Charles leclerc – The Fastest Sector

Fans woke up on Sunday for the race with Leclerc on pole and the Ferrari of his teammate, Carlos Sainz in P3. McLaren’s Oscar Piastri joined Leclerc on the front row, vying for his first grand prix win at this historic circuit. The second McLaren of Lando Norris and George Russell of Mercedes rounded out the top five.

Lap one saw a great start from Leclerc, with Piastri and Sainz following closely behind. During the battle for second on the opening lap, Sainz pulled to the side of the track following an issue with his car after contact with Piastri in the first corner. He triggered a yellow flag in the first two sectors which was immediately followed by a red flag.

The red flag was due to a large crash between both Haas cars and the Red Bull of Sergio Perez. In this temporary stop in the race, Sainz limped back to the pits having kept his car running. There was also a smaller incident between the two Alpine cars just before the red flag came out, causing Esteban Ocon retired from the race.

Image Credit: RacingNews365

The race resumed again at 15:44 local time, reverting to grid order for the restart. This meant that Sainz began the race again in P3. The restart was clean and uneventful, with Leclerc getting away from Piastri and Sainz.

From the first lap of the restart, Leclerc began to pull away from his competitors. The chase ensued with Piastri on the tail of Leclerc, however for much of the race he was unable to catch the Ferrari.

Battles took place lower in the racing order, including between Russell and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in the race for fifth place. As well as this, the RB of Yuki Tsunoda spent the Grand Prix fending off the Williams of Alex Albon as they fought for eighth position.

Image Credit: Business Today

After 78 laps, Charles Leclerc drove exceptionally well to win his home race – a very popular win throughout the paddock and principality. Driver of the day was awarded to Leclerc as well, while Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes achieved the fastest lap of the race, gaining an additional championship point for himself.

Written by Alexandra.

Featured Image Credit: RacingNews365

2024’s ‘silly season’ could be one of the most interesting we have seen in a while with 15 of the 20 drivers having contracts that expire at the end of 2024! Sergio Perez, Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon, Lance Stroll, Fernando Alonso, Carlos Sainz, Zhou Guanyu, Valtteri Bottas, Logan Sargent, Alex Albon, Daniel Ricciardo, Yuki Tsunoda, Niko Hulkenburg, Kevin Magnussen, and Charles Leclerc are all at risk of not making a return in 2025.

Source: SkySports.com

January 25^th saw the first of the announcements made with Charles Leclerc extending his contract with Ferrari beyond the 2024 season. Leclerc has been with the Scuderia Ferrari team full time since 2019 and has so far achieved 5 race wins and 23 pole positions. When the announcement was made, Leclerc commented “I’m very pleased to know I will be wearing the Scuderia Ferrari race suit for several more seasons to come”. The announcement was not a surprising one to F1 fans as Leclerc has become Ferrari’s ‘golden boy’ and he has always said he wants to win a World Driver’s Championship with Ferrari.

Team principal Fred Vasseur commented “Charles’ bond to the Scuderia goes beyond that of just a driver and a team, as he has been part of the Ferrari family for eight years now, dating back to a time before he first sported the Prancing Horse emblem on his race suit. His values and those of our team are intertwined and so it was natural for us to be in agreement on extending our collaboration.”

Source: MonocoAddict.com

The next announcement was made a day later on the 26^th January as McLaren and Lando Norris announced they were continuing their successful relationship beyond 2024. Norris joined McLaren’s F1 team as a driver in 2019 and was promoted to number 1 driver in 2023 when rookie Piastri joined. Norris’ announcement was unexpected as the deal signed in 2022 saw him staying with the team until the end o0f the 2025 season. However, with the successes the team have been enjoying with him as a driver they have decided to extend that contract into another multi-year deal. With Piastri signing a new contract in September 2023, the McLaren team is set to run the same line up for the next 3 seasons!

Source: RacingNews365.com

Norris’ comment on the new contract was that: “It’s a great feeling to be staying in papaya, I’ve grown up with McLaren and feel at home here, the team are like family to me.”

The most unexpected announcement of silly season 2024 came on February 1^st when Sky Sports F1 unexpectedly announced they had a reputable source who had told them Hamilton would be moving to Ferrari at the end of the 2024 season! After a day of rumours flying around social media, F1 and Mercedes-AMG F1 made the official announcement that Hamilton had activated a release option in his contract ending a 17-year relationship with Mercedes-Benz and an 11-year relationship with the Brackley team. As of the end of the 2024 season, Hamilton will be partnering Leclerc at Ferrari which is a team up no fans saw coming.

Source: SportsKeeda.com

Hamilton’s statement on the news was: “I have had an amazing 11 years with this team and I’m so proud of what we have achieved together. Mercedes has been part of my life since I was 13 years old. It’s a place where I have grown up, so making the decision to leave was one of the hardest decisions I have ever had to make. But the time is right for me to take this step and I’m excited to be taking on a new challenge. I will be forever grateful for the incredible support of my Mercedes family, especially Toto for his friendship and leadership and I want to finish on a high together. I am 100% committed to delivering the best performance I can this season and making my last year with the Silver Arrows, one to remember.”

With Hamilton’s unexpected move to Ferrari being announced it now means there is an open seat at Mercedes that nobody saw coming leaving drivers to fight for a seat with one of the top teams! It also reveals to fans that Ferrari will not be renewing their contract with Carlos Sainz leaving him looking for a new team to race for in 2025.

What do you make of silly season so far!? Leave a comment below!

Written by Cesca.