Tag: GeorgeRussell

Categories
F1 2023 Season

Azerbaijan 2023: Perez, King of the Streets

Race weekend recap

A new format for sprint race weekends was agreed, which would take effect from the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Friday would see drivers participate in free practice 1 and qualifying for Sunday’s race. Saturday would be all about the sprint: the sprint shoutout was the qualifying session for the sprint race and mandated hard tyres for SQ1, medium tyres for SQ2 and soft tyres for SQ3 meant that some teams may have to prioritise qualifying for the main race.

Limited time in the only free practice session saw our usual trio of Verstappen, Leclerc and Perez. It was the beginning of a bad weekend for Pierre Gasly as his Alpine caught fire while Magnussen suffered a suspected fuel pressure problem.

Source: FormulaNerds.com

Friday’s qualifying session saw Charles Leclerc outpace the Red Bulls and claim pole position for Sunday’s race. In this qualifying session we witnessed Leclerc and Verstappen set identical times, as well as Stroll and Piastri. There were two red flags in the session when Gasly and De Vries were both caught out at separate occasions at Turn 3.

Top 10: Leclerc, Verstappen, Perez, Sainz, Hamilton, Alonso, Norris, Tsunoda, Stroll, Piastri

Sprint shoutout

In the first part of the sprint shootout Sargeant had a run in with the barriers which ended his session early and disrupted it for others. The damage done to his car could not be repaired before the sprint race, so he did not participate.

Eliminated in SQ1: Zhou, Bottas, Tsunoda, Gasly, De Vries

Both Aston Martins were struggling during the sprint shootout with DRS issues but survived and made it to SQ3. Piastri was unlucky and justed missed out in 11th.

Eliminated in SQ2: Piastri, Hulkenberg, Ocon, Magnussen, Sargeant

The inaugural sprint shoutout saw Leclerc take his second pole position of the weekend, really showing his pace against the Red Bulls. The Monegasque driver hit the barriers as he went to improve his time on his final flying lap but managed to keep his pole as neither Red Bull could outdo the Ferrari driver.

Top 10: Leclerc, Perez, Verstappen, Russell, Sainz, Hamilton, Albon, Alonso, Stroll, Norris

Source: Racingnews365.com

Sprint race

Some key points from the sprint race were the coming together of Verstappen and Russell and Perez’s first win of the weekend, showing just why he’s been dubbed “King of the Streets”.

Norris and Bottas were the only two drivers to choose soft tyres for the sprint, this seemed like it could have been a genius move at the start of the sprint but later turned out to be the exact opposite.

Verstappen could be heard over the radio, furious with Russell. Meanwhile, Tsunoda and De Vries also came together, with the Japanese driver losing a wheel when he hit the wall at Turn 13. AlphaTauri sent Tsunoda back out after he trundled back to the pits but a full safety car was then deployed as his damage was severe.

Source: PlanetF1.com

On the restart, Perez didn’t wait too long to get past Leclerc but the Monegasque driver did a good job in keeping Verstappen at bay to hold onto P2. Fernando Alonso finished between Sainz and Hamilton as he was opportunistic after the restart and overtook the seven time world champion. Stroll made a move on Albon towards the end of the sprint, claiming the final point available.

Top 8: Perez, Leclerc, Verstappen, Russell, Sainz, Alonso, Hamilton, Stroll

Race Review

Sergio Perez made it 2/2 wins over the weekend when he saw the chequered flags at the end of Lap 57 of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. He held his cool when teammate Max Verstappen tried his best to hunt him down and kept a safe distance between them. Though Perez benefitted from the timing of the safety car and Verstappen didn’t, the Mexican made the most of the opportunity to cement his desire for a title charge.

Charles Leclerc claimed Ferrari’s first podium of the season with a P3 finish. Unable to keep up with the pace of the Red Bulls, Leclerc settled for third, finishing over 20 seconds behind them. Sainz was off the pace too, playing catch up to his teammate all weekend as he finished 5th.

Source: CP24.com

Aston Martin will be happy with their weekend. After suffering with DRS issues over the weekend, a 4th and 7th place finish would be a nice chunk of points to reward the team’s hard work. Alonso did try to chase down Leclerc in the latter stages of the race but was unsuccessful in this attempt.

It was a relatively quiet weekend for Mercedes. Hamilton drove a solid race on Sunday, the aim to close in on Sainz but he was unable to perform an overtake. Russell, starting lower than he would’ve liked because of a poor qualifying session on Friday, brought home some points in P8.

McLaren had a positive Azerbaijan GP. Although there is still room for improvement, the team from Woking can be proud of their step forward. The car upgrades saw Norris take P9 and Piastri, who was ill for the majority of the weekend finished P11. Both played the long waiting game behind Ocon and Hulkenberg who pitted late in the race.

Tsunoda completed a very strong race with a points finish in P10. De Vries retired from the race after he crashed into the wall at Turn 5. For Williams, Albon was among the pack that finished close together missing out on points and Sargeant was one of the last of the finishers. In the Haas team, it was similar to Williams; in what was quite an uneventful race, Magnussen was sandwiched between Albon and Gasly while Hulkenberg finished just above Bottas who had a race to forget.

Tune in again next week as we head to Miami for round 5 of the 2023 Formula 1 Season.

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

Hungary 2022- 10 to 1

Race weekend review

Last year Hungary gave us an epic race, Esteban Ocon claiming his first F1 win, Sebastian Vettel achieving a second podium for Aston Martin before being disqualified because of a lack of fuel and Lewis Hamilton coming through the field ultimately promoted to 2nd.

This year, F1 headed into the weekend after the shocking announcement that Sebastian Vettel would retire at the end of the season. The four time world champion made his announcement via Instagram on Thursday before speaking more on it during press conferences that same day. Many drivers spoke about the positive influence Sebastian had on the sport during his career.

Source: Reuters.com

Practice

In FP1, our trio of Sainz, Verstappen and Leclerc were the front runners; it was also a good session for McLaren as their drivers were P4 and P8. Reserve driver Kubica took Bottas’ place in FP1, the first of the two to use the new floor for the car.

As Hungary was a track that would seem to suit Ferrari, it was no surprise that both cars were in the top 3 in FP2; the surprise was Lando Norris was the car to split the Ferraris, claiming P2 for the papaya team. Verstappen was P4, just ahead of the McLaren of Ricciardo in P5 and world champions Alonso and Vettel in P6 and 7. It was P8 and P11 for Mercedes, Hamilton found some traffic on his fast lap which cost him some time.

Source: crash.net

It rained on Saturday, so intermediate tyres were used in FP3 where we saw probably one of the most surprising finishes to a session. Williams had a 1 and 3 finish, Latifi in P1 and Albon in P3, with Leclerc squashed in between them. Vetstappen was P4, a further eight tenths back on Albon.

Sebastian Vettel finished ninth but crashed out towards the end of the session, which brought out a red flag. Aston Martin had to work hard to get his car ready on time for qualifying— and they did exactly that.

Qualifying

No rain for qualifying meant that racing would go back to normal in the order of things. The regular front runners of Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari set times to keep them safe. A reoccurring sight was both Haas cars making it to Q2 but only one of the Aston Martin cars escaped elimination and it was Lance Stroll— Sebastian Vettel could only take P18, a result he was very unhappy with considering the teams hard work to get him back out in time.

Source: Dailystar.co.uk

There was more misfortune at AlphaTauri with both cars failing to escape danger—track limits saw Gasly’s time deleted and dropped him back down into the bottom five.

Eliminated in Q1: Tsunoda, Albon, Vettel, Gasly, Latifi

In Q2 Perez had his first lap time deleted for track limits, meaning an extra one was needed. It was later restored after review of the lap. This was unfortunately not enough to save the Mexican who was eliminated from Q2 as his time was not fast enough (by the smallest of margins); he later blamed traffic as the reason he missed out on the final qualifying session. Ricciardo’s P8 in Q2 meant that McLaren had another top 10 shootout with both cars.

Eliminated in Q2: Perez, Zhou, Magnussen, Stroll, Schumacher

For some people, Q3 did not go as planned. After first runs, Sainz was on provisional pole, ahead of an unexpected Russell and Leclerc. An angry Verstappen could only see 7th after his first run, complaining that there was a loss of power in his car which the team tried to fix.

Leclerc could not outdo his teammate who seemed set for his second pole position with another stellar lap, so he was to start the race from third. Although he did not set purple sector times, small improvements across the lap as a whole saw George Russell set the fastest time on the board, landing him a surprising first pole position.

Verstappens problems continued so he was stuck in 10th place, while Lewis Hamilton had an issue with DRS and he was left in seventh place.

The top 10: Russell, Sainz, Leclerc, Norris, Ocon, Alonso, Hamilton, Bottas, Ricciardo, Verstappen.

Source: Mark Sutton/ LAT Images via f1chronicle.com

Race report

You might be wondering, how on earth did the two Ferraris finish outside of the podium and how did Verstappen and Hamilton finish 1-2? Well, it was down to some brilliant pieces of strategy and some not so brilliant pieces of strategy.

Verstappen added another win to his tally at a race it almost didn’t seem like he was in contention to win. A brilliant strategy curated by Hannah Schmitz, Red Bull’s principal strategy engineer gave the Dutchman the means to take the victory. The reigning world champion started 10th and with a series of clever calls by Schmitz, the team did an undercut on Sainz and Verstappen made plenty of important overtakes which ultimately saw him victorious. In all of this, Verstappen managed to add a 360 spin into the mix and do his overtake on Leclerc once more. He now leads the championship by 80 points. Perez made up many places from his 11th place start, good overtaking skills and good strategy saw him finish P5.

Source: empowertrains.com

Mercedes for the first time this season saw their drivers take back to back double podiums, a huge improvement for the team considering that they felt they were very far behind their competitors. Hamilton went for the medium-medium soft strategy which allowed him to eventually over take Sainz and Russell in the latter part of the race and take second place for the second time in a row. Russell, the pole sitter went with the opposite strategy, soft-medium-medium which earned him another podium, finishing ahead of Sainz.

Source: arabnews.com

Questionable decisions cost Ferrari what should have been a 1-2 this weekend. The ongoing debate of strategy within the came has been a subject previously discussed by the media. With a more optimal strategy than his teammate, Sainz had a reasonable race but slow pit stops saw him only take P4 as the highest Ferrari finisher. Leclerc on the other hand, will be asking questions to the team supposed to help him challenge for the championship, what is the story with the bad strategy calls? He suffered from lack of grip and speed when the team chose to put him on hard tyres that were known to cause problems when he would’ve liked to stay on mediums longer and go on the same strategy as the others. He went to pits after a while, pitting for softs and finishing P6.

It was a mixed day for McLaren, Norris claimed the bragging rights for best of the rest with his P7 in a quiet enough race but Ricciardo was left P15 after he received a five second time penalty for a collision with Magnussen earlier in the race.

Alpine did not lose any of their lead to their competitors in the constructors’ championship, scoring the same points as McLaren with eighth and ninth place; they also had a pretty quiet race.

Source: Totalmotorsport.com

Completing the top 10 was Sebastian Vettel of Aston Martin, racing in Hungary for the last time. He had a very good race after his 18th place start, finishing in the points ahead of his teammate and almost catching Ocon at the very end. Stroll finished 11th, just outside of the points.

A good drive from Gasly saw him make up places from 19th to take P12; but, it was not so jolly on Tsunoda’s side of the garage as he finished last due to spin which left him at the back.

Zhou was a lot further behind Gasly in 13th, while Bottas retired from the race early with laps to go. For Haas it was not an eventful race, Schumacher was 14th and Magnussen 16th. Finally, Williams drivers were 17th and 18th, not a great day at the office for them.

It is now the summer break, with 4 weeks off from racing, it officially is the beginning of “silly season” where we await unexpected news about driver contracts and all sorts of crazy things. Keep updated by following The Fastest Sector on all social media platforms and the blog for more posts!

Categories
F1 2022 Season

France 2022- Racing in Paul Ricard

On the back of a long awaited win, Charles Leclerc and Ferrari looked strong against a bold Red Bull coming into the weekend of the French GP. One may have considered it a very important race in the fight for the title: a step closer for Verstappen towards that second crown; or a possible fighting chance for Leclerc to claim his first.

Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly, at their home Grand Prix had the aim to impress; with Gasly hoping to change his recent misfortune.

Practice

Soon enough, Mercedes learned that the gap between themselves and the top two teams may have been too large to close down. A familiar three names we’re becoming accustomed to seeing showed up as our top 3 in all three sessions, with only the positions varied.

Source: racingnews365.com

FP1 saw Leclerc lead his rival Verstappen, not even a tenth of a second between them. Russell, the leading Mercedes in P4, a further nine tenths back from third placed Carlos Sainz. Mercedes used this practice session to give Nick De Vries, the teams reserve driver, the opportunity to run in the W13.

Although he would start from the back of the grid due to penalties received for new car components (caused by his engine issue in Austria), Sainz showed he was just as good as the two front runners with a fine lap, a tenth ahead of his teammate. Verstappen was a further half a second back from the lead and the two Mercedes took up forth and fifth position.

Source: autosport.com

Many teams used the opportunity to collect as much data as possible with the new updates, testing how much of a difference they made. AlphaTauri, Mercedes and McLaren were teams with sizeable upgrades coming into the weekend.

Verstappen finally topped the charts ahead of Ferrari in FP3 and he did it with notable gap between himself and the prancing horses. Hamilton put his Mercedes in the top 4, ahead of Perez who had been around a second behind his teammate in all three practice sessions.

Upgrades for the Williams saw them in P8 and P12, a positive sign for the team. Meanwhile at Haas, Kevin Magnussen would be joining Sainz at the back of the grid with an engine penalty and Mick Schumacher sandwiched at the back in 19th between the two Aston Martins— Vettel missed out on some of the session due to floor damage.

Qualifying

All eyes were on the Ferrari- Red Bull battle for the top spot. A little bit of wind meant that certain drivers may have been fought off guard, surprise eliminations a possibility.

The front runners set their times, while others struggles- and some others struggled even more. Although Sainz and Magnussen were taking grid penalties, both escaped elimination from Q1. Schumacher had set a final flying lap time promoting him to P11 but it was instantly deleted, bringing him back down to P19. Gasly, unfortunately didn’t have the pace to take him through to Q2 in his home GP, setting a lap good enough for 16th.

Source: LAT Images via pitpass.com

Out in Q1: Gasly, Stroll, Zhou, Schumacher, Latifi

Speedy Sainz set a blistering time that left him nine tenths of Verstappen on first runs, but Leclerc closed that gap on his second run to just a tenth of a second. Sebastian Vettel, who made in out of Q1, was unable to replicate that pace to get his car into Q3 and took P14. Ocon, in 12th— the other Frenchman, was also not fast enough to get his car into the top 10 like his teammate.

And again, Sainz and Magnussen saw their times, good enough for Q3— Sainz with the opportunity to provide a tow to his teammate who was fighting for pole.

Out in Q2: Ricciardo, Ocon, Bottas, Vettel, Albon

Teamwork makes the dream work as they say— it did so for Ferrari. A provisional pole for Leclerc, with the help of a tow from Sainz saw him 0.008s ahead of Verstappen, who did not have the benefit of a tow on his lap.

Another tow from Sainz to Leclerc on the final flying lap saw the Monegasque driver put a larger gap between himself and Verstappen, and most importantly— it got him pole position. Perez took P3, a tenth of a second behind his teammate. Lewis Hamilton took a decent P4 for Mercedes, continuing his fine form, while Lando Norris stuck himself in a Mercedes sandwich and got himself P5 for McLaren.

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

Source: Picasa via Grand Prix 24/7

Race Report

The French Grand Prix this year was by far one of the most interesting in recent years. It was Max Verstappen who finished on the top step of the podium after taking the lead from Charles Leclerc, with Lewis Hamilton finishing in second place on the weekend of his 300th Grand Prix start. Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate George Russell finished in third place, an excellent finish for the Mercedes team.

Source: dailymail.co.uk

After starting in third place, Red Bull driver Sergio Perez finished in fourth, after being overtaken by Russell in the closing stages of the race and being unable to fight back.

After starting in 19th place due to a number of power unit-related changes, Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz finished in fifth place, picking up an extra point for the fastest lap, as well as the Driver of the Day award along the way. Unfortunately it was not as good a day for Charles Leclerc, who made a critical mistake while leading the race which resulted in a DNF, his third of the season.

Source: sportsillustrated.com

It was another strong outing for the Alpine team in their home race, with Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon (who was also celebrating his home race) finishing the race in 6th and 8th place respectively. With McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo finishing in seventh and ninth place, this was a crucial race for Alpine in the fight between the two Constructors.

Source: motorsportweek.com

It was a similarly strong day for the Aston Martin duo of Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel, who finished in tenth and eleventh place, a good result for the team considering they have not fought at the front of the midfield this season.

Sadly, it was another disappointing weekend for home hero Pierre Gasly, who failed to score points for Alpha Tauri at his home Grand Prix. Teammate Yuki Tsunoda suffered from a DNF due to contact early on in the race, meaning that the Italian team leave France with no points gained.

Source: TWSN.com
Categories
F1 2022 Season

Austria 2022- The Leclerc Way

Spielberg would be home to the second sprint race of the season. Leclerc went into the weekend aiming to rectify what could’ve been a podium in Silverstone, he hoped to close to Verstappen who seemed to running away with the championship.

Meanwhile, his teammate, Sainz, on the back of his first victory in Great Britain in part one of the double header, looked to show he was also a force to be reckoned with and would not take the back seat.

Source: F1destinations.com

Practice

In practice one and two over the Friday and Saturday, Verstappen and Sainz topped the charts in the sessions respectively.

The Mercedes boys, showed a continued improvement with some real pace in practice one with Russell taking P3 and Hamilton P5, within four and six tenths of a second to the leading Red Bull. It was not a Friday McLaren wanted to remember, Norris with issues to his car and Ricciardo struggling to find pace with his car.

In practice two, Leclerc was just pipped by Sainz with a faster time, but the real surprise was the impressive pace of the Alpines, who looked like they could cause some damage to the others as they took P4 and P5. Mercedes did manage to fix both cars before the end of the second practice session after both cars suffered crashes in qualifying on the Friday which left the teams with some work to do. But they did it! And were able to claim 7th and 9th.

Source: skysports.com

Qualifying

Eliminated in Q1: Vettel, Latifi, Zhou, Stroll, Ricciardo

Eliminated in Q2: Norris, Tsunoda, Perez*, Bottas, Albon

* Originally qualified 4th but a post-session investigation for track limits saw all of his Q3 times deleted, leaving him in 13th.

Top 10: Verstappen, Leclerc, Sainz, Russell, Ocon, Magnussen, Schumacher, Alonso, Hamilton, Gasly.

Source: LAT Images via F1chronicle.com

Sprint race

Verstappen took the maximum eight points available from the sprint race win, benefiting greatly from the scrapping Ferraris who were fighting for position and allowing him to pull away.

There has been the question of when team orders will come to play for certain teams, for Red Bull, it has been made clear that Verstappen is the main man. For Ferrari, although the focus is on Leclerc, team orders have not yet been directly given; and this cost them the chance to fight Verstappen as both red cars concentrated on each instead of their rival.

Source: Ferrari.com

But Leclerc made the move stick on his team mate and began to close in on Verstappen towards the final few laps.

Before the sprint began, Alonso’s race was over as he was unable to take part in the formation lap- ending his sprint race early. A similar issue occurred with Zhou Guanyu but he was able to get his car to start, but it would be from the pits.

Russell and Perez finished fourth and fifth respectively, the Red Bull driver making up many places after a 13th place start due to his Q3 lap times being deleted.

The remainder of the top ten was Ocon, Magnussen, Hamilton, Schumacher and Bottas.

It was 11th and 12th for the papaya team, and 13th for Alex Albon who was given a five second time penalty for forcing Norris off the track.

Vettel was the only other retiree in the sprint race, his race crumbled after contact with Albon.

Race

Charles Leclerc took the victory at the Red Bull Ring, showing his rival that it was still all to play for, cutting the gap to 38 points between the pair. The Monegasque driver made some impressive moves to overtake for the lead. Unfortunately, in the other Ferrari, Sainz, who looked to be closing in on Verstappen for a 1-2 finish, suffered an engine issue, his car going up into flames- a scary incident for the Spaniard.

Source: fresh-trending.com

Verstappen, who looked threatening this weekend, struggled to keep up with the Ferraris and had to settle for second place. Perez on the other hand, who had made up many places from the sprint race, retired from the race early after first lap contact with Russell ultimately led to the end of his race.

Mercedes looked to be back in shape, several straight podiums for the team; and Lewis Hamilton did what he does best— got his car where it needed to be. Although he fortunately benefited from Sainz’s DNF, the Brit drove a solid race, putting him in the right place at the right time and earned him a 4th podium in 2022. Russell, who fell to the back of the grid after his first lap incident and five second time penalty, also drove a stunning race, finishing behind his teammate in P4.

Source: sportingnews.com

Rarely spoken about, but definitely deserving of praise, Ocon brought his Alpine home to fifth place, earning him his highest finish of the season. Alonso, was the last of the point scorers, a good result for the team indeed.

On the back of his first points finish, Mick Schumacher, impressing all weekend, was even more impressive during the race, at times pulling off some stunning defences against other drivers. He was voted driver of the day for his best finish in 2022. Kevin Magnussen finished P8, securing a back-to-back double points finish for the team.

McLaren were back to their points scoring ways, both cars ending in the top ten, in P7 and P9; a much needed result for the Surrey-based team. Both cars took part in some intense midfield battles, treating us to a spectacle.

Aston Martin continued with their struggle as Stroll finished in 13th, and the unlucky Vettel was involved in another tangle on his search for points for the second time this weekend, this time with Gasly, who was later penalised.

Speaking of the AlphaTauris, both cars ended the race outside the top 10 yet again, another team struggling to find form, especially in comparison to last year. Gasly placed 15th and Tsunoda 16th, the Italian team will be looking to turn their hopes around in France.

Albon picked up P12 for Williams and Latifi retired from the race, while Bottas made the most of all that happened with 11th place after starting from the Pitlane and his teammate Zhou Guanyu in P14, a reasonable result considering his accident at Silverstone.

After a week’s break we head to Paul Ricard for round 12 of the 2022 F1 season at the French Grand Prix. See you then! Meanwhile, follow The Fastest Sector to keep you updated and occupied while you wait.

Categories
F1 2022 Season

Hamilton, Russell, Norris, and Silverstone: A Full English

The British Grand Prix is a staple in the F1 calendar, especially at the historic Silverstone Circuit.

This year was extra special as it featured 3 British drivers in top teams capable of competing for a podium or for some even a win.

Russell and Hamilton being the only all British driver pairing on the grid with Mercedes went into the weekend hoping to continue the momentum created from an electrifying weekend in Montreal, while Norris looked to bring McLaren back to the top of the grid with the current “Big Three”.

The weekend started off well for Hamilton finishing P2 in FP1while Russell and Norris struggled running only a combined 6 laps and neither recording a time.

FP2 saw Hamilton continue his successes from earlier in the morning and finishing in P2 yet again, Norris found his stride to end Friday running in P3 while Russell would settle for a respectable P8.

Saturday is where the big show truly begins, and with all 3 drivers finishing FP3 in the top 10 it looked promising for the home crowd for qualifying.

Quali saw all three Brits make it to Q3 despite the tricky conditions, but a mistake by Russell in the closing stages saw him finish quali in only P8 while Hamilton and Norris qualified in P5 and P6 respectively with less than a tenth separating them.

Sunday is where the points are scored though, and all three were in a prime position to score some especially with more controlled conditions.

When the five lights went off, we saw a tale of three races for each driver. Hamilton got off the line brilliantly, jumping Alonso and Leclerc for 3rd, Norris got a decent start and was able to pass Alonso and battle Perez until an incident that leads me to the final British driver.

Russell got off the line incredibly poorly, falling back on Latifi and Zhou before clipping the wheel of Gasly and spinning off into Zhou sending Zhou into the gravel and catch fence upside down and suffering a puncture himself before stopping the car and getting out to assist in recovering Zhou.

Despite Russell’s belief that he could get the car back to the pits under its own power, the Marshalls opted to tow it back meaning an end to his race and an end to his incredible streak of P5 or better performances this season in devastating fashion.

The rest of the race would see Norris put up a brilliant effort to finish P6 throughout all the chaos and pandemonium.

For Hamilton, the race was one of highs and lows, but mostly highs. A slow pitstop would mean he would lose out on the lead and even a podium in some eyes, but there is a reason he is seen as one of the greatest to ever do it, he just finds a way.

A late safety car would allow Hamilton to pit for new softs with very little to lose. The restart would allow Lewis to have an excellent look at the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc who was running on much older hard tires, but with the raw pace of the Ferrari what would normally be a routine drs overtake would lead to some of the most brilliant racing we have seen in a very long time with the GOAT taking on the driver of tomorrow for a much-desired podium place. After about 7 laps of pure racing, Hamilton would get DRS and complete the move with enough time to pull away earning him a P3 in his home race to the delight of the amazing British fans.

Hope you enjoyed this piece about our lovely British drivers- make sure you show some love and tell us about your favourite moments of the drivers in the comment section.

Categories
F1 2022 Season

Azerbaijan 2022- Victorious Verstappen in Baku

Race weekend review

In what now seems like it could be a three-way title fight between Verstappen, Leclerc and Perez; F1 returned to Baku, where Sergio Perez claimed his first victory with Red Bull in 2021 in a thrilling race.

Practice

Perez came into the weekend with momentum behind him from his win at Monaco and a new contract extension with Red Bull. The Mexican started off the weekend strong with P1 in FP1, ahead of Leclerc and Verstappen.

The two Spaniards, Sainz and Alonso completed the top 5. Issues for Latifi and Schumacher saw their sessions negatively affected.

FP2 saw Leclerc outdo Perez and Verstappen as he took P1 in the second session by over two tenths of a second. Alonso and Sainz were a bit further back, again completing the top 5.

Source: Autosport.com

Perez took P1 in the final practice session, showing the Ferrari’s and his teammate that he was a serious threat. The gap between himself and Leclerc was only 0.070s while Verstappen was a further two tenths behind.

Sainz placed fourth, with the McLaren drivers Norris and Ricciardo showing some decent pace in fifth and sixth position.

Mercedes had major struggles with purposing on their cars, causing additional discomfort for their drivers who were in P8 and P12.

Source: LAT Images via Planet F1

Qualifying

The battle for pole looked tight between Perez and Leclerc who had been fighting to impress during the weekend, but one can never discount Verstappen from the equation.

Red flags are known to cause chaos around Baku and chaos was caused quite late into Q1, which left teams hurrying to get out for one final lap to save themselves from elimination. Stroll touched the barriers into Turn 7 but suffered minimal damage, continuing his aim to escape Q1. But a lap later, he collided into the barriers at Turn 2, which brought out the red flag.

The queue in the pitlane to go out one last time was long, with the McLaren drivers who were not safe down at the end while Mercedes were at the front. Everyone hurried to the finish line, elbows coming out in order to make sure they could start their final flying lap. Albon complained over the radio that Alonso impeded him by slowing down too much, ruining his lap. In the end, the stewards did not investigate the incident.

Out in Q1: Magnussen, Albon, Latifi, Stroll, Schumacher

Source: FormulaSpy

In Q2, Vettel hit the barriers, causing a yellow flag for a short amount of time. The front runners had already put in their banker laps before the yellow flag, but certain drivers were soon put under pressure, the two McLaren drivers, for example.

Hamilton would be under investigation after qualifying, with Hamilton going slow and marred the lap of Lando Norris, who ended up backing out of his final flying lap, leaving him just short of Tsunoda who was in tenth. In the end Hamilton avoided a penalty.

Out in Q2: Norris, Ricciardo, Ocon, Zhou, Bottas

Sainz put in a great lap that put him on provisional pole after first runs in Q3. His teammate, Leclerc, was close behind, a fragment off his pace, followed by Perez and Verstappen in third and fourth.

Perez had a brief issue which saw him stay in the garage longer than others, meaning he had no tow on his final lap and neither did his other rivals who were battling for that top spot.

Sainz was pushing hard, too hard, which caused a mistake costing him time. Leclerc on the other hand, produced a stellar final lap and put himself in pole position. Perez then put himself into P2, an important front row start in the bag, ahead of Verstappen who would start third in the race.

Top 10: Leclerc, Perez, Verstappen, Sainz, Russell, Gasly, Hamilton, Tsunoda, Vettel, Alonso

Source: LAT Images via F1 chronicle

Race Report

A brilliant start from Perez saw him overtake Leclerc at the start of the race, with Sainz putting pressure on Verstappen who quickly then opened up a gap to the Spaniard.

Sainz then suffered an issue with his car on Lap 9 and retired from the race.

The other Ferrari of Leclerc also retired when he suffered what seemed like an engine issue on Lap 20 before half race distance. He had been closing down the gap to the Red Bulls after his pit stop that left him in third.

Source: autosport.com

Verstappen had closed the gap to Perez when he then overtook him for lead of the race with a nice move on his teammate on Lap 14. The Dutch world champion was in a league of his own, finishing 20 seconds ahead of Perez.

Perez seemed to lack the pace to keep up with Verstappen, dropping back after his teammate’s overtake. He added to his 18 points with an extra point for the fastest lap of the race.

George Russell proved to be Mr. Consistent with another podium, clinching third place, three in total this season. He took advantage of Ferrari’s misfortune and made a second pit stop like many others did to finish the race on fresher tyres, while others like Vettel, Gasly and Tsunoda chose to stay out on their older tyres that they had pitted for on Lap 9.

Source: The Netional News

Lewis Hamilton suffered a considerable amount of porpoising during the race which left his back in a poor state at the end of the race, visibly in pain as he got out of his car. Despite this, the 7 time world champion put in an incredible shift and finished behind his teammate in fourth place, also earning driver of the day.

Pierre Gasly converted a great qualifying result into a great points finish for AlphaTauri, his first points since Melbourne with a fifth place finish. Tsunoda had been in a great position also, running ahead of Vettel in sixth, but an issue with his DRS saw him come into the pits where his team used duct tape to solve the problem meant that the young AlphaTauri driver finished 13th.

Sebastian Vettel earned decent points for Aston Martin finishing in P6, proving his skills had never faded. A mistake while he was in the hunt to overtake Ocon earlier in the race saw him make a smooth turn on the escape road to re-join the track meaning the German lost out to Hamilton and Tsunoda that he had overtaken during the round of pitstops. Without this earlier incident, the end result may have been different. Lance Stroll retired from the race when an issue was found with his car on Lap 48.

Alonso, who had much older tyres than the McLarens behind him was able to fend off his former team’s drivers for P7.

There was tension in the McLaren camp with both drivers audibly unhappy with holding station to their teammates on separate occasions during the race. But Daniel Ricciardo turned his luck around finishing ahead of his teammate in P8, the help of the second VSC allowing him to make good use of his hard to medium tyre strategy. Lando Norris completed the double points finish for the papaya team who had been waiting for this for a while, getting himself a P9, with Ocon also doing the same with his P10.

Source: Planet F1

Valterri Bottas gained some places from his 15th place start, taking his Alfa Romeo to 11th place. But, Guanyu Zhou, who had been performing well and placing above his teammate, retired on Lap 24 with an issue on his car; another DNF to his record.

Alex Albon had a quiet race and finished in 12th place with his Williams. Nicholas Latifi had a 10 second stop-go penalty for a starting grid infringement at the beginning of the race and he finished last.

Mick Schumacher placed 14th as the only Haas to finished the race. Kevin Magnussen retired on Lap 33, showing that some serious discussions about reliability needed to be held.

We head to Canada for Round 9 of the 2022 season. With a firm grip on the championship lead, is there anyone that can stop Verstappen?

Make sure to check out The Fastest Sector social media for more info!

Categories
F1 2022 Season

Bahrain 2022: Super Season Opener

Race week review

The anticipation building up to the start of the 2022 season was immense. The little moments of action in testing had everyone on edge, waiting for the real spectacle to take place. With new race directors, new regulations and new teams and teammates, this new era of Formula 1 was about to begin.

Excitement roamed the paddock, particularly in the Haas garage because the car looked relatively good. Gunther Steiner, famously known for kicking off many times on Drive to Survive was visible happy to have the new pairing of Magnussen and Schumacher lining up for them. With everyone making predictions on how the constructor’s championship would go, they were definitely right up in the mix.

Source: motorsportmagazine.com

Daniel Ricciardo, after missing the three days of testing in Bahrain for McLaren was rejoining the team, slightly on the back foot; nevertheless, ready to work. There were previously slight mentions of McLaren placing behind the top 3 of Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull, but a race weekend in Bahrain looked to cut those rumours short.

At the beginning of the race weekend, Aston Martin announced that four time world champion, Sebastian Vettel had tested positive for Covid-19 and would not race in Bahrain. He would go on to be replaced by their reserve driver Nico Hulkenburg.

Source: motorsport.com

Friday practice allowed the teams to become even more familiar with the circuit with the new cars. Pierre Gasly topped FP1 with his AlphaTauri while certain other teams were dealing with their own problems. McLaren we’re trying to make up for lost time in testing during the session. Seven time world champion Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes were a little off the pace, trying new things with the car.

Reigning world champion Max Verstappen topped the charts in FP2 followed by the two Ferrari’s, who were constantly showing that they had the pace.

Verstappen again finished P1 in FP3, with Leclerc and Perez second and third. Mercedes had much better running in the final session, finishing fourth and sixth.

Qualifying had everyone’s hearts racing; the first qualifying of the season was nothing short of a show stopper.

The two Aston Martin cars were both out in Q1, along with Tsunoda, Latifi and Ricciardo, who was not having a good start to the season.

The new signing for Williams, Alex Albon, was knocked out in Q2, his smiles and radio message to the team showing he was happy to have made it that far. Rookie driver Guanyu Zhou was also knocked out in Q2, along with Mick Schumacher (his highest qualifying position-12th), Esteban Ocon and the second McLaren of Lando Norris. It was not looking like a good day for the papaya team.

Impressively, Bottas and Magnussen made it to the top 10 shoutout. They qualified in sixth and seventh respectively. After the first round of runs, Carlos Sainz was on provisional pole but when it all came down to the final flying lap, Charles Leclerc edged out Max Verstappen for the first pole of the season in emphatic fashion.

Hamilton qualified fifth, behind Sergio Perez, while George Russell could only muster ninth place on his first outing as a Mercedes driver, something he’d have to make up for in the race.

Source: racingnews365.com

The first race of the season, as you’ll see below in greater detail, was one you couldn’t miss. With lots of overtakes, interesting strategy calls, and all round great racing, we crowned our first race winner of the new era of F1. And he wore red.

Source: skysports.com

Race report

We the fans were made a lot of promises before 2022. Formula One promised us that the new cars would be able to follow each other and race better. Ferrari promised us that they would be back. Steiner promised us that better things were on the horizon for Haas.

I, for one, think that every promise was delivered on.

The 2022 season opener was one of the most incredible we’ve seen in a long time. Pole sitter Charles Leclerc was able to convert his excellent Saturday work into a win for Scuderia Ferrari, and teammate Carlos Sainz pushed to make it a 1-2 finish for the team. 5th place starter Lewis Hamilton rounded off the podium in third place, with his brand new teammate George Russell finishing in fourth.

Source: fia.com

It was a dismal day for the Red Bull powered teams. Reigning champion Max Verstappen, who started 2nd and fought Leclerc for almost the entire race, wrestled with the steering on a difficult RB18, eventually retiring the car. Teammate Sergio Perez also spun into retirement at the end of the race, suggesting that the issue he faced was extremely similar to that of Verstappen.

Source: firstsportz.com

While the race ended happily for Alpha Tauri driver Yuki Tsunoda, starting his second season in the sport, the same could not be said for teammate Pierre Gasly. On lap 46, the Frenchman’s car overheated and caught on fire, causing an immediate retirement for Gasly and bringing the safety car out on track for the first time in 2022.

Source: formula1.com

It was a struggle of a weekend for Mercedes, who have in previous years been indisputably strong. This weekend the best the team could achieve was a 3rd place podium for Lewis Hamilton and a 4th place finish for George Russell. Hopefully the team will be able to improve the car in the coming weeks!

American-based team Haas had the opposite weekend – after a couple of years of misfortune, the team came barrelling out of the gate with a brilliant package. Returning driver Kevin Magnussen brought home a fifth place finish for the team, with teammate Mick Schumacher finishing in eleventh place – although it would be fair to assume that that will improve as the season goes by.

It was a double points finish for Alpine, with Ocon in 7th place and Alonso in 9th, with the car showing significant promise. The continuation of this strong driver lineup can only be good for Alpine, who will no doubt be regular points finishers once again throughout 2022.

Another team which showed significant strength this weekend was Alfa Romeo. After starting 6th, Valtteri Bottas was able to finish the race in the same position for his new team, whereas rookie teammate Zhou Guanyu was able to score a point in tenth place on his debut race, an excellent achievement for the sport’s first full-time Chinese driver.

Source: f1chronicle.com

However, while some teams were able to produce excellent results, some were not. McLaren found Bahrain to be incredibly difficult with neither driver able to score points. Daniel Ricciardo finished the race in 14th place after failing to leave Q1 on Saturday, ahead of teammate Lando Norris who finished the race in 15th place.

It was similarly disappointing for Aston Martin, with both Lance Stroll and reserve driver Nico Hulkenberg finishing the race towards the back of the pack, with Stroll in 12th place and Hulkenberg in 17th. It is expected that Sebastian Vettel will return to the team next week if testing negative for Covid-19, so it will be interesting to see how he is able to perform in the car.

Both Alexander Albon and Nicholas Latifi of Williams had a difficult Sunday, finishing in 13th and 16th place respectively. However, it was definitely a good race result for Alex Albon after a year away from the sport, and it will be exciting to see what the Thai/English driver will deliver this year.

We move onto Jeddah for the second race of the season where we expect to see more exhilarating racing!

Source: firstsportz.com

By Leslie & Tara

Make sure to like, comment your thoughts on the race and share this article! (And follow our social media!)

Categories
Flashback Friday

Flashback Friday: Sahkir 2020

Russell keeps first F1 points as stewards fine Mercedes €20,000 · RaceFans
Source: Racefans.net

After the horrific crash Romain Grosjean miraculously endured the week before at the Bahrain GP, some team line-up changes were made ahead of the Sahkir GP which took place on the outer track in Bahrain. Pietro Fittipaldi replaced the injured Grosjean. George Russell had big shoes to fill when he took Lewis Hamilton’s place in the Mercedes as he had tested positive for COVID-19, while Jack Aitken was to race for Williams in place of Russell that weekend.

Sakhir GP: New track layout, new drivers - the big preview as F1 takes giant step into the unknown | F1 News
Source: Sky Sports

Much attention was drawn to George and how he would perform that weekend. Very quickly he showed his value to Mercedes as he continued to impress. He had never been outqualified by a teammate and was looking to continue this stat against Valterri Bottas. It was an intense qualifying as both the Red Bull of Max Verstappen and the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc showed pace to challenge the Mercedes cars but it was a great qualifying for the team as Bottas and Russell qualified 1st and 2nd, with the Brit only missing out on pole by 0.026s.

Sakhir Grand Prix: Valtteri Bottas just beats George Russell to pole for Mercedes one-two - BBC Sport
Source: BBC

At lights out George Russell got off to a great start, overtaking Bottas for the lead at the first corner. In that same lap, just behind them, as Verstappen and Perez were catching Bottas, Charles Leclerc tried to make a move into the corner but the Ferrari clipped the back of the Racing Point, causing him to spin. Along with this, Max Verstappen who looked to be fine in relation to this incident then lost control and went into the barriers alongside Leclerc, both of whom could not continue the race. Perez however, made it back to the pits and re-joined the race in last place.

The Sakhir GP as it happened
Source: Motorsport.com

On lap 7 Carlos Sainz overtook Bottas in a brilliant move but Bottas quickly took back the position. By lap 20 Sergio Perez had charged his way up through the field and back into the points, in 10th place.

Nicholas Latifi stopped by the side of the track on lap 55 which then brought out the Virtual safety car. Perez, who was on a set of hard tyres, gained many places as other drivers took the opportunity to pit for new tyres. By lap 56 he was in 4th place after passing his teammate Lance Stroll and on lap 57 Perez overtook Esteban Ocon for 3rd place.

Lap 63 saw the safety car deployed because Jack Aitken driving in the Williams, had hit the wall not far from the pitlane, losing his front wing. Mercedes did a double stack where Russell had a bit of a slow stop (5.3s) as the team struggled with the front right and Bottas had a nightmare pitstop himself when the team weren’t happy with how the tyres were fitted, his pitstop being 27.4s and he dropped from 2nd to 5th.

On lap 64 Russell, who was leading the race, was called back into the pits by Mercedes as he had been fitted with a mixed set of tyres. On lap 69 Perez would then lead the race once the safety car had ended, followed by Ocon and Stroll in the other podium places.

By lap 70 Russell had caught up to Bottas and passed him, on laps 72 and 73 the Brit had made his way past Stroll and Ocon also with brilliant manoeuvres. Bottas’ tyres were wearing down and Sainz, on fresher tyres used the opportunity to over take him for 5th place. Ricciardo and Albon followed suit and also overtook the Mercedes driver who was struggling in the latter stages of the race.

Sakhir GP: Race team notes - Mercedes - Pitpass.com
Source: Pitpass

Russell on the hunt for his first F1 win, had closed down the gap to Perez to 3 seconds but was called into the pit by his team on lap 79 for a puncture on the rear left tyre.

Sergio Perez saw the chequred flag on lap 87 to take his first win in Formula 1 and the first for Racing Point, while Ocon and Stroll completed the podium in 2nd and 3rd, a first podium for Ocon. Russell after his stellar qualifying and race only finished in 9th place after the puncture, earning him his first points in F1, while Bottas finished in 8th.

Conclusions from the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix | Planet F1
Source: Planetf1.com
Sakhir GP: Race team notes - Racing Point - Pitpass.com
Source: Pitpass.com

Hope you enjoyed that trip to the past! Make sure to stay tuned for future Flashback Fridays! You can find more content here on the blog and on our social media @thefastestsector (Instagram) and @_tfsofficial (Twitter)

Written by: Leslie Okafor