Tag Archives: Williams

2024 F1 Grand Prix of Italy — Results & aftermath

Leclerc rides audacious one-stop strategy to take surprise victory at Monza for jubilant Ferrari; Piastri out-duels McLaren teammate Norris for P2

With McLaren looking the dominant team heading into the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday, it was Ferrari that stunned Formula 1 by pushing their man Charles Leclerc to first place with an audacious, contrarian one-stop strategy and taking a sweet victory at the storied Scuderia’s home race. Lacking the outright pace of the McLaren’s, Ferrari nevertheless capitalized when the pole-sitting Lando Norris scrapped with his teammate Oscar Piastri on the opening lap and was then passed by the young Aussie for the race lead heading into the second chicane. In that tussle, the Prancing Horse of Leclerc was also able to get by the recovering Norris, setting the wheels in motion on Ferrari’s pit wall to come up with a strategy that would enable Leclerc to fight it out with Piastri for the top step of the podium. But few would have guessed that when Leclerc was undercut by Norris on Lap 15 of this 53-lap contest at the ultra-fast Autodromo Nazionale Monza that the fabled team from Maranello would figure out a way to actually win. Leclerc himself was irate at his race engineer & strategist for losing a place to Norris when he stopped a lap later, both drivers making the switch off their opening set of Medium Pirellis onto the more durable Hard compound tires. It seemed more likely that McLaren had set up a duel between their two drivers for the win, with Piastri destined to re-inherit the race lead and Norris P2 after the opening round of pit stops were completed.

But a funny thing happened on the way to that expected McLaren 1-2. With all the front running teams appearing to run the two-stopper as the best way to finish the race, Piastri made his second pit stop from the lead on Lap 39 and Norris in P2 ran a bit longer to Lap 41. But both Leclerc and Sainz stayed out and it suddenly dawned on the paddock that Ferrari were going to run the risky one-stop strategy despite the waning performance from their aging Hard tires. Leclerc’s lead was such that he was more than full pit stop ahead of the P5 Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton, meaning that the worst that could happen to Leclerc and Sainz if they absolutely had to bail in the race’s final few laps would be a likely third and fourth place finish respectively. On the other hand, now McLaren had to try to reclaim the top two spots by making overtakes on the Ferrari duo with time running out. Piastri did close down Sainz and passed the game Spaniard for P2 on Lap 45, with Norris managing the same feat three laps later. But Leclerc was able to maintain enough of a lead that the laps ran out before the desperate Piastri could even get into position to try for a pass. When the checkered flag flew, Leclerc came home some 2.66-seconds to the good of Piastri to the delight of the happily stunned tifosi in the stands, who happily stormed the field for the post-race ceremonies, as is tradition here. It was an emotional win for the Monegasque, who earlier in the season won his home race in Monaco and now has won for Ferrari at Monza, the dream of every Formula 1 driver who drives for the Prancing Horse. And it showed that the much maligned braintrust at the Scuderia could take a gamble that actually paid off for a change, leaving them still in the hunt for the Constructors’ Championship when many had already written them off this year.

With higher expectations after locking out the front row in qualifying, Piastri and Norris finished a somewhat disappointed P2 and P3 respectively, while Leclerc’s teammate Sainz claimed P4 after running a fine race of his own for himself and the team, especially in defense of Leclerc as the laps ran down. Hamilton ended up the highest placed Silver Arrow in P5 after teammate George Russell, who started from P3 on the grid, sustained opening lap damage to his front wing amidst the chaos that is the first chicane here, necessitating a premature and lengthy early pit stop for a wing change in addition to tires that set the young Briton on his back foot for the rest of the race. Russell rallied to finish P7 but it wasn’t the race he envisioned when he woke up on Sunday morning. Likewise, Hamilton was left hoping for more when the Mercedes W15 had looked so strong until the final quali session on Saturday. Team Red Bull were also more than happy to put Monza in the rearview, with points leader Max Verstappen only able to advance one spot from his starting position, finishing a relatively lowly P6, while Sergio Perez  was overtaken late by Russel and had to settle for P8. The team will be hoping that the very tricky and specific compromises needed to succeed at Monza were to blame rather than a lasting problem with the RB20’s development, as they uncharacteristically looked like merely the fourth quickest team here in Italy all weekend long.

Williams’ Alexander Albon and Haas’s Kevin Magnussen also rode the one-stopper to some level of success and points, with Albon finishing P9 and Magnussen taking the final point in P10 despite a 10-second penalty for colliding with the RB of Yuki Tsunoda early in the race, which wound up ending the Japanese driver’s day.

Top 10 finishers of the Italian GP:

POS

NO

DRIVER

CAR

LAPS

TIME/RETIRED

PTS

1

16

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

53

1:14:40.727

25

2

81

Oscar Piastri

McLaren Mercedes

53

+2.664s

18

3

4

Lando Norris

McLaren Mercedes

53

+6.153s

16

4

55

Carlos Sainz

Ferrari

53

+15.621s

12

5

44

Lewis Hamilton

Mercedes

53

+22.820s

10

6

1

Max Verstappen

Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT

53

+37.932s

8

7

63

George Russell

Mercedes

53

+39.715s

6

8

11

Sergio Perez

Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT

53

+54.148s

4

9

23

Alexander Albon

Williams Mercedes

53

+67.456s

2

10

20

Kevin Magnussen

Haas Ferrari

53

+68.302s

1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in a fortnight, the always exciting Azerbaijan Grand Prix from the challenging Baku City Circuit, so the teams will get a little breather after the back-to-back rounds coming out of the summer break. For Ferrari and Leclerc and all of Italy, it will mean an extra week to savor an improbable win. For the other contenders, it’ll be trying to figure out how to get back into victory lane in this highly unpredictable season. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2024 F1 Grand Prix of the Netherlands — Qualifying results

Norris claims authoritative pole over Verstappen at Zandvoort as F1 kicks back into gear; Piastri P3, Russell P4

Formula 1’s long summer break has come and gone, as the circus reopened for Round 15 of the 2024 World Championship at the small but technical Zadvoort Circuit amidst the dunes along the coast of the Netherlands. After nothing but wet practices on Friday and Saturday morning, Qualifying itself was dry and the cars finally got to show their speed. Looking tan, ready and rested, McLaren’s Lando Norris continued his run of good form by laying down a dominant lap to earn pole position during Qualifying for tomorrow’s Dutch Grand Prix, some four-tenths to the good of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, the current points leader in the Drivers standings. Despite the throngs of orange-clad countrymen willing on the Dutch master from the stands, it was the papaya orange of Norris’s McLaren setting the pace when push came to shove. Adding to McLaren’s satisfaction, Oscar Piastri set the third fastest time, while Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez could only muster P5. Mercedes’ George Russell split those two and will line up alongside Piastri on the second row after claiming P4. But Silver Arrows teammate Lewis Hamilton, winner of two of the last three races prior to the break, had a bit of a disastrous day. First, the seven-time champion was bounced in Q2 after only being twelfth fastest in that session; then he was assessed a three-place grid penalty after being found guilty of impeding Perez in Q1. On a circuit where track position is king, Hamilton will really have to pull something out of the bag come race day now starting from a lowly fourteenth.

Charles Leclerc was the only Ferrari to make it into Q3 and will start P6 on Sunday, as teammate Carlos Sainz struggled with handling en route to an initial P11 grid spot. But Williams’ Alexander Albon, who had been looking good with the eighth fastest time at the end of quali, was DQ’d after the session due to a technical infraction on the floor of his car. That elevated not only Sainz into the top ten, but also promoted Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll to P8 on the grid, alongside his P7 teammate Fernando Alonso, and lifted Alpine’s Pierre Gasly up to P9.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Dutch GP:

POS

NO

DRIVER

CAR

Q1

Q2

Q3

LAPS

1

4

Lando Norris

McLaren Mercedes

1:11.377

1:10.496

1:09.673

14

2

1

Max Verstappen

Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT

1:11.393

1:10.811

1:10.029

14

3

81

Oscar Piastri

McLaren Mercedes

1:11.541

1:10.505

1:10.172

16

4

63

George Russell

Mercedes

1:11.049

1:10.552

1:10.244

18

5

11

Sergio Perez

Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT

1:11.006

1:10.678

1:10.416

17

6

16

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

1:11.370

1:10.689

1:10.582

24

7

14

Fernando Alonso

Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes

1:11.493

1:10.845

1:10.633

16

DQ

23

Alexander Albon

Williams Mercedes

0

8

18

Lance Stroll

Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes

1:11.518

1:10.661

1:10.857

19

9

10

Pierre Gasly

Alpine Renault

1:11.718

1:10.815

1:10.977

20

10

55

Carlos Sainz

Ferrari

1:11.327

1:10.914

18

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Revised grid taking into account multiple penalties is here.

Tomorrow’s race amidst the dunes airs live on ESPN tomorrow starting at 9 am Eastern here in the States. Hope to see you then to find out of Norris can hold off Verstappen for another win and tighten up the championships even further and we fly into the second half of the season!

2024 F1 Grand Prix of Monaco — Results & aftermath

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

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

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

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

Top 10 finishers of the Monaco GP:

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

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

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

2024 F1 Grand Prix of Monaco — Qualifying results

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

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

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

To 10 qualifiers for the Monaco GP:

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

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

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

2023 F1 Grand Prix of 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 — Results & aftermath

Verstapen surges to record 16th win in Mexico City with spectacular race start; Hamilton overtakes Leclerc for P2 after Red Flag restart; luckless Perez out early after Lap 1 contact with Leclerc

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen made his typically aggressive opening lap moves stick and converted a Lap1, Turn 1 pass on both leading Ferraris into an eventual victory in Sunday’s Mexico City Grand Prix. Despite being out-qualified by the pole-sitting Charles Leclerc and P2 Carlos Sainz, Verstappen used his P3 grid spot to launch a ferocious, right down the middle attack between the two Prancing Horses, emerging as the race leader after the very first turn at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. His teammate Sergio Perez tried to manage the same trick along the outside of Leclerc but ran out of room, touching tires with the Monegasque’s mount as he tried to avoid being sandwiched by the twin Red Bulls, which sent his Perez’s car airborne and into a hard landing in the runoff area. The crowd of his countrymen, so excited all weekend long, watched in mounting despair as Perez first limped his car back to the pits and then retired a few laps later when the damage was deemed too great to continue. It was another shocking result for Perez, whose season has completely unraveled after a strong start, and at the most painful venue imaginable for the proud Mexican driver.

Verstappen’s pace advantage was such that he not only pulled out a solid lead over P2 Leclerc right from the get go but was also able to doff his first set of Medium Pirellis tires in favor of the Hards much earlier than most of his competition, coming in on Lap 19 of this 71-lap contest. While he emerged in P7, he easily passed the Mercedes of George Russell for P6 on Lap 22 and then the McLaren of Oscar Piastri for P5 a lap later. As Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton pitted his Silver Arrow on Lap 25 for his own set of Hards, Verstappen made another overtake on the overachieving AlphaTauri of Daniel Ricciardo to get up to P3. The reigning World Champion then methodically hunted down Carlos Sainz’s P2 Ferrari, getting by the Spaniard on Lap 29. Ferrari then concluded that they had extended their first stint long enough and brought first Sainz in on Lap 31 and then the race leading Leclerc a lap later to give Verstappen P1 once again.

On Lap 33 the orderly sequence of events was disrupted by a massive shunt into the barriers at Turn 8 by Haas’s Kevin Magnussen. While Magnussen was gratefully uninjured, the race was quickly Red Flagged to clean the debris from his destroyed car and repair the heavily deformed Tecpro barriers. After a 20-minute delay, the race resumed on Lap 36 with a standing start and Verstappen once again breezed away, rapidly gapping the trailing Leclerc. Hot on that P2 Ferrari’s tail, though, was now Hamilton, who had changed to fresh Mediums during the Red Flag and now had the early stint advantage over Lecerc and his Hards. By Lap 40, Hamilton had made up enough ground in methodical pursuit to make a forceful lunge down the start finish straight, going wide along the outside of the track and kicking up dirt but successfully pulling past Leclerc while steaming into Turn 1. With the remaining 30-odd laps being somewhat uneventful at the front, Hamilton was never able to truly challenge Verstappen, who cruised to his record-extending 16th victory of the season out of 19 races run by a whopping 13.875 seconds over his closest nemesis of years gone by. P2 was still a fine result for Hamilton after having started from back in P6, while teammate George Russell seemed to lack for raw pace against the other elites and had to settle for P6. Leclerc came home in third place, as once again the Ferrari could not sustain their one-lap qualifying pace over the long haul. Still, he survived a partially broken front wing after the first lap incident with Perez and was able to fend off teammate in the closing laps to keep his feet on the podium and relegate Sainz to P4.

Perhaps the best drive of the day was by McLaren’s Lando Norris, who started a lowly P17 after a messed up Saturday qualifying by both team and driver. But Norris was spectacular in optimizing a clever strategy and benefitted from a little luck and a lot of skill to finish all the way up in P5. Such was Norris’ pace that the team moved Piastri out of his way on Lap 56 so Norris could hunt down Daniel Ricciardo and Russell ahead and maximize his points on the day. This the young Briton did with aplomb, getting by the Aussie’s AlphaTauri on Lap 60 and then Russell’s Silver Arrow on Lap 67. That secured Norris a mighty fifth place result, with Piastri scoring decent points for McLaren’s Contractors’ aspirations in P8. Ricciardo also had a fine day to finish P7, scoring the first points of his rather injury and rust disrupted 2023 campaign. Rounding out the Top Ten, Alexander Albon also had an excellent drive to pull his Williams up from a P14 start after a poor qualifying effort to a P9 finish, while Esteban Ocon salvaged a point for Alpine in P10.

Top 10 finishers of the Mexico City GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 71 2:02:30.814 25
2 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 71 +13.875s 19
3 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 71 +23.124s 15
4 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 71 +27.154s 12
5 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 71 +33.266s 10
6 63 George Russell MERCEDES 71 +41.020s 8
7 3 Daniel Ricciardo ALPHATAURI HONDA RBPT 71 +41.570s 6
8 81 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES 71 +43.104s 4
9 23 Alexander Albon WILLIAMS MERCEDES 71 +48.573s 2
10 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 71 +62.879s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is but a week away as the three race weekends in a row culminated in Brazil for the São Paulo Grand Prix at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace, aka Interlagos. While Mercedes seem to be creeping closer to Red Beull’s phenomenal pace and Ferrari also look competitive anew, it’s hard not to bet on Verstappen coming out on top yet again in his amazing 2023 campaign. But, as they say, that’s why they run the race’s — and with only three of them left before the long, cold winter break I hope to see you then to savor the late season action and find out how it all shakes out!

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Italy — Qualifying results

Ferrari’s Sainz bests Verstappen & teammate Leclerc for coveted pole at Monza in front of delirious tifosi

Only a week out from a disappointing showing at the Dutch Grand Prix, team Ferrari was looking for redemption in front of their rabid fans, the tifosi, at their backyard circuit of the Autodromo Nazionale Monza during Saturday qualifying for Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix. Fast through all three practice sessions, the Scuderia maximized that impetus to take the fight to the usually supreme Red Bull of Max Verstappen at the famed Temple of Speed. Perhaps trimmed out ever so slightly more than the RB19, it was Carlos Sainz who eked out the very best fast lap of the day in Q3, earning his first pole in a year and the team’s third of the 2023 campaign by a razor thin 0.013 seconds over Verstappen. The Spanish veteran also bettered his teammate Charles Leclerc, who managed the third fastest time in Q3. While Sainz will start from the point and the SF-23 appears genuinely quick here at Monza, it remains to be seen if the Prancing Horses have the genuine race pace to go toe-to-toe with Verstappen, whose long run racing form has been nothing short of otherworldly this season. One thing’s for sure come race day: Verstappen will not give up his shot at a record breaking tenth win in a row without a fight.

Mercedes George Russell was the quickest of the rest with a time good enough for fourth on the grid. That was well ahead of his Silver Arrows teammate Lewis Hamilton, who has frankly struggled with his straight line speed all weekend long so far. The second Red Bull of Sergio Perez was also quite a distance away from team leader Verstappen in P5, nearly four-tenths down on the Dutchman’s P2 time. In contrast, Williams’ Alexander Albon continues to over-perform in what has been a breakout season for the young Thai-British driver. With the Williams quite quick & slippery on the straights, Albon hustled his mount all the way up to a P6 starting spot just a little off Perez’s pace. The two McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris struggled somewhat to put a solid lap together under the stresses of quali and were punished as a result, with Piastri only quick enough for P7 and Norris worse than Hamilton in P9. Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin rounded out the top ten on the day with a rather poky performance in P10.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Italian GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:21.965 1:20.991 1:20.294 20
2 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:21.573 1:20.937 1:20.307 21
3 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:21.788 1:20.977 1:20.361 21
4 63 George Russell MERCEDES 1:22.148 1:21.382 1:20.671 21
5 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:21.911 1:21.240 1:20.688 21
6 23 Alexander Albon WILLIAMS MERCEDES 1:21.661 1:21.272 1:20.760 21
7 81 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:22.106 1:21.527 1:20.785 24
8 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:21.977 1:21.369 1:20.820 21
9 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:21.995 1:21.581 1:20.979 23
10 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 1:22.043 1:21.543 1:21.417 19

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN beginning at 9AM Eastern here in the States. Hope to see you then to find out if Sainz and Ferrari’s qualifying pace was a one lap mirage or if he can truly hold off Verstappen to send the tifosi home in ecstasy!

2023 F1 Grand Prix of the Netherlands — Qualifying results

Verstappen returns from break on form, earns dominant pole in tricky conditions at Zandvoort; Norris P2, Russell P3 amidst damp-to-dry conditions, two Red Flags in Q3

After a month off for the traditional summer break, Formula 1 returned to action and the buildup to Sunday’s Dutch Grand Prix amidst the dunes at Zandvoort. But the time off added no rust to Max Verstappen’s sterling form this season and the Red Bull driver pulled out yet another pole during Saturday qualifying for his home race. With rain earlier in the day leading to a wet track that was slowly dried by the clearing & sunny conditions at this beachside circuit, the drivers were forced to contend with the always entertaining and fraught wet-to-dry scenario, where a very thin dry line would make it possible to run slick Pirellis during the final quali session. Though no one dared doff the Intermediates for the first two rounds of qualifying, the remaining ten contenders all ran the Softs for their final fast laps. But once again it was Verstappen who mastered the track and the tricky conditions the best, laying down a blazingly fast 1:10.567 lap on his final attempt. That put the Dutch master some six-tenths to the good of the very game McLaren of Lando Norris and the two will start side by side at the front of the grid for tomorrow’s race. It was Verstappen’s astonishing eighth pole out of thirteen race weekends so far in 2023.

With the fastest laps of the day being the final ones attempted due to the continually drying track, Mercedes George Russell maximized his last try to take an impressive P3. His teammate Lewis Hamilton was less fortunate when the Mercedes pit wall seemed to misjudge their strategy in the damp of Q2 and the seven-time champ was ignominiously bounced out at the end of that session. Hamilton will have to fight his way back from a lowly P13 start on a short, quick circuit that is mighty tough to pass on. Williams continued to show solid improvement, with the impressively maturing Alexander Albon quick all day en route to a final lap good enough for P4. Teammate Logan Sargeant had the high of making it into Q3 for the first time this year and then the immediate low of a heavy shunt after setting a decent time that brought his day to a premature end and resulted in a lengthy Red Flag period for barrier repair. Unable to improve any further, Seargant will have to settle for a season best P10 spot on the grid, assuming his car will be able to be fixed properly and doesn’t require a pit lane start due to all the damage.

Fernando Alonso was the sole Aston Martin to make the top 10 at P5 and Carlos Sainz was the lone Ferrari in P6 after teammate Charles Leclerc crashed and brought out the second Red Flag of Q3. Leclerc was relegated to a P9 start, again assuming his Prancing Horse doesn’t require more drastic repairs after taking a fairly brutal lateral wack to his left rear. Rounding out the Top 10 for tomorrow’s grid, the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez was a long way off his teammate’s pace in P7 and Oscar Piastri slid down to P8 in the second McLaren when the final times were tallied.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Dutch GP:

OS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:20.965 1:18.856 1:10.567 31
2 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:21.276 1:19.769 1:11.104 30
3 63 George Russell MERCEDES 1:21.345 1:19.620 1:11.294 32
4 23 Alexander Albon WILLIAMS MERCEDES 1:20.939 1:19.399 1:11.419 32
5 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 1:21.840 1:19.429 1:11.506 30
6 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:21.321 1:19.929 1:11.754 32
7 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:21.972 1:19.856 1:11.880 33
8 81 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:21.231 1:19.392 1:11.938 31
9 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:22.019 1:19.600 1:12.665 27
10 2 Logan Sargeant WILLIAMS MERCEDES 1:22.036 1:20.067 1:16.748 27

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN beginning at 9AM Eastern. Verstappen will be hunting his ninth win on the trot in front of the hordes of orange clad Dutch fans. Hope to see you then to find out if anybody else has anything for him!

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Great Britain — Results & aftermath

Verstappen takes sixth victory in a row at competitive British GP; Norris earns P2 honors with magnificent drive for greatly improved McLaren, teammate Piastri P4; Hamilton recovers with help from Safety Car to podium after P7 start

Max Verstappen and Red Bull continued their winning ways on Sunday at the British Grand Prix, as the Dutch ace notched his sixth consecutive victory, which also made it eleven on the trot for Formula 1’s most dominant team. However, the competition seemed to step up their collective game this weekend at Silverstone and, while never really being challenged for the win, Verstappen was held to a relatively modest margin of victory by his high standards of “only” about 3.8 seconds over the runner up. Even more so than yet another Verstappen win, that runner up was the story of the day because it was McLaren’s Lando Norris who took second place, converting his excellent qualifying effort into a hard earned, stressful but ultimately joyous P2. In fact, Norris even passed Verstappen at the beginning of the race after getting the better start from the ostensibly disadvantaged P2 side of the grid. While the young Englishman could only hold off the charging Red Bull until Lap 5, it still said the world about the progress that team McLaren have made within this season to haul their car up from the midpack doldrums and into genuine contention. The English fans roared their approval for the local team’s exploits on the day, which also included rookie Oscar Piastri overcoming an ill-timed Safety Car on Lap 33 of this 52-lap contest to take P4. While the timing of that SC and missing out on the cheap stop did cost the young Aussie a position from his starting grid spot, if anyone had asked him or team McLaren if they’d have been happy with a P4 as their secondary result on the day you can bet they all would have signed up for that.

The main beneficiary of that Safety Car, which immediately followed the virtual version when the stewards determined that the stopped Haas of Kevin Magnussen was going to require significant time to remove form the circuit, was Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton. With Piastri having already pitted under green flag conditions on Lap 29, Hamilton was able to dive to the pits along with Verstappen and Norris under the full Safety Car, which then slowed the field to such an extent that Hamilton was able to come out in front of Piastri in P3. It was quite the opportunistic recovery for the seven-time World Champion after a lackluster qualifying saw him starting the race in P7. But there always seems to be magic for Lewis at Silverstone, his favorite track, where he has won an astounding eight times in his career. And, for a while on this day, it almost looked as if Hamilton might vault past Norris and maybe try to take on Verstappen for the overall victory. Both Verstappen and Hamilton made the switch off of their opening Medium Pirelli tires onto the Softs, while both McLarens decided on the relative security of new Hards to finish out the race. While it was hearts in mouths stuff for McLaren wondering if they had made a strategic error when Hamilton was all over the back of Norris on those first few laps after the restart on Lap 39, Norris was able to fend off Hamilton’s best efforts on the stickier rubber until his own tires switched on and the pace advantage evaporated. Likewise, Hamilton’s teammate George Russell could not quite get around Piastri on his slightly older Mediums against Piastri’s equally old Hards, both of them having pitted earlier on Lap 28 and 29 respectively and therefore missing out on the cheaper stop. Russell’s stop was also about a second and a half slower, which proved crucial. So, while Piastri then lost out to Hamilton on the Safety Car pit sequence, he was still able to hold off Russell for the rest of the race, with George having to make do with P5 as the checkers flew.

Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez was forced into another recovery drive after getting knocked out in the first or second round of quali for the fifth consecutive time, an absolutely perplexing turn of events for a driver of his caliber. In the end, Perez was able to work his way up to a P6 finish, which certainly deserves some plaudits. But there is no doubt that the Mexican pilot has got to put an end to his inexplicable qualifying woes if he is going to be factor in the second half of the season. Fernando Alonso made the best of a bad situation with an Aston Martin that didn’t really suit the compromise-heavy Silverstone Circuit, the Spaniard driving calmly and competently to salvage P8. The team are hoping that some new upgrades and the much different nature of the Hungaroring will again make them more competitive two weeks hence. If Aston were disappointed with their run in Britain then Ferrari have to be appalled at their dismal day in Northamptonshire. The Prancing Horses were easy meat late in the race as both Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc suffered the ignominy of being passed not only by Perez but also the Williams of Alexander Albon and could only watch helplessly as the latter secured an excellent P8 result. That relegated Leclerc to P9 and Sainz to P10, a depressing setback after the Scuderia appeared to be making progress with a P2 for Leclerc and a P6 for Sainz at the last race in Austria a week ago. The fabled team from Maranello must be praying that the one-off was here at full size Silverstone and not an illusory over performance at the very short Red Bull Ring.

Top 10 finishers of the British GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 52 1:25:16.938 26
2 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 52 +3.798s 18
3 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 52 +6.783s 15
4 81 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES 52 +7.776s 12
5 63 George Russell MERCEDES 52 +11.206s 10
6 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 52 +12.882s 8
7 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 52 +17.193s 6
8 23 Alexander Albon WILLIAMS MERCEDES 52 +17.878s 4
9 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 52 +18.689s 2
10 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 52 +19.448s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in two week’s time: the Hungarian Grand Prix at the tricky Hungaroring. While it won’t be the traditional last race before the summer break this season, it should prove an intriguing event to discover if McLaren’s massive pace improvement can be sustained, if mighty Mercedes can punch back against those upstart efforts and whether Ferrari and Aston Martin are now going the wrong way. And, of course, Verstappen’s streak has got to end sometime, doesn’t it? And Perez can’t keep qualifying outside the top ten, can he? Hope to see you in a fortnight to find out all the answers!

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Austria — Qualifying results

Verstappen barely bests Leclerc to notch fourth consecutive pole as track limits penalties wreak havoc; Sainz backs up Ferrari teammate in P3 but Perez’s fast lap deleted in Q2

With another of Formula 1’s fairly gimmicky Sprint Races looming on Saturday, qualifying for Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix took place on Friday after only one Practice session. Perhaps that lack of track time showed, because nearly every driver in the field had laps deleted at some point throughout the three quali rounds here at the short and fast Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. That even included the peerless Max Verstappen, who still managed to settle in and set a lap good enough for pole despite having to be slightly more conservative than he would have wished. The Dutch master pipped the very game and hard charging Ferrari of Charles Leclerc by a razor thin 0.048 seconds. Carlos Sainz backed up his Scuderia stablemate in P3, perhaps providing a measure of optimism that the SF-23 might finally be finding the pace to challenge for wins again. But it has been race pace that has been Ferrari’s problem this season, not to mention race strategy, so it remains to be seen on Sunday if the fabled team from Maranello have genuinely conquered the issues holding back their long run performance.

Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez was the most prominent driver to lose his time due to track limits violations. The Mexican veteran came a cropper in Q2 when he had his only fast time of the session deleted with not enough time remaining to make amends. So, while Verstappen earned his fourth consecutive pole, Perez failed to reach Q3 for the fourth race weekend in a row. Starting from a lowly P15 come race day, Perez’s Round 4 win in Azerbaijan seems a century ago and his once optimistic championship hopes are holding on by a thread. McLaren’s Lando Norris was quick all day here in Spielberg at a track he loves and set the fourth fastest time in Q3, besting the P5 Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton. Similarly to Perez, Hamilton’s teammate George Russell also lost his best lap in Q2 for track limits infringements and will be relegated to starting from P11 on the grid. Lance Stroll out-qualified his Aston Martin teammate Fernando Alonso for the first time this year, while Haas’s Nico Hulkenberg in P8, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly in P9 and Alex Albon’s Williams in P10 all benefitted from keeping their cars between the white lines while other, perhaps faster drivers went a little too far over the edge for the stewards’ liking.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Austrian GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 24
2 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 26
3 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 25
4 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 23
5 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 25
6 18 Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 25
7 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 27
8 27 Nico Hulkenberg HAAS FERRARI 24
9 10 Pierre Gasly ALPINE RENAULT 21
10 23 Alexander Albon WILLIAMS MERCEDES 21

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

The Sprint Race is tomorrow but Sunday’s GP airs live on ESPN beginning at 9AM Eastern here in the States. Can Leclerc and Ferrari finally step up and challenge Verstappen for victory in Red Bull’s own back yard? I have my doubts but hope to se you then to find out how it all shakes out!