The celebrations for the Aston Martin COGNIZANT F1 team were cut short after the Hungarian Grand Prix yesterday when Sebastian Vettel lost his second placing due to disqualification. The team had been unable to provide a full sample of 1 litre of fuel from the AMR21 racing car for inspection, as required by FIA regulations.
Cars are inspected before as well as after each race to ensure that they fully comply with the regulations and even the drivers are weighed. In Vettel’s case, the team could only provide 0.3 litres although it said that it was sure there was more in the fuel tank but could not be extracted. They were given some time to resolve the matter but after 5 hours, the Stewards made the decision to disqualify Vettel. The Aston Martin team will review the matter and may make an appeal.
A short-lived celebration for the Aston Martin COGNIZANT team.
His disqualification moved Lewis Hamilton to runner-up position, while Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz gained third place. This puts the Mercedes-AMG driver back on top of the championship race with 8 points ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen who finished tenth but moved up to ninth with Vettel’s disqualification. The Mercedes-AMG driver gets enough points to take him past Verstappen and lead the championship.
Hamilton suffering from ‘long COVID’?
Hamilton was seen to be unwell at the trophy presentation ceremony and when asked about his condition later, he revealed that he has been facing a challenge in training after a COVID-19 infection last year. He could be suffering from what is known as ‘long COVID’ which refers to the continued effects a person experiences after recovering. These effects could go on for many weeks and there are some people who still suffer after a year. Hamilton said that he felt a lot of fatigue but was not sure if it was due to dehydration at the track as temperatures were high and he had a strenuous race, having had to fight from 14th place to finish 3rd overall.
Even after you recover from COVID-19 infection, your quality of life may be affected and you may suffer for a long period after that. So do your best to avoid being infected by taking the necessary measures to protect yourself as well as others – and get vaccinated.
Rain had already started to come down before the cars began to get into position, with Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas at the front of two Red Bulls. The weather forecast was for up to 30 minutes of rain, which suited the two title rivals fine as they like such conditions.
Hamilton got a good start and as his team mate was slow to get off, Max Verstappen shot past him into second. But then came another incident as Lando Norris (McLaren) got bumped by Bottas who must have been too eager to get going, and Norris hit Verstappen before the first corner. The other Red Bull driver, Sergio Perez also went off as Bottas slid into him.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc got bumped by Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, which ended his race, while Daniel Ricciardo was a helpless victim of the collision. Meanwhile, Alfa Romeo ORLEN’s Antonio Giovinazzi had slipped into the pits as the race started to take a gamble on different tyres. However, he was at the back of the pack when he joined the race and 25 seconds behind the leader as the Safety Car zoomed to the front.
When the situation became clearer, at least 4 cars were potentially out of the race as the red flags came out by the third lap, and the race had to be stopped. The Safety Car was in motion while the debris was cleared and the immobile cars removed. Hamilton had managed to escape the collisions, along with Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel.
The Red Bull team was obviously very unhappy – after Silverstone, another incident again, this time with Bottas and Perez (who suggested the Finn had made a ‘big mistake’). Verstappen’s car was fixed in time but he had a lot of work ahead of him as he was in 13th place when the race was stopped.
The race resumed after 15 minutes but only Hamilton seemed to start off as the rest of the cars were in the pits. He returned to change the tyres and when he rejoined on lap 5, he was at the back and Ocon was at the front – a rare instance of an Alpine leading the rest. The early drama had continued in the pits as well, with Nikita Mazepin (Haas) colliding with Kimi Raikkonen’s Alfa Romeo as the Finn suddenly came out of his box. The Russian driver was the sixth retirement of the Hungarian GP. Raikkonen’s team mate, Giovinazzi, got a 10-second penalty for speeding in the pitlane and it was likely that Raikkonen would also get a penalty.
Williams’ George Russell, holding seventh on lap 11, impressed with his spirit of teamwork as he told his team that if his own position had to be compromised, they should go ahead as it was more important for his team mate, Nicholas Latifi, to maintain his third position behind Vettel and Ocon.
Verstappen’s progress through the field was not easy and even to get past Haas’ Mick Schumacher was tricky and the two cars were seen to touch. Hamilton was just two places behind on the 15th lap but experiencing brake problems. It was an unusual race this time with drivers usually further back being up front and battling for the best positions with points.
Hamilton came in again on lap 19 to get onto hard tyres, a strategic move as the track was drying out by then. He only lost one position but was still some 50 seconds behind the leader and had at least 10 cars – including Verstappen’s – to pass before he reached Ocon. Verstappen came in on the next lap and dropped 2 places behind his arch-rival. Ocon had come in before Vettel and was able to do his tyre-change in 2.3 seconds and kept his lead.
The battles up front were between Ocon and Vettel, and about 16 seconds behind, between Latifi and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz. Latifi and Sainz came into the pits on the same lap and the Ferrari raced back out to grab third place, as Latifi lost 4 places. Now it was Sainz who had to defend his position from another Alpine driven by Fernando Alonso.
Halfway through the 70-lap race, Ocon and Vettel were still up front, separated by a second or two. Alonso had passed Sainz and was in a fairly secure position with generous gaps in front and behind. Hamilton had moved up to fifth and was pushing harder than ever.
Vettel came in on lap 37 and lost just one position, giving Alonso the second place. Hamilton was still busy duelling with Sainz to get within range of Alonso. Verstappen, down in twelfth and over a minute from the leader was still unable to move into a points position. On lap 43, he made his fifth visit of the race to the Red Bull pits to switch to medium tyres. His stop took an incredible 1.8 seconds – the fastest pit stop this season.
On lap 45, Sainz was still under attack from Hamilton and thought that the Mercedes-AMG driver would go back into the pits again. However, Hamilton decided his tyres were still good enough and did not allow the Ferrari driver to get any relief.
As 10 laps remained, an announcement was made concerning the Stewards’ findings on the first lap incidents and Bottas was deemed to have been responsible for “causing an avoidable collision in Turn 1”. The penalty for him was a drop of 5 positions on the starting grid for the next race in Belgium as well as 2 penalty points.
While Alonso was trying hard to prevent Hamilton from getting past, Verstappen had managed to finally overtake McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo and get back into a points position at tenth. Less than 10 laps remained so he would only be able to improve his position another one or two places, the only Red Bull driver to bring home some points this time.
As the lap counter got closer to the 70th lap, Hamilton got more desperate to pass Alonso, with at least one instance of contact between cars. Vettel was not under threat from Sainz who was 7 seconds behind so he was focussed on trying to get his first win with Aston Martin.
Despite being a 2-time world champion, Alonso must have let the pressure get to him as he locked up and Hamilton immediately slotted into fourth place on lap 65. The Spaniard had also been having a tough time with his older tyres.
And it was Esteban Ocon’s day as he won the Hungarian Grand Prix, his first ever F1 win too. Vettel also had reason for a celebration in the Aston Martin camp as he finished second, and Hamilton coming in third. However, in spite of the speed of the Mercedes-AMG, it was Pierre Gasly of AlphaTauri’s Honda who got a bonus point for the fastest lap of the day. In the Williams camp too, there was jubilation as both Latifi and Russell finished within the top ten to give the team their first points of the season.
Even after you recover from COVID-19 infection, your quality of life may be affected and you could suffer for a long period after that. So do your best to avoid being infected by taking the necessary measures to protect yourself as well as others – and get vaccinated as well.
Round 11 of the 2021 Formula 1 World Championship at Hungaroring in Budapest, Hungary, will be the last round in the first half of the championship. It is a familiar circuit to the teams as it has been part of the calendar since 1986, so there’s a lot of data to refer to from 35 races with different weather conditions.
After the high speeds and flat expanses of Silverstone, the twists and turns of Hungaroring present the drivers with a different challenge. Featuring flowing sections of closely linked corners, the tight 4.4-km layout provides a good test of car balance. With aerodynamic stability accented, the engineers will set downforce levels similar to those applied at Monaco.
In contrast to the sweeping and fast corners of Silverstone, Hungaroring feels almost like a kart circuit: the track is narrow, old-school, and has a non-stop series of corners. Overtaking is tricky, and this is an important factor when planning the race strategy, as track position is key.
Past races here have seen a number of different strategies. Last year, the wet and intermediate tyres were run at the start of the race because of rain but before then, in 2019, both one-stop and two-stop strategies were used, with a two-stopper from Lewis Hamilton winning the race in a thrilling finale.
There are tight corners in quick succession, with no long straights to cool down the tyres, and hot weather. This makes the Hungaroring actually more demanding on tyres than it initially seems, so some degree of management is likely to be needed on the soft compound in particular.
“As a result, the best strategy is not always obvious – with different approaches often yielding a similar overall race time, depending on the individual circumstances. That’s why we’ve often seen some tactically intriguing races at the Hungaroring, keeping the final result in doubt right up to the end and providing an interesting challenge for the engineers,” said Mario Isola, Pirelli’s Head of F1 and Car Racing.
The summer temperatures are also high, plus the fact that the circuit is situated within a natural amphitheatre, so there’s very little airflow. This makes the Hungarian Grand Prix hard work for both the cars and the drivers.
Pirelli’s Isola said that this week some of the hottest track temperatures ever, causing thermal degradation. “However, it’s far from certain that the weather will remain the same, with a forecast of rain at some point adding yet another unpredictable element to what is always a strategically complex race,” he said.
The controversial clash on the opening lap at Silverstone between championship leader Max Verstappen and reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton saw the latter’s eventual victory. This closed the gap that had been widening between the two drivers and as they start this round, 8 points separate them. Lando Norris, also from Britain, lies in third but 64 points behind.
Besides damage to the racing car that was said to cost 1.5 million euros (about RM7.512 million) to repair, Red Bull Racing took home just 3 points after the last round, while Mercedes-AMG collected 43 points. This means that the defending champions cut the difference from 44 points before Round 10. to just 4 points before the start of this Sunday’s race.
With Max Verstappen winning the inaugural Sprint Race yesterday, the pole position was taken by the Dutchman of Red Bull Racing, Lewis Hamilton had been on pole after qualifying on Friday but had to settle for second place today as the outcome of the Sprint Race decided the grid for this race.
Verstappen got a good start and sped ahead of Hamilton but even before the first lap was completed, contact between the two cars saw the Red Bull Racing driver bouncing off into the barriers. Out came the Safety Car while Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc managed to slip into the lead. A red flag was out as the barriers needed to be repaired, so the cars could pit for tyres and repairs (Hamilton’s car needed a new front wing). lthough Verstappen had seemed unhurt and got out of the car, he had later to be taken to a hospital for additional examination.
The blame game started almost immediately with Red Bull boss Christian Horner furiously suggesting to officials it was Hamilton’s fault, and the British champ saying he had given enough space but the contact had occurred. Horner’s anger was understandable, of course, since Verstappen’s race was over. Toto Wolff, Horner’s counterpart in Mercedes-AMG also put up a defence of his driver.
The restart (after about 40 minutes of Safety Car and red flag) saw Leclerc at the front, the Ferrari driver having passed Valtteri Bottas early and able to slip past the Hamilton-Verstappen incident. As the race had been suspended, it was just the fourth lap, with another 48 to go. Sebastian Vettel, who had slipped all the way to the back, was eager to move up but spun as he started off.
As the race got underway, the Stewards decided that Hamilton was at fault and informed his team that he would have a 10-second penalty, which he could serve during a pit stop. Needless to say, the home crowd was very unhappy when news of the penalty started to be known in the stands.
Track temperatures were high and apart from the effect on the tyres, the brakes were also worrying, so teams had to think of revising strategies.
On lap 16, Leclerc, who had just managed to stay ahead of Hamilton, began to have power loss and was trying to find out if some settings were off. Hamilton began to close in and further back (5 seconds), Lando Norris was watching from third place after having passed Bottas.
The cars began coming into the pits for new tyres at lap 20, and as Norris pulled in, Bottas pulled ahead into third place but some 7 seconds behind his team mate. Bottas came in on lap 23 and with a 2.2-second stop, he lost just one position which was taken by Carlos Sainz.
At the halfway point, it was still Leclerc in the lead but still having occasional engine problems. Hamilton was safe enough to just trail him and not take chances as Sainz was some 18 seconds behind. However, by lap 28, Hamilton had to come in for new tyres and do the 10-second penalty, slipping down behind Bottas and Norris as he rejoined the race. He was about half a minute behind Leclerc.
Although Leclerc seemed to be comfortable continuing a bit more, his team brought him in on lap 30 for a change of tyres to hards. He was in and out in less than 3 seconds and still kept his lead, with a gap of 6 seconds to Bottas. Meanwhile, McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo was trying hard to hold on to his fifth place as the red Ferrari of Carlos Sainz kept appearing in his mirrors.
With 11 laps remaining. Bottas was requested to let his team mate pass by and he did so again, as he did before. The pass out the reigning champion within 7 seconds of Leclerc. Bottas was pretty assured of a place on the podium anyway, with Norris some 10 seconds behind. The battle between Ricciardo and Sainz continued for fifth place.
With 2 laps to go, Leclerc was readying for the chequered flag but then his car went wide and it was the moment Hamilton was waiting for, and he swept past to take the lead. It was close but he was more cautious to avoid another incident like what happened with Verstappen. And then it was a straight run to the finish line and finally, a win for Hamilton at Silverstone again – on home ground.
Vaccination does not make you immune to COVID-19 infection. You can still get infected and you may not show symptoms but spread the coronavirus. Do not stop taking protective measures such as wearing a facemask, washing hands frequently and social distancing.
Sprint Qualifying Race starts today at 4:30 pm in England/11:30 pm in Malaysia
As the pandemic seems to be easing, health authorities in the UK are willing to allow spectators at events again and this will be the case for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone this weekend. 140,000 spectators will be allowed into the circuit to watch the 10th round of the 2011 Formula 1 World Championship and to see if their countryman, Sir Lewis Hamilton, can improve his position in the championship.
For this round, there is something extra in the form of a sprint race which will offer additional excitement for spectators and also a different challenge for the teams. The Sprint Qualifying Race is 100 kms long which is 17 laps of the Silverstone circuit. Being run over a shorter distance, drivers will be flat out from start to finish, with no pit stops needed. The best effort will be necessary as the finishing order will determine the starting positions for the main race, so there is a chance to improve on the position gained in Qualifying. There are also points for the top three finishers of the race.
The starting grid for the Sprint Race has already been determined by a qualifying session yesterday in which Hamilton took pole position with Max Verstappen alongside. With the running of this extra race, the normal schedule has been changed and there is less practice time for the teams to fine-tune the cars’ set-up. They had one free practice session yesterday and there will be another one today before the Sprint Race. This will place more pressure on the mechanics and engineers who have less time to work.
“The start and first lap is one of the riskiest moments for a driver and sets the driver up for the race they have to come, so having two standing starts to contend with, firstly in the Sprint Qualifying Race and then the standard Sunday event, will add extra drama and pressure. Losing out in the Sprint Qualifying Race will have a big impact on the main race, and could make your Sunday very tricky,” said Mercedes-AMG’s Toto Wolff.
Drivers love racing and the Sprint Qualifying format means some extra racing. “The usual format has been pretty standard apart from a couple of weekends where there has been less practice, so it will be nice to try something different and see if it is going to really mix up the weekend,” said Valtteri Bottas. “I guess it can go really against you or for you, but we will find out.”
Red Bull stays ahead
With 5 consecutive victories, Red Bull Racing has a strong hold in the leading position of the championship. Better results in recent races by the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS team have kept the gap to 44 points, though. It’s the same thing in the Drivers Championship where Max Verstappen remains at the top with Hamilton 32 points behind and surely eager to change that as soon as possible.
Where the F1 championship began
This will be the 72nd British Grand Prix and it is one of the two events that has been consistently a part of each year’s championship. In fact, the current Formula 1 World Championship had its start at Silverstone in 1950 but the former airbase runway was not always used. In some years, the Aintree circuit in Liverpool was used and between 164 and 1986, the Brands Hatch circuit hosted F1 races.
Lewis Hamilton has been the most successful driver in the history of the British GP, having won his home race on 7 occasions, the first win with McLaren in 2008. However, among the teams, Ferrari has the most – 17 wins since their first one in 1950 at the first F1 race.
Scuderia Ferrari’s first F1 win was at Silverstone in 1950, the year the world championship series began.
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As the cars lined up on the starting grid, Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel did not take the eighth position he qualified in as he was given a 3-place penalty due to obstruction to Alpine’s Fernando Alonso during qualifying. This moved him down to 11th place.
Spectators were allowed into the Red Bull Ring, a big contrast from last year when the stands were empty. A large contingent of Dutch fans were cheering for Max Verstappen, who started from pole position.
As the lights turned green, the Red Bull driver got off to a great start up the slope, as McLaren’s Lando Norris dived in behind. However, Turn 3 saw Esteban Ocon caught between Haas F1’s Michael Schumacher and Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi, which resulted in his suspension being damaged and disabling his car.
Out came the Safety Car to convoy the racers as crews worked to get the Alpine out of the way, the first non-finisher of the race. Pirelli said the early Safety Car would favour the soft tyre runners by reducing wear and degradation at a crucial point in the race, when the cars were full of fuel.
The clearing operation was quick and by lap 4, the Safety Car was back in, and racing resumed. Verstappen shot off, and Norris found Sergio Perez, who had closed in while in convoy, starting to pressure him for the position. But the McLaren driver held his place tight and Perez had no choice but to go wide – into the gravel – and dropped down the field to around tenth. His departure allowed Lewis Hamilton to slot into third place.
The incident between Norris and Perez attracted the attention of the Stewards who discussed it and decided that the McLaren driver would receive a 5-second penalty. The news probably distracted Norris and additional bad news was that Hamilton had managed to sneak past him as well. As Hamilton took over second place, his team mate Valtteri Bottas started to close in on Norris as well, aiming to move him another place down.
Verstappen was 10 seconds away from Hamilton and was nearing the back markers, so things would get tricky.
On lap 31, Norris and Bottas came into the pits together. With the time penalty Norris had to serve, Bottas was able to get off ahead of the McLaren back onto the track. Verstappen also came in for hard tyres.
At the halfway mark, only two drivers – Carlos Sainz and Kimi Raikkonen – had yet to come into the pits. Both had started on hard tyres. All the other drivers had come in and returned, and Verstappen had a lead of 15 seconds.
The duel for seventh was a close fight between McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo, Perez and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. As the Ferrari driver tried to get past Perez, contact occurred and Leclerc got bumped off into the gravel. Commentators expected that Perez would – or should – get the same penalty as Norris as the incident was largely similar.
On lap 47, Leclerc had caught up with Perez and tried again to get past – and the same departure from the track occurred! Perez was simply refusing to give up his sixth position.
As for Hamilton, damage to the rear end of the car was affecting his progress and the 20-second gap from Verstappen was way too big. Bottas was right behind and was asked not to hassle his team mate. In the end, the team decided that Nottas would go after Verstappen and Hamilton would try to prevent Norris from getting past.
But on lap 54, Norris slipped past Hamilton and that brought Hamilton in to switch to hard tyres. The pit stop didn’t lose him the fourth place but extended the gap to 21 seconds.
Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda Tsunoda was having a bad day. After one 5-second penalty for a pit lane infringement, he was again given a second one on lap 57 as he left the pit lane incorrectly.
With a 26-second lead, Verstappen could even come back in for another set of hard tyres to be on the safe side, and kept his position as 10 laps remained.
Leclerc’s forced excursions into the gravel had let Ricciardo grab sixth position and he was desperately fighting to move up as Perez kept moving further away.
As 4 laps remained and Verstappen’s win was almost assured, attention was on Williams’ George Russell who was performing impressively to move up to tenth, but Alonso was aiming to displace him. Alonso, the old driver had the experience but Russell was showing a lot of determination too. But on lap 68, the Alpine driver outsmarted him at Turn 4 and got by, denying the British driver of the points position.
In the closing stages of the race, as attention was focussed at the front, there was drama at the back as Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen collided, with both cars heading off into the gravel.
The Dutchman took the chequered flag again, making it four wins and though his race was fairly easy, he still set the fastest lap to claim and extra point.
As in 2020, when the Formula 1 World Championship calendar had to be revised and compressed into a 6-month period due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Red Bull Ring in Austria is holding two rounds back to back. However, this year, the Styrian Grand Prix last Sunday was the first round and this weekend will see the Austrian Grand Prix as the second round.
Last week’s Styrian Grand Prix saw Max Verstappen beating Lewis Hamilton again, extending his lead in the Drivers Championship as well as his Red Bull Racing Team’s against the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Team. The Dutchman now has 156 points, 18 points ahead of the reigning World Champion. Red Bull Racing, with 252 points, has a 40-point lead.
Max Verstappen winning at the Styrian Grand Prix at the same track last Sunday.
A second race at the hillside circuit should see the small margins between rivals becoming even tighter. The teams have lots of data from last week and the weather conditions look likely to be similar, so strategies will be refined for the 71-lap race.
Made up of just 10 corners, the 4.318-km Red Bull Ring’s compact configuration and sequence of high-speed straights accents power delivery and traction ouf of the low-speed corners that link the three straights.
Different tyre offerings from Pirelli
A factor in the quest for that traction is Pirelli’s switch from the C2-C4 compounds used last Sunday, to a C3-C5 hard to soft spread for this weekend. Track temperatures though will certainly influence the tyre life – especially on the softs – and therefore the strategy.
“As expected with the softer compounds, we had some graining on the soft tyre in particular, which suggests that we might see some quite different strategies compared to last weekend: the whole idea behind changing the nomination for the second race weekend here,” said Mario Isola, Pirelli’s Head of F1 and Car Racing.
History of Austrian Grand Prix
Unlike the Styrian Grand Prix, which is only in its second year in 2021, the Austrian Grand Prix has been run 34 times as a F1 event, having started in 1964. In its first year, it was run at a disused airfield, and the moved to Osterreichring in 1970. Between 1997 and 2003, it was run at the A1-Ring and then moved to the Red Bull Ring in 2014.
Alain Prost has been the most successful driver in the event, having won 3 times – one with Renault and two with McLaren. Past winners who will be on the starting grid this Sunday will be Max Verstappen (2018 and 2019), Valtteri Bottas (2017) and Lewis Hamilton (2016).
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After the drama-free starting laps in France, this round started off with a chaotic series of events at the first turn as Alfa Romeo ORLEN’s Antonio Giovinazzi spun after coming in contact with Pierre Gasly of Scuderia AlphaTauri. The latter had rear end damage, forcing him to go into the pits and not come back out again.
On lap 7, Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo was having power loss with his car which lost him a hard-earned position moving up from 13th to 11th and then losing it to Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel.
Debris from the collision between Giovinazzi and Gasly had some of the drivers concerned and asking their engineers to keep watch on the tyre pressures. The nasty experiences in Baku which Pirelli attributed to incorrect pressures was still strong in their minds.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen had managed to get a clean start and very quickly opened up the gap with Lewis Hamilton. By the 20th lap, the two drivers were way head of Segrio Perez, Verstappen’s team mate, less than 5 seconds separating them. Valtteri Bottas with 3 seconds behind Perez and biding his time until Verstappen came in for tyres and he would try to move up and stay up.
At the other end of the field, the Haas drivers were jockeying for positions with each other and Williams’ Nicholas Latifi was looking for a way past them.
Verstappen came in on lap 30, spent 2 seconds immobile and then shot off to rejoin still ahead of Hamilton and still having that same gap. His team mate’s pit stop was slightly slower due to some difficulty with a rear wheel. The delay allowed Bottas to claim third and move to retain it.
On lap 33, Verstappen was heard asking his team if there was a brake issue, which his engineer said will be looked into. Meanwhile, George Russell was having power unit problems and was stuck in 18th. 6 laps later, he would be forced to end his race in the pits.
As the second half of the race was underway, Daniel Ricciardo and Carlos Sainz were the only drivers left who had not changed their tyres. Both could collect points today as they were within the Top 10, and neither wanted to lose that.
Lap 43 saw the last two drivers finally coming in for fresh tyres, both taking on hard compounds. Sainz was able to slot back into seventh but Ricciardo slipped to 15th.
On lap 44, Leclerc pushed past Alfa Romeo ORLEN’s Kimi Raikkonen at the apex of Turn 3 to slot into 12th but while doing so, his car hit the front wing of Raikkonen’s car, though not damaging it excessively.
By lap 49, Perez finally caught up to Bottas and was ready to reclaim his place, The Finn was uncomfortable at the prospect of the duel, having pushed hard which had affected tyre management.
Leclerc was powering up the field and into the points position by lap 51 as he got past his former team mate at Ferrari, Sebastian Vettel. He then powered past Scuderia Alphatauri’s Yuki Tsunoda and then Alpine’s Fernando Alonso.
Hamilton was unable to close the 14-second gap as 10 laps remained and the rain he was hoping for just would not come down even though there was a dark cloud or two in the sky.
Determined to get onto the podium, Perez came in again, this time to change to mediums, and then when off in pursuit of Bottas, setting the fastest lap in the process. It wasn’t good news for Bottas who had been pushing hard and was getting concerned whether he could make it to the end.
Verstappen had such a strong lead that he could cruise to the finish but for Hamilton, it was an unpleasant ending since he had won this race the year before. The battle between Perez and Bottas was tighter as only less than 2 seconds separated them in the closing lap but in the end, the Mercedes-AMG just managed to stay in third long enough, denying Perez of the podium finish.
Last year, as the COVID-19 pandemic swept across Europe, virtually all public activities had to be stopped. This included motorsports and the 2020 Formula 1 World Championship never even got a chance to start as the season-opener in Australia had to be cancelled at the last moment as the government decided that the crowds would be a health risk.
The cancellation of the first round led to the rest of the calendar having to be revised, but only after the situation was clearer in the second half of the year. Finally, when the organizers could get venues that would permit racing, the calendar had to be compressed into 6 months which was quite a strain on the teams. After a delay of almost 16 weeks, the 2020 championship finally started on July 5 with the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria, followed by the Styrian Grand Prix at the same circuit the following weekend.
Strict procedures were established and enforced, with a limited number of participants allowed into the circuit – and no spectators. ‘Bubbles’ were created for each team, and interaction was kept to a minimum and of course, measures like wearing face masks and social distancing were adopted. These measures continue to be enforced this year although some circuits have allowed a limited number of spectators to attend.
Second running of Styrian Grand Prix
This weekend sees the Red Bull Ring being used for the eighth round of the championship and like last year, it will again be used the following weekend for the ninth round. The difference is that this round is known as the Styrian Grand Prix (named after the region the circuit is located in) and the following one will be the Austrian Grand Prix. This is only the second time that there has been a Styrian GP.
The Red Bull Ring was originally known as the Osterreichring and hosted the Austrian Grand Prix continuously from 1970 to 1987, as well as from 1997 to 2003. It was later bought over by Red Bull’s co-founder Dietrich Mateschitz and, after being renovated, renamed as the Red Bull Ring in 2013. From 2014, F1 rounds were held at the track as the Austrian GP.
The teams are therefore familiar with the circuit which has the shortest lap (less than 64 seconds) in the regular F1 calendar. However, while the Red Bull Ring has the quickest lap time, the track length of 4.318 kms is only fifth shortest, behind Brazil, Mexico, the Netherlands and Monaco.
While many F1 tracks are cut into hillsides, few can compare to the Red Bull Ring for elevation change. From the lowest point to the highest point around the circuit, the change in elevation is 63.5 metres.
High risk of bodywork damage
Mercedes-AMG’s Toto Wolff describes the track as ‘one of the most aggressive’ when it comes to the shape, depth and spacing of the kerbs. The high ‘sausage kerbs’ on the corner exits are also aggressive, so therefore it’s one of the harshest on the car’s suspension. “Because of the aggressive nature of the kerbs at the Red Bull Ring, the risk of bodywork damage is high, and we often see drivers picking up damage in practice as they push the limits of the track,” he said.
The track has a high amount of track warp, where the banking of the track changes from one side to the other, with Turn 3 being one example. Here, the track drops towards the apex, with the racing car passing over the crest of the hill, whilst picking up power on exit. This causes the car to lift a wheel, which can lead to struggles with braking, stability and traction.
Medium level of difficulty for brakes
According to Brembo engineers, the Red Bull Ring has a medium level of difficulty for brakes. On a scale of one to five, it earned a three on the difficulty index, matching the score of other tracks such as Budapest and Zandvoort.
At turns 2, 5 and 8, the drivers do not need to use the brakes. On average, over an entire lap, the braking system is active for 10+ seconds. Only Imola has recorded a lower value, despite having 8 braking sections compared to 7 at the Red Bull Ring. From the start to the finish of the race, the drivers will use the brakes for no more than 12 minutes, or 16% of the race and the load on the pedal will be more than 100 kgs their weight.
Pirelli doesn’t consider this track especially demanding on tyres, which makes it possible for the softest tyres in the range to be used. “Once again after last year Austria hosts a back-to-back race, which means that the teams have plenty of data on this track and recent experience of how to deal with its particular challenges and tactics,” said Mario Isola – Head of F1 and Car Racing at Pirelli. “However, having two different tyre nominations is a first for the Red Bull Ring, so it’s going to be interesting to see how the teams get to grips with the softest C5 tyres for the second race weekend – and how the new selection influences strategy.”
Pirelli, in agreement with the FIA, Formula 1 and the teams, has also tested a new rear construction of tyre in free practice yesterday to evaluate its effectiveness to further improve robustness of the tyres. Each car was given two sets of the new tyres during the free practice sessions. If the test results are successful, the new rear specification will be introduced from the British Grand Prix onwards, replacing the current specification. With this new structure, Pirelli says it can provide a tyre that can guarantee even greater levels of integrity under the extreme conditions that can be generated by the current cars.
With the cancellation of the Singapore Grand Prix again as the government is uncomfortable having too many foreigners entering the country during this pandemic period, Turkey has again been added to the 2021 Formula 1 calendar. The date of the Turkish Grand Prix will be on October 3, the same weekend originally scheduled for the Singapore Grand Prix.
This will be the second year in a row that the Turkish Grand Prix is being run, last year having been the first time since 2011. The 2021 Turkish Grand Prix, which was to replace the cancelled Canadian GP, was removed in May when strict travel restrictions (imposed by the UK) were expected to make it difficult for teams to travel there from their base in the UK.
Most of F1 community vaccinated
However, things have changed and it is now possible to travel to Turkey and the Formula 1 organisation has decided to use the venue. The organisers have taken many measures to protect the health of those involved and say a significant proportion of the F1 community has been vaccinated already.
The circuit for the Turkish Grand Prix will be the same Intercity Istanbul Park or Istanbul Racing Circuit (or initially, Istanbul Otodrom) in the country’s capital city. The track was opened in 2005 and was another project of Hermann Tilke, who has designed many of the modern F1 circuits around the world.
One of the most challenging circuits
Istanbul Park has often been regarded as one of the most challenging modern circuits in F1. Of the 14 turns, Turn 8 is ‘legendary’ – a fast, high-g 640-metre left-hander with multiple apexes. Though today’s racing cars are better designed to handle the turn compared to 10 years ago, the speed (around 270 km/h) and duration in the turn will still place a lot of loads on the tyres.
“Due to the increased downforce levels, the iconic Turn 8 will be less of a focus than before. It was pretty much flat-out in the 2011 cars, but it will become even less of a challenge in these 2020 machines. So, teams don’t need to compromise the setup so much for it,” said Mercedes-AMG’s Toto Wolff.
Besides Turn 8, there are also other challenges around the 5.338-km long circuit that the drivers will do 58 laps on. It will be tough and technically demanding, with the long back straight that allow DRS to enable overtaking heading into Turn 12. The end of the lap consists of a combination of three low-speed corners where braking stability on entry and traction on exit are important.
Lewis Hamilton passes his team members after taking the chequered flag at the 2020 Turkish Grand Prix where his seventh world title was confirmed.
Lewis Hamilton confirmed his 7th title in Istanbul
Last year, when the teams returned to the Istanbul Park circuit, they were familiar with the layout but much of the data from earlier races was somewhat outdated. This year, things will be better with the experience of having run a race last year, which was won by Lewis Hamilton. It was in Istanbul that Hamilton confirmed his 2020 title to make a total of 7 in all.
This weekend sees the first of two rounds at the Red Bull Ring in Austria. The first is the Styrian Grand Prix, and the second round to be held one week later will be the Austrian Grand Prix.
After a thrilling French Grand Prix, Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing top the championship charts. The Dutch driver is 12 points ahead of Hamilton, whom he beat to the chequered flag at Paul Ricard, while his team is 37 points ahead of the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS team.
