Tag: Ferrari

2019 Brazilian GP report | Verstappen thrills in Brazil and Gasly claims second as the Ferraris collide

Posted on by James Mackenzie
A fairly average race for 50 laps…and then absolute bedlam.
Max Verstappen and Pierre Gasly on the Brazilian Grand Prix podium.
Image credit: Getty Images

Max Verstappen took a commanding victory at the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix as all around him – or certainly most – were losing their heads.

Verstappen led away from pole with Lewis Hamilton passing Sebastian Vettel for second place around the outside of the first corner. From there, it looked likely to be a tale of whether the young Dutchman could keep the newly-crowned world champion at bay. Mercedes had shown strong pace during race simulations in the practice sessions and, whilst never quite getting close enough for an overtaking attempt, Hamilton remained within touching distance throughout the first phase of the Grand Prix.

Mercedes triggered the undercut on lap 20 by pitting Hamilton and committing to a two-stop strategy. Red Bull responded a lap later but, via the combination of an unhelpful Williams pit release and a strong out lap from Hamilton, Verstappen emerged behind the Mercedes driver.

That would not remain the case for long, however. Hamilton had completely depleted his battery on his flying out lap and so was slow on the start/finish straight; Verstappen took the opportunity to fly past and regain his net lead.

The two drivers matched each other as they worked their way through backmarkers until, after another 20 or so laps, Mercedes attempted another undercut. This time with less success. Hamilton appeared happier on the medium tyres than he had been on the soft, though, and was closing the gap. But everything was about to be flipped on its head.

Whilst trying to find a way past Charles Leclerc for fourth, Valtteri Bottas’s Mercedes engine overheated and the Finn ground to a halt – the first mechanical retirement for Mercedes this year – which, despite some good parking, brought out the safety car. Mercedes told Hamilton to do the opposite to Verstappen; the Red Bull driver came in and so Hamilton stayed out, but almost immediately began to question the decision to leave him vulnerable on older, harder tyres.

His fears were quickly proven to be well-founded as, despite Hamilton’s best efforts to catch him out at the restart, Verstappen flew by once more before the first corner. Alexander Albon also made a great move to jump past Vettel, before starting to pressure Hamilton, with the Ferraris close behind. But not for long.

With five laps remaining, Leclerc dived down the inside of his teammate at the first corner but Vettel stayed close behind and pulled alongside on the following straight. As he passed, he drifted left, Leclerc did not move fast enough, there was slight tyre-to-tyre contact and Ferraris race quite literally fell apart.

The Ferraris collide at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Image credit: Formula 1

Leclerc’s front left suspension was broken and Vettel was also parked up with the damage caused by a rear right puncture within a lap. As is tradition, both drivers blamed each other. (More on that later.)

This brought about another safety car. This time Mercedes gambled and brought Hamilton in, dropping him to fourth and leaving a Honda 1-2-3, as things stood, in the form of Verstappen, Albon and Pierre Gasly’s Toro Rosso. Lance Stroll had also retired after hitting debris from the Ferrari theatrics and it looked as though the race may finish behind the safety car.

It was restarted, however, with an effective two-lap sprint race to the chequered flag. Hamilton, on his fresh, soft tyres, dispatched Gasly at the first corner and was immediately onto the gearbox of Albon. Was the gamble about to pay off for Mercedes?

No. It was, in fact, about to end in tears, as Hamilton made an ambitious dive into the Bico de Pato corner. Albon certainly left the door open but, when he took the normal racing line and effectively closed it, Hamilton was too committed and made contact with the Red Bull, leaving it pointing in the wrong direction as the field sailed past. Agony for Albon, apologies from Hamilton post-race, but euphoria at Toro Rosso as Gasly moved into second position.

A lap later, coming out of the last corner, Hamilton got a run on the Frenchman and pulled alongside to produce a drag race to the line. But, in a show of just how far Honda have come this year, the Toro Rosso won that drag race and Gasly took a stirring first podium in F1, after an incredibly trying year. Cue an emotional release and a Senna-in-91-esque radio message.

Image credit: Motorsport Images

Once Hamilton had been given a five second penalty, we were left with a bizarre top five of Verstappen, Gasly, Carlos Sainz and the Alfa Romeos of Kimi Räikkönen and Antonio Giovinazzi. It was also a debut podium for Sainz and, although he was not part of the initial ceremony, he was later allowed up to the podium to celebrate with his team.

Again, there were some questionable strategy decisions from Mercedes. Bottas was confusingly pitted just 14 laps into a stint on the hard tyres as the team drastically bailed out of a one-stop. And whilst the undercuts for Hamilton were fairly well executed, the decision not to pit him under the first safety car left him a sitting duck and, but for the Ferrari incident, Hamilton could easily have found himself behind all four cars that had been following at that point. This was supposed to be a race for Mercedes to be set free from the constraints of playing it safe with the championship in mind but it came across more like rash, ill-considered decisions with a whiff of desperation at points. Especially in contrast to the excellence of the Red Bull strategies, pit stops and drive by Verstappen.

But hey, it could have been worse. They could be…

Ferrari…

After two years of near misses and now a season that promised so much but has massively under-delivered, the Tifosi fans are pretty numb to pain at the moment.

But this one will have hurt.

Tensions that have been in danger of boiling over for some time now, finally did so. And with disastrous consequences. The two drivers conspired to crash into each other whilst on a straight and, just like that, Ferrari’s season surely hit its nadir. But who was primarily to blame, if anyone?

Image credit: Formula 1

The stewards have ruled ‘no further action necessary’ but, for me, the blame must lie closer to Vettel’s door than that of Leclerc. It was a slightly rude divebomb – particularly on a teammate – by Leclerc into the first corner, but a fair and successful one. Maybe that stung Vettel – with Hamilton and Albon having also robbed him at the same corner earlier in the race – as there was no need for him to come across his teammate in the way that he did as he came back past. He had the overspeed to be ahead by the corner anyway.

Watching the onboards, you can see how little time Leclerc had to react. It was all a bit Turkey 2010 with Webber. Vettel has been under such pressure this season and has seen his number one status within the team come under serious threat; was this an attempt to show dominance? We can’t be sure.

Between the many spins and the incidents like this – remember that, just two races ago, Vettel squeezed Hamilton onto the grass at the start and was saved by the latter bailing out – the four-time world champion sometimes seems to lack a bit of spacial awareness in the car. He may have a bit of soul-searching to do before next season.

Image credit: Getty Images

It will be interesting to see how Ferrari handle the fallout from this. They have one race left to patch things up or it could be a very frosty winter…

Two Very Wholesome Podiums

The podium finishes for both Gasly and Sainz will be hugely popular throughout the paddock.

Gasly has had such a tough year. Obviously, struggling badly in the Red Bull and seemingly losing all confidence before being demoted during the summer break. But then particularly, during his first race back at Toro Rosso, losing his close, lifelong friend Anthoine Hubert to that tragic, fatal accident in Spa.

That makes his redemption arc in the second half of the season all the more impressive. He has generally had the better of new teammate Daniil Kvyat, despite having to readapt to the Toro Rosso, and has just kept getting stronger. He was ‘best of the rest’ for the majority of the weekend in Brazil and fully capitalised on the chance he was given. It also leaves him with the record for France’s youngest ever podium.

Carlos Sainz with his trophy at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Image credit: EFE

Sainz, meanwhile, deserves it for the sheer quality of his performances this year. The Spaniard was starting to look like he may have contracted the Nico Hülkenberg podium curse with so many fourth and fifth place finishes in a generally impressive career.

But he has broken that duck and, judging by the consistently high level he has been (smoothly) operating at this year, it would not be a surprise to see him pick up many more trophies.

The Brazilian Grand Prix in 60 Seconds

Answering the Burning Questions

With the title wrapped up, can we still get an exciting race? Just a bit, yeah.

Will we get any more clues as to the effect the power unit clarifications have had on Ferrari? There is still talk from Mercedes and Red Bull that they are seeing a reduction but the Ferrari straight-line speed appeared closer to what we’re used to here. And the altitude made it hard to come to a definite conclusion.

How will Albon perform now that his seat for next year is confirmed? He still has work to do when it comes to qualifying pace but he looked at home mixing it with the big names during the race.

Who of Leclerc, Verstappen and Vettel will leave the weekend leading the battle for third in the championship? Verstappen, by a surprisingly comfortable 11 points.

Surely we’re overdue another crazy, wet race? Interlagos quite often delivers them… Well it wasn’t wet but it was certainly crazy.

2019 Russian GP report | Hamilton takes surprise victory in Sochi

Posted on by James Mackenzie
Strange words to hear but an unlikely Mercedes win…
Lewis Hamilton wins the Russian Grand Prix.
Image credit: Motorsport Images

Lewis Hamilton made the most of a Mercedes strategy gamble and some good fortune to take his ninth win of the season at the 2019 Russian Grand Prix.

Considering Mercedes are the only team to win in Russia since its debut in 2014 – even the unofficial Grands Prix in 1913 and 1914 were won by Benz, before their merger with Mercedes – it may seem a strange prospect that they were the underdogs this time around. But the characteristics of the front-running cars have changed. Ferrari’s class-leading straight-line speed, combined with the successful aerodynamic upgrade they brought to Singapore, saw them as the class of the field.

Through the Friday practice sessions, it appeared it may be a fight between Ferrari and Max Verstappen’s Red Bull as Mercedes struggled to get on top of their setup. Come qualifying, however, they had made some progress and Hamilton produced a trademark lap to claim a spot on the front row, albeit four tenths shy of Charles Leclerc’s equally impressive pole time.

But pole is something of a poisoned chalice at this track.

The long run down to the first corner – officially Turn Two – gives those behind a slipstream and puts the polesitter in an uncomfortable position. And so it proved to be again as Sebastian Vettel stormed past from third on the grid to take the lead. There was clearly some kind of agreement and the Ferrari drivers and engineers then spent the first phase of the race bickering about who should be in front. (More on that later.)

Image credit: AFP

Having spent most of the last three races trying to navigate past a slightly slower Ferrari on race day, Mercedes decided to take an alternate strategy and start on harder tyres. As it turned out, this would win them the race.

Shortly after the Ferrari pit stops, Vettel’s MGU-K went bang and the German ground to a halt. This brought out the Virtual Safety Car and played into the Silver Arrows’ hands, allowing Hamiton to take his pit stop and rejoin ahead of Leclerc. Something Mercedes Technical Director James Allison described as “deliciously ironic”.

Immediately after the VSC, a full safety car was called for a George Russell crash, which actually played slightly back into Ferrari’s hands. With Leclerc on harder, older tyres, Ferrari decided to take a gamble of their own and pit him for new softs under the safety car, dropping him behind only Valtteri Bottas and giving him the upper hand for the remaining 20 or so laps.

As it was, Mercedes handled the situation perfectly and just about kept the hungry, young Ferrari driver at arm’s length for the remainder of the race.

Whilst undoubtedly fortunate, Mercedes put themselves in that position strategically and showed their strong race pace on Sunday. Arguably, the narrowly faster car has lost the last three races. But that just shows how fine the margins currently are between the top two teams – with Verstappen forever snapping at their heels – and that is great for Formula 1.

McLaren Best of the Rest

Behind the top two teams, Verstappen came home a fairly lonely fourth and Alexander Albon produced a decent – if also quite fortunate – fightback to finish fifth after what had been a sloppy weekend. One that may prove crucial in his quest for next year’s Red Bull seat.

But it was McLaren who were the stars of the midfield.

Steadily improving throughout the weekend, after initially struggling to get on top of their setup on Friday, the papaya cars found themselves fifth and seventh on the grid – after a penalty had been applied to Verstappen – and with excellent starts converted that to fourth and sixth, Carlos Sainz even challenging Hamilton for third into Turn Two.

Carlos Sainz at the Russian Grand Prix.
Image credit: Getty Images

Over the course of the race, the faster cars got past – as did Sergio Pérez when Lando Norris got a bit too involved in fighting a Red Bull – but sixth and eighth on the day takes the team into triple figures in the Constructors’ Championship for the first time since 2014. That’s a real sign of the progress they’ve made and the direction they’re going in.

Fourth in the standings is now looking very likely. And with the deal to return to Mercedes power from 2021 announced this weekend, things are looking promising for a team that has been trying to rebuild what was a true empire of the sport. Just think how many more points they would have this year without those costly Renault enging blow-ups…

The future’s bright, the future’s (papaya) orange.

What Was Going on With the Ferrari Team Orders?

Nobody is coming out and officially saying what deal was agreed within Ferrari regarding the start of the race.

It would appear, though, that Leclerc had agreed to give his teammate the tow to Turn Two to ensure he got ahead of Hamilton and produced a Ferrari one-two. However, it would also appear that if Vettel got past during that sequence that he was due to hand the lead back to Leclerc. Vettel did get past but did not hand the place back and, from there, things started to get a little complicated.

Image credit: Getty Images

Vettel made the point that he would have passed Leclerc anyway and that the other Ferrari should get closer before he can pass. He certainly had a point with the latter – he would have left himself in the clutches of a certain Lewis Hamilton had he allowed Leclerc through at any point during that first phase of the race. The former, though, I’m not totally convinced by.

If Leclerc were purely thinking of himself, I think he would have emerged from Turn Two as the leader. He could have moved right to give Hamilton the tow – knowing the Mercedes has less straight-line speed and seeing that he had got away poorly – and then defended the inside line of the corner.

By cutting a deal with both drivers that had some very grey areas, they were always putting themselves in an awkward position. Particularly given the current climate within the team, with it plain to see that there is something of a power struggle going on between the two drivers.

As it was, they were forced to run Vettel long on his first stint and effectively pass the lead to Leclerc in that way. Whilst giving the German fresher tyres and the chance to fight back on track was arguably a decent compromise, it all felt a bit uncomfortable and Vettel didn’t sound too pleased. Sadly, it would prove to be a moot point anyway as his SF90 pulled up next to the crash barriers on lap 26.

As has generally been the case this season, the Ferrari team orders seem to be producing more issues than they are solving. And, with the car now looking likely to be competitive for the remainder of the season, there could be more flashpoints to come to test the inter-team harmony. If Ferrari then convert this current strong form into a title battle next year…expect real fireworks for 2020.

The Russian Grand Prix in 60 Seconds

Answering the Burning Questions

Has that Ferrari upgrade changed the pecking order this season or was Singapore an outlier? It would appear to have legitimately changed the pecking order.

Can Sebastian Vettel push on now having put some demons to rest with a win? Qualifying pace was still lacking but he produced a strong performance on Sunday before team orders and a failed engine got in the way.

Will tensions rise further in the Ferrari camp? Yup.

Will we see the longest winless run for Mercedes in the hybrid era? Nope.

Who will come out on top in the McLaren/Renault fight this weekend? McLaren had the edge and now have a tight grip on fourth in the standings.

Will Valtteri hear from James during the race? Certainly not in the meme sense.

How awkward will the cool down room with Putin be this year? There was no Putin thankfully. But Hamilton did hug a giant Russian doll which was a little odd.

2019 Singapore GP report | Vettel snatches victory from frustrated Leclerc

Posted on by James Mackenzie
A Singapore Ferrari 1-2…just as everybody predicted…
Sebastian Vettel wins the Singapore Grand Prix
Image credit: Motorsport Images

Sebastian Vettel completed a hat-trick of victories for Ferrari with an unexpected turn of speed under the lights at the 2019 Singapore Grand Prix. Coming into the weekend, the drivers, the team and their competitors were writing off their chances – even the ever-pessimistic Toto Wolff said early in the weekend he expected Max Verstappen to be their only competitor.

But, from Saturday morning, the red cars showed a sudden improvement after a seemingly very successful aerodynamic upgrade was fitted. Charles Leclerc claimed a stunning pole position, on the ragged edge of adhesion, and in doing so stole it away from his teammate Vettel, who had produced a great first run but failed to improve on his second attempt. Come Sunday, however, it would be Vettel returning the favour in the race as he benefitted from an accidental undercut on his teammate to take the victory.

Behind the two prancing horses out front, Verstappen grabbed what had seemed an unlikely podium thanks to a strategic error from Mercedes dropping Lewis Hamilton from second to fourth. The champion’s teammate, Valtteri Bottas, followed him home in fifth with Alexander Albon just behind.

What could have been a thrilling finale, with the Mercedes closing in on fresher tyres, somewhat petered out thanks to a string of late safety cars which gave the Ferraris the breathing space – certainly in regards to tyre life – they required. However, the sight at each of the numerous restarts of two Ferraris and Verstappen heading into Turn 1 at Singapore probably set off some PTSD in a fair few Ferrari fans…

Behind the big three teams, Lando Norris put his recent run of bad luck behind him to claim ‘best of the rest’ and Pierre Gasly will have quietened some critics with a strong run to eighth place. The last points were collected by Nico Hülkenberg, who completed a decent recovery drive after a somewhat overambitious move on Carlos Sainz on the first lap, and Antonio Giovinazzi.

How Did Vettel End Up Ahead?

Leclerc led away from pole and controlled the first part of the race, as the front-runners crawled round Singapore’s abundance of turns painfully slowly, attempting to conserve their tyres. This slow pace meant the field remained close together though and produced some head-scratching amongst the strategy teams as the gap usually created between the top six and the rest of the field was not there for the leaders to emerge into after their stops.

Hamilton called for an undercut on Leclerc but Mercedes didn’t oblige and so Ferrari pitted Vettel to attempt the undercut on Hamilton himself. It was very effective – as it turned out, arguably, too effective. They expected Vettel to make up a second or two but, even with a pretty average pit stop, he made up well over three seconds and when Leclerc emerged from the pits a lap later, he was narrowly behind his teammate.

The young Monegasque was understandably perplexed and irked. He repeatedly came on to the radio asking what had happened, why it had happened and what was going to happen next. No particularly enlightening answers were forthcoming and, try as he might, he could not fashion even a sniff of an overtake and came home a discontented second.

Image credit: LAT Images

Vettel didn’t let the fortunate circumstances dampen his enjoyment of a long-awaited victory and brought out the old one-digit-salute for the first time in over a year. He also likely felt that this was justice for whatever precisely went on during that messy and controversial Italian Q3. Leclerc, after calming down somewhat, did mostly toe the company line and showed maturity in his reaction to missing out on the win through no fault of his own.

Could they have swapped the drivers? Potentially – and apparently that idea was discussed – but Vettel’s excellent out lap put him in the position to inherit the lead. Being told to relinquish a win, after the season he has had and the controversies in Canada and Italy, would surely have crushed him. It was probably the right call.

This will only serve to further increase tensions within the team, though. Imagine if Ferrari had been this competitive earlier in the year…

And How Did Mercedes Get It So Wrong?

We are all used to Mercedes as a no-nonsense, well-oiled machine in the hybrid era but there have been a few slip-ups (no oil pun intended) recently.

Obviously, whilst clearly a chastening weekend for all involved at Mercedes, the German Grand Prix was something of a lottery and they were far from the all only team to be caught out. Here, however, their call to keep Hamilton out seemed clearly foolish to most armchair strategists watching on. The driver’s call to undercut Leclerc would likely have seen him win the race but, once Mercedes had missed their chance to do so, they decided to gamble on going long.

A safety car in the time that Hamilton was still out would most likely have done the job. But this high-risk approach seems to go against the normal Mercedes sensible, efficient ethos – you don’t leave your strategy calls in the lap of the gods, hoping for a miracle. Without that kind of intervention, they were reliant on the out-of-position cars, that hadn’t stopped, holding up the defacto leaders and the world champion’s tyres were always likely to cry ‘enough’ before then.

Lewis Hamilton at the Singapore Grand Prix.
Image credit: Daimler AG

And so it was that Mercedes had to bail out of the gamble and awkwardly ask Bottas – who is supposedly in a fight with Hamilton for the title, remember – to slow down dramatically so he didn’t pass his teammate and drag Albon through with him. James Vowles even worked it beautifully for the memers of the world by using his infamous ‘Valtteri, it’s James’ line again…

Any hope the team had of salvaging something from the situation by utilising the fresher tyres was then dashed by that series of late safety cars.

Is this a case of complacency from the Silver Arrows, with the title all but wrapped up halfway through the season? Are they now focusing on a bigger update for the start of next year so as not to reveal their latest secrets to their rivals? Or have they just been a bit unlucky in the last three races? Whatever the true answer, if they don’t win in Russia next weekend, it will be the longest winless run for Mercedes since the start of the hybrid era.

A Rollercoaster for Ricciardo

Daniel Ricciardo seemed in high spirits (not that that’s exactly noteworthy) coming to Singapore off the back of a great fourth place in Monza and he then followed that up by sealing a solid seventh position on the grid. It was not to last though as he was disqualified from the qualifying session for a technical infringement.

Ricciardo and Renault clearly took umbrage with the penalty but had no option other than to except it and move on, even if it was later revealed to be “after he benefitted from an advantage measured at one microsecond [0.000001s] due to a kerb hit that caused his MGU-K to over-rev on his slowest lap of Q1.” Unfortunately, rules are rules. If you give the teams an inch they will take a mile and if you give them a microsecond they will probably find a way to take a second.

Daniel Ricciardo at the Singapore Grand Prix.

So come Sunday, the Aussie unsurprisingly decided to go for it. He was doing an excellent job of carving through the field, if pushing his luck at points, and looked to have put himself in a net points-paying position but a clumsy move on Giovinazzi left him with a puncture and left him back near where he started.

It was a shame to see. Whilst clearly an excellent driver, at points you have to wonder whether Ricciardo earned his reputation for overtaking by ‘licking the stamp and sending it’ to drivers who would rather just get out of the way of what was normally a faster Red Bull.

Either way, the Honey Badger will leave Singapore, reset and come back fighting again in Sochi.

Answering the Burning Questions

Can Sebastian Vettel recover from a crushing weekend in Monza? He can!

Will the Mercedes or Red Bull be the best car around Marina Bay? Or maybe even Ferrari?! It was mostly just great to see such a fight between all three but seemingly the Ferrari did have an unexpected edge.

How will Alexander Albon cope in his first true head-to-head test against Max Verstappen? It was a solid performance on a very difficult and unforgiving track. But he will need to build on it and close the gap further.

Will Verstappen get through the first corner unscathed this weekend? Yes.

Can Renault keep up the momentum from their strong result in Italy? The car had promising speed but a minor technical glitch and a couple of crashes got in their way.

The Singapore Grand Prix in 120 Seconds

The Strategy View

2019 Monaco GP report | Hamilton takes emotional victory

Posted on by James Mackenzie
Niki would be proud.
Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel at the 2019 Monaco Grand Prix.
Image credit: Getty Images

The run of Mercedes 1-2s finally came to an end at the 2019 Monaco Grand Prix, to be replaced by a Niki Lauda 1-2.

Lewis Hamilton took the victory in a McLaren-era Lauda helmet, followed (once Max Verstappen’s penalty had been applied) by the Ferrari-era Lauda helmet donned by Sebastian Vettel. It was a very fitting result for what was always going to be a poignant, somewhat muted Monaco Grand Prix weekend – a dampener put on all the glitz, glamour and indulgent festivities that the Monte Carlo race usually brings.

Whilst Monaco is often accused of being a procession, this was certainly no walk in the park for Hamilton. After an early safety car – brought out by Charles Leclerc’s gingerbread trail of bits of tyre and Ferrari floor – Mercedes placed their drivers on the medium tyre whilst Verstappen and Vettel went for the harder option. Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas then collided in the pit lane, leaving the former with a five second penalty and the latter needing to come in due to the damage. At this point, Mercedes changed Bottas to the harder tyre and Hamilton came to the realisation that he was facing the prospect of nursing his tyres for 67 laps with cars attacking him on better-suited rubber.

Toto Wolff later admitted that this was a rare strategic mistake from Mercedes, although their decision was justifiable at the time. They were wary of being jumped after the safety car if their competitors were on softer tyres, the hard tyre had proved tricky during practice and there was also the prospect of rain – sadly, for the spectacle, it never materialised beyond some light drizzle – with the medium the better tyre for damp conditions. It is always tricky to be the lead team in these situations as those following can react to your decisions.

Either way, Hamilton succeeded in fending off the increasingly aggressive Verstappen, who knew that second place would turn into fourth after the penalty if he could not pass, for a victory of perseverance and fighting against the odds. Everything that encapsulated Niki Lauda.

More Ferrari Woes

It was yet another tale of blunders from both team and drivers for Ferrari. They had looked well off the pace during the Thursday practice sessions but found some speed on Saturday morning with Leclerc topping the timesheets. Only for the sister car of Vettel to end up in the wall at Sainte Devote. The engineers did a good job to get it repaired in time for qualifying but that’s where things really started to unravel.

Vettel’s first attempt in Q1 left him in the drop zone. Leclerc also had a scrappy lap which was only 0.2 seconds quicker than his teammate’s but the team decided to try and save tyres by not sending him out, despite their driver’s repeated questioning of that decision. So the young Monegasque had to sit and watch from the garage as ‘LEC’ fell further and further down the timings screen, before being finally knocked into 16th, and out of qualifying, by Vettel of all people.

In the face of some trying times – particularly having victory cruelly snatched away in Bahrain – Leclerc has remained calm and said all the right things. But here, he was visibly furious. Monaco is his home race after all and he knows as well as anyone that passing around the Principality is almost impossible. He decided to go with an all or nothing approach on Sunday. Sadly it was to be the latter as, after an excellent pass on Romain Grosjean at La Rascasse the lap previously, Nico Hülkenberg proved to be less accommodating and Leclerc clipped the barrier. This left him with with a puncture which resulted in terminal damage to the car as he returned to the pits far too fast, clearly having reached the end of his tether.

Meanwhile Vettel, after a scruffy remainder of the qualifying session where he touched the barriers twice, did at least bring home second place come race day. Bizarrely Ferrari’s best result of the year despite the weekend as a whole feeling very much a failure. There is still a long way to go before the systematic issues in Ferrari’s operations are ironed out.

Sainz Continues to Excel Under the Radar

I have, for a long time, felt that Carlos Sainz is criminally underrated.

This is a driver who generally matched Verstappen in their time together at Toro Rosso. The Dutchman scored more points and was more spectacular but Sainz beat him in their qualifying head-to-head before suffering poor luck on race days for the most part.

Whilst Verstappen was hurried up the Red Bull ladder, Sainz’s career stalled somewhat as he spent season after season with Toro Rosso. He finally got his move to Renault towards the end of 2017 but there was to be more bad luck on race days and a very in-form teammate in Nico Hülkenberg. The German scored more points and many seemingly wrote off the still very young Sainz, despite the fact that the Hulk is no slouch, was fully settled in the team and, apparently, Sainz never particularly got on with the Renault’s handling.

Image credit: AFP

But this year, he has a clean slate. He has taken the seat of his boyhood hero, Fernando Alonso, at McLaren and is now finding his feet. After some misfortune and a poor decision to try and squeeze Verstappen that cost him an excellent result in Bahrain, Sainz has really started to perform, culminating in an excellent drive to sixth in Monaco. It also included what Sainz described as “the best move of my career” as he opportunistically carved round the outside of both Toro Rossos at Massenet on Lap 1.

Up against a highly-rated rookie in Lando Norris, Sainz seems to be relishing the role of team leader and it will be interesting to see whether both he and McLaren can continue their progress towards the front of the grid. Maybe we’ll see him back fighting regularly with Verstappen soon enough.

One Very Important Moment Swept Under the Rug

Not broadcast by FOM, a marshal was centimetres from being injured, or even killed, on Sunday.

The marshals at Monaco are generally accepted as being some of the best in the world. In the most constricted surroundings on the calendar, they have always dealt with incidents impressively quickly and efficiently. But it must be remembered that they are volunteers following orders. And when those orders result in a situation like this, Sergio Pérez doing well to keep his head and narrowly avoid two marshals crossing his path, the situation must be examined.

The Monaco Grand Prix in 60 Seconds

Answering the Burning Questions

Surely Mercedes can’t claim another 1-2?! It looked like it was heading that way after qualifying but they’ll have to settle for a lowly 1-3 this time.

Can Max Verstappen keep it out of the wall this year? He can.

Something of a Monaco expert, and on a track with less engine-dependence, can Daniel Ricciardo spring a surprise? An excellent performance in qualifying but poor strategy stifled his race somewhat.

Will Charles Leclerc’s home knowledge see him outclass his teammate? He had seemed the faster driver through practice but Ferrari’s error left him in a different race. A race that, as it transpired, did not last long.

It’s currently due to rain at some point over the weekend…could we have a classic Monaco race rather than a procession? It wasn’t a classic but it was at least a tense procession. Maybe rain next year?..

2019 Spanish GP report | Another Mercedes 1-2

Posted on by James Mackenzie
Great first corner…not too much after that.
Lewis Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas and Sebastian Vettel go three wide into the first corner of the 2019 Spanish Grand Prix.
Image credit: Octane Photographic

Lewis Hamilton dominated at the 2019 Spanish Grand Prix as Mercedes secured yet another 1-2.

On Saturday, Valtteri Bottas, in full Bottas 2.0 mode, produced a stunning qualifying lap to take pole from his teammate, Hamilton, by 0.6 seconds. People don’t tend to do that to Hamilton… The reigning champion said he “just didn’t put the laps together” but was determined to make amends come race day. And that he did. Good starts from Hamilton and the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel, combined with another poor one from Bottas, led to all three racing into the first corner side by side. Bottas found himself the filling in that sandwich and had to back out but Vettel, desperate to be the latest on the brakes, locked up and ran wide, handing second place back to the Finn. And from there, the remainder of the race turned out to be something of a formality.

Bottas believes his poor start was due to a mechanical issue rather than any failure on his part, saying “I had a strange behaviour on the clutch; biting, releasing, biting, releasing. I’ve never had it before. So I lost it there. I’m keen to find out why the start was so bad and why the issue happened.”

A late safety car, caused by a collision between the two youngest drivers on the grid in Lando Norris and Lance Stroll, closed the pack up but produced no further action at the front and Mercedes further extended their latest record, with a fifth consecutive 1-2 from the start of the season. Max Verstappen continued to impress with an excellent drive to take the final step on the podium, navigating the first corner with maturity and nous before flawlessly executing a move around the outside of both Ferraris when the chance presented itself.

Next up is the Monaco Grand Prix, where Mercedes have struggled in recent years. But judging by their performance in sector three at Barcelona – a sequence of slow corners, similar to the Monte Carlo track – where they were generally more than half a second faster than the Ferraris, another 1-2 is far from out of the question. It is beginning to look like Bottas 2.0 could be the only thing that keeps this championship interesting.

The Debate is Emphatically Over: Ferrari Are Just not Fast Enough

A result in Barcelona would have kept some hopes alive of the Scuderia taking the fight to Mercedes this year. But this was – along with the opening race in Melbourne – the most resounding defeat yet. Throughout pre-season testing, at the very same track, Ferrari had given the impression that they were the team to beat, but just over two months later the Silver Arrows were in a class of one. And to make it worse, their drivers’ squabbling for position arguably cost Ferrari third place to Verstappen.

Vettel’s daring attempt around the outside at the first corner ultimately ended in him running wide and, upon rejoining the track, he put his car very much in the way of Charles Leclerc. thus allowing Verstappen to sail around the outside of both red cars. From there, they never really challenged the Dutchman and instead got caught up again with whether to use team orders. Firstly, with Leclerc stuck behind Vettel, who was suffering with a flat spot from his first corner lock-up, and then the reverse when Vettel caught Leclerc with the young Monegasque on old, hard tyres. Hearing the two drivers’ team radios, it becomes clear that their respective race engineers were on different pages. In the situation where Leclerc was the driver in front, his engineer was somehow unaware that the two drivers were on different strategies. These are basic errors.

This was supposed to be Ferrari’s season. But, after missing out on potential victories in Bahrain and Azerbaijan through a combination of mechanical, operational and driver errors, they now find themselves 96 points behind Mercedes after just five races. Along with the obligatory aero update for Spain, a new power unit was rushed through and fitted two races earlier than planned. But the aero upgrade that Mercedes brought is believed to have been worth three to four tenths on its own and thoroughly trumped whatever improvements Ferrari had managed. It is starting to look like the Italian team are more likely battling Red Bull for second place than Mercedes for first, with team principal Matteo Binotto going as far as saying that the problem was “maybe even car concept”. If so, that is not going to be fixable during the season.

The Last Spanish Grand Prix?

The rumours are that this will be the last Spanish Grand Prix, for the time being at least and almost certainly with Barcelona as its venue. Spain is one of five races without contracts for next year, along with Great Britain, Mexico, Italy and Germany. The organisers for the Italian Grand Prix have agreed a deal in principle and Silverstone looks likely to follow. But there is apparently a good chance the other three could all fall off the calendar.

I would hope as a fairly recent addition, and with a clearly very passionate following, Mexico can figure something out. But Spain and Germany feel perhaps in need of a change. There have been few notable races in Barcelona’s 28-year history – barring Pastor Maldonado’s extraordinary victory in 2012 – and crowds this year have visibly reduced, most likely due to Fernando Alonso’s departure from the sport. Germany has been struggling for a while now, briefly alternating between the Hockenheimring and the Nürburgring, before the latter proved unable to host a Grand Prix any longer. And then having the event cancelled altoghether in 2015 and 2017. Spain and Germany are major European countries with a history of motorsport though so it would be good to see them reinvigorated and returned to the calendar in some way.

Image credit: Formula 1

Whether as direct replacements or not, there will be the brand new Vietnamese Grand Prix and – expected to be confirmed on Tuesday – a return to Zandvoort for the Dutch Grand Prix. We will have to see how these work out. Vietnam is yet another new location in Asia without any significant motorsport heritage and will be another Hermann Tilke-designed circuit. Zandvoort is in need of a significant upgrade in the next 12 months to be ready for F1. Both in terms of infrastructure and the track itself.

Maybe the Regulations Have Worked

Whilst there was little to no action at the front, the midfield teams all continued to duke it out for the positions around the fringes of the top 10. And that’s on a track where passing has always been difficult. Romain Grosjean’s Haas seemed to spend more time in the run-off area around turns one and two than on the track, after wheel-banging moments with his teammate, amongst others. Scenes that I’m sure led to a few more coins entering Guenther Steiner’s swear jar.

Throughout Formula 1.5, there was a decent amount of battling so, whilst nobody seems to be particularly discussing it, maybe the stop-gap regulation changes for this year have helped somewhat when it comes to the on-track action. That bodes well for the major regulation changes in 2021. We live in hope.

The Spanish Grand Prix in 60 Seconds

Answering the Burning Questions

Can anyone stop Mercedes and will Bottas 2.0 keep it up? An emphatic no to the first part and a tentative yes to the second. Bottas on Saturday was exceptional but Hamilton had him covered on Sunday.

With updates everywhere, will the pecking order change noticeably? Not particularly. Although Haas appear to have fixed their tyre issues and moved up the field.

Who will be the faster Ferrari driver this time? In terms of pure results, Vettel. But it was mostly strategy and a small error from Leclerc on Saturday that saw to that.

Will the Williams updates restore some credibility to the team? They were slightly closer to the pack – at least in the hands of George Russell – but there’s a fair way to go still.

Will anyone pull a Pastor Maldonado? That will be a no.

2019 Azerbaijan GP report | The return of Bottas 2.0

Posted on by James Mackenzie
Apparently Azerbaijan used up its quota of carnage on Friday and Saturday.
Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton after the 2019 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Image credit: Steve Etherington

Valtteri Bottas took his second win of the season and the championship lead after an impressive performance at a surprisingly uneventful 2019 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

After an impressive start to the season with a dominant victory at Melbourne (albeit with Lewis Hamilton having suffered floor damage), the supposed rebirth of Bottas in 2019 as much more than just a ‘wingman’ had seemed to stutter. He was nowhere in Bahrain and, after taking pole in China, was beaten off the line by Hamilton and never really threatened for the remainder of the race. But the Finn was near enough flawless in Baku, grabbing what looked an unlikely pole position, holding his own in the first few corners and then not putting a foot wrong on his way to victory and the lead of the championship.

Hamilton will have regrets though. He had been the stronger Mercedes driver through the practice sessions and the earlier parts of qualifying. He produced an excellent first lap in Q3 but on the second runs, after Mercedes had successfully thrown Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel a dummy, they got their timings a bit wrong. Both drivers were at the back of a queue of drivers trying to get space for their runs. Hamilton was worst affected, losing a lot of tyre temperature which caused him to lose three tenths in the first sector and he couldn’t quite claw that back through the rest of the lap. He got the better start on Sunday but, as he put it, was “a little bit too kind”, giving his teammate a lot of space as they ran wheel-to-wheel. From there, despite following closely throughout, he never really got another chance.

You get the sense that the world champion still feels pretty comfortable that he has Bottas covered. Or maybe it’s just that he genuinely gets on with the Finn and is enjoying an honest fight after all the psychological warfare with Nico Rosberg. Either way, Bottas 2.0 still has a long way to go. He should have been leading the championship at this point last year too but for a dramatic puncture. The European season was where Hamilton started to pull away and he is infamously strong in the latter part of the year, as the tension builds. Maintaining the fight will be far from easy for Bottas but, if Ferrari continue to falter, hopefully he can do so for the sake of a competitive championship. Speaking of which…

Are Ferrari Actually Fast?

Another race and another missed opportunity for the Scuderia. At what point though do we actually start to question the speed of the car? In Bahrain, they were clearly quickest, certainly in the hands of Charles Leclerc. In China, Mercedes regained the upper hand. Through practice in Azerbaijan, they were miles ahead – over a second in Practice 3 – and it looked like we might have another season where certain tracks are more suited to each of the two leading teams and a title battle that would swing to and fro.

Image credit: Getty Images

But it all unravelled after Leclerc’s crash in qualifying and here we are with a record-breaking fourth consecutive 1-2 finish from the start of the season for Mercedes. How much of that is down to the ongoing operational issues that have hindered Ferrari over the past few years and how much of it is just a lack of pace? Qualifying would appear to be down to the former but then Vettel didn’t really look like threatening the Mercedes at any point during the race. Or is it just those Mercedes sandbags out in force again? At least it meant they didn’t have to deal with team orders…

Barcelona will be key. People were referring to the race in Azerbaijan as a must-win for the red cars; Barcelona is far more of one in this writer’s opinion. Testing at Barcelona was what had fans, pundits and the media alike convinced that Ferrari were the team to beat this year. If they get comfortably beaten there too, that could be it. Last year, Mercedes had built a wild animal of a car but learnt how to tame it. This year, it seems they are the ones with the more consistent machine and Ferrari have built the wild animal…but have no ringmaster to do the taming.

What Happened to the Baku Mayhem?

Well, it all happened too early really. A Chuckle Brothers-esque start to the weekend saw a loose manhole cover thankfully not cause any harm to George Russell but cause a lot of damage to his car a few minutes in. Then the rescue truck that came to pick up the Williams promptly crashed into a bridge and proceeded to leak hydraulic fluid on the car. Talk about insult to injury. Practice 1 was cancelled as they checked the bridge and 300 manhole covers around the circuit.

Saturday was all about Turn 8. First Robert Kubica and then, more dramatically, Leclerc’s Ferrari ended up in the barriers there, each causing long delays whilst it was repaired. But sadly, in terms of a spectacle at least, Sunday passed mostly without incident. Except for Daniel Ricciardo bizarrely reversing into his former teammate, Daniil Kvyat, after the Australian had outbraked himself in an overtaking attempt and forced them both down an escape road.

Another Draining Weekend for Williams

Yes, that’s a drain pun. No, I’m not sorry.

If people thought things couldn’t get worse for the Williams team, they were proven thoroughly wrong by the weekend’s events in Baku. First there was the drain cover incident, destroying the floor of Russell’s car and damaging the chassis severely enough that it had to be replaced. Claire Williams put the damage in the hundreds of thousands and stated she would be “taking it up with race control”.

Image credit: AFP via Getty Images

And then Kubica binned the sister car in Q1 on Saturday. Some feared Williams wouldn’t have the spare parts to rebuild another car after having to use the spare chassis for Russell, but fortunately they did and at least both cars were able to compete on Sunday. Not without one more kick in the teeth though. Kubica received a drive-through penalty for ‘pit lane irregularities’, with the team apparently confused as to what they had done wrong. It transpired that, with this being their first pit lane start since the race times shifted to 10 past the hour, Williams hadn’t clocked (no pun intended this time) that you’re supposed to bring the car to the exit 20 minutes before the race start time as opposed to 20 minutes before the hour…

It feels that Williams could, and should, be learning from McLaren. In coming to the realisation that their way of working was outdated and to then basically strip everything apart and rebuild from scratch. Zak Brown has done that for the more recent of the two British former champions and they are now pushing on and regaining dignity and competitiveness, with a solid double-points finish in Baku. But as things stand, it appears that Williams are too proud. And if they’re not careful, that could be their downfall.

The Azerbaijan Grand Prix in 60 Seconds

Answering the Burning Questions

Will there be more team orders at Ferrari? Leclerc’s crash removed that specific elephant from the room.

Can either Ferrari or Red Bull’s upgrades take them to the front? It looked like that could be the case for Ferrari on Friday but by Sunday normal service seems to have resumed.

Will Azerbaijan keep up its so far 100% record of producing highly dramatic races? No.

Will any of the midfield teams stake a claim for being best of the rest? Racing Point and McLaren had strong races but overall it’s still certainly in the balance.

2019 Chinese (1000th) GP report | Hamilton wins with ease

Posted on by James Mackenzie
Mercedes domination and Ferrari politics. Not much has changed in 1000 races.
Lewis Hamilton wins F1's 1000th grand prix.
Image credit: Daimler AG

Lewis Hamilton recovered from a tricky start to the weekend at the 2019 Chinese Grand Prix and ultimately took a comfortable win on what was Formula 1’s 1000th grand prix.

Coming into the weekend, most were expecting Ferrari to be on top. It was somewhat in the balance, with the top two teams having had superiority at one race each this year, but the track layout appeared to favour Ferrari. Particularly considering their straight line speed and the Shanghai International Circuit’s 1.2 km back straight. But it was the Mercedes team who seemed to have the edge throughout the weekend.

The Ferraris had two main problems. Firstly, they don’t seem to be able to release their full engine power consistently on a Sunday. Surely if that’s the case on a grey day in April, they are going to struggle at most races. And secondly, they were losing so much to Mercedes on the long, right-hand corner before the straight, that it didn’t matter anyway. There could be fundamental issues with this car.

Between the two drivers of the Silver Arrows, Valtteri Bottas had held a reasonably comfortable margin of around half a second over his world champion teammate through all the practice sessions. But then Lewis Hamilton did what Lewis Hamilton does. He pulled a bunch of speed from nowhere in qualifying to get within a few hundredths of the Finn’s pole time, then nailed the start and never looked back, sailing off into the distance to claim the honour of winning F1’s 1000th race. The Ferraris meanwhile were struggling – not only with speed but also decision-making…

Ferrari Team Orders: Round 3

That’s three team orders given out in the first three races…and not much to show for them. Charles Leclerc has remained magnanimous and toed the company line thus far, but has certainly given the impression that he has a backbone and won’t stand for this in the long run. In Australia, he dutifully stayed behind Sebastian Vettel in the closing stages despite clearly being faster. In Bahrain, he was asked to stay behind for two laps (for a reason I’m unsure of) but the pass presented itself too easily and he was gone. And now in China, he has been asked to move aside, before being sacrificed in an attempt to slow up Bottas.

At the time, the first part of that was pretty understandable – Vettel had been the quicker driver through the weekend and did appear to be stuck behind his teammate. But once freed, he didn’t get away…the Mercedes did. But the second part harked back to the days of Kimi Räikkönen being left on an incomprehensible strategy, purely to cost a Mercedes maybe a couple of tenths. Ferrari waited too long to order Vettel past and his tyres were already damaged from Leclerc’s dirty air, but it doesn’t look like they were ever going to challenge Mercedes this weekend. All they did was cost themselves a 4th place finish.

It could be argued that without these team orders Leclerc would be significantly closer to Hamilton in the title race than Vettel is even with their favouring of him. Either way, these team orders will only matter if Ferrari solve their car issues. And fast.

A Flying McLaren and a Flying Thai

McLaren came back down to earth with a bang here (quite literally in the case of Lando Norris) after their excellent result in Bahrain. They had said that they expected to struggle in Shanghai and so it proved to be with the drivers only managing to qualify 14th and 15th. And then came the torpedo. In fairness, Daniil Kvyat can count himself quite unlucky to receive that penalty. Whilst a little clumsy from the Russian, it looked the type of crash that would normally be filed under ‘first lap racing incident’. Norris was rejoining the track at a pretty sharp angle and left the other McLaren of Carlos Sainz nowhere to go. Add in a bit of understeer from Kvyat and you have an airborne teenager and three damaged cars. Norris did at least utilise the opportunity to continue his reign as F1’s Resident Memelord.

Meanwhile, his former GP2 rival, Alexander Albon, was not long out of the pit lane and possibly wondering if he was set for a tough race fighting his way into the midfield. You could wonder how a rookie would cope mentally with a big crash in Practice 3 that left him out of qualifying and starting from the pit lane. The answer, in this case, was ‘commendably’. The young Thai driver moved slowly but surely through the field and somehow found himself in the points, then impressively holding off Romain Grosjean’s Haas in the final few laps despite being on far older tyres. These are the kind of performances that could have him entering the frame for a future Red Bull drive. And one that could be not too far away considering Pierre Gasly’s current struggles…

An Underwhelming 1000th Grand Prix

The Grand Prix was fairly uneventful beyond the first few laps, but it was the event itself that particularly disappointed. It had been built up for a long time, with a countdown extending back to last season, but in the end it was something of a damp squib.

It’s a shame number 1000 ended up falling in China. The complexities of getting old champions and cars to Shanghai proved too much, so we were left with just Damon Hill driving his father’s Lotus 49B. It also doesn’t help that the country itself has little to no motorsport heritage. Just look at all the empty stands. The promoters claim it was sold out but that’s only due to them closing huge expanses of grandstand. This should have been a massive event. Race 1000 – that’s the milestone. But for all the build up, in reality it amounted to not much more than a few special helmets, some stickers on the cars and the champagne bottles being painted red.

Still, at least people on Reddit made some cool stuff.

The 1000th Grand Prix in 60 Seconds

Answering the Burning Questions

Will Charles Leclerc pick up where he left off after his stunning performance in Bahrain? Not quite. But it’s complicated…

With one dominant race each (in terms of pace anyway), who will come out on top between Mercedes and Ferrari this time? Mercedes, pretty comprehensively.

Can Pierre Gasly get his Red Bull closer to its probably rightful place in the top 6? Well, he did get into the top 6… And claimed the fastest lap. But realistically was still a long way shy of Max Verstappen’s pace.

What happened to Bottas 2.0? Will he reappear here? Inconclusive. Was it Lewis lacking early in the weekend or Bottas 2.0? Either way, we know who ended up with the win.

Who will have the best special one-off helmet design for the 1000th GP? For me, the retro simplicity of Daniel Ricciardo’s Brabham-inspired lid takes it.

Let’s act like we know what’s going on in testing, pt. 2

Posted on by James Mackenzie

In this post I will, for the most part, stick with my modus operandi of not granting the 2019 F1 testing times too much significance. But it’s no fun to entirely ignore them so let’s allow ourselves to read a little into them, especially when it comes to the headline news of the front-runners.

Let me pose some questions.

So, Were Mercedes aCTUALLY Sandbagging Then?

The Mercedes cars did finally unleash a bit of speed but they left it until the final hour of the final day of testing. Ferrari had already packed up, after Sebastian Vettel was left stationary at turn two with an electrical failure an hour or so earlier. That quick run on the softest tyres left him just 0.003 seconds shy of Vettel’s test-topping time of 1:16.221 which, even by Formula 1 standards, is very close. Fuel-and-tyre-corrected lists have put the Ferrari around half a second ahead but I’m not totally convinced; the apparent differences between the tyre compounds always appear to be overestimated in my experience. And will the Silver Arrows still have their infamous ‘party mode’ once it comes to the serious business?

The Mercedes and Ferrari at F1 2019 testing.
The two teams have gone in noticeably different directions with their aero philosophies

From on-board footage, the Ferrari looks by far the easier of the two to drive – very balanced; equally happy in different corner types – and has done so since the first day of testing. An impressive feat with new regulations and a brand new car. My gut feeling is that Ferrari have the edge currently. Lewis Hamilton is unmatched when it comes to throwing a car round Albert Park on a Saturday, so he could well pull yet another pole out of nowhere, but I think by race day the red cars will be on top. One thing to bear in mind, though, is that Mercedes’ Achilles’ heel in recent years has been dealing with the dirty air when following another car. If the regulation changes have done their job, they may now be able to put up more of a fight when not in the lead. The rest of the season will be a story of who wins the development war and whether Ferrari can solves the operational issues that have plagued their last two championship campaigns. Of course, Helmut Marko would have you believe it will be Red Bull bringing the fight to Ferrari…which leads me nicely to my next point…

Where do Red Bull Stack Up?

Dr. Marko says a lot of things. And you get the impression a lot of them are just to stir things up – he’s quite similar to the ex-Godfather Bernie Ecclestone in that way. He has made a lot of ambitious claims of Red Bull’s impending success in the recent past which have not really come to fruition. But in fairness, this time round, the RB15 is looking pretty promising. It is a little harder to compare them with the other two of the ‘big three’ as they did not do any qualifying runs, but their long-run pace has been looking pretty good. Unfortunately, Pierre Gasly put paid to one of those on Thursday with a fairly hefty trip into the barriers. And it wasn’t his only one either. The young Frenchman will need to iron out those mistakes if he is to truly challenge Max Verstappen on the other side of the garage. He may be a year older than his teammate, but he has far less experience in the sport and the consensus seems to be that Verstappen has now added much-needed maturity to his undeniable speed.

Image credit: Getty Images

If my hand was forced, I would say I can see Red Bull matching up roughly where they did last season – nicking the odd win whilst also having some off days and a fair few retirements. Whilst their relationship with Honda has certainly started smoothly, Red Bull cars tend to ask a lot of their power units and I can see a few teething issues appearing once everything gets turned up to 11. Nonetheless, I think the Honda deal is a good move in the long-term and could see Red Bull as genuine championship contenders again given time.

How Close is the Midfield Battle?

Very. In a word. Renault, Haas, Toro Rosso, McLaren and Alfa Romeo all appear to be within a couple of tenths of each other, whilst Racing Point were openly running a very basic car for these tests, with many new parts coming for either Melbourne or the first of the European races – the return to Barcelona in May. With all the variables, I don’t think there is a lot of point in dissecting such similar times to try and figure out who is looking the favourite for 4th place. Just rest assured that the ‘Formula 1.5‘ championship, as it has been christened, looks like being even more closely fought than last season. And it seems they have all closed the gap to the front-runners a little, so we may see the odd podium position being stolen more often.

Image credit: Motorsport Images

That just leaves Williams, who are as off the pace as expected after their late arrival. The car has, commendably, not suffered any obvious issues and the team have amassed a fair amount of laps. But Robert Kubica admitted that he had not done a run longer than 15 laps so we will have to see how they deal with a full race distance in two weeks time. It is a real shame to see Williams just making up the numbers.

And Finally, How Quick Are the Cars in General?

This year’s regulation changes were expected to result in a drop in performance and a rise in lap times. But that hasn’t really happened. Whilst some of the lap time can be accounted for by, amongst other factors, more favourable conditions than at last year’s test, the headline time ended up just shy of a second quicker than last year’s. It would appear, as ever, that the brainboxes behind the scenes have found ways around the rules to exploit loopholes and make the air go in exactly the directions around the car they so choose. And they certainly have the potential to go much faster at this stage of development.

Overall, this season has the makings of a fantastic one. Let’s hope that’s still the case come Abu Dhabi in around 9 months time.

Let’s act like we know what’s going on in testing, pt. 1

Posted on by James Mackenzie

Every F1 publication will at this point deliver the usual caveat of pre-season testing times being unreliable, misleading and generally useless for forming opinions…and then proceed to do so anyway. In this post, I will attempt to stick to things that we can hopefully establish from this first week of 2019 F1 testing.

(And then maybe make some wild, sweeping statements and predictions at the end if I feel like it.)

McLaren’s Reliability Has Improved

I think that is fair to say. McLaren have spent the pre-season tests of the last few years in varying levels of crisis. Infamously so with Honda, completing only 425 laps in 2017 and 380 in 2015 whilst generally blowing up every time they left the garage. Fernando Alonso covered almost as many miles on foot as he did in the MP4-30. And then even with Renault last year things weren’t much better. A wheel fell off after literally 6 laps… Whilst things had then started to look more promising to the outside world, the team knew that their times were flattering to deceive and that their lofty aims of returning to the podium were not to be realised. And that maybe it hadn’t been Honda’s fault all along…

Lando Norris at 2019 F1 testing.
Image credit: DPA Picture Alliance

But this year things have been going far more smoothly. They have been quietly getting on with things – under the radar, running through programs without the need to chuck on the softest tyres and jump up higher in the timings than is representative – and have finished the week without any major dramas, solidly in the midfield when it comes to laps completed.

The team abandoned development on last year’s car early on in order to focus on this year’s and thus have far more stable foundations to build from than some of the other teams. The paddock has apparently been impressed by some of their aero ideas. Zak Brown has realistic aims of a ‘step forward’ and it’s looking like that may well have been achieved.

Alfa Romeo Have Improved Massively Since Last Year

Whilst the steady improvement of the Alfa Romeo Sauber was clear to see through last season, the difference between this and last year’s testing times is quite something.

They are very nearly five seconds better off. In cars that were supposed to be around a couple of seconds slower after these regulation changes, remember? Admittedly, the track had been resurfaced last year and conditions were far colder, hence the improvement from all teams, but the Alfa has clearly taken the biggest step. Having been scraping together pennies just a couple of years ago, the team now has enough of a budget to make one-off Valentine’s Day liveries and hire a former world champion. It will be interesting to see where they can push on to from here.

I get the impression Ferrari have somewhat shunned Haas as their little sister team in favour of Alfa Romeo and you wonder if that might have a similar adverse effect on the American team as it is a positive one on the Italians. Haas were the surprise package of 2018 and many in the paddock were suspicious of their relationship with Ferrari. But with those at Maranello now less reliant on them, will they revert to the also-rans that joined the sport in 2016?

Teams Have Gone In Different Directions With the New Front Wings

The main aim of the new regulations was to aid cars in following each other closely and to help produce better wheel-to-wheel racing. But also to potentially mix up the pack a bit. And whilst the effectiveness of the former is certainly still up for debate, the latter appears to have worked. The teams have gone with visibly different approaches.

The Mercedes front wing is the only to have its endplates angled inwards. They and Ferrari have gone in highly different directions, which is often the case, and time will tell which of them has got it right. For the moment, with Ferrari and Alfa Romeo performing very well at the first test, it is looking more likely to be their philosophy that is the way to go. If that is the case, then will Mercedes (and some of the others) concede defeat and attempt to fit a Ferrari-style wing to their car? History has often proven that just whacking on someone else’s car part isn’t very effective…

Williams Are Somewhat in Trouble

This once legendary team are struggling. They were reduced to a day and a half of shakedown drives as they tried to get to know their new car. Whilst British rookie George Russell appeared excited just to be part of it all, Robert Kubica, who has been there and done it with established teams in the past, appeared visibly frustrated already. And that coming from a man who has finally achieved his incredible goal of returning to the sport after suffering life-changing injuries eight years ago. There are rumours circulating of unrest within the team and questions being asked of Paddy Lowe – the man brought in from all-conquering Mercedes to restore the plucky British team to their once-obligatory place near the front of the grid.

I will say that the times laid down by Russell and Kubica were really not bad considering how far behind the others they started this week. I hope there is more to come from the car as it would be a real waste of a promising, young Brit (and reigning F2 champion) and a walking fairy-tale to be circulating at the back of the field, slowing down for blue flags all year.

And Finally, a couple of Wild Predictions

Because, why not?

  • The Alonso Curse to take full effect and McLaren to dominate the championship, wrapping up both titles by Hungary.
  • Max Verstappen and Pierre Gasly to get into a full-blown fistfight that gets Gasly demoted back to Toro Rosso and Daniil Kvyat reinstated to Red Bull, who then proceeds to wipe the floor with Max and reduce Helmut Marko to a quivering mess.

See you for week two!

Launch season continues to kind of kick off

Posted on by James Mackenzie

And on we go with the 2019 car launches!

Alfa Romeo don’t officially unveil their latest effort until the first test tomorrow but have had an on-track shakedown (in a rather fetching Valentine’s Day livery) so that will do for now. Plus, they probably revealed more of their hand with the parts on the car than any other team, and there will be enough to write about during testing as is, so let’s see off the launch season posts with what we have.

Aston Martin Red Bull Racing

Red Bull have teased us in the past with a dramatic livery reveal which would turn out to be only for testing. And it was to be no different this year. The online F1 world drew a collective intake of breath at the latest camouflage number, which features some nice origami elements presumably in honour of their new deal with Honda. But Red Bull admitted it was just a one-off again and that was that. Maybe the Honda deal will result in a little white being added to the regular brand colours this season, though, at least.

On the more technical side of things, whilst certainly keeping things under wraps – onlookers noticed differences between the car on track and the one in the reveal photos already – the rear end is as tightly packaged as predicted. Even more so than last year’s. You just hope the Honda power unit deals with that better than it did with McLaren’s…

SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team

Well. Lots of people seem to disagree but personally I actually quite like this livery. The (royal…I think?) blue combining with the pink gives me some warm, fuzzy, nostalgia for the old Brabham BT60B that Damon Hill drove just before they went bust. And I’m glad that they have stuck with BWT and therefore the pink as more colour on the grid is always welcome. The name and logo on the other hand are pretty shocking. If you have to go to a comments section to figure out the dot after ‘Racing’ is a ‘Point’ something’s gone wrong in the marketing department.

A lot of the aero seems to be just glorified 2018 or basic regulation-meeting parts. It wouldn’t make sense for them to ship everything over the Atlantic for the Canadian launch anyhow so, as with most, we’ll see what they really have to offer in Barcelona. The little team that has perennially punched above its weight, now with financial backing? Could be one to keep an eye on.

McLaren F1 Team

Zak Brown has done a lot for McLaren. You can see that sheerly by the long number of sponsors on the black area of the sidepod. The car certainly looks the part too. It is comfortably the best McLaren livery since the chrome ones circa-2010 at least; the papaya orange and ‘vega’ blue now nicely balanced and with some interesting triangular pixelation at the join.

But more importantly, will it perform on track? The design, even at this point, does seem to live up to their radical promises with some pretty aggressive aero, particularly around the bargeboard. They seem to have gone towards the Mercedes school of thinking in some areas – certainly the nose and front wing cape – and Ferrari in others. Clearly, a lot of effort has gone in and, whilst at first some maybe enjoyed McLaren’s struggles, I think the majority would now like to see this once great team fighting back nearer the sharp end of the grid.

Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow

Turns out this year’s Ferrari is red. Blimey. But then actually, some photos have shown it looking a bit orange. It is matte as that apparently saves a few grams on paint and they are pushing the envelope in every possible department. And the Marlb…sorry…Mission Winnow logos are now black, or maybe grey…it’s hard to tell. Either way, they’re not white and that may be a ploy to help Ferrari not be sued by the whole of Australia.

As for as the car itself, I feel like a lot of the pieces you can currently see on the Alfa will end up on the Ferrari if they are a success. The official render shows very little in the way of new design parts so Ferrari are, as they have often done, keeping their cards closest to their chest of all.

Alfa Romeo Racing

So, the Sauber name officially leaves the sport after a quarter of a century. A real shame as the Swiss team have proved to be one of the great survivors. Of course, the team is fundamentally the same as last year but it’s the little things – the tradition of cars being named after Peter Sauber’s wife seems somewhat unlikely to remain. We will also see what livery they have cooked up tomorrow. It will likely remain predominantly white and red. Some green would be nice, though…and it is on both the national flag and the Alfa badge after all.

The car has already been run on track, however. And it is mad. As mentioned above, Alfa Romeo appear to be acting as the guinea pigs for Ferrari; this year’s car having been designed by former Ferrari designer Simone Resta with ‘as little caution as possible’. And we can see some of their experiments already. Front wing flaps that appear unconnected to the endplate, an airbox and nose that both resemble Darth Vader’s helmet and nothing in the way of a shark fin. Watch this space through testing.

That’s it then. Testing starts tomorrow morning and we can all really get our teeth stuck into reading between the lines as to who’s nailed it, who’s blown it and who will make up the midfield, anonymously running in 11th most of the year. And then find out we were all wrong anyway once the season actually starts.

See you all bright and early!