Tag: charles leclerc

F1 2022: Australian Gp Preview – Down Under Once More

Only two of the twenty-three scheduled races of 2022 have been run so far. But what we have learnt from Bahrain and Saudi Arabia is likely to characterize the first portion of the season. Ferrari has clearly delivered a car capable of producing peak pace for qualifying and one that is more than capable of delivering long-run pace that is not only competitive but puts them in a position to win races. Red Bull too seems to have produced a car that is capable of winning but is perhaps not yet able to deliver the one-lap quali pace as easily as Ferrari.

When there is a major rule change there is always the potential for the pecking order to be re-arranged. But few would have expected Mercedes to stumble early on. After all, the German mark has won a staggering eight constructor’s titles in a row. But fundamental change can catch out even the very best. Bahrain and Saudi exposed some serious deficiencies in the W13 Mercedes. Not only is it still struggling to get a handle on the porpoising (bouncing) at high speed, but aerodynamically the car also seems to be on the draggier end of the scale. Speaking of scales, the Merc is also one of the heaviest cars on the grid, which is not helped by the engine. From the first two rounds of the season, and comparison of speed-trap figures it’s clear that the Merc engine is lacking in comparison to the Ferrari and Red Bull-badged Honda. And heck if numbers isn’t your thing have a gander at the quali results and notice that Merc-engined cars are dominating the bottom-half of the grid.

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff remains as bullish as ever and promises that the team will not rest until it finds its way back to the front of the pack. The question remains how long this recovery will take, and will it be in time for the team to be in the mix for the titles? This weekend there may be a bit of light at the end of the tunnel for Mercedes. Formula 1 returns to race in Australia for the first time since 2019. The Albert Park circuit is an outlier on the calendar, a unique semi-street track that combines medium to higher-speed turns and rewards good braking performance.

It is a circuit that has the potential to mask some deficiencies in a car. Missing some k’s on the top-end? This is not much of a problem here as the circuit has a relatively short start/finish strait. Unfortunately, the turn 9 and 10 chicane has been removed which has transformed this sector of the track into a 1.3 km long blast at full throttle. The good news is that several of the corners (read turns 1,3, and 6) have been made broader to encourage more overtaking. All in all, the changes to the track is expected to drop the lap time by an estimated five seconds.

It isn’t exactly a bold suggestion to postulate that Ferrari and Red Bull are likely to duke it out for pole and the win. But already the narrative of Verstappen versus Leclerc is being woven. What then of Carlos Sainz? If Ferrari maintains their competitiveness throughout the season this is the Spaniard’s most important season. Sainz was a match for Leclerc in 2021 but it wasn’t under the guise of championship battle and the colossally unremitting pressure which accompanies it. This will reveal if Sainz is champion-material or not.

For Hamilton and George Russell things should go better than it did in Saudi. But then it could hardly be worse than a Q1 knock-out.

April 5, 2022
F1 2022: Saudi Arabia Gp Review – Verstappen v Leclerc from lights-out to chequered flag

It’s only two races in the 2022 season but it appears that the new regulations are delivering on the promise of closer racing. Not only has it pushed Ferrari to the sharp end of the grid, but it is producing spine-tinglingly, edge-of-the-seat racing from the first to the very last lap of the race.

In a record-breaking performance on Saturday, it was Checo Perez who delivered a stonking lap to become the first Mexican driver to secure pole position. Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz was second and third while Max Verstappen started the race in fourth. The biggest shock of the day came in the form of Lewis Hamilton who failed to advance beyond the first part of qualifying in his Mercedes.

While Mercedes tried to understand their Saudi Arabian woes Checo Perez led cleanly off the line with Verstappen slotting into third behind Leclerc. It all looked to be going well for Perez who took to the pitlane on lap 15 to fit the hard compound tyres. Unfortunately, Nicholas Latifi’s crash brought out the safety car one lap later. It proved to be the worst possible outcome for Perez who dropped to third behind Leclerc and Verstappen. A dodgy ‘overtake’ on Sainz, exiting the pitlane, meant that Perez had to surrender third to the Ferrari driver.

Further behind the Alpine drivers, Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso, swopped position several times early in the race before settling solidly in the lower end of the top ten. Regrettably, Alonso would retire from the race with a suspected mechanical issue. He would be quickly followed into retirement by McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo. Both drivers ground to a halt at the entry to the pitlane which prompted race control to close the pitlane entry and deploy the virtual safety car. It was bad timing for Hamilton who had started the race on the hard compound and worked his way into the top ten. The 7-time champion had to wait for the pitlane to reopen before being allowed to make his compulsory pitstop.

It was clear that Ferrari, and Leclerc, held the pace advantage through the corners while Red Bull, and Verstappen, had the edge on the straits. But although Verstappen got to within DRS range of the leading Ferrari Leclerc outsmarted his opponent. By letting Verstappen pass him in the first DRS detection point Leclerc ensured himself DRS on the start-finish strait that follows. Still, in a testament to how much better the 2022 cars can follow, Verstappen remained on Leclerc’s gearbox and this time used the Ferrari driver’s DRS tactic against him. As it were Verstappen pulled into the lead of the race and held off Leclerc, by half a second, for his first win of the new season.

Some 8 and ten seconds down the road Carlos Sainz finished third ahead of Perez in fourth. More than half-a-minute behind was George Russell in fifth with Ocon in sixth ahead of Lando Norris in seventh. Pierre Gasly was eighth for Alpha Tauri while Kevin Magnussen finished ninth for Haas. Lewis Hamilton scored a solitary point in tenth more than a minute behind the leaders, despite a safety car bunching up the field. If it wasn’t so before Mercedes’ problems are more than just the bouncing, seen in Bahrain.

Both Verstappen and Leclerc looked properly worn-out which is an indication of just how hard the pair of them had to work. It’s evident that in this new era of F1 drivers are pushing from lights out to the cheqeured flag. It’s only two races into the season and there is an awfully long way to go. But if the rest of the year is anything like the first two races, then we’re in for a heck of a ride.

All images courtesy of Pirelli Motorsport

March 28, 2022
F1 2022: Bahrain Gp Review – Out with the old, in with Ferrari?

Despite introducing a completely new era of Formula 1 racing the season-opener in Bahrain has simply picked up where the drama left off in 2021. In a triumphant return to form Ferrari reigned supreme with a brilliant one-two finish for Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.

Throughout pre-season testing the Ferrari had looked good and allegedly on the pace of the quickest cars. It looked supple and easy to drive but still the hesitation lingered in deeming the Italians back in position to mix it at the sharp end of the grid. But in emphatic fashion Ferrari has announced itself with dazzling display of speed and performance in the first race of 2022.

On Saturday Charles Leclerc snatched pole by a tenth of a second from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen while teammate Sainz qualified third fastest. As Lewis Hamilton and George Russell could only manage fifth and ninth it looked set to be a battle between Ferrari and Red Bull. And a battle it was. Leclerc led cleanly away from pole with Verstappen in relatively close attendance. However, before long the Red Bull driver was told to cool his brakes and he fell three seconds behind the Ferrari. The first round of stops came around soon enough with Verstappen heading to pitlane first. Despite pitting only one lap later, Leclerc nearly lost P1 to a charging Verstappen. The lead of the race swopped dramatically between the pair for a few laps before Verstappen locked up into turn 1 and seemed to lose some pace. Wily as ever, Leclerc saw off the threat from Verstappen and eased the gap back out to three-odd seconds with Sainz trailing a further 10 seconds behind, in third, with fourth-placed Checo Perez threatening to close him down. What was especially good about the Leclerc/Verstappen duel, besides the intense wheel-to-wheel racing, was the confirmation that the new era of F1 cars are able follow each other much more closely.

For those who may have thought that Mercedes was sandbagging in pre-season testing, and even in free practice, it was unfortunately not the case. At least in Bahrain the Mercedes W13 was significantly off Ferrari and Red Bull pace. A glance at the results does not tell the full story. Although Hamilton and Russell will be happy to have come home in third and fourth there are serious questions that are going to be asked at Mercedes. What will be especially worrying for Mercedes is the fact that after 40-odd laps of the race Hamilton was already more than half a minute behind the race leader Leclerc and second-placed Verstappen. What’s more is that on-board footage from practice still shows the Merc porpoising (bouncing) in the straits which clearly effects the driver’s confidence on the brakes. Case in point is Hamilton’s inability to overtake Perez despite being well within the DRS range for a handful of laps.

As it turns out neither Red Bull reached the chequered flag. First Verstappen noted an issue with the power steering of his car, which he at least appeared to be able to handle, no pun intended. And in the closing stages of the race Pierre Gasly’s car seemed to catch fire which brought out the safety car towards the end of the race. It seemed Verstappen’s best chance of challenging Leclerc. But soon after the Safety-car pulled in Verstappen was on the radio and reporting a loss of battery charge. Moments after that the Dutchman slowed dramatically and promptly retired from the race. A few laps later Perez’s engine seemingly switched off and pitched his car into a spin in turn 1. In matter of minutes Red Bull went from sitting with the potential of two cars on the podium to a double retirement. This elevated Hamilton onto the podium in third and Russell to fourth overall. Red Bull, through Helmut Marko, identified the problem being an inability of getting enough fuel to the engine and that Verstappen’s power steering issue may have been caused by the jack, which lifts the car, during a pit stop.

Leclerc delivered a stunning weekend to score pole, fastest lap, and a much-deserved race win. But the driver of the day must be Kevin Magnussen. Drafted in as a late replacement at Haas the Danish driver produced a stunning drive to finish P5. Valtteri Bottas won’t be dissatisfied with his first race for Alfa Romeo in P6 while Esteban Ocon and Yuki Tsunoda finished 7^th and 8^th respectively. Fernando Alonso was 9^th overall ahead of the only rookie in the field Zhou Guanyu who scored the final point in 10^th for Alfa Romeo. Mick Schumacher just missed out on scoring his first points in 11^th.While Gasly clearly experienced a distressing end to his race it was probably as dreadful a day for McLaren with Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris finishing a wretched 14^thand 15^th overall.

For the first time since the 2019 Singapore grand prix Ferrari has stood on top of the podium. It is apparent that Maranello has not only produced a very good power unit but perhaps even a car to go along with it. But this is only the beginning of F1 2022 and there is still some way to go. There are 22 more races in a season that has started in spectacular fashion. And the next of those is this weekend’s Saudi Arabian grand prix.

All images courtesy of Pirelli Motorsport

March 21, 2022
F1 2022: Red Bull? Ferrari? Mercedes?

The wait for the start of F1 2022 is over. This weekend the season-opening race in Bahrain brings with it the start to a whole new era in the storied saga of Formula 1.

The new regulations have produced not only a completely different visual aspect to F1 but has showcased some of the brilliant engineering and design prowess up and down the paddock. From McLaren’s wavy floor to Ferrari’s scooped side pods to Mercedes seemingly complete lack of side pods the innovation has been cranked to the max.

The three days of public testing around the Sakhir International circuit has revealed at least some of what the picture could look like at the start of the season. The mid-field battle promises to be exceptionally tight with the likes of McLaren, Aston Martin, Alpine, and Alpha Tauri expected to occupy this space.

Williams looks in fairly good shape, relatively speaking, with Haas and Alfa Romeo expected to bring up the rear. For Haas it certainly hasn’t been a straightforward pre-season. First, their equipment and freight were delayed from arriving to Bahrain in time due to a broken-down plane. Then their title sponsor and one driver were removed from the team, which left them with the task of quickly finding a replacement. Although Pietro Fittipaldi, as reserve driver, seemed to be the most obvious choice Haas opted for experience instead and drafted Kevin Magnussen back into the team. The Danish driver brings with him a decent pedigree of being able to get the most out of a car and will be a good barometer for teammate Mick Schumacher.

What then of the top three. There are some who agree that Mercedes starts the season not as outright favourites. In fact, some have penned them down as in third place behind Red Bull and Ferrari. Lewis Hamilton himself has declared Mercedes as not in a position to win races. But we’ve read this chapter before, haven’t we? Mercedes downplays their chances and sandbag on track only to show up at race one and blitz the field. But there may be some truth to Sir Hamilton’s words. Firstly, the porpoising which Red Bull and Ferrari are appearing to manage is still a major problem at Merc. So much of an issue is the porpoising that Merc have taken to sawing off some underfloor strakes in a bid to change the air flow distribution not only on the forward section of the car but also into the underfloor and the rear diffuser. The front-wing angle has also been significantly altered to combat the understeer that has been plaguing the W13 throughout testing.

But Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz are not buying the line that Mercedes are struggling. Both point out that the Silver Arrows have made a habit of underplaying their position before the season starts. And despite an apparent consensus amongst the pundits in the paddock that Hamilton and co might not be the quickest the fact remains that only time will tell, literally.

Ferrari starts the season in the best shape they’ve been in for a few years. Without any reliability issues the car has run smoothly, and importantly, it’s been quick in both Charles Leclerc and Sainz’s hands. Yet team principal Mattia Binotto is remaining cautious by insisting that the Italian team remain “outsiders” behind Red Bull and McLaren.

On the final day of testing Red Bull bolted a serious upgrade package to its car and it went quite a bit faster, 7 tenths faster than anything Ferrari could manage. But headline times in testing are just that. It’s only in Q3 on Saturday where everyone’s hand will finally be shown. And as it stands right now it looks as if Red Bull and Max Verstappen are holding all the cards.

All images courtesy of Pirelli Motorsport

March 14, 2022
F1 2021: Abu Dhabi Gp Review – Super Max is World Champion

At the first free practice session of the 2014 Japanese grand prix a driver by the name of Max Verstappen stepped into the cockpit of the Toro Rosso. What immediately stood out about the 16-year-old Dutchman was his poise behind the wheel and of course – that prodigious speed.

A year-and-a-half later he stood on the top step of the podium in Spain as the youngest ever race winner. There was some discontent though about Verstappen’s driving style and some even deemed it dangerous. While a case could be made in support of that opinion what also becoming clear was that Verstappen was a revelation. He came into F1 and seemed to be instantaneously in command. Naturally, there were a few mis-steps but it was clear that it would be only a matter of time before Max Verstappen would become world champion.

That day came in Abu Dhabi this past Sunday in a manner most befitting of one of the most memorable, exhilarating, and dramatic F1 season in living memory. From Bahrain to Spain to Monaco to Baku and Brazil the 2021 Formula 1 season has been one lived on the edge of your seat from the first lap of the season until, quite literally, the last.

Thanks to an unbelievable comeback from Lewis Hamilton which saw him win three on the bounce in Brazil, Qatar, and Jeddah, the championship protagonists went into the season-ending Abu Dhabi grand prix equal on points. Max Verstappen threw down the gauntlet by taking pole position on Saturday but the ever-present Hamilton was right alongside him on the front-row of the grid. It was short-lived advantage for Verstappen though as Hamilton aced the start and swept into the lead of the race. But Verstappen wasn’t about to give up and sent a move up the inside of Hamilton at the turn 6 chicane. Though Verstappen kept within the white-lines Hamilton ran off the track and maintained the lead of the race. Most were sure that Hamilton would have to yield the place to Verstappen but race stewards felt otherwise and deemed no investigation necessary.

On soft tyres Verstappen steadily lost time to Hamilton in the opening stint. On lap 13 Verstappen fitted the hard compound tyre which Hamilton too opted for one lap later. It was clear fairly early on that the Hamilton had a definite pace advantage over Verstappen. Red Bull would need to rely on strategy if they were going to have any chance of beating Hamilton. Enter Checo Perez. The Mexican, dragging his Red Bull around on severely worn soft tyres, was told to hold-up Hamilton as much as he could. It seemed for all money that Hamilton would merely breeze past Perez on his fresher tyres but not only did he miraculously hold off Hamilton but Perez did so long enough for Verstappen to close down a nearly seven-second gap to roughly one-and-a-half seconds. But again, Hamilton’s raw pace allowed him to re-build the gap to Verstappen. Perez’s work wouldn’t be in vain however as a Virtual Safety Car (VSC) was deployed on lap 36 to recover the stricken Alfa Romeo of Antonio Giovinazzi.

Hamilton stays out while Verstappen chooses to pit for new hard tyres. He emerges only 17 seconds behind Hamilton and the race is on to catch the race leader. However, somehow Hamilton, a master of tyre conservation, appears to be doing enough to stymie the Verstappen-threat. On lap 53 of 58 the Williams of Nicholas Latifi crashes into the barrier of Turn 14 and it requires a full Safety-Car to be cleaned up safely. Red Bull rolled the strategy dice one more time and brought Verstappen in for fresh soft tyres while Hamilton stayed out. Initially, it appeared that the race would end under the Safety-Car. However, while originally lapped cars were told to hold position, they were then instructed to overtake the Safety-Car as Race Director Michael Masi was set on returning to racing conditions, even if only for one lap. Five lapped cars overtook and left Verstappen right behind Hamilton for the re-start. Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff bemoaned Masi’s decision to allow lapped cars to overtake as “unfair”. Verstappen made his move for the lead of the race by diving down the inside of the re-profiled turn 5. He held off Hamilton on the two straits and crossed the finish line to become the 2021 world champion.

Instead of accepting defeat however Mercedes immediately lodged an appeal against the race result by citing that not all lapped cars had overtaken the Safety-Car and therefore the regulation was not adhered to. This after Wolff demanded that the result be counted back one lap in order to hand Hamilton the victory. In the steward’s hearing, which dismissed Mercedes’s protests, it was pointed out that the regulation prescribes that any lapped cars and not all lapped cars can be instructed to overtake. It was further pointed out that the race director is imbued with overriding authority over use of the Safety Car. Still, Mercedes have stated their intent to appeal the steward’s decision.

There is little doubt that the stewards and race director’s decision-making has been ambiguous at many points throughout the season. And there is some scope for understanding why Mercedes feels aggrieved. But then there is scope for pretty much all the teams to have felt aggrieved sometime in the season. The fact is however that the issue of clarity in decision-making must be addressed.

The regulation allowing lapped cars to overtake was brought in for the simple reason that having back-markers amongst the frontrunners could interfere with racing. Case in point, Hamilton would’ve been advantaged by Verstappen having to pass all five lapped cars thereby giving him a leg up.

Elsewhere, Kimi Raikkonen’s storied 20-year career came to a close with a wheel-nut failure on lap 29. The 2007 champion bows out after a staggering 349 races, 21 wins, and 105 podiums. He doesn’t leave empty-handed though as his legion of fans around the globe combined to vote the Iceman as Driver-of-the-Day. Perez’s retirement promoted Carlos Sainz to third. The Spaniard, in his first year at Ferrari, beat highly-rated teammate Charles Leclerc to fifth in the final driver’s standings. Yuki Tsunoda and Pierre Gasly were fourth and fifth for Alpha Tauri while Valtteri Bottas trundled home in a lowly sixth in his final race for Mercedes. In seventh was Lando Norris ahead of Alpine duo Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon in eighth and ninth. Leclerc scored the final point in tenth.

Seven years has been a long time coming for Max Verstappen but there has always been an air of inevitability about it. If there were stand-out moments that genuinely solidified the fact that Verstappen could be champion this year those moments came in France and Texas. The manner in which he drove the in- and out-laps around his pitstop in France was so magnificent that not even Mercedes could understand how they had been undercut. And then there was the defensive drive in Texas. Red Bull had left him with an awful lot of work to do but instead of questioning the team he pumped in the laps and held off a faster Hamilton in true Schumacher-esque style. Oh, and the other eight wins and ten poles helped some too.

In 2014 Max Verstappen arrived in Formula 1 as an uncompromising, self-confident, and blindingly quick teenager. Over the last seven years he has not only become, astonishingly, even quicker but he has also refined into an unquestionably deserved world champion. Goed gedaan Max.

All images courtesy of Pirelli Motorsport

December 13, 2021
F1 2021: Brazilian Gp Review – Hamilton Produces Epic Drive

Max Verstappen’s win at the season-ending Abu Dhabi grand prix in 2020 provided a little hint that Red Bull may be able to fight Mercedes come 2021, especially since the regulations stayed mostly stable. But the 2021 season, so far, has turned out to be far beyond the wildest expectations of most F1 fans.

And as if determined to write its own dramatic chapter into the history books of 2021 the famed Interlagos circuit hosted an incredible Brazilian grand prix weekend. The sprint format was called upon again, which meant that running was reduced to only two practice sessions. As the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton hit the track the FIA documentation confirmed that car number 44 would start five places lower on the grid from where he qualified due to fitting a new internal combustion engine. It wasn’t ideal, but also not the end of the world given the that the circuit is significantly easy to overtake on than at last week’s Mexican grand prix.

It wouldn’t be the only setback for Hamilton and Mercedes though as a technical rule infringement sent him to the very back of the grid for the start of the Saturday sprint qualifying race. The infringement centered on the rear-wing DRS flap and the slot gap, which was found not be at the compulsory 85 mm when in operation. It felt team principal fuming and uncharacteristically disparaging. Nevertheless, there was a job to be done and Hamilton had to do it.

What followed from Hamilton was a mesmerizing 24-lap exhibition of overtaking. While Valtteri Bottas got the jump on Max Verstappen and held off the Red Bull driver to win the Sprint Hamilton carved his way through the field to finish a highly impressive tenth. But if Saturday’s performance was impressive then what he delivered on Sunday was breathtaking. The ‘Still We Rise’ mantra, a play on a famed Maya Angelou poem, has adorned his helmet for several years now but this weekend he truly exemplified it. By lap five of the race, he had already carved his way through the field, from tenth to fourth. He eased into third with some assistance from Bottas and set off after the Red Bulls. The Safety-Car was deployed on lap 6 as debris littered turn 1 after a more-than-ambitious move from Yuki Tsunoda resulted in a clash with Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll. Cognizant of Hamilton’s prodigious straight-line speed Verstappen would have to be smart about the restart, which he left until the very last to nullify the slipstream effect, at least temporarily. Two laps later the Virtual Safety Car (VSC) would deploy, this time to gather up debris from Mick Schumacher, who lost his front-wing.

Racing resumed on lap 15 and Hamilton took only three laps to close the gap to Perez. The Mexican did all he can to hold off Hamilton, even re-overtaking him into turn 4, but Hamilton returned the favour a lap later and was into second place. Verstappen had built around a four second gap at this stage and Hamilton wasn’t making as much in-roads. Instead, Mercedes called Hamilton into the pits on lap 27 to affect the undercut. Verstappen responded with his own stop a lap later and emerged in the lead of the race but with Hamilton now only 1.5 seconds behind.

Another VSC was needed on lap 30, this time to collect debris falling off Stroll’s car. The gap between Verstappen and Hamilton hovered around the one-second mark until Verstappen stopped for the hard compound tyre on lap 41. Hamilton stayed out for three more laps before making. His stop on lap 44. Again, he emerged, again, just behind Verstappen. He was soon within DRS range and on-board graphics showed a 30 kph advantage in Hamilton’s favour over Verstappen. On lap 48 Hamilton attempted a move around the outside of Verstappen in turn 4, but both ran off track as the Dutchman opened his steering and defended the position. While race stewards noted the move, no investigation was deemed necessary and thus Verstappen got no penalty. You’d be hard-pressed to find a Hamilton fan who’d agree with the steward’s decision just as you’d struggle to find a Verstappen fan who sees anything wrong with the move. But, in reality, the move was on the edge of deserving a penalty. In fact, Verstappen should feel like he got away with one for that move. Nevertheless, everyone would rather see it chalked up to hard racing that decided with penalties.

Eventually, Hamilton would take the lead of the race on lap 59 and sailed off into the distance. Meanwhile, Verstappen cruised home in second knowing that he didn’t have the pace to challenge Hamilton. Third-place finisher Bottas benefited from the Schumacher-VSC with a cheap pitstop and jumped Perez, ultimately fourth, through the pitstop phase. The Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz finished fifth and sixth ahead of Alpha Tauri’s Pierre Gasly in seventh. Esteban Ocon scored his first points in Brazil with a fine eighth place finish in front of Alpine teammate Fernando Alonso and McLaren’s Lando Norris in tenth.

Fan or not, Hamilton’s performance in Brazil deserves all of the praise and recognition. It was a stunning performance against a seemingly insurmountable task and it should be celebrated for the breathtaking drive it was. Three races remain in 2021 and what has gone before shows that whether it is Verstappen or Hamilton who walk away with the big prize both would be deserved of the 2021 crown.

All images courtesy of Pirelli Motorsport

November 15, 2021
F1 2021: Mexican Gp Preview – Advantage Red Bull?

Not too long ago a Formula 1 season would have run its course by this point of the year. Several years ago, the final race on the calendar would just sneak into the month of November and a couple of year before that it ended even earlier in October. But in 2021 the racing is far from over with five more races to go, including this weekend’s Mexican grand prix.

The stunning venue of Mexico City, and the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, has been a welcome stop on the F1 calendar since 2015. Previously, the circuit had hosted F1 as the season finale in the early 60s. Situated in one of the world’s most vibrant cities the circuit stands out for its positioning nearly 2 kilometers above sea level and for the end of the lap, which is situated within the raucous Foro Sol stadium section.

All drivers are likely to have their supporters amongst the crowd but the majority of the boisterous and colourful Mexican crowd will be cheering on Checo Perez. He arrives at his home race this year with his best opportunity of being on the podium, if not winning. It has been a difficult year of adjusting to the demands of the Red Bull car for the popular Mexican driver but there have been some moments and performances that have validated his re-signing, by Red Bull, for 2022. Not least of all his defense against Lewis Hamilton just two weeks ago in Texas while in a severely compromised physical state. And if ever there has been a moment for Checo to shine in 2021 this race, in his beloved Mexico, would be it.

Due to its positioning high above sea level the Mexican track has, since its return, always been one that has suited the Red Bull package. At exactly 2285 meters above sea level the lower concentration of oxygen has a big impact not only on power unit performance but also on the aerodynamics of the car as the thinner air provides less downforce.

The 4.3 km circuit too has a few overtaking opportunities available to drivers. The 1.2 kilometer run to turn 1 on the first lap is nearly always dramatic as the slipstream allows for a lot of overtaking. A shortish sequence of corners follows the long strait and promotes wheel-to-wheel racing before opening up into a second, longish, strait.

F1 last visited Mexico in 2019 and Hamilton and Verstappen were in vastly different places two years ago. Hamilton’s 2019 win from then-Ferrari driver Seb Vettel took him a decisive step closer to his seventh title while Verstappen finished sixth after a first-lap clash with Hamilton and another clash, a few laps later with Valtteri Bottas. And that, after he had been stripped of pole position for ignoring yellow flags in qualifying. But Verstappen arrives this weekend a far different driver. Aside from turning Red Bull’s nigh-impossible strategy into race-winning gold in Texas there is an inherent calmness about Verstappen’s demeanour. Not much appears to faze him and he has been able to maintain an incredibly high level of performance throughout the entire year. Barring accident or reliability, there is nothing to suggest that fans are not going to be treated to yet another breathtaking showdown between Verstappen and Hamilton.

There’s no doubt that Hamilton and Mercedes will be pushing as hard as they can to win this weekend. And they need to. Because if Verstappen walks away from Mexico with another win under his belt the writing might just be on the wall for the reigning world champions

November 5, 2021
F1 2021: USA Gp Preview – Battle Renews in Texas

Only five rounds remain in the 2021 season and just who will walk away as champion is as unclear as it was at the first race of the year.

This weekend Formula 1 is in Austin, Texas for the 17th round of season. The Circuit of the Americas has proved a popular one amongst fans and drivers since its introduction in 2012. F1 returns to the US for the first time since 2019 following a Covid-induced absence from last year’s calendar. F1 also returns to North America on the heels of the news that Miami has entered into the fray as a Grand Prix host for 2022.

As the US eyes up a big piece of the F1 pie the battle raging between Red Bull and Mercedes and Verstappen and Hamilton seems to have been balanced on a knife edge since the opening of the season in mid-March. Hamilton’s exercise in damage limitation at the Turkish Grand Prix could’ve gone slightly better however he will arrive in Texas at a circuit where he excels. With six wins around this track and without any penalties, as it stands, there is every expectation that he’ll start the weekend as favourite for the top step of the podium. But this season has been like few others for Hamilton. Over the last several seasons the second half of the year is, traditionally, when Hamilton would hit a level that previously made him all but unbeatable. But this hasn’t been the case in 2021 and the relentlessness which has previously been synonymous with Hamilton simply isn’t present. Nevertheless, there is still a handful of races to go and Hamilton is expected to raise the bar once more.

What also cannot be ignored is the engine issues that Mercedes have been struggling with over the last few months. The issues, seemingly contained to the internal combustion engine, has already forced two replacements on Valtteri Bottas’s side of the garage. And one of the engines replaced ran only 931 km before giving up the ghost. It’ll be an area of particular focus for Mercedes in the run towards the end of the season. In a championship as closely contested as 2021 all fingers are crossed that unreliability does not have a say in the ultimate outcome.

Despite Hamilton’s grand record around the Circuit of the Americas the Red Bull should perform especially well in the first sector of the lap. It’s high-speed sweeping turns, akin the sector one of Suzuka and the Maggots-Becketts complex at Silverstone, will emphasize the aero proficiency of the Red Bull. With the weather set fair for the weekend it’s likely to come down to the smallest of margins yet again. Teammates, Bottas and Perez, also become ever more vital not only in terms of support for Hamilton and Verstappen in qualifying, but also to serve as a potential obstacle where strategy comes into play.

Given the high-speed nature of the track Ferrari are not expected to feature as prominently. McLaren on the other hand, now powered by Mercedes, and with an in-form Lando Norris could drive home the advantage over constructor rivals Ferrari.

Six points is all that separates Verstappen from Hamilton at the top of the driver’s standings. It’s a thin margin that continues to ebb and flow between the pair. And it simply wouldn’t be Formula 1 in 2021 if there wasn’t at least a few more twist.

October 21, 2021
F1 2021: Turkish Gp Review: Bottas Takes Straightforward Win

As with most F1 races in 2021 the Turkish Grand Prix was as highly anticipated as most of the others than have gone before it this season.

Halfway through the weekend the gauntlet was thrown down to Lewis Hamilton. Despite having the clearly quicker car over the weekend the Mercedes driver would drop down ten places from wherever he finished qualifying due to taking on board a new internal combustion engine. As it were, Hamilton was fastest overall on Saturday afternoon which saw him drop to eleventh on the starting grid.

Valtteri Bottas inherited the pole while Max Verstappen started alongside him in second. The Red Bull, sporting a striking white and red livery as a Honda homage, never had the pace of the Mercedes but there was still the potential for an advantage to be gained.

Condition proved testy with a damp track necessitating the start on intermediate tyres. Bottas led cleanly away from the start and never faced any sustained or serious pressure from Verstappen. The opening lap saw only one incident between Pierre Gasly and Fernando Alonso which saw the Spanish driver tipped into a spin at the exit of turn one. Although Gasly was adjudged at fault, and given a 5-second time penalty, the Frenchman was hard done by as he found himself sandwiched between Alonso on the right and Sergio Perez on the left.

Hamilton made steady, if unspectacular, progress at the start until he spent several laps stuck behind the Alpha Tauri of Yuki Tsunoda. But the Brit pulled off a sumptuous move around the outside of turn 4 to run sixth by the end of lap 10. Although the rain had ceased before the race start the track remained wet. As cold conditions lingered so too it delayed the drying of the track. Because no dry line was forthcoming the decision of when to pit was delayed more and more. However, albeit slow, the drying track was transforming the inters to slick tyres. It didn’t faze many drivers though as they continued to pound around the Istanbul Park circuit.

By the halfway stage of the 58-lap race, it was clear that Verstappen did not have the pace to beat Bottas. At this point Hamilton was bearing down on Sergio Perez for P4. Hamilton, clearly with superior pace, drew alongside Perez going into the turn 12 braking zone and the pair ran side-by-side through the final sequence of corners. But the Mexican held his own against Hamilton and denied him the position in a manner that will undoubtedly have pleased his Red Bull bosses.

By lap 38 both Bottas and Verstappen had stopped for a new set of inters while Charles Leclerc took over the lead of the race. The Monagasque sniffed a chance of an opportunistic win but would have to do so without making a pitstop. Ferrari rolled the dice on this strategy but quickly called Leclerc into the pits when he passed for P1, by Bottas. Meanwhile, Hamilton had initially asserted to his team that he would stay out to which the Mercedes pitwall agreed. However, despite running in third Hamilton began to lose time to Perez and Leclerc. He was called in on lap 51 and emerged in fifth place and under pressure from Gasly. Hamilton was fuming over team radio at the decision to call him. Ultimately, Mercedes decision was the correct one albeit too late. Hamilton likely would’ve been overtaken by Perez and Leclerc, on fresher rubber, and be shuffled down the fifth. If Mercedes had made the call earlier to box Hamilton, he may have had more time to catch up to and pass Perez and Leclerc. Nevertheless, the strategy error from Mercedes may seem only like a minor error but in a championship battle as close as in 2021 every point counts.

With Hamilton mostly of the equation for a race win Bottas took what could likely be his final opportunity to win, in impressive style. Lest we forget Bottas spun five-times in the 2020 Turkish grand prix. It makes his win, nearly error-free, all the more impressive then. Verstappen will be happy with a solid day’s work in second while Perez drove a brilliant race for Red Bull which netted him third place.

Charles Leclerc was fourth ahead of Hamilton in fifth while Gasly, recovering from his penalty, was sixth overall. Lando Norris ran a fairly anonymous race to seventh as Carlos Sainz recovered from the back of the grid to eighth place. Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll was ninth ahead of Esteban Ocon, who was the only driver to run all 58 laps on one set of tyres, in tenth.

October 10, 2021
F1 2021: Turkish Gp Preview – Turkish Delight Beckons

Circumstances may have necessitated the return of Formula 1 to Turkey. However, it’s re-introduction to the Formula 1 calendar delivered a stunning Grand Prix in 2020. So much so that the organizers of the event are trying to secure a ten-year deal for Istanbul Park as part of the Formula 1 world championship.

They will have their work cut out though as in recent weeks F1 has committed to Qatar and Miami. And there are strong rumours too that the championship could return to Kyalami in the not too distant future if the final arrangements can be agreed upon. It does bring into question the length of the calendar and the subsequent strain on team personnel who are already stretch thin. As an example, F1’s season-ending triple header will see teams, in just four weeks, travel from Brazil to Qatar to Saudi Arabia to Abu Dhabi.

There is more news about the future of F1 as Porsche and Audi are assumed to be close to joining the championship as the 2026 engine rules are finalized. The teams and the sport have agreed to drop the MGU-H which has, in the past, because of its complexity and expense dissuaded manufacturers from committing to F1.

With the future of F1 taking shape there still remains the matter of the 2021 championship. To illustrate how different this year has been Lewis Hamilton ended the 2020 Turkish Gp as the world champion. It’s a far different scenario in 2021 as Hamilton goes into this weekend’s race only two points clear of Max Verstappen. The fact that Hamilton has also scored 85 points less than at the same point last season is another example of how hard the Mercedes driver has had to work.

There’s no sign either that the task will get any easier in the final seven races of the year. In fact, all indications are that the title fight could go all the way to the season-ending race in Abu Dhabi. But then, F1 in 2021 has proven that very little is predictable and that neither Mercedes nor Red Bull will have an easy run into the flag.

Unless things take a dramatic turn, it doesn’t appear that Hamilton or Verstappen will have much support from their respective teammates either. For Sergio Perez there haven’t been nearly enough moments this season where he has performed to the standard of the Red Bull. As such, the expectation that Perez will able to take points off Mercedes, or at least influence their race strategy on Sundays, isn’t especially high.

For completely different reasons Valtteri Bottas too is unlikely to hamper the progress of Verstappen. Though the Finn hasn’t consistently shown great pace this season his loyalty to the team has also been nullified given that he’s been, effectively, fired and replaced with George Russell for 2022. It is this lack of allegiance, as evidenced in Bottas’s lack of defense against Verstappen in Russia, which means that he cannot be fully relied on to ‘take one for the team’.

The Istanbul Park circuit shouldn’t expressly favour either the Red Bull or the Mercedes but, like in 2020, the weather could have a significant impact on the running order. The likes of McLaren and even Ferrari could well have an impact should the forecasted rain make an appearance.

October 4, 2021