Max Verstappen Archives

F1/Round 4: Highlights and Provisional Results of 2022 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix

Cloudy conditions with the 60% possibility of rain was the forecast as the race was about to start. The damp starting grid filled up with 19 cars as Zhou GuanYu’s crash in the Sprint Race meant that the Alfa Romeo ORLEN driver would have to start from the pit lane.

Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen was ready this time, unlike yesterday when he lost out to Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc leaving the starting line. This time he got a great start and even his team mate Sergo Perez in third position slipped past Leclerc. However, it was not good for the other Ferrari driven by Carlos Sainz – a bump with McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo had both cars in the gravel and Sainz could not get back out. To enable the marshals to recover the Ferrari, the Safety Car came out and took over the lead.

Mercedes-AMG’s George Russell did well to cut through from starting at 11th to place himself in 6th in the convoy behind the Safety Car. Lewis Hamilton managed to improve his 14th starting position to 12th in the running order.

Racing resumed from the fifth lap as the Safety Car left the track. Verstappen amd Perez shot forward and opened up the gap with McLaren’s Lando Norris who had managed to grab third place before the Safety Car came out. But right behind the McLaren driver was championship leader Leclerc who did not want to be delayed from getting to the front.

Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel had also done well to move up 5 places and got past Alpine’s Fernando Alonso who was struggling after sustaining damage that took off his sidepod. When he finally got back to the pits, the engineer gave him the bad news that the damage was severe and he might have to retire.

On lap 8 of the 63-lap race, Leclerc finally got past Norris, much to the delight of the home crowd. But his third position was still some 6 seconds from Verstappen who was protected by his team mate.

As the track was drying out, the radar showed that rain could start to fall by lap 22, so decisions were being made to hang on to the intermediates for the time being. The three frontrunners – Verstappen, Perez and Leclerc were well ahead of Norris who was 10 seconds behind the Ferrari and, for the time being, safe from Russell who was occupied with keeping Haas F1’s Kevin Magnussen from passing him.

By lap 15, Hamilton was in the mirrors of the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll and trying to get into 10th and start to think about points. Just ahead of the two was Scuderia Alphatauri’s Yuki Tsunoda who started to become involved in the tussle as well.

The first drive to come in was Ricciardo on lap 18 and his McLaren got medium tyres. He was followed by Pierre Gasly (Scuderia Alphatauri) and Alex Albon (Williams) who changed to the dry-weather tyres. By lap 21, all the cars had made their tyre changes. During his pit stop, Hamilton had contact with Alpine’s Esteban Ocon who was departing after his tyre change and it was deemed an unsafe release, for which the Stewards gave him a 5-second penalty.

The forecast changed to less risk of rain which meant that the medium tyres would have to last for another 39 laps. Ricciardo decided to come in again on lap 27 for slicks but he still had a lot of work ahead as he was way down in 18th. He would come in again another 4 laps later and try another set of tyres.

Perez was doing a good job of keeping Leclerc in third but the Ferrari driver was pushing hard. When told of the increasing efforts, Verstappen widened the gap to 9 seconds but by about halfway through the race, he would start to encounter traffic.

It seemed that Ricciardo, being way back, was a ‘tyre tester’ and from his experiences with the hard tyres, it was better to stick to the mediums for the rest of the race, so Norris would have to think about tyre management for another 25 laps.

By lap 40, Verstappen appeared behind Hamilton, down in 14th, and it must have been hard for the 7-time world champion to let the man he lost to last year pass. Once the Red Bull got past, Hamilton got back to trying to displace Gasly from 13th place. It was obvious that the Mercedes-AMG just did not have the speed to overtake the Scuderia Alphatauri.

With 13 laps to go, Verstappen had built up a comfortable lead of almost 14 seconds. Leclerc was still battling with Perez, while Norris was also safe in 4th place and just had to make it to the end.

On lap 50, Leclerc came in and switched to soft tyres (which he was not 100% convinced was right) and on the very next lap, the two Red Bulls came in and did the same change. Verstappen had such a big gap that he easily returned to the lead as he rejoined the race.

Disaster struck for Leclerc on lap 54 and he spun and hit a barrier. He was fortunate to slide sideways into the barrier so the damage was less but still the front wing was damaged. He managed to get back to the pits but when he got back out, he was done in 8th. With 5 laps left, he had to try to improve his position but make sure he did finish as well.

As two laps remained, some teams started to alert their drivers of rain on some parts of the track, but for Verstappen, there were no worries of challenges before the end. Both Red Bulls were comfortably ahead as they crossed the finish line, with Norris joining them on the podium.

Behind Norris came Russell who had put in a strong effort in those closing laps to prevent Valtteri Bottas from taking fourth place. As for Leclerc, he could only reach up to 6th position, having managed to get past Yuki Tsunoda, by the time the race ended.

Miami, USA to have Formula 1 race in 2022

F1/Round 4: Preview & Provisional Starting Grid For 2022 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix

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

Round 4 of the 2022 Formula 1 World Championship returns to Europe to start in Italy at the Imola Circuit, also known as Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari. Initially named after Enzo Ferrari’s son Dino, when Enzo himself passed away in 1988, the decision was taken to add the father’s name to that of his son. The Ferrari founder was closely associated with the circuit and he recalled its birth in a book he wrote in 1980: “My first contact with Imola dates back to the spring of 1948. I assessed from the first moment that that hilly environment could one day become a small Nurburgring due to the natural difficulties that the construction of a road belt would summarize, thus offering a truly selective path for men and machines. From my opinion, the promoters of Imola felt comforted. In May 1950, construction began. I was present at the ceremony of the first stone, which was laid by the lawyer Onesti with the greeting of the CONI and a contribution of 40 million which I believe was the first gesture of the organization towards motor racing. A small Nurburgring – I repeated to myself that day as I looked around – a small Nurburgring, with the same technical resources, spectacular and an ideal route length.”

How the Mercedes-Benz team transported their Silver Arrows Formula 1 cars around Europe in the 1950s. The custom-built transporter was nicknamed the ‘Blue Miracle’ and ‘Blue Wonder’, and it had the same engine as the 300 SL Gullwing sportscar so it could travel at high speeds.

It’s one of the old circuits of F1 (opened in 1953) but is relatively new to the racers as this is the third year a F1 round is held there. Before the 2020 event, the last time the circuit had a F1 race was in 2006. In 2020, when F1 returned, there was no data available but now after two rounds, the teams and especially Pirelli have enough data to help in set-up and tyre selection.

The 4.9-metre long circuit is a highly technical one, with a wide range of corners. Its layout has changed over the years but it remains narrow and bumpy, as the older tracks tend to be. This makes overtaking more challenging and puts more emphasis on strategy to make up places.

*The cornering speeds and gears used by the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS racing cars.*

“Imola is an old-school, challenging track, where overtaking can be tricky, also because the circuit is quite narrow in places. So the strategy is likely to centre around avoiding traffic, and effectively the teams start from scratch here in terms of tyre knowledge – as the compounds are completely different this year, and last year’s race also began on the wet-weather tyres, before being interrupted by a lengthy red flag period,” said Pirelli’s Motorsport Director, Mario Isola.

“Generally speaking, Imola is a medium severity track for the tyres, and it’s a venue that is used quite frequently. This means that we might see a little less track evolution than we’ve been accustomed to at other circuits as the track is well rubbered-in already. The first round of the Pirelli-equipped GT World Challenge took place at Imola last month, which gave us some useful data. These are just some of the factors that the teams will have to take into account when establishing the tyre strategy for the opening sprint session of the year: another first for the 2022 season,” he added.

The tyres are all-new but the track is just as it was at this time last year, and the asphalt dates from 2011, which makes the 11-year old surface reasonably abrasive. The more mature surface at Imola generates more grip and therefore more heat in the tyres, requiring a more robust softest compound.

Pirelli has therefore chosen C2, C3 and C4 tyres for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix as P Zero White hard, P Zero Yellow medium and P Zero Red soft respectively. This is the same nomination as last year, although the compounds are different with the latest generation of 18-inch tyres.

With 19 turns and the reduced length of the final straight (358 metres), the circuit has fast direction changes and extremely difficult braking sections of every imaginable kind. It’s therefore a sort of mini Nurburgring, as Ferrari expected it to be.

Imola has one of the longest pit lanes of any F1 track on the 2022 calendar, measuring 549 metres. This means one of the longest pit lane times, too, with at least 24.7 seconds. This is an interesting strategic factor as you lose more time making a pit stop compared to other races.

At Imola today was the first of 3 planned Sprint events during the 2022 F1 season, the others being in Austria and Brazil. This moved Qualifying to Friday afternoon, after FP1, to determine the grid for the 100-km race today. The result of the Sprint race, when the drivers will go flat out, decides the grid for Sunday’s main race. There are also points for the top 8 finishers.

The Sprint Race
Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen must have been delighted to get pole position for the Sprint race after the disappointments of the first 3 rounds which have resulted in him being 6th in the championship rankings. Rain had come down during the qualifying session which saw a number of incidents. Pushing hard even on the wet and slippery track, he beat championship leader Charles Leclerc, while McLaren’s Lando Norris was surprised to get third on the grid for today.

A slow start by the Red Bull driver allowed Leclerc to reach Turn 1 first but as the pack headed to Turn 9, GuanYu Zhou (Alfa Romeo ORLEN) collided with Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly and headed into the wall. The crash was a bad one, bringing out the Safety Car.

The Safety Car left the track on lap 4 and although Verstappen was waiting to move, the new ruling did not allow him to be alongside Leclerc who was ready to rocket off the moment it was allowed. While Zhou would not get to complete his first Sprint race, Gasly was able to return to the pits and get a new wing and continue racing.

Both team mates of the leaders – Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz – had made good progress to move up a few positions. Norris meanwhile was slipping back as the two leaders pulled further ahead. As for the two Mercedes drivers, their positions were still out of the Top 10, George Russell doing better at 12^th and Lewis Hamilton at 15^th.

By the halfway point of the short 21-lap race, Perez was starting to challenge Norris. Within one lap, he was past into fourth with 9 laps to go. Just behind, Haas F1’s Kevin Magnussen was steadily dropping back as Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz got past him and closed in on the McLaren to try to take fourth before the race ended. He did it by lap 15 and would keep the position till the end, collecting 5 extra points this weekend.

Verstappen was waiting as the plan was to wait for the Ferrari’s tyres to degrade and then he would make his push but the number of laps was running out. Leclerc remained in control even though the Red Bull was less than a second away.

Finally, on lap 20, Verstappen powered through the final corner and although he had to take a wide line, he got past the Ferrari into the lead. Once past, he went flat out for the finish line with Leclerc and Perez following.

Brembo develops new brake systems for new 2022 F1 cars (w/VIDEO)

F1/Round 2: Highlights and Provisional Results of 2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

The second round of the 2022 Formula 1 World Championship has not been smooth running since the weekend began. First there was the missile attack on an oil depot just 11 kms away from the Corniche Circuit and although many drivers were reluctant to continue through the weekend, they were convinced to do so after assurances from the Saudi Arabian authorities that they would be safe. The Houthis were also said to have assured that they would suspend attacks for 3 days, perhaps understanding a bit about global perception if anything were to happen to F1 participants, even accidentally.

Then there was the nasty accident when Haas F1’s Mick Schumacher hit a wall and had to be hospitalized. Fortunately, he’s okay but he can’t race. And then for Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda (already placed last on the grid as he did not qualify), his race ended before it even started as his car lost power while he was driving it to the start.

[Click here for revised starting grid positions]

When the race got underway, Sergio Perez got off the a good start as his Red Bull team mate Max Verstappen raced past Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz leaving the grid. Many were watching Lewis Hamilton who had been in 16th place after qualifying, and then repositioned two places up after McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo was given grid penalities. Hamilton had also made a good start and moved 2 places up in the early stages of the opening lap. Alfa Romeo’s Zhou, however, seemed to slip backwards a place or two at the start, bumping into Ricciardo as well.

On lap 5, the two BWT Alpine drivers began fighting each other to move into sixth place. Fernando Alonso had attempted to get past his team mate who was unwilling to let him through. Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas was closing in and watching the tussle and looking to take advantage of it to get past but Ocon held him back too. That little battle between Ocon and Alonso can’t have pleased the team boss.

The Alpine battle was helpful for Mercedes-AMG’s George Russell who had moved one position up from starting sixth. He was about 12 seconds back from the next car (Sainz) and could concentrate on steadily moving closer with a 10-second gap behind him on lap 12. By then, his team mate Hamilton had moved into 11th place.

Zhou had managed to get up to 13th but on lap 13, he had overtaken Williams’ Alexander Albon whose rear tyres were gone. The pass was done off the track and the Stewards spotted it and gave him a 5-second penalty for that.

Lap 16 saw the first accident as Williams’ Nicholas Latifi went into the barriers near the final corner. This brought out the Virtual Safety Car (VSC) and many drivers took the chance to head to the pits for a tyre-change. Perez too came in, which let Leclerc take over the lead as the VSC was replaced by a real Safety Car to manage the flow while the damaged racing car was removed. At least 3 cars (Hamilton among them) did not come in and they had all started on Hard tyres.

The Safety Car left the track on lap 20 and racing resumed with Leclerc in the lead and Verstappen almost in his slipstream. A frustrated Perez was third, also not far from the front and although he tried, he was unable to stop Sainz from getting past as well and instead watch out for Russell coming up. Incidentally, both Ferraris had switched to Hard tyres when they came in.

Magnussen didn’t give up trying even after Hamilton had passed him and interestingly, both cars were still on their starting Hard tyres after more than 30 laps as they had not gone in during the Safety Car period for a change. Aston Martin’s Nico Hulkenberg, running in 14th, was the only other driver who was still running on starting tyres.

As lap 37 started, Alonso’s car seem to drop back with a noticeable reduction in speed. After having made it past Magnussen, he very quickly slipped back down the field and then radioed that the Alpine had no power. He tried to roll back to the pits but could not and parked so the VSC came out.

Then Ricciardo also reported that his McLaren had lost power and he had to stop right at the pit entrance, blocking it to Hamilton who was planning to come in. Bottas had come in earlier and not departed so he too retired. The VSC was kept active for another few laps as efforts were made to clear the Alpine.

9 laps remained when the VSC went off and Hamilton rushed into the pits to get Medium tyres. When he rejoined, he was just behind Magnussen who was in 11th.

On lap 43, Verstappen went into attack mode and swept past Leclerc, but the Ferrari driver did not give up easily and fought back to regain the lead. Behind, the other Red Bull with the Mexican in it was also duelling with Sainz. Much drama as the race was in its final laps.

There was last-minute drama as Albon and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll came into contact and the yellow flags came out. But it was a close fight as the leaders exchanged positions and Verstappen seemed to hold the lead better. And then it was over – Verstappen got across the finish line half a second ahead to win the 2022 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

F1/Round 22: Highlights & Provisional Results For 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix 2021

As the 19 cars (Haas F1’s Nikita Mazepin could not start due to COVID-19 infection) slowly took their places on the starting grid for the final round of the 2021 Formula 1 World Championship, the air was full of tension. Tonight’s result would decide who the new champion would be. It could well be the race of the century.

As the lights went out, the Red Bull driver got a good start but was not quick enough to outrun Lewis Hamilton to the first turn and coming out on the other side was the Mercedes-AMG. But the first controversy started by Turn 6 as Hamilton ran wide and Verstappen alleged that he had been pushed off the track. However, the Stewards did not see anything wrong and decided not to investigate… much to Christian Horner’s frustration again.

While McLaren Lando Norris slipped back and was overtaken by Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, it was Verstappen’s team mate, Sergio Perez, who managed to slip into third place about 4 seconds behind Hamilton. It was a good position to be where he could take over when the two leaders headed into the pits.

By lap 11, Hamilton was 3,5 seconds ahead but coming in was something that would need to be carefully considered as there was a risk in giving up the place too soon. Meanwhile, Verstappen was beginning to struggle with the soft tyres he started with, as opposed to Hamilton who had mediums from the start.

On lap 14, Verstappen had to come in and took on hard tyres. As usual, Mercedes-AMG followed next and when Hamilton rejoined, he was ahead enough to be in second place behind Perez who had taken over. However, Verstappen was further down and rejoined as Norris passed by. He had a 9-seconds gap from Hamilton who was ahead of Sainz.

With everyone more careful not to be the cause of any incident that could impact either of the championship leaders, Sainz didn’t put up a fight when the Red Bull was about to pass. Verstappen was up into third place but Hamilton had been pushing harder to reach Perez, and the gap was still 8 seconds.

On lap 20, Hamilton began to dice with Perez who had been instructed to delay the Mercedes-AMG driver enough so that Verstappen could close in. And as Hamilton had to be careful, he lost out as Verstappen shot forward unimpeded by his team mate who was ready to head for the pits. This put the Dutchman in second position and ready to fight for the title.

16 seconds behind Verstappen was Tsunoda, pursued by Bottas, while Perez slotted into fifth place after getting his fresh tyres. However, the Japanese drivers position was lost when he pitted, dropping him to tenth.

Alfa Romeo ORLEN’s Kimi Raikkonen did not get to finish his final F1 race as his car had braking problems around lap 26 and he had to limp back to the pits. Fans of the Finn, who was among the senior drivers, were saddened that the 20-year career had to end on a low note.

At the halfway point of the 58-lap race, Hamilton was still in the lead, 4 seconds ahead of Verstappen but without the security of having Bottas near enough. Though his team mate was in third, he was some 20 seconds behind. In any case, he had to come in for a tyre change and rejoined in tenth. His place was taken over by Perez who had a comfortable gap from Alpine F1’s Fernando Alonso, so he could focus on staying in the race.

Raikkonen’s team mate, Antonio Giovinazzi, also had an unhappy ending with the team as his car came to a stop on lap 36, triggering the Virtual Safety Car to enable clearing. Verstappen came in for hard tyres and rejoined still in second place as Hamilton did not want to lose his top spot. Twenty laps remained and Hamilton looked like he would keep the hard tyres till the end and take another world championship.

The Virtual Safety Car had given Verstappen a chance to close in on Hamilton and by lap 43, he had gained 4 seconds, though the gap was still over 12 seconds. His steady progress to close the gap meant that it was going to be a thrilling finish. And with 12 laps remaining, Hamilton was also getting close to backmarkers which could make things tricky.

With his tyres having been in use for over 37 laps, the team was warning Hamilton to be careful on the kerbs. A puncture would be disastrous at this point with the remaining laps.

7 laps from the end, Hamilton finally got past the traffic but Verstappen still had to carefully find his way past at least 5 cars, some of whom were also battling each other. The delay kept the gap at around 12 seconds.

And then Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi crashed at Turn 14 while duelling with Haas F1’s Mick Schumacher, and the Safety Car had to come out. Just 6 laps remained and with the cars unable to race, the release of the Safety Car would certainly be a dramatic moment as the two leaders tried to sprint to the finish. Verstappen decided to come into the pits to get fresh tyres – certainly the last time in the race – but Hamilton was unwilling to take any risk of losing his position right at the front.

With 3 laps remaining, the gap was just 3 seconds between Hamilton and Verstappen. Everyone was biting their nails as the outcome was going to be very tight. Verstappen still had 5 slower cars in front of him.

On the 57th lap, the cars were still behind the Safety Car so it seemed like a real shoot-put to the finish line. Then race control told the 5 cars between Hamilton and Verstappen to overtake the Safety Car as it was about to leave the track – and it would be Hamilton and Verstappen going for it as they were side by side. An incredible setting to the end of the season!

The moment racing resumed, Hamilton had a slight edge but Verstappen grabbed the lead – and held it to the chequered flag to become the new World Champion. Crossing the line, the Dutchman was about 2 seconds ahead of the Mercedes-AMG driver, whose boss was unhappy at the circumstances. But his team does win the Constructors Championship again, which makes it 8 times in a row. But for the Red Bull Racing team, the hard work finally paid off and for Honda, their engine supplier, it was a great way to end F1 involvement.

*Valtteri Bottas leaves the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS team to take over the spot vacated by Kimi Raikkonen, while Williams Racing’s George Russell will become Lewis Hamilton’s team mate in 2022.*

Guanyu Zhou 2022 F1 Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN — *Guanyu Zhou will join Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN in 2022 to partner with Bottas.*

F1/Round 22: Preview & Starting Grid For 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Race starts at 5 pm in Abu Dhabi/9 pm in Malaysia

And so its down to the final round of the 2021 Formula 1 World Championship which takes place at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi. It’s been a dramatic year with the two leaders – Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton – having a battle between themselves only. And now, as they face each other for the final time this year, their points are tied so this is a crucial race to decide who takes the crown. Tensions are so high that the Race Director has warned both drivers not to indulge in any unsporting behaviour otherwise the winner could be decided by the Stewards – which no one wants.

Last time was 1974
The last time two drivers were tied for the title was in 1974, when Emerson Fittipaldi of Lotus and Clay Regazzoni of Ferrari had 52 points each. But it was a different era too, with faster and more powerful cars, and the business of the sport also far more intense. Hamilton already has a string of 7 titles going back to 2008 and would certainly like to add another. But there are also some who would like to see a new champion although Verstappen has gained a ‘bad boy’ image of late.

“The final race will be intense… the fact that both championships will be decided at the season finale proves just how hard both sides have been challenging each other and pushing each other forward. It’s all or nothing for the season finale and that’s amazing for the sport, amazing for the fans and amazing for all of us, too,” said Mercedes-AMG’s Toto Wolff.

*‘May the best man win’ as the team bosses of Mercedes-AMG and Red Bull Racing shake hands before the race.*

Circuit substantially altered
The Yas Marina Circuit has, for some time, held the season-closing race. In fact, 9 of the 12 times it has had a F1 race, it has been the finale round. The cumulative data the teams have gained over the years will not be so applicable as the circuit has also been substantially altered for this year’s race. For one thing, it has 5 less corners – 16 instead of the 21 in last year’s layout. The hairpin complex from Turns 5 to 7 has been replaced with a wider hairpin bend at Turn 5, with the aim of promoting overtaking.

The changes have shortened a lap by 273 metres, which sees the number of laps increased from 55 to 58, all run after sunset. The changes to the track will also increase speeds and loads through some corners. However, as the circuit will still be smooth, with average stress on the tyres in terms of wear and degradation, the three softest compounds in the P Zero range remain a suitable choice, according to Pirelli.

The pitlane is the only one in F1 to feature a tunnel, with drivers passing under the circuit at the pit exit and re-joining on the left-hand side of Turn 2. It can prove tricky to see other cars when feeding back onto the track mid-corner.

*The last outing for the F1 Safety and Medical Cars which have been supplied by Mercedes-AMG (above) and Aston Martin (below) and used in different races.*

F1/Round 19: Preview & Provisional Sprint Race Starting Grid For 2021 Sao Paolo Grand Prix

Sprint Race starts at 4:30 pm in Brazil/3:30 am in Malaysia (Sunday)

GP race starts 2:00 pm in Brazil/1:00 am in Malaysia (Monday)

After last weekend in Mexico City, the F1 teams continued 7,500 kms south to Brazil for Round 19 of the 2021 Formula 1 World Championship. This will be the last of the three rounds in the western hemisphere which started in Texas on October 25. This round is known as the Sao Paulo Grand Prix and is held at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace, usually referred to as Interlagos.

There was no race held last year due to the pandemic, so the teams have not been at the track for longer than usual. But they are familiar with it as it has been hosting F1 rounds since 1972. The events used to be called the Brazilian Grand Prix but for some reason, the organizers and FIA now use city names instead.

The short 4.309-km circuit (almost same as the circuit in Mexico City) has a tight layout which the drivers will go around for 71 laps. Its undulating sequence of mostly medium and low-speed corners have always presented tough technical challenges. It is also one of the relatively few circuits run anti-clockwise on the calendar. The short lap (around 1 minute 10 seconds) means that traffic can be an issue and there’s also a high safety car probability, so any race strategy needs to bear that in mind.

In 2019, when the last GP was held, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won with a 3-stop strategy, following 2 Safety Car appearances at the end of the race. There were 3 different strategies in the top 4, with McLaren’s Carlos Sainz (fourth at the flag) stopping just once from last on the grid. Without the Safety Cars, a 2-stop strategy would have been the favoured tactic.

“Interlagos is an old-school track that keeps drivers and tyres busy and often produces some dramatic races, as we saw last time,” said Pirelli’s Mario Isola, adding that the weather is another variable factor and it can be very hot or very wet. “As a result, this year’s more versatile tyre selection should be able to cope with all the wide-ranging demands of the race and provide some different strategies.”

For this round, as in the British GP in July and the Italian GP in September, there is also a sprint race to offer additional excitement for spectators and also a different challenge for the teams. The Sprint Qualifying Race, which was well received by the drivers, is 100 kms long. 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 3 finishers of the race.

In Qualifying, Lewis Hamilton took pole position for the Sprint Race to be held on Saturday afternoon in Brazil. But because of an engine change, he will get a 5-place grid penalty for the main race on Sunday. Verstappen, who was 4/10ths of a second slower will start in second, with Valtteri Bottas in third and Serio Perez in fourth on the grid.

However, there is more tension at this time at Interlagos as both Hamilton and Verstappen have been referred to the Race Stewards for different matters. In Hamilton’s case, there is an alleged technical infringement regarding the rear wing on his car.

Verstappen could be in trouble relating to the FIA’s International Sporting Code concerning rules on working on the cars after Qualifying. Video footage shows him getting out of his car and walking to check on his own rear wing and then walking over to Hamilton’s car and also examining it and seemingly touching it. Article 2.5.1 of the Sporting Code states that ‘no operation, checking, tuning or repair is allowed’ but what sort of penalty the Red Bull driver will get remains uncertain.

At the time of writing, the rest of the world still doesn’t know the outcome but starting from the front row has proven historically important. Out of the 20 races run since 2000, 16 of them have been won by the driver who started from the front row. For Hamilton, already resigned to starting 5 places back even if he wins the Sprint Race, worse could come if the issue of the wing leads to another penalty.

As things stand after Mexico, Verstappen’s win moved him to a 19-point lead over Hamilton in the Drivers Championship. After finishing third, the other Red Bull driver, Sergio Perez, has moved closer to third-positioned Valtteri Bottas.

The double podium in Mexico for Red Bull also saw the gap narrowing to just one point in the Constructors Championship between leaders Mercedes-AMG and Red Bull Racing. The battle for third is also close after Ferrari collected a total of 18 points which moved the team ahead of McLaren with a 13.5-point advantage.

F1/Round 18: Highlights & Provisional Results For 2021 Mexico City Grand Prix

It was a disastrous start for Valtteri Bottas as he seemed to get a good start but as three cars – with Verstappen having also stayed alongside the two Mercedes cars, – went into the first tune, he was hit and went into a spin. The chaos also knocked out other cars, among them Yuki Tsunoda and Mick Schumacher, while Daniel Ricciardo had a damaged front wing. Out came the Safety Car as Verstappen was pulling ahead in the lead.

While Scuderia AlphaTauri and Haas F1 had one car retire before even the first lap, McLaren’s Ricciardo and Bottas came into the pits for quick repairs and rejoined the race. For Bottas, a pole position was wasted as he was near the back of the field.

The Safety Car circulated for 3 laps and then freed the convoy to resume racing. Verstappen was in the lead and took off, followed by Hamilton and Sergio Perez, with Pierre Gasly in fourth. The chaotic start had seen some of the drivers at the back gaining a few positions up, with Antonio Giovanazzi having gone from 11th to 6th, but Carlos Sainz then passed him for the position.

10 laps into the 71-lap race, the Red Bull in the lead was steadily opening up the gap and had an almost 2-second lead over Hamilton, who had to keep and eye on the other Red Bull behind. Bottas was somewhere down in 16th, stuck in traffic. His position was originally George Russell’s on the starting grid but the Williams driver had moved up to 11th and was busy duelling with Alpine’s Fernando Alonso.

By lap 17, more than half the field had come into the pits and changed to hard tyres but the leaders were still out and seemed to be managing their tyres well. They were still on mediums but would likely switch to hards eventually and try to make it all the way. That had been the case in the last race in 2019.

By lap 21, the frontrunners were starting to come up behind the backrunners. Verstappen was pushing hard and almost 7 seconds ahead of Hamilton, who was tailed by Perez just 2 to 3 seconds behind. The second Red Bull driver was in a safe position as Gasly was some 15 seconds further back so he played it safe and kept the pressure on Hamilton.

Bottas was taking a while to get past Ricciardo and was stuck in 12th place on lap 28, trying to get past the McLaren’s Aussie driver and at the same time, having to avoid letting Alfa Romeo’s Giovanazzi slip past. Meanwhile, up at the front, the leaders were resisting coming in for new tyres.

Hamilton finally came in on lap 30 and after a 2.4-second stop, he rejoined in fifth behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Gasly. But then the Ferrari pulled out to pit so Hamilton moved up one position. Just after that happened, Verstappen came in and Perez took over the lead, much to the delight of the home crowd.

Hamilton got past Gasly and moved up to 3rd but Verstappen was in an out fast enough to maintain the Red Bull 1-2. It was a 7-second gap for the reigning champion to close and he was working hard. Just over a third of the race was completed.

On lap 40, Ricciardo finally pitted and Bottas was able to move up and came up behind Fernando Alonso. Interestingly, the McLaren driver got medium tyres rather than hards, which only a few teams had chosen to use.

Bottas came in on lap 43 and disaster struck the Finn driver for the second time in the day as a front wheel was stuck and took a while to loosen, stretching his stop to an agonising 11 seconds. When he rejoined, he had dropped to 14th. But his team mate had inherited second place as Perez finally came in and though his stop was the usual quick one, he was already 7 seconds behind Hamilton when he rejoined. However, he had a comfortable 10-second gap with Gasly so he could focus on catching up and hassling the Mercedes driver.

Lando Norris had done 46 laps on his first set of tyres before he came in to switch to hards. He managed to rejoin in 10th place and would have to spend the remainder of the race trying to keep in the point-paying group.

On lap 58, with traffic slowing Hamilton down, Perez had come right up into his mirrors. The Mexican driver was going to keep the pressure on so that his team mate could safely collect the 25 points and pull away into a strong championship lead.

With 10 laps left – plus tyres wearing out – Hamilton had to be very careful how hard he wanted to push. A second place might disappoint but would be way better than not finishing.

Bottas was in 14th place and 2 laps behind the leaders and eventually came up to Verstappen. Both drivers were cautious about not causing any incident as less than 10 laps remained, and Verstappen stayed well away as the Finn tried to go for a very fast lap. And with one lap left, he again came into the pits to switch tyres and try one last time to get that precious 1 point for fastest lap (which he did achieve but as he was not in the top 10, it did not count).

But it was still Verstappen’s race as he crossed the finishing line comfortably ahead of Hamilton, his ninth win of 2021 securing a stronger championship lead. Perez gave it all he had but couldn’t make it to 2nd in time. Nevertheless, it was a proud moment for his countrymen as it was the first time a Mexican driver was on the podium of the Mexican GP.

F1/Round 17: Highlights & Provisional Results For 2021 US Grand Prix

As the lights went green, both drivers on the front row got off to good starts and were side by side heading to Turn 1. Neither was willing to back off and in the end, it was Max Verstappen who had to go wide when Lewis Hamilton did not let him pass. But the Dutchman recovered quickly and rejoined alongside team mate Sergio Perez.

The first vehicle contacts occurred when Wiliiams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi bumped into Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll at the start and the Canadian driver spun. Alpine’s Esteban Ocon also got hit by the Alfa Romeo of Antonio Giovanazzi, resulting in the Alpine’s front wing being damaged and he had to head to the pits for a replacement. As he rejoined the race, he almost collided with a fast-moving Latifi who had also come in.

There was a lot of jostling for better positions in the first laps, and starting positions quickly changed. Williams Racing’s George Russell was able to move up to 14th from the back, while McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo moved from 7th to 5th after getting past Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz.

From lap 8 onwards, the switch to hard tyres had started for most cars, except for Valtteri Bottas and the two Aston Martin drivers. Verstappen came in on lap 10, and Hamilton was forced to do likewise next, The Red Bull Racing driver inherited the lead as Hamilton went into the pits and wasted no time opening up the gap which was almost 7 seconds when the Mercedes-AMG driver came out again.

On lap 16, Pierre Gasly’s AlphaTauri had suspension problems serious enough that he had to pit. The problem was serious enough that he did not leave and was the first retiree of the USGP.

Bottas had been struggling to improve on his position but did not make much progress until lap 20 when he finally got past AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda to move into 8th – only one position better than what he started at (he had incurred a 5-place penalty on the grid for a sixth engine change).

On lap 22, Alonso got past Giovanazzi but it had occurred off the tracks, and after clarifying with the Race Director that it was not permissible, he had to give back the 11th place he had acquired, while Giovanazzi’s team mate, Kimi Raikkonen, moved further ahead. A lap later, an angry Alonso again has a close encounter with Giovanazzi and this time it was the reverse as the Alfa Romeo driver was told to give back the place to Alonso,

The Virtual Safety Car appeared on lap 29 for a while as a marshal had to get onto the track to collect some debris left by one of the cars during a minor collision earlier. At that point, Hamilton had closed in to around 3 seconds from the leader with no worries from the next car behind (Perez) who was some 17 seconds away.

On lap 30, Hamilton moved into the lead as Verstappen came in for his second tyre change. As he rejoined, he was just behind his team mate but got past quickly and began closing in on his rival who was trying to open up a gap so that he could safely go for a tyre change. This time, the Mercedes-AMG team might get it right. However, Verstappen was not making things easy by steadily eating away at what started as a 16-second gap.

Hamilton finally came in on lap 37, spent 2.4 seconds in the pits to get another set of hard tyres and when he came out, Verstappen was almost 8 seconds in the lead. Not a big gap and still 19 laps left which meant an interesting fight ahead. The tyres should last but track temperatures were high too and could be an unexpected factor. Further back, Perez and Ferrari’s Charle’s Leclerc were reasonably safe in their 3rd and 4th positions, respectively, with wide gaps between them.

Ocon became the second driver to retire as his team radioed him to return to the pits. They didn’t seem to want to explain why but it was a disappointment as he was running well. Alonso, his team mate, was in 13th and trying to take home at least 1 point from the race for the team. But he too would retire 5 laps from the end with a wing problem.

With 10 laps remaining, Hamilton was 2.5 seconds behind Verstappen, pushing as hard as he could and collecting fastest lap along the way. It appeared that Verstappen was not going as fast as he could have, which may have helped the Mercedes-AMG driver close in.

On the second last lap, Vettel was able to slip into the points-paying 10th as Raikkonen spun off into the gravel.

The last lap provided the American spectators a thrilling dual as the gap was under 2 seconds between the leaders. Hamilton seemed to be pushing very hard and sliding round some corners. It was going to be tight and Verstappen had one last back runner – Haas F1’s Mick Schumacher – to get past. But Verstappen just made it across the finish line with less than a second’s gap from Hamilton to win the USGP for the first time.

F1/Round 17: Preview & Starting Grid For 2021 US Grand Prix

Race starts at 2 pm in America/3 am on Monday in Malaysia

After circulating around Europe since April, the Formula 1 World Championship crosses the Atlantic to the USA for Round 17. The event is at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas, which has to cancel its race last year due to the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s a venue that the teams have always been happy to visit since it first joined the championship in 2012.

The 5.513-km long circuit with 20 turns offers drivers a variety of challenges. The first sector features a wide, blind first corner that allows for multiple lines, followed by a sequence of rapid changes in direction similar to Suzuka’s Esses. A car with good balance will have an advantage.

The second sector has a long high-speed straight followed by a heavy-braking overtaking point at Turn 12. The cars approach this turn after having traveled the long straight and must lose almost 240 km/h in order to set the braking point up right. They go from 333 km/h to 94 km/h in just 2.52 seconds and 125 metres.

During that time, the drivers are subject to 5.8g in deceleration or almost 6 times their body weight. So a driver weighing 70 kgs will feel like he weighs almost 420 kgs, which requires a high level of fitness to be able to cope with that and control the car properly over 50 times during the race.

Compared to the motorcycles, the single-seaters complete the race 30 seconds sooner because they travel a good part of the corners at a faster speed and sometimes don’t need to brake. Of the 10 braking sections on COTA, Brembo technicians have classified three as demanding on the brakes, one is medium difficulty and five are light.

Commenting on the conditions at COTA, Pirelli’s Head of F1 and Car Racing, Mario Isola, said that despite the circuit having been resurfaced for around 40% of its total length, there’s not a huge difference in terms of abrasion compared to the last F1 race in 2019. Several bumps are also still present despite some surface ‘milling’ – a process designed to smooth out the asphalt.

“The biggest difference has instead been the weather, with both track and ambient temperatures considerably warmer than the cool conditions experienced a couple of years ago. As expected in today’s warm temperatures, there was a bit of overheating on the soft C4 compound rear tyre, which is quite stressed given the severe traction demands of this circuit in the final sector especially,” he said.

“A two-stop strategy is the more likely, with the high speeds and abrasive surfaces here taking a lot out of the tyres. At the same time, the relatively low pit stop time loss and number of overtaking opportunities mitigate the advantages of a one-stopper. There are a number of different two-stoppers that are quite closely matched, depending on the race circumstances, so this looks set to be an intense strategic battle,” added Isola.

The championship for drivers still remains close at the very top, with Max Verstappen just 6 points ahead of Lewis Hamilton after the 16^th round in Istanbul. For the constructors championship, Valtteri Bottas’ win in the Turkish GP plus Hamilton’s 5^th placing gives the Mercedes-AMG team a 36-point lead ahead of Red Bull Racing. The Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS team and Lewis Hamilton have been dominant at COTA but Verstappen’s pole position for today’s race may be the beginning of a change.

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

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.