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2022 F1 Grand Prix of Azerbaijan — Qualifying results

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

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

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

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

Top 10 qualifiers for the Azerbaijan GP:

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

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

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

2022 F1 Grand Prix of Miami — Qualifying results

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

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

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

Top 10 qualifiers for the Miami GP:

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

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

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

2022 F1 Grand Prix of Emilia-Romagna — Results & aftermath

Red Bull rebound, romp to dominant Verstappen-Perez 1-2 at Imola; Leclerc throws away sure Ferrari podium with late spin gifting Norris P3

After reliability woes cost them dearly in two of the young season’s first three races, team Red Bull came to Imola full of determination to put those issues behind them and enable their drivers to succeed to their full potential this weekend. By the end of the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, aka Imola, on Sunday it was emphatically Mission Accomplished. After both cars failed to finish in Round 1 in Bahrain and their ace Max Verstappen also DNF’d in Round 3 in Australia due to mechanical issues, Verstappen’s car ran perfectly and he dominated this first Sprint weekend of the season. The Dutch master qualified P1 on Friday, fought back against Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc to win Saturday’s Sprint race and claim pole for the GP and then blistered the field for an easy win from the front on Sunday. Verstappen finished some 16.5-seconds ahead of his P2 teammate Sergio Perez, while also running the fastest lap of the race to earn the bonus point. So that made 26 points extracted from the race plus 8 for the Sprint win for a massive 34-point haul that enabled the flying Dutchman to vault back into the championship chase with his key rival this year, Leclerc. Ferrari and Leclerc also did their best to tighten things up through a series of unforced errors at the circuit named for their founder and his son, leading no doubt to brutal headlines in the Italian papers come Monday morning.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

The first embarrassment for the fabled Scuderia from Maranello came on Lap 1 of the contest when the Prancing Horse of Carlos Sainz and the McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo collided going into Tamburello side by side. While Ricciardo was able to crawl away from the scene and restart, Sainz was beached in the gravel for the second straight race, following up his Lap 1 DNF in Australia with a Lap 1 DNF in Italy, a stunning string of disappointments for the Spaniard. While the team showed their faith in Sainz by signing him to a new 2-year contract in the weeks between the two races, it’s clear that he has got to settle down and get some results for Ferrari if they are to have a fighting shot to beat out ultra quick Red Bull for the Constructor’s title. Frankly, these serious lapses from such an experienced driver are a head scratcher and Carlos had better find his confidence and poise in a hurry.

But that wasn’t the only misfortune to befall mighty Ferrari in front of their home fans, the always passionate and vocal tifosi. Continue reading →

2022 F1 Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia — Results & aftermath

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

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

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

2022 F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain — Results & aftermath

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

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

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

Continue reading →

2021 F1 Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi — Qualifying results

FINAL DUEL IN THE DESERT: Verstappen and Red Bull ace Hamilton and Mercedes for all important pole at Yas Marina; Norris pips P3 from Perez

With the 2021 Formula 1 season and Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championships down to the last race at the futuristic Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, Saturday’s qualifying took on added import and Red Bull and Max Verstappen got the better of their arch rival, Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton. With the two title aspirants entering the weekend in a dead heat on Drivers’ points and Verstappen only ahead by virtue of the race wins tiebreaker, the Red Bull braintrust pulled a clever maneuver to give their star contender the edge by deploying wingman Sergio Perez to give the Dutchman the draft at a crucial time in Q3. That enabled Verstappen to set a fast lap that Hamilton, running without a draft from his teammate, Valtteri Bottas, was unable to match. So Verstappen will line up from the pole and Hamilton in P2 for tomorrow’s race. Adding another complication to the mix, Verstappen will be starting on a set of Soft Pirellis after flat-spotting his Mediums in Q2 while Hamilton will be on the theoretically preferred Medium rubber to start. It should make it a very interesting strategic race and will likely find Hamilton hunting down Verstappen on the faster Soft tires as the season reaches its fascinating climax.

Behind that elite top two, Lando Norris managed to wrest away P3 on the grid from Perez with a brilliant final hot lap, relegating the Mexican veteran to P4. But that was still better than what Bottas could accomplish, as the Finn could do no better than the sixth fastest lap in his final qualifying attempt with Mercedes. They sandwiched Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, who bettered his teammate Charles Leclerc, P5 to P7. Yuki Tsunoda was the only AlphaTauri to get into Q3 and qualified P8, while Alpine’s Esteban Ocon set the ninth fastest time and the second McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo slotted in at P10.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Abu Dhabi GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:23.322 1:22.800 1:22.109 20
2 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:22.845 1:23.145 1:22.480 19
3 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:23.553 1:23.256 1:22.931 20
4 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:23.350 1:23.135 1:22.947 24
5 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:23.624 1:23.174 1:22.992 22
6 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:23.117 1:23.246 1:23.036 20
7 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:23.467 1:23.202 1:23.122 23
8 22 Yuki Tsunoda ALPHATAURI HONDA 1:23.428 1:23.404 1:23.220 22
9 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 1:23.764 1:23.420 1:23.389 20
10 3 Daniel Ricciardo MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:23.829 1:23.448 1:23.409 19

Complete qualifying results available via Formula.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN2 beginning at 8AM Eastern here in the States. With the Drivers’ Championship coming down to this final race it should be absolutely nail-biting stuff. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2021 F1 Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia — Qualifying results

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

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

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

Top 10 qualifiers for the Saudi Arabian GP:

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

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

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

2021 F1 Grand Prix of Qatar — Qualifying results

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

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

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

2021 F1 Grand Prix of Mexico City — Qualifying results

Bottas seizes pole in Mexico, Hamilton P2 for Mercedes front row lockout; Verstappen P3 as Silver Arrows’ pace surprises Red Bull

Despite looking faster than their key rivals during all the practices and the early qualifying rounds for tomorrow’s Mexico City Grand Prix, Red Bull was bested by their nemesis Mercedes when it mattered most during Saturday qualifying. Valtteri Bottas, who has ironically driven better than ever since being told by the team that his serviced would no longer be required in 2022, put his Silver Arrow on pole position in the thin and very warm air of the high-altitude Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. Bottas was the only man to set a sub-sixteen second lap on the day, besting his more heralded teammate Lewis Hamilton by a fairly sizable .145-seconds. Better still for the Mercedes factory team, they locked out the front row and relegated the formidable Red Bull of Max Verstappen to P3. The Dutch points leader was not helped when he was forced to lift on his final effort due to a contretemps just up the road between his teammate Sergio Perez and the AlphaTauri of rookie Yuki Tsunoda as time expired in Q3. The hometown hero Perez’s lap, and his attempt to become the first Mexican to claim pole at his home GP, was completely ruined but his earlier fast lap was still good enough for P4, where he will be in the best possible position to help Verstappen get back on terms with the fleet Mercedes duo in general and his arch-rival Hamilton in particular.

Behind that fast four, the second AlphaTauri of Pierre Gasly was mighty impressive and qualified P5, while teammate Tsunoda had to settle for P9 after his off that balked Perez’s final charge. Carlos Sainz headed his Ferrari stablemate Charles Leclerc P6 to P8 and McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo did the same to his teammate Lando Norris, P7 to P10.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Mexico City GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 77 Valtteri Bottas MERCEDES 1:16.727 1:16.864 1:15.875 23
2 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:17.207 1:16.474 1:16.020 22
3 33 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:16.788 1:16.483 1:16.225 18
4 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA 1:17.003 1:17.055 1:16.342 18
5 10 Pierre Gasly ALPHATAURI HONDA 1:16.908 1:16.955 1:16.456 22
6 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:17.517 1:17.248 1:16.761 23
7 3 Daniel Ricciardo MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:17.719 1:17.092 1:16.763 17
8 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:16.748 1:17.034 1:16.837 22
9 22 Yuki Tsunoda ALPHATAURI HONDA 1:17.330 1:16.701 1:17.158 19
10 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:17.569 1:17.473 1:36.830 19

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

 Tomorrow’s race airs live beginning at 2PM Eastern on ABC here in the States. With only five races to go in 2021 and Verstappen’s lead over Hamilton a thin twelve points, maximizing performance and keeping it clean in Mexico City will be key for the two top title contenders. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2021 F1 Grand Prix of the United States — Results & aftermath

Verstappen victorious over Hamilton in tense Texas showdown; Perez P3 for surging Red Bull

Sunday’s United States Grand Prix proved an exceptionally tense showdown between this year’s top two championship contenders, Red Bull’s sublime Max Verstappen and the seven-time and current World Champ. Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton. Running a two man race of their own far ahead of the rest of the field, Verstappen prevailed to take the win at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas in a welcome return to the USA after a year’s absence due to the COVID pandemic. With the grandstands and grounds of this beautiful, purpose built circuit completely packed with ecstatic fans, Verstappen was able to withstand Hamilton’s best efforts in the waning moments of this 56-lap contest, keeping enough life in his older Pirelli tires to hold off the hard charging Englishman. The Dutch phenom not only claimed victory in the Texas heat but also increased his lead in the Drivers’ Championship to twelve points with just five rounds remaining in the 2021 season. If the supremely talented Verstappen should go on to win his first F1 title, his masterfully poised and consistent effort in America could well be looked back on as the crucial turning point.

With Verstappen starting from pole and Hamilton lining up in P2 on the grid, and both on the Medium Pirelli tires they set their fastest lap in Q2 on as per the rules, Hamilton made a lovely and forceful overtaking maneuver on the opening Lap to take the lead. But he could not pull away from Verstappen in the ensuing laps and It quickly became evident that the majority of teams would be running a two-stop strategy and going to th Continue reading →