Tag: toto wolff

2026 Singapore Grand Prix preview: Mercedes need answers, the FIA needs dry weather
The short version
- Round 17 is the final sprint weekend of 2026.
- George Russell, last year’s winner, starts Sunday’s race from the back after taking a fifth power unit. Kimi Antonelli leads him by 84 points and cannot clinch the title this weekend.
- The FIA says it has found the cause of Sepang’s software failure. Nothing new is planned for Singapore, and a further wet-weather update is due before Austin.
Mercedes: a penalty and a question

Mercedes were quickest in two of three practice sessions at Sepang, then lost their pace in qualifying. Deputy team principal Bradley Lord blamed a mix of the new upgrade, track temperature and surface. He said the drivers were on the throttle in slow corners, which hurt tyre temperatures. Marina Bay has plenty of slow corners.

Russell’s lap-50 retirement was a mechanical failure on the power unit side, Lord said, and the root cause is still unknown. The replacement is Russell’s fifth unit of the year, beyond the four-unit allocation, so he starts Sunday from the back of the grid.

Antonelli leads 320 points to 236. Singapore offers 33 per driver (eight for the sprint, 25 for the race), which is not enough to settle anything. The earliest he can clinch is the US Grand Prix on 25 October. Even then he would need to outscore Russell by at least 42 points across the two weekends, out of a maximum possible swing of 58. A long shot, but not a closed door.

What the FIA found at Sepang

The FIA’s review is complete. It blames a bug in the power unit software that limits electrical power around the lap. In the wet a 250kW reduction applies, and some cars running low revs in certain sectors lost more power than intended and could not recover it. That is how a formation lap became a car park. The FIA says it found the fault within minutes and sent teams a revised configuration during the red flag. It rejects the suggestion the code was never tested, saying it ran in simulation and in first practice at the Belgian and Dutch Grands Prix. Whether a bug that sailed through those sessions counts as tested is a question for the philosophers.

For Singapore no further changes are planned. If it rains, cars revert to what reports call the Malaysia configuration, though they don’t say whether that means the original or the patched version. A further wet-weather update is due before the US Grand Prix.

The forecast is less settled than the software. There is chance of rain at 30% on Friday and 40% on Saturday and Sunday. Humidity could reach 83% at the start of the race. Weather forecasts in F1 are proving less reliable than the Aston Martins at this stage. Things could change.

Ferrari: a podium, a stall and noise upstairs

Lewis Hamilton’s third place was his first podium since Silverstone, and it followed a scare. His car stopped on the straight during the formation lap and had to be restarted. Ferrari still can’t explain why, and Fred Vasseur said on Sunday he had no clear answer. Ferrari are second on 405 points, 151 behind Mercedes.

The leadership story has not moved. Ferrari said on 29 September that it had made its choices and had full confidence in Vasseur. Hamilton said on 1 October that “there are also people above” the team principal, and Vasseur called his relationship with Benedetto Vigna and John Elkann a very good one. No change has been announced as of Thursday.

Red Bull and McLaren

Max Verstappen arrives with Red Bull Ford’s first win and first pole, level with Lando Norris on 188 points. Red Bull sit 18 behind McLaren in the constructors’ table. Singapore remains a gap on his record: four podiums, three of them second places, and no win.

McLaren concede the MCL40 may not suit Marina Bay’s slow 90-degree corners, and say the latest upgrade hasn’t delivered in Baku or Sepang. They did win here in 2024 and clinched last year’s constructors’ title at this race.

The circuit and the tyres

Marina Bay is 4.927km, with 19 corners and 62 laps, and Hamilton holds the lap record: 1:33.808, set last year. Every edition up to and including 2023 had at least one Safety Car, 24 deployments in total, but 2024 and 2025 had none. Russell won last year’s race from pole without one, so the old certainty has been downgraded to a tendency.

Pirelli bring the C3, C4 and C5 (hard, medium and soft) again and expect a one-stop to be the preferred strategy. The soft may get a look from more than one team on Sunday. With a single practice hour, the sprint is where teams will learn how it behaves.

Midfield

Team Points
Racing Bulls 90
Alpine 68
Haas 27
Audi 17
Williams 12
Aston Martin 7
Cadillac 0

Racing Bulls lead Alpine by 22 after Alpine failed to score at Sepang. Fernando Alonso’s eighth place there was Aston Martin’s best result of a difficult season and cut the gap to Williams to five points. Cadillac remain the only team without a point, though the sprint pays down to eighth, which gives the back of the grid a second chance this weekend.

Sepang showed what happens when everything that can go wrong does. Marina Bay, with its humidity, one practice hour and a sprint thrown in, is a decent venue for a rematch. Bring a towel.
October 8, 2026
2026 Bahrain Grand Prix: Verstappen wins Sepang’s long, wet afternoon as Russell’s title hopes fade

Formula 1 came back to Sepang after nine years and found it much as it left it: hot, wet and unpredictable. What nobody expected was a software problem. By the time the field was finally racing, the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia had already been through a thunderstorm, a red flag and an emergency software update. Max Verstappen was the only man who seemed untroubled by any of it.

The Dutchman had been quickest in all three parts of qualifying. His 1:35.130 put him three tenths clear of Lewis Hamilton. It was his first pole of the season and the first for the Red Bull-Ford partnership, and Ford’s first pole since Rubens Barrichello’s Stewart at Magny-Cours in 1999. Isack Hadjar qualified third but took a five-place engine penalty, which promoted Kimi Antonelli to third on the grid. Mercedes had brought an upgrade to Malaysia and looked baffled by it. George Russell qualified eighth and started seventh.

A storm arrived just before the scheduled start, and the start was delayed by 40 minutes. When the field finally left on the formation lap on intermediates, the queue bunched up and several cars nearly stopped. A number of them, Verstappen and Hamilton among them, then would not go again. The drivers had their feet on the throttle and nothing happened. The red flag came out.

The explanation is simpler than it sounded on the radio. Nearly half of a 2026 car’s power is electrical, and the way that power is deployed is governed by standard software the FIA supplies. That software had a flaw nobody had found, because this season has produced almost no proper wet running to test it. When a car slowed to a near standstill, the bug stopped the electrical power from being released again. FIA single-seater director Nikolas Tombazis admitted the software had not been tested as thoroughly as he would have liked. His engineers wrote a fix on the spot, sent it to the teams, and the teams loaded it onto every car. The fix itself took about 20 minutes. Getting the race restarted took 53. Sergio Pérez compared the experience to a rental kart running out of time. Fernando Alonso, whose Aston Martin has failed to finish half its races this season, joked that nobody had ever stopped a race on his account.

When they finally got underway, only nine cars started on intermediates, among them Verstappen, both Mercedes and Hadjar. The Ferraris, the McLarens and most of the midfield gambled on slicks. Piastri, Stroll, Hülkenberg and Bortoleto lost their nerve and pitted for intermediates before the standing start. The Mercedes pair got away better than Verstappen, and Liam Lawson flew into fourth. The slick runners lost time by the lap, and Leclerc, having clipped Hülkenberg, gave up and pitted at the end of the first lap.

Verstappen passed Russell on lap six and was all over Antonelli when Valtteri Bottas beached his Cadillac in the Turn 13 gravel. The safety car came out just as slicks had become the faster tyre. The leaders got a cheap change onto slicks and the gamblers got a reprieve. On the restart Verstappen went around the outside of Antonelli at Turn 1, and Russell took his teammate at Turn 5. Antonelli eventually repassed Russell on lap 21 without any help from the pit wall, and Verstappen’s lead had grown to 11 seconds by the second round of stops. Alex Albon’s stopped Williams brought out a virtual safety car and then a full one. Verstappen pitted, briefly lost the lead and took it back a lap later when Antonelli stopped. With four laps left he controlled the restart and won by 2.3 seconds. It was Ford’s first Grand Prix victory since 2003.

Ferrari needed a good afternoon and got one. Hamilton went from the front row to 15th on the slick gamble, worked his way back to fifth by lap 22 and passed Hadjar into Turn 1 three laps from home for his first podium since Silverstone. Leclerc came from the pit lane on lap one to finish fourth. After a week in which the Italian press was openly writing Fred Vasseur’s successor’s name, a 27-point haul will not settle the question, but it gives his critics less to work with.

Russell had the worst of it. He was running third on lap 50 when his power unit failed, his third retirement of the year. Toto Wolff said the failure had nothing to do with the safety car and apologised on the radio. Antonelli now leads by 84 points with seven Grands Prix and a sprint remaining. The arithmetic still allows a comeback. Russell needs to outscore Antonelli by around twelve points every weekend from here, and he himself called a fightback exceptionally unlikely. The Italian has eight wins and a teammate with an unreliable car. Short of something dramatic, the title is his.

Further back, Lawson’s seventh and Arvid Lindblad’s tenth put Racing Bulls 22 points clear of Alpine, who failed to score. Esteban Ocon ran sixth early and finished fifteenth. Red Bull closed to within 18 points of McLaren. Alonso’s eighth place is Aston Martin’s best result of the season and moves them to within five points of Williams. Lance Stroll finished twelfth, which at Aston Martin this year counts as news.

Honourable mentions go to Lawson for the start of the day, Hadjar for climbing from eighth on the grid to fifth, Norris for recovering to ninth after a trip through the gravel, and Pérez, who reached the flag after seven pit stops.

Singapore follows next Sunday. Mercedes have a week to find the speed they lost here, Red Bull arrive with momentum for the first time this season, and Vasseur will face the same questions again.

Media courtesy Pirelli Motorsport

October 4, 2026
F1 2023: Maximized Dominance: Verstappen Wins in Spain

The Max Verstappen winning juggernaut shows no signs of slowing down. With another commanding victory in Spain, the Dutchman has now amassed an impressive tally of 40 wins. What’s more, the prospect of his reign coming to an end seems increasingly distant, painting an ominous picture for his competitors. As Verstappen continues to assert his dominance, the rest of the Formula 1 grid faces an uphill battle to challenge his supremacy.

Max Verstappen’s dominance in Spain was evident right from Friday practice. It carried through to Saturday qualifying too as, by nearly a half-second gap, he secured pole position, leaving his closest rival, Carlos Sainz, trailing in his wake. Verstappen’s performance on Saturday was so commanding that he didn’t even need to make a second run.

There was no real hope of a close battle with Verstappen on race day but the start of any race brings with it at least an inkling of a chance. Nevertheless, as the lights went out any and all hopes of a close battle for the lead quickly fizzled out. Verstappen expertly navigated the brief challenge for P1 and thereafter effortlessly extended his advantage, cruising his way to a third consecutive race win in the 2023 season. The Dutchman’s ability to maintain sustain his unmatched pace has undoubtedly solidified his position as the champion-elect this season.

While Carlos Sainz showcased an impressive performance in qualifying, securing a solid starting position, Ferrari’s hopes for a strong showing gradually faded during the race. The pace of the Ferrari cars fizzled as the Spaniard struggled to maintain his position, eventually falling behind both Mercedes drivers by the end of the race.

Despite Ferrari’s upgrades, including a new sidepod configuration, it became evident that they hadn’t quite hit the sweet spot. The disappointment continued for the team as Charles Leclerc, plagued by a dismal qualifying session, failed to make it into the points, further adding to Ferrari’s frustrations. The race and performance by Ferrari served as a stark reminder that even with big upgrades, and perhaps big expectations, it may not play out as expected.

While Ferrari’s upgrades failed to deliver the expected performance boost in Spain, Mercedes made notable strides in terms of race pace. Both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell showcased impressive performances, although they fell short of challenging Max Verstappen. Nonetheless, it was an encouraging step in the right direction for the Mercedes team. Like Ferrari, Mercedes introduced a newly styled sidepod along with several other upgrades. The second and third-place finishes for Hamilton and Russell, respectively, are certainly commendable results. However, Team Principal Toto Wolff remains cautious, emphasizing that there is still a long way to go before they can truly challenge Red Bull’s dominance. Nevertheless, these results serve as a vindication for the Mercedes team, as they now have confidence that they are heading down the right design path for their car.

Checo Perez experienced yet another challenging qualifying session, which resulted in an eleventh-place start on the grid. However, the Mexican driver showcased his tenacity and skill by making a solid recovery, ultimately securing a fourth-place finish. Nevertheless, the truth remains that if Perez aims to mount a genuine challenge for the championship, his bad days need to be, well, not so bad. Elsewhere, Carlos Sainz trundled home in an underwhelming fifth place, highlighting the lack of pace from Ferrari. The two Aston Martin drivers, Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso, showed respectable performances, finishing in sixth and seventh place, respectively. However, Aston, and likely the drivers, would be disappointed with this haul in a season that has been littered with podium finished for Alonso.

Esteban Ocon claimed the eighth position for Alpine and Zhou Guanyu of Alfa Romeo secured an impressive ninth-place finish. In the final points paying position was Pierre Gasly in the second Alpine car. Lando Norris secured a dazzling third place in qualifying but broke his front-wing against Hamilton’s rear tyre at the start of the race. The McLaren driver managed a lowly seventeenth place finish.

Verstappen’s dominance in Spain showcased his exceptional driving skills and unwavering determination. With a commanding pole position and a flawless start, Verstappen effortlessly controlled the race from start to finish, securing yet another victory. His ability to consistently deliver exceptional performances, coupled with his relentless pursuit of success, is sight to behold as the second coming of Red Bull appears to gain more and more steam.

All images courtesy of Pirelli Motorsport

June 5, 2023
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: Hungarian Gp Review – Verstappen Wins Again

Despite starting tenth on the grid Max Verstappen executed a brilliant Red Bull strategy to pick up, easily, the most impressive win of his 2022 season.

The script for Saturday read like a horror story for Red Bull who not only saw Checo Perez in eleventh but also had Verstappen confined to tenth with an engine issue. On the other hand, Saturday qualifying couldn’t have gone better for George Russell who delivered a stunning lap to snatch a maiden pole position. To say that Russell’s pole came as a surprise would be understatement.

He shared the front row of the grid with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz with Charles Leclerc in third. The feeling was though that Russell’s joy would be contained to pole, and that Ferrari simply had too much pace for the Mercedes. But regardless of pace there is still the matter of acing every call and decision that needs to make during a grand prix. An area that Ferrari has struggled in for several years.

For the second time in seven days Ferrari has done its level best to make the worst of a good situation. Yet another blunder on tyre strategy saw the team pit to cover those immediately behind despite being on the more durable medium tyre. Still, Leclerc especially showed great pace and overtook Russell for the lead of the race. Meanwhile, Verstappen was delivering laptimes that would soon bring him into contention. The second round of pitstops again came early for Ferrari and this time they put race leader Leclerc on the hard compound tyre. It should be noted that earlier in the race both Alpine drivers and the Haas of Kevin Magnussen struggled to switch on the hard tyre – a clear indication for all that it simply wasn’t suited to the track and ambient conditions. There will be those that say that Ferrari had no medium tyre to put on Leclerc’s car, but al alternative option was still available to them. They could’ve run longer on both medium stints and fit the soft tyre for a short final stint. But again, the Ferrari strategy team simply made the wrong decision, which cost them not only a potential victory but a spot on the podium as well.

Ferrari’s strategy blunder left Leclerc defenseless against a rampant Verstappen who took the lead of the race on lap 41. However, the Dutchman, owing to a clutch issue, spun in the penultimate corner of the lap, handing the lead back to Leclerc. It was short-lived though as Leclerc struggled to heat up the hard tyre Verstappen was back past the Ferrari driver in a handful of laps. With Verstappen well in control of the race Sainz and Hamilton made a final stop for soft compound tyres. Russell took second place off an exposed Leclerc on lap 54 prompting the Monegasque driver into a late pitstop for soft compound tyres. Meanwhile, Hamilton, also on soft tyres, made impressive progress to pass Sainz on lap 63. His pace wasn’t quite enough to catch Verstappen but there was the treat of Hamilton going wheel-to-wheel with teammate Russell for P2. Owing to Ferrari’s strategic errors both Mercs found themselves on the podium for the second race running.

Behind the top three of Verstappen, Hamilton, and Russell was Carlos Sainz in fourth ahead of Checo Perez in fifth. Charles Leclerc eventually trundled home in sixth while Lando Norris was seventh for McLaren. In eighth was Fernando Alonso while Alpine teammate Esteban Ocon was ninth. Seb Vettel, who announced his retirement at the end of the year, was tenth for Aston Martin.

The ability of the cars to follow more closely for longer periods on a circuit such as the Hungaroring is a great advert for the 2022 spec cars. On a circuit that is so notorious for its lack of overtaking that it’s knows as ‘Monaco without the barriers’ it shows that progress has been made. What then of Max Verstappen? The performance by him and Red Bull in Hungary was simply sublime and indicative of a team and driver at the peak of their considerable powers. With an 80-point lead and only nine races remaining in 2022 the second title beckons for a driver who, stunningly, seems to be getting even better.

All images courtesy of Pirelli Motorsport

August 1, 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: 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 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