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2024 F1 Grand Prix of Qatar — Results & aftermath

Verstappen cruises to victory while chaos envelopes rest of field; Leclerc earns P2 ahead of Piastri as Ferrari close the gap to McLaren

A week after clinching his fourth consecutive Drivers’ title in Las Vegas, Red Bull’s peerless Max Verstappen showed no signs of resting on his laurels at Sunday’s Qatar Grand Prix. Peeved about being penalized one grid spot for an incident with Mercedes’ George Russell during Saturday qualifying, Verstappen launched off the line like a man possessed when the lights went out to start the race. He quickly made short work of the pole-sitting Russell, exacting his desert vengeance swiftly while steaming into Turn 1. Russell also lost a position to McLaren’s Lando Norris, dropping the lead Silver Arrow down to P3 with less than a third of lap yet run. Meanwhile, there was carnage at the back of the pack, with Haas’s Nico Hulkenberg losing traction and ping-ponging off Esteban Ocon’s Alpine and rookie Franco Colapinto’s Williams. While Hulkenberg was able to drive away from the accident from the large runoff area at the apex of Turn 1 with only a puncture, Ocon and Colapinto were not as fortunate and a Safety Car was deployed to retrieve both stricken cars.

It was a quick clean up and the race restarted towards the end of Lap 4, Verstappen quickly pulling a decent gap over the pursuing P2 McLaren of Norris. Once again, there was contact towards the rear, with the RBs of Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson and the Sauber of Valtteri Bottas all making contact with one another but all three also able to continue. Lawson was eventually penalized 10-seconds for causing that collision and then the stewards also busted Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton for jumping the start, earning the seven-time champ a 5-second penalty. With all of the top contenders running slightly longer on their starting sets of Medium Pirelli tires due to that early Safety Car period, Russell became the first of the top ten to pit for fresh rubber on Lap 24, perhaps feeling the heat from the second McLaren of Oscar Piastri behind him and angling for an undercut advantage. But that gambit came to less than nothing when the Silver Arrows mechanics uncharacteristically botched the stop with a sticky rear right tire, leaving Russell helplessly stationary for an excruciating 7-seconds. When Russell rejoined on his new set of Hard compound tires, he found himself down in P11, behind several ostensibly slower cars and with a lot of work to do to pull himself back into the serious points.

The race began to get downright bizarre on Lap 30 of the 57-Lap contest from Losail International Circuit when a wing mirror from Alexander Albon’s Williams fell off and lay stationary just before the end of the start-finish straight. While double yellow flags were deployed in that sector, the race director inexplicably did not deploy a Safety Car to retrieve the errant mirror and lap after lap the cars had to try and tiptoe around that dangerous bit of debris. On Lap 33, however, Bottas ran over it, sending shards of glass and carbon fiber across the track surface. On Lap 34, Hamilton and the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz both sustained punctured tires as a result of running over that debris. On Lap 35, the Safety Car was finally deployed to clean up the jagged mess but it was far too late for those already disadvantaged by it. To make matters worse, Norris had failed to lift for the double yellows in that area while in hot pursuit of Verstappen a little earlier. The Dutchman immediately took notice and so too did the stewards, who soon announced they were investigating the McLaren man’s potential infraction.

When things had been cleaned up and the race restarted on Lap 39, it was once again Verstappen and Norris battling it out at the front, the Englishman getting much closer this time and running side by side with the Red Bull before backing out of the effort and living to fight another day, But once again there was trouble at the back, as the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez spun violently and ended up unable to continue, as did Hulkenberg, who got beached in one of the gravel traps. It was another terrible day for Perez, who seems more than likely to lose his Red Bull seat due to his horrid drop in form in the second half of the season, which has cost the team dearly in their hopes of repeating as Constructors’ champs. When the race restarted once more on Lap 42, Verstappen swanned away this time, while Norris found himself under attack by Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari. While Norris was able to hold the Prancing Horse off to maintain second place, on Lap 45 the hammer dropped and Norris was assessed a race altering 10-second stop/go penalty, which relegated him to last of the runners in P15 when he emerged from the pits. Hamilton also received a second penalty, this time a drive through for speeding in the pits earlier, adding insult to injury for the proud Englishman on a day where nothing went right for him and he would score no points.

As for Norris, he desperately tried to get back into the points, his indiscretion costing the McLaren team in their fight against Ferrari for the all-important Constructors’ Championship. Leclerc was now firmly ensconced in P2 and ended up 6-seconds behind  the victorious Verstappen when the checkered flag flew, making it a very good day for the Scuderia and the Monegasque. Russell had seemingly recovered from his disastrous pit stop when he crossed the line in P3 but was assessed a 5-second time penalty for dropping back too far from the Safety Car during its final deployment. That promoted Piastri to the podium in P3, Russell being relegated to P4 on a frustrating day for the Briton. Alpine’s Pierre Gasly had a superb drive to finish a very valuable P5, making the most of the rash of retirements and woes to other points contenders. Carlos Sainz further helped close Ferrari’s gap to McLaren to an eminently manageable 21-point deficit, while Norris clawed his back in the points with a late race pass on Bottas for P10 and also set the fastest lap en route to make it a pair on a day where much more seemed to be on the cards for him. Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso gave a vintage effort to finish an impressive P7 in a car that was nowhere on the straights; Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu scored his and the team’s first points of the year with an excellent drive to finish P8; and the  lone surviving Haas of Kevin Magnussen also took valuable points in P9

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

1:31:05.323

25

2

16

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

57

+6.031s

18

3

81

Oscar Piastri

McLaren Mercedes

57

+6.819s

15

4

63

George Russell

Mercedes

57

+14.104s

12

5

10

Pierre Gasly

Alpine Renault

57

+16.782s

10

6

55

Carlos Sainz

Ferrari

57

+17.476s

8

7

14

Fernando Alonso

Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes

57

+19.867s

6

8

24

Zhou Guanyu

Kick Sauber Ferrari

57

+25.360s

4

9

20

Kevin Magnussen

Haas Ferrari

57

+32.177s

2

10

4

Lando Norris

McLaren Mercedes

57

+35.762s

2

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The 2024 season F1 finale is but a week away, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix from the visually stunning Yas Marina Circuit. Hope to see you then for yet more fireworks before we draw the curtains on what has been an enthralling season of motor racing at the sport’s highest level!

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 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 Australia — Results & aftermath

Verstappen prevails is chaotic, incident-filled Aussie GP; Hamilton runs to a clean P2, Alonso survives late-race carnage & rulings for P3

The only predictable thing in Sunday’s absolutely bonkers Australian Grand Prix at the tricky Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne was Red Bull’s Max Verstappen taking victory. The rest of the race was pure chaos that featured a record three Red Flag periods for debris clean up, followed by nail-biting two standing restarts from the grid, and, not coincidentally, a whopping eight retirements. With the race already having been effected by the first Red Flag on Lap 9 after Williams’s Alexander Albon lost control and crashed out at Turn 7, spewing gravel all over the track that necessitated a lengthy cleanup, it seemed that the results would come down simply to long run tire management by the top 3 of Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso. But right after Verstappen seemed to show a hint of vulnerability on Lap 54 of this 58-lap contest by running off track and through the grass after locking up on his aging Hard Pirellis, the real drama began in earnest. On that same lap, Haas’s Kevin Magnussen misjudged his exit coming out of Turn 2 and bashed his rear right into the concrete barrier. That knocked the rubber off the rim as well as shattering Magnussen’s suspension and a second Red Flag was thrown on Lap 55 to clean up the debris field & haul away the stricken Haas, as well as preserve a few precious final racing laps and not end under yellow. The stewards then made the momentous decision to restart the race from the grid once again, rather than a more conventional rolling start behind the Safety Car, thereby turning the Down Under GP into a 2-lap shootout.

This backfired rather spectacularly when the cars sped off in anger again, as first the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz got into Alonso’s Aston Martin, spinning his fellow Spaniard around amidst a pack of snarling F1 cars. Directly or indirectly, that had the knock-on effect of forcing the Alpine of Pierre Gasly across the road and into the front left tire of his teammate Esteban Ocon, wrecking both of their cars in the process and robbing the team of a certain double-points finish. As a result of all that mayhem, another Red Flag was thrown with no chance of any more competitive laps being left to run. Now the debate within the FIA race directors and rules experts was on how to classify the field for the final ceremonial restart. After another long delay, it was decided that the order would be determined by the positions upon the prior restart, as the field had not even completed one sector before the last Red Flag had come out. That was great news for Alonso and Aston teammate Lance Stroll, the latter having also lost a ton of spots outbreaking himself amidst the mayhem. And while it seemed to be good news for the lone surviving Ferrari of Carlos Sainz in P4, that joy was extremely short lived when the stewards handed down a 5-second penalty to Sainz for the earlier contact with Alonso. With the twelve cars surviving to take the checkered flag all bunched together behind the Safety Car and no racing on the final lap, that saw the disconsolate Sainz dropped out of the points to dead last of the runners in P12. It made for a miserable, pointless day for the fabled Scuderia, which also suffered the ignominy of seeing their other pilot, Charles Leclerc, crash out and beach himself on the very first lap while  going into Turn 1 after contact with Stroll. To say Ferrari and their drivers are seriously in trouble in their championship pursuits after just three rounds would be an understatement.

Possibly lost in all that drama and incident was Verstappen’s first win in Australia and second of the season. And while it didn’t look as if Hamilton or Alonso really had anything for the Dutch points leader, particularly in the face of the Red Bull’s seemingly invincible advantage while using DRS, it was still an excellent race for both veterans, who joined Verstappen on the podium to make it three World Champions taking home trophies when the GP finally ended. Hamilton withstood Alonso’s best efforts and kept it clean to maintain a solid P2, even briefly taking the lead from Verstappen early in the race. That gives some hope and momentum to the Silver Arrows in their quest to creep closer to the imperious Red Bulls. It was also doubly important that Hamilton scored big points on the day because teammate George Russell was forced to retire on Lap 18 when something in his engine caught on fire. For Alonso, who looked like he had been punted out of the points by Sainz, it was another sweet day on what is turning out to be a 2023 renaissance. With his P3 restored after the collision with Sainz and teammate Stroll promoted back up to P4 after Sainz’s penalty, it was also a banner day for Aston Martin, which have made themselves a genuine fourth powerhouse team in F1. Spare a kind word for Sergio Perez, as well. The second Red Bull had to start from the pits after a disastrous qualifying and some engine tweaks while in parc fermé. But the talented Mexican, who excels at driving through the field, patiently worked his way up to P7 at the time of the penultimate Red Flag. And, while he went dirt tracking through the mayhem on that fateful final proper restart, losing several spots in the process, between the ruling on the actual race positions reverting to prior to that start, the double DNF of the Alpines and the penalty to Sainz, that pulled Checo all the way up to a very respectable and hard-earned P5.

If Alpine had a disaster with their late race shunt between teammates and subsequent double DNF, team McLaren finally caught a break after a dismal zero-points start to this year’s campaign. Lando Norris was able to finish in P6 and rookie teammate & Melbourne native Oscar Piastri got a fairy tale P8 in his literal hometown Grand Prix.  Alfa Romero’s Zho Guanyu and AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda also capitalized on the carnage to come home safely in P9 and P10 respectively.

Top 10 finishers of the Australian GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 58 2:32:38.371 25
2 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 58 +0.179s 18
3 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 58 +0.769s 15
4 18 Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 58 +3.082s 12
5 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 58 +3.320s 11
6 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 58 +3.701s 8
7 27 Nico Hulkenberg HAAS FERRARI 58 +4.939s 6
8 81 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES 58 +5.382s 4
9 24 Zhou Guanyu ALFA ROMEO FERRARI 58 +5.713s 2
10 22 Yuki Tsunoda ALPHATAURI HONDA RBPT 58 +6.052s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

Somewhat suitably after this epic, bizarre and frankly exhausting contest in Australia, the next race is in three weeks time — the equally unpredictable Azerbaijan Grand Prix on the perilous streets if Baku. So rest up and I’ll hope to see you then for what should be even more crazy F1 action!

2022 F1 Grand Prix of Italy — Results & aftermath

Red Bull’s Verstappen recovers from P7 start to take victory at Safety Car-shortened Italian GP; Ferrari’s Leclerc P2, Mercedes’ Russell P3

Red Bull’s peerless Max Verstappen continued his relentless march to a second consecutive World Championship on Sunday, recovering from a penalty-influenced P7 start on the grid to surge to victory at the Italian Grand Prix, relegating the pole-sitting Ferrari of Charles Leclerc to runner-up status in the process. In somewhat anticlimactic fashion, the tifosi at the jam-packed Autodromo Nazionale Monza were denied a potential late race shootout when the McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo came to a stop between the Lesmo curves on Lap 47 of this 53-lap contest. Hoping for a potential Red Flag to compress Verstappen’s large lead over  Leclerc, the race officials instead allowed the race to peter out behind the Safety Car in non-competitive fashion, despite the fact that extracting the McLaren its parking place required the use of a crane on the track while the cars were circulating behind the SC Nevertheless, Verstappen was clearly the class of the field on this day, as he has been for the majority of the season, and there was little reason to believe that Leclerc could have matched the Red Bull’s pace in a three or four-lap shootout. For Verstappen, it was his first career victory at Monza but his fifth win in a row and astonishing eleventh victory in the 16 rounds of the F1 season so far. Now with a seemingly unassailable 116-point lead over Leclerc in the Drivers’ standings it looks like all but a formality that the Dutch master will wear his second Formula 1 crown when the twenty-second and final round is run at Abu Dhabi in late November.

While Ferrari tried to give Leclerc every strategic advantage, pitting the Monegasque early and cheaply during a brief Virtual Safety Car on L13 to try and gain time on Verstappen in the pits, the on-track pace of the Red Bull was simply too much for the Prancing Horses to handle. Before that final Safety Car, Verstappen’s advantage to Leclerc was some eighteen seconds with only the six laps remaining, an impossible deficit for the P2 Ferrari to overcome under green flag conditions. The second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz did well to haul himself up to a P4 finish after being forced to start from P18 due to engine component penalties, a major issue for not only Verstappen and Sainz but many contenders throughout the field. Mercedes’ George Russell was able to better Sainz for the last spot on the podium in P3 despite running a long stint on the rather poorly performing Hard tires, while Lewis Hamilton drove an outstanding race to recover from a penalty-induced P19 start to a solid P5 finish. Hamilton ran an exceptionally long 34-lap first stint on Medium Pirellis before switching to the faster Soft tires and then carved his way through the midfield and back up to that impressive P5.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

The second Red Bull of Sergio Perez started P13 and finished P6, although he might have done better had the team not been concerned about possible tire failure and called the Mexican in for a late change on Lap 43. Still, Perez was able to nick the point for fastest lap of the race due to that fast and fresh rubber. With Riccardo out after looking like scoring good points, the sole remaining McLaren of Lando Norris salvaged P7 for the team on a day where their closest rivals in the Constructors’ standings, Alpine, scored zero points. AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly had a positive P8 finish in what has been a nightmare season for the team that has the talented young Frenchman eyeing a move to the more competitive Alpine team for next season. Rookie Nyck De Vries not only made his F1 debut in the Williams, subbing on short notice for the ailing Alexander Albon who was stricken with appendicitis overnight on Saturday, but the young Dutch Mercedes reserve driver scored points in his first F1 GP by coming home in P9. He showed enough talent and poise to warrant another race start sometime soon and skillfully kept the Alfa Romeo of Zho Guanyu behind him and relegating the Chinese rookie to P10.

Top 10 finishers of the Italian GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING RBPT 53 1:20:27.511 25
2 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 53 +2.446s 18
3 63 George Russell MERCEDES 53 +3.405s 15
4 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 53 +5.061s 12
5 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 53 +5.380s 10
6 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING RBPT 53 +6.091s 9
7 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 53 +6.207s 6
8 10 Pierre Gasly ALPHATAURI RBPT 53 +6.396s 4
9 45 Nyck De Vries WILLIAMS MERCEDES 53 +7.122s 2
10 24 Zhou Guanyu ALFA ROMEO FERRARI 53 +7.910s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

After a grueling stretch of three races in a row coming out of the summer break, the next tilt is in three weeks’ time — the return of the dazzling nocturnal Singapore Grand Prix street race after a two-year Covid-induced absence. While nobody seems able to stop Verstappen these days, the tricky and ultra-tight Marina Bay Street Circuit always throws up it’s fair share of surprises. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2022 F1 Grand Prix of Italy — Qualifying results

Pole for Ferrari & Leclerc at Monza, rest of grid scrambled due to raft of engine & parts penalties for multiple drivers

We’re now at the point of the Formula 1 season where qualifying pace gets negated by the necessity of changing engine and transmission components resulting in grid penalties for the drivers and teams who have burned through allowable parts. This silly system was at its most disruptive after Saturday’s qualifying for tomorrow’s Italian Grand Prix, which is Round 16 of the championship. While Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc delighted the scarlet-clad tifosi in the stands by hooking up a perfect final lap to claim pole for the GP at super fast Monza, he will be one of the very few competitors starting in the position in which they actually qualified. While the provisional grid for the top ten is included below, as far as true pace it was Red Bull’s Max Verstappen who was second quickest, coming home over a tenth ahead of the other Ferrari of Carlos Sainz. While Verstappen was demoted down to P7 on the grid for his own power unit penalties, Sainz will have to start from way back in P18 due to the magnitude of changes made to his engine and gearbox. Likewise, the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez was demoted from P4 to P13. Mercedes Lewis Hamilton out-qualified his teammate George Russell but, while Russell gets elevated to P2 for tomorrow’s start as a beneficiary of not taking any engine component penalties, the seven-time Champion is relegated to the penultimate place on the grid, P19. For all the out of place runners, strategy will be key come the race, so look for teams so effected to be aggressive with either early stops for Hard Pirellis or starting on Hards and running them as long as possible to try to eliminate one pit stop during the Grand Prix.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Italian GP via Formula1.com:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:21.280 1:21.208 1:20.161 14
2 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING RBPT 1:20.922 1:21.265 1:20.306 16
3 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:21.348 1:20.878 1:20.429 13
4 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING RBPT 1:21.495 1:21.358 1:21.206 15
5 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:22.048 1:21.708 1:21.524 17
6 63 George Russell MERCEDES 1:21.785 1:21.747 1:21.542 17
7 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:22.130 1:21.831 1:21.584 19
8 3 Daniel Ricciardo MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:22.139 1:21.855 1:21.925 20
9 10 Pierre Gasly ALPHATAURI RBPT 1:22.010 1:22.062 1:22.648 18
10 14 Fernando Alonso ALPINE RENAULT 1:22.089 1:21.861 17

Provisional grid after penalties are factored in via Autosport.com:

Cla Driver Chassis Engine Time Gap
1 Monaco Charles Leclerc Ferrari Ferrari 1’20.161
2 United Kingdom George Russell Mercedes Mercedes 1’21.542 1.381
3 United Kingdom Lando Norris McLaren Mercedes 1’21.584 1.423
4 Australia Daniel Ricciardo McLaren Mercedes 1’21.925 1.764
5 France Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri Red Bull 1’22.648 2.487
6 Spain Fernando Alonso Alpine Renault
7 Netherlands Max Verstappen Red Bull Red Bull 1’20.306 0.145
8 Netherlands Nyck de Vries Williams Mercedes 1’22.471 2.310
9 China Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo Ferrari 1’22.577 2.416
10 Canada Nicholas Latifi Williams Mercedes 1’22.587 2.426
11 Germany Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin Mercedes 1’22.636 2.475
12 Canada Lance Stroll Aston Martin Mercedes 1’22.748 2.587
13 Mexico Sergio Perez Red Bull Red Bull 1’21.206 1.045
14 France Esteban Ocon Alpine Renault 1’22.130 1.969
15 Finland Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo Ferrari 1’22.235 2.074
16 Denmark Kevin Magnussen Haas Ferrari 1’22.908 2.747
17 Germany Mick Schumacher Haas Ferrari 1’23.005 2.844
18 Spain Carlos Sainz Ferrari Ferrari 1’20.429 0.268
19 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton Mercedes Mercedes 1’21.524 1.363
20 Japan Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri Red Bull

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN2 beginning at 9AM Eastern here in the States. With so many drivers once again out of position and determined to speed to the front, it should be a wild and wooly affair — hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2022 F1 Grand Prix of Britain — Results & aftermath

Superb Sainz defies team orders to earn maiden F1 win in incident-packed British GP; Perez storms back to P2 as Verstappen falters to P7; Hamilton bests Leclerc for final podium spot in wild Silverstone action

In a race that had to be seen to be believed, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz emerged form the chaos and unpredictability of Sunday’s British Grand Prix with his first Formula 1 victory. The ostensible number two man at the Scuderia defied a late post-Safety Car strategy call by the Ferrari pit wall that would have had the Spaniard act as a blocker to his teammate Charles Leclerc. Instead, having come in for fresh Pirelli Soft tires under the full course yellow on Lap 39 of this 52-lap contest at the venerable Silverstone Circuit, and knowing that Leclerc had stayed out for some inexplicable reason on his old, well-worn Hard tires, Sainz vetoed that plan and quickly made short work of his stablemate to recapture and keep the lead of a race from which he started on pole.

By the time Sainz claimed that vital first F1 win, the start seemed like a million years ago. On the opening lap on a reasonably clear and sunny day at Silverstone, there was a horror shunt between Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyou, Mercedes’ George Russell and the AlphaTauri of Pierre Gasly. With numerous drivers bogging down at the start due to many closing to do their first stint on the west grip Hard Pirellis, that led to a big shuffle in the field between the quicker cars on softer rubber and the slower runners. Gasly thought he saw an opening between Russell and Guanyu and made for it. But the door quickly closed when Russell jinked to the left, causing the front of the AlphaTauri to strike both the flanking cars rear wheels. That sent Russell into a spin but the rookie Guanyu was upended and flew into a scary barrel roll at high speed across the gravel trap, eventually hitting the catch fence with some force before coming to rest in the space between the tire barrier and the actual concrete wall behind. Wedged in as he was, the Alfa Romeo rookie remained trapped in his car for some time as the medical teams and marshals worked the problem, with Russell sprinting over to see if he could lend a hand. After what seemed like an eternity, the young Chinese driver was successfully extracted and put in an ambulance to be taken to the on site care center for further evaluation. Thankfully, it turned out that Guanyu was not seriously injured. But he, Russell and the Williams’ of Alex Albon, who was also peripherally involved in the mayhem and speared sharply into the pit straight wall, were all out of the race before the first corner had been successfully navigated. Gasly also sustained damage that would eventually end his race on Lap 28. Additionally, Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel, Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, and the second AlphaTauri of Yuki Tsunoda all sustained some degree of damage in that midfield melee.

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

Understandably, the clean up from the resultant debris field and the several stranded cars, as well as Guanyu’s extraction, required an extensive Red Flag period of about 45 minutes. Lost in all that drama was the fact that Red Bull’s Max Verstappen had overtaken the pole-sitting Sainz rather easily heading into that eventful Turn 1. However, as the race was stopped before even the first sector could be completed and timed, everyone went back to their original grid positions when the contest was finally ready to restart, officially on lap 3 after a second formation lap behind the Safety Car. The second time proved the charm for Sainz, as he held off Verstappen’s deja vu challenge. Continue reading →

2022 F1 Grand Prix of Britain — Qualifying results

Sainz nabs pole away from Verstappen at rainy Silverstone with superb final flying lap; Leclerc settles for P3 after late spin

Ferrari’s nominal number two, Carlos Sainz, prevailed against more heralded competitors to earn pole amidst very tricky wet and rainy conditions during Saturday’s qualifying for the British Grand Prix. With a fine last lap in Q3, the final qualifying round, Sainz bested the previous fast time of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and, when Verstappen was unable to respond on his last try, the Spanish veteran had earned his first ever pole in Formula 1. After 151 career entries, Sainz grabbing that maiden pole was a popular result with everyone in the paddock not named Verstappen, who was annoyed that he could not hook up his final try and was undone by a poor middle sector. But the Dutch points leader will still line up alongside Sainz on the front row in P2. And at the moment there is no rain forecast for tomorrow’s race so, theoretically, the drivers can put their wet weather tires away and fight it out on slicks. Then again, it is still England in the summertime, so don’t stow your Wellies and brelliies quite yet.

Sainz’s Scuderia stablemate, Charles Leclerc, was in the mix for pole, as well, right up until the moment he spun on his final Q3 attempt. The Monegasque will line up in P3 on the grid, right across from Verstappen’s teammate, Sergio Perez, who was able to haul himself up to P4 with a good late effort. Mercedes ace Lewis Hamilton showed some of his old brilliance at one of his favorite circuits, willing himself to P5 in front of the absolutely soaked Silverstone faithful, while young George Russell could only manage P8 in the second Silver Arrow. McLaren’s Lando Norris was impressive in setting the sixth fastest lap on this sodden day, especially when compared to his more senior teammate, Daniel Ricciardo, who qualified a woeful P14. Alpine’s Fernando Alonso qualified P8,  Alfa Romeo’s rookie Zhou Guanyu continued to show improvement in P9 and Nicholas Latifi had another fine run in a rainy quali to get his Williams into Q3 and earn P10 on the grid.

Top 10 qualifiers for the British GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:40.190 1:41.602 1:40.983 26
2 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING RBPT 1:39.129 1:40.655 1:41.055 24
3 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:39.846 1:41.247 1:41.298 26
4 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING RBPT 1:40.521 1:42.513 1:41.616 26
5 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:40.428 1:41.062 1:41.995 23
6 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:41.515 1:41.821 1:42.084 26
7 14 Fernando Alonso ALPINE RENAULT 1:41.598 1:42.209 1:42.116 23
8 63 George Russell MERCEDES 1:40.028 1:41.725 1:42.161 23
9 24 Zhou Guanyu ALFA ROMEO FERRARI 1:40.791 1:42.640 1:42.719 28
10 6 Nicholas Latifi WILLIAMS MERCEDES 1:41.998 1:43.273 2:03.095 24

Complete qualifying results amiable via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live beginning at 10AM Eastern on ESPN2 here in the States. Can Sainz follow up his maiden pole with his first win? Or will a miffed Max strike back against the Ferrari threat? Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2022 F1 Grand Prix of Canada — Results & aftermath

Verstappen holds off dogged Sainz to take victory in Canada; Hamilton finishes a strong P3, Russell P4 on good day for Mercedes; Leclerc salvages P5 after starting last

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen survived a late Safety Car that allowed Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz to get back up to the Dutchman’s gearbox and hound him for the lead over the final laps to earn his first victory at the Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday. Under sunny & clear skies following Saturday’s rain-effected Qualifying, Verstappen saw his comfortable lead erased when Yuki Tsunoda inexplicably binned his AlphaTauri coming out of the pits on cold tires. With the Safety Car deployed almost immediately to retrieve the disconsolate Tsunoda’s mount, Sainz took the opportunity to dive into the pits for a cheap stop time-wise under yellow and a set of fresh Pirelli rubber, which also gave the Spaniard 6-lap younger tires compared to the race-leading Red Bull. Sainz was absolutely primed and ready to get past Verstappen once the Safety Car withdrew at the end of Lap 54 and racing got back under way. As Verstappen restarted the proceedings coming out of the last chicane, turned close to the Wall of Champions and steamed down the start/finish straight, Sainz didn’t let Max gain an inch on him, sticking to the Red Bull like glue. But even with a full 15 laps remaining and Sainz hounding him the rest of the race, Verstappen had the pace and skill to hold off the hard charging Prancing Horse filling his mirrors. Such is the excellence of this year’s Red Bull and its championship leading number one driver that, despite the Ferrari having the advantage of DRS for so many laps, it was Verstappen who took the checkered flag and his first victory at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. It was also Max’s impressive fifth win in the last six contests, which is some serious mo in his title hunt. For Sainz, it was a valiant effort in a season full of a lot of errors and he even set the race’s fastest lap while in pursuit. But he’ll have to be satisfied with another P2 and the elusive quest for his first-ever F1 win will have to wait until at least the next round at Silverstone in a fortnight.

For as bad as Mercedes looked all weekend long, the Silver Arrows had a remarkably good race. While they didn’t really have the pace to challenge the leading Red Bull and Ferrari on even terms, Lewis Hamilton finally got some breaks and drove a savvy and clean race to take the last step on the podium in P3. At a track where he has a record seven F1 victories, Hamilton was also clearly the better Merc for once this season, easily besting his ambitious young teammate, George Russell, who nonetheless scored a very satisfying P4. Mercedes are definitely improving after the troublesome and very bouncy rollout of their new W13 chassis and this was their second consecutive 3-4 finish, this time swapping the order from Azerbaijan a week ago with Hamilton happily on the podium. But compared to the pace of Red Bull and Ferrari, team Mercedes know that they’ve still got a lot of work to ahead if they’ve got even the slimmest shot of getting back into title contention.

Sainz’s more heralded teammate Charles Leclerc did yeoman’s work to haul himself up from last place on the grid after upgrading his power unit and subsequently being assessed several penalties at once. Continue reading →