Category: F1 2022 Season

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F1 2022 Season

Abu Dhabi 2022 – Seb’s Last Dance

Race weekend review

Massive commemorations for the successful career of Sebastian Vettel took place over the weekend. It started on Thursday night, when Lewis Hamilton took all 20 drivers out for dinner to celebrate Seb and his retirement from F1. On Friday evening a photo of all the drivers doing the iconic 1 finger celebration associated with Sebastian was shared across social media. Several drivers also sported tribute helmets to the sporting legend over the weekend. He will truly be missed.

Helmut Marko confirmed that Ricciardo would be Red Bull’s third driver in 2023 (as long as he signs the contract!) Logan Sargeant gained enough Super Licence points needed to secure his William’s seat in Sunday’s F2 feature race, so we will be seeing him on the grid next year and that’s the 2023 grid set.

Practice

We saw many teams swap out drivers for the Young Drivers Test. Some of the names included were the likes of F2 drivers Lawson, Drugovich and Sargeant who traded places with F1 stars, along with IndyCar driver O’Ward and last year’s runner up in F2, Schwartzman. The 1-2 in Brazil was copied and pasted in FP1 for Mercedes, this time Hamilton was the lead car. Charles Leclerc was not far behind in P3 for Ferrari.

In FP2, Verstappen set the fastest time, followed by Russell and Leclerc who were 3 hundredths and 4 hundredths further behind the Dutchman. It was a solid session for Alpine who were 8th and 9th; and Ricciardo rounded up the top 10 in what was his final FP2 practice for the near future as he is without a seat in 2023 (yes we are all devastated by this.)

Perez lead his team mate Verstappen to a Red Bull 1-2 in the final free practice session of 2022. Hamilton and Russell were in 3rd and 4th for Mercedes, while Norris clinched 5th in his McLaren ahead of both Ferraris.

Sources: racingnews365.com & motorsporttechnology.com

Qualifying

At the front in Q1 (only completing one lap to do it) was Verstappen, followed by Perez and the two Ferraris. A fantastic final lap to avoid elimination on his last occasion in F1 saw Vettel jump to P6 and out of the drop zone. The sweet feelings of his pole position last week in Brazil couldn’t be transferred to Abu Dhabi as Magnussen could not avoid elimination like his team mate did.

Out in Q1: Magnussen, Gasly, Bottas, Albon, Latifi

Perez was the fastest in Q2, ahead of Leclerc and Sainz. Mercedes noticed their lack of pace compared to their rivals and were wondering why they were so far behind. Once again, the man who is leaving the sport, put his Aston Martin into Q3 with another stellar final lap. Alonso couldn’t catch his team mate Ocon who did qualify for Q3- a surprise exit for the Spaniard.

Out in Q2: Alonso, Tsunoda, Schumacher, Stroll, Zhou

Position was important in the fight for P2. Provisional pole was set for Verstappen after first runs, ahead of Sainz, Perez and Leclerc. Vettel and Ricciardo only did one lap in Q3, setting their times for the race. Vettel was P7 before Ocon and Norris improved their teams, so the German qualified P9, equalling his best qualifying result this season in his final race. Verstappen improved his time on his final run, sealing pole number 7 of the season as Perez took P2, giving Red Bull a front row lockout.

Top 10: Verstappen, Perez, Leclerc. Sainz, Hamilton, Russell, Norris, Ocon, Vettel, Ricciardo*

*Starts 13th because of 3 place grid penalty

Source: radioexe.co.uk

Race report

Verstappen put in a dominant effort to seal his 15th race win of the season extending his record even further. He came up just 9 points short of the record for largest gap between first and second in the championship, a record held by Sebastian Vettel. Once Verstappen held off Perez at the start he was soon out of sight. Perez, on a two-stop strategy came up short to Leclerc who finished ahead of him in the race and the championship. The Mexican had the task of chasing down his rival for second place on track but he came up short and never really got close enough to challenge.

Leclerc, mirroring Verstappen’s one-stop strategy, managed his hard compound tyres to the chequered flag and kept his head steady as he sealed P2 in the world drivers’ championship with a superb drive. Sainz had a little tussle with Hamilton at the start, the Brit was told to give back the place. After being overtaken by the champion and then regaining that position, Sainz worked his way back to finish P4 for Ferrari.

It was not Mercedes best weekend on the back of their 1-2 in Brazil. The Silver Arrows only managed P5 for Russell after he received a 5 second penalty for an unsafe release, while Hamilton’s race resulted in a DNF when his team reported a hydraulic issue.

Alpine, almost already securing P4 in the constructors’ championship against McLaren had a mixed race in Abu Dhabi. Ocon managed a solid P7, finishing behind Norris but Alonso unfortunately suffered a water leak which ended his race and time with Alpine early. Not a nice way to bow out for the Spaniard.

Double points were scored for McLaren in their final race of the season with the pairing of Norris and Ricciardo. Norris drove another solid race to finish 6th and best of the rest. The departing Ricciardo brought home P9 for the papaya team ahead of the retiring Vettel in what was his final race as a McLaren driver.

Aston Martin were another double points scoring team. A two-stop strategy favoured Stroll as he hauled his car to P8. The one-stop strategy might not have been the best decision made by Aston Martin for Vettel but the German driver made some impressive over takes in his final race in F1 and took home his final championship point in P10. Aston Martin finished level points with Alfa Romeo in the standings but Alfa Romeo took the P6.

Schumacher, who is leaving Haas, came together with Latifi but both were able to continue on. Schumacher received a 5 second time penalty for this incident and finished P16 ahead of his team mate Magnussen, who finished 17th with a one-stop strategy that did not go his way.

AlphaTauri scored no points in Abu Dhabi. Tsunoda finished P11, just missing out on the points and Gasly, who leaves the team to join Alpine, ended the race in P14 for the Italian-based team.

Rookie of the year, (the only rookie this season) Zhou finished in P13 between former Red Bull drivers Albon and Gasly. Former Mercedes driver Bottas finished P15, a result he would surely like to improve on next season.

Some time after his contact with Schumacher, Latifi retired from the race in what was his final appearance for Williams. Albon will be happy with his final outing with Williams this season, securing a 12th place finish for the team.

That concludes the 2022 F1 season and we will return to racing at the Bahrain Grand Prix in March 2023; can’t wait to see you then.

Meanwhile, during the winter break we will be sure to keep you occupied with news, articles, games and more. Stay tuned for what’s in store.

Categories
F1 2022 Season

Brazil 2022- Not Just Mr Saturday

Race weekend review

Going into the weekend, the F1 community was still awaiting the announcement from Haas on who would partner Kevin Magnussen next season. A number of sources reported that the seat was already Hulkenburg’s and the announcement was the final piece of the puzzle. The opportunity for a reserve role in Mercedes may present itself to Schumacher if this is the case as Toto Wolff spoke highly of Schumacher in an interview recently.

Practice 1 &2

FP1 was of high importance as the drivers would only have one session to obtain the necessary data before Friday qualifying since it was a sprint race weekend. Perez, Leclerc and Verstappen were the top three, the smallest of margins between the trio. Lando Norris, after feeling unwell and missing media duties on Thursday, was out on track on Friday. FP2 on Saturday morning was a pretty standard session but it was the Alpine of Ocon who lead Perez and Russell on the time board.

Source: motorsport.com

Qualifying

The weather forecast had predicted some rain over the weekend but it was hard to tell for how long and how heavy it would be. Drivers were setting times on intermediates but in the latter part of Q1, Gasly was the first to switch to soft tyres when it was dry enough to do so; the others followed in pursuit. The drop zone was changing rapidly and it was a tense finish due to the constant improvement of times. Eliminated in Q1: Latifi, Zhou, Bottas, Tsunoda, Schumacher

Clouds were still looming in Q2, everyone was trying set their times before the rain came down. Verstappen pipped Sainz to the top spot by 0.009s while there was joy in the Haas garage because Magnussen found himself in P7 and in Q3. Eliminated in Q2: Albon, Gasly, Vettel, Ricciardo, Stroll

In preparation for rain in the Q3, everyone chose slicks to run their first flying lap- except for Leclerc whose team put him in out on intermediates, but the rain hadn’t fallen yet. A mistake by Ferrari? He stayed out on those tyres to complete his lap, and Perez was behind the struggling Ferrari so his lap was compromised. Russell beached his Mercedes in the gravel and the red flag came out. Magnussen was on provisional pole. When the track was cleared, rain came down and inters were the only way to go; meaning that it was virtually impossible to beat Magnussen’s time. As drivers got out of their cars and time was running out, celebrations began in the Haas garage because the Dane, who had returned to F1 this year, was on course to take the first pole position of his career.

Top 10: Magnussen, Verstappen, Russell, Norris, Sainz*, Ocon, Alonso, Hamilton, Perez and Leclerc

*Taking a 5 place grid penalty for Sunday’s race for new engine components

Source: Pitpass.com via Sam BloxhamLAT Images

Sprint race

What tyres would be the most effective during the race? Softs or mediums? Red Bull and Verstappen thought different to most and wanted to have a fresh set softs for Sunday so he started on mediums. A good start from Magnussen saw him keep his lead into turn one ahead of Verstappen. Ocon and Alonso raced hard and had two incidents, one of them resulting in contact and the other was investigation after the sprint race which Alonso was later penalised for with a 5 second penalty.

Soon enough Verstappen, Russell and Sainz overtook Magnussen as the Dane struggled to keep up with the front runners. Stroll received a 10 second time penalty for a dangerous manoeuvre on his teammate, Vettel, which saw the German take to the grass.

By this stage, Magnussen had dropped down to P7 when Hamilton, Perez and Leclerc overtook him. At the front, Russell got past Verstappen for the lead on Lap 15, and not long after, Sainz passed the world champion too. But, there was contact between the pair which resulted in damage for the Red Bull, giving Hamilton the opportunity to overtake him too.

Source: Sportingnews.com

Leclerc managed to make his way up to P6 ahead of Norris and Magnussen who took the final sprint race point. Vettel and Gasly just missed out on points in 9th and 10th.

Top 8: Russell, Sainz, Hamilton, Verstappen, Perez, Leclerc, Norris, Magnussen.

Race

George Russell became a Grand Prix race winner at the Brazilian Grand Prix. The young Brit kept his cool after the safety car restart and made his way to what was an emotional, well deserved victory. Contact with Verstappen at the start slightly hampered the 7x world champion’s race who started on the front row, but he made a fantastic recovery which saw him finish 1.5 seconds behind Russell; the first 1-2 of the season for Mercedes.

Carlos Sainz drove a solid race for Ferrari, starting 7th due to his grid penalty. The Spaniard overtook Perez after the safety car restart and was rewarded with the last podium place ahead of his teammate. Leclerc also had a very good race; contact with Norris saw him drop to the back of the grid at the start of the race but he stormed his way through the field to P4- he asked his team to swap him and Sainz around to help his championship fight for P2 but the team refused.

Source: Dknation.draftkings.com

It was not the best of weekends for Red Bull. They lacked the pace to keep up with Mercedes and Ferrari. Verstappen’s contact with Hamilton meant that the Dutchman needed to make his way through the field as he had dropped down several places after an impromptu pitstop along with a 5 second penalty for causing the collision. He finished the race in P6. Towards the end of the race, he overtook Perez on the quest to get by Leclerc and Alonso to help out Perez for P2 in the standings; but when asked to give back the position when he couldn’t get the job done, Verstappen didn’t and when questioned he responded with:

“Are we clear about that? I gave my reasons and I stuck by it.”

– Max Verstappen on why he did not give back position to Perez at the Brazilian GP

Perez who was unhappy with his teammate finished in P7, losing points to Leclerc in their fight for P2, this means that they are level on 290 points going into the final race.

Alonso had a fantastic race, starting down in P18 and finishing in P5 ahead of the Red Bulls. Ocon was given the order not to fight Alonso who was on a different strategy to him, he managed to finish P8.

The Brazilian GP was a dismal weekend for McLaren. Ricciardo made contact with Magnussen, ending their races on Lap 1 and the Aussie also received a 3 place grid drop for the Abu Dhabi GP because of it. Norris received a 5 second time penalty for his contact with Leclerc but he found himself in a worse situation when he stopped with an issue in his car, resulting in a DNF for him and a safety car for the others.

Source: grandprix.com

Bottas was the leading Alfa Romeo driver, coming home with 2 points in P9, while Zhou missed out in P12. There were no points scored for Haas as Schumacher finished behind the Alfa Romeo in P12 and Magnussen DNFd.

Tsunoda and Gasly did not have good races either; Tsunoda’s pitlane start saw him finish P17, while Gasly was given a 5 second penalty for speeding in the pitlane and finished P14. Finally, Albon and Latifi completed the race in 15th and 16th for Williams.

The final race of the season is on Sunday in Abu Dhabi where we will bid an emotional farewell to some drivers…

Categories
F1 2022 Season

Mexico 2022- Another Record Broken

Race weekend review

The main news of the week was the FIA’s announcement on Red Bull’s cost cap breach; they were fined seven million dollars and got a 10% reduction in wind tunnel time. Their breach was 2.2 million dollars but if a tax credit had been applied correctly it would have been 0.5 million dollars. Aston Martin received a four hundred and fifty thousand dollar fine for their breach of the cost cap.

Several drivers sported new helmets for the Mexican Grand Prix. Sebastian Vettel wore one of his iconic Red Bull helmets with the words “Danke Didi” as a tribute to the late Dietrich Mateschitz.

Source: racingnews365.com

Practice

Many young drivers replaced the usual F1 drivers in FP1 in Mexico. Liam Lawson, Logan Sargeant, Nyck De Vries, Jack Doohan and Pietro Fittipaldi all had the opportunities to impress. Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc topped the charts for Ferrari but the top six were covered by just under two tenths, so there was no obvious advantage yet.

Testing on the Pirelli rubber in FP2 saw an unusual top 3 of Russell, Tsunoda and Ocon. Red flags were waved when Charles Leclerc went off the track and hit the barriers, damaging his rear wing. Magnussen and Stroll were to take grid penalties for the race; the Dane needed an engine replacement earning him 5 places, and Stroll 3 for his incident with Alonso at the U.S. GP.

Source: Express.co.uk

Russell topped the charts again on Saturday morning, but this time he was joined by his team mate Lewis Hamilton and gave Mercedes the 1-2, the 8x world champions looking threatening at the top. Verstappen completed the top 3 but was almost half a second behind Russell’s leading time.

Qualifying

The usual suspects, our regular top six were safe; the Ferraris and Red Bulls chose not to do a final run unlike the others who needed extra laps to see them through. Schumacher and Vettel set the exact same lap time, the Haas driver putting his time in first. But it would not be enough for the Germans to escape elimination. Out in Q1: Schumacher, Vettel, Stroll, Albon, Latifi.

The top four of Hamilton, Sainz, Russell and Verstappen were all close in time. Perez took to a clear track with just three minutes to spare, setting himself a time that would see him fifth. Unfortunately for Ricciardo, the McLaren driver missed out on Q3 to Alonso by 0.053s. Out in Q2: Ricciardo, Zhou, Tsunoda, Gasly, Magnussen.

An intense fight for pole position was looming. Three teams seemed to be in with a chance. The top 5 after first runs were: Verstappen, Russell, Perez, Sainz and Bottas. Hamilton’s time (his first run) that was good enough for P3 was deleted for track limits. Verstappen improved on his final lap, solidifying the pole position, while Russell did not improve (due to track limits) but kept his P2 ahead of Hamilton who was P3 by just 0.005s. It was not very common for the pole sitter to take the victory at the Mexico GP in recent years, while good fortune had been on the side of the third place starter on the grid; would things be different this year?

Top 10: Verstappen, Russell, Hamilton, Perez, Sainz, Bottas, Leclerc, Norris, Alonso, Ocon.

Source: Thescore.com

Race Report

Max Verstappen broke yet another record at the Mexico GP. Taking his Red Bull to victory, the Dutchman finished 15 seconds ahead of next second place finisher Lewis Hamilton. A one stop strategy, from soft to medium tyres which were well taken care of, saw Verstappen take his 14th win of the season. He now holds the record of most wins in an F1 season, overtaking a record he equalled with Schumacher and Vettel just last week. Perez had the same strategy as Verstappen, he was closing in on Hamilton after his pitstop but was unable to catch the Brit in the end so he settled for third.

Mercedes strategy ultimately let them down in Mexico. In what could have been a more successful weekend with the pace they had seen during free practice and qualifying, the Silver Arrows were not as close as they would have liked. Hamilton overtook Russell at the start and held onto track position, but the medium-hard strategy did not work in their favour as they could not find the pace needed to catch those in front of them. Hamilton grabbed a podium for the team, taking a valuable P2, and Russell took P4 quite a bit further back.

It was an uneventful weekend for Ferrari who finished P5 and P6. They lacked the pace of their competitors and were miles behind, so far behind that Russell was able to pit for new tyres to set the fastest lap of the race and still come out comfortably ahead of Sainz in fifth.

McLaren had a good race; both drivers scoring points for the papaya team. Ricciardo received a 10 second time penalty for causing a collision with Tsunoda, but this riled up the Aussie who stormed his way to P7, overtaking both Ocon and Alonso and forming a large enough gap to the Frenchman who was P8. He was also voted driver of the day. Norris had a solid drive to get P9.

Alpine lost out to McLaren points-wise at the Mexico GP but still maintain a seven point lead to their rivals. Ocon found himself in a McLaren sandwich in P8, while Alonso had a late retirement due to an engine issue- the Spaniard called out Alpine and its reliability issues.

Source: Alamy Stock Photo via Planetf1.com

Quite a dismal day for Aston Martin who could only manage 14th and 15th, they too, lacked the pace to compete. Vettel completed an impressive stint on his soft tyres which he started the race on, but on medium tyres after a pitstop, the car just was not quite right. Stroll was on a different strategy but no such luck was found for either driver.

AlphaTauri would be glad to see the back of that race as they left Mexico with no points. Gasly just missed out in P11, he picked up a five second time penalty for forcing Stroll off the track. Tsunoda was the other non-finisher after his contact with Ricciardo saw him limp to the pits and retire from the race.

Alfa Romeo managed to come away with one point, Valtteri Bottas hung on for P10 to get that all important championship point that will be crucial in their battle with Aston Martin who they are now four points ahead of.

No points for Williams, with Albon their highest finisher in P12 who was in the hunt for P10 in the closing stages but was overtaken by an eager Gasly. Latfi was the last of the finishers, a lap behind the second-last place finisher Magnussen.

We have a week’s break before we get back to racing. Next we will see the drivers take on the Brazil GP where there will be a sprint race, meaning extra points are up for grabs.

Keep an eye on our social media for news, games and more!

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F1 2022 Season

US GP- Bulls Become Champions

Race week Review

Max Verstappen had already clinched the driver’s world title in Suzuka, this time in Austin, Texas, the goal for Red Bull was to leave with the Constructor’s Championship They needed to outscore Ferrari by 19 points.

It had been announced over the weekend that Leclerc (10), Perez (5) and Alonso (5) would be taking grid penalties for new engine components. Other news in the paddock came from Ricciardo riding into the paddock on a horse named Horsey McHorse (who had it’s own VIP pass) to complete his cowboy look and show off his love for the US GP.

Source: ABC.net.au

Practice

Five drivers who were not on the 2022 grid had the opportunity to drive for certain teams in FP1; they included IndyCar drivers, ex-F1 drivers and F2 drivers: Alex Palou, Antonio Giovinazzi, Logan Sargeant, Robert Schwartzman and Theo Pourchaire.

Antonio Giovinazzi’s time to impress was very limited as he was into the barriers less than 10 minutes into the session and brought out a red flag. Aside from the usual Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull domination that we are used to seeing, Lance Stroll slotted himself into P4 among the big 3.

In FP2, the top 3 was slightly unexpected with Valtteri Bottas and Daniel Ricciardo joining Charles Leclerc high up on the leader board. It was a reasonably good practice for Magnussen whose car had been repaired in time for him to participate in FP2- he took P11.

Source: Formulaspy.com

Verstappen topped the charts ahead of the two Ferraris in FP3. Ricciardo complained about brake issues as he found himself in P15 as Schumacher was caught out with technical issues and Zhou’s issues were yet to be determined at the time.

Before Saturday’s qualifying session; Jost Capito announced that Logan Sargeant would join the F1 2023 grid as long as he obtained the necessary super licence points. He has also been given the opportunity to run Free Practice Sessions in Mexico and Abu Dhabi to help this process.

Qualifying

It was announced shortly before the start of the session that co-founder of the Red Bull racing team, Dietrich Mateschitz, had passed away aged 78. Verstappen and Sainz paid tribute to him after the session. Talks about the Red Bull cost cap breach were put on hold out of respect for Mateschitz.

Red Bull and Ferrari have made it a more common practice to do only one run in Q1 and this was enough to see them through to the next part of the session. Hamilton’s final run saw his lap time deleted, but the Brit was safe in P4. Ricciardo and Ocon were unable to set good enough lap times and were therefore eliminated in Q1 in P17 and P18 respectively. Also following them out was Magnussen in P16, Schumacher in P19 and Latifi in P20.

Source: Autosport.com

Once more, the Ferraris and Red Bulls were confident enough in their times that they sat out a second run in Q2, Russell too stayed in the pits after one run. Vettel had his first lap time deleted because of track limits and sat last with only minutes to spare. Zhou who was almost set for a Q3 appearance alongside his teammate Bottas, had his hopes dashed out the door when his lap time was deleted, promoting Norris to P10 and into Q3. Knocked out of Q2 were Albon, Vettel, Gasly, Zhou, Tsunoda

Saturday’s main event had finally arrived when the shootout for pole position came along. At the end of first runs it stood: Leclerc, Sainz, Hamilton, Verstappen (who was on used soft tyres) and Perez. Ferrari had never taken pole position at COTA before; but, Carlos Sainz was the man to do it for them, clinching pole position ahead of his teammate, Charles Leclerc by 0.065s. Verstappen could only manage P3 (but would benefit for the race start from Leclerc’s grid penalty) and Perez found himself in P4 but would drop to P9 because of his penalty. Stroll would take a marvellous P7, his best start of the season ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris while Alonso and Bottas finished up the top 10.

The starting grid for Sunday’s race: Sainz, Verstappen, Hamilton, Russell, Stroll, Norris, Bottas, Albon, Perez, Vettel

Source: F1i.com

Race Report

Red Bull drivers Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez claimed the World Constructors’ Championship for their team by finishing P1 and P4. Verstappen had a slightly more difficult path to his victory than normal when he passed Sainz at the race start, but an 11 second pitstop put him behind Leclerc and Hamilton who he had to overtake for the lead. Perez meanwhile fought his way up from his P9 start to a P4 finish.

Source: Independent.ie

It was mixed emotions in the Ferrari garage in Texas: Carlos Sainz, for the second time in two races did not make it past Lap 1. Contact from an eager Russell at the start ended the Spaniard’s race very early. It was more positive on Leclerc’s side of the garage- the Monegasque driver benefitted from the first safety car and landed himself a P3 finish.

Mercedes had themselves a solid U.S. GP; Lewis Hamilton was consistent throughout and had led the U.S. GP for a number of laps, looking on course for his first victory of the season before Verstappen overtook the Brit and he had to settle for P2. George Russell earned a five second time penalty for his tangle with Carlos Sainz and had a relatively quiet race, finishing P5.

Source: Autocarindia.com

Also like Ferrari, McLaren had some smiles in the garage but also some disappointing frowns. Lando Norris took home P6 for the Papaya team; he was P12 with about six laps to go and went on an overtaking spree to get himself a nice haul of points. On the other hand, Daniel Ricciardo’s race was one to forget: the Aussie found himself in P16, only finishing ahead of Latifi.

Alpine will see their weekend as a disappointing one. They ended up with one point come Sunday evening. Ocon did a good job making his way through the field as he took a penalty and started from the pitlane but he finished P11. He only gained a world championship point when Alonso was penalised post-race. Alonso was involved in a big crash with Stroll but was able to continue the race, he impressed as he climbed through the field and crossed the line in P7. After the race he was dropped to 15th place after being given a 30 second time penalty (equivalent to a 10 second stop -go penalty) for being sent back on track in an unsafe condition due to a protest by Haas.

Aston Martin will be happy to leave Austin with points, another top 10 finish for the team. Sebastian Vettel was on course for a possible P6 finish when he benefitted from the safety car, but a 16 second pitstop towards the end of the race saw him drop to P14 with only a couple of laps left. The four time world champion then made lots of overtakes to claim 8th place, which was eventually bumped up to 7th with Alonso’s penalty. Lance Stroll’s crash with Alonso was the end of his race and the incident was investigated after the race which saw the Canadian receive a three place grid penalty for the Mexico City GP.

Source: Racingnews365.com

Haas earned some points with Magnussen’s P9 (soon afterwards P8) with his one stop strategy. Schumacher’s two stop strategy did not work in his favour, he finished the race in P15 (eventually P14).

In the AlphaTauri camp, Tsunoda finished P9 once the penalty was applied, having himself a solid race as he started at the back of the grid when he took a penalty. Gasly would go home unhappy as his race went from bad to worse; receiving a time penalty relating to the Safety car period which was not served correctly; he was P13 in the end.

Valtteri Bottas was the first to bring out a safety car. The Alfa Romeo driver spun on Lap 18 and ended up in the gravel. Zhou Guanyu crossed the line in P13 and was later bumped up to P12 when Alonso’s penalty kicked in.

Source: ASNMP.com

Alex Albon kept himself in the mix, he was among a DRS train in the latter part of the race. The Thai driver just missed out on points when Alonso’s penalty was applied; nonetheless, he had a decent race. Latifi was the final car to finish the race.

Part 2 of the double header takes place in Mexico where the fight for P2 in the Driver’s championship and Constructors’ championship continue.

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F1 2022 Season Track Check

Track Check: Circuit Of The Americas

Welcome to Formula 1 in America! We visit the vibrant, the energetic Circuit Of The Americas here in Austin. I’m Dev and let’s go for a tour of the track we will race on this weekend.

Alright that’s enough of me trying to be a commentator. Let’s do it the way we have conversations, let’s begin!

Designed by F1 track super-designer Hermann Tilke in partnership with homesoil company HKS. This 5.513km circuit hosted its very first F1 weekend in 2012. It marked the return of the pinnacle of racing to the North American continent after a long 5 years, with Indianapolis hosting the last American race in 2007.

The track draws inspiration from other classic tracks including Silverstone, Japan’s Suzuka and from the land of automobiles Germany. Inaugurated by Mario Andretti an icon in the American motorsport scene (although still able to participate in F1, but that’s for another day), remarked about this purpose built track serving as a platform for promoting F1 and its support series in America.

With the race running the cars in circles for a whole 56 laps, the 20 turns paired with 2 DRS Zones provide an entertaining race; with the total elevation change of 30.9m assisting plenty of overtakes and on the edge driving. The track is built upon 800 acres of land with an immense number of amenities and attractions. Multiple celebrities have performed as part of the F1 weekend. The drivers and teams often comment upon the lively and passionate atmosphere of the crowd.

The pole position list was established with Sebastian Vettel in 2012. However Vettel was not able to convert it to a race win, as Lewis Hamilton won the inaugural United States Grand Prix in 2012. Lewis also holds the record for most wins on this circuit with 6 to his name. On the team’s side, Ferrari holds the most wins in COTA with 10 (Kimi is the latest one :). Curiously the lap record here is standing from 2019, a 1:35.169 by Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari.

So fasten your seat belts and grab our seats, as we prepare for the United States Grand Prix!

Thank You for reading!

Find me at @devaslooper on Twitter

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our team at https://linktr.ee/Thefastestsector

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F1 2022 Season

Suzuka 2022 – Jam-Packed Japan

Race week review

Formula 1 returned to Suzuka for the first time since pre-covid and it was a weekend where Max Verstappen could clinch the World Driver’s Championship, all things going his way. It was also the first home grand prix for Yuki Tsunoda who was very happy to race at Suzuka.

During the week, Daniel Ricciardo stated that he would not be on the grid in 2023 and was looking towards 2024 prospects. Meanwhile, Alpine finally announced the long awaited news of their new driver, Pierre Gasly and replacing the Frenchman at AlphaTauri is Nyck De Vries, who finally gets a drive in F1.

Practice

Before the first practice session, rain fell on the circuit, so wet and intermediate tyres were the tyres of choice. Fernando Alonso set the fastest time in FP1, ahead of both Ferrari drivers, Sainz & Leclerc. Ocon and Magnussen were further back in P4 & P5, both having very good sessions. It wasn’t a good end to the session for Mick Schumacher who had a shunt at Turn 7, losing his front wing in the process.

Source: PlanetF1.com

For some period of time at the start of FP2, drivers stayed in the pitlane as the rain poured. At the end of the session, when all the times had been set, George Russell topped the charts, his teammate Lewis Hamilton in P2, with Max Verstappen completing the top 3. At times, drivers did struggle to keep their cars on the track as they dealt with the wet conditions. Schumacher did not take part in the session as a result of his crash in FP1.

Source: motorsport.com

The drivers finally got in a dry practice on Saturday morning in FP3, where Verstappen finished the session ahead of Sainz and Leclerc. Alonso, once again, had an impressive session, clinching P4 in his Alpine in the bid to retake P4 from McLaren in the constructors championship.

Qualifying

Mercedes tested out medium tyres with their drivers but quickly saw that it wouldn’t guarantee them safety, so Hamilton and Russell went back out on soft tyres to set themselves up for Q2. Gasly complained to his team on the radio about brake issues at the end of the session which attributed to him not setting a good enough lap time to get into Q2. Latfi was also going to serve a 5 place grid penalty for his crash with Zhou in Singapore. Also unable to escape elimination were Albon, Magnussen, Stroll and Latifi.

Verstappen, Sainz and Leclerc only did one run in Q2, while Perez set the fastest time on his second run. Sebastian Vettel made it to Q3 for the first time in 10 rounds (since Baku), which unfortunately meant that Daniel would miss out by the smallest of margins, 0.003s to be exact. Following Ricciardo out in Q2 were Bottas, Tsunoda, Zhou, Schumacher.

Source: Racingnews365.com

In Q3 Verstappen set a super quick time leaving him with provisional pole; but, his slow lap saw an incident with Norris which was investigated after the session (resulting in a reprimand for the Dutchman). The incident saw Norris go onto the grass to avoid contact with Verstappen as the reigning world champion’s quick movement surprised the Brit. Leclerc and Sainz were very close to Verstappen’s time but didn’t do enough to dethrone him from first place. Norris’s session was affected by the incident and he was the slowest of the 10 cars.

Source: thetelegraph.co.uk

Top 10: Verstappen, Leclerc, Sainz, Perez, Ocon, Hamilton, Alonso, Russell, Vettel, Norris

Race Review

It was a wet and rainy day in Suzuka last Sunday, meaning we faced delays for a long while before being able to run a proper race. When we finally did, it was Max Verstappen who took the victory, and in the last moments, the world championship was also clinched – much to Max’s own surprise!

Charles Leclerc finished in second place on the track for Ferrari, but due to a late five second penalty he was demoted to third, which gifted Sergio Perez the second place finish, allowing Red Bull a 1-2 finish. Unfortunately for Ferrari, Carlos Sainz failed to finish the race after aquaplaning and crashing at the very beginning of the grand prix.

Source: lastwordonsport.com

Another excellent day for Alpine saw Esteban Ocon finish in fourth place for the team and within grasp of a podium place, with teammate Fernando Alonso in seventh place. An excellent job for the French team yet again this season, we can only hope this success will continue.

It was a bit more of a mediocre day for Mercedes in comparison – after a few races with strong performances, it was a shame to see the drivers struggle with a lack of straight-line speed. In the end, it was Hamilton who finished in fifth after being unable to pass Ocon, and Russell in eighth after losing time due to a double-stacked pitstop.

Sebastian Vettel once again proved that he is still one of the best wet weather drivers the sport has ever seen, finishing the race in sixth place after dropping all the way to the back of the pack on the first lap of the race, and picking up the Driver of the Day vote for good measure. His Aston Martin teammate Lance Stroll finished in twelfth place for the British team, doing well to stay out of trouble during the race.

Source: Autosport.com

After an excellent race in Singapore, it was a blow for McLaren to only be able to finish in tenth and eleventh place with Norris and Ricciardo. With the team only taking one point, they fall back behind Alpine in the fight for fourth place in the Constructor’s Championship.

It was an awful day to be Pierre Gasly on Sunday. After a deeply scary moment where the French driver had to pass a tractor that had made its way on to the circuit, he was only able to finish in seventeenth on the track, before a 20 second penalty was added to his race time for going too fast when the red flag was shown. His teammate Yuki Tsunoda finished his first home race in thirteenth place, meaning that the Italian-based team left Japan empty handed.

Source: Planetf1.com

After a number of good races this season, it was a shame to see neither Haas driver in the points – especially since Mick Schumacher had led the race for a brief period of time, and looked set for a good points finish. However, he eventually finished in eighteenth place (seventeenth after Gasly’s penalty), with his teammate Kevin Magnussen finishing in fourteenth place.

While Alfa Romeo was another team to leave Japan without any points, it is worth noting that Zhou Guanyu was able to steal the fastest lap of the race, showing once more that the Chinese driver is a strong force which will almost certainly come into play over the coming years.

Next we head to the Circuit of The Americas in the USA, where Red Bull will look to take another step to solidify their grip on the Constructors Championship and Charles Leclerc will try his best to reclaim P2 in the Drivers Championship.

Categories
F1 2022 Season

Singapore 2022- Masters of Marina Bay

Race week review

F1 returned to the Marina Bay Circuit for the Singapore Grand Prix for the first time since pre COVID. The last time we were racing in Singapore Ferrari managed to get a 1-2. This was the toughest race of the year, and Alex Albon was cleared by doctors to race this weekend following his appendicitis diagnosis and surgery.

Source: autosport.com

The week started with a lot of noise in the paddock; a rumour was floating around that two teams had allegedly exceeded the budget cap for 2021. Team principals Wolff and Binotto were very outspoken about the situation. Red Bull team principal was very unhappy about the accusations directed towards his team. The FIA are in the process of running an investigation where there are different possibilities of penalties that could be applied if found guilty.

Practice

In FP1 Lewis Hamilton showed that Mercedes did indeed have a good car for the weekend, one that would worry their rivals. Lance Stroll hit the barriers during the session which brought out red flags once he stopped around the run off area at Turn 7- he had been having a good session before his crash, ending it in P8. Verstappen and Leclerc completed the top 3.

Carlos Sainz headed the pack in FP2, leading his teammate Charles Leclerc and George Russell. The darkness on the circuit spotted with floodlights emulated the serene feeling that came from a night race. Verstappen didn’t get much time on track because of setup changes but still managed P4. It was another good session for Lance Stroll in P10, and Valtteri Bottas for Alfa Romeo.

Heavy rain fell in Singapore at the start of FP3 and no cars but the safety car was out on track for some time. About half an hour later, teams released their drivers into the wet conditions. The final practice session saw Charles Leclerc top the charts ahead of Verstappen and Sainz. Once more, in what looked like it could be a good weekend for the Aston Martin team, Stroll and Vettel found themselves in the top 10.

Source: McLaren.com

Qualifying

The rain from earlier meant that qualifying would start off wet, so all teams chose to put their drivers on intermediate tyres. The wet track caught some drivers out, Leclerc, for example, had to rescue his car as he slid. Times were getting faster as the drack was drying. Solid final flying laps from Vettel, Tsunoda and Gasly saved them from getting knocked out early in the session. Not so lucky to survive elimination were Bottas, Ricciardo, Ocon, Albon and Latifi.

The conditions for Q2 were even trickier. The track was drying up, but was it a good idea to put on slick tyres. Aston Martin told us it wasn’t. Leclerc wished to try the same strategy as the Aston Martin team but his team disagreed and sent him out on intermediate tyres. Stroll and Vettel lacked control on the slick tyres, as did Zhou with Alfa Romeo. Russell had a surprise exit in Q2, missing out by 0.006s after having a difficult session. Follwoing him out were Stroll, Schumacher, Vettel and Zhou.

Source: F1i.com

Finally dry enough for slicks, Q3 saw the drivers put on soft tyres. Many drivers set impressive times as they familiarised themselves with these tyres, so provisional pole was swapped around several times. Leclerc beat Perez and Hamilton to the number one spot, while Verstappen abandoned two of his final flying laps leaving him in P8.

Top 10: Leclerc, Perez, Hamilton, Sainz, Alonso, Norris, Gasly, Verstappen, Magnussen, Tsunoda

Source: rte.ie

Race Report

After a super Saturday qualifying, we were set up for a manic race to remember to on Sunday, and as always, Singapore delivered. With constant safety cars and DNF’s, it was hard to tell what would happen next, but in the end it was Sergio Perez who took the win for Red Bull, his first since Monaco earlier this year. His teammate and championship leader Max Verstappen finished in seventh place, meaning the championship continues over to Suzuka.

Source: straitstime.com

A good day for Ferrari saw Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz both on the podium in second and third respectively. The Italian team left Singapore with a drastic points haul which greatly helps them in the Constructor’s Championship with Mercedes, who at a time appeared to be drawing close to the Prancing Horses.

In comparison, it was an extremely weak showing this weekend for Mercedes, with Hamilton finishing in ninth place for the British team, and Russell finishing in fourteenth… out of fourteen cars that finished the race. The Silver Arrows will likely be happy to move on from this weekend and hopefully on to better things in Japan.

Source: Motorlat.com

An absolutely excellent race for McLaren saw Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo finish in fourth and fifth place respectively, one of the largest points hauls the Papaya team has seen so far this season. After some really difficult times for the team this year, it’s a nice change to see them so high up in the finishing result.

One team that won’t be so thrilled with McLaren’s result is their direct competition in the championship, Alpine, who failed to finish in Singapore with either car. Both Alonso and Ocon suffered from what appeared to be engine issues in Singapore, which is a worrying issue for the French team.

It was a similarly dismal day for Williams, another team which failed to finish the race with either driver. After a battle with appendicitis it was wonderful to see Alex Albon back at the track, although a crash during the race forced him to retire due to the damage sustained. It was a similar incident for Nicholas Latifi, although he sustained damage as a result of an incident with Zhou Guanyu’s Alfa Romeo.

Source: autosport.com

In contrast, it was a (rare) great day for Aston Martin, with both drivers finishing in the points – Lance Stroll finished in 6th place, and Sebastian Vettel bid farewell to Singapore with a truly remarkable race in which he finished in 8th place, showing the skills and talent the world knows he has.

Pierre Gasly was able to finish in tenth place for Alpha Tauri this weekend, ending a streak of point-less races for the French driver, which will help the Italian team in their three-way battle in the Constructor’s Championship. However, it was a DNF for Yuki Tsunoda after misjudging a braking point on what was his first race at Marina Bay.

Onto Japan for part 2 of our double header! Stay tuned for more updates across our social media.

Categories
F1 2022 Season

Italy 2022- Mad, Mad, Mad Monza

Race weekend report

The home of the passionate Tifosi welcomed back Ferrari at Monza, where Ferrari celebrated it’s 75th anniversary of the company car. The team sported a splash of yellow on their livery.

Source: Scuderrifans.com

Once again many drivers were taking grid penalties because of additional components, by the time qualifying had come around we learned that a grand total of nine drivers would take different penalties. Among the larger penalties were Hamilton and Sainz, while Verstappen would only take a five place penalty.

Practice

In FP1, Ferrari got off to a good start, leading the pack with the fastest times set with Leclerc and Sainz, followed by Russell. Hamilton was to take his back of the grid penalty was fourth, while Verstappen was fifth. Nyck De Vries took Sebastian Vettel’s place in FP1 for Aston Martin and found himself in P19, while Antonio Giovinazzi returned to an F1 car for Haas in Mick Schumacher and ended the session in P18.

Carlos Sainz displayed his pace in the second practice session when he finished it ahead of Verstappen and Leclerc. This pace was encouraging as it was a positive sign he could make his way through the field on race day. Norris also impressed with his P4 in front of Russell who was the fastest Mercedes car as Hamilton was P7.

Source: Motorsport.com

On Saturday morning, Williams announced that Alex Albon was to miss the rest of the race weekend as he had been diagnosed with appendicitis. Nyck De Vries, Williams reserve driver replaced him and earned himself P14 in FP3. Verstappen was back on top in the final session ahead of Leclerc and Perez. Mick Schumacher found himself with even more problems- a clutch issue. He barely had running all weekend and was set to take a grid penalty.

Qualifying

With all of the grid penalties applied, qualifying would be very interesting to see where all the drivers landed. Verstappen lead the pack as he set the fastest time in Q1 ahead of both Ferraris. Nyck De Vries impressed again, snatching himself P14 and making it into Q2 and outqualifying his teammate Latifi who was not as fortunate in P16. Also out were the Aston Martin duo who were having a disappointing weekend in 17th and 18th; while the Haas duo were equally as disappointing in 19th and 20th.

Q2 saw Sainz sit at the top of the table ahead of his teammate and both Red Bulls. Both teams only did one run, sitting out the chance to go out again. Rescuing a snap of oversteer on his final flying lap saw DeVries attempts to improve his time hampered, leaving him sitting in P13 at the end of the session. Also following him out of qualifying was Ocon, Bottas (who were both to serve penalties), Zhou and Tsunoda.

Source: Planetf1.com

The fight for the number one spot was intense. Again Sainz (who had his penalty to serve) would sit at the top of the table ahead of Leclerc and the two Red Bulls after the first set of runs. On his final run, Leclerc went fastest and took pole position at Ferrari’s home GP. The crowd full of tifosi roared in delight in Leclerc’s success. Verstappen was about a tenth behind Leclerc in P2 but would drop to P2 with his penalty. Sainz and Perez who were 3rd and 4th would drop further down for the starting grid.

Starting grid top 10 after all penalties has been applied: Leclerc, Russell, Norris, Ricciardo, Gasly, Alonso, Verstappen, De Vries, Zhou, Latifi

Source: F1chronicle.com

Race Report

It was an Italian Grand Prix like no other this weekend, and as always we saw chaos ensue. Max Verstappen took victory at a race which unfortunately ended under safety car conditions, although it remained exciting throughout. It was Charles Leclerc for Ferrari in second place in front of the adoring home crowd, and George Russell in third place rounding off the podium with Mercedes.

Source: Insidesport.in

While Verstappen had yet another incredible weekend, it was clear to see a different situation for his teammate Sergio Perez, who spent time battling his way up the field, while battling with his own car in the process.

However, it was the exact opposite for Carlos Sainz in the second Ferrari – after starting in eighteenth place, the Spanish driver showed his skill fighting for position, finishing the race in an entirely deserved fourth place. Lewis Hamilton remained on Sainz’s heels all day, finishing in fifth place after starting nineteenth (both starting positions a result of power unit penalties).

We can’t talk about Monza without recognising one of the most incredible achievements of the weekend – Nyck De Vries, who had no idea he would be racing a Formula One car this weekend, stepping in at the last moment for Alex Albon, and scoring points on debut. It was an incredible sight to see and well deserving of the Driver of the Day award. Nicholas Latifi in the second Williams car finished in fifteenth place.

Another good day for McLaren’s Lando Norris saw the British driver finish in seventh place, despite an awful start which caused him to lose places. Unfortunately it was a DNF for Daniel Ricciardo in the second McLaren, who brought out the late safety car at the end of the race.

It was wonderful to see Pierre Gasly back in the points at the track in which he took his first win, in what has been a difficult season for the French driver. We can only hope that we see him back up there a few more times this year. His teammate, Yuki Tsunoda, finished in fourteenth place, and I’m sure Alpha Tauri will be happy to leave their home race with points.

It was, however, strange to see the Alpine team without a points finish this weekend, particularly since they have been so strong this season. It was an eleventh place finish for Esteban Ocon, but teammate Fernando Alonso retired from the race before the end, meaning the French team leave Italy points-less.

Source: Sportskeeda.com

Another unfortunate event this weekend saw Sebastian Vettel out of the race early on due to an issue with the car. In what could well be Seb’s last visit to Monza, it was heartbreaking not to see the German driver make it to the finish at the track where he took his first win. His teammate, Lance Stroll, also retired from the race, resulting in a bad day all round for Aston Martin.

A three week break for the F1 community is here and now we wait for Singapore where Verstappen has the opportunity to seal the deal and win the title.

Make sure to keep an eye on the blog and our social media for more news and updates!

Categories
F1 2022 Season

Netherlands 2022- Manic Max Wins in Zandvoort

On Friday, the F1 community got the news we had all been waiting for: the results from the Contract Recognition Board in relation to the Alpine-Piastri-McLaren situation. The CRB ruled that McLaren’s contract was the only valid one for Oscar Piastri, ending that saga. Moments later, McLaren announced that Piastri would complete their driver line-up for the 2023 season alongside Lando Norris. The 2021 F2 champion will finally make his debut in Formula 1 next year.

Source: Planetf1.com

Practice

Before that, in FP1, Mercedes showed much improvement from a disappointing weekend in Spa with a 1-2 finish in the session. Russell and Hamilton were followed by the Ferrari of Sainz in P3. Verstappen’s session came to an early end as his car stopped out on track with a transmission issue and brought out a red flag. Perez also found the session challenging, only managing P7. Meanwhile, it was a positive start to the weekend for McLaren in P4 and P5.

Source: Silverarrows.net

Ferrari were back in charge in FP2, a 1-2 for the team in red, Leclerc and Sainz were only split by four thousandths of a second, with Hamilton very close behind. The two young Brits; Norris and Russell completed the top five. Friday was just not their day over at Red Bull, clocking in times that put them in P8 and P12, a lot further behind than they would like.

Source: Ferrari.com

Saturday morning saw Leclerc finish top of the charts but this was after the Monegasque hit the barriers during the session. He told the team that there was no damage as they made sure everything was alright for qualifying. Russell and Verstappen were P2 and P3, ahead of their teammates who completed the Ferrari-Mercedes-Red Bull top six.

Source: McLaren.com

Qualifying

The likes of Verstappen and Leclerc only needed one run to get them through to Q2. Hamilton and others needed to go again to secure their safety, this included Tsunoda who took P3 and Stroll in P7. It wasn’t so pleasant for the other Aston Martin for Vettel, who had been struggling for the majority of the weekend. He was down in 19th and out of Q1 again when he was taken aback by the dust on the track on his final lap, losing his rear tyres and running wide just as he was setting an improved time. Following him out was Bottas, Magnussen, Ricciardo and Latifi.

Source: Planetf1.com

An orange flare interrupted the running in Q2, bringing out a red flag to clear it off the track. Verstappen set the fastest time at the start of the session but was kicked off the top spot by Sainz who had gone for a second run, while Verstappen stayed in the garage with just the one under his belt on used soft tyres. Stroll and Schumacher impressed, taking their teams to Q3, along with Tsunoda who made it seven different teams taking part in Q3. Those who were not successful were Gasly, Ocon, Alonso, Zhou and Albon.

Source: Crash.net

In the top 10 shoutout, we saw Verstappen first set the quickest time as expected, but Leclerc then beat that time, and Hamilton was not too far off the pace in P3. Stroll sat in the garage, setting no time as the team found a technical issue with his car. Leclerc lead them out for the final flying laps; improving his time but losing out to Verstappen in the middle sector which ultimately gave the Dutchman pole position by 0.021s. Sainz completed his lap taking him to P3 but a spin from Perez late in his lap brought out a yellow flag, halting the others from progressing their times.

Source: GPfans.com

Top 10 qualifying order: Verstappen, Leclerc, Sainz, Hamilton, Perez, Russell, Norris, Schumacher, Tsunoda, Stroll.

Source: F1Chronicle.com

Race Report

The 2022 Dutch Grand Prix was once again extremely kind to its home driver Max Verstappen, who for the second year running was the victor of the circuit. He was joined on the podium by George Russell in second place with (a much stronger than we’ve seen) Mercedes, and Charles Leclerc in third place for Ferrari.

Source: Reuters.com

British driver Lewis Hamilton finished in fourth place for Mercedes but for one of the first times this year, had the potential to finish much higher, if not on the top step of the podium. Alas, this wasn’t meant to be this weekend, due to unpredictable safety cars and subsequent tyre changes.

While Charles Leclerc was able to finish on the podium for Ferrari, teammate Carlos Sainz had a much more difficult weekend. While he finished in fifth place on track, a five-second penalty due to an unsafe release after pitting under the safety car. An exceptionally long pit stop early in the race had already left him at a disadvantage, leaving the Dutch Grand Prix as one to forget for the Spanish driver.

A particularly strong day for Alpine saw drivers Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon finish in fifth and ninth place respectively. Fernando Alonso is currently on a points-finishing streak of ten races, and we are extremely excited to see if this continues, and helps the team in their battle for fourth in the Constructor’s Championship with McLaren.

Source: grandprix247.com

Speaking of McLaren, it was another strong showing for British driver Lando Norris, who finished the race in eighth place, skilfully battling the Alpine drivers throughout the day. However, it was a disappointing day for Daniel Ricciardo, who finished in seventeenth place for the team, who have elected to replace him for the 2023 season.

One particularly surprising performance on Sunday was that of Lance Stroll for Aston Martin. In a car that has failed to impress this year, the Canadian driver was able to finish in tenth place, earning a valuable point for the team and showing a good amount of skill. Teammate Sebastian Vettel was only able to finish in fourteenth place for the team, although this was still an improvement over their typical finishing positions.

Source: formula1.com

Pierre Gasly finished in eleventh place for Alpha Tauri, showing his clear and persistent talent amid rumours that the French driver is being sized up by other teams. It was an unfortunate DNF for his teammate Yuki Tsunoda, who retired due to an issue which was first perceived as a tyre failure, but was later revealed to be an issue with the differential.

An excellent top ten start for Haas driver Mick Schumacher was unfortunately not converted into a points finish for the German driver, who was only able to finish in thirteenth place following a slow pitstop. Teammate Kevin Magnussen was only able to finish in fifteenth place, meaning Haas left Zandvoort without having gained any points.

Categories
F1 2022 Season

Belgium 2022- Gossip & Grid Penalties Galore

During the week, McLaren and Daniel Ricciardo announced that the Australian driver would not drive for the team in 2023, that he would finish up with the papaya team at the end of this season. Much speculation arose over the summer break when F2 champion Oscar Piastri and Alpine had somewhat of a public disagreement over the status of the vacant seat that came from Fernando Alonso’s switch to Aston Martin next year. It is rumoured that Piastri will take Ricciardo’s place at McLaren next year, McLaren going for a different line up as things haven’t been going their way this season. But there is still a dispute about Piastri’s contract with Alpine which has been brought to F1’s Contract recognition Board.

Ricciardo still tried to keep his spirits high in Belgium, his warm smile stood out even though he faced some difficult questions on his future. He received support from his former teammates and champions Vettel and Verstappen, as well as seven time world champion Hamilton, who only had words of praise.

Source: planetf1.com

Plenty of drivers took grid penalties during the weekend, 8 drivers in total. It began with much talk about grid penalty rules and how they would be applied in relation to qualifying and taking up new components at different times. Verstappen, Leclerc, Ocon, Norris, Zhou, Schumacher and Tsunoda were all to take “back of the grid” penalties. Meanwhile Valtteri Bottas took a 20 place grid penalty.

Practice

On track, over the practice sessions, Mercedes were a bit behind their competitors Red Bull and Ferrari. They went from pole in Hungary to 1.8 seconds off the pace in Spa. In FP1 our usual trio topped the charts, with Sainz leading Leclerc and Verstappen. F2 driver Liam Lawson took Gasly’s place in the AlphaTauri in FP1 as part of the young drivers test. Kevin Magnussen had an issue so the session was red flagged for a period of time. There was also some rain towards the end of the session; some drivers pitted for inters to test out the track and others stayed in the garage and ended their session early.

In FP2, the McLaren showed some good place, finishing the session behind Verstappen and Leclerc in P3. Verstappen was comfortably ahead of Leclerc with eight tenths between them. Lance Stroll gave Aston Martin a pleasant surprise with fourth place. Mercedes again were struggling in comparison to their rivals, only seeing P6 and P8.

After some not so good sessions on Friday, Perez came out on Saturday morning charging with a late flying lap, finishing ahead of Verstappen and Sainz in FP3 before qualifying. Once again, there was a considerable gap between the Red Bulls and the Ferrari. Good runs from Norris and Alonso saw them in fourth and fifth. Leclerc had a spin and went into the gravel during the session which caused a brief red flag but he reported that he believed the car had no damage.

Qualifying

Sainz and Perez would be the pair that battled it out over the true pole position as the others would take their grid penalties. Verstappen set the pace in Q1 and didn’t go for a second run, nor did Perez and the Ferraris. Albon impressed, taking him to P6. Sebastian Vettel just missed out on Q2 by two thousandths of a second to Mick Schumacher. Following him out was Latifi, Magnussen, Tsunoda and Bottas.

In Q2, Ricciardo received a tow from Norris, having not done a first run like the others. Ocon did the same for Alonso. Leclerc ended that session P1 after an improved time but the Red Bulls and Sainz chose not to go out again after their first attempts. The tow for Alpine worked better than it did for McLaren as Ricciardo failed to qualify for Q3 while Alonso secured a place in the top 10 shootout. Alex Albon impressed again, taking that tenth place and making his first Q3 appearance of the season. Completing the elimination in that round alongside Ricciardo was Gasly, Zhou, Stroll and Schumacher.

As seen for most of the weekend, Verstappen showed superiority to the others; completing first flying lap and making it his only, sitting back and watching from the garage as he set the fastest time overall. A little mix up in the Ferrari garage saw Leclerc unnecessarily take a new set of soft tyres to give Sainz the tow to fight for pole. His confusion at this mistake could be heard over the radio.

Sainz did not improve on his second run, meaning he was P2 but would start on pole in Sunday’s race. Perez followed behind in P3 but would start on the front row alongside Sainz while his teammate would fall down to 15th and Leclerc 16th. Ocon was fifth but would be demoted to 17th due to his penalty, Alonso was sixth and Hamilton seventh but both would be promoted to starting on the second row together. Russell and Albon would start fifth and sixth on row three in the race after qualifying eight and ninth but benefitting from others penalties and Norris would start 18th behind Ocon as he was 10th in Q3.

The top 10 starting grid: Sainz, Perez, Alonso, Hamilton, Russell, Albon, Ricciardo, Gasly, Stroll, Vettel

Source: FIA.com

Race

Tsunoda would start from the pitlane after some more power unit changes, and his teammate Gasly would do the same as he had issues with his car just before the lights out.

Verstappen proved to be untouchable in his Red Bull, making his way through the grid all the way up from 14th to 1st; crossing the finish line 17 seconds ahead of his teammate Perez in second, which gave the team a fantastic 1-2. The pace and strategy of the Red Bulls saw them obliterate their competition on Sunday. Verstappen now leads Perez who is now second, by 96 points in the World Driver’s Championship.

Ferrari had more of a tricky situation than desired when Charles Leclerc who started behind Verstappen in 15th had made his way up to ninth by Lap 2 but found an issue with his front right tyre and had to pit, dropping him down to P17. He eventually made his way back up to P5, keeping his head down and working through the field, he was behind Russell by a large margin and decided to pit late for new softs to set the fastest lap. But with not a great enough gap to Alonso in sixth place, Leclerc was under pressure from the Spaniard and lost a place to him. Although he quickly gained the place back Leclerc, received a five second time penalty for speeding in the pitlane in the bid to come out ahead of Alonso, ultimately demoting him to sixth place. Sainz, who was no match for the Red Bulls, secured a podium for his team ahead of Russell who had closed the gap between them, but Sainz was able to hang on to P3.

It was a mixed day of emotions for Mercedes, Russell managed to continue his streak of finishing in the top five in every race he’s completed. He pushed for P3 towards the end, in the aim of snatching it from Sainz but was unsuccessful so the Brit earned P4 in Spa. On the other hand, his teammate was not met with such fortune. Lewis Hamilton retired from the race on Lap 1 after a first lap incident with Fernando Alonso which left his car beyond repair.

McLaren fell further behind their rivals Alpine as the French team managed a double points finish with Alonso benefitting from Leclerc’s 5 second penalty, moving up to P5 and Ocon securing P7. Alonso was not badly affected by his brush in with Hamilton at the start and continued his race as normal, showcasing some real speed in the Alpine; Ocon was the same and impressed with two double overtakes during the race. Both Ricciardo and Norris failed to score points, although, Ricciardo had been running in the points for the majority of the race.

Williams took a point home with Alex Albon’s 10th place finish. The Thai driver had been consistently good all weekend and got the reward for all of his efforts on Sunday afternoon. He was slightly under pressure as a DRS train formed behind him in the latter part of the race. Latifi’s incident on the second lap which sent him to the pits and caused the safety car saw him at the back of the field for the rest of the race.

Alfa Romeo did not have a good weekend. On Lap 2, the birthday boy Valtteri Bottas was an unlucky victim when trying to avoid a swerving Latifi and ended his race early. It was definitely not how the Finn would have liked to celebrate his 33rd birthday. Guanyu Zhou was among those who took grid penalties but he was unable to make up enough places to get into point scoring positions.

A decent day at the office for Aston Martin with P8 for Sebastian Vettel and P11 for Lance Stroll who just missed out to Albon for that last championship point. Vettel’s incredible start had him up in P5 on the opening lap but he later fell down to P8 and finished there. Lance Stroll unfortunately found himself in the DRS train and was unable to overtake Albon.

AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly had a great 100th F1 grand prix, earning his team P9 from his pitlane start. His strategy saw him make his way through the pack and finish behind Vettel. Tsunoda had the same strategy as Zhou and came out ahead of the rookie in that battle for P13.

Finally, it was a weekend to forget for Haas. The team knew they would struggle for pace in Spa and were not expecting great results but P16 and P17, a whole lap down from Verstappen is not where they would like to be.

We now head to The Netherlands for round 15 of the 2022 F1 season, the home grand prix of the reigning world champion who looks unstoppable at the minute; is there anyone who can stop him?

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