Vietnam will host a round in 2020 and is creating a street circuit in Hanoi for the race which will be held at the beginning of April
Vietnam will host a round in 2020 and is creating a street circuit in Hanoi for the race which will be held at the beginning of April
♦ Lewis Hamilton’s win in Mexico still does not confirm his sixth world title, and he will have to wait till the next round in Texas. His closest rival is his team mate, Valtteri Bottas who is now 74 points behind.
♦ Ferrari started off with an unexpected advantage of pole position for Charles Leclerc when Max Verstappen lost his pole position because he ignored warning flags. However, the Italian team again lost that advantage although Sebastian Vettel’s tyre strategy worked out well in the end.
♦ Daniil Kvyat finished 9th overall but was dropped to 11th when the official results came out. The Toro Rosso driver was given a 10-second post-race time penalty for his last lap incident with Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg. The change in position also lost him and his team 2 points.
♦ Alexander Albon put in a good performance in Mexico, rising as high as third in the running, but the 2-stop strategy he had to use prevented him from pursuing the Mercedes-AMG drivers.
♦ The chances of Hamilton winning in Texas are pretty good as he has won 5 races there over the past 7 years. After collecting another world title, he can decide if he wants to move to Ferrari, Formula E, become an actor (he revealed that he was approached to star in Top Gun 2), or try to save the world in other ways.
Next race in Texas on November 3
♦ Second consecutive victory for 21-year old Charles Leclerc. He also gave Ferrari its first win on home ground after 9 years.
♦ Although under attack from both Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas at different stages of the race, Leclerc stayed cool and remained out of reach to take the chequered flag.
♦ Sebastian Vettel’s race was one he would want to forget. After losing control of his car at a chicane, he was involved in a collision with Racing Point’s Lance Stroll got him a 10-second penalty.
♦ Although Ferrari seems to be competitive enough, the improvements being made to their car can’t be fast enough to collect more wins before the season ends, especially if circuits are tight with lots of corners.
♦ Daniel Ricciardo’s fourth placing was the best for Renault since the carmaker returned to F1 in 2016.
♦ The McLaren team was fined 5,000 euros (about RM23,000) for an unsafe release that caused Sainz to retire from the race.
Next race in Singapore on September 22
♦ Charles Leclerc’s win at Spa brings the total number of victories at the Belgian GP for Ferrari to 18, the most of any team.
♦ The death of Anthoine Hubert in an accident during the Formula 2 race was a tragedy that hit Leclerc especially hard because of their close friendship. 5 years earlier, Leclerc also lost his godfather, Jules Bianchi, who died after an accident in the Japanese Grand Prix.
♦ Max Verstappen was knocked out at the start of the race after contact with Kimi Raikkonen’s Alfa Romeo. However, the Dutchman, currently third in the championship standings, did not blame Raikkonen for the incident which damaged his steering.
♦ After it was clear that Sebastian Vettel was struggling to maintain his pace, the team made the decision that he had to defend Leclerc’s bid for victory, and he followed the team orders.
♦ The tragic death of Anthoine Hubert on Saturday affected the whole F1 community and Daniel Ricciardo revealed that he had almost decided not to race on Sunday.
♦ In the final lap, Sergio Perez and Alexander Albon had a close fight to try to improve their positions which caught the attention of the stewards. However, they did not receive any penalties after the race, the stewards reporting that ‘each driver described it as hard racing and agreed there was potential danger. In view of the explanations and the successful overtaking move, it was considered there should be no further action’.
Next race in Italy on September 8
The Sepang International Circuit (SIC) gears itself up for 2016 despite a challenging year in 2015. (more…)
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