Tag: retirement

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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

A Hero’s Tribute- Sebastian Vettel

Written by Leslie Okafor

After hearing the shocking announcement of his retirement from F1, we as a team thought it would be best to show our appreciation in words (as some of us might be too emotional for a video format tribute) to a legend of the sport.

We all knew this day would come at some point, everyone’s got to retire at some stage and Sebastian is no different. I guess with the rumours of positive talks about a contact extension, it just came as a huge surprise. For someone who never had social media before, he sure knew how to make an entrance— his name was trending on Twitter just because he made an Instagram account; something most of us were ecstatic about.

Source: sportingnews.com

His decision to retire is wholeheartedly supported by the F1 community. Though it is sad for us to see him go, his goals for his family come first and that in its self is most admirable. Sebastian had already achieved so much by the age of 26; the standard he set for himself was incredibly high after becoming a four time world champion.

For me, this is the most difficult post I will write in a long time. Sebastian is my hero, and will always be. He is the reason my love for the sport is incredibly large. His passion, skill and determination has culminated an enormous number of people who have also found a hero: not just fans, but drivers also. His kindness, loyalty and desire to fight for equality has brought about a new aspect to the sport— one where we push ourselves to do more. He’s the role model this sport is so lucky to have.

I’ve been watching F1 since I was a kid, I was about six years old when Sebastian made his debut— so for me he was F1. Maybe my six year old self was distracted, which is why I don’t have the best recollection of his debut. But, my most vivid memories in F1 come from the 2010 season. I saw my favourite driver be in contention for the title, I saw people laugh at the suggestion that he could win it, and with my own two eyes— I saw him do exactly that.

Source: RTE.ie

I attended my first ever GP this year at Silverstone, and my one hope was to meet Sebastian. I told myself I would go home a happy girl if it happened. Firstly, I got to see him score some points, that felt like a privilege, that I was there to see him race and score points in the flesh. When he waved around with smiles during the drivers parade my heart swelled, because the person that made me love the sport so much was right there, with a big smile as usual.

I unfortunately didn’t get to properly meet him, but I did see him after the race as he was leaving and waved to him, telling him happy birthday as he was driving past. He was wearing his cool shades and sported a bright smile as he waved back. That was enough for me. Though it might not be much for some people, that moment there, filled my heart.

He broke so many records at such a young age I think we almost didn’t appreciate how good he was back then and still is, proving his untainted skill in Aston Martin- being the first to get a podium for the team. It was a fresh start for him at Aston Martin, he had high hopes for the team and aimed to achieve many great things. Sometimes life doesn’t go how we planned it, but we make the most of what we’re given. And that is what Sebastian always does.

Source: Formula1.com

Although it will be sad to see him go, his presence will forever be engraved in the sport he loves so much. He will never be forgotten for his talent, but also for the amazing human being that he is. We wish him all the best in his retirement, and hope that it is filled with nothing but happiness with his family.

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Flashback Friday

Flashback Friday: Italy 2006

For this week’s Flashback Friday we take a look at Monza, Ferrari and Michael Schumacher in 2006, what some might call a mighty mix.

We remember some popular names on the grid at the time, Heidfield, Fisichella, Barrichello etc. Racing in Monza was one of the most exciting times of the season (as it still is now!) Back in the day, the bottom six teams from the 2005 constructors championship and Super Aguri could run a third car in free practice but these cars could not run in qualifying or the race. (This included drivers like Sebastian Vettel and Anthony Davidson)

Qualifying

In Q1 the following drivers were eliminated: Yamamoto, Sato, Webber (who was driving for Williams-Cosworth at the time), Albers and Liuzzi. In Q2, the familiar names of Nico Rosberg, Ralf Schumacher, David Coulthard accompanied Trulli, Klien and Speed out of the second stage of qualifying. An intense battle for pole with Schumacher and Raikkonen took centre stage at the end of Q3, with the future 2007 world champion pipping the seven time world champion to the top spot at Ferrari’s home circuit. Heidfield, Massa, Button, Kubica, De la Rosa, Barrichello, Fisichella and Alonso completed the top 10. Alonso had qualified in 5th place but was later penalised for impeding Massa which then brought him down to 10th.

Race

On September 10, 2006, 53 laps of racing awaited the 22 drivers on the grid in the sunny weather of Italy. Kimi Raikkonen would lead the other 21 drivers off the grid for an exciting afternoon.

Raikkonen got a good start, pulling away from Schumacher and Heidfield who were battling for second place. Alonso had gained places, moving up the field to sixth. The leading two cars of Raikkonen and Schumacher had built a gap between themselves and the rest of the pack. Rosberg had power issues with his car, with the German ending his race earlier than the rest for the fourth time in a row.

By the time pit windows were open the teams had formed their strategies based on what they believed would beat their opponent, and Ferrari got it right. Raikkonen went into the pits two laps before Schumacher, who, in that time had picked up the pace to give him enough time to come out ahead of the McLaren. During the pitstops for the top two, Kubica lead the race, coming in at a later stage.

Schumacher and Raikkonen had very similar paces and the leading car could not build up a significant gap. Even after the second round of pitstops, things did not change; although, Raikkonen allowed for a little gap to form to preserve his tyres.

An engine failure on lap 44 meant Alonso lost the last spot on the podium. This caused an issue for Massa who, from this incident locked up, went wide and had to change tyres in the pit. This ultimately handed Kubica third place for his first ever podium.

Credit: Motorsportmagazine.com

Schumacher crossed the line for his 90th win and for Ferrari’s 190th win, followed by Raikkonen and Kubica. It was during his victory lap that Schumacher announced he would retire at the end of the season, leaving the F1 community with a very bitter-sweet feeling. Nevertheless, with three races to go, Schumacher would battle it out with Alonso for the title of driver’s champion 2006.

We hope you enjoyed this week’s #FlashbackFriday. Make sure you like and share it with others so they can relive such sweet memories. Also, don’t forget to follow all of our social media and tag us when you share your predictions!