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2019 F1 Grand Prix of Great Britain — Results & aftermath

Hamilton continues mastery at Silverstone with lucky win, hard-luck Bottas P2 after missing out during Safety Car; Leclerc salvages P3 for Ferrari as Vettel collides with Verstappen

In a barnburner of a British Grand Prix on Sunday Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton took advantage of a mid-race Safety Car period to duck into the pits for his one and only tire change and gain an advantage on the race leader and his teammate, Valtteri Bottas. Worse still for Bottas, he had already stopped for a like-for-like tire switch for another set of Medium Pirellis, meaning the Finn would definitely have to stop again for the mandatory second tire compound. So Hamilton not only got a relatively “free” pit stop under the greatly reduced Safety Car-induced speeds of his competitors but also gained the race lead via that maneuver. It was one he would never relinquish as both Mercedes pulled away from the field when the Safety Car was withdrawn at the end of Lap 23. The pole-sitting Bottas was doomed to make another stop on Lap 46 for fresh rubber during fully green flag track conditions costing him in the neighborhood of 20 seconds as Hamilton, who had shrewdly gambled on holding out for a one-stopper, raced around the course. And even though Bottas went onto the Soft Pirrelli’s Hamilton still maintained that gap of over 20 seconds and even set the fastest lap for the extra point on his won Hard tires en route to his record 6th British GP victory at Silverstone. Once again, the fact that Formula 1 does not immediately close the pits and force the drivers to bunch up together before the pits do open when a full course caution occurs like so many other top series do — IndyCar, IMSA, NASCAR — led to a driver at a fortuitous position on the track gaining a major advantage over his competitors. Bottas will feel hard done by the way his strategy failed to play out amidst the roulette-like luck of the Safety Car deployment. But Hamilton and his home fans were jubilant as the victorious Englishman grabbed a Union Flag from one of the marshals after finishing first, happily driving it around and wearing it proudly on the podium for all to see.

Safety Car shenanigans aside, the race itself was undoubtedly one of the best of the season with battles all over the field and fierce whee-to-wheel jousting. While Mercedes eventually showed their clear superiority, the battle between the Ferraris and Red Bulls was race-long and decidedly intense. Ferrari’s Chalres Leclerc and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen renewed their door-banging acquaintance of two weeks ago in Austria for lap after lap to open this race. They even took it into the pits with Verstappen muscling his way past Leclerc after both cars had been serviced on Lap 14 for a momentary advantage. But Verstappen struggled with grip on exit and Leclerc immediately passed the Dutchman back on track, maintaining his P4 position with authority. When Alfa-Romeo’s Antonio Giovinnazi beached it in a gravel trap on Lap 20 bringing out that fateful Safety Car Leclerc pitted again for Hard tires but still emerged in front of Vertsappen. But once the race went green again Verstappen was able to dispatch Leclerc and his own teammate Pierre Gasly, who was finally running a competitive race, for P4. This puts him directly behind the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel and Verstappen set about hunting the German down. In short order Vertsappen was on the Prancing Horse’s tail and on Lap 36 he made a forceful pass for P3 streaking into Stowe. But as Verstappen decelerated for the upcoming corner, Vettel, certainly keen to retake the position, failed to slow enough and rammed into the back of the Red Bull bouncing Vertsppen’s car off the track with some force. Amazingly Vertsppenn’s mount was intact and able to continue. Vettel, however, was forced to pit for a new nose due to his miscalculation, a race-destroying own goal by the 4-time champion that saw him drop from a possible podium to a lowly P16 finish. Once again the formerly peerless Vettel committed an unforced error with dire consequences for his championship aspirations.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

Leclerc was able to take advantage of the Verstappen-Vettel melee and zip on by both cars to inherit the P3 position that the Monegasque would never relinquish. It was Leclrec’s fourth consecutive podium finish and the young driver is surely looking like the future at Ferrari. Gasly also took advantage of his teammate’s misfortune to seize P4, the young Frenchman’s best finish of the season. The stricken car of Verstappen was badly wounded but still managed to drive home P5. If Red Bull can stay this close to Ferrari on performance for the remainder of the year there should be plenty more great battles to come between these four closely matched drivers.

Further back in the top 10 McLaren’s Carlos Sainz stayed out fo trouble and patiently worked his way up to a solid P6 finish. The two Renaults of Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Huilkneberg both finished in the points in P7 and P10 respectively. And the veteran Kimi Raikkonen showed his savvy and skill at Silverstone by willing his overmatched Alfa Romeo up to P8, while Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat also did well to come home P9.

Top 10 finishers of the British GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 52 1:21:08.452 26
2 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 52 +24.928s 18
3 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 52 +30.117s 15
4 10 Pierre Gasly RED BULL RACING HONDA 52 +34.692s 12
5 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 52 +39.458s 10
6 55 Carlos Sainz MCLAREN RENAULT 52 +53.639s 8
7 3 Daniel Ricciardo RENAULT 52 +54.401s 6
8 7 Kimi Räikkönen ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI 52 +65.540s 4
9 26 Daniil Kvyat SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO HONDA 52 +66.720s 2
10 27 Nico Hulkenberg RENAULT 52 +72.733s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in two weeks time — the German Grand Prix at the Hockenheimring. Hopefully the action at the British Grand Prix is a harbinger of good things to come as the battle between Ferrari and Red Bull heats up even more. And of course Bottas will be looking for retribution against his championship leading teammate Hamilton. Hope to see you then to see how it all shakes out!

2019 F1 Grand Prix of Great Britain — Qualifying results

Bottas steals Hamilton’s thunder for pole at Silverstone; Leclerc to start P3, Vettel P6 for perplexing Ferrari

Seeking to add to his record 6 pole positions at the venerable Silverstone Circuit, Lewis Hamilton was instead thwarted in Saturday Qualifying by his Silver Arrows’ teammate, Valtteri Bottas, who bested the Englishman in front of his home crowd by a minuscule .006 seconds. Atypically, the last flying laps were not the quickest of the session and neither Hamilton or Bottas could better their times from earlier in Q3. So the Finn’s quickest attempt held up against Hamilton’s and the entire top 10’s best efforts to better it and gave him the top spot on the grid for Sunday’s race. It also marked a bit of a resurgence for Bottas, who closed the points gap with Hamilton by out-finishing him P3 to P5 in red hot Austria two weeks ago on what was an off weekend for both Mercedes as a whole and Lewis specifically. But the Silver Arrows looked back on form at cool and overcast Silverstone so we’ll see which of the teammates can prevail if that return to the usual Mercedes supremacy holds true in tomorrow’s GP.

Ferrari had a confusing day in the saddle after looking blindingly fast in the practices leading up to Qualifying. It seemed the longer everybody ran and rubbered in the rather green track with its newly re-paved surface the more the Prancing Horses slowed. After looking like the fastest man at various points throughout the day and going purple/fatstest in the first two sectors on his final flying lap Charles Leclerc had to settle for the third fastest time overall, about 8-tenths behind P2 Hamilton’s pace. Worse still for the legendary Scuderia, Sebastian Vettel’s pace never really presented itself and the German 4-time champion could muster no better than a P6 qualifying lap. Vettel’s mystifying drop off will be of serious concern and is another headache in an already challenging season. Both he and the team have less than 24-hours to pinpoint the issues and try to get more out the car to be competitive in tomorrow’s race.

Red Bull’s Max Vertsappen was also slower than he would have liked and apparently suffered from a fairly rare turbo lag issue. The winner in Austria two weeks ago qualified in P4. His teammate Pierre Gasly had perhaps his best all around qualifying effort of the season slotting in just behind the heralded Verstappen in P5. Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo will line up behind Vettel in P7 and he seriously out-qualified his teammate Nico Hulkenberg, who could do no better than the tenth fastest time. Lando Norris continued his strong run by placing his McLaren up in P8 on the grid and Toro Rosso’s Alexander Albon, another rookie, also did well to set the ninth fastest time. Both young drivers were well ahead of their more experienced teammates, Carlos Sainz and Daniil Kvyat respectively.

Top 10 qualifiers for the British GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:25.750 1:25.672 1:25.093 21
2 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:25.513 1:25.840 1:25.099 17
3 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:25.533 1:25.546 1:25.172 18
4 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:25.700 1:25.848 1:25.276 21
5 10 Pierre Gasly RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:26.273 1:26.038 1:25.590 21
6 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 1:25.898 1:26.023 1:25.787 19
7 3 Daniel Ricciardo RENAULT 1:26.428 1:26.283 1:26.182 21
8 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN RENAULT 1:26.079 1:26.385 1:26.224 21
9 23 Alexander Albon SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO HONDA 1:26.482 1:26.403 1:26.345 24
10 27 Nico Hulkenberg RENAULT 1:26.568 1:26.397 1:26.386 21

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live beginning at 9AM Eastern on EPSN2 here in the States. Can Bottas give Hamilton a run for his money at a circuit where the Englishman has always felt at home? Or will Leclerc earn his first ever F1 win at Mercedes’ expense? Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2019 F1 Grand Prix of Canada — Results & aftermath

Vettel finishes first but is demoted to P2 by penalty, Hamilton elevated to the win in controversial Canadian GP; Leclerc P3 on disappointing day for Ferrari

It was all going to plan for Ferrari and their lead driver Sebastian Vettel during Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix. Having pipped Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton for pole in Saturday qualifying, Vettel showed that exquisite Ferrari performance was no fluke in race trim as the German 4-time World Champion got away to a fast start and led nearly every lap on the tight and dusty street/park Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve on the Ille Notre Dame in Montreal. But after their first and only stop for fresh tires, Vettel on Lap 26 and Hamilton on Lap 29, the Englishman turned up his superlative Mercedes engine to “party mode” and slowly began to reel in the leading Prancing Horse. While Ferrari also gave their man maximum available power, by Lap 39 Hamilton was in DRS range of Vettel, filling his mirrors with the hard charging Silver Arrow. After nearly 10 laps of non-stop pursuit it was Vettel who finally blinked with disastrous consequences for his hopes of victory on the day. On Lap 48 Vettel lost control as he was entering the twisty Turn 4 complex and found himself sliding onto the grass behind the curbs. Hamilton was close and dove to the outside to make the pass but Vettel swerved back onto the track barely in control of his car and nearly forced Hamilton into the wall. That the cars didnt touch was testament to Vettel’s remarkable car control but nonetheless Hamilton’s progress was balked as he had to back out of the throttle and Vettel flew away from him down the circuit.

Mercedes immediately complained to the stewards, of course. And on Lap 57 one of the most consequential decisons of the season was made when the stewards judged that Vettel had rejoined the track in an unsafe manner and levied a 5-second time penalty against the German. Hamilton, despite having lost the best edge on his Hard tires after pushing so hard to try and overhaul Vettel and locking up several times at the hairpin, was nonetheless well within 3 seconds of the leader. That meant that so long as Hamilton could keep that gap he was the de facto leader of the race despite Vettel running firmly in front of him. Vettel was livid on the radio and Hamilton made sure to keep close to the Ferrari’s gearbox. And when the final lap of the 70-lap contest ended Vettel crossed the line first but had lost the race to Hamilton due to the stewards’ controversial penalty assessment. After the cars finished their cool down laps Vettel refused to move his car to the end of the pits into victory lane or to participate in the pit lane interviews. He only very reluctantly agreed to join the podium ceremony most likely under threat of further FIA penalties. But even as he made his way to the podium, Vettel switched the order of the placing signs down in the pits, moving the #2 over to Hamilton’s Merc and the #1 in front of the empty space where his Ferrari should have been.

Pics courtesy GrandPRix247.com and Formula1.com

While the decision was generally unpopular and cast a pall over a very tense and competitive affair, as well as Hamilton’s emotions after inheriting the victory, one can see the disputed action from both angles. Vettel did make a mistake on that momentous Lap 48 while being pushed hard and pressurized by Hamilton’s onslaught. Continue reading →

2019 F1 Grand Prix of Monaco — Results & aftermath

Mercedes’ Hamilton holds on to prevail in tense Monaco GP ahead of aggressive P2 Verstappen; but Red Bull driver pushed off podium by pit penalty to elevate Vettel & Bottas

Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton drove one of the most tense and nervy races of his illustrious career to earn his third Monaco GP victory on the tight and twisty streets of Monte Carlo on Sunday. Saddled with increasingly worn and ineffective Medium Pirelli tires since way back on Lap 12 of this 78 lap street fight Hamilton was also boxed in by a mandatory one-stop strategy, as all his nearest rivals were running a run-stopper but also with the benefit of being on the more durable Hard Pirelli rubber. There was a surprising lack of pace difference between the two compounds — and also a lack of durability difference in the Soft tires compared to the other two tires. That enabled teams up and down the order to gamble but it almost paid the greatest jackpot for Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. Running on the hardest tires on offer, Vertspappen hounded Hamilton at nearly every corner of this legendary circuit for lap after lap in the second half of the race. But at Monaco it is also legendarily difficult to pass and despite Hamilton’s increasingly desperate radio communication with the Mercedes pit wall about the impossibility of finishing the race on his blistering, grip-less rubber his engineers talked him through his most panicky moments and reminded the English 5-time World Champion that catching and passing are two completely different things in Monte Carlo. Thus, even as Verstappen reeled him in as the laps wound down, finally making a dive to the inside on Lap 77 as the two cars screamed out of the tunnel and towards the Nouvelle Chicane, Hamilton was able to close the door abruptly on the Dutch hard-charger, sending the Red Bull spearing offline through the chicane while Hamilton still had enough grip to get beak on line and on form for the high speed swimming pool section. After all that white-knuckle race and tire management from the front that was the race and Hamilton held on for a hard-earned win on a weekend where the Formula 1 world mourned the loss of 3-time champ and all around legend Niki Lauda, whose ties to the current Mercedes team run deep. It was a fitting and fittingly gritty tribute to the great Austrian champion and also secured Hamilton his most decisive points lead of the season.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

Verstappen was really only able to hound Hamilton from that P2 position because his team released him prematurely on a fateful Lap 11 Safety Car scramble for fresh rubber that saw Vertsppen launch into the other Mercedes driver, Valtteri Bottas, as he was heading down pit lane. That led to an extra stop for Bottas for Hard tires after his brand new Mediums suffered a slow puncture due to the contact with the hasty Red Bull. It also led inevitably to a 5-second time penalty for the Red Bull man that insured that even though Vertsppen finished the race in P2 he was demoted off the podium and was classified as the fourth place finisher. That redounded to the benefit not only of the victimized Bottas, who was elevated to the podium and P3, but also Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel who inherited Vertspapen’s second place finish.  Vettel, who seemed to be lurking behind Hamilton and Verstappen waiting for the dicing duo to take each other out and thus inherent the lead, was nonetheless content with his P2, which somewhat saved the day for the Scuderia.

Their young, talented and somewhat erratic number two driver Charles Leclerc had a miserable weekend all around and failed to finish on Sunday. Continue reading →

2019 F1 Grand Prix of Monaco — Qualifying results

Mercedes’ Hamilton asserts authority with blistering pole lap to best Bottas; Verstappen takes P3 ahead of Vettel, Leclerc fails to make it out of Q3 for Ferrari

Mercedes’ ostensible number two driver Valtteri Bottas set down a marker early in Q3 during Saturday qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix that seemed sure to net the Finn pole position for the race. It was a track record time of just over 70 seconds that the tricky Monte Carlo circuit had never seen before and Bottas appeared to have the measure of his teammate and only real rival, Lewis Hamilton, as well as the rest of the field. But personifying the old saying you’ve got to take the belt from then champ, Hamilton put together a pure blinder as time ran down in the last quali session to pip Bottas by a mere .09 seconds and secure his second career pole at this legendary and legendarily tight street circuit. At a place where starting track position often determines the winner, the 5-time and current reigning champion showed once again that when the big prizes are on the line he still can put it all together and perform at a higher level than anyone else in this era of Formula 1.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was quick all weekend long and finally ran a nice clean qualifying session at what had been a personal bogey track for the Dutchman to secure P3 on the grid, besting Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel who did well to grab P4 despite crashing in free practice 3 earlier on Saturday morning and brushing the wall more than once while pushing hard in qualifying. But that did only a little to offset Ferrari’s woes after the team badly miscalculated in Q1 and failed to get their second driver Charles Leclerc out in time to set a fast enough time to escape the normally perfunctory Top 15 cutoff line. The native Monegasque, who perhaps caused some team confusion by missing a mandatory call to the weigh-bridge and then had to be pushed back down the pit lane manually to make the random stewards exam, was thus saddled with a P16 time and will only start P15 due to others’ penalties. Leclerc was understandably miffed after the mishap and will have it all to do in the race to try and make a decent showing and save the blushes of the Scuderia.

Vertsppen’s Red Bull teammate did reasonably well to qualify P5 behind Vettel, while Kevin Magnusen did a terrific job for team Haas to set the sixth fastest time. Daniel Ricciardo was likewise the lone Renault to make the Top 10 in P7 and the two Toro Rossos of Daniil Kvyat and rookie Alexander Albon showed real pace at this high downforce street circuit to qualify P8 and P10 respectively. Spaniard Carlos Sainz used his experience to push his McLaren up to P9, well; ahead of his rookie teammate Lando Norris, who could do no better than P12.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Monaco GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:11.542 1:10.835 1:10.166 28
2 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:11.562 1:10.701 1:10.252 27
3 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:11.597 1:10.618 1:10.641 19
4 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 1:11.434 1:11.227 1:10.947 27
5 10 Pierre Gasly RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:11.740 1:11.457 1:11.041 24
6 20 Kevin Magnussen HAAS FERRARI 1:11.865 1:11.363 1:11.109 24
7 3 Daniel Ricciardo RENAULT 1:11.767 1:11.543 1:11.218 25
8 26 Daniil Kvyat SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO HONDA 1:11.602 1:11.412 1:11.271 30
9 55 Carlos Sainz MCLAREN RENAULT 1:11.872 1:11.608 1:11.417 30
10 23 Alexander Albon SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO HONDA 1:12.007 1:11.429 1:11.653 31

Complete qualifying results amiable via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN beginning at 9AM Eastern here in the States. Hope to see you then to see how the front row duel between Hamilton and Bottas shakes out or if Vettel or Vertsappen might get the better of the two Mercedes men!

2019 F1 Grand Prix of Spain — Results & aftermath

Hamilton romps to victory in Spain, bests P2 Bottas for 5th consecutive Mercedes 1-2; Verstappen claims last podium position in P3; indecisive Ferrari miss out

With hís teammate Valtteri Bottas proving that he is a genuine threat for the World Championship this year, the veteran Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton showed his ability to raise his game in the face of stiff competition and dominated the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday. Bottas, who was coming off an inspiring victory in Baku, Azerbaijan a fortnight ago, looked poised to extend his momentum after snatching pole in Saturday qualifying. But Hamilton got the better start from P2 when the lights went out and out raced his Finnish rival going down into pivotal Turn 1 of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Bottas would later blame a fritzy clutch for his boggy beginning and the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel also pulled alongside him, momentarily making Bottas the meat in the sandwich. Hamilton then got the superior launch off the corner and pulled away, Bottas’ Silver Arrow squirmed under the combined break-acceleration effort required to avoid the two cars surrounding hime but was able to control his car with fast hands while Vettel locked up and flat-spotted his right front tire. That moment would prove to be the decisive moment for all three men in the contest.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

Hamilton pulled a gap almost immediately, Bottas was able to recover enough to hold his P2 position and Vettel quickly slipped back into the clutches of his junior teammate, Charles Leclerc. And here Ferrari’s pit wall indecision would once again come back to bite them. With Leclerc harassing Vettel and clearly looking like the faster car as his German teammate struggled with that flat spot vibration, the Scuderia delayed the team order for their drivers to swap positions until Lap 12. And by then both Mercedes had disappeared into the distance. Vettel, who was practically pleading to pit for fresh rubber from the time he damaged his tires on the opening lap, was brought in on Lap 20 to get off the starting Soft Pirellis and onto the Medium compound tires. The stop was actually slow by about 2 seconds by modern F1 standards but the four-time World Champ promptly set the fastest laps of the race, proving that the Mediums were not greatly inferior to the Softs.

Meanwhile Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who started from P4 and passed Vettel after the German’s initial opening lap bobble, pitted a lap later on 21 going from Soft to Soft, obviously signaling that he would be doing a two-stopper. Continue reading →

2019 F1 Grand Prix of Spain — Qualifying results

Bottas coverts momentum into dominant pole at Barcelona, outperforms Hamilton in P2; Vettel P3 for Ferrari

Valtteri Bottas carried the momentum of his redemptive victory in Azerbaijan two weeks ago and converted it into a dominant pole at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain in Saturday qualifying. The ostensible Number 2 at Mercedes once again bettered his 5-time World Champion teammate Lewis Hamilton to secure his third pole position in a row and enhanced his case to be taken seriously as genuine threat for this year’s title. Hamilton did qualify in P2 but the Englishman was was a full 6-tenths behind his budding Finnish rival. Sebastian Vettel was once again the third fastest car on the track, as Ferrari find themselves unable to close down Mercedes’ superior pace despite all the pre-season hype. His talented teammate Charles Leclerc had a bit of ragged Q3 and only set the fifth fastest time.

That saw Red Bull’s Max Verstappen split the two Prancing Horses to to take P4 on the grid. Once again the Dutch wunderkind easily bested his junior Red Bull teammate Pierre Gasly, who could do no better than a P6 time. The two Haas F1 cars had their best quali session of the season showing solid speed at this most familiar of tracks, which all the teams use for preseason testing; Romain Grosjean got a much-needed confidence boost by pipping his teammate Kevin Magnussen P7 to P8. The Haas team desperately need a good result come Sunday after a rocky start to the 2019 campaign and at the very least their car looks nicely hooked up on the Barcelona circuit and should be quite competitive.

Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat did very well to score a P9 start but the Russian also needs to bring the car safely home in that points and avoid his usual unfortunate tendency to be reckless in the race. Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo was the last of the top 10 qualifiers but he was assessed a 3-spot grid penalty after backing into Kvyat in Azerbaijan so McLaren’s Lando Norris will be promoted to start P10 tomorrow.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Spanish GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:16.979 1:15.924 1:15.406 18
2 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:17.292 1:16.038 1:16.040 17
3 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 1:17.425 1:16.667 1:16.272 18
4 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:17.244 1:16.726 1:16.357 12
5 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:17.388 1:16.714 1:16.588 19
6 10 Pierre Gasly RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:17.862 1:16.932 1:16.708 17
7 8 Romain Grosjean HAAS FERRARI 1:18.042 1:17.066 1:16.911 16
8 20 Kevin Magnussen HAAS FERRARI 1:17.669 1:17.272 1:16.922 15
9 26 Daniil Kvyat SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO HONDA 1:17.914 1:17.243 1:17.573 20
10 3 Daniel Ricciardo RENAULT 1:18.385 1:17.299 1:18.106 19

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s Spanish GP airs live starting at 9AM Eastern on ESPN2 here in the States. Hope to see you then to see how it all shakes out!

2019 F1 Grand Prix of Azerbaijan — Qualifying results

Bottas sizes last-second pole at Baku at expense of teammate Hamilton; Vettel qualifies P3 for Ferrari after Leclerc crashes out in Q2

Mercedes ostensible Number 2 driver Valtteri Bottas snatched pole for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in the dying moneys of an action packed Saturday qualifying, knocking off his teammate Lewis Hamilton’s previously supreme time by .06 seconds as the checkered flag flew. For a desperate moment in Q3 it looked as if Mercedes had blown it by playing cute and loitering at pit out while a stream of cars launched onto the track for their last runs. But with the sun setting and the track cooling after several crash-induced delays to qualifying, Mercedes had the last laugh by enabling their two stars to utilize the slipstream of the closest cars in front of them — for Hamilton running last that meant Bottas — to get a tow down Baku’s enormous final high speed straight. That proved to be enough of an advantage for both Silver Arrows to once again lockout the front row. And for Bottas, who made just slightly better effect of that drafting technique than Hamilton, it meant gaining the prime position to try and avenge his loss in this race last year when he was leading handily but suffered a puncture that cost him victory just yards from the finish line.

Pics courtesy GrandPirx247.com

Mercedes’ joy once again came at the expense of Ferrari, which had been looking like the quickest cars coming into qualifying today. The fastest of the Prancing Horses on this tight and treacherous Baku City Circuit was actually the junior member Charles Leclerc who displayed a decided advantage over his teammate Sebastian Vettel and the entire field throughout each of the three practice sessions. But team and driver may have both gotten a little greedy in Q2. With Ferrari setting the pace the braintrust decided to put both cars out on the Medium Pirellis, the only cars in the remaining 15 to go out on the harder rubber. The Medium tires lacked just that bit of grip on the cooling asphalt and Leclerc misjudged his breaking by a fraction going into the very tight Turn 8 Castle complex. The young phenom tried to make the corner rather than play it safe and abort down the escape runoff but the Ferrari went straight and speared heavily into the TecPro barrier, ending the Monegasque’s day and badly damaging his chassis. From looking like a favorite for the pole Leclerc instead was left bitterly upbraiding himself and praying that his team of mechanics can rebuild a competitive car by the start of the GP tomorrow.

The surviving Ferrari of veteran Sebastian Vettel qualified P3 and the German looked like he might seize the pole that Leclerc left unclaimed. But Mercedes’ slipstream strategy nipped him at the end and relegated Vettel to the second row. He will start alongside Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who was very quick, as well, and qualified P4. The Dutchman’s Red Bull could be the dark horse for the race win because the car looks exceptionally well planted on this technical circuit and perhaps the team’s lack of straight line speed relative to the big two of Mercedes and Ferrari can be made up in race trim. Unfortunately, Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Pierre Gasly, while also very quick, was undone by incurring a major penalty for blowing by the inspection weigh station in Friday practice, which necessitates a pit lane start as draconian punishment. Look for the Frenchman to cut his way through the laggards at the back of the field in the opening laps, though of course he must stay patient in such tight quarters lest he throw the race away by clashing with slower competitors.

The misfortunes of some of the members of the top three teams proved a boon to several of the midfield runners. Now benefitted more than Sergio Perez, who did a wonderful day’s work by willing his Racing Point machine all the way up to the fifth fastest time. Similarly, Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat had one of his good days and overcame a hard kiss off the wall on his rear right to qualify P6. McLaren rookie Lando Norris qualified P7, which was the best placement of any Renault-powered chassis on the grid by far. Antonio Giovinazzi also had his best-ever qualifying result, besting his Alfa-Romeo teammate Kimi Raikkonen P8 to P9, as Alfa also made good use of slipstreaming to set their fast final laps. Unfortunately for the young Italian he will drop back 10 spots on the gird come Sunday due to power unit changes. That means even after his mishap in Q2, Leclerc is slated to be elevated to P9 on the grid for tomorrow’s start. That is if Ferrari can rebuild his car without taking any parts-change penalties in the process.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Azerbaijan GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:42.026 1:41.500 1:40.495 20
2 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:41.614 1:41.580 1:40.554 21
3 5 Sebastian Vettel FERRARI 1:42.042 1:41.889 1:40.797 23
4 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:41.727 1:41.388 1:41.069 15
5 11 Sergio Perez RACING POINT BWT MERCEDES 1:42.249 1:41.870 1:41.593 17
6 26 Daniil Kvyat SCUDERIA TORO ROSSO HONDA 1:42.324 1:42.221 1:41.681 23
7 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN RENAULT 1:42.371 1:42.084 1:41.886 23
8 99 Antonio Giovinazzi ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI 1:42.140 1:42.381 1:42.424 21
9 7 Kimi Räikkönen ALFA ROMEO RACING FERRARI 1:42.059 1:42.082 1:43.068 21
10 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:41.426 1:41.995 11

Complete qualifying results amiable via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN2 at  8:00 AM Eastern here in the States. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out at this always eventful street circuit!

2019 F1 Grand Prix of China — Results & aftermath

Hamilton runs away from Bottas & field to dominate Chinese GP, Mercedes finish 1-2; Intrigue builds at Ferrari as team orders boost Vettel to P3 at Leclerc’s expense

The Chinese Grand Prix was essentially won on the getaway the moment the lights went out to start the race at the Shanghai International Circuit on Sunday. Lewis Hamilton got the better escape from the line and bested his pole-sitting Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas to take a lead he would never really relinquish. After Bottas’ inspiring pole run in Saturday qualifying it had to be deflating for the Finn to once again find himself looking at Hamilton’s war wing for nearly the entirety of the race, as so often happened last season en route to Hamilton’s fifth World Championship. After Hamilton’s somewhat lucky win in Bahrain two weeks ago where he and Mercedes were the beneficiaries of Ferrari’s fumbles, Hamilton was simply supreme in Shanghai this contest and no other driver in the field could put him under duress from Lap 1 onward. It was Hamilton stamping his authority back on team Mercedes and the series itself after Bottas had won in Round 1 in Melbourne. It also put the Englishman solidly into the lead of the Drivers’ points for the first time this young season. And when Bottas brought his Silver Arrow home safely in P2 6.5 seconds in arrears of Hamilton he was also a good 7 seconds ahead of the P3 Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel, insuring the third consecutive Mercedes 1-2 finish in three contests so far and maximum points for this era’s dominant team in the 1000th Formula 1 race. It was also Hamilton’s 75th career victory, the most by any current F1 driver and second most in the sport’s history behind only the great Michael Schumacher.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

For Ferrari the days discontents ran deeper than their cars clear inferiority to the Mercedes and Vettel’s eventual third place and Charles Leclerc’s P5 finish. The Scuderia’s brain trust made an early and consequential call from the pit wall on Lap 11 for their young phenom Leclerc to the let the veteran Vettel through. While that is never an order for any driver to swallow and Leclerc was understandably miffed it also had the net negative of not paying off. Vettel was not really that much quicker than Leclerc if at all, struggled to get the Medium Pirellis that the all the top five started on to work and never really seemed a threat to P2 Bottas up ahead. The team then tried to make a different play by splitting their strategy, calling Vettel in first on Lap 19 for the Hard compound and then telling Leclerc to stay out to Lap 31 to theoretically take advantage of fresher tires at the end with much younger Hards..

But the very abrasive Shanghai Circuit had other ideas for any team seeking to make the race a one-stopper. Continue reading →

2019 F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain — Results & aftermath

Mercedes and Hamilton pounce as Ferrari fumble away a win in the desert; Bottas P2 ahead of hard-luck Leclerc while Vettel spins

Ferrari had the dominant car and driver all weekend long. And in Sunday’s race at the Sakhir Circuit in Bahrain everything appeared to be playing out just as it had in practice and qualifying, with a Prancing Horse firmly in the lead. It was their rising young star Charles Leclerc who was dominating from the front, showing his class by fighting back first against his 4-time World Champion teammate Sebastian Vettel when Vettel got away quicker at the start and then leaving the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas in his wake. The 21-year-old pole-sitter looked to be on course for his maiden Formula 1 victory and perhaps the establishment of a new team and driver pecking order in the paddock. But on Lap 46 the dream weekend of Ferrari dominance began to crumble as Leclerc began compiling of engine issues and his blood-red car began losing power with what appeared to be a turbo problem. With Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton running a clean race even though he lacked the pure pace of the Prancing Horse the 5-time and current World Champ was in perfect position to take advantage of the Ferrari’s ill-timed reliability issues. In heartbreaking fashion, Leclerc saw his almost certain victory evaporate as Hamilton’s Silver Arrow relentlessly closed down his previously unassailable lead. On Lap 48 the Englishman passed the wounded Ferrari easily. Worse still for the Scuderia, Bottas was also able to catch up to Leclerc and took away P2.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

In a bare minimum of good fortune for the crestfallen Ferrari pilot the race finished under the Safety Car when both Renaults suffered terminal mechanical failures on Lap 53 of this 57-lap contest. With the drivers forced to hold station for the final few laps, this insured that Leclerc at least made the podium and kept his P3 before Red Bull’s Max Verstappen could dispatch him on track, as the Dutchman most likely would have. But it was cold comfort on a day that promised so much more for the famed team from Maranello and their young Monegasque phenom. To compound Ferrari’s woes Vettel had a disappointing effort. Continue reading →