion Verstappen could begin to get rocky as the gap between their performance shaves down to a whisker, though for the fans and team Red Bull it will be all’s the better if the two can continue to push each other as virtual equals. The second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz was overhauled by the top three after setting the benchmark time earlier in Q3 and so will start alongside Verstappen in the second row in P4. Mercedes’ George Russell once again bested his seven time Champion teammate Lewis Hamilton P5 to P7. Unfortunately for the Silver Arrows, chassis’s extreme porpoising was back with a vengeance on the bumpy, often high speed streets of Baku, which will make for a very punishing 51-laps for both Merc pilots tomorrow.

Rounding out the top ten qualifiers, AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly bettered his teammate Yuki Tsunoda P6 to P8. They will be desperate to get a double points finish in this GP after a fairly terrible year for the team so far where they’ve only taken a paltry 17 points from the initial seven contests. Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel set the ninth fastest time in Q3 and will line up alongside Alpine’s Fernando Alonso, who qualified P10.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Azerbaijan GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:42.865 1:42.046 1:41.359 19
2 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING RBPT 1:42.733 1:41.955 1:41.641 18
3 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING RBPT 1:42.722 1:42.227 1:41.706 19
4 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:42.957 1:42.088 1:41.814 19
5 63 George Russell MERCEDES 1:43.754 1:43.281 1:42.712 23
6 10 Pierre Gasly ALPHATAURI RBPT 1:43.268 1:43.129 1:42.845 23
7 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:43.939 1:43.182 1:42.924 22
8 22 Yuki Tsunoda ALPHATAURI RBPT 1:43.595 1:43.376 1:43.056 22
9 5 Sebastian Vettel ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 1:43.279 1:43.268 1:43.091 18
10 14 Fernando Alonso ALPINE RENAULT 1:44.083 1:43.360 1:43.173 20

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN beginning at 7AM Eastern here in the States. Can Leclerc turn his supreme run of qualifying form into much needed race wins or will Red Bull’s race pace once again prove superior to Ferrari’s? And who is top dog at Red Bull anyway — Verstappen or the red hot Perez? Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2022 F1 Grand Prix of Miami — Qualifying results

Leclerc takes pole, Sainz P2 for Ferrari front row lockout at inaugural Miami GP; Verstappen fumbles late effort, settles for P3

The first-ever qualifying for the first-ever Miami Grand Prix and Round 5 of the F1 Championship  didn’t disappoint. Under the hot Florida sun on the Miami International Autodrome, temporarily laid out around the Miami Dolphins’ Hard Rock Stadium, drivers faced a steep learning curve on this brand new, tight and twisty 5.412 kilometer street circuit where one false move might put them into the foreboding and at times claustrophobic walls. Team Ferrari earned the highest grades this Saturday, with Charles Leclerc wringing the neck of his skittish Prancing Horse to take pole and teammate Carlos Sainz backing him up in P2. Leclerc benefitted not only from his own steady efforts at mastering this virgin circuit but also from his key championship rival’s untimely Q3 error. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, coming off a dominant race win two weeks ago in Emilia-Romagna, uncharacteristically muffed his final quali effort when he ran off the circuit with snap oversteer and was unable to mount another challenge to the day’s Ferrari dominance as time expired. Verstappen will start P3 on a track where overtaking offline looks to be nigh impossible. So the Dutch reigning world champ will be hoping for not only solid strategy form his team to leapfrog the two Ferraris ahead in the pits but also perhaps some further unforced errors by the Scuderia duo. With Sainz having not completed the first lap in the last two races and Leclerc blowing a certain P3 by overdriving and binning it into the wall at Imola last race, team Ferrari will be looking for their talented but mistake prone duo to perhaps dial it back a notch and drive a clean contest come Sunday to take the maximum possible points.

Verstappen’s Red Bull wingman Sergio Perez set a final fast lap good enough to line up alongside his team leader on the second row in P4. Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas did yeoman’s work after he crashed out in Free Practice 1 on Friday, recovering all the way to set an excellent P5 time. That he bested his old Mercedes mate Lewis Hamilton by a position must have been extra pleasing. That said, Hamilton was probably satisfied to haul his twitchy Silver Arrow up to P6 on the grid, as his junior teammate George Russell struggled mightily with severe porpoising, that 2022 Mercedes bugaboo, and was unceremoniously bounced out in Q2. Russell will start way back in P12 and will be looking for strategic help and perhaps some inclement weather to fight his way forward on Sunday. AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda acquitted themselves well in Miami, qualifying P7 and P9 respectively, while Lando Norris of McLaren and Lance Stroll of Aston Martin were their lone teams’ representatives to make it into Q3, with Norris willing himself up to P8 and Stroll rounding out the front of the grid in P10.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Miami GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:29.474 1:29.130 1:28.796 25
2 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:30.079 1:29.729 1:28.986 26
3 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING RBPT 1:29.836 1:29.202 1:28.991 18
4 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING RBPT 1:30.055 1:29.673 1:29.036 21
5 77 Valtteri Bottas ALFA ROMEO FERRARI 1:30.845 1:29.751 1:29.475 20
6 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:30.388 1:29.797 1:29.625 21
7 10 Pierre Gasly ALPHATAURI RBPT 1:30.779 1:30.128 1:29.690 22
8 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:30.761 1:29.634 1:29.750 22
9 22 Yuki Tsunoda ALPHATAURI RBPT 1:30.485 1:30.031 1:29.932 21
10 18 Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 1:30.441 1:29.996 1:30.676 21

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live beginning at 3:30 PM Eastern on ABC here in the States. Look for a real street fight in Miami with potential for several Safety Cars/Red Flags to shake up the order. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2022 F1 Grand Prix of Australia — Results & aftermath

Leclerc romps to dominant win in Melbourne; Perez P2, Russell P3; Verstappen, Sainz DNF

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc absolutely dominated Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix, winning the race handily after starting from pole and leaving even his closest pursuers far, far behind. The Monegasque’s pace in his Prancing Horse here at Albert Park was somewhat of a a surprise, because even after qualifying in the top spot on Saturday the savvy take around the paddock was that Red Bull would have the true race pace. But the famed Scuderia’s return to championship contending form after several years mired in mediocrity was confirmed in this first Aussie GP in two years, as neither the Red Bull of Max Verstappen or Sergio Perez could touch Leclerc on this day. In fact, Verstappen was forced to retire the car on Lap 39 of this 58-lap contest when his engine or hydraulic lines developed a leak leading to a small conflagration in the engine bay. The Dutch reigning world champion, who had been sitting comfortably in second during the race despite not being able to truly challenge Leclerc for victory, instead was forced to resign himself to his second DNF in three races to start the 2022 campaign. The Red Bull is certainly fast but reliability could well be its Achilles heal in what is shaping up to be a season long battle against Ferrari. That left it to Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez to fly the Red Bull team’s flag, which the Mexican did with aplomb by taking an easy P2 on the day, albeit over 20.5-seconds in arrears of Leclerc. To put the exclamation point on his performance, the Ferrari man also took the bonus point by setting race’s fastest lap, reaping the full 26 on a day when his key rival Verstappen scored a big fat zero.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

All was not totally sunshine and roses at the fabled Scuderia from Maranello, however. Their number two Carlos Sainz had a disastrous weekend, following his somewhat unlucky P9 qualifying when he and the team were caught out but a late Red Flag in Q3 with an early DNF on Sunday when the veteran Spaniard misjudged his braking going into Turn 10 on Lap 2, overshot and then beached himself in the gravel. So like Verstappen, Sainz failed to score for his team in Melbourne, as well, only in his case he barely notched any laps at all and it appeared to be entirely his fault. Sainz will probably not be happy that the next race is two week’s away, since he’ll have all that time to stew on what he freely admitted was a “disaster” of a GP weekend. Continue reading →

2022 F1 Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia — Results & aftermath

GAME ON: Verstappen strikes back for Round 2 victory in Saudi Arabia with late pass on P2 Leclerc; Sainz P3 & unlucky Perez P4, as 2022 appears to be two-team battle between Ferrari & Red Bull

After failing to finish in Round 1 of the 2022 Formula 1 season last week in Bahrain and starting from a disappointing P4 for this Sunday’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen received not only improved reliability but also the key breaks during the race to out-duel Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and take his first win of the season. Leclerc and Ferrari had been brilliant all day, using a devious head fake that lured the pole-sitting Red Bull of Sergio Perez into an early stop on Lap 16 while Leclerc stayed out despite team radio suggesting otherwise. It proved to be the first pivotal moment of an eventful race because Williams’ Nicholas Latifi crashed out on the very next lap and forced the deployment of a Safety Car. That allowed the rest of the field to come to the pits for cheap stops for fresh rubber while Perez had just completed his for the full fare. When everyone had cycled through behind the Safety Car, Leclerc now led the race, with Verstappen leapfrogging both Sainz and his teammate Perez for second, while Sainz and Perez squabbled over P3 and P4 respectively. At that point, it looked for all the world that Leclerc had the best car and he seemed to lead out Verstappen fairly easily once the race went back to green on Lap 21.

But the tricky and tight Jeddah Corniche Street Circuit was not done doling out surprises on the day and after twenty-six fairly straightforward laps with the main contenders staying in lockstep the proceedings were again interrupted. First, the Alpine of a hard charging Fernando Alonso lost power and slowed to a stop just in front of pit entry on Lap 37 and then the McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo followed suit in practically the exact same area a lap later. This forced the race director not only to engage the Virtual Safety Car in order to retrieve the stranded pair of cars but also to keep the pits closed this time due to their proximate location. Interestingly, by the time the VSC ended on Lap 41 Verstappen had crept a little closer to Leclerc than he was able to at race pace and now only trailed the lead Prancing Horse by just under a second, the delta necessary to activate the Drag Reduction System in the rear wing. It also set things up for a grandstand finish between the two drivers, who so far have to be seen as the favorites for this year’s championship. Continue reading →

2022 F1 Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia — Qualifying results

Red Bull’s Perez snatches pole from Ferrari’s Leclerc at tricky Jeddah Corniche Street Circuit; Sainz P3, Verstappen P4; Hamilton shockingly knocked out in Q1; Schumacher airlifted to hospital after vicious Q2 shunt

On an incident-filled and frankly scary Saturday qualifying for tomorrow’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, it was Red Bull’s ostensible Number Two who managed to come out on top of the timing sheets. Veteran Sergio Perez bested not only his much more heralded teammate, Max Verstappen, but also both Ferraris, the team that looks most likely to challenge Red Bull for the big prizes this season. With a rebel drone strike on a nearby oil facility yesterday sending a a wave of unease through the paddock, the simmering tension was further compounded when Haas’s Mick Schumacher lost it during Q2 and suffered a vicious shunt  Turn 10 of this very tight and tricky Jeddah Conriche Street Circuit that shot him into one concrete barrier and then across to the other side of the track and down the road for quite some ways. While the Haas was completely destroyed, the car also did its part by breaking apart at the rear, as designed, thereby dissipating energy away from the driver. So, despite the massive impact, the initial medical reports on Schumacher were all positive and he was airlifted to hospital for precautionary reasons rather than emergency ones. However, the young German, who is trying to follow in his seven-time champion father Michael’s footsteps, was preemptively ruled out for the Grand Prix and it looks like Haas will only be fielding Kevin Magnussen’s car when the lights go out for tomorrow’s race. Magnussen kept his cool after his teammate’s disturbing crash and qualified P10.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

Schumacher’s accident led to a lengthy Red Flag period with just under five minutes in Q2, both for Schumacher’s painfully slow extraction from his wrecked car and then for some serious track cleanup and barrier repair at the scene of the crash site. But the marshals and race directors did yeoman’s work and were able to get Quali back underway, leading to the all important top ten shootout in Q3. Ferrari had looked the strongest on overall one-lap pace through the race weekend so far, so it was no surprise to see Charles Leclerc, last week’s race winner and pole-sitter in Bahrain, lay down the quickest lap as the seconds ticked down in the final qualifying session. His teammate Carlos Sainz slotted in right behind him by a little over a tenth on his final lap, making it a provisional Ferrari front row lockout, But Perez had other ideas. The veteran pilot drove a flawless final lap, coming nerve wrakingly close to the barriers at times, but wringing the maximum speed out of the Red Bull to earn his first-ever Formula 1 pole and beat back the Ferrari challenge for today. Interestingly, his normally superlative teammate Verstappen struggled to get his Soft Pirelli tires into their optimal operational window durning a cool and breezy night in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah and the Dutch reigning world champion could only muster the fourth fastest time. So it will be Perez and Leclerc on the front row and Sainz and Verstappen on row two, which should make for a really intriguing and likely contentious opening lap in tomorrow’s GP. Continue reading →

2022 F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain — Results & aftermath

Leclerc victorious in season opener, Sainz P2 in promising start to 2022 campaign for Ferrari; disastrous late double DNF for Red Bull leads to podium for Mercedes’ Hamilton, P4 for Russell

In the first race of the 2022 Formula 1 season, team Ferrari proved that its early mastery of the new ground effect-dependent chassis and new engine specs was not a fluke. The famed Scuderia from Maranello, which suffered a prolonged period of mediocrity for much of the prior turbo-hybrid era, saw a spring resurgence as their blood red Prancing Horses finished one-two in the Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday. Charles Leclerc, who clearly was the fastest man of the weekend, earned victory after starting from the pole, while his stablemate Carlos Sainz fought hard and took advantage of the terminal failures of both contending Red Bulls late in the race to come home a happy  P2. That marked the first one-two Ferrari finish in a GP since 2019 in Singapore when Sebastian Vettel led home Leclerc. While Leclerc was relatively dominant all day, he was effectively harassed by Verstappen’s Red Bull for the lead throughout, including a ding dong, see saw battle between the two after the first round of pit stops between Laps 16 and 20. Verstappen and his team made effective use of the undercut coming in a lap earlier than then Monegasque to gain track position on Leclerc, which led to several laps of Verstappen passing Leclerc going into Turn 1 and Leclerc snatching the lead back coming out of Turn 4, where the Ferrari’s excellence in the slow speed corners neutralized the Red Bull’s straight line pace advantage. After a period of holding stations and status quo for many laps after that while Verstappen bided his time, it looked like it would be game on again between the two contenders when a full Safety Car was deployed on Lap 46 of this 57-lap contest after Pierre Gasly’s AlphaTauri stopped on track and unceremoniously burst into flames. It proved to be a very bad omen for other Red Bull-engined cars.

With the field now bunched up again behind Leclerc after pretty much everyone dove to the pits for the cheap stop and a switch to the high performing Soft Pirelli tires to finish out the race, Leclerc’s advantage over Verstappen was reduced to less than a second. But by the time the Safety Car tucked in at the end of Lap 50, Verstappen had been on the radio complaining about a heavy feel to the steering, perhaps having something to do with the power steering hydraulics. Leclerc initiated the restart superbly and gapped Verstappen, although the Dutch reigning world champion still seemed able to stay on the lead Ferrari’s gearbox. But Verstappen’s radio messages to and from the pit wall kept getting more fraught and there was clearly trouble brewing in the car. Sure enough, on Lap 54 something in Verstappen’s engine let go and he was quickly overtaken by most of those behind him. Verstappen wound up limping his mount to the pits but the issue was terminal and he was forced to retire. Climbing out of the car in stunned disbelief as the race stormed to its conclusion without him was a sad way to begin the defense of his first championship.

Continue reading →

2022 F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain — Qualifying results

Leclerc snatches pole for season opener, Sainz P3 in promising start for Ferrari; Red Bull’s reigning champ Verstappen qualifies P2, Hamilton only P5 as Mercedes struggle

The real beginning of Formula 1’s latest new era yielded a multitude of surprises, as the teams put the completely redesigned cars on display for the first time in earnest during Saturday Qualifying for tomorrow’s season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix. With a radical new set of rules changing the look and design of the cars, most notably in cutting down on the complexity of the wings and exterior aero elements for less downforce but with a renewed emphasis on ground effects to stick the chassis to the road surface in exchange, it was the first opportunity to see which teams came out of the box strong and which still had work yet to do. And the answer appears to be that Ferrari has made the biggest improvements under the new regulations and the famed team from Maranello could well be geared up for a mano a mano brawl with Red Bull and their reigning champion, Max Verstappen, for the big prizes at the end of the year. Obviously, one swallow does not make a spring, but Charles Leclerc was able to put his blood red Prancing Horse on pole under the lights at the Bahrain International Circuit, besting Verstappen’s vaunted Adrian Newey-designed Red Bull RB18 at the line by a relatively hefty .123-seconds. Confirming the potential power of the new Ferrari design, Leclerc’s teammate Carlos Sainz was also in contain for the pole, though in the end he slotted in at P3 just barely of Verstappen’s pace. Meanwhile, the Dutch champ’s Ref Bull teammate, Sergio Perez, looked set to reprise his pivotal wingman role once again in 2022, as the Mexican veteran could manage no better than the fourth fastest lap in the face of the Prancing Horses’ rediscovered competitiveness.

The inverse of Ferrari’s resurgent good fortune was the poor debut performance of the normally mighty Mercedes new W13 chassis. With the new ground effects also come new aero headaches and Mercedes have suffered from severe oscillations, aka “porpoising”, throughput testing and in these first days of practice. While the team’s braintrust were able to dial out some of that, especially on their seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton’s mount, Hamilton could still do no better than a P5 start for tomorrow’s race. To say the least, that is an unfamiliar position for the Briton, who frankly dominated the just completed hybrid era until the ascendence of Verstappen and his controversial championship-clinching win to end the 2021 campaign in Abu Dhabi last December. Worse still for the eight-time consecutive Constructors’ Champions, their new number two, England’s young George Russell, suffered the ignominy of qualifying down in P9, about where he would normally end up in the pokey Williams last year. If that wasn’t disheartening enough, the previous Merc second banana, Valtteri Bottas, out-qualified Russell in P6 with his new team, the Ferrari-powered Alfa Romeo. In fact, Ferrari power looked like this first weekend’s winner already, with not only Bottas keeping his Q3 streak alive at Alfa but also Kevin Magnussen marking his return to F1 with a brilliant effort to capture P7 on the grid for perpetual back marker Haas despite battling hydraulic issues. and it was a very promising day for the Scuderia on the power plant front. On the other side off the engine equation, all four Mercedes-powered McLarens and Aston Martins failed to make it into the final qualifying round. Savvy veteran Fernando Alonso willed his Alpine Renault into P8 with a fine final effort while the Red Bull (Honda)-powered AlphaTauri of Pierre Gasly struggled with overall handling rand could do no better than P10.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Bahrain GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:31.471 1:30.932 1:30.558 15
2 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING RBPT 1:31.785 1:30.757 1:30.681 14
3 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:31.567 1:30.787 1:30.687 15
4 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING RBPT 1:32.311 1:31.008 1:30.921 18
5 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:32.285 1:31.048 1:31.238 17
6 77 Valtteri Bottas ALFA ROMEO FERRARI 1:31.919 1:31.717 1:31.560 15
7 20 Kevin Magnussen HAAS FERRARI 1:31.955 1:31.461 1:31.808 12
8 14 Fernando Alonso ALPINE RENAULT 1:32.346 1:31.621 1:32.195 14
9 63 George Russell MERCEDES 1:32.269 1:31.252 1:32.216 17
10 10 Pierre Gasly ALPHATAURI RBPT 1:32.096 1:31.635 1:32.338 21

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN here in the States beginning at 11AM Eastern here in the States. Can Ferrari set the pace over the course of a full Grand Prix or will Verstappen’s superlative skills where down the Prancing Horses and deny them victory? And just how much pain will Mercedes take tomorrow as the team focuses on early season damage limitation? Look forward to seeing you then to find out how it all shakes out in the 2022 opener!

2021 F1 Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia — Qualifying results

Hamilton earns pole in Jeddah after Verstappen hits wall on final attempt, relegating points leader to P3 on grid; Bottas will start P2 as Mercedes lock out front row

With time expired in Q3 during Saturday qualifying for the inaugural Saudi Arabian Grand Prix at the daunting, high speed Jeddah Corniche Street Circuit, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen looked to be setting a blistering lap good enough to snatch the pole position from Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton. But the Dutch points leader stepped just that far over the line and smacked the wall at the last corner with his right rear tire, bringing his car and his qualifying attempt to an abrupt end. That meant Hamiton’s fastest lap held up as the pole time and Verstappen was also unable to jump the second Silver Arrow of Valtteri Bottas. So Bottas will line up alongside his team leader in P2 for a Mercedes front row lockout and Verstappen will start P3… assuming that he didn’t damage his gearbox badly enough to force a pre-race change, which would demote him a further five positions on a very tight and demanding circuit where overtaking will be at an absolute premium. With Verstappen leading Hamilton by a slim 8 points in the Drivers’ Championship, it is mathematically possible for the Dutchman to take the F1 crown in this penultimate race with a net gain of 18 points. But it is also quite a bit more likely that Hamilton, who has been on a superb run of form that has seen the English seven-time champ win the last two GP on the trot, will continue to apply the pressure, eat into Verstappen’s lead if not overtake him and, either way, push this titanic 2021 title tilt to the final round in Abu Dhabi next weekend.

Behind those front three, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc landed safely in P4 after his teammate Carlos Sainz had several hairy moments of snap oversteer in Q2 and failed to advance out of that round. Sainz will have to figure out a way to move forward from P15 and help the team maximize points in their fierce fight with McLaren, which saw Lando Norris qualify in P7 and Daniel Ricciardo in P11. The second Red Bull of Sergio Perez struggled his way to a disappointing P5 qualifying time, while the two AlphaTauris performed well at this brand new track, with the talented Pierre Gasly setting the sixth fastest time in Q3 and rookie Yuki Tsunonda continuing his recent improvement by slotting in at a decent P8. Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi qualified in P9 and P10 respectively.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Saudi Arabian GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:28.466 1:27.712 1:27.511 23
2 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:28.057 1:28.054 1:27.622 25
3 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:28.285 1:27.953 1:27.653 19
4 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:28.310 1:28.459 1:28.054 24
5 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:28.021 1:27.946 1:28.123 23
6 10 Pierre Gasly ALPHATAURI HONDA 1:28.401 1:28.314 1:28.125 26
7 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:28.338 1:28.344 1:28.180 21
8 22 Yuki Tsunoda ALPHATAURI HONDA 1:28.503 1:28.222 1:28.442 26
9 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 1:28.752 1:28.574 1:28.647 22
10 99 Antonio Giovinazzi ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI 1:28.899 1:28.616 1:28.754 21

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN2 beginning at 12:30pm Eastern here in the States. It will be tense times all around with fingers crossed in the Red Bull garage that Verstappen didn’t seriously damage his car in that fateful late-quali tank slapper. Conversely, Hamilton will be looking to convert pole into the win and, perhaps with a bit of misfortune to his title rival, overhaul the Dutchman to take the lead going into the final contest. Also, if I were a betting man I would count on at least one Safety Car or Red Flag period to potentially shake things up — especially concerning is the pit out blend line where it seems to me cars exiting could come to grief with those steaming down the start-finish straight at full chat if everyone is not super careful.  Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2021 F1 Grand Prix of Qatar — Qualifying results

Hamilton blisters field for pole at inaugural Qatar GP; Verstappen P2, Bottas P3 while rest of grid jumbled by unpredictable results at Losail

Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton gave his very best effort to keep his title hopes alive and the momentum going after last week’s win in Brazil by laying down an untouchably fast lap in Saturday Qualifying, seizing the pole position for tomorrow’s inaugural Qatar Grand Prix. With the entire field coming to grips with the first time use of the Losail International Circuit for a Formula 1 race, Hamilton proved to be the fastest learner in the bunch, setting a track record 1:20.827 time, some .455 seconds faster than his closest competitor, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. It was a fairly whopping advantage in Formula 1 terms that earned Ham the Man his first pole since way back in Round 11 at Hungary and sees him peaking at the right time as the season rushes to its conclusion. With only three races remaining in the 2021 campaign including tomorrow’s final leg of a grueling, multi-hemisphere triple header and Hamilton trailing Verstappen by 14 points in the Drivers’ standings, victory will be crucial for the legendary English pilot if he is to secure his unprecedented eighth world title and hold off the Dutch wunderkind who is more than a little hungry to score the first of his already impressive career.

While the second Silver Arrow of Valtteri Bottas did his part for the team by setting the third fastest time, thereby putting him in a position to harass Verstappen from behind and support Hamilton’s quest for victory in tomorrow’s race, the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez struggled mightily at Losail. Despite having raced here back in his GP2 days, Verstappen’s Mexican wingman was unceremoniously bounced out of Q2 with only the eleventh fastest time. While this will give Checo and the team some extra tires and strategic options, starting from P11 with a ton of competitive cars in front of them can hardly be what they were hoping for on the day. In fact, perhaps due to the unfamiliarity of the circuit, there were numerous unpredictable qualifying results up and down the field. Continue reading →