Tag Archives: Pierre Gasly

2020 F1 Grand Prix of Belgium — Results & aftermath

Hamilton romps to victory at Spa, Bottas P2 as Mercedes dominate again; Verstappen P3 for Red Bull; Renault on the ascent

The 2020 dominance of the Mercedes factory team and their ace pilot Lewis Hamilton continued today as Hamilton sailed to victory in the Belgian Grand Prix at the legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit and teammate Valtteri Bottas claimed second place. With Hamilton starting from pole and Bottas P2 on the grid and both cars clearly faster than the next best Red Bull of Max Verstappen, the only suspense in today’s race was wondering if the Hard compound Pirellis on both Silver Arrows would make it to the end of the race after a very long second stint. But the tires held up just well enough to get to the end even though they had run a whopping 33 laps out of the total 44 race distance. Nearly all the competitors pitted under a Safety Car, which was deployed on Lap 10 after being prompted by a lurid accident between Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi and the Williams of the promising young Englishman George Russell. Verstappen ran the same strategy but could never get enough of a gap to Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo behind him to risk a second stop for fresh rubber later in the race and try and undercut Bottas. So the Dutchmen had to be content to run a somewhat dull race too far to strike the Finn and simply take his customary podium by coming home P3.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

Despite running out of laps to make a proper lunge at Verstappen, Ricciardo & Renault had to be well pleased with his sterling P4 effort, with the team all the more so when second driver Esteban Ocon made a pass against Red Bull’s Alexander Albon to seize P5 on the penultimate lap of the race. Albon had to settle for P6, less than impressive when compared to the performance of his teammate Verstappen in what is ostensibly identical equipment. Renault seem to like these long, high speed old school circuits so look for their new found pace to carry over next week at Monza, likely causing some headaches for Red Bull in the process. McLaren’s Lando Norris drove very well to earn P7 after qualifying tenth. But it was a decidedly mixed day for the team, as Carlos Sainz was unable to start the race after experiencing a terminal exhaust issue on the warm up lap. That opened up the points to AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly, who made a two-stop strategy work despite some creeping doubts by clawing back a ton of positions on fresh Mediums as the laps wound down to take P8. The Racing Points of Lance Stroll and Sergio Perez took the last points in P9 and P10 respectively.

Ferrari’s day went as poorly as their terrible qualifying effort indicated it would. Sebastian Vettel finished P13 and Charles Leclerc P14 today after each had taken a turn winning the Belgian GP in the prior two years. To make matters even worse, both Prancing Horses finished behind Kimi Raikkonen in an Alfa Romeo, which is essentially a Ferrari support team. With only a week until their home grand prix in Italy and clearly badly down on straight line speed, which is at even more of a premium at Monza than at Spa, look for the mood of the legendary team from Maranello and their fanatical fans, the tifosi, to get much worse before it gets better in what is looking like for all the world a completely lost 2020 campaign.

Top 10 finishers of the Belgian GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 44 1:24:08.761 25
2 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 44 +8.448s 18
3 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 44 +15.455s 15
4 3 Daniel Ricciardo RENAULT 44 +18.877s 13
5 31 Esteban Ocon RENAULT 44 +40.650s 10
6 23 Alexander Albon RED BULL RACING HONDA 44 +42.712s 8
7 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN RENAULT 44 +43.774s 6
8 10 Pierre Gasly ALPHATAURI HONDA 44 +47.371s 4
9 18 Lance Stroll RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES 44 +52.603s 2
10 11 Sergio Perez RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES 44 +53.179s 1

Complete race results available via Fomrula1.com.

The next race is in but a week’s time — the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, the fearsome “temple of speed.” Mercedes will be keen to rub salt into the Ferrari’s self-inflicted wounds in their back yard and in front of their crestfallen tifosi and Renault will be looking to up their game to take the fight to Verstappen’s Red Bull on equal terms. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2020 F1 Grand Prix of Spain — Results & aftermath

Mercedes’ Hamilton untouchable in dominant win at Barcelona; P3 Bottas’ poor start costs him as Verstappen seizes second place for Red Bull

In a largely procedural Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday at the hot and dry Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton streaked away from his pole position when the lights went out to start the race and never faced a real challenge for the entirety of the 66-lap contest. When the checkers waved Hamilton stomped the next closest pursuer, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, by a whopping 24-seconds and the only real suspense in the race was whether it might possibly rain and shake things up via forcing a scramble for wet weather tires. But the dark clouds remained in the distance closer to the mountains and the sun continued to shine on Hamilton here, as he easily wrapped up his fourth consecutive win at the Spanish GP and expanded his lead over Verstappen in the drivers’ standings to a 37 point bulge.

While the superb Dutch Red Bull pilot was never able to offer a challenge to the front running Silver Arrow, Max was able to gobble up Hamtilon’s teammate Veltteri Bottas to grab P2 from the Finn at the start of the race. In fact, Bottas had such a poor getaway that he also lost a position to Racing Point’s Lance Stroll and he quickly fell to P4. While Bottas was able to claw that spot back from the young Canadian it proved to be a crucial bit of lost momentum and he spent the rest pf the race in recovery mode. Even after taking a gamble by switching off of Medium Pirellis onto the ostensibly faster Softs for his second stop on Lap 48 to try and close the gap to the Red Bull, Bottas was unable to mount a sustained attack on Verstappen, who easily maintained a large gap to come home P2, albeit miles behind Hamilton. Bottas did score the extra point for the fastest lap of the race yet after another tire switch back to Mediums two laps from the finish but it was cold comfort, as he saw his own deficit to second place Verstappen grow to 6 in the Drivers’ points and 43 to the leading Hamilton.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

The mini-Mercedes of Racing Point had another very good day with the returning Sergio Perez finishing P4 and Stroll P5 on the track but the two switching spots after Perez was penalized 5-seconds after a dubious stewards’ call dinged the Mexican for ignoring blue flags. McLaren’s Carlos Sainz got his best ever finish at his home GP with P6 while teammate Lando Norris,w ho seemingly had to fight tooth and nail for every position on the day, also finished in the points at P10. Ferrari’s beleaguered Sebastian Vettel had something of a mild personal victory after converting a one-stopper and a final stint on some very old Soft tires into a P7 result. But even when there is some sort of optimistic result for the fabled Scuderia something else seems to take the bloom off it in 2020. In this case, it was a mysterious electrical problem that cut Charles Leclerc’s motor while he was mid-dice with Norris on Lap 37. The unlucky Monegasque was forced to retire shortly thereafter. Also unlucky was Verstappen’s teammate Alexander Albon, who got stuck mired in traffic and on very slow Hard tires mid-race after a highly questionable strategic decision by the Red Bull brain trust. Albon gamely fought with a bevy of midfield runners to try and get further up the order but could only manage a P8 finish. The man who Albon replaced at Red Bull last year, AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly, was able to finish in the points after his solid qualifying effort by coming home P9.

Top 10 finishers of the Spanish GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 66 1:31:45.279 25
2 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 66 +24.177s 18
3 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 66 +44.752s 16
4 18 Lance Stroll RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES 65 +1 lap 12
5 11 Sergio Perez RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES 65 +1 lap 10
6 55 Carlos Sainz MCLAREN RENAULT 65 +1 lap 8
7 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 65 +1 lap 6
8 23 Alexander Albon RED BULL RACING HONDA 65 +1 lap 4
9 10 Pierre Gasly ALPHATAURI HONDA 65 +1 lap 2
10 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN RENAULT 65 +1 lap 1

Complete race result available via Formula1.com.

The drivers get anther little breather as the next race is in a fortnight’s time at the legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium. Hope to see you then to find out if anyone can possibly slow down the Hamilton-Mercedes juggernaut — though I wouldn’t bet on it!

2020 F1 Grand Prix of Spain — Qualifying results

Hamilton takes pole in sweltering Spain to lead another Mercedes front row lockout, Bottas P2; Verstappen third quickest

Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton laid the foundation to restore the narrative of Silver Arrows supremacy by streaking to a dominant pole position during Saturday qualifying for tomorrow’s Spanish Grand Prix. A week after he and the team were bested by a clever Red Bull and Max Verstappen for the victory at the 70th Anniversary GP at the second consecutive Silverstone race, normally Hamilton’s personal playground, the English points leader made himself at home at the familiar Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya by setting the fastest overall time and claim the all-important top spot on the grid, where pole position has converted to victory in 15 of the last 19 contests held here. His teammate Valtteri Bottas could never quite hook up the final sector of this twisty track and had to settle for P2, albeit less than a tenth adrift of Ham the Man. Verstappen was third fastest but will not be able to pull the strategic coup that led to his dominant victory last weekend, as the Dutchman will be starting on the same Soft Pirelli tires as the two Mercs in front of him for this sixth round constest. However, the extreme heat in Catalonia may cause issues for the Silver Arrows, as it did during a hot race in Spielberg, Austria earlier in the season, so look for Verstappen to pounce on any potential unreliability or tire issues should they occur. The possibility of rain on Sunday could also shake things up.

Sergio Perez was back after his two week COVID quarantine and celebrated by whipping his Racing Point up to P4 on the grid, while regular teammate Lance Stroll qualified just behind the Mexican veteran in P5. Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate was one again underwhelming in quali and could do no better than sixth fastest. Perhaps there is something about being Max’s teammate that psyches these talented up and comers out? Or perhaps it is simply that Vertsappen is that superior to them in the identical equipment. McLaren’s resurgence continued with Carlos Sainz qualifying P7 and Lando Norris P8, proving the team’s solid pace so far in 2020 is no fluke. Meanwhile, Ferrari’s sad decline also continued, as Charles Leclerc languished down in P9, while Sebastian Vettel’s new chassis did not seem to help the bewildered German 4-time champ that much. He was only able to set the eleventh best lap and was once again bounced out in Q2. AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly, one of those ex-Verstappen teammates who failed to keep the pace when up with the big team, did well on his own terms to take 10th spot on the grid for Red Bull’s junior squad. The young Frenchman will be desperate to score some points come race day tomorrow after starting from P7 last weekend and then coming up empty.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Spanish GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:16.872 1:16.013 1:15.584 15
2 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:17.243 1:16.152 1:15.643 15
3 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:17.213 1:16.518 1:16.292 15
4 11 Sergio Perez RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES 1:17.117 1:16.936 1:16.482 15
5 18 Lance Stroll RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES 1:17.316 1:16.666 1:16.589 15
6 23 Alexander Albon RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:17.419 1:17.163 1:17.029 18
7 55 Carlos Sainz MCLAREN RENAULT 1:17.438 1:16.876 1:17.044 17
8 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN RENAULT 1:17.577 1:17.166 1:17.084 18
9 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:17.256 1:16.953 1:17.087 18
10 10 Pierre Gasly ALPHATAURI HONDA 1:17.356 1:16.800 1:17.136 18

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN beginning at 9AM Eastern here is the States. Hope to see you then to find out if anyone has anything for Hamilton — perhaps the heat will once again play havoc with Mercedes reliability? — or at least if Verstappen can best Bottas!

2020 F1 70th Anniversary Grand Prix — Qualifying results

Mercedes’ Bottas fights back for pole for second consectuve Silverstone race, besting P2 Hamilton; temp driver Hulkenberg qualifies a wonder P3 for Racing Point

After the massive disappointment of last weekend’s late race tire blowout that dropped him straight out of the points like a stone, Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas roared back to take pole for the second consecutive race at the venerable Silverstone circuit in two weekends. Bottas showed his determination to rebound by pipping his teammate and championship points leader Lewis Hamilton by less than a tenth of a second to take the top spot in tomorrow’s one and only Formula 1 70th Anniversary Grand Prix at the same track where it all started back in 1950. While Hamilton was no doubt briefly let down by having to settle for P2 on the grid, the English 6-time World Champion can no doubt take solace in his big points lead over his Finnish teammate after Hamilton survived his own tire delimitation on the final lap last weekend at the British GP yet still limped home to victory. And, as Bottas knows all too well from his years as the clear Number 2 at Mercedes, out-qualifying Hamilton is one thing and beating him a race is quite another.

Perhaps a bigger story than the seemingly inevitable Silver Arrows 2020 front row lockout was the amazing qualifying effort of Racing Point’s Nico Hulkenberg. After starting the season out of a job Hulkenberg was drafted into the team around ten days ago due to their regular pilot Sergio Perez’s positive COVID test. Hulkenberg looked decent enough in last weekend’s qualifying but could not even make the race when his car mysteriously failed to start. But this Saturday Hulkenberg wrung the neck of his Racing Point to score the third fastest lap of the day ahead of the usually superlative Red Bull of Max Vertsappen. With fingers crossed that nothing goes wrong to again prevent Hulkenberg from starting tomorrow, it should be very exciting to see how the German veteran performs and if he really does have the pace to keep Verstappen behind him and score his first ever career podium in 177 starts. Continue reading →

2020 F1 Grand Prix of Great Britain — Results & aftermath

Hamilton limps to victory on 3 tires just ahead of Verstappen as Pirelli failures scramble end of British GP; Bottas plunges out of the points elevating Leclerc to a lucky P3

A rather boring procedural contest at Silverstone turned into a thriller in the final act when unpredictable tire failures put the cat amongst the pigeons and scrambled what seemed to be a preordained Mercedes romp to glory at Sunday’s British Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton, dominating from the front all race long, suffered a left front failure of his Hard compound Pirellis on the final lap of this 52-lap contest and had to limp home on three wheels, barely holding off the rapidly oncoming Red Bull of Max Vertsappen. In a second-guesser’s delight, Verstappen had boxed on Lap 50 for fresh rubber in order to set the fastest lap while Mercedes inexplicably kept Hamilton out after their second driver, Valtteri Bottas, who had been comfortably cruising behind him in P2, suffered the first of the day’s serious tire failures. In a heartbreaking twist of fate for Bottas, the Finn had just passed the pits when his left front delaminated and he had to crawl around the full 3.6 miles of the circuit before getting fresh rubber, plummeting down the order as the front of the field zipped by him. By the time he got back to the team for the necessary tire change Bottas reemerged all the way down in P12 and could only climb back up to P11 before the laps ran out. With Hamilton able to limp to the win when he suffered his own delimitation Bottas being cruelly cast out of the points so late in the race was essentially the worst case scenario for his slim title hopes. One does wonder why Mercedes did not pit Hamilton for new tires once the issue with Bottas had reared its ugly head, especially since it seemed like Hamilton’s tires were the ones that started blistering first. The question also has to be asked if Red Bull would have better off leaving Verstappen out when Hamilton did not pit in the hopes that what did eventually happen to his tires might happen. No doubt if Vertsappen had stayed out and assuming his own tires were healthy to the end he would have lucked into the win at Hamilton’s expense.

Photos courtesy GrandPrix247.com

The beneficiaries of Bottas’s misfortune were many, none more so than Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who had been running a rather lonely race in P4 but was promoted to a happy P3 on the podium instead. Likewise, Renault had their best race of the young season with Daniel Ricciardo driving steadily and with terrific composure to pick off numerous other contenders and come home P4 and teammate Esteban Ocon a strong P6, personal best finishes for both in 2020. Lando Norris took P5 for much improved McLaren but their other driver, Carlos Sainz, was also bit by the tire failure bug on the final lap and by the time he limped to the finish line had fallen out of the points down to P13. AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly drove a splendid race showing genuine race pace to take P7 ahead of the man who took his seat at Red Bull last year, Alexander Albon, who finished P8. Still it was a very good recovery drive for Albon, who tangled with Haas’s Kevin Magnussen on the opening lap and then received a 5-second penalty when the stewards dubiously judged him for being at fault for ending Magnussen’s race in their clash. The young Thai driver has got to start qualifying better, though, so that he can avoid those sorts of tangles with the midfield runners and start nearer to his peerless teammate Verstappen at the front of the grid lest he also get bounced from his coveted spot with the big team.

Rounding out the Top 10, Lance Stroll salvaged some points for Racing Point in P9 but it was hardly the result the team envisioned. Their usually powerful car looked surprisingly uncompetitive and they couldn’t even get their second car, which was supposed to be driven by Nico Hulkenberg as a substitute for the COVID-19 positive Sergio Perez, to start the race. A bad and perhaps ominous weekend for a team that had heretofore looked like giving Red Bull and Ferrari a run for their money. And speaking of disappointing, Sebastian Vettel held off Bottas to take the last point in P10 but it was hardly a great result for the four-time champion. The growing discrepancy in pace between he and Leclerc is a real head-scratcher and one wonders if Vettel is mentally checking out knowing that he won’t be with the Scuderia next year. Still, Ferrari can take some cold comfort in the fact that they had both their cars finish in the points while Mercedes only had one, albeit with Hamilton’s Silver Arrow in the only position that really matters.

Top 10 finishers of the British Grand Prix:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 52 1:28:01.283 25
2 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 52 +5.856s 19
3 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 52 +18.474s 15
4 3 Daniel Ricciardo RENAULT 52 +19.650s 12
5 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN RENAULT 52 +22.277s 10
6 31 Esteban Ocon RENAULT 52 +26.937s 8
7 10 Pierre Gasly ALPHATAURI HONDA 52 +31.188s 6
8 23 Alexander Albon RED BULL RACING HONDA 52 +32.670s 4
9 18 Lance Stroll RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES 52 +37.311s 2
10 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 52 +41.857s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in but a week’s time and from this very same Silverstone circuit — the new minted and one-time only F1 70th Anniversary Grand Prix. With Pirelli slated to bring a softer set of compounds to that event than this week’s look for tire issues to once again be a potential factor and probably the only potential obstacle to total Mercedes domination. Hope to see you then to find out!

2020 F1 Grand Prix of Hungary — Qualifying results

Hamilton finds extra gear for searing pole in Hungary, Bottas P2 for Mercedes front row lockout; Surprising Racing Point qualify 3-4 as Red Bull and Ferrari chase pace

Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton again showed his superb class in a race car, besting his game teammate Valtteri Bottas to take pole with a searing track record lap of 1:13.447. Despite lowering skies at the Hungaroring on Saturday rain never materialized, precluding another jumbled wet weather qualifying result like last week’s torrential and topsy turvy Styrian quali sessions. Instead the track just kept getting faster and faster as qualifying wore on and it rubbered in, enabling the cream to rise to the top, at least in terms of single lap pace. That saw Hamilton best Bottas by just over a tenth in the internecine battle between what are once again clearly the best cars in the field. But behind the predictable Mercedes front row lockout surprises abounded. Biggest of all was the outrageous speed of the Racing Points of Lance Stroll and Sergio Perez, who qualified P3 and P4 respectively and will monopolize the second row on the grid come race day. Despite facing increasing criticism and formal protests for their 2019 Mercedes lookalike cars, the former midfield stalwart pink clad Racing Points insolently pushed the Red Bull and Ferrari powerhouses further down the grid than either of those elite teams would normally expect to find themselves.

But even though they were relegated to the third row, Ferrari still had to be mildly pleased after a fairly disastrous start to the 2020 campaign. After crashing each other last weekend in Austria for the dreaded double DNF, Sebastian Vettel wrung the neck of his so far underwhelming SF1000, sliding it precariously around this tricky, technical circuit for a time good enough for P5. His junior but arguably more talented teammate, Charles Leclerc, was P6 and is no doubt still feeling chastened from his role as the instigator of the Ferraris’ wreck in Styria. Continue reading →

2020 F1 Grand Prix of Styria (Austria II) — Qualifying results

Mercedes’ Hamilton secures scintillating pole amidst torrential conditions at Red Bull Ring; Red Bull’s Verstappen P2 despite late spin, Sainz P3 for improving McLaren; Ferrari in trouble

For the first time in Formula 1 history two races will be run at the same circuit on back-to-back weekends, and the dubious honor goes to the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. But it was the weather that lent real distinction to this second race weekend of the 2020 season and not the fig leaf of a new title, the Grand Prix of Styria, for what is in reality simply a second identical Austrian GP. With the travel and logistics concerns necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic forcing this normally globe-hopping motorsport series to compress the schedule and repeat races at some European circuits on consecutive weekends, this Saturday’s “Styria” qualifying  was nonetheless completely distinct from last weekend’s sunny “Austrian” affair and offered up a lot of excitement and surprising results to match.

Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton bested this generation’s nominal Rainmeister, Red Bull’s Max Vertstappen, to seize the pole in torrential and thoroughly treacherous conditions at this valley track nestled among the Styrian Mountains. Verstappen and Hamilton had been trading provisional pole throughout Q3, during which the weather actually deteriorated again, after slightly lightening up for the delayed start of Q1 and into Q2. But when Vertsappen lost control and spun harmlessly late in his final try with time expired in the final session, it meant Hamilton had secured pole after an outstanding and supremely well controlled effort under these adverse circumstances. Continue reading →

2020 F1 Grand Prix of Austria — Results & aftermath

FORMULA 1 RETURNS — Bottas takes victory in long-delayed first race of 2020 season but Hamilton loses P2 due to penalty; Leclerc promoted to P2 and Norris to P3 in wild opening round

After a nearly four month delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 Forumla 1 season finally kicked off on Sunday at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. After such a long layoff between seasons it was a somewhat predictably wild and ragged race, although Mercedes was once again the class of the field. With their new black livery, the Silver Arrows took pole and second fastest times during Saturday qualifying, with their usual number 2 man, Valtterri Bottas  claiming pole position for Sunday’s race ahead of P2 teammate and reigning World Champion Lewis Hamilton. In a harbinger of things to come, Hamilton was demoted 3 spots for failing to slow properly for yellow flags during quali. That meant Hamilton, on a quest for his record-tying seventh Drivers’ Championship, had to start from back in P5 on the grid, while Max Verstappen, whose Red Bull team had lodged the last minute complaint against Lewis, was elevated to P2 alongside Bottas.

Image courtesy GrandPrix247.com

When the lights went out to start the race, though, Bottas blew the Red Bull off the line and shot away from the rest of the field, leaving the rest of the top 9 squabbling amongst themselves and the speedy Hamilton fighting his way back to the front. After avoiding contact going into Turn 1, the Champ quickly began dispatching his slower rivals, getting by McLaren’s Lando Norris for P4 on Lap 4 and subsequently past the competitive second Red Bull of Alexander Albon on Lap 9 for P3. It should have set up a fascinating tussle with Verstappen but on Lap 11 the Dutchman’s Red Bull went haywire with the electrical system repeatedly putting his machine into anti-stall mode. Unfortunately the malfunction proved terminal and Verstappen was out of the race just like that. Once again, as it has been so many times since 2014, mighty Mercedes saw their two drivers dominating yet another Grand Prix from the front.

Verstappen’s was the first of many retirements on a very hot summer’s day in Austria, with Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo going out on Lap 18, Racing Point’s Lance Stroll calling it a day on Lap 21 and beleaguered Haas’ Kevin Magnussen suffering break failure on Lap 26, which brought out the day’s first Safety Car. It would not be the last. Continue reading →

2019 F1 Grand Prix of Brazil — Results & aftermath

Verstappen rolls to victory for Red Bull in wild Brazilian GP; Gasly an ecstatic P2, Sainz promoted to P3 after Hamilton penalized for late race collision with Albon; Ferrari teammates crash out

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen had the wings all day long and rolled to a dominant win at the Brazilian Grand Prix, his peerless performance the one constant in a topsy-turvy contest at sunny Interlagos on Sunday. With no bad weather to throw curveballs during the proceedings the contestants themselves provided the unpredictability and occasional rashness that led to a thrilling race and the unexpected result of having Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly and McLaren’s Carlos Sainz take P2 and P3 respectively to share the podium with Verstappen and grab their highest career finishes in Formula 1. Meanwhile, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton was demoted from P3 after a late race gamble to pit from the lead for fresh rubber under Safety Car conditions backfired. Instead, it led to a major loss of track position when the Englishman emerged in P4 and a desperate attempt to get back to the front when the Safety Car was withdrawn with only three laps remaining. But while the newly minted six-time champ got by Gasly for P3 easily enough he couldn’t make a clean pass on the P2 Red Bull of Alexander Albon. Hamilton stuck his nose in forcefully on the penultimate lap going into Turn 10 but the door closed quickly and he ended up spinning out the impressive Thai rookie, denying Albon a probable second place result — a first potential podium for the youngster — and what could have been an even more amazing day for the Red Bull team. Hamilton, perhaps a bit too honestly, accepted full responsibility for the incident and was promptly penalized off the podium down to P7, much to Sainz’s and McLaren’s overjoyed advantage. Worse still for Mercedes, the second car of Valtteri Bottas suffered an oil pressure failure on Lap 52 that led to the Finn’s first retirement since the rainy crahfest at Hockenheim in late July.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

But as disappointing as things ended up for mighty Mercedes they went even more sideways for Ferrari. With Charles Leclerc making a heroic effort to claw back positions after a pre-race grid penalty saw him start down in P14 and Sebastian Vettel running solidly at the front and hunting a podium, it seemed almost inevitable that the two intra-team rivals would end up fighting over the same piece of track as the laps wound down. With Leclerc on slightly fresher Soft Pirellis, having pitted four laps later than Vettel during the Bottas Safety Car period, the Monegasque was able to close the gap to his senior teammate, who had lost precious time and, in fact, lost out while dicing with Albon for P3. On Lap 66 of this 71-lap contest, Leclerc was close enough to make a move and pass Vettel coming out of Turn 3 heading into the Reta Oposta. But Vettel got the DRS on Leclerc as they both steamed into Turn 4, the Descido do Lago. Vettel got his nose ahead but pressed his advantage just a little too aggressively, pushing across the track and into Leclerc’s front tire and wing with his left rear tire. As quickly as that, both Ferraris were out of the race, with the hard-charging Leclerc’s day of brilliant recovery work done in by a broken front right suspension courtesy of his teammate. Simultaneously, Vettel’s left rear tire delaminated badly after the contact and the carcass became a buzz saw whipping away at all that precious carbon fiber body work. It was a hell of a finish for the famed Scuderia going from a guaranteed strong points day to zero and will certainly not please the braintrust at Maranello. It’s also sure to worsen the already strained relations between the upstart would-be team leader and the decorated veteran, who has in truth made more than his fair share of mistakes during his tenure at Ferrari.

But whatever drama and fireworks happened behind them, the day belonged to the trio of Verstappen, Gasly and Sainz. No one could touch the Dutchman all race long and both Red Bulls seemed to be way ahead of their key rivals in terms of getting their tires to both turn on and maintain performance here at this very short and busy 4.3 kilometer circuit. Continue reading →

2019 F1 Grand Prix of Brazil — Qualifying results

Verstappen seizes pole in Sao Paolo for Red Bull; Ferrari’s Vettel P2, Hamilton P3 for Merecedes

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen earned his second career pole position and second of the year during Saturday qualifying for the Brazilian Gran Prix. The Dutch wunderkind was consistently faster than the more vaunted Ferraris and Mercedes, as the Red Bull team look to finish the season strong and stick it to the big boys in the penultimate race of the Formula 1 calendar tomorrow at Autódromo José Carlos Pace in Sao Paolo, more commonly know as Interlagos. Verstappen was over a tenth quicker than Sebastian Vettel’s P2 Prancing Horse and the P3 Silver Arrow of newly minted 6-time champion Lewis Hamilton. Known for having driven one of the best ever wet weather races here back in 2016, Verstappen will be looking to keep his top spot until the checkered flag flies on Sunday and earn his first Brazilian GP win.

With the teams originally mixed and matched at the front of the grid, Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas was promoted to P4 alongside his teammate Lewis Hamilton even though Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc bested the Finn in quali because Leclerc faces a 10-spot grid penalty come race day due to a power unit change. It should be fun watching the talented young Monegasque motor his way back up to the front from a lowly P14 start. Continue reading →