2021 Formula 1 World Championship Archives

F1/Round 16: Preview & Starting Grid For 2021 Turkish Grand Prix

Race starts at 3 pm in Turkey/8 pm in Malaysia

It was less than a year ago that the Formula 1 teams were at the Istanbul Park Circuit in Turkey and this weekend, they are back again for Round 16 of the 2011 Formula 1 World Championship. The Turkish Grand Prix replaces the Singapore Grand Prix which had to be cancelled due to the ongoing pandemic in the country.

The track is not entirely unknown to them and current drivers like Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen have raced at the circuit when the Turkish Grand Prix was held between 2005 and 2011. And even though they also raced there last year, there are unknowns, specifically regarding surface conditions. Last year, as the track had to be prepared for F1 racing after a lapse of 9 years, the freshly laid asphalt was slippery. Since then, the asphalt may have matured slightly and it’s also been completely cleaned with a high-pressure water jet. So this year drivers should benefit from better grip as a consequence of the softer compounds, higher asphalt roughness, and the likelihood of higher temperatures compared to last year.

According to Mario Isola, Head of F1 and Car Racing at Pirelli, the tyre suppliers, drivers reported improved grip during practices, and times in both sessions were considerably faster than 2020. “It’s hard to compare this year to last year, because the weather conditions are different and our tyre nomination this year is a step softer. We’ve seen consistent grip throughout the lap – albeit slightly affected by today’s gusting winds. However, there’s a risk of rain that could cause yet another variable,” he said.

Because Istanbul Park isn’t as frequently used as other F1 venues and with it being resurfaced, the track evolution is high – meaning, the track starts the weekend fresher (or ‘greener’) and develops more grip as more laps are completed and more rubber is laid down by the racing cars.

Istanbul Park is one of 7 anti-clockwise track layouts on the 2021 F1 calendar, the others being: Imola, Interlagos, Baku, COTA in Texas, Jeddah and Yas Marina. These layouts increase the strain on the opposite side of the driver’s neck, which isn’t used to experiencing these forces due to there being more clockwise circuits.

The best-known corner at the 5.338-km circuit is Turn 8, which has been described as one of the great corners in Formula 1. It’s very long, at 640 metres (or 12% of the entire lap) and taken at high speed, with several apexes that place forces peaking at more than 5g on the cars and tyres. Due to the increased downforce levels of the cars today compared to those 15 years ago, it has the highest lateral g-force experienced by the drivers over the course of the lap.

Many other corners place considerable demands on the tyres as well: Turn 1 is approached with a significant descent before heading uphill, and the back straight also contains a swooping uphill kink nicknamed ‘Faux Rouge’ in homage to Spa. The entire track layout makes plenty of use of the area’s natural elevation. It is one of the better circuits in F1 for overtaking, because there are several big braking zones and corners leading onto longer straights which offer several different lines.

The winning strategy last year was a one-stopper. Hamilton was one of only four drivers to stop once, as the majority stopped twice. In terms of car set-up, Turkey is what the engineers call ‘middle of the pack’, because most of its characteristics are pretty average, so not on either end of the spectrum in terms of downforce and power sensitivities.

Pole position on the starting grid seems to give a clear advantage at this circuit as 5 of the 8 winners started from that position. However, Hamilton won’t get that slot no matter how quick he is in qualifying as his engine change incurs a penalty that will put him 10 places down on the starting grid tomorrow. But it should be remembered that last year, he started the wet race from sixth place – and won it as well as confirmed his seventh World title.

As the teams begin their battle tomorrow, both championship titles are still tightly contested. Hamilton is just 2 points ahead of Max Verstappen, while a good weekend in Russia in the last round put the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS team extend their lead to 33 points ahead of Red Bull Racing. Behind the two, the battle for third between McLaren and Ferrari should be interesting with the gap of 17.5 points.

*Lewis Hamilton was quick in qualifying but he will still have a 10-place grid penalty as the team has made an engine component change for his car to be on the safe side.*

F1: Australian GP to be replaced by Ooredoo Qatar Grand Prix in November

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted motorsports events around the world last year, including the Formula 1 World Championship. After the opening round in Australia was cancelled literally at the ‘eleventh hour’, other venues also decided that the situation was worsening and they could not be sure their event could be safely held, or that the authorities would not close off the borders (as what happened in Malaysia and many other countries).

It was only in the middle of the year that the calendar could be revised to have 17 rounds, with 4 races taking place in the months of November and December. The compressed schedule was gruelling for the teams but at least they did not have to do the 22 races that had been planned at the beginning of the 2020 season.

2021 calendar revised a few times

The 2021 calendar has likewise been revised a few times as some countries had changed quarantine conditions making it difficult for teams to travel to them, especially from Europe. The season-opening Australian Grand Prix was one of them and was initially postponed to November and then cancelled. Bahrain got to run the first race of the season.

The rounds in China, Singapore and Japan were also cancelled and in their search for new circuits, the organisers decided to bring back Portugal and Turkey, which have had F1 events before. The championship will also see another new circuit which replaces the cancelled Australian round. This is the Losail International Circuit in Qatar which will run Round 20 on November 21. With the Ooredoo Qatar Grand Prix, as the event will be known, the original number of 22 races can be fulfilled.

*The circuit near Qatar’s capital has held MotoGP races since it was opened 7 years ago.*

MotoGP circuit since 2004

The 7-year old FIA-certified Losail International Circuit is not new to the motorsports world and has been a MotoGP venue since 2004. It will now add Formula 1 to its list, which will be held at the 5.4-km long track until 2032 (except for 2022 as it coincides with Qatar’s hosting of the 2022 FIFA World Cup).

It is not known yet whether the race will be run at night, although the Middle East races are usually at night when it is cooler. The circuit is capable of having a night race as it has the required illumination provided by some 3,600 lights. The race is expected to be 57 laps.

“We have shown that we can continue to adapt and there is huge interest in our sport and the hope from many locations to have a Grand Prix. The huge effort from all the teams, F1 and the FIA has made it possible to deliver a 22-race calendar something that is very impressive during a challenging year and something we can all be proud of,” said Stefano Domenicali, President & CEO of Formula 1.

Human rights controversy

The choice of Qatar is not without controversy as some groups point out that the Middle Eastern country has a poor record with regard to human rights. The Formula 1 organisation has not refuted this but says: “We take our responsibilities very seriously and have made our position on rights clear to all our partners and host countries who commit to respect our responsibilities in the way their events are hosted and delivered.”

“Sports like Formula 1 are uniquely positioned to cross borders and cultures to bring countries and communities together to share the passion and excitement of incredible competition and achievement. For decades, Formula 1 has worked hard be a positive force everywhere it races, including economic, social, and cultural benefits,” its statement added.

*Lewis Hamilton and the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Team are in the lead after 15 rounds of the 22-round championship.*

Click here for race reports and results of the 2021 Formula 1 World Championship

F1/Round 15: Highlights & Provisional Results For 2021 Russian Grand Prix

Max Verstappen had to start from the back as he took a penalty, and while going on the formation lap, he had a battery problem and was concerned he might not be able to start. However, by the time he reached the starting grid, it seemed to go away.

Lewis Hamilton, starting from a few places back, was crowded as he moved forward and without room to manoeuvre, he very quickly slipped to seventh. Perhaps he was being more cautious to avoid any more unnecessary incidents…

McLaren’s Lando Norris, who had pole position, had a clean start but before Trun 2, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz had managed to catch up and slipped past to take the lead from the British driver.

The two Scuderia AlphaTauris had a poor start, dropping backwards in the field. Verstappen meanwhile was steadily slicing through traffic and moving upwards. By Lap 6, he was 14th after passing Valtteri Bottas and 18 seconds behind the leader, while his team mate was up in seventh.

Up front on lap 10, Norris was narrowing the gap to Sainz and staying in his mirrors. 7 seconds behind, Williams George Russell was watching Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll who was just a second behind.

After lap 12, the drivers started to report their tyres going or gone, and visits to the pits started with Stroll being the first to do so on lap 13. Fortunately, the rain that had been expected did not arrive. Sainz came in on lap 15 and Norris, in spite of worn tyres, took over the lead.

By lap 17, Verstappen was up to sixth and just 3 places and 7 seconds ahead was his arch-rival, Hamilton. The Dutchman was pushing hard and clocking about a second quicker than the other drivers ahead of him. Alpine’s Fernando Alonso was next to pass and that might require a bit more effort and then he would be behind his team mate.

Rain began to fall on lap 22 and drivers who had tried their best to stretch their tyres had to start coming in. The positions began to change and though Hamilton had moved into second, he was still 12 seconds behind the leader.

On lap 24, Verstappen again reported problems, this time that he was having difficulty turning the car. His pit stop had dropped him to 12 place when he rejoined but he was trying to move back up. Hamilton had dropped to ninth and was also not bothering about the Dutchman and just wanting to get to the front.

After most of the other drivers had changed tyres, the order had also changed with Perez in the lead on lap 34 and Alonso behind him, both still staying out. Norris, Leclerc and Hamilton were within reach of each other so the battle was on to try to secure third place but Toto Wolff was urging his driver to go for a win.

As both Perez and Alonso came in on lap 37, Norris got back his lead, with Hamilton 4 seconds behind and Alonso having dropped out for a tyre change. Behind Hamilton was Sainz, a long way away with a 22-second gap.

With 10 laps remaining of the 53-lap race, Sainz was battling to hold on to this third place while McLaren’s Danial Ricciardokept trying to displace him and Perez was waiting for the two to make a mistake that he could gain from.

8 laps from the finish, the rain started to get heavy. Though Hamilton has no problem with wet tracks, he was not finding it easy to close in on Norris who was out to collect his first-ever F1 win.

The rain caused enough concern that teams called their drivers in. The track seemed to be getting slippery and Norris was seen to be running wide in corners a few times, with Hamilton getting closer each time. Hamilton was asked to come in but he chose to ignore the call. He was probably determined to be the one to take the chequered flag but Norris too was determined so both drivers stayed out. The British driver was heard to tell his engineer to ‘shut up’ when a warning came over the radio about cars ahead sliding.

Finally it happened – on lap 52, Norris went very wide and off, and Hamilton was ready to shoot by. The McLaren driver recovered and slotted into second place quickly though the next car (Perez) was 49 seconds away. The slide made Norris lose his spirit a bit and he decided he had to come in. As Perez dropped off for tyres, Verstappen suddenly found himself in second place but way behind Hamilton.

With just one lap left, it was to be Hamilton’s win in Sochi – finally reaching his 100th F1 win. Verstappen had done well to come up all the way from the back to finish second while Bottas was able to hold on to his fifth place till the end.

F1/Round 15: Preview & Starting Grid For 2021 Russian Grand Prix

Race starts at 3 pm in Russia/8 pm in Malaysia

The 2021 Formula 1 World Championship takes off again after the summer break as Round 15 is run this weekend in Russia. Once again held at the Sochi Autodrome, it will be the eighth time that Russia has had a Formula 1 Grand Prix.

It’s quite a sprawling venue as the 5.8-km circuit is situated within the complex that was used for the 2014 Winter Olympics. The track is quite flat, with two long straights and a long sweep through Turn 3. However, it is largely defined by a number of tight 90-degree corners which are taken at medium speeds.

GP RUSSIA F1/2021 – VENERDI 24/09/2021 –
credit: @Scuderia Ferrari Press Office

Balancing act in set-up
The contrast between the high-speed sections and the slower sequences means set-up is a balancing act between top speed and good grip/traction out of the tighter corners. Teams tend to run medium to low downforce for the long straights, which places the emphasis on mechanical grip from the tyres.

The track is not used a lot during the season, so it’s often particularly ‘green’ and slippery towards the start of the weekend. This can sometimes cause the tyres to slide rather than grip, especially during Friday’s free practice sessions but, as was the case last year, graining usually reduces a lot between free practice and the race due to track evolution.

Same tyre selection as 2020
For the first time since Austria, Pirelli is bringing the 3 softest compounds in the range for the Russian Grand Prix. This is the same selection that was offered last year when the event was held at a similar time of year. The weather is usually mild but there has been rain during the week which forced the organisers to reschedule supporting events. Although the final price session was cancelled, qualifying was able to be completed.

Mercedes-AMG stronghold
Since the first Russian GP in 2014, it has always been a Mercedes-AMG crossing the finish line first. The team’s 7 wins at Sochi are a record for consecutive wins at a single event. While the Mercedes-AMG team is ahead of Red Bull Racing by 18 points, thanks to Valtteri Bottas getting onto the podium when his team mate crashed out, Max Verstappen has a 5-point lead over Lewis Hamilton. The reigning World Champion will certainly want to close that gap and has the advantage that the Red Bull driver’s carry-over penalty puts his starting position at the back of the grid.

Vaccination does not make you immune to COVID-19 infection. You can still get infected and though you may not show symptoms, you can spread the coronavirus. Do not stop taking protective measures such as wearing a facemask, washing hands frequently and social distancing.

F1/Round 14: Highlights & Provisional Results For 2021 Italian Grand Prix

Although Valtteri Bottas had won the Sprint Qualifying race – which determines the starting order for the main race – he had to start from the back as he had a Power Unit replaced and regulations require that penalty. So starting from pole position was Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen who got a good start at first, but was then overtaken by McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo at Turn 1 who took the lead.

Lewis Hamilton, after the fumble at the start of the Sprint race, was determined not to make mistakes again and started off from fourth place very aggressively, He jostled with McLaren’s Lando Norris going into the first turn and was forced onto the grass. However, it was Alfa Romeo ORLEN’s Antononio GiovInazzi who provided the first incident of the race to bring out the Virtual Safety Car when he spun, hot another car and left some pieces of his front wing on the track.

It was a very bad day for the Scuderia AlphaTauri team. Not only was Yuki Tsunoda’s car taken off the grid before the start and pushed back to the pits but his team mate, Pierre Gasly also had to retire after lap 5,a disappointment for the winner of the 2020 race.

It was bad enough that Giovinazzi had spun at the start and had to rush back to the pits and in his haste to get back into the race, he was seen by the officials to rejoin the track in an unsafe manner and incurred a 5-second penalty.

Bottas had been working hard moving up the field and by the 10th lap, he was around 12th and tangling with Alpine F1’s Esteban Ocon. But it was still some way to go for the Mercedes-AMG driver as he was some 25 seconds behind Ricciardo, the leader. 3 laps later, he was up to 10th where he could start collecting points.

On lap 16, a duel between Aston Martin COGNIZANT’s Sebastian Vettel and Ocon resulting in wheel contact that forced the German driver off the track. The incident was investigated by the officials and would get a 5-second penalty for the incident.

Ricciardo didn’t make it to the halfway mark when he came in for new tyres on lap 23, stopping for 2.4 seconds and rejoining behind Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz in 6th place.

Verstappen came in on lap 24 and it was a disastrous stop which took an agonising 11 seconds, resulting in him rejoining down in 10th place. Meanwhile, Hamilton had managed to get past Norris and take the lead. But Hamilton also needed to change tyres and he had to give up the lead on lap 25.

And then a crazy thing happened – Hamilton and Verstappen crashed at Turn 1! It appeared that while the Mercedes-AMG had rejoined ahead of the Red Bull, Verstappen attempted to get past at Turn 2 and bumped into Hamilton’s car and took off. When the dust settled, the Red Bull was on top of Hamilton’s car. The Safety Car raced out and the other drivers took the chance to come into the pits. The incredible incident meant that Ricciardo got to lead the race. 27 laps had been completed.

When the Safety Car withdrew, Ricciardo raced off as quickly as possible with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Norris on his tail. Then it was two McLarens in the lead as Norris managed to get past Leclerc. Meanwhile, Bottas was up to 4th on lap 34 so the Mercedes-AMG team still had a chance of a victory. Then again, another Red Bull too was positioned just ahead and also hoping for the same ending.

12 laps from the end, word from the McLaren team to the drivers was to play it safe and not have something sill happening like Norris knocking out his own team mate and losing the chance for a 1-2. Norris’ job would be to defend Ricciardo from Sergio Perez.

Haas F1’s Nikita Mazepin got a 5-second penalty for the spin he caused team mate Mick Schumacher, and then his own car came to a standstill on lap 44, bringing out the Virtual Safety Car to disrupt the race for short while as marshals for the car off the track.

With 5 laps remaining, the two McLarens had just a slight edge but both Perez and Bottas were still too close for them to feel confident of taking a 1-2. Until Ricciardo passed under the chequered flag, anything could happen. But nothing happened and the two orange cars raced across the finish line. Bottas put in a great effort, having started from the back to finish in third as Perez, though finishing in that position, had a 5-second penalty to drop him down.

F1/Round 14: Preview & Starting Grid For 2021 Italian Grand Prix

Race starts at 3 pm in Italy | 9 pm in Malaysia

Round 14 of the 2021 Formula 1 World Championship is the Italian Grand Prix, which takes place at the Monza Circuit north of Milan. This is the most frequented track in Formula 1 and Monza is running a round for the 71^st time. The only time Monza did not host a round was in 1980, when the Italian GP was held at Imola.

The 5.739-km circuit is therefore familiar to the teams who know how different it is from the tight, maximum downforce Zandvoort Circuit last weekend. Nicknamed ‘The Temple of Speed’ and in existence for 99 years, Monza is all about pace, and some of the highest speeds of each season are reached on the long straights. In fact, 85% of the lap distance will be taken at full throttle, the highest of any F1 track.

The teams will therefore be giving attention to downforce and use packages designed for the high-speed straights. Monza has the lowest downforce level of the year, requiring a special rear wing for the event. This is a talking point every year at the Italian Grand Prix, but there would still be enough downforce to – in theory – drive a car upside down.

The lower downforce levels at Monza, combined with the long straights, decreases the temperature of the tyres, resulting in more frequent wheel lock-ups than at other tracks. This also impacts brake stability as it makes the car more nervous and unpredictable under braking, increasing the possibility of a lock-up. A lot of time can be found in these slow-speed chicanes and big braking zones, but the run-off areas can be unforgiving if you make a mistake.

According to the technicians at Brembo, which supplies the brake systems for the F1 cars, the Monza Circuit is a very demanding circuit for brakes. On a scale of 1 to 5, it is rated 4 on the difficulty index, the same as Sochi where the GP will be held at the end of the month. The low aerodynamic load used to take advantage of the really long straights means highly violent throttle-off moments on the three chicanes. making them particularly demanding for the driver.

Each team can choose from 6 different Brembo front discs, depending on the temperatures expected during the race and the specific race strategy. There is the medium cooling option with 800 holes, high cooling with 1,250 holes and very high cooling with 1,480 holes. Each of these then offers a sub-option with a process on the outer diameter – the so-called groove.

In the case of very high cooling, the holes are arranged in 7 different rows, in the intermediate case in 6 rows and the other case in 4 rows. They measure 2.5 mm in diameter each and are precision-machined individually. It takes 12 – 14 hours to punch all the holes on a single disc. The mechanical component tolerance is only four hundredths.

As for the tyres, Pirelli is providing 3 compounds in the middle of the range: the most popular selection of the season. The P Zero White hard is the C2, P Zero Yellow medium is C3, and P Zero Red is the C4. The same compounds were selected for the last 2 years, offering a good balance for all the different demands of the circuit.

The Italian GP is the second race this year that will have the new Sprint qualifying format. First run at the British Grand Prix in July, it proved to be popular with the drivers as well as the spectators. The Sprint Qualifying Race is 100 kms long which is 18 laps of Monza. No pit stops are required so the drivers will be going flat out from start to finish.

The start of the Sprint race saw Hamilton fumble and while his team mater got off well, Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo also got past the Mercedes-AMG driver and Land Norris as well! But collisions further back, starting with Pierre Gasly and a McLaren brought out the Safety Car. But it was only our till the third lap and racing resumed – by which time, Hamilton had dropped to fifth place.

The Scuderia AlphaTauri team had a bad day as Gasly (last year’s Italian GP winner) was out and Yuki Tusnoda had also sustained damage. Gasly’s retirement enabled Charles Leclerc to move up, while Lance Stroll had to work hard to prevent Sergio Perez from taking over his position.

Verstappen tailed Bottas who was about 2 seconds in the lead. The Dutchman didn’t have to try too hard and just keep his second position since the Finn would have to start from the back even if he won the race. The only thing that Verstappen would miss out on was just 1 point.

For Hamilton, things were just not working out, even with DRS and Norris remained in his sights ahead. The thing is, it was just an 18-lap race so there was not a lot of time and every second counted. In the end, he had to settle for fifth place, while Bottas took the chequered flag. The additional points don’t do anything to the rankings as they were on 3-2-1, so tomorrow will see the reigning World Champion having to work very hard to regain the lead.

F1/Round 13: Highlights & Provisional Results For 2021 Dutch Grand Prix

As the race got underway, all eyes were on Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton who were on the front row, something which had not been seen since since Silverstone where even before the first lap was completed, contact between the two cars saw the Red Bull Racing driver bouncing off into the barriers. Thankfully, there was no drama as the Red Bull driver took the lead with Hamilton getting into his slipstream as they headed to Turn 1.

Zandvoort is an old-school track with overtaking opportunities limited so it wasn’t surprising that the order remained pretty much as it was on the starting grid. However, Fernando Alonso (Alpine F1) managed to find a gap and moved two places up even before the first lap was completed.

Daniel Ricciardo’s woes started early as smoke was seen coming from his McLaren and oil was also leaking onto the track. However, he still kept going and after a couple of laps, the problem seemed to go away as he held on to ninth place.

As the race headed into its second quarter, Verstappen still led with a gap of almost 3 seconds from Hamilton. The frontrunners remained out but some of the backmarkers were getting a change of tyres.

At 18 laps – one quarter of the way – the front three drivers continued to hold positions, with Valtteri Bottas doing his usual duty of watching Hamilton’s back. Further back, Scuderia Alphatauri’s Pierre Gasly was trying to keep ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

Sergio Perez, the other Red Bull driver, had qualified poorly and was struggling to move up the field from his starting position at 16th.

On lap 21, Hamilton had enough of his tyres and came in for a fresh set, the first among the frontrunners to do so. The move saw Red Bull also bringing in Verstappen and getting him out and ahead of Hamilton in a time 9/10ths of a second quicker than the stop at the Mercedes-AMG pits. Bottas had inherited the lead, and Verstappen was almost 10 seconds away.

As lap 26 began, Verstappen was chasing Bottas while keeping an eye in the mirror on a fast closing Hamilton. The World Champion had cut the gap to less than 2 seconds, which was making for a very interesting battle. The chase was hard on the Red Bull’s tyres, which was what Bottas was aiming to do.

But pushing hard, Verstappen eventually overtook Bottas on the 32nd lap, with Hamilton shooting past still intent on closing the gap. Bottas came in, got his new tyres and was out in 2.2 seconds, still able to slot back into third place but 24 seconds behind his team mate. He had no threat from Gasly who was 2o seconds behind, so he settled into maintaining his defending position.

About halfway through the race, only two drivers had still not come in for new tyres – Land Norris and Robert Kubica, who was taking Kimi Raikkonen’s place in the race because Kimi had tested positive for COVID-19.

On lap 38, a pile-up was avoided when Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin COGNIZANT) spun on the banking at Turn 3 as he tried to pass Kubica. Bottas was coming along and just managed to miss the cars.

On lap 41, Hamilton came in for a tyre change again and Red Bull did the same thing one lap later with Verstappen, The positions did not change and the Dutchman had newer tyres to give maximum effort as he tried to increase the 3-second gap from his rival. In retrospect, there was concern that with 30 laps to go, Hamilton had done the second tyre change too early and worse, he had been given used tyres.

On lap 43, Nikita Mazepin (Haas F1) was forced to end his race when his car developed a hydraulic issue that could not be fixed. He was the first driver to retire at the 2021 Dutch Grand Prix. Following him was Yuki Tsunoda of Scuderia AlphaTauri who would also get to go home early. He had notified his team that he had lost power and telemetry confirmed a problem, so he was brought in.

Hamilton was around 2 seconds behind Verstappen on lap 57 as the Red Bull driver started to get close to traffic ahead. But it wasn’t necessarily good for Hamilton who was noticing some power problems in his car. But the slower cars see the two race leaders coming up and move aside as much as they can, not wanting to be responsible for causing any incident.

*Dutch Grand Prix in the 1950s at the Zandvoort Circuit which had a different layout from the one used for the 2021 Grand Prix.*

Less than 10 laps from the end of the race, Hamilton was finding the going harder and harder as the tyres were worn out, and the gap started to widen. It looked like Verstappen would be able to take the chequered flag and regain his championship lead – with team mate Perez providing a few more as he had managed to make it up to points positions. However, in his attempt to get past Norris, there was contact between the cars which the Stewards noticed and considered.

In the closing laps, the Mercedes-AMG team decided that their cars should have fresh tyres so that the drivers could at least put in the fastest lap and collect the precious point for the team.

F1/Round 13: Preview & Starting Grid For 2021 Dutch Grand Prix

Race starts at 3 pm in Holland/9 pm in Malaysia

The last time a Dutch F1 Grand Prix was held was in 1985 – 36 years ago – so almost all the drivers taking part in Round 13 this weekend were not born yet. However, the Zandvoort Circuit in northern Holland is not entirely new to some of them as they drove around it during their Formula 3 years. Older fans would remember the great drivers of that period – like Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart, Niki Lauda and Rene Arnoux – who won races at Zandvoort.

The 36-year gap is the longest in the Formula 1 championship and the reason it had dropped off the calendar was due to financial difficulties that prevented it from being modernized and upgraded as the sport evolved. It was only in 1995 that proper investment was made with a new owner and the circuit, which had its first race in 1948, was redesigned and redeveloped.

The 4.3-km layout of today’s circuit differs greatly from the one that existed in the first 50 years, so comparison of lap times with those of today are meaningless and besides, the cars have advanced greatly too. The last F1 race was won by Lauda when he was with McLaren, which also won the championship that year.

The younger drivers will recall the challenging track with 14 corners, many of them fast and sweeping and the ‘Tarzan Corner’ hairpin at the end of the start/finish straight. The Zandvoort track layout stands out as one of the more unusual circuits on the 2021 F1 calendar, with an old-school feel.

It’s also an undulating track, rising and falling between the sand dunes, with a rollercoaster-like vibe similar to Portimao and an elevation change of almost 8 metres. And being located across the road from the North Sea, strong wind can be expected, sometimes blowing sand onto the track and affecting grip (an issue normally associated with places like Bahrain).

One of the most striking elements of the track is the super-fast, steeply banked Turns 13 and 14. The 18-degree banking will add significant load to the tyres through this section, which will impact the durability and life of the tyre compounds. Given the banked final corner, high-speed turns and undulations, it’s not surprising that Pirelli have picked the hardest tyres in their range.

*Alfa Romeo ORLEN team members getting a feel of the banking at the circuit.*

The banked final two corners, which feature a banking angle twice as steep as the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, will definitely be challenging for the cars and the tyres, putting a lot of forces through them. But they should be fairly simple for the drivers to tackle. Getting this section of track right is crucial for the run onto the main straight, which leads to one of the few overtaking opportunities at Turn 1.

“This track is epic. It brought back so many memories when I first got out there, from when I drove here before. I knew it was great when I was in Formula 3, but in a Formula One car it is just something else!” said Lewis Hamilton, who was born in the same year the last Dutch GP was held.

It is, of course, a home race for Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen who is Dutch. He’s only raced once at Zandvoort in his Formula 3 days atthe 2014 Zandvoort Masters when he went from pole position to chequered flag – becoming the youngest winner in the race’s history at just 16. “I’m really looking forward to coming here for the Grand Prix. To have a home Grand Prix will be even more crazy than usual in terms of support. I hope it’s going to be a highlight of the season, but it will all depend on the Sunday result. But we’ll do everything we can to make sure it’s a good one,” he said.

Alfa Romeo ORLEN’s Kimi Raikkonen, who announced that this will be his final season in Formula 1, will not be able to take part as he has been tested positive with COVID-19. His place will be taken by the team’s reserve driver, Robert Kubica (right).

After the controversial rain-affected Belgian Grand Prix last weekend, F1’s first half-points were awarded with positions based on starting grid positions. The last time half-points were awarded was at the Malaysian Grand Prix in 1979 as the race had to be stopped due to heavy rain. Max Verstappen was declared the winner and got 12.5 points, taking him to 199.5 points or just 3 behind championship leader Hamilton. In the Constructors Championship, Mercedes-AMG is up to 310.5 points, seven ahead of Red Bull Racing.

F1/Round 12: Highlights & Provisional Results For 2021 Belgian Grand Prix

Even before the race started, there was already drama as Sergio Perez (Red Bull Racing) aquaplaned and crashed in the wet and slippery conditions on the way to the starting grid. His right suspension was too severely damaged for repairs to be done in time, so he was out.

Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes-AMG) and Lando Norris (McLaren) both had 5-place penalties so they were further down the grid than where the qualifying time had put them. Bottas went to 13th and Norris to 15th, the latter getting a penalty for a gearbox change. Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll was relocated to last as he too had a 5-place grid penalty from the previous race.

As it continued to rain, the start was delayed by 15 minutes and then another 10 minutes more were added, and the 19 cars would do their formation lap behind the red Safety Car from Mercedes-AMG. The conditions were bad enough that the Red Bull boss, Christian Horner, remarked to Sky Sports: “I certainly wouldn’t want to be getting into a car in these conditions. They are very brave.”

28 minutes after the original scheduled start time, the Safety Car led the racing cars out. It was still raining heavily and messages from the drivers indicated that visibility was a problem with all the spray. The situation looked too hazardous and the start process was suspended with the Safety Car leading the convoy back to the pits. There was no official word on what would happen but virtually everyone was in agreement that the conditions were too dangerous for any racing.

The F1 Safety Car supplied by Mercedes-AMG (Aston Martin also supplies the F1 Safety Car for some races) is driven by Bernd Maylander (inset). He has been behind the wheel of F1 Safety Cars since 2000 and has led the field for a total of at least 700 laps in that time.

In the Red Bull pits, the crew was frantically working on the Perez’ damaged car in the hope that he could join the race. The team was trying to persuade the Race Director to allow Perez to ‘come back from retirement’ and be allowed to race. In the end, the Race Director allowed Perez to start but he would have to do so from the pit lane (so does Kimi Raikkonen for something else).

*With the race suspended before it could get started, the drivers could only wait for news of when the restart would be.*

*The Spa-Francorchamps circuit on a day without rain, which was not the case at this year’s Belgian Grand Prix.*

There was discussion about whether the race would be abandoned, or run on Monday. It was interesting that there seemed to be no clear position in rules regarding abandonment of a race due to rain, and how it would be handled. The last two races that had been abandoned due to heavy rain were the 2009 Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang and before that, the 1991 Australian Grand Prix. Older readers will also remember the horrendous conditions of the 1976 Japan Grand Prix in which championship leader Niki Lauda decided to pull out of the race as he was certain the conditions were too dangerous. The race was not stopped in spite of the rain and was won by Mario Andretti in a Lotus.

*The 2009 Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang was stopped after 31 laps due to rainy conditions making racing too dangerous. As less than 75% of the total of 42 laps were run, only half points were awarded.*

Finally, some 3 hours after the race had been scheduled to start came the news that racing would resume within 17 minutes. The teams hurriedly prepared the cars and the spectators who had been sitting and waiting in the rain cheered as the Safety Car led the field back onto the wet track.

The Safety Car remained in the lead as the first few laps were completed but did not come in, so actual racing was not taking place. The Race Director had declared that it would be a time run but the laps were not confirmed.

And then red flags appeared and the race was stopped, with the cars headed back to the pits. The remaining time in the 1-hour allocation counted down but the conditions remained too dangerous to run in. Anyway, the requisite 2 laps had been done, so half-points could thus be awarded even if the rest of the race did not take place. Some drivers would benefit and some would not, but for George Russell who was right up at the front row, even half-points would be a very good day for the British driver.

The race was not able to resume as the rain just kept falling and the Race Director made the decision to abandon it, with the order on the grid being the order for the results, and half-points allocated. It will be remembered as the shortest F1 race as only around 21 kms had been completed out of the 308 kms had a 44-lap race been run.

*A replacement circuit for Round 20 has not been announced yet.*

F1/Round 12: Preview & Starting Grid For 2021 Belgian Grand Prix

Race starts at 3 pm in Belgium/ 9 pm in Malaysia

Following the mid-season break, the 2021 Formula 1 World Championship resumes its second half of the season with the 2021 Belgian Grand Prix, Round 12 of the championship. It will be the first of three rounds to be over three consecutive weekends, the other two being the Dutch Grand Prix and then the Italian Grand Prix. As reported earlier, the rounds in Japan and Australia have been cancelled due to the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic and quarantine requirements will make it impractical for the teams to travel to those countries. The organizers are looking for alternative circuits to replace them.

The F1 Belgian Grand Prix has been run 65 times (the race was not held on 6 occasions), of which 54 of those times were held at Spa-Francorchamps. The original circuit was designed in 1920 and used public roads. It was a high-speed course with long straights, and drivers could achieve higher average speeds than on other tracks.

The original track was 15 kms long but was gradually shortened. It gained a reputation for being a dangerous track as it used public roads, and in 1969, the F1 drivers refused to take part in the Belgian Grand Prix for that reason. F1 would not return to the track until 1983, and then in the early 2000s, a new financial backer made investments that enabled redevelopment to improve the track, especially safety features.

After the tight, complicated Hungaroring layout, Spa-Francorchamps emphasizes the variety among F1’s permanent tracks. It is characterised by long straights and ultra high-speed corners. This means that the engineers have to do a ‘balancing act’: low drag to attack or defend on the straights but also sufficient downforce to be fast through the intricate Sector 2 where much of the lap times is gained or lost.

Besides having the biggest elevation change in F1 – around 100 metres difference between the highest point and the lowest point – it is also the longest track on the calendar and also has the least number of laps. The long lap distance presents a few unique challenges. For example, if a car suffers damage early in the lap, it’s a long way back to the pits. The weather is also very changeable, and conditions can vary from corner to corner. A longer lap also means teams can’t fit as many laps into their practice and qualifying run plans, therefore the drivers have fewer opportunities to practice each corner and find the limit.

Despite being the longest track in the xurrent World Championship, the brakes on the racing cars are used just 7 times per lap, an average of once per kilometre. On the other hand, in the Monaco GP, the brakes are applied on average every 300 metres of the street circuit. In fact, at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, drivers apply their brakes for 13.3 seconds per lap or just 13% of the total race time.

“The challenges of this track, especially when it comes to the weather, are well-known, as are the loads placed on the tyres. Last year, the top three qualified on the medium tyre, while the soft offered a good step up in grip but required more management, and so was not considered to be an optimal race tyre. The majority of drivers went from medium to hard, with the pit stop dictated by the safety car at lap 11 for most of them. So we could see an interesting mix of strategies this year,” said Mario Isola, Head of F1 and Car Racing at Pirelli. He added that the same tyre selections as last year will be available again.

Hamilton and Mercedes-AMG on top again
The last two races before the break saw both the Drivers and Constructors championships changing complexion. Red Bull Racing and its driver, Max Verstappen, had been pulling away steadily from the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS team. However, the outcome in Hungary saw the German team overtake and lead by 12 points, while Lewis Hamilton is back at the top again and will certainly want to stay there to defend his title.

Incidentally, Aston Martin did not go ahead with their intention to appeal after Sebastian Vettel lost his second place in Hungary due to a ‘remaining fuel’ issue. The second place would have been the young team’s best result to date. Vettel is known to have said he does not know what happened to the trophy he was given (which should go to Hamilton) during the podium ceremony.

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