Max Verstappen Archives

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 9: Highlights & Provisional Results For 2021 Austrian Grand Prix

As the cars lined up on the starting grid, Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel did not take the eighth position he qualified in as he was given a 3-place penalty due to obstruction to Alpine’s Fernando Alonso during qualifying. This moved him down to 11th place.

Spectators were allowed into the Red Bull Ring, a big contrast from last year when the stands were empty. A large contingent of Dutch fans were cheering for Max Verstappen, who started from pole position.

As the lights turned green, the Red Bull driver got off to a great start up the slope, as McLaren’s Lando Norris dived in behind. However, Turn 3 saw Esteban Ocon caught between Haas F1’s Michael Schumacher and Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi, which resulted in his suspension being damaged and disabling his car.

Out came the Safety Car to convoy the racers as crews worked to get the Alpine out of the way, the first non-finisher of the race. Pirelli said the early Safety Car would favour the soft tyre runners by reducing wear and degradation at a crucial point in the race, when the cars were full of fuel.

The clearing operation was quick and by lap 4, the Safety Car was back in, and racing resumed. Verstappen shot off, and Norris found Sergio Perez, who had closed in while in convoy, starting to pressure him for the position. But the McLaren driver held his place tight and Perez had no choice but to go wide – into the gravel – and dropped down the field to around tenth. His departure allowed Lewis Hamilton to slot into third place.

The incident between Norris and Perez attracted the attention of the Stewards who discussed it and decided that the McLaren driver would receive a 5-second penalty. The news probably distracted Norris and additional bad news was that Hamilton had managed to sneak past him as well. As Hamilton took over second place, his team mate Valtteri Bottas started to close in on Norris as well, aiming to move him another place down.

Verstappen was 10 seconds away from Hamilton and was nearing the back markers, so things would get tricky.

On lap 31, Norris and Bottas came into the pits together. With the time penalty Norris had to serve, Bottas was able to get off ahead of the McLaren back onto the track. Verstappen also came in for hard tyres.

At the halfway mark, only two drivers – Carlos Sainz and Kimi Raikkonen – had yet to come into the pits. Both had started on hard tyres. All the other drivers had come in and returned, and Verstappen had a lead of 15 seconds.

The duel for seventh was a close fight between McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo, Perez and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. As the Ferrari driver tried to get past Perez, contact occurred and Leclerc got bumped off into the gravel. Commentators expected that Perez would – or should – get the same penalty as Norris as the incident was largely similar.

On lap 47, Leclerc had caught up with Perez and tried again to get past – and the same departure from the track occurred! Perez was simply refusing to give up his sixth position.

As for Hamilton, damage to the rear end of the car was affecting his progress and the 20-second gap from Verstappen was way too big. Bottas was right behind and was asked not to hassle his team mate. In the end, the team decided that Nottas would go after Verstappen and Hamilton would try to prevent Norris from getting past.

But on lap 54, Norris slipped past Hamilton and that brought Hamilton in to switch to hard tyres. The pit stop didn’t lose him the fourth place but extended the gap to 21 seconds.

Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda Tsunoda was having a bad day. After one 5-second penalty for a pit lane infringement, he was again given a second one on lap 57 as he left the pit lane incorrectly.

With a 26-second lead, Verstappen could even come back in for another set of hard tyres to be on the safe side, and kept his position as 10 laps remained.

Leclerc’s forced excursions into the gravel had let Ricciardo grab sixth position and he was desperately fighting to move up as Perez kept moving further away.

As 4 laps remained and Verstappen’s win was almost assured, attention was on Williams’ George Russell who was performing impressively to move up to tenth, but Alonso was aiming to displace him. Alonso, the old driver had the experience but Russell was showing a lot of determination too. But on lap 68, the Alpine driver outsmarted him at Turn 4 and got by, denying the British driver of the points position.

In the closing stages of the race, as attention was focussed at the front, there was drama at the back as Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen collided, with both cars heading off into the gravel.

The Dutchman took the chequered flag again, making it four wins and though his race was fairly easy, he still set the fastest lap to claim and extra point.

F1/Round 9: Preview & Starting Grid For 2021 Austrian Grand Prix

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

As in 2020, when the Formula 1 World Championship calendar had to be revised and compressed into a 6-month period due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Red Bull Ring in Austria is holding two rounds back to back. However, this year, the Styrian Grand Prix last Sunday was the first round and this weekend will see the Austrian Grand Prix as the second round.

Last week’s Styrian Grand Prix saw Max Verstappen beating Lewis Hamilton again, extending his lead in the Drivers Championship as well as his Red Bull Racing Team’s against the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Team. The Dutchman now has 156 points, 18 points ahead of the reigning World Champion. Red Bull Racing, with 252 points, has a 40-point lead.

*Max Verstappen winning at the Styrian Grand Prix at the same track last Sunday.*

A second race at the hillside circuit should see the small margins between rivals becoming even tighter. The teams have lots of data from last week and the weather conditions look likely to be similar, so strategies will be refined for the 71-lap race.

Made up of just 10 corners, the 4.318-km Red Bull Ring’s compact configuration and sequence of high-speed straights accents power delivery and traction ouf of the low-speed corners that link the three straights.

Different tyre offerings from Pirelli
A factor in the quest for that traction is Pirelli’s switch from the C2-C4 compounds used last Sunday, to a C3-C5 hard to soft spread for this weekend. Track temperatures though will certainly influence the tyre life – especially on the softs – and therefore the strategy.

“As expected with the softer compounds, we had some graining on the soft tyre in particular, which suggests that we might see some quite different strategies compared to last weekend: the whole idea behind changing the nomination for the second race weekend here,” said Mario Isola, Pirelli’s Head of F1 and Car Racing.

History of Austrian Grand Prix
Unlike the Styrian Grand Prix, which is only in its second year in 2021, the Austrian Grand Prix has been run 34 times as a F1 event, having started in 1964. In its first year, it was run at a disused airfield, and the moved to Osterreichring in 1970. Between 1997 and 2003, it was run at the A1-Ring and then moved to the Red Bull Ring in 2014.

Alain Prost has been the most successful driver in the event, having won 3 times – one with Renault and two with McLaren. Past winners who will be on the starting grid this Sunday will be Max Verstappen (2018 and 2019), Valtteri Bottas (2017) and Lewis Hamilton (2016).

The National Vaccination Program in Malaysia is free of charge.

F1/Round 8: Highlights & Provisional Results For 2021 Styrian Grand Prix

After the drama-free starting laps in France, this round started off with a chaotic series of events at the first turn as Alfa Romeo ORLEN’s Antonio Giovinazzi spun after coming in contact with Pierre Gasly of Scuderia AlphaTauri. The latter had rear end damage, forcing him to go into the pits and not come back out again.

On lap 7, Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo was having power loss with his car which lost him a hard-earned position moving up from 13th to 11th and then losing it to Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel.

Debris from the collision between Giovinazzi and Gasly had some of the drivers concerned and asking their engineers to keep watch on the tyre pressures. The nasty experiences in Baku which Pirelli attributed to incorrect pressures was still strong in their minds.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen had managed to get a clean start and very quickly opened up the gap with Lewis Hamilton. By the 20th lap, the two drivers were way head of Segrio Perez, Verstappen’s team mate, less than 5 seconds separating them. Valtteri Bottas with 3 seconds behind Perez and biding his time until Verstappen came in for tyres and he would try to move up and stay up.

At the other end of the field, the Haas drivers were jockeying for positions with each other and Williams’ Nicholas Latifi was looking for a way past them.

Verstappen came in on lap 30, spent 2 seconds immobile and then shot off to rejoin still ahead of Hamilton and still having that same gap. His team mate’s pit stop was slightly slower due to some difficulty with a rear wheel. The delay allowed Bottas to claim third and move to retain it.

On lap 33, Verstappen was heard asking his team if there was a brake issue, which his engineer said will be looked into. Meanwhile, George Russell was having power unit problems and was stuck in 18th. 6 laps later, he would be forced to end his race in the pits.

As the second half of the race was underway, Daniel Ricciardo and Carlos Sainz were the only drivers left who had not changed their tyres. Both could collect points today as they were within the Top 10, and neither wanted to lose that.

Lap 43 saw the last two drivers finally coming in for fresh tyres, both taking on hard compounds. Sainz was able to slot back into seventh but Ricciardo slipped to 15th.

On lap 44, Leclerc pushed past Alfa Romeo ORLEN’s Kimi Raikkonen at the apex of Turn 3 to slot into 12th but while doing so, his car hit the front wing of Raikkonen’s car, though not damaging it excessively.

By lap 49, Perez finally caught up to Bottas and was ready to reclaim his place, The Finn was uncomfortable at the prospect of the duel, having pushed hard which had affected tyre management.

Leclerc was powering up the field and into the points position by lap 51 as he got past his former team mate at Ferrari, Sebastian Vettel. He then powered past Scuderia Alphatauri’s Yuki Tsunoda and then Alpine’s Fernando Alonso.

Hamilton was unable to close the 14-second gap as 10 laps remained and the rain he was hoping for just would not come down even though there was a dark cloud or two in the sky.

Determined to get onto the podium, Perez came in again, this time to change to mediums, and then when off in pursuit of Bottas, setting the fastest lap in the process. It wasn’t good news for Bottas who had been pushing hard and was getting concerned whether he could make it to the end.

Verstappen had such a strong lead that he could cruise to the finish but for Hamilton, it was an unpleasant ending since he had won this race the year before. The battle between Perez and Bottas was tighter as only less than 2 seconds separated them in the closing lap but in the end, the Mercedes-AMG just managed to stay in third long enough, denying Perez of the podium finish.

F1/Round 8: Preview & Starting Grid For 2021 Styrian Grand Prix

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

Last year, as the COVID-19 pandemic swept across Europe, virtually all public activities had to be stopped. This included motorsports and the 2020 Formula 1 World Championship never even got a chance to start as the season-opener in Australia had to be cancelled at the last moment as the government decided that the crowds would be a health risk.

The cancellation of the first round led to the rest of the calendar having to be revised, but only after the situation was clearer in the second half of the year. Finally, when the organizers could get venues that would permit racing, the calendar had to be compressed into 6 months which was quite a strain on the teams. After a delay of almost 16 weeks, the 2020 championship finally started on July 5 with the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria, followed by the Styrian Grand Prix at the same circuit the following weekend.

Strict procedures were established and enforced, with a limited number of participants allowed into the circuit – and no spectators. ‘Bubbles’ were created for each team, and interaction was kept to a minimum and of course, measures like wearing face masks and social distancing were adopted. These measures continue to be enforced this year although some circuits have allowed a limited number of spectators to attend.

Second running of Styrian Grand Prix
This weekend sees the Red Bull Ring being used for the eighth round of the championship and like last year, it will again be used the following weekend for the ninth round. The difference is that this round is known as the Styrian Grand Prix (named after the region the circuit is located in) and the following one will be the Austrian Grand Prix. This is only the second time that there has been a Styrian GP.

The Red Bull Ring was originally known as the Osterreichring and hosted the Austrian Grand Prix continuously from 1970 to 1987, as well as from 1997 to 2003. It was later bought over by Red Bull’s co-founder Dietrich Mateschitz and, after being renovated, renamed as the Red Bull Ring in 2013. From 2014, F1 rounds were held at the track as the Austrian GP.

The teams are therefore familiar with the circuit which has the shortest lap (less than 64 seconds) in the regular F1 calendar. However, while the Red Bull Ring has the quickest lap time, the track length of 4.318 kms is only fifth shortest, behind Brazil, Mexico, the Netherlands and Monaco.

While many F1 tracks are cut into hillsides, few can compare to the Red Bull Ring for elevation change. From the lowest point to the highest point around the circuit, the change in elevation is 63.5 metres.

High risk of bodywork damage
Mercedes-AMG’s Toto Wolff describes the track as ‘one of the most aggressive’ when it comes to the shape, depth and spacing of the kerbs. The high ‘sausage kerbs’ on the corner exits are also aggressive, so therefore it’s one of the harshest on the car’s suspension. “Because of the aggressive nature of the kerbs at the Red Bull Ring, the risk of bodywork damage is high, and we often see drivers picking up damage in practice as they push the limits of the track,” he said.

The track has a high amount of track warp, where the banking of the track changes from one side to the other, with Turn 3 being one example. Here, the track drops towards the apex, with the racing car passing over the crest of the hill, whilst picking up power on exit. This causes the car to lift a wheel, which can lead to struggles with braking, stability and traction.

Medium level of difficulty for brakes
According to Brembo engineers, the Red Bull Ring has a medium level of difficulty for brakes. On a scale of one to five, it earned a three on the difficulty index, matching the score of other tracks such as Budapest and Zandvoort.

At turns 2, 5 and 8, the drivers do not need to use the brakes. On average, over an entire lap, the braking system is active for 10+ seconds. Only Imola has recorded a lower value, despite having 8 braking sections compared to 7 at the Red Bull Ring. From the start to the finish of the race, the drivers will use the brakes for no more than 12 minutes, or 16% of the race and the load on the pedal will be more than 100 kgs their weight.

Pirelli doesn’t consider this track especially demanding on tyres, which makes it possible for the softest tyres in the range to be used. “Once again after last year Austria hosts a back-to-back race, which means that the teams have plenty of data on this track and recent experience of how to deal with its particular challenges and tactics,” said Mario Isola – Head of F1 and Car Racing at Pirelli. “However, having two different tyre nominations is a first for the Red Bull Ring, so it’s going to be interesting to see how the teams get to grips with the softest C5 tyres for the second race weekend – and how the new selection influences strategy.”

Pirelli, in agreement with the FIA, Formula 1 and the teams, has also tested a new rear construction of tyre in free practice yesterday to evaluate its effectiveness to further improve robustness of the tyres. Each car was given two sets of the new tyres during the free practice sessions. If the test results are successful, the new rear specification will be introduced from the British Grand Prix onwards, replacing the current specification. With this new structure, Pirelli says it can provide a tyre that can guarantee even greater levels of integrity under the extreme conditions that can be generated by the current cars.

F1/Round 7: Preview & Starting Grid For 2021 French Grand Prix

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

Historically, the French Grand Prix has been one of the regular rounds of the Formula 1 World Championship since 1950 and, apart from 1955, was in every year’s calendar until 2008. Then there was s 10-year break and it was reintroduced in 2018. This year should be the 62^nd running of the French GP but it is the 61^st because the event had to be cancelled last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Paul Ricard Circuit at Le Castellet has hosted the French GP 16 times since 1971, with six other circuits used on other occasions. It is a ‘traditional’ type of circuit, which is a change from the street circuits of the last two rounds in Baku and Monaco. Most of the long track has been resurfaced for F1’s return this year, and many of the corners have been very subtly reprofiled.

About the coloured stripes
The coloured stripes at Paul Ricard aren’t just for show: they make up a high-grip asphalt run-off system that replaces traditional gravel traps. Both colours use a mix of asphalt and tungsten to create an abrasive surface that helps slow the cars down if they go off track. However, the abrasion level is different, depending on the colour. The ‘Blue Zone’ isn’t as abrasive and is only mildly punishing, but the ‘Red Zone’ – close to the barriers – is much more abrasive and effective at slowing down the cars.

According to Pirelli, the tyre suppliers for F1, there are varied characteristics of the track but tyre degradation is generally low. However, Turn 13 is particularly demanding in terms of continuous energy demands on the tyre, as is the Signes corner after the Mistral straight.

“We’re back to the combination of tyres used for the first two races of this year, right in the middle of the range. This is the most versatile combination, well suited to a wide variety of different demands, and this is also what makes it a good match for the Paul Ricard circuit, which contains an interesting mix of corners,” said Mario Isola, Head of F1 and Car Racing at Pirelli.

He noted that the winning strategy in the 2019 race was a one-stopper, from medium to hard. This was adopted by all the podium finishers, with all but seven of the drivers starting the race on the medium tyre.

Finding the balance between speed and agility
The 5.8-km layout of the circuit presents a strong challenge for teams to find the optimum set-up. With high-speed straights and the fast Signes Corner at the end of the Mistral Straight, as well as the complexes of low and medium-speed corners at the end of sectors 1 and 3, the choice of downforce is not easy. The teams will have to carefully balance outright speed with agility through the corners.

Of all the tracks being used this year, Paul Ricard has the highest average track temperature (50°C) and second-highest maximum track temperature (55°C). This means the teams will want to ensure that the brakes can cool quickly and Brembo supplies six different front disc solutions. 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 seven different rows; in the intermediate case in six rows; and the other case in four 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.

Championship positions
With Lewis Hamilton having lost his chance to collect any points in the previous round, and Max Verstappen having been forced out due to tyre failure, the difference between the two divers remains slim with the Dutchman just 4 points ahead of the reigning World Champion. Sergio Perez’ first win of the season in Baku has elevated him to third place with 69 points, 3 points ahead of Land Norris.

While Verstappen didn’t collect points for Red Bull Racing in the last round, the 25 points Perez collected for his win have extended the team’s lead to 26 points from Mercedes-AMG. McLaren and Ferrari are just 2 points apart, and the same for Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda and the Aston Martin Cognizant team.

F1/Round 6: Highlights & Provisional Results For 2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix

As the cars in the front got off to a good start, Williams Racing’s George Russell quickly headed to the pits for a change of tyres to a Hard compound.

While fighting to get ahead at the start, Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and Haas F1’s Michael Schumacher banged wheels, but fortunately remained on the track and didn’t hit the walls to bring out the dreaded red flags that upset Qualifying.

Lewis Hamilton, determined to rectify his loss of championship lead, pushed hard to pass Charles Leclerc and did it within the first 3 laps. The Mercedes-AMG could outrun the Ferrari on the straight but the Italian car had the edge through the tight corners. Meanwhile, Hamilton’s team mate, Valtteri Bottas, seemed unable to improve from the 10th position he had started from.

For Esteban Ocon (Alpine F1), the race ended after just 3 laps as his car lost power. Fortunately, he was able to reach the pits and get off the track so there was no need for disruption with a Safety Car.

On lap 8, Red Bull racing’s Max Verstappen slipped past Hamilton into second for a while but by Hamilton managed to regain it and then when Leclerc went into the pits for a tyre change, inherited the lead while being chased by Verstappen. Though Leclerc’s stop was not slow, when he rejoined the race, he was already down in 10th.

Both Mercedes-AMG cars came in on lap 12, Hamilton first. He had lost the lead not to Verstappen but Red Bull Racing’s Sergio Pererz who had been setting quicker and quicker laps and then passed his team mate. As Verstappen also came into the pits, Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel moved into second position with Perez visible just ahead.

Then Perez had to pit so Vettel took over the lead, but it wouldn’t be for long as he would have to go for new tyres. Verstappen was back in second and with fresh tyres, waiting for Vettel to get out of the way.

Hamilton’s pit stop dropped him to 4th place and he had to deal with Perez, who had managed to get ahead of him, before he could start going after the leader, He was certainly trying as he recorded fastest laps.

The two Aston Martins were still staying out of the pits as lap 15 passed, the only two remaining not to get new tyres. Stroll had started on Hards while Vettel was on Softs, and came in on lap 19.

With Vettel dropping out of the lead position, Verstappen took over with Perez and then Hamilton 3 – 4 seconds behind him. It was a reverse of the usual situation where the Red Bulls are seeing the rear end of the Mercedes… It was vital for Hamilton to minimise the points Red Bull could score so they would not move further ahead in the championship.

As the race passed the halfway mark, Stroll was still amazingly on his original set of tyres – the only car that had not come in. That Hard compound must have been really hard!

It seemed like Hamilton just could not find a way past Perez and it didn’t help that he was also in the ‘dirty air’ behind the Red Bull. The gap from Verstappen was also widening, from 4 seconds to 8 seconds as the Dutchman put in faster laps.

After 26 laps, Bottas was still in 10th place, with drivers like Norris and Tsunoda ahead of him. In spite of urging from his team, Bottas just didn’t seem to be in the groove today.

On lap 30, the ‘Tyre King’ Lance Stroll went into the wall, bringing out the Safety Car because debris was all over the track. He was travelling quite fast on the straight when it appeared that the rear left tyre failed but he was able to get out of the car on his own.

With the Safety Car circulating, a number of drivers chose to visit the pits and have the tyres changed. Up to that point, all of them had only done one change. The Safety Car would come in on lap 35 and off went Verstappen again, with Perez and Hamilton on his tail.

With fresh tyres, Vettel could afford to push harder and got past Gasly to fourth place and start thinking about the possibility of a podium placing if he could challenge his old rival Hamilton.

Leclerc, who had started from pole position, saw his race worsen and with the restart after the Safety Car, he locked up and flat-spotted his tyres. Bottas too was having a very bad day and seemed unable to prevent 4 other cars from passing him.

With 10 laps remaining, Hamilton was pushing harder, setting the fastest laps on each round of the Baku City Circuit. He didn’t have Bottas behind him as would sometimes be the case, so it was all up to him to get the points for the team.

Disaster struck on lap 46 as Verstappen crashed while speeding along the main straight. Tyre failure (also at the rear) lost him the race that he most likely would have won. Out came the Safety Car as Perez inherited the lead and Hamilton was elevated to second, with Vettel now on a podium position – if the tyres didn’t fail too.

With 2 laps remaining, the Stewards decided that the race would be suspended as there was a lot of debris on the track. Some drivers were beginning to wonder about the tyres as well. A tyre-change was allowed if any team felt it necessary to be on the safe side.

The race did not end with the suspension even with two laps left and there was a standing start, with Perez in the first slot. All eyes were on the Mexican and how he would hold off Hamilton in the 12-km sprint to the chequered flag.

And Hamilton lost out – trying too hard to outrun the Red Bull, his car went off the track into the run-off and rejoined at the tail end of the pack. Just before the restart, he had been thinking of just completing the race and getting the points, but not necessarily pushing too hard for an overall win. Neither he nor Bottas would bring home any points from Baku, Bottas finishing in 12th and Hamilton in 15th.

Perez had a clear run to the end, pursued closely by Vettel, with Gasly less than 3 seconds behind. It was a bitter-sweet victory for the Red Bull Racing team and a heartbreaking day for Verstappen who could have led a 1-2 finish.

F1/Round 2: Highlights & Provisional Results For 2021 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix

♦ The day started with rain that continued to the start of the race, and some drivers had incidents even while preparing to get to the starting grid. Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin had brakes on fire while Sebastian Vettel had brake issues without a fire, and Carlos Sainz slid off and damaged part of the front wing which needed to be quickly replaced. Charles Leclerc also spun during the formation lap, showing how slippery conditions were.

♦ Not surprisingly, the start of the race saw a mess in the first corner. Verstappen was quick off the line and then got in contact with Lewis Hamilton. with the latter heading into the grass. Nicholas Latifi was less lucky though, colliding with Nikita Mazepin and ending up heading into a barrier, triggering deployment of the Safety Car.

♦ Yuki Tsunoda, who had broken his gearbox in an accident during qualifying, had to start from the back of the grid but was able to speed through the pack to 15th place in the first lap. The wet conditions also saw Mick Schumacher crashing at the pit lane exit, and he had to go with a damaged front end for a couple of laps. Fortunately the Safety Car was still out but it didn’t help that he could not get into the pit lane again due to the debris – from his own car earlier.

♦ Racing resumed when the Safety Car pulled in on the 6th lap, and Max Verstappen shot off again, pursued by Hamilton. The wet conditions were slowing tyre-warm-up so the drivers had to adjust accordingly. Only Pierre Gasly and Mazepin had chosen to start off with wet tyres.

♦ By lap 13, Sergio Perez was in fourth but was informed that he was given a 10-second penalty (stop/go) for overtaking while the Safety Car was leading the convoy earlier. He would have to work hard to stay well ahead of Daniel Ricciardo who was tailing him.

♦ The track was slowly drying by lap 15 but still slick in some parts, and Carlos Sainz was caught on wet patches twice. While Latifi’s race ended early, his Williams team mate George Russell was up in tenth place and holding on well.

♦ With one-third of the 63-lap race completed and the track conditions slowly drying, the teams were watching each other to see who would come in to change from the intermediates. It was Vettel who would be the first but he was also hit with a 10-second penalty (stop/go) for not having wheels fitted at the 5 minutes signal (before the race started). He came back in on lap 24, while in 17th place, to serve his penalty.

♦ Verstappen came in on lap, and Hamilton slipped into the lead, still with the damaged front wing. When the Red Bull driver rejoined, he was in third place but quickly got Hamilton in his sights and started the chase. He didn’t have to work hard as the Mercedes-AMG driver also came in to change tyres. By lap 28, every car had come into the pits at least once.

♦ On lap 31, Hamilton slid off into the gravel and touched the barrier, coming to a stop for a short while. But he managed to reverse out and rejoined the race, though down in seventh.

♦ His team mate, Valtteri Bottas was not so lucky – he had a collision with Russell which got debris all over and the Safety Car was called into action. Hamilton took the opportunity to get back and have the damaged wing changed. There was some much debris that the Stewards decided to stop the race on lap 34 for clean-up work. All cars were required to return to the pits and wait. For Hamilton, it may have been a small blessing as his team could work on the repairs with less pressure.

♦ At the time the race was stopped. Leclerc was 15 seconds behind race leader Verstappen but things would be different when racing resumed. 17 cars were still in the running and there would be 29 laps left to run.

♦ The race was restarted after 23 minutes with a rolling start after the cars circulated for one lap with the Safety Car at the front. And though track conditions were drier, Kimi Raikkonen slid off into the gravel! Verstappen shot off (and almost crashed), while Leclerc was quickly passed by a determined Lando Norris. Tsunoda was in tenth but a spin dropped him all the way to the back.

♦ Hamilton was ninth when the race restarted and within 2 laps, he had passed Stroll and Raikkonen to move into 6th, and was working hard to get to the front. In the process, he set the fastest lap which would get him one extra point if no one else was quicker in the race.

♦ With 10 laps remaining, Verstappen was still in the lead and 17 seconds ahead of Hamilton who was in 4th and trying to get past Leclerc. Norris was closest to the leader and even he was about 16 seconds away.

♦ Hamilton got past Leclerc on lap 55 but Verstappen had been pushing harder and the gap to third place (Hamilton) had extended to 18 seconds – and would extend to more than 20 seconds with 4 laps remaining.

♦ With 3 laps remaining, Hamilton pushed past Norris but the gap was just too big to reach Verstappen, and unless the Dutchman had very bad luck, he would take the chequered flag. He had beat Hamilton’s fastest time but in the effort to pass Norris, Hamilton had set an even faster time so he would still claim that 1 extra point even though he would not win the race.

♦ Further back, while Vettel had to pull out with gearbox issues Alpine and Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen could celebrate with the first points of the season as their cars finished in the top ten.

Piston.my

Max Verstappen

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

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

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

F1/Round 9: Highlights & Provisional Results For 2021 Austrian Grand Prix

F1/Round 9: Preview & Starting Grid For 2021 Austrian Grand Prix

F1/Round 8: Highlights & Provisional Results For 2021 Styrian Grand Prix

F1/Round 8: Preview & Starting Grid For 2021 Styrian Grand Prix

F1/Round 7: Preview & Starting Grid For 2021 French Grand Prix

F1/Round 6: Highlights & Provisional Results For 2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix

F1/Round 2: Highlights & Provisional Results For 2021 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix

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

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

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

F1/Round 9: Highlights & Provisional Results For 2021 Austrian Grand Prix

F1/Round 9: Preview & Starting Grid For 2021 Austrian Grand Prix

F1/Round 8: Highlights & Provisional Results For 2021 Styrian Grand Prix

F1/Round 8: Preview & Starting Grid For 2021 Styrian Grand Prix

F1/Round 7: Preview & Starting Grid For 2021 French Grand Prix

F1/Round 6: Highlights & Provisional Results For 2021 Azerbaijan Grand Prix

F1/Round 2: Highlights & Provisional Results For 2021 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix

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