Tag Archives: Valtteri Bottas

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Las Vegas — Qualifying results

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

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

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Mexico City — Qualifying results

Ferrari lock out front row in Mexico City with surprise qualifying pace — Leclerc on pole, Sainz P2; Verstappen only good enough for P3: Norris bounced in Q1

In a bit of a Saturday surprise, Ferrari found unexpected pace during the final qualifying session at the high altitude and quite technical Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, with Charles Leclerc laying down a blistering lap midway through Q3 that stood all other subsequent challenges to earn the Monegasque pole position for Sunday’s Mexico City Grand Prix. His Scuderia stablemate Carlos Sainz was just a tick behind him in P2 and, to the surprise of F1 fans everywhere, as well as team Ferrari themselves, Red Bull’s peerless Max Verstappen could never close the gap to the Prancing Horses and had to settle for an uncharacteristic P3. Once again, it remains to be seen whether Ferrari can turn their one lap speed into race victory when confronted by what has been the outright superior long run pace of the Red Bull in Verstappen’s championship hands. But with hometown hero Sergio Perez only able to qualify his RB19 in P5, Ferrari have the ostensible advantage in the team game to try and thwart what is sure to be an aggressive challenge by Verstappen come Sunday.

Splitting the Red Bulls in another massive surprise was the AlphaTauri of Daniel Ricciardo. The affable Aussie, who missed several races with a fractured hand and hasn’t looked up to his old standard in the races he had driven after sitting out last year, managed to hustle his ride all the way to the fourth fastest lap in Q3. Starting from P4, Ricciardo might be asked to help out Verstappen and Perez come race day, as AlphaTauri are Red Bull’s sister team. But one has to hope that Ricciardo will be free to fly to see if can earn his own honors against the big boys at the front like in his glory days with Red Bull. Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton got as much as he could out of his Silver Arrow with a P6 time, while George Russell could only manage P8, a sign that the W14 is having real problems dealing with the thinner air at this high altitude circuit. Oliver Piastri slotted his McLaren behind Hamilton in P7 but was the lone McLaren to make it into the top ten due to teammate Lando Norris getting unceremoniously bounced out in Q1 after botching his hot laps and the team then botching their strategy in getting him out for a final flier before time expired on the young Briton. After taking an impressive P2 in the US Grand Prix at COTA a week ago, Norris will have it all to do to even score starting from way down in P19 here in Mexico.

The two Ferrari-engined Alfa Romeos of Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu also found a little something extra at altitude, with Bottas setting a final time good enough for P9 and Zhou content to save tires for the race and run only a few desultory laps en route to the tenth fastest time of Q3. Alfa Romeo’s success in quali came at the expense of Aston Martin and Alpine, with Aston’s Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll knocked out in Q2 and Q1 respectively and Alpine’s and Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon following that exact suit.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Mexico City GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:18.401 1:17.901 1:17.166 17
2 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:18.755 1:18.382 1:17.233 17
3 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:18.099 1:17.625 1:17.263 15
4 3 Daniel Ricciardo ALPHATAURI HONDA RBPT 1:18.341 1:17.706 1:17.382 15
5 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:18.553 1:18.124 1:17.423 16
6 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:18.677 1:17.571 1:17.454 18
7 81 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:18.241 1:17.874 1:17.623 18
8 63 George Russell MERCEDES 1:18.893 1:17.673 1:17.674 19
9 77 Valtteri Bottas ALFA ROMEO FERRARI 1:18.429 1:18.016 1:18.032 17
10 24 Zhou Guanyu ALFA ROMEO FERRARI 1:19.016 1:18.440 1:18.050 15

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Sunday’s race airs live on ABC beginning at 4PM Eastern here in the States. Hope to see you then to find out if Ferrari can convert their strong starting position into a win over Verstappen and Red Bull amidst the thin air and demanding challenges of Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez!

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Qatar — Results & aftermath

Verstappen puts exclamation point on third championship with win in Qatar GP; Piastri, Norris P2 & P3 for high flying McLaren; Russell survives opening lap incident with teammate Hamilton, recovers to impressive P4 finish

After clinching his third consecutive Drivers’ World Championship by virtue of his second place finish in Saturday’s Sprint race, Red Bull’s peerless Max Verstappen went out and put a further stamp on his dominant 2023 by winning the Qatar Grand Prix on Sunday. Despite no longer needing the win, the flying Dutchman nevertheless put his head down during hot and humid evening conditions at Lusail International Circuit and held off the best efforts of the massively improved McLarens of Oliver Piastri and Lando Norris. In the end, it was Verstappen’s eye-popping fourteenth win of the season out of seventeen races run. That’s one behind his own record total from last year so, you can be sure he’ll be looking to exceed even that high bar with five more GP still to go. While Verstappen “only” won by 4.8 seconds over the impressive young Piastri, some of that close margin was undoubtedly due to Pirelli and the FIA mandating maximum 18-lap tire stints out of safety concerns for the durability of the rubber while being punished by the harsh curbs of Lusail, making for three to four stops durning the 57-lap contest, many more than a normal F1 race.

 

The dynamic McLaren duo of Piastri and Norris excelled during the race after starting from P6 and P10 respectively. They were aided in their podium pursuit by an opening lap incident between Mercedes teammates George Russell and Lewis Hamilton when the two collided while steaming into Turn 1. Hamilton, who would later accept the blame for  the collision, tried to force his way past Russell on the outside but there wasn’t enough room and Lewis bounced off his junior teammate, ending up beached in the gravel trap and without a rear right tire. While Hamilton was out on the spot, an exceedingly rare DNF for the seven-time champ, Russell was able to limp back to the pits for a new front wing under Safety Car conditions. That put the exasperated Englishman right at the back of the field. But Piastri was able to capitalize on the mayhem to make a passel of passes before the Lap 1 SC emerged and climbed all the way to P2. Norris was also ambitious and pushed himself to P6. With the McLaren pace advantage  now essentially second best in the field behind Red Bull due to their spectacular in season development, Piastri was able to keep a firm hold on P2 and Norris eventually hustled his way up to P3, where the talented young pair finished the race. It was the second consecutive double podium for the papaya-clad cars and also marked Piastri’s best ever F1 finish. It also elevated McLaren to a mere eleven points behind fading Aston Martin for fourth in the Constructors’ points.

With the help of some tough love from team boss Toto Wolff, Russell managed to get the better of his emotions after the unfortunate clash with Hamilton and then ran a really superb recovery race, maximizing the performance of his Hard tire stint in particular before switching to Softs to finish out the contest and securing a rather miraculous P4. Charles Leclerc was the lone Ferrari to start the race after a fuel leak was discovered on Carlos Sainz’s car  without enough time to repair it before the Formation Lap. While the Monegasque didn’t have the speed of the top four,  he kept it clean while others around him racked up track limits penalties in bunches and took P5 when all was said and done. Aston’s Fernando Alonso had an eventful race to say the least, surviving a hairy offtrack excursion on Lap 33 and then escaping with a post-race reprimand for unsafely rejoining the circuit rather than a time penalty. The Spanish two time champion was able to hang onto his unruly mount after that and survive for a decent P6 finish. Alpine’s Esteban Ocon drove well and aggressively to come home P7, while the two Alfa Romeos of Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu both finished in the points for the first time this season, in P8 and P9 respectively. Zhou was helped to that result by multiple track limits penalties leading to demotions of his closest rivals, including the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez, who survived a whopping three 5-second penalties for repeatedly going over the white lines to take the last point in P10. It was a sloppy effort by the Mexican, whose season started out looking like a genuine threat to Max’s ambitions but has comprehensively devolved into a distant and not very persuasive second in the Drivers’ points.

Top 10 finishers of the Qatar GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 57 1:27:39.168 26
2 81 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES 57 +4.833s 18
3 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 57 +5.969s 15
4 63 George Russell MERCEDES 57 +34.119s 12
5 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 57 +38.976s 10
6 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 57 +49.032s 8
7 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 57 +62.390s 6
8 77 Valtteri Bottas ALFA ROMEO FERRARI 57 +66.563s 4
9 24 Zhou Guanyu ALFA ROMEO FERRARI 57 +76.127s 2
10 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 57 +80.181s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in a fortnight’s time as Formula 1 returns to the United States for a second time this year — the US Grand Prix from beautiful Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. Can McLaren take the next step and knock Verstappen out of the top spot in a fair fight? Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Italy — Results & aftermath

Verstappen outruns Ferraris to make history at Monza with tenth consecutive win; Perez rights back to take second on magic day for Red Bull; Sainz holds off teammate Leclerc for P3

Despite not starting from pole at Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen simply wouldn’t be denied in his relentless pursuit of history in what is shaping up to be an individual Formula 1 season for the ages. Bested by Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz for the top spot on the starting grid during Saturday qualifying and confronted by the rabid, Scuderia-obsessed tifosi in the stands instead of his usual adoring orange-clad army, Verstappen bided his time during the opening laps, just waiting for his car’s inherent advantages to come to the forefront. Running nose to tail with Sainz after the former’s solid start to begin the race kept him momentarily ahead, Verstappen shadowed the Spaniard and kept the pressure on the lead Ferrari even as he began to gap the third place Prancing Horse of Sainz’s teammate, Charles Leclerc. Despite the ultra-rapid pace that F1 cars run at Monza — it isn’t called the Temple of Speed for nothing and is the fastest circuit in the calendar — passing is actually not as easy as at some other tracks, especially since the DRS is not as powerful here.

But, with the confidence in his RB15’s superior tire performance, Verstappen could see early on in the game that Sainz’s Ferrari was starting to squirm around at the rear on its opening set of Medium Pirellis. When Sainz locked up on Lap 15 going into the first chicane past the start-finish straight, Verstappen saw the opportunity and pounced. The runaway points leader made the overtake for P1 coming out of the Curva Grande and finished it off successfully while steaming into the second chicane. Sainz had been game and valiant in defense from the point but Max simply controlled the race from that moment onward, as he has so many times this year, en route to his record breaking tenth consecutive win and giving the Red Bull team their own record setting 15th win on the trot dating back to last season. It’s worth remembering that the drivers’ record for consecutive wins was previously held by Sebastian Vettel, a feat he achieved also driving for Red Bull in the midst of his four straight titles. It certainly looks like nothing is going to stop Verstappen from winning his third World Championship in a row this season and he’s probably already pondering tying Vettel’s four crowns next year.

With Verstappen dancing away in the distance, the real action took place with many riveting battles up and down the order throughout the race’s 51-lap distance (shortened from 53 after the rescue of Yuki Tsunoda’s stationary AlphaTauri required two extra formation laps before the race could get underway). After the dicing with Verstappen was concluded, the major podium duel was between Sainz, the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez and the other Ferrari of Leclerc. Perez, who started P5 after another lackluster qualifying performance, made good use of a slight overcut on the Ferraris for his first and only pit stop and then maximized his second stint on Hard Pirellis to chase down the Prancing Horses. By Lap 31, he was filling up Leclerc’s mirrors and by Lap 32, he had made the decisive overtake on the Monegasque to grab P3.  Pushing hard and driving with precision, the Mexican was soon on Sainz’s gearbox, where the two soon engaged in a many-lap epic ding dong battle, with Sainz using every trick in the book to try to hold off the Red Bull. After several tussles through the tricky first chicane that saw Perez run off the circuit and then give the place back as a result, he was finally able to get by Sainz on Lap 46, gaining ownership of a richly deserved second place on the day. Sainz was then hounded mercilessly by Leclerc for the rest of the contest but was able to hold off his hard charging stablemate to secure the last step on the podium. Three-four is probably not what the tifosi or the braintrust at nearby Maranello were dreaming of after Saturday’s electrifying pole run by Sainz. But the respectable result was about the best the team could do when confronted by the superior race pace of the Red Bulls.

Further down the order, Mercedes also optimized their performance on the day, with George Russell coming home in P4 and Lewis Hamilton crossing the line in P5, albeit nearly twenty seconds adrift of his teammate. The Silver Arrows pit wall used a split strategy, with Russell running the conventional Medium-to-Hard tire one-stopper after qualifying in P4, while Hamilton did the opposite because he was starting from down in P8. It wound up coming good for the team, even after some misgivings by Hamilton over the decision, and both men even survived 5-second time penalties for causing collisions, the latter by Hamilton coming at the expense of the McLaren of Oliver Piastri when he squeezed the young Aussie too much and slapped into the McLaren’s front wing. That destroyed Piastri’s race because he required a nose change on Lap 42 and he wound up finishing outside the points in P12 as a result. Making it a decidedly meh day for the McLaren team, Williams Alexander Albon successfully held off Lando Norris to secure P7, another fine effort by the rapidly improving Thai-British pilot. Aston Martin were pretty much nowhere at Monza and Fernando Alonso had to settle for P9 and a meager two points for the team. Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas took the last point in P10 by driving a savvy, veteran race and then watching misfortune strike the faster cars of Piatsri and Esteban Ocon. Special mention should also be given to Liam Lawson, the New Zealand rookie filling in for Mark Webber at AlphaTauri while the veteran recovers from a broken hand suffered at Zandvoort during practice. Driving in his second F1 race, the young Kiwi was solid throughout the day and finished an impressive P11.

Top 10 finishers of the Italian Grand Prix:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 51 1:13:41.143 25
2 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 51 +6.064s 18
3 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 51 +11.193s 15
4 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 51 +11.377s 12
5 63 George Russell MERCEDES 51 +23.028s 10
6 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 51 +42.679s 8
7 23 Alexander Albon WILLIAMS MERCEDES 51 +45.106s 6
8 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 51 +45.449s 4
9 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 51 +46.294s 2
10 77 Valtteri Bottas ALFA ROMEO FERRARI 51 +64.056s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in a fortnight’s time — the totally different animal to Monza that is the Singapore Grand Prix. Swap out high speeds for tight confines on that tricky and challenging Marina Bay Street Circuit half a world away and maybe, just maybe Verstappen’s luck will falter and his win streak will end. I still wouldn’t bet on it but hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Hungary — Qualifying results

Hamilton comes up huge in Hungary, upsets Verstappen to take pole;  Norris third fastest under new qualifying tire rules

With the smart money on Red Bull’s peerless Max Verstappen to nab his sixth consecutive pole position in what has evolved into an epically dominant year for the Dutchman, his old nemesis and some new qualifying rules conspired to thwart that possibility during Saturday qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix. Faced with a new experimental mandate for this weekend that cars only be allowed to run Hard Pirrelis in Q1, Mediums in Q2 and then Softs in Q3, it was Mercedes ace and seven time champion Lewis Hamilton who found the fastest form at the Hungaroring, one his favorite circuits. Hamilton out-dueled Verstappen by .003-seconds to wrest away the top spot on the grid for tomorrow’s race and earn his first pole since the penultimate race in 2021 in Saudi Arabia. That extended Hamilton’s pole record to 104, with nine of those coming here in Hungary, and left the veteran English pilot hoarse with delight at the achievement after a multi-year struggle by the Silver Arrows to get back on terms with the rapid Red Bulls. While Verstappen was his usual disgruntled self when presented with anything less than the best possible results, you can be sure he will be fired up at the start of the race tomorrow to take back what he perceives as rightfully his and rapid getaway into his seventh consecutive victory. Likewise, Hamilton will be looking to extend today’s high and fend off Verstappen for his first win since starting from pole in Jeddah that fateful year of 2021. It should be a titanic battle between two of the best in the business when the lights go out tomorrow and  let’s hope it lasts all race long.

Slotting in at P3 was not a teammate of either man but rather the McLaren of Lando Norris, with his stablemate Oscar Piastri setting the fourth fastest time, a fine result for the absolutely reinvigorated McLaren F1 program after Norris scored a P2 result at Silverstone a fortnight ago and Piastri finished P4. In fact, the Red Bull and Mercedes wingmen both had poor to disastrous days in the shadow of Hamilton and Verstappen’s mighty laps. Red Bull’s Sergio Perez was only fast enough for P9 on the day, though the veteran Mexican driver will be at least somewhat pleased that he finally got through to Q3 again after an inexplicable five race absence. It was far worse for the second Silver Arrow of George Russell when the team botched his strategy in Q1 and brought him out late amidst too much traffic, which cost the young Englishman dearly. Russell was unable to get away cleanly with so many cars trying to set up their own final runs and will be forced to start way back in P18 on the grid on a track where overtaking is nigh impossible despite what is clearly a reinvigorated Merc chassis.

It was a good day for Alfa Romeo on what has been a fairly miserable season, as Zhou Guanyu was able to get himself up to P5 and veteran Valtteri Bottas slotted in P7. They sandwiched the the lone Ferrari of Charles Leclerc in P6 after teammate Carlos Sainz struggled on his Medium tires in Q2 and wound up only eleventh fastest in that session. Rounding out the top ten qualifiers, Fernando Alonso was P8 in the now back-to-earth Aston Martin and Nico Hulkenberg had another fine quali effort in his Haas for P10. And a special mention for Daniil Ricciardo on his return to first team status in F1 after supplanting the struggling Nick Devries at AlphaTauri. The veteran Australian hot shoe with the giant smile outqualfied his teammate Yuki Tsunoda P13 to P18 on his first race weekend back in the saddle since last year’s finale in Abu Dhabi when he finsihed up an unhappy stint with McLaren. It’s good to see the affable Aussie back on the grid even in what has so far been subpar equipment.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Hungarian GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:18.577 1:17.427 1:16.609 20
2 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:18.318 1:17.547 1:16.612 21
3 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:18.697 1:17.328 1:16.694 20
4 81 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:18.464 1:17.571 1:16.905 20
5 24 Zhou Guanyu ALFA ROMEO FERRARI 1:18.143 1:17.700 1:16.971 22
6 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:18.440 1:17.580 1:16.992 21
7 77 Valtteri Bottas ALFA ROMEO FERRARI 1:18.775 1:17.563 1:17.034 20
8 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 1:18.580 1:17.701 1:17.035 21
9 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:18.360 1:17.675 1:17.045 23
10 27 Nico Hulkenberg HAAS FERRARI 1:18.695 1:17.652 1:17.186 20

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN beginning at 9AM Eastern here in the States. One can only hope that the razor’s edge battle that we saw today between Hamilton and Verstappen will continue on throughout tomorrow’s Grand Prix — hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Miami — Qualifying results

Perez takes pole on Miami as late Leclerc spin brings out Red Flag to scramble grid; Alonso P2, Sainz P3; Verstappen P9 after failing to set Q3 time

Saturday Qualifying for this year’s Miami Grand Prix turned unpredictable in the dying moments, as Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc lost it late in Q3 while trying to improve his position, spinning his Prancing Horse off the circuit entering Turn 17. That brought out a Red Flag for the stricken Ferrari and with under two minutes remaining in the final quali session, ended Q3. It also froze all the drivers in their prior positions with no more chance of improvement. For Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, that meant the fatstest lap of the session and pole for Sunday’s race. But it also doomed  his teammate and championship rival Max Verstappen to an uncharacteristic P9. The Dutchman aborted his first lap of the final session and then was never able to set another time afterwards due to Leclerc’s mishap. The very tight Miami International Autodrome is a hard place to make passes so Verstappen will have his work cut for him, though if any current F1 driver can recover from that disadvantage, it’s him. Conversely, Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso benefitted from the abbreviated quali session and secured P2 alongside Perez on the front row. With the Spaniard’s run of excellent form to start 2023 and a very completive car, P2 may well be where he finishes the race.

Leclerc’s teammate Carlos Sainz also reaped the benefits of having already banked a solid fast lap earlier in the session and will start P3, while Leclerc obviously did not improve on his standing P7 time. Haas’ Kevin Magnussen was ecstatic to find himself starting P4 after a really solid day for the Danish veteran. And Alpine had a much needed good result with both cars getting through to Q3 and Pierre Gasly qualifying up in P5 and Esteban Ocon in P8.  On the other hand, Mercedes had a torrid time of it in the Miami heat with George Russell only able to manage a time good enough for P6 and teammate Lewis Hamilton unceremoniously knocked out in Q2. The seven-time World Champ will start way back in P13, his first-ever start outside the top 6 while on American soil. Ala Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas was P10 and did not leave the pits at all in that fateful final session.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Miami GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:27.713 1:27.328 1:26.841 20
2 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 1:28.179 1:27.097 1:27.202 19
3 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:27.686 1:27.148 1:27.349 18
4 20 Kevin Magnussen HAAS FERRARI 1:27.809 1:27.673 1:27.767 19
5 10 Pierre Gasly ALPINE RENAULT 1:28.061 1:27.612 1:27.786 20
6 63 George Russell MERCEDES 1:28.086 1:27.743 1:27.804 20
7 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:27.713 1:26.964 1:27.861 19
8 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 1:27.872 1:27.444 1:27.935 20
9 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:27.363 1:26.814 DNF 15
10 77 Valtteri Bottas ALFA ROMEO FERRARI 1:27.864 1:27.564 DNS 15

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ABC beginning at 3:30 PM Eastern here in the States. With a rather epically jumbled grid and Vertsappen forced to make up a ton of positions on a notoriously difficult to overtake circuit, it should be a wild ride in the Sunshine State. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain — Results & aftermath

Verstappen kicks off quest for three-peat with dominant victory in Bahrain; Perez P2 in ominously good start for Red Bull; Alonso nabs P3 podium on debut for improved Aston; Leclerc DNFs as Sainz settles for P4 for Ferrari

If, coming into the 2023 season, the nine other Formula 1 teams thought they had closed the gap to the sheer dominance of the Red Bull in reigning champion Max Verstappen’s hands, the first race of the year rapidly disabused them of that false confidence. The Dutch Master was back to his old tricks, picking up where he left off in 2022 in Abu Dhabi to give a master class in Round 1 this year at the Sakhir Circuit in Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix. Verstappen drove away from pole towards an imperious victory on this 57-lap season-opener and it was clear easy that no other car could challenge his Red Bull. That included the sister Red Bull of his teammate, Sergio Perez, who finished P2 in the same equipment and running the same tire strategy. Perez came home nearly 12-seconds in arrears of his peerless two-time World Champion teammate, the Dutchman clearly proclaiming this intentions to make it three titles on the trot by the time this year’s 23 rounds are over.

But Verstappen’s absolute dominance was not even the biggest story of the day. While a Red Bull one-two to start the season had never been done before and so was notable, it was the sublime drive of veteran Fernando Alonso in the massively improved Aston Martin that mad the biggest splash in the desert of Bahrain. Driving his first race in anger for his new team, the 41-year-old Alonso showed all of his brilliance and decades of experience in a Formula 1 car to not only best the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton in close combat but also the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz en route to a frankly astonishing P3 podium finish. This year’s Aston Martin has genuine pace and major aero upgrades over last year’s inconsistent chassis and Alonso put all of that to fine use when the team decided on a second stop over-cut strategy on Lap 34 against both Hamilton and Sainz, who had pitted on Lap 30 and 31 receptively. That forced the Spanish two-time World Champ to then have to pass both cars on the circuit, having given up track position to them by running a few laps longer. But Alonso warmed to his task with alacrity, getting by the Silver Arrow of Hamilton on Lap 38 after the English seven-time champion’s valiant pass-back on the previous lap, and then making relatively quick work of Sainz’s Prancing Horse on Lap 36 to grab P3, which is where he finished to the pure joy of his team at grabbing a podium so quickly in 2023. With Sainz finishing P4 and Hamilton in P5, the newfound pure pace of the Aston has got to now be a worry for both those ostensibly “superior” teams.

Alonso’s teammate Lance Stroll also deserves special mention. Though he finished in P6, that was an excellent result for the young Canadian, who raced the demanding 57-laps with fractures in his wrist and toe after a pre-testing mountain bike accident. It was a determined and gutty effort by Stroll and it should only be up from here from him, as he continues to heal. No doubt he made his team owner and father Lawrence very proud, as well.

If Ferrari were chagrined at having Sainz bested by Alonso for the last podium position they were probably apoplectic at the fate of their ostensible team leader, Charles Leclerc. Expected to give Verstappen a stiff challenge for the title in 2023, the Monegasque’s SF-23 was clearly not as fast as the Red Bull RB19, though Leclerc was able to nab P2 from Perez on the opening lap due to starting on the Soft Pirelli tire compound vs. Perez’s Hards. While Leclerc conceded that second place back to Perez after the first round of pit stops, Leclerc was comfortably ahead of his teammate in P3 when his engine let go on Lap 41 and he had to retire the car. It was bit of a double whammy for Ferrari, as well, since the Scuderia had already changed a power store unit pre-race and if Leclerc’s engine is also toast that will be another limited use component on the road to the dreaded grid spot penalties for the various pivotal engine parts replacements. Not the start Ferrari was hoping for as they seek to inch closer to Red Bull.

While the number two Merc of George Russell finished in the points in P7, it was also not a day to remember for the young Briton. Russell struggled with his tire management and was clearly second best to Hamilton in Bahrain, not to mention the Stroll in P6. On the other hand, the final three of the Top 10 did yeoman’s work and exceeded expectations en route to valuable midfield points. Valtteri Bottas drove a typically canny and perhaps atypically aggressive race to maximize the performance for his Alfa Romeo while making a passel of late race passes and the team used a well-played undercut pit strategy to bring the veteran Finn home in P8. Pierre Gasly was even more impressive on debut with new team Alpine, starting from dead last on the grid after a dismal qualifying to finish a rather amazing P9. If it hadn’t been for Alonso’s heroics at Sakhir, Gasly certainly would have been driver of the day. The Williams of Alex Albon took the last point in P10 with a solid effort, while rookie teammate Logan Sargeant was P12. It was an encouraging start for what looks like a much improved Williams team and a nice F1 debut effort for the young American Sergeant, the first Yank in the series since Scott Speed way back in 2007.

Top 10 finishers of the Bahrain GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 57 1:33:56.736 25
2 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 57 +11.987s 18
3 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 57 +38.637s 15
4 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 57 +48.052s 12
5 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 57 +50.977s 10
6 18 Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 57 +54.502s 8
7 63 George Russell MERCEDES 57 +55.873s 6
8 77 Valtteri Bottas ALFA ROMEO FERRARI 57 +72.647s 4
9 10 Pierre Gasly ALPINE RENAULT 57 +73.753s 2
10 23 Alexander Albon WILLIAMS MERCEDES 57 +89.774s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in a fortnight — the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. Can Alonso keep his mojo going? Do Ferrari and Mercedes have anything for Verstappen and Red Bull in Round 2? Look forward to seeing you then to find out!

2022 F1 Grand Prix of Sao Paulo — Results & aftermath

Russell takes first F1 win in Sao Paulo, Hamilton P2 to extend Mercedes’ late season surge; Sainz P3 for Ferrari ahead of Leclerc; Verstappen vociferously refuses to help teammate Perez

Mercedes up and coming young driver George Russell made good on the team’s constant faith in his talents and earned his first Formula 1 victory at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix on Sunday. Spearheading a late season charge by the Silver Arrows, Russell started first on the grid after winning Saturday’s Sprint race and then survived an incident-filled 71-laps on the short and tricky Interlagos circuit to break his duck and claim his maiden F1 win. Better still for Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton was able to survive early contact with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to come home P2, proving that the recent improved showing by the W13 were not just flukes due to the thinner atmosphere in Mexico City or a unique synergy between driver and track after Hamilton’s excellent showing at COTA in the USGP. After struggling mightily with porpoising to begin the campaign under the new aero specs and then being simply too draggy to compete with Red Bull and Ferrari until really the latter third of the season, Mercedes’ advancements might be too little too late for this year but bode well for a more competitive, possible 3-team competition in 2023. Hamilton and Verstappen also collided after a Safety Car restart on Lap 7, with neither car badly damaged but Verstappen requiring a new front wing and receiving a 5-second penalty as the guilty party, there were certainly shades of last year’s epic tense and testy season-long duel. Let’s hope it’s foreshadowing for next year.

Behind the top two Mercs there was a ton of tension and intrigue. Ferrari managed to come home with Carlos Sainz in P3 and Charles Leclerc in P4 after somehow recovering from a Lap 7 coming together with McLaren’s Lando Norris just after the Hamilton-Verstappen kerfuffle. It was an impressive rally from the Monegasque, whose Prancing Horse at first looked to be in real trouble after spearing into the barriers. While both Leclerc and his F1-75 proved resilient as they fought their way forward, less impressive was his repeated requests to the Ferrari pit wall to tell Sainz to let him by for the extra points. While it’s understandable that Leclerc would want every available advantage to try and secure second in the Drivers’ championship, bumping his teammate from a podium was never going to fly and simply made Leclerc seem a little whiny and desperate.

But that was nothing compared to what went down late race at team Red Bull. With Verstappen’s race compromised because of that early clash with Hamilton, it seemed that Perez might have the best opportunity to spoil Mercedes’ day. But the team had kept Perez out on Medium tires late in the race and the Mexican was forced to defend rather than attack, as Sainz came upon him after another Safety Car period ended on Lap 59 on fresher and superior Soft tire. Despite his best efforts, the veteran Mexican was easy meat for Sainz, the Spaniard making the overtake on Lap 63, a lap after DRS had been re-enabled. Worse still, Leclerc followed suit a lap later and the Alpine of Fernando Alonso also scooted by him on Lap 65. At this point, Verstappen had caught also up to Perez and the team somewhat curiously told Perez to let Max through to “take some points off Alonso and Leclerc”. But, despite the fact that Verstappen couldn’t make anything happen with that theory and stayed stuck in P6, the current World Champion then inexplicably refused direct team orders to hand the place back to Perez to finish out the race. That proved pivotal in the Drivers’ Standings, because while Leclerc salvaged P4 after his stressful adventures on the day, Perez sank to P7 behind his not-very-team oriented teammate Verstappen. The resultant points scoring on the day put Leclerc and Perez into a tie with 290 points, but Leclerc would earn the tiebreaker if it remained that way because he has more wins on the season. It remains to be seen if Verstappen, who many are theorizing still holds a grudge for Perez bringing out the Red Flag way back at Monaco qualifying to deny the Dutchman pole, will feel he’s made his point and go back to aiding Perez’s quest for P2 in the Championship at the last race in Abu Dhabi. However things turn out at Yas Marina next week, Verstappen’s diva-like behavior in Sao Paulo will likely not be forgotten by the popular Perez or by his legions of Mexican and non-Mexican fans. Frankly, there’s no putting that particular toothpaste back in the tube and it could cast Perez’s continued membership on the Red Bull team into some serious doubt.

With the two Alpine’s of Alonso and Esteban Ocon playing reasonably nice for a change, the team had a very good day at the races. First and foremost was Alonso’s most impressive drive. Staring from P17 on the grid behind Ocon after the pair had tangled multiple times in the Sprint race, the Spanish two-time World Champ put in a brilliant effort to come home all the way up in P5 and ahead of both Red Bulls. Combined with Ocon’s solid P8 and a double DNF for McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo, who knocked out Haas’ Kevin Magnussen along with himself on the opening lap, and Lando Norris, whose car died on Lap 52 bringing out the final Safety Car, it made for a 19-point lead for Alpine over McLaren for P4 in the all-important Constructors’ points with only the one race remaining. Valtteri Bottas also scored decent points for Alfa Romeo with a ninth-place finish and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll took the final point in P10.

Top 10 finishers of the Sao Paulo GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 63 George Russell MERCEDES 71 1:38:34.044 26
2 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 71 +1.529s 18
3 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 71 +4.051s 15
4 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 71 +8.441s 12
5 14 Fernando Alonso ALPINE RENAULT 71 +9.561s 10
6 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING RBPT 71 +10.056s 8
7 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING RBPT 71 +14.080s 6
8 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 71 +18.690s 4
9 77 Valtteri Bottas ALFA ROMEO FERRARI 71 +22.552s 2
10 18 Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 71 +23.552s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

In one week’s time, it’s the final race of the 2022 season — the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix from the futuristic and colorful Yas Marina Circuit. The last of the prizes will be claimed and it will be more than a little interesting to see if Verstappen can overcome his bizarre fit of pique and actually help his teammate Perez to prevail over Leclerc for P2 in the Drivers’ standings. Likewise, can Mercedes finish on another high and keep the good vibes flowing into the off season? Stay tuned & hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out as Formula 1 draws to close for the year!

2022 F1 Grand Prix of Mexico City — Results & aftermath

Red Bull’s Verstappen cruises to victory in Mexico City; Hamilton out-duels teammate Russell P2 to P4 in strong showing for Mercedes; Perez P3, Ferrari far off the pace

2022 Formula 1 Champion Max Verstappen continued his winning ways at Sunday’s Mexico City Grand Prix, setting a new record  with his 14th victory of the season and doing so with relative ease. With the peerless Red Bull ace starting from pole, the now two-time champ lead the field from the moment the lights went out in this 71-lap contest at Autódromo Hermanos Rodriguez and never really looked back. Verstappen made the most of a one-stop Soft-to-Medium Pirelli tire strategy on a day where tire degradation was less than expected and Mercedes appeared to guess wrong by betting on the Hard tires for their second stint after starting on the Mediums. With Verstappen’s Mediums holding up well despite being swapped out on Lap 25, it was really all over but the shouting as both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell were left to lament lack of performance on their Hards in their radio calls back to the Mercedes pit wall while the lead Red Bull disappeared into the distance. Hamilton had executed a flawless pass for P2 on stablemate Russell on the opening lap, forcing his junior teammate to ride the curbs off the racing line and seizing P2 from Russell, but the English seven-time champ was left over 15-seconds adrift of Verstappen by the time the checkers flew.

That opening lap tussle with his Silver Arrows teammate cost Russell not only a position to Hamilton but also a podium, as the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez was able to capitalize on that pivotal loss of momentum and take P3 from Russell shortly thereafter on Lap 1 to the delight of his countrymen in the stands. The veteran Mexican pilot then followed suit on tire strategy to his teammate, having come in two laps earlier on Lap 23 for the same Soft-to-Medium switch. Perez used that tire advantage to run away from Russell and secure a satisfying P3 podium finish at his home race. Further back of the top four, Ferrari had a majorly off day and were never seriously in contention. Perhaps dialing back their engines to save them for another day or perhaps just struggling at the high altitude and thin atmosphere of this Mexico City circuit, the Prancing Horses never really looked like contenders. Carlos Sainz struggled to a P5 finish some 9-seconds behind Russell and Charles Leclerc, who seems to have lost a bit of the fire since his championship dreams were extinguished a few races back, muddled through to P6. One can only hope that Ferrari put up more of a fight once back at sea level for the next race in Brazil in a couple of weeks.

Rounding out the Top 10, McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo drove his best race of the season, making a slew of aggressive overtaking maneuvers after wheel banging contact with AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda on Lap 51. Despite being handed a 10-second time penalty as a result of the contretemps, the affable Aussie drove like a man possessed to secure P7, making the most of a final stint on Soft tires to maximize the McLaren’s performance and dust his midfield competitors. Teammate Lando Norris was for once overshadowed by Ricciardo and could only muster a P9 finish, still adding up to solid points for McLaren in their battle with Alpine for fourth in the Contractors Championship. They were aided in that quest by Alpine’s increasing reliability issues, which saw Fernando Alonso retire with an engine issue with just six laps to go. That left Esteban Ocon as the lone Alpine to score, coming home P8, and it will be all to play for for the big fourth-place payout between the French team and McLaren in the final two rounds. Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas hung on for the last point in P10, not really having the race pace in his C42 despite qualifying P6.

Top 10 finishers of the Mexico City GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING RBPT 71 1:38:36.729 25
2 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 71 +15.186s 18
3 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING RBPT 71 +18.097s 15
4 63 George Russell MERCEDES 71 +49.431s 13
5 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 71 +58.123s 10
6 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 71 +68.774s 8
7 3 Daniel Ricciardo MCLAREN MERCEDES 70 +1 lap 6
8 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 70 +1 lap 4
9 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 70 +1 lap 2
10 77 Valtteri Bottas ALFA ROMEO FERRARI 70 +1 lap 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in a fortnight’s time — the Sao Paolo Grand Prix at Interlagos in Brazil. Can Mercedes maintain their improved performance back t sea level and possibly grab a win off of Red Bull or will Verstappen continue to add to his race-win record? Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2022 F1 Grand Prix of Mexico City — Qualifying results

Red Bull’s Verstappen pips Russell for first pole in Mexico City, Hamilton P3 as Mercedes show late season strength; Ferrari adrift at high altitude Autódromo Hermanos Rodriguez

After struggling for grip at the always tricky high altitude/thin air Autódromo Hermanos Rodriguez, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen hooked up a lap to perfection when it counted most, as he so often has this championship season. Trailing the suddenly resurgent Mercedes duo of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell late in Q3, Verstappen was able to lay down an untouchable final fast lap at the death during Saturday qualifying to secure pole for Sunday’s Mexico City Grand Prix. With the Red Bulls struggling for grip in the hot, high altitude conditions and Mercedes paying less of a penalty for what has been a draggy car this season, it seemed that Hamilton might snatch his first pole of 2022. But it was not to be, as the English seven-time champion ultimately fell short not only of the flying Dutchman’s pace but also his teammate Russell, who will slot in alongside Verstappen on the front row with Hamilton settling for P3. Despite that momentary disappointment, this could be Mercedes best chance to win that elusive first race of the already 19-round-old campaign. In addition to Hamilton’s recent personal resurgence and Russell’s slowly improving consistency, if they can keep their tires under them for the duration of the GP, Mercedes may actually have the pace under these conditions to best Verstappen for once.

While Verstappen’s teammate and local hero Sergio Perez struggled to a P4 qualifying effort in front of his home fans, it was worse for Ferrari. The Prancing Horses seemed unmoored at high altitude, with Carlos Sainz only setting the fifth best time in the final quali session and stablemate Charles Leclerc even further off the pace in P7. The loss of downforce here really seemed to effect the F1-75 when putting power down through the low speed corners, of which there are many at this twisty 4.3 kilometer circuit. Such were their struggles that Valtteri Bottas, representing Ferrari’s secondary team Alfa Romeo, split Sainz and Leclerc with a superb P6 effort. Rounding out the top ten qualifiers, McLaren’s Lando Norris was eighth quickest and the Alpines of Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon qualified P9 and P10 respectively.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Mexico City GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING RBPT 1:19.222 1:18.566 1:17.775 16
2 63 George Russell MERCEDES 1:19.583 1:18.565 1:18.079 18
3 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:19.169 1:18.552 1:18.084 19
4 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING RBPT 1:19.706 1:18.615 1:18.128 18
5 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:19.566 1:18.560 1:18.351 17
6 77 Valtteri Bottas ALFA ROMEO FERRARI 1:19.523 1:18.762 1:18.401 18
7 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:19.505 1:19.109 1:18.555 18
8 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:19.857 1:19.119 1:18.721 19
9 14 Fernando Alonso ALPINE RENAULT 1:20.006 1:19.272 1:18.939 15
10 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 1:19.945 1:19.081 1:19.010 18

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Sunday’s Mexico City Grand Prix airs live on ESPN beginning at 4PM Eastern here in the Sates. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!