Tag: red bull racing

F1 2022: Singapore Gp Preview – Asian Challenge Awaits

This weekend marks the first opportunity for Max Verstappen to win the 2022 drivers world championship.

While it is a mathematical possibility, the permutations though are a bit of a long shot. For Verstappen to claim his second title he would have to win the race, which is by no means an impossibility. But with a Verstappen win Charles Leclerc would have to be ninth or lower and Checo Perez fourth or lower (without fastest lap) for the title to be won. Singapore can often be an unpredictable place and coupled with Ferrari’s unreliability it isn’t an impossible permutation. Nevertheless, with all being equal and the Ferrari engine staying in one piece Verstappen’s title glory may not come in Singapore this weekend.

The South-East Asia venue, first introduced in 2008, has had its fair share of spectacles over the years. Who could forget the infamous crashgate scandal in which Renault driver Nelson Piquet Jr. was ordered to crash to benefit then-teammate Fernando Alonso. It ended with a lifetime ban for team principal at the time, Flavio Briatore. But Alonso kept the win and celebrated it as such.

As the first ever night race on the F1 calendar the Marina Bay circuit is an amalgamation of medium to slow speed corners, interrupted by a lengthy start/finish strait. The proximity of the barriers in combination with one of the longest laps on the calendar and the stifling humidity and heat makes the Singapore Grand Prix one of the biggest mental and physical challenges of the year.

Seb Vettel has been the most successful driver around these parts with five wins in total. The last of those victories, and his last win to date, came in 2019 as a Ferrari driver. And unless something truly dramatic happens it’s unlikely that Vettel’s Aston Martin has the performance capability to put him anywhere near the front. Then again, the Singapore Grand Prix has seen a total of twenty-one safety car deployments since 2019.

The prevalence of the safety car means that quick thinking in terms of strategy could yield results. Mercedes, somewhat renowned for its efficient strategies, should be primed then to take advantage of any such opportunities. While it refrains to be seen how the Merc performs on the Singapore streets, the team seems confident that it will be able to compete. The performance on other street tracks this year, like Miami, Baku, and Monaco, were quite dreadful but as the season has progressed so too the Merc engineers have begun to understand how to get the most out of the car. But it remains a big ‘if’ for Hamilton and/or Russell to push for the top step of the podium.

September 22, 2022
F1 2022: Italian Gp Review – Five in a row for Verstappen

No penalties, no safety cars, no traffic. There is seemingly nothing that can stop Max Verstappen’s determined march towards a second world title. The win at Monza this week makes it five in a row for the Dutchman who is driving and performing to an unmatched level of excellence.

The vociferous Tifosi was buoyed by a stunning pole position from Charles Leclerc on Saturday. And with Verstappen relegated to seventh, thanks to penalties, they would’ve believed it possible that a Ferrari driver may just stand on the top step of the famous podium come Sunday. But such was the pace of Verstappen that it all be negated his five-place grid drop within a handful of laps.

Leclerc started cleanly from pole with George Russell, promoted due to several penalties applied to others, challenged briefly. Ultimately, the Mercedes driver simply didn’t have the pace to live with either Verstappen or Leclerc.

For the first time in quite a while Ferrari’s woes cannot be blamed on a bizarre strategy call. As Verstappen slotted into P2 by lap 5 it was clear that the Red Bull pace wouldn’t be beaten in a straight-out fight. As it were, Vettel’s retirement from the race, with a suspected ERS issues, on lap 12 prompted the deployment of the Virtual Safety Car (VSC). It gave Leclerc and Ferrari the opportunity to opt for alternative strategy and they did. The Monegasque swopped his soft tyres for mediums while Verstappen stayed out. Being on the alternate tyre gave Leclerc at least some chance to upset the Red Bull apple cart, even if it was a long shot.

Verstappen would swop his softs for mediums on lap 26 and hand the lead of the race back to Leclerc. Again, Ferrari made a clever call to pit Leclerc for second time, this time giving him fresher, and hopefully quicker, soft tyres. With 20 laps to go Verstappen stayed out on his older mediums. But despite Leclerc’s tyre advantage he simply was not able to close the gap to Verstappen. A late race retirement from Daniel Ricciardo prompted the deployment of the full safety car on lap 48. The seemingly innocuous retirement of the McLaren became slightly more complex as the car remained stuck in gear and therefore unmovable by marshals. As it were, clearing the McLaren took longer than expected and the race eventually finished behind the safety car.

While ending a race behind the safety car is not the optimal conclusion there was little else race control could do. There are some who say that a red flag should have been brought out, however this option is reserved only for serious incidents and as the very last resort.

Behind the top three of Verstappen, Leclerc, and Russell the second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz recovered, yes from penalties, to a solid fourth place. Lewis Hamilton and Checo Perez, also felled by grid penalties, were fifth and sixth ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris in seventh and Alpha Tauri’s Pierre Gasly in eighth. But the drive of the day was delivered by ninth place finished Nyck De Vries. The Dutch Formula E champion was drafted in on Saturday morning after regular Williams driver was told to be suffering from appendicitis. With very little time behind the wheel De Vries delivered a stunning drive to finish with points on debut. He surely hasn’t done his chances of being in that Williams for 2023, any harm either. Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu was tenth at the chequered flag.

After a sprint of three consecutive races Formula 1 takes a collective breath before heading to Singapore in two weeks’ time. Remarkably, such has his dominance been in 2022 that Verstappen will arrive in South-East Asia with a chance of wrapping up the driver’s world title.

All images courtesy of Pirelli Motorsport

September 12, 2022
F1 2022: Dutch Gp Review – 4 in a row for Verstappen

It’s four in a row for Max Verstappen who once again stood on the top step of the podium at the Dutch Grand Prix. The Red Bull driver had to work a bit harder for it, but his tenth win of the season is in the bag. Although he started cleanly from pole Verstappen had to overcome not only an out-of-character pacey Mercedes duo but also a virtual safety car (VSC) and a full safety car to take the chequered flag first.

But first the race itself deserves some unpacking. And where better to start than with Ferrari’s failing championship bid. On Saturday it seemed that both Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz had stepped up to the plate. After all, both drivers were less than a tenth of a second off pole position. The stage seemed to be primed for a battle royal. Alas, the Ferrari pace seemed to be restricted to qualifying as Leclerc couldn’t keep tabs on Verstappen from second on the track. For his troubles Sainz had a coming together with Lewis Hamilton that damaged his floor and cost him some downforce and balance and, ultimately, pace. But this wasn’t even close to the worst part of Sainz’s afternoon. First, the Spaniard arrived in the pitlane to a team of mechanics who were still carrying tyres out of the garage. Sainz lost an inordinate amount of time waiting to have his tyres fitted. Next there was a dicey moment when overtaking Esteban Ocon with a stricken Valtteri Bottas parked up near the end of the start/finish strait. This though didn’t get Sainz a penalty but what did was an unsafe release in the pitlane later. The five-second penalty simply added insult to injury on what was already a genuinely poor afternoon. Again, through yet more operational errors Ferrari are masterminding their own demise.

It was going much better at Mercedes. In fact, for a good portion of the race Hamilton had a real shot at winning it. But a bizarre series of events for Yuki Tsunoda, which included the driver stopping the car and then being told to continue by his team. The young Japanese driver then entered the pitlane to have his seatbelts refastened before being released. Moments later he was told to stop the car which prompted the appearance of the VSC.

Leading up to this Verstappen had stopped for medium tyres while Hamilton had opted for hard tyres to carry him to the end of the race. As it stood, Verstappen would have to stop and need to overtake both Mercs, on track, to win the race. The VSC however gave Verstappen a cheap stop and he emerged still in the lead. But Hamilton’s pace was still impressive, and he was still well on course. That is until the full safety car was deployed to scoop up Bottas’s Alfa.

At this point both Verstappen and Russell stopped for soft tyres while Hamilton stayed on the medium. As it were, Russell made the call to switch tyres himself while Hamilton made no such choice. It was clear very quickly that Hamilton would be a sitting duck. And it was confirmed mere seconds after the race restarted as Verstappen swept back into the lead of the race. Russell and Leclerc too passed an irate Hamilton a few laps later. While Russell had taken his own initiative to call for the soft tyre Hamilton blamed the team, using the some colourful language, for not giving him the correct tyre compound.

As it were Verstappen, Russell, and Leclerc occupied the top three positions while Hamilton trundled home in fourth. Checo Perez was fifth in the other Red Bull ahead of Fernando Alonso in sixth and Lando Norris in seventh. Carlos Sainz dropped down to eighth, due to his penalty while Ocon, in ninth, made it a double points scoring day for Alpine. Lance Stroll was tenth for Aston Martin.

There’s hardly any time to recover as the F1 paddock heads to Monza this weekend for the sixteenth round of the season. Verstappen arrives at Ferrari’s home track with a gigantic, and perhaps unassailable, lead of 109 points over Leclerc. With the championship titles seemingly out of their reach can Ferrari give their beloved Tifosi something to cheer about at the cathedral of speed?

All images courtesy of Pirelli Motorsport

September 5, 2022
F1 2022: French Gp Review – “Atta boy Max”

Max Verstappen has taken back-to-back victories at the French Grand Prix and with it a sizable lead in the driver’s championship standings.

It wasn’t all Red Bull all the time though as Charles Leclerc scored an impressive seventh pole of the season. The Ferrari driver lead cleanly from the start of the race too and held his own against Verstappen. For more than ten laps it looked well within Leclerc’s hands in terms of pace. So much so that Red Bull pulled the strategy call by bringing Verstappen in on lap 17 for hard tyres. Although Leclerc stayed out the pressure of a Verstappen undercut loomed large. So large that it prompted Leclerc into pushing harder on his worn medium tyres which ended with the Monegasque driver in the barriers on lap 18. Initially it seemed like the spin couldve been triggered to a throttle issue, as experienced in Austria. However, Leclerc explained post-crash that it was driver error.

The race re-started on lap 22 with Verstappen leading from Hamilton, Perez, and Russell. By this point Carlos Sainz, starting from the back due to engine penalties, has recovered to P5. The Spanish driver delivered an impressive turn of pace. Soon, he was on the tail of Russell and well in contention for the podium. Strangely, Ferrari decided to pit Sainz. Much to the bewilderment of…all. It dropped Sainz to P9. Despite a 5-second penalty, for an unsafe pitlane release, Sainz recovered to P5. But there’s little doubt that Ferrari fluffed a certain podium result.

Elsewhere, a tasty battle between Checo Perez and George Russell for the final step on the podium. A bit of wheel-banging and a subsequent radio rant from Russell was brought down a notch by the deployment of the Virtual Safety Car. The recovery of Guanyu Zhou’s Alfa Romeo brought another opportunity for Russell. In quite a cunning move as swept past slow moving Perez. After the race, the stewards confirmed a software glitch that prompted a double message of BSC ending. It may have been to blame for Perez’s slow reaction, but it was no less opportunistic and cutthroat from Russell.

Up ahead Lewis Hamilton delivered a solid drive into second place some 10 seconds off leader Verstappen. While Mercedes did benefit from an absent Ferrari the double podium finish is a testament to their reliability.

Behind Sainz in P5 was Fernando Alonso while Lando Norris was seventh for McLaren. Homeboy Esteban Ocon was P8 ahead of Daniel Ricciardo in P9. In P10 Lance Stroll salvaged the final point on offer for Aston Martin.

Verstappen’s win, the 27th of his career, and Leclerc’s retirement gives the Dutchman a ominous 63 point lead in the drivers’ championship points table. Ten races remain in the 2022 season and whole lot of points on the table. But if Ferrari do not clean up their act Max Verstappen May well be shining the plaque on his second driver’s title trophy.

July 26, 2022
F1 2022: French Gp Preview – Vive la France?

Formula 1 heads to the circuit with acres of tarmac run-off but, sadly, not much as entertainment. The Paul Ricard circuit in France has, to put it mildly, not delivered the most memorable or exciting race since its re-introduction to the F1 calendar.

The circuit is more of a purpose-built test track than it is a racing circuit. Nevertheless, it has a spot as a 2022 race and brings with it another opportunity to score points. In terms of pace there is little to choose between Red Bull and Ferrari. However, what has separated the two teams is reliability. Whereas Red Bull suffered some failures in the opening part of the season the mechanical gremlins have continued to plague Ferrari. While Charles Leclerc did win in Austria he not only did so while managing a throttle issue but also with the knowledge that teammate Carlos Sainz’s race had ended a literal fireball. In fact, so prevalent has Ferrari’s reliability issues been that the win in Austria was Leclerc’s first since the Australian grand prix in early April. Ferrari has the pace to trouble Red Bull as shown throughout the season. Add to this that Italian team also seems to be kinder to its tyres, as proven in Austria, and the fact that Leclerc is more than capable to taking the fight to Verstappen and you have the makings of an epic championship fight. It remains to be seen however how much Ferrari can rectify, or at least, mitigate the reliability woes.

The Paul Ricard circuit is never going to be at the top of most people’s list when ticking off favourite racetracks. But Mercedes is not going to be too unhappy with going to Le Castellet this weekend. Like Austria and Silverstone this circuit too has a fairly smooth surface. And based on recent races the Mercedes excels on track surfaces such as this. The picture could’ve been slightly better for Mercedes in Austria if they’d had a cleaner weekend, read crashes in quali, but what was noticeable is that even in conditions that alleviate some the W13’s Hamilton was still well off the fastest pace. There’s no doubt though that they’re set for a good weekend in France, barring crashes or unreliability. The question is whether it will be good enough to challenge either Ferrari or Red Bull.

The mid-field battle in 2022 has been a sight to behold. At several points during the last race in Austria there were four cars abreast, fighting tooth and nail for positions. And that, throughout the race. There is no denying that in the last few races Mick Schumacher has come into himself and is driving beautifully. The test for him now is to maintain his form and prove his ability to consistently score points, should the car allow for it.

It hasn’t been quite the season that Pierre Gasly would’ve been expecting after the highs of the last few seasons. The Alpha Tauri is not in-tune with the new regulations, and it shows in the fact Gasly finds himself in 13^th place in the driver’s standings with a paltry 16 points to his name. There’s an opportunity for him, on home soil, to deliver something worth mentioning. Surely, if a driver can perform better anywhere it is at his home race.

It’s a home race too for Esteban Ocon. The Alpine driver deserves to be mentioned far more than he has. His teammate Fernando Alonso has been vaunted and highly praised for his driving prowess, and rightly so. But Ocon is quietly showing the two-time champion the way with nearly double his points tally of 52 to Alonso’s 29. To regularly be beating someone of Alonso’s caliber is no small thing.

The much-maligned Paul Ricard circuit has received its fair share of criticism for being nothing more than a damp squib. But let’s err or the side of optimism and pin the hopes on the new 2022 cars and the expectation that it just might deliver a French grand prix to remember.

July 19, 2022
F1 2022: Canadian Gp Review – Methodical Max Wins Again

For the first time since 2019 Formula 1 returned to the man-made island of the Ile de Notre Dame and the Canadian Grand Prix.

What lives in the memory bank for the famed circuit Gilles Villeneuve is the great Michael Schumacher’s dominance and the fact that it is the site of Lewis Hamilton’s first win. Amongst other indelible memories the rain in Canada also features quite prominently in the recollection, not least of all due to the 2011 Grand Prix.

The rain made its presence known in 2022 as well but confined itself to Saturday qualifying this time around. Although there was no monsoon level of rain it was enough to produce a spicy qualifying session. Checo Perez’s mistake in Q2 confined him to second half of the grid while teammate Max Verstappen was peerless as he headed to a comfortable pole position. But elsewhere Fernando Alonso snatched a front-row starting position for the first time since 2012 while Hamilton put his Mercedes in fourth alongside the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz. Kevin Magnussen and Mick Schumacher too delivered stand-out performances to qualify fifth and sixth for Haas. Meanwhile, Charles Leclerc was relegated to the back of the grid owing to penalties for new power unit elements.

Race day saw the return of pristine sunshine albeit on a green track. Verstappen led easily away from pole and quickly gapped Alonso in second. On lap 8 the weekend went from bad to worse for Perez as the Mexican driver was forced into retirement with a suspected gearbox issue. The stricken Red Bull prompted the deployment of the Virtual Safety Car (VSC) which allowed Verstappen to swop his medium tyre for the hard compound while Sainz and Alonso opted not to take the cheap pitstop.

A handful of laps later, on lap 15, another VSC was called upon. This time it was to recover the Haas of the luckless Mick Schumacher. Schumacher had been running solidly in the lower end of the points paying positions before retiring with a mechanical problem. The opening stint of the race didn’t produce the meteoric rise through the field that Leclerc would’ve hoped for. Nevertheless, by lap 21 he was running seventh after choosing not to pit under the VSC.

By lap 35 the race had seemingly settled with Verstappen comfortably in the lead from Sainz and Hamilton with George Russell and Esteban Ocon rounding out the top five. While Verstappen had stopped on lap 8 Sainz with fresher tyres was able to close the gap to the leader to around six seconds. On lap 43 Verstappen opted for a second stop and emerged just behind Hamilton. The Dutchman made short work of the Mercedes though and was back into P2 by the end of the lap.

On lap 47 Yuki Tsunoda exited the pitlane with cold tyres and acquainted himself with the barrier at the exit of the pitlane. This prompted the deployment of the full Safety Car and allowed Sainz not only a cheap pitstop but put him right on the back of Verstappen with much fresher tyres at his disposal.

The race resumed on lap 55 and try as he might Sainz could not snatch the lead from Verstappen. Despite running mere tenths ahead Verstappen absorbed the pressure from Sainz to take his fifth win in the last six races. While Sainz was second a clearly chuffed Hamilton was third for Mercedes.

George Russell, in fourth, underlined a good day for Mercedes while Leclerc recovered to fifth overall. Esteban Ocon was sixth for Alpine ahead of the Alfa Romeo duo Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu in seventh and eighth. Fernando Alonso finished only ninth after a post-race five second penalty for weaving on the back strait. Lance Stroll, racing at home, was tenth for Aston Martin.

The start of this season was blighted by two DNFs in three races for Verstappen which saw him 46 points behind then-points leader Leclerc. A few months and string of sublime drives later the reigning champion now enjoys his own 46-point lead in the standings. So far, it’s been a mature and blindingly quick Max Verstappen that has turned up in 2022 clearly with the intent, and currently the form, of defending his title.

All images courtesy of Pirelli Motorsport

June 20, 2022
F1 2022: Azerbaijan Gp Review – Double Red Bull Delight

By Baku standards the 2022 race didn’t set the world alight in terms of entertainment. Nevertheless, the Red Bull team will leave Azerbaijan absolutely delighted with another 1/2 victory in the books.

In contrast, Sunday proved a disastrous day for Ferrari who suffered retirement with both cars. First, it was a hydraulics failure for Carlos Sainz who was running a distant fourth. Later, on lap 21, Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari engine seemed to give up the fight. As smoke poured from the air box so too Leclerc’s chances of a podium finish evaporated into thin air. Such was Red Bull and Max Verstappen’s pace that a win may have been out of the question for Leclerc. Still, any step on the podium would have been better than leaving with zero points from the weekend. Remarkably, Red Bull and Verstappen have transformed a 46-point deficit into a 36-point lead. There’s still a long way to go in the 2022 season but there’s no doubt what enormously demoralizing read these numbers make for Ferrari.

Though Checo Perez out-qualified teammate Verstappen on Saturday he didn’t have the pace, due to higher tyre deg, to keep the reigning champion at bay. Perez’s second place, and fastest lap, on Sunday does move him into second place in the driver’s standings.

George Russell once again saved Mercedes blushes with a third-place finish, thanks to Ferrari’s double retirement. But it’s still not pretty reading for the Silver Arrows as Russell, in normal racing conditions, finished a mammoth 45 seconds adrift of Verstappen. Lewis Hamilton, some 71 seconds behind the race winner, was fifth and suffered some seemingly severe back pain due to the W13’s porpoising issues.

While there are a few other teams who have similar issues none are complaining more about porpoising than Mercedes. What’s more, Russell in the same car seems to be less affected by this issue and there’s a reason for that. The porpoising, or bouncing, is a setup issue, ride height to be specific. Alleviating the velocity of it involves increasing said ride height. But Mercedes is reluctant to do this because it will cost them lap time. It hasn’t stopped Toto Wolff from inferring that the regulations need to be reconsidered. This is not only an attempt to bail out his obviously plan-less design team but also disingenuous.

It’s rather unsporting to imply that regs must be changed because a team hasn’t been able to ace the design. Lest we forget the gigantic power unit advantage Mercedes had with the introduction of the hybrid engine in 2014. It was a marvel of engineering and design prowess and was applauded as such. What it did not do was prompt a demand for a rules change. Instead, others had to get their heads down, take the pain for years, and attempt to get on terms with what Mercedes were able to produce. And so they did. It’s not easy being on the back foot in F1 and Mercedes are showing that they’re in unfamiliar territory but that they are also not very good at handling it.

Behind Hamilton Pierre Gasly was fifth for Alpha Tauri while Seb Vettel recovered beautifully from an early run off to finish sixth for Aston Martin. Fernando Alonso was seventh for Alpine while Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris were eighth and ninth for McLaren. In the final points paying position of tenth was the second Alpine of Esteban Ocon.

There’s not much time to regroup as F1 heads straight into the Canadian Grand Prix this weekend.

All images courtesy of Pirelli Motorsport

June 14, 2022
F1 2022: Azerbaijan Gp Preview – Redemption for Ferrari?

The Baku City circuit doesn’t have an especially long history on the Formula 1 calendar but it has a colourful one. First introduced in 2016 the track, situated on the coast of the Dead Sea has, every year, delivered races filled with drama and unpredictability second to none.

The 2017 race in particular was blighted by several safety car periods and a red flag. But this was not the drama the 2017 edition of this race will be forever known for. Instead, it will be remembered for the Vettel/Hamilton clash under the safety car. Vettel accused Hamilton, over team radio, of brake testing him which prompted the then Ferrari driver to pull up alongside the Mercedes and nudge into the side of him. It didn’t stop with Vettel being penalized either. Hamilton would lose the lead due to a loose headrest which gifted the win to Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo. In 2018 will be remembered for Red Bull teammates Ricciardo and Verstappen taking each other out of the race while the 2019 Gp was fairly tame by these standards. The 2021, back after a Covid break in 2020, was the race of tyre failures as both Lance Stroll and Max Verstappen suffered dramatic tyre blowouts at top speed. It left Checo Perez to pick up the pieces and take only the second win of his career.

Another year on the F1 paddock arrives in Azerbaijan with a completely different complexion to it. Not least of a because of the brand-new cars. Perez most likely arrives in the best place and frame of mind possible. Not only is he fresh off a win on the streets of Monaco but he also has a shiny two-year Red Bull contract in his back pocket. It’s good news for Red Bull as they’ve finally found a driver capable of consistently performing at the sharp end. And Checo certainly wouldn’t be a bad bet for this weekend either. Baku has been a happy hunting ground for the Mexican who has a couple of podiums along with a win on this track.

Ferrari will be looking for some redemption too. Here in 2019 Charles Leclerc crashed in qualifying on his way to pole. He made up for it last year by snatching an unlikely pole. But Ferrari, and Leclerc himself, have make a few mistakes in the last few races. They’re giving away points for Red Bull that they can ill afford to lose. There is very little doubt that the 2022 Ferrari will be competitive this weekend. The question is rather if Ferrari can put together an entire weekend without mistakes on track or on the pitwall.

If Ferrari are assumed to be in the mix this weekend it means that Red Bull will not be far behind. The same though cannot be said for Mercedes. Although there was minor improvement in Spain the form in Monaco was fairly mediocre in comparison to the leaders. Still Lewis Hamilton seems to struggling the most with the W13 as he continues to be outperformed by new teammate George Russell. The long straits of Baku, similar in part to Jeddah, are unlikely to be kind to the Merc either. If they get their respective setups in the sweet spot, the likes of McLaren and Alpine may be a big headache for Mercedes this weekend.

June 7, 2022
F1 2022: Miami Gp Preview – America to the fore

In the 21st century there have been many new circuits and venues added to the F1 calendar. From India to South Korea to Singapore to the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. But still the American market and F1’s popularity in the States remained limited. That is until Liberty Media took over the sport’s commercial interests and, possibly, the creation of Netflix’s Drive to Survive series. As it stands now the US is set to host three grands prix from 2023 including this weekend’s race in Miami.

The Formula 1 paddock’s trip to Miami promises to be an American-driven spectacle. The circuit, named the Miami International Autodrome, is set at 5.4 km with a total of 19 corners and is situated in the center of the Sunshine State’s sporting heart. The Hard Rock stadium, which has hosted two Baseball World Series and six NFL Superbowls, is the focal point of a track that organizers hope will encourage “great racing and overtaking opportunities”.

In addition to also being the site of the Miami Open tennis tournament, F1’s arrival has clearly energized the fans as tickets for the event are selling out at record pace. But what of the circuit and its layout? With three long straits it could mean three DRS zones and the chance to see overtaking on a street track. Alpha Tauri’s Pierre Gasly, after testing the circuit on the simulator, thinks that “it looks pretty awesome. I really liked the layout. Quite a lot of high-speed content, quite challenging, unusual type of corners, extremely long corners, very long”.

Ferrari and Red Bull arrive as expected favourites to a circuit that should reward those that have been able to limit porpoising. For Mercedes it might yet be another difficult weekend. Andrew Shovlin, Merc’s Trackside Engineering director, believes they’ll have to chip away at the problems rather than expect a sudden turnaround in form. Nevertheless, the team are expected to bring some new bits and pieces to the car this weekend which they hope will begin to move them in the right direction.

It’s an opportunity too for Haas to showcase their progress on home soil. Drafted in at the last moment Kevin Magnussen has, to date, shone in the 2022 car. It’s about time then that young Mick Schumacher up his game and score his first F1 points. Otherwise, the former F2 champion runs the risk of becoming an also-ran and could very well be under pressure to maintain his seat.

The semi street track will also be a good barometer of how much progress McLaren has made since a dreadful opening two rounds in Bahrain and Jeddah. There may well be a good chance of seeing Lando Norris well up the grid on Sunday.

At 11, no country has hosted F1 at more venues in the same country than America. It’s an ambitious project to transform downtown Miami into a truly global sporting mecca.

May 5, 2022
F1 2022: Australian Gp Review – Leclerc Dominates Down Under

After two years of suffering with a sub-par Ferrari, things can hardly be going any better for Charles Leclerc in 2022. On Saturday the Monegasque driver took Ferrari’s first pole in Australia since Kimi Raikkonen did so his debut season with the team in 2007. Still, there were many that expected second place starting Max Verstappen to mount a serious fight for the win. But Leclerc not only had the pace advantage he also coped extremely well with the re-starts after the safety-car and virtual safety car periods.

For most of the weekend it was clear that Verstappen was not comfortable with his Red Bull. Still, second on the grid and even the second step on the podium would have been acceptable for the reigning champion. But, once again, unreliability reared its head and forced Verstappen into a second retirement in three races. The team has remained tight-lipped on the failure was, but it was most probably mechanically related. The Red Bull powertrains, aka Honda, has proven to be quite problematic so far in 2022 with Alpha Tauri also suffering its own failures in the opening races of the season.

Three races in the championship tables does not make good reading for Red Bull or Max Verstappen. But although Ferrari and Leclerc have gotten off a rollicking start it isn’t the end of the world…yet. Yes, Verstappen currently sits 34 points adrift of Leclerc but there are still 20 races to go and the matter of 544 points up for grabs. There is an awful lot of racing between now and the point where any driver can seriously start to think about the championship.

As predicted in the race preview column Mercedes faired a bit better in Australia than in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. While the Merc pair still finished nearly half-a-minute off the race winner’s pace. Nevertheless, Verstappen’s retirement promoted George Russell onto the podium for the second time in his career while Lewis Hamilton was fourth. The safety car, deployed to enable to clean up of the bits and pieces of Seb Vettel’s Aston Martin, allowed Russell to make a cheap stop and emerged, in P3, ahead of Perez and Hamilton. While Perez easily dispatched of Hamilton, he took P3 off Russell on lap 36. Three laps later Perez would inherit second as Verstappen pulled over his smoking Red Bull at turn 2.

While Perez saved Red Bull’s blushes in second place Mercedes, clearly still struggling, will be pleased with third and fourth. It was a better day too for McLaren as Lando Norris finished fifth ahead of Aussie Daniel Ricciardo in sixth. Esteban Ocon was seventh for Alpine while eighth and ninth place was occupied by Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas and Alpha Tauri’s Pierre Gasly.

As impressive as Leclerc’s performance was the driver of the day was undoubtedly Alex Albon. The Thai driver completed a mammoth 56 lap stint on his hard tyres, pitted on the final lap of the race, and emerged to score the final point in tenth for Williams.

The first retirement of the race, one-and-a-half laps in, was Carlos Sainz. The Spaniard spun in turn 9 and beached the Ferrari in the gravel, bringing out the first safety car of the race. It compounded the Spaniard’s misery who had already made a mistake in his Q3 run to start ninth. At the start of the race Sainz dropped to P14 before spinning out of the race. Afterwards Sainz said he would be hard on himself for the driver errors, but that Ferrari too should take some of the blame for the position he found himself in. It’s somewhat difficult to blame the team though for a driver error in both quali and the race. Carlos Sainz is, for the first time in his career, in a race-winning car. The problem he has is that on the other side of the garage is Charles Leclerc – clearly a driver who is ready and at a level capable of winning the title. But just as Verstappen, or even Mercedes, cannot be ruled out this early on Sainz shouldn’t be either. However, the Spanish driver will have to turn things around very quickly before Ferrari begin to push their support towards Leclerc and relegate Sainz to driver number two.

Charles Leclerc has unquestionably hit a sweet spot in 2022. He is driving this new Ferrari faultlessly and ominously comfortably. It’s a new position for him too to be in the lead of the driver’s championship and the pressure hasn’t ramped up quite yet. But there is a feeling that even if it does Leclerc will be equal to the task.

All images courtesy of Pirelli Motorsport

April 11, 2022