Jordan's Track Talk

Author: jordanlhaynes

  • F2 Jeddah- Recap Day 2 & 3

    This now concludes round 7 of 2021, lets take a look at the two Sprint Races and the Feature Race in Saudi Arabia.

    Day 2-

    Sprint Race 1- Lawson and Armstrong lined up together on the front row which saw them go wheel to wheel heading into the first turn but it was Marcus Armstrong who led the the Sprint Race.

    We got to Turn 4 where we had a Safety Car as a collision ended Samaia and Sato’s race which was caused by Olli Caldwell tagging Samaia’s Charouz, Caldwell was then handed a 10 second time penalty for this collision, so not the best start for Caldwells first weekend in F2.

    By the end of Lap 3, the safety car headed into the pits but there was further drama going on as Championship challenger Zhou spun and found himself facing the wrong way which he then dropped to back of the grid.

    During this chaos Boschung pulled a move on Vips for P3 but this didn’t stop Vips as he came for Boschung to get back the final podium place. Boschung then started to loose speed and started to tumble down the order. The next retirement was Pourchaire as he lost control at Turn 22 and hit the wall which brought out a second safety car.

    The top 10 of the Sprint Race was: P1: Armstrong, P2: Lawson, P3: Vips, P4: Drugovich, P5: Daruvala, P6: Shwartzman, P7: Lundgaard, P8: Ticktum, P9: Piastri and P10: Viscaal. However Daruvala got a penalty which was added on at the end of the race which saw him finish P10, so he starts the second Sprint Race on pole position.

    Sprint Race 2:

    Daruvala knew what he had to do as soon as the lights went out, he kept P1 going into the first turn. However Trident driver, Viscaal was unable to hold onto 2nd and dropped two places behind Piastri and Lundgaard.

    Armstrong was looking to build on from his brilliant sprint race earlier on in the day, unfortunately it didn’t turn out that way, as he was an innocent bystander in a four car crunch which saw F2 newbie Clement Novalak, Alessio Deledda and Samaia all getting caught up in the collision and forced to finish their race there.

    After the Safety Car went in Piastri was very close to Daruvala. But the action behind them was still going on with Drugovich stealing P7 away from Vips. Vips wasn’t ready to give up that spot as he started to re claim the position but the Estonian driver got too close to the back of the Virtuosi car which saw his front wing be ripped off and become the fifth retirement of the race.

    Daruvala then got another five second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, as well as Lungaard handed the same punishment too. This didn’t stop Piastri though, he wanted to do this on track and not wait till the end of the race, and he did he took the lead of the race coming out of Turn 1 and built up a 1.5s gap.

    The race ended under the Safety Car due to Liam Lawson loosing the rear of his HiTech at Turn 13 where he spun into the barriers with two laps left, meaning the top 3 finishers from the first sprint race did not finish the second sprint.

    The top 10 of the Sprint Race 2 was: P1: Piastri, P2: Viscaal, P3: Shwartzman, P4: Ticktum, P5: Doohan, P6: Pourchaire, P7: Fittipaldi, P8: Zhou, P9: Boschung and P10: Drugovich. With fastest lap going to Piastri.

    Day 3-

    Well, where do we even start, first of all the race was delayed due to replacing the concrete barrier at Turn 13 in which we saw Liam Lawson have a crash there in Sprint Race 2.

    Once we got going finally, the racing didn’t continue for long, as Theo Pourchaire stalled on the grid which led to a big accident involving himself and Enzo Fittipaldi which saw the race be red-flagged.

    Because of the first delay and then the red flag we finally went racing again but only 20 minutes + 1 lap, 10 minutes in we got a safety car which saw quite a few drivers take their mandatory pit stop including championship leader Oscar Piastri, but because of the crash which involved Olli Caldwell and Guilherme Samai. The race then got red-flagged and then decided the race would not continue.

    So half points would be awarded and they would take the grid positions from lap 5, which saw Oscar Piastri in 1st, Rober Shwartzman in 2nd and Ralph Boschung in 3rd.

    The full top 10 are: P1: Piastri, P2: Shwartzman, P3: Boschung, P4: Zhou, P5: Drugovich, P6: Vips, P7: Lundgaard, P8: Armstrong, P9: Lawson, P10: Ticktum.

    Oscar Piastri is still leading the championship with a gap of 51.5 points to his team-mate Shwartzman, we then have Guanyu Zhou in 3rd and Dan Ticktum in 4th. Prema have now won the teams championship for the second year in a row!

    The main thing we can take away from this weekend in F2 is that Theo Pourchaire and Enzo Fittipaldi are okay, even though Fittipaldi does have some injuries i’m looking forward to them returning to the race track.

  • Round 21- Jeddah Race

    EPIC. CHAOTIC. BWOAH.

    Where do I even start with the race, we all knew the race would feature a safety car during the race after seeing the 3 F2 races this weekend, but I don’t think we expected what we all just saw!

    Lewis Hamilton takes win number 103, with Max Verstappen in P2 and Valtteri Bottas on a late charge to take the final podium place. Lewis also took fastest lap too.

    The top 10 are: P1: Hamilton, P2: Verstappen, P3: Bottas, P4: Ocon, P5: Ricciardo, P6: Gasly, P7: Leclerc, P8: Sainz, P9: Giovinazzi and P10: Norris.

    Esteban Ocon of France driving the Alpine A521 Renault during the F1 Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia at Jeddah Corniche Circuit on December 05, 2021 in...
    JEDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA – DECEMBER 05: Esteban Ocon of France driving the (31) Alpine A521 Renault during the F1 Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia at Jeddah Corniche Circuit on December 05, 2021 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

    The first of the accidents during the race was Mick Schumacher who spun and hit the barrier at Turn 23. This brought out a safety car which many of the drivers had pitted, however this then turned into a red-flag which then gave Verstappen a free pit stop.

    We went onto a standing start which saw Lewis lead, but then Verstappen went wide and off track at the first chicane which saw him cutting across Hamilton who dropped to P3 behind Esteban Ocon. The racing didn’t last long as we had two separate incidents the first involving Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez in which Perez’s race ended there with too much damage. The other incident involving Mazepin and Russell, which saw Nikita go into the back of the Williams car, this caused the second red flag of the race.

    After many radio messages back and forth from Mercedes to FIA or Red Bull to FIA, the restart was Ocon 1st, Hamilton 2nd, Verstappen 3rd. But Verstappen made a good move on his shiny new mediums.

    If you thought the drama was over after that, you are very wrong, we then had three VSC periods from Lap 28 to Lap 36. Lewis attempted a move on Lap 36 for the lead of the race but Max braked too late in which he run wide at Turn 2 and retained the lead. Max was instructed to give back P1 so on Lap 37 max slowed for Hamilton to get caught up in mixed messages and clip the rear of the Red Bull in which Lewis now had front wing damage.

    Whilst the drama was going on with Mercedes-FIA-RedBull, Lewis wanted to keep the fight on track in which on Lap 42 he was looking to get past the Dutchman but Verstappen again went wide . At this point the stewards gave Max a fixe second time penalty.

    Then the rest is history after Lewis managed to over take Max and build up a big enough gap so Max didn’t have chance to push and keep on fighting each other, but further down the field the drama was still going on.

    Valtteri Bottas was keeping the pressure on Esteban Ocon during the race so much so that Bottas beat him by a tenth of a second, literally securing P3 on the checkered line! Obviously gutting for Ocon but for me he deserves driver of the day, he was there where it mattered and stayed out of trouble and he was rewarded with a P4.

    A lovely race for Daniel Ricciardo today, after a disappointing number of races not scoring he managed to bring his car home in P5 and he fully deserved it! As well Gasly a nice strong finish in P6 brings a good set of points which he will be more than happy with.

    The Championship-

    Well, we all know what that has done to the championship now… Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen are equal in points going into the final race which hasn’t happened since 1974!

    Leclerc now moves up to P5 with a 4 point gap from Lando Norris, so i’m sure we will see an entertaining race next week for the battle for 5th position in the standings!

    Mercedes now have a gap of 28 points which separate them and Red Bull, this makes next weekend even more exciting with both Bottas and Perez needing to do there all so either of the teams can win the Constructors.

    Now onto next week for the final round of the 2021 Formula 1 Championship, we are back in Abu Dhabi at the newly changed Yas Marina Circuit, all drivers will need to get used to what has changed on the track.

  • Round 21- Jeddah Quali

    That is now qualifying over for today and what a qualifying it was! This circuit is something else and it shows with how close the cars get to the walls!

    It is a 1-2 for the Mercedes boys in Saudi Arabia, get in there boys!!! Lewis Hamilton takes pole position, with his team-mate next to him in second. Max Verstappen joins the pair in third position.

    The rest of the top 10 are: P4: Leclerc, P5: Perez, P6: Gasly, P7: Norris, P8: Tsunoda, P9: Ocon and P10: Giovinazzi.

    Valtteri Bottas of Finland driving the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team Mercedes W12 during qualifying ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia at...
    JEDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA – DECEMBER 04: Valtteri Bottas of Finland driving the (77) Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team Mercedes W12 during qualifying ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia at Jeddah Corniche Circuit on December 04, 2021 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

    Well lets start with the final lap from MV, he was doing an outstanding lap but he was very much pushing the limits and there was a couple of close calls with the wall during the lap until he got to the final corner… where he did indeed touch the wall quite harshly which ruined his chance of pole position. There could be a potential gearbox change which he already had a new one in this weekend but another new one means a penalty… So we will await and see if there is significant damage to his car.

    It really is not Aston Martin’s weekend, they have been somewhat off there normal pace and that showed even more so during qualifying when both of the cars qualified 17th and 18th.

    Yuki Tsunoda must really like new circuits, last time out in Qatar he qualified P8, and today it was again P8, either that or he is very happy with the car and puts it all together in qualifying for a good lap! His team-mate Pierre Gasly a good qualifying for him too, possibly a good race for both Alpha Tauri drivers tomorrow and score a good set amount of points?

    Now Carlos Sainz… What didn’t happen with him in Q2! He had a big moment on his first flying lap which saw his rear wing touch the wall, so he dived straight into the pits afterwards so his team could assess the amount of damage. Then on his second flying lap he went wide which again ruined his lap… Hence him qualifying P15, this could have a big impact on the Constructors now.

    Predictions-

    I am going to say Hamilton for the win, with Bottas in P2, the final podium place going to Perez, P4: Leclerc, and P5: Verstappen. With fastest lap going to Bottas.

    Hopefully we get a McLaren up there in the points, Norris seems to be enjoying this circuit quite a bit and he will more than likely be wanting to redeem himself after the awful triple header for him and the team.

    Times for tomorrow-

    Sunday 5th- Race: 17:30pm (GMT), 18:30pm (CET).

  • F2 Jeddah- Day 1

    Our first day of having Formula 2 cars back on track today and I don’t think we was disappointed. All 22 cars took to the new track in Saudi Arabia with 4 of the drivers moving up from Formula 3.

    Free Practice-

    We had a bit of a delay to the start of our Friday due to temporary operational delays but once we got started it was Armstrong who led the grid out onto the 46 degree track!

    Twenty of the drivers went back into the pits after the installations but both MP drivers Novalak and Doohan went round the circuit for another lap to get to terms with the car/grip of the track.

    One of the four debutants didn’t have the best afternoon, Logan Sargeant lost control of his HWA in Sector 3 where he collided with the wall which caused a Red Flag.

    PREMA are just on fire this season but it being their other driver Robert Shwartzman who topped free practice with a 1:42.623 ahead of Ralph Boschung and Carlin’s Dan Ticktum.

    The full top 10 were: P1: Shwartzman, P2: Boschung, P3: Ticktum, P4: Drugovich, P5: Armstrong, P6: Vips, P7: Zhou, P8: Doohan, P9: Lundgaard, P10: Piastri.

    Jack Doohan of Australia and MP Motorsport drives during practice ahead of Round 7:Jeddah of the Formula 2 Championship at Jeddah Corniche Circuit on...
    JEDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA – DECEMBER 03: Jack Doohan of Australia and MP Motorsport (11) drives during practice ahead of Round 7:Jeddah of the Formula 2 Championship at Jeddah Corniche Circuit on December 03, 2021 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

    Qualifying:

    WOW, the amount of close calls I saw during the Qualifying session I had to hold my breath, this track is something else…

    Moving on to the result of qualifying, Oscar Piastri lapped a 1:40.878 so he claims his FOURTH pole in a row he is now the only second driver to do this! His team-mate Shwartzman will be starting next to him on Sundays Feature Race.

    It looked like Shwartzman had pole position during the majority of qualifying as no-one was improving their times until Pourchaire came all along and took it off him, but the Russian came fighting back and got pole position again.

    Zhou had been struggling quite a bit during this session, it may be because of temperature and getting the heat into tyres? The first half of the session he was down in 9th but once he pitted and came out with fresh tyres he managed to get 3rd on his first run.

    The top 10 for Sundays Feature Race are as follows: P1: Piastri, P2: Shwartzman, P3: Pourchaire, P4: Lundgaard, P5: Drugovich, P6: Zhou, P7: Boschung, P8: Vips, P9: Armstrong, P10: Lawson.

    So for tomorrows first Sprint Race we have Liam Lawson on pole position with Marcus Armstrong in second and Lawson’s team-mate Juri Vips in third!

  • Saudi Arabian GP

    Another weekend, another Grand Prix and this weekend we are in Saudi Arabia for the first ever Grand Prix here its round 21 out of 22 and it should be an exciting one!

    With the points gap between Lewis and Max slowly come down, can Lewis win his third race in a row? Or will max want to try and go into the final race next week with a bigger point gap than 8 points…

    Who needs a good weekend?

    Obviously both title contenders, Max probably more so than Lewis as Lewis has been on top form the past couple of races, with it being a new track both drivers are at the same level this weekend.

    Now moving onto the other Red Bull and Mercedes drivers, they will both be fighting each other on Sunday, to get more points for the Constructors, also both Perez and Bottas will be used to try and take the fastest point away depending on who has it and how the race is going.

    Again McLaren, it seems that lots of people think this track will suit the papaya team because of how fast its meant to be, but no-one really knows until we hit the track on Friday. Both McLaren drivers will need to have a good weekend and have the strategy perfect if they want to try and close the gap and also help Lando secure P5 in the championship as Leclerc is getting closer to that spot.

    Predictions for Qualifying-

    My top five are: Pole- Hamilton, P2- Bottas, P3- Verstappen, P4- Perez and P5- Gasly. I don’t think you can count out Gasly from a good qualifying his been on such good form!

    Two other drivers you cant count are the Ferrari boys, they seem to have such a good understanding of the car and they always qualify near each other which is beneficial when strategies come into play during the race.

    Times for the weekend-

    Formula 1- Friday 3rd- FP1: 13:30pm – 14:30pm (GMT), 14:30pm – 15:30pm (CET). FP2: 17:00pm – 18:00pm (GMT), 18:00pm – 19:00pm (CET).

    Saturday 4th- FP3: 14:00pm – 15:00pm (GMT), 15:00pm – 16:00pm (CET). Qualifying- 17:00pm – 18:00pm (GMT), 18:00pm – 19:00pm (CET).

    Sunday 5th- Race: 17:30pm (GMT), 18:30pm (CET).

    Formula 2- Friday 3rd- Free Practice: 11:10am – 11:55am (GMT), 12:10pm – 12:55pm (CET). Qualifying: 15:20pm – 15:50pm (GMT), 16:20pm – 16:50pm (CET).

    Saturday 4th- Sprint Race 1: 12:30pm – 13:15pm (GMT), 13:30pm – 14:15pm (CET). Sprint Race 2: 18:40pm – 19:25pm (GMT), 19:40pm – 20:25pm (CET).

    Sunday 5th- Feature Race: 14:25pm (GMT), 15:25pm (CET).

  • Doohan stepping up

    Another Formula 3 driver is making their Formula 2 debut this weekend, this time it is Jack Doohan and he will be joining MP Motorsport for the final two rounds of 2021.

    Doohan took part in Formula 3 this year which saw him battle Dennis Hauger, where h won four times and took two more podiums, he finished 2nd overall.

    The Australian will be replacing Richard Verschoor, due to the Dutchman having financial issues play part in the final two rounds of 2021 which is a massive shame just like all the other drivers this year. Doohan will be partnering up with his 2021 Trident teammate Clément Novalak who will also be making his Formula 2 debut this weekend.

    “I am very excited and very happy to be partnering with MP Motorsport for the final two rounds of the Formula 2 Championship,” said Doohan. “It is an amazing opportunity. I cannot thank the team enough, as well my family and everyone who has enabled me to do these last two rounds. This opportunity will give me a little bit of a foundation and a base before I start my prep for next year. I am super excited. I don’t have any real goals as I haven’t been in anything higher than a Formula 3 car before. Free Practice will be my first time in something higher than Formula 3, so my expectations are very minimal. My goal is to get as much track time as possible and to constantly be learning. I am really excited, it is awesome to be heading to the circuits in Jeddah and Yas Marina, I can’t wait.”

    My Opinion-

    Mixed feelings on this, but only because I liked seeing Verschoor race! Obviously gutting for him but it is all about money in F2 and sometimes it just isn’t possible to carry on, but i’ll be keeping an eye on what to see he does in his future!

    Now onto Jack, this is exciting a lot of F3 drivers this weekend in F2 which makes it exciting and gives them a step up for next year if they manage to get a seat. I definitely think a few teams will be watching Jack especially more so after his year in F3.

  • Sargeant racing in Jeddah

    Logan Sargeant, who raced in F3 this year will make his Formula 2 debut this weekend in Jeddah with HWA Racelab.

    Sargeant who got announced as a member of the Williams Academy in October, has had a good streak of winning, he won this year in F3, he was also a title challenger with Prema in 2020 as he just missed out on the Championship to Alpines Reserve and current F2 leader, Oscar Piastri.

    HWA has had a rough time this year with drivers, their original line up being Alessio Deledda and Mateo Nannini, but Nannini wanted to focus on Formula 3 more so Jack Aitken came in and raced in Monaco, Baku and Silverstone, it looked like he was going to be in for the rest of the season until he had a nasty crash during the big F2 break.

    To replace Aitken as his injuries were to severe to race, Jake Hughes comes in to play who has won in F3 multiple times. Hughes was in for Monza and Sochi. And now enters Logan Sargeant… It will be more than likely he will race in Abu Dhabi next week to.

    My Opinion-

    Finally!! Well deserved in all honesty, it will be interesting to see what he can get from the car this weekend, I have no doubt he will put his all in to impress teams to hopefully get a seat in 2022.

  • Tyres for Jeddah

    The tyres for this weekends Grand Prix has been announced, just like Qatar no-one has any data from previous years, but this track is a little different to Qatar as this circuit has only just been built!

    The three compounds which have been chosen are: C2 (Hard), C3 (Medium), C4 (Soft), this is the most common selection which has been picked this year.

    Jeddah and Qatar are two very different circuits, both new to the F1 calendar, but the teams knew the Qatar circuit would put stress on the Pirelli tyres during the race. With only the simulations from the teams for Jeddah it is suggested that the middle compounds in the range are the best, it should be well suited to the fast and flowing street race with over 50 laps on Sunday.

    The Track-

    The track itself has been designed by well known circuit architect Hermann Tilke, he has designed circuits such as Bahrain International Circuit, Istanbul Park Racing Circuit, Shanghai International Circuit, Yas Marina Circuit and the Circuit of the Americas.

    The track is a 6.174-kilometre track, its the longest street circuit on the calendar and the second longest of the year after Spa. It is also set to be one of the fastest with an average speed of 250kph, that is only just behind the Temple of Speed.

    Now onto the most demanding turns, is Turn 13 a left hander which features a 12 degree banking that should place high g forces on the tyres. Jeddah has a total of 27 corners which will keep the tyres working hard throughout the race.

    The track looks quite unforgiving in the sense that parts of the track are quite narrow and the walls close to the side of the track which could lead to a high possibility of seeing the safety car during the race which will affect teams strategy.

    As its a new track, the track itself will be quite slippery to start off with on Friday but with Formula 2 and a Porsche competition throughout the weekend this will help with track evolution.

    We also have Formula 2 this weekend, the tyres which have been chosen is the Medium and Super soft compound, which is the most common combination picked this year.

  • F2- 2 Rounds Left

    Finally after a long 10 weeks we now have Formula 2 back for the last two rounds of the 2021 Championship. Let’s take a look at what happened on our last race weekend in Sochi, the Championship and what to expect this weekend!

    We only had one sprint race and a feature race in Russia due to the weather. Sprint race 1 saw Dan Ticktum win, with Juri Vips finish second and Robert Shwartzman in third.

    Both UNI-Virtuosis didn’t start the race which meant the Championship leader Oscar Piastri could try and further his lead but he only finished 9th.

    Now onto the feature race, Oscar Piastri managed to get pole on the Friday and he turned his pole into the feature race win, his second consecutive feature race win, this also saw him extend his championship lead.

    Theo Pourchaire finished second with Jehan Daruvala finished 3rd! Whilst Zhou who is fighting for the championship finished 6th.

    It wasn’t Guanyu Zhou’s weekend when we was in Russia, he could of scored good points but with a DNS and a 7th the gap between him and Oscar could of been less significant!

    The Championship-

    There is only, 36 points between Piastri and Zhou, even though you may think it’s a lot it’s really not consider they have 3 races a weekend and 6 left of 2021.

    Shwartzman is closing in on Zhou only 7 points between the pair, Shwartzman is most definitely going to look to see if he can get those 7 points and more this weekend.

    Prema are flying away with the Teams Championship they are currently on 313 points, in 2nd is Carlin and they are on 225 points which has seen them grab lots of podiums and wins this season, in 3rd we have UNI-Virtusoi they are on 201 points, its all down to these final races now!

    What to expect this weekend-

    Considering Jeddah is a brand new track to every driver on the grid its going to be quite difficult to get right even more so because of the long break we have had it will take quite a lot of running in free practice to get comfortable again. We saw this happen earlier on in the season where we had a long break between races and when drivers got back to a race weekend it took a little while to get things right.

    A close battle between Zhou and Piastri as usual but maybe an appearance from Ticktum and possibly Pourchaire? Both drivers been very strong this year so I will definitely be keeping an eye on them.

  • Sir Frank Williams

    It is with great sadness that I announce that Sir Frank Williams has passed away at the age of 79.

    Sir Frank was the longest ever serving team principal Formula 1 has ever seen, with him marking 50 years as a team boss in 2019.

    During the 50 years in F1, he ran two teams and managed to win 7 drivers titles and 9 Constructors titles.

    Creator: Charles Coates
    Copyright: 2019 Getty Images

    Williams, sustained a spinal injury in a car crash in 1986 that unable him to walk, he began reducing his workload in 2012. Claire Williams daughter of Sir Frank took over as family representative and later on took on the role of Deputy Team Principal whilst Sir Frank was still the Team Principal.

    What a sad day for Formula 1, Sir Frank is an inspirational to all even after his accident he carried on and still done what he loves and now he has left a wonderful legacy. Everyone knows about Williams Racing and will continue to do for many years, a true legend to all. Rest in peace Sir Frank Williams 1942-2021💙

    Following the news of Sir Frank’s death, a statement from Williams said: “It is with great sadness that on behalf of the Williams family, the team can confirm the death of Sir Frank Williams CBE, Founder and Former Team Principal of Williams Racing, at the age of 79.
    After being admitted into hospital on Friday, Sir Frank, passed away peacefully this morning surrounded by his family. Today we pay tribute to our much loved and inspirational figurehead. Frank will be sorely missed. We request that all friends and colleagues respect the Williams family’s wishes for privacy at this time.”

    F1 President and CEO Stefano Domenicali said: “This morning Claire Williams called to inform me of the very sad news that her beloved father, Sir Frank Williams, had passed away. He was a true giant of our sport that overcame the most difficult of challenges in life and battled every day to win on and off the track. We have lost a much loved and respected member of the F1 family and he will be hugely missed. His incredible achievements and personality will be etched on our sport forever. My thoughts are with all the Williams family and friends at this sad time.”

  • Spanish GP Renewed

    It has been announced that the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for the Spanish Grand Prix is renewed until 2026!

    This will see improvements to the tracks and facilities, this will be ahead of the 2022 race in May.

    The track was first used by Formula 1 in 1991 which was ahead of the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona!

    F1 President and CEO Stefano Domenicali said: “We are delighted to announce this deal with Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. I want to thank the promoter and the authorities for their enthusiasm and commitment to keeping Formula 1 in Barcelona, with improvements that will be made to the track and facilities, and continuing our long history together.
    The teams and drivers always look forward to racing at the circuit and visiting Barcelona, and the Spanish fans will continue to see their national heroes, Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz up close.”

    My Opinion-

    I think this is good, especially with the improvements to come. We saw a good race here this year due to closer racing, so surely it can only get better? Also good news for Spanish drivers, Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz as there home GP will be firmly on the calendar!

  • Dan Ticktum joins FE

    Dan Ticktum has announced that he will be joining Nio 333 in Formula E for Season 8 which starts at the end of January.

    Dan is currently in his second season of Formula 2, his sitting in 4th, with two rounds left this year. His won twice this year with also scoring 6 podiums too, no doubt Dan will add some more by the end of the season.

    The Brit will be partnering up with Oliver Turvey who is also another Brit and has been with Nio 33 since 2017. Oliver is also McLaren’s F1 Team Test Driver since 2009.

    “I am very happy to be racing with the NIO 333 Formula E team,” said Ticktum. “It’s going to be quite a big challenge as I have not had long to prepare for the test next week, and Formula E is complicated, but it’ll be very exciting. There are quite a few different tools you can use as a driver but it’s a totally different experience to Formula 2, so I’m really looking forward to it, both mentally and physically. I’ve had a great few days with the team at Silverstone this week and hopefully we can try to make some progress next season and get further up the grid.”

    “The results that impress me the most are Daniel’s two victories in the Macau Grand Prix, one of the most famous races in the world,” adds the team’s CEO Vincent Wang. “Though he has shouldered some difficulties during his career, I believe that his experience will pave the way to success. He is a young, bright new star who will shine in Formula E.”

    My Opinion-

    In my opinion, this is great! Dan is talented, otherwise he wouldn’t be on podiums or win, he goes for the overtakes people don’t want to, he risks it and sometimes it does pay off, so I’m happy to see him driving in 2022!

  • Caldwell stepping up for remaining rounds

    It has been announced that Olli Caldwell, will be racing for Campos in the final two rounds of the Formula 2 Championship.

    This year Olli has been competing in Formula 3 with Prema which saw him take one win and three further podiums, it is his second year in F3 with his rookie campaign he drove with Trident where he scored four top 10 finishes.

    Not only has Olli won in F3, he has also won in UAE, ADAC and Italian F4, as well as claiming seven podiums and a win in the 2019 Formula Regional European Championship where he finished 5th.

    Olli will be replacing David Beckmann, who has already had to leave F2 once already this year due to financial reasons, it hasn’t been said why this time but its most likely the same issue.

    “I’m excited to join Campos for the last two rounds,” said Caldwell, “They’ve made good progression throughout the year so I’m really looking forward to working with them. I want to thank the team for the opportunity, I can’t wait to see what the car can do and gain experience ahead of my goal of a full season in Formula 2 next year.”

    Campos Racing Sporting Director added: “I would like to extend a warm welcome to Olli from Campos Racing. Olli is a driver who always awakened our interest and very recently he has played a key role in the FIA Formula 3 in which he performed excellently. Our goal is to help him to rapidly adapt to the Formula 2 car. We feel confident that joining Ralph, our driver line-up will be able to deliver strong performances and achieve top results during the last two rounds.”

    My Opinion-

    I think this is great! Olli is a talented driver and it shows within his results in single seaters. I’m looking forward to seeing what he can do in Saudia Arabia and Abu Dhabi. Hopefully this will lead to a seat for 2022!

  • Boschung to stay in F2

    Another F2 seat is now taken for the 2022 season! And that seat is taken by Ralph Boschung who is staying with Campos.

    Boschung is one of the most experienced drivers on the F2 grid, but his aim is to help Campos build on the progress that they have made this year.

    It’s currently his strongest season in F2, currently Ralph is sitting in 12th with 40 points and has had six top 10 finishes with 6 races to go! As for the Teams Championship, Campos are currently sat in 7th, which is better than last year as they finished 9th.

    Boschung is use to winning races with experience in GP3, ADAC Formel Masters and the Formula BMW Talent Cup.

    “I’m very grateful and happy to continue with Campos Racing for the 2022 FIA Formula 2 championship season,” said Boschung. “I believe in continuity and loyalty, these are strong assets we have together as a team. I want to thank Adrian Campos-Suñer Torres. and the whole of Campos Racing for giving me the opportunity and especially my sponsors Casa Andrea and L By Raphaëlle, without them this would not be possible.”

    Sporting Director Adrián Campos added: “We are extremely happy to have Ralph for another season. After the hard-hit received at the beginning of this year, the team has worked very hard and has been more united than ever and this now has paid off. For next season we are going to be more demanding and we want to continue an upward trend in terms of results. I want to personally thank Ralph and all the people who support him for the trust placed in Campos Racing for one more season.”

    My Opinion-

    It’s a good move from Campos to have Boschung stay for another year, he knows the team well and they both have a big amount of trust in each other. I’m looking forward to seeing what both Ralph and Campos can do next year.

  • Round 20- Qatar Race

    Well, we have had another drama filled weekend, with Vertsappen being handed a 5 place grid penalty before the race as well as Bottas being handed a 3 place grid penalty.

    Our top 3 finishers for the first Qatar GP were: P1: Hamilton, P2: Verstappen and P3: Alonso. Hamilton made it win 102 this weekend and being the first to ever win at Qatar in F1. But the main talking news is Alonso returning to the podium after 7 years and he fully deserves it!

    F1 Grand Prix of Qatar : News Photo
    DOHA, QATAR – NOVEMBER 21: Third placed Fernando Alonso of Spain and Alpine F1 Team celebrates in parc ferme during the F1 Grand Prix of Qatar at Losail International Circuit on November 21, 2021 in Doha, Qatar. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

    The full top 10 are- P1: Hamilton, P2: Verstappen, P3: ALonso, P4: Perez, P5: Ocon, P6: Stroll, P7: Sainz, P8: Leclerc, P9: Norris and P10: Vettel. With fastest lap going to Verstappen.

    On lap 33, it saw Bottas have a puncture as he fell from P3, he managed to get it back to the pits and comes out in P14. Which brings us to lap 54… Where we saw Norris who was in P4 have a puncture, Russell with a puncture and his team-mate Latifi, with the same problem. Norris and Russell managed to pit for new tyres however, Latifi couldn’t make it back to the pits so had to park near an entrance road which brought out a VSC!

    Amazing race for both Alpines! Obviously the main one being Fernando getting P3, this will help Alpine in the Constructor fight. Esteban done a really good drive too, which saw him start P9 and finish P5, good amount of points for him!

    Gutting day for McLaren, Lando had such a good qualifying and obviously with the two penalties he moved up to the second row. It looked like he secured P4 near the end of the race and then the puncture happened… He hasn’t had it easy the past few races, but i’m hoping he will take away the fact the car is good and has got pace and hopefully he has a clear head going into Saudi!

    Not quite sure what went on with Alpha Tauri, baring in mind Pierre started P2, they pitted him very early compared to everyone else and from then on he was no where, he finished 11th. Tsunoda finished P13, it looked quite promising for him to score points but obviously it didn’t go either Alpha Tauri’s way this weekend.

    The Championship-

    The gap just keeps on coming down now, 8 points between Verstappen and Hamilton. Making it an all very important two races left. Bottas’ P3 is under threat as Perez is only 13 points away, so that DNF for the Merc did not help at all!

    Norris just holds on to P5 with 153 points, with Charles Leclerc in P6 with 152 points, so it will be interesting battle between these two in the final two rounds.

    In the Constructors there is only a 5 point gap between Mercedes and Red Bull now, even more so now the fastest lap points are definitely going to come into play and there will be a lot of switching on who has it.

    Alpine now have a 25 point gap between them and Alpha Tauri. So AT really need both cars scoring good points in these next two if they want to try and get 5th back!

    Now we don’t have any racing next weekend but we will be back from the 3rd to 5th December and we will be in Saudi Arabia for the first ever Grand Prix there and go into round 21 out of 22.

  • Round 20- Qatar Quali

    Welll… Qualifying most definitely had some shock exits! Making this championship even more exciting…

    Lewis Hamilton, takes the first pole position on the Losail Circuit, carrying on his form from last weekend in Brazil! Max Verstappen joins Lewis on the front row and Bottas makes P3, showing that Mercedes are on top form!

    The full top 10 are- P1: Hamilton, P2: Verstappen, P3: Bottas, P4: Gasly, P5: Alonso, P6: Norris, P7: Sainz, P8: Tsunoda, P9: Ocon, P10: Vettel.

    DOHA, QATAR – NOVEMBER 20: Lando Norris of Great Britain driving the (4) McLaren F1 Team MCL35M Mercedes during qualifying ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Qatar at Losail International Circuit on November 20, 2021 in Doha, Qatar. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)

    Red Bull are most definitely on the back foot here, with both Mercedes sandwiching Max it could easily be a preview of the podium.

    Talking about RB and them being on the back foot, part of that is because Perez was out in Q2! Not a good weekend so far for him, it’ll be interesting to see what the strategy is for Red Bull considering no-one knows how this race is going to go.

    Charles Leclerc and Daniel Ricciardo also out in Q2, which most definitely shocked a few people. Leclerc has been having problems since yesterday, but it just seems like he isn’t comfortable in the car on this track.

    Russell into Q2, Mr Saturday is back, starting P15, which means free choice of tyres and could potentially score some points tomorrow.

    Both Alpha Tauri’s and Alpine in the top 10, the battles between the four cars will be interesting, especially with Alonso he always provides good and clean fights on track and Pierre being so consistent this year, who won’t give up a position.

    Predictions for tomorrow-

    I’m going to say for my top 5 are- P1: Hamilton, P2: Bottas, P3: Verstappen, P4: Gasly and P5: Sainz.

    Tomorrow should be an exciting race, no-one knows whether it’s going to be a 1 stop or 2 stop so I can imagine teams will be keeping an eye out for tyre degradation.

  • Qatar GP

    This weekend we are in Qatar for the first ever Formula 1 Grand Prix, coming into this weekend, its an unknown track to all the teams, so they will be all starting off on the same foot.

    Going into the final 3 races now the championship is hotting up, with only 14 point seperating Max and Lewis, could we see that gap come down again? Its all to play for!

    Who needs a good weekend?

    McLaren again need a good weekend, two races not scoring points for Ricciardo, and Norris only scoring two points in the last two races. At this moment in time McLaren are just giving P3 to Ferrari, but hopefully with a new track there luck will change this weekend.

    Going in to the final 3 races, the second drivers will come into play which we saw last weekend, where Red Bull pitted Perez to take the fastest lap point away from Lewis and Mercedes. So Bottas and Perez will be putting there all in for the next 3 races so they can help their team-mates win the Championship, and their teams the Constructors.

    I think Lance needs a good weekend, I feel like his struggling with the car the last few races, the last time he scored points was in Turkey. His currently sat in 13th in the Championship, with his team mate sat in 12th, but the points difference between the two is quite big.

    Predictions for Qualifying-

    My top five predictions are- P1: Hamilton, P2: Bottas, P3: Verstappen, P4: Gasly and P5: Norris.

    Hopefully, we will see both the McLaren’s in top 10 they need a good start to the weekend, and that would be it, it would also give both drivers the confidence too.

    Maybe a Q3 for Yuki? New track for him as the same for everyone else, but he feels good going into this weekend and he wants to show some people wrong after the last couple of weeks.

    Times for the weekend are-

    Saturday 20th- FP3: 11:00am – 12:00pm (GMT), 12:00pm – 13:00pm (CET). Qualifying: 14:00pm – 15:00pm (GMT), 15:00pm – 16:00pm (CET).

    Sunday 21st- Race: 14:00pm (GMT), 15:00pm (CET).

  • Mercedes appeal rejected

    It has been announced today, that the appeal Mercedes put in on Tuesday has been rejected by the Stewards.

    The stewards have heard from both Mercedes and Red Bull on Thursday in Qatar, then deliberated overnight before reaching a decision on Friday after the first free practice session.

    Their denial of requests means the full race result on Sunday still stands, and Verstappen is not at any risk of a penalty.

    After announcing their decision the stewards explained: “There will always be some angles of video footage, because of limits in both technology and bandwidth, that are unavailable at the time. Whether or not stewards’ decisions are considered to be right or wrong, and just as with referees’ decisions in soccer, it does not seem desirable to be able to review any or all such in‐race discretionary decisions up to two weeks after the fact and the stewards therefore seriously doubt that the intent of the Right of Review in the ISC [International Sporting Code] is to enable competitors to seek a review of such discretionary decisions that do not follow on from a formal inquiry by the stewards and do not result in a published document.”

    The verdict was made public when Toto Wolff and Christian Horner was in a press conference together. The Mercedes boss says: “Completely expected,” he said. “I think we wanted to trigger a discussion around it, because probably it will be a theme in the next few races. I think our objective is achieved; we didn’t really think it would go any further.”

    Horner added: “I think it’s obviously the right decision, because it would have opened Pandora’s Box regarding a whole bunch of other incidents that happened in that race. I think the most important thing now is to focus on this Grand Prix.”

  • Tyres for Qatar

    The tyres for this weekend in Qatar have been chosen which are the following: C1 (Hard), C2 (Medium), C3 (Soft), this is the fifth and last time this year that the hardest of all the compounds in the range have been nominated.

    With it being out first ever time here, we have no data from previous years which would normally help in picking the tyres. The circuit has very demanding corners similar to both Silverstone and Mugello, it also has quite aggressive asphalt.

    The start/finish straight is just over a kilometre long, but also has 16 quick corners to make up the rest of the lap this will ensure that tyres will be working hard and could possibly lead to a reasonably high degradation. The track has still got its original surface from 2004 which offers high grip, but with the track being near the dessert the grass around the circuit doesn’t always keep the sand off the track, which could make it dusty and affect grip.

    Turns 12 to 14 form a triple apex right-hander which makes up almost a single high-energy 5.2g corner that is slightly reminiscent of the famous Turn 8 in Turkey- only in the opposite direction.

    Qatar is one of four races held in the evening under floodlights. This could means that the evloution of track temperature of the race could be quite different compared to a normal afternoon race.

    There is no support races this weekend, and the circuit hasn’t been used a lot recently which will mean that there is no rubber laid down prior to the F1 cars. SO expect the drivers slipping around at first, the only way we will see this again is if sand blows onto the track which resets itself.

  • Oscar Piastri Alpines Reserve

    It has been announced that Oscar Piastri who is currently leading the Formula 2 Championship will be Alpines Reserve Driver in 2022.

    Oscar has been apart of the Alpine Academy since January 2020 and after securing the Formula 3 Championship, he was rewarded with a young drivers test in Bahrain.

    Oscar has had a brilliant year in F2 so far and still has two rounds remaining! His racked up 178 points which include, one sprint race win, two feature race wins, five podiums and three pole positions with two rounds left.

    Last year saw Piastri take the Formula 3 title in his rookie season with two wins and six podiums. He is on course to emulate Leclerc and Russell by winning the title at the first time of asking, this would be Oscars third title in a row where he won the Formula Renault Eurocup in 2019.

    Discussing the promotions Piastri says: “I’m super excited to be joining Alpine F1 Team as Reserve Driver. I’m looking forward to being much more involved with the team and contributing to its intended success next season. The Reserve Driver role is the next step towards my aim for a race seat in 2023, which is very exciting. I’ve proved myself in the junior formulas over the last couple of years and feel like I’m ready for Formula 1 now along with the trackside experience at race weekends, we will put together a substantial test programme in order to keep developing myself to grow even more prepared for a race seat. I’m very thankful to Alpine for their support.”

    “We’ve enjoyed two very successful seasons together in the Academy and I’m grateful for the faith they’ve put in me for this next step with an eye on a bigger future. My focus now is finishing the Formula 2 Championship in the best possible way with Prema and I’m looking forward to being back in the car and pushing hard on track.”

    Laurent Rossi said: “Oscar’s natural talent is clear to see, so we’re very proud and privileged to have him as part of our team as our Reserve Driver from next year. Not only does Oscar have the on-track skills, as demonstrated over the last couple of years in the junior categories, but also the maturity and composure that makes him really stand out from the rest. At Enstone, he has been a real asset to the team as he has aided the simulator and testing programme and I am certain he will continue to do so in his new role.”

    “The next step will be to consistently attend Grands Prix to fully integrate with the race team, learn what is expected of an F1 driver and be ready for when the opportunity comes. In addition, we look forward to having Oscar’s input and expertise in driving the team forwards next year.”

    My Opinion-

    I think Oscar is a great driver, he is always so determined and you can see how much he wants a Formula 1 seat in 2023. He is happy to take this role on which I’m sure will benefit him in the future and the team too, it’s good he has something already planned for next season!

    It is a bit gutting though thinking that he doesn’t have a seat next year, but I’m sure Alpine will be wanting to snap him up in 2023 before any other teams try to.

  • Mercedes request review

    Mercedes have announced that they are seeking a ‘Right of Review’ of the incident which occured during the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, which saw Max Verstappen defend Lewis Hamilton and see both drivers run wide.

    But yesterday, the onboard footage of Max Verstappen got released, and Mercedes felt like with the new evidence which was unavailable to the stewards at the time of decision feel that it is enough for a right of review.

    The onboard of Max Verstappen.

    Hamilton started P10 on Sunday, and had been closing on Max for quite some time and finally he attepmted a pass on Lap 48 at Turn 4 but both drivers run wide when rejoining Max was still in the lead.

    The stewards noted the incident but decided soon afterward that no investigation was necessary, 11 laps later and Lewis went on to take the win. But with Mercedes taking to social media, yesterday afternoon they want to review the Turn 4 incident. The stewards will meet with representatives from the team to assess the new evidence.

    My Opinion-

    I’m not surprised by Mercedes wanting to do this, as a key video wasn’t available at the time of the incident they let it slide but now its come to surface they want to see if they can get something out of it. Which I think is fair enough considering that Lewis did get pushed of the track more than necessary.

    Let me know in the poll below if you think this is the right decision by Mercedes!

  • Gio out, Zhou in.

    It has been announced that Antonio Giovinazzi has not been retained for the 2022 season, instead Alfa Romeo have chosen Guanyu Zhou to complete their line up.

    Guanyu Zhou who is currently sitting in 2nd of the Formula 2 Championship will be the first full time Formula 1 Chinese Driver ever! Zhou, has been linked with being Alfa Romeo’s second driver for several months and was a main contender for the seat.

    Guanyu is apart of the Alpine Driver Academy along side title rival, Oscar Piastri. Zhou also has a role as a test driver for Alpine.

    “It is a pleasure to welcome Guanyu Zhou to Alfa Romeo Racing,” said Vasseur. “He is a very talented driver, as his results in F2 have shown, and we are looking forward to helping his talent flourish even more in Formula 1. We are proud of our line-up for 2022 and we are confident Zhou will form a very successful partnership with Valtteri. We are also looking forward to welcoming all the new Chinese fans who will join the team: Alfa Romeo Racing is a historical brand and one that embodies the spirit of Formula 1 and we will do our utmost to make the experience of our sport a great one in China.”

    Zhou added: “I dreamt from a young age of climbing as high as I can in a sport that I am passionate about and now the dream has come true. It is a privilege for me to start my Formula 1 career with an iconic team, a team that has introduced so much young talent into Formula 1 in the past. Now the dream is reality. I feel well prepared for the immense challenge of Formula 1, the pinnacle of my sport, alongside a proven, world-class talent in Valtteri Bottas. I wish to thank the Alfa Romeo Racing team for this opportunity. Next year the target will be to learn as much as possible and as quickly as possible. To be the first ever Chinese driver in Formula 1 is a breakthrough for Chinese motorsport history. I know a lot of hopes will be resting on me and, as ever, I will take this as motivation to become better and achieve more.”

    My Opinion-

    It’s obviously a shame to see someone leaving the sport, and I can imagine Giovinazzi probably feels the same. But to have someone new come in is exciting, with watching Zhou the past few years he is definitely improving more and more as a driver.

    It will be interesting to see how he does in the Alfa Romeo next year and especially along side Valtteri Bottas, with both of them new to the team it may take them both a while to get use to the car and team.

  • Round 19- Brazil Race

    Lewis Hamilton WINS the Sao Paulo Grand Prix and to take his 101 win! To think he started in P20 in the sprint race to finish 5th and then have a five place grid penalty to start 10th in todays race and go on to win, it for sure shows this championship is far from over and with only 3 races left now!

    Max Verstappen finishes in second place not giving up just yet, but its a good day for Mercedes as Valtteri Bottas finishes in 3rd place on the podium!

    The full top 10 are- P1: Hamilton, P2: Verstappen, P3: Bottas, P4: Perez, P5: Leclerc, P6: Sainz, P7: Gasly, P8: Ocon, P9: Alonso, P10: Norris. Perez took the fastest lap point away from Lewis and Mercedes on the last lap.

    Mercedes' British driver Lewis Hamilton , Red Bull's Dutch driver Max Verstappen and Mercedes' Finnish driver Valtteri Bottas celebrate with Mercedes...
    Mercedes’ British driver Lewis Hamilton (2-L), Red Bull’s Dutch driver Max Verstappen (L) and Mercedes’ Finnish driver Valtteri Bottas (R) celebrate with Mercedes strategic chief on the podium after obtaining the first, second and third positions respectively, in Brazil’s Formula One Sao Paulo Grand Prix at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace, or Interlagos racetrack, in Sao Paulo, on November 14, 2021. (Photo by NELSON ALMEIDA / AFP) (Photo by NELSON ALMEIDA/AFP via Getty Images)

    To start, what a race we had! We are so lucky to be witnessing such a close and exciting season, not just between Mercedes and Red Bull but also between the other teams on the track.

    First up, gutting day for McLaren in general, Lando had contact with Sainz on lap 1 which saw him drop all the way down to P20 as he had a puncture, he managed to scrape his way to 10th and finish there, as for Daniel he was having a good race until a PU problem which saw him having to retire… This is the second race in a row where McLaren have scored 1 point, can next week bring them something new?

    Ferrari then have had another strong weekend, both drivers finishing in top 10, looking more and more likely if they keep going this way they will have no problem securing P3 in the constructors!

    There was a collision between Tsunoda and Stroll which brought out a Safety Car, and also saw Tsunoda given a 10 second time penalty… Not a good weekend for him, hopefully next week will be a different story.

    The Championship-

    Now looking at the drivers standings, there is now only an 14 point gap between Max and Lewis… with 3 races to go, who will come out on top? Looking a little further down, Leclerc who is currently sitting in P6 is only 3 points away from P5 which Lando is currently sat at, these two brilliant drivers will want to give it everything now.

    Looking at the constructors, Mercedes now have an 11 point lead over Red Bull, both teams with two talented drivers its going to be a close one for sure! Ferrari have a hefty gap now in P3 making it 31.5 points between them and McLaren, the british based team will be needing something special to happen in the next 3 races if Ferrari carry on like this… Alpine and Alpha Tauri are sat on the same points 112, with Alpine ahead in 5th this is going to be a tight battle!

    Onto the next! We are racing at a completely new circuit next week to finish of our triple header and we are in Qatar for its first ever F1 World Championship race!

  • Round 19- Brazil Sprint

    Valtteri Bottas is on POLE position for the Sáo Paulo GP! He beats Max Verstappen to it after taking the lead on the first lap!

    The top 10 are- P1: Bottas, P2: Verstappen, P3: Sainz, P4: Perez, P5: Hamilton, P6: Norris, P7: Leclerc, P8: Gasly, P9: Ocon and P10: Vettel.

    We all knew Hamilton would be on a charge today, but to get up 15 places in 24 laps, the reigning world champion is on fire! It makes you think, what could he do with 71 laps tomorrow starting P10? Maybe a win is on the cards…

    Not a good start for Ricciardo or Gasly, Ricciardo finished out of the top 10 so he will most definitely be on the charge tomorrow to claw some points. Pierre started the Sprint in 4th and finished in 8th, even thought he will be starting the race in P7 he will be hoping to get a better start tomorrow.

    Amazing start for Sainz, finished P3 after starting 5th, he managed to hold of Perez too both of them starting on the 2nd row tomorrow so that will be entertaining to see the battle between the two.

    Predictions-

    I think Lewis will take the win, I think his hungry for it and he knows he can get it too. He wants to show everyone his still in this title fight by the moves he does on track!

    The rest of my top 5 predictions are- P2: Bottas, P3: Verstappen, P4: Norris and P5: Perez.

    Tomorrow will be a very entertaining race, 71 laps of overtaking and strategies taking place. If you wasn’t planning on watching the race I’d change your plans!

    5PM (GMT) lights go out, come back for all the details after the race!

  • Hamilton Disqualified, Verstappen Fined

    Well what a 24 hours it has been! What has not happened since qualifying wow…

    First of all Lewis Hamilton got called to the stewards last night about his rear wing it had been deemed that it was not in the regulations for the DRS, but the stewards couldn’t come to a close last night so it resumed at 10.30am this morning…

    Max also got called to the stewards this morning an hour before Mercedes due to him touching the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton’s in Parc Ferme after qualifying.

    Only now have they come to an answer to both of them. First up Max got a €50,000 fine for obviously touching the Mercedes which isn’t allowed at all and it states that in the regulations so that seems a fair conclusion I’d say.

    Now onto Lewis he has been disqualified from qualifying yesterday which means he obviously won’t be starting the sprint race from pole instead Max Verstappen will.

    Both Mercedes and the stewards came to the conclusion that Max didn’t have anything to do with the DRS infringement on Lewis Hamilton‘s car…

    Merc and the stewards came to agreement that there was an unintentional fault with the rear wing and no obvious reason which has led to the disqualification.

    This means that Lewis Hamilton will be starting the sprint race from P20 meaning all drivers move up one place, where ever he finishes today he will obviously qualify but he also has a 5 place grid penalty for a new ICE which will be put on after the Sprint.

    Now with only two hours to go to till the final sprint of the season all eyes are on Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes to see how well they can do before the 5 place grid penalty comes into play could he somehow get into the top 10 who knows!

  • Round 19- Brazil Quali

    Well… It was our first day of action of the Sao Paulo GP and I had no clue what to expect! Lewis has took a new ICE meaning on Sunday he will have a five place grid penalty, but today was all about qualifying!

    Hamilton tops the charts and goes fastest out of everyone, showing his not giving up in this fight till the very end! Verstappen joins him on the front row of the grid in P2 and his sandwiched by the Mercedes of Bottas in P3.

    Fastest qualifier Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain and Mercedes GP celebrates in parc ferme during qualifying ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Brazil at...
    SAO PAULO, BRAZIL – NOVEMBER 12: Fastest qualifier Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain and Mercedes GP celebrates in parc ferme during qualifying ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Brazil at Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace on November 12, 2021 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. (Photo by Lars Baron/Getty Images)

    The full top 10 are- P1: Hamilton, P2: Verstappen, P3: Bottas, P4: Perez, P5: Gasly, P6: Sainz, P7: Leclerc, P8: Norris, P9: Ricciardo and P10: Alonso.

    I’m quite shocked that both Russell and Latifi out in Q1, I thought maybe they would get into Q2 but they now have two chance to redeem themselves starting with tomorrows sprint!

    Another one who shocked me was Stroll who was also out in Q1, starting 16th his right in the middle of any drama that could happen in the beginning of the sprint which could compromise him! Hopefully he gets through it okay if there is any drama, as Aston Martin will be hoping for a strong weekend.

    Predictions for Sprint-

    I can see pole going to Hamilton, if he gets away unscathed I think he wont really have any challenges tomorrow and he will be hoping to keep P1 so then he starts P6 on Sunday. The rest of the top five I think will be: P2: Bottas, P3: Verstappen, P4: Gasly and P5: Leclerc.

    Hopefully we see both McLaren’s and Ferrari’s battling for position tomorrow, with some late overtakes from Danny Ric. Both teams will be wanting to use tomorrow as much as possible so then they can get further up the grid and get more points for Sunday.

    Someone to look out for tomorrow is Alonso, we all see how he does in the Sprint the previous two times, so he may be a surprise and be towards the middle of the top 10!

    Times for tomorrow are-

    Saturday 13th- FP2: 15:00pm – 16:00pm (GMT), 16:00pm – 17:00pm (CET). Sprint: 19:30pm – 20:00pm (GMT), 20:30pm – 21:00pm (GMT).

  • Brazil GP

    We are back racing once again, for our second race of the triple header. Who will be leaving Brazil victorious? With only 19 points between the top 2 could this weekend be Maxs’ to loose? Or will it be Lewis’? Both have won here before, Max back in 2019 and Lewis in 2016 and 2018.

    This weekend isn’t like any normal race weekend, we have the final sprint of 2021, and with the fact that there are more points up for grabs who will be wanting to make the most impact? Could we see a Ferrari or McLaren up there trying to get some points? Or will it be two Mercs against one Bull or the other way round…

    In both weekends of the previous sprint races we have had Max and Lewis touch at Silverstone which saw Max DNF on the Sunday, and then the weekend in Monza where we saw Max and Lewis DNF on the Sunday again… Could we see potential of this again on Sunday? Personally I hope not, as I want the battle to come down to the last race!

    Who needs a good weekend?

    McLaren need a good weekend, after Ricciardo not scoring last weekend he will be wanting to get a good points haul this weekend to help in the fight for P3 in the Constructors, the same goes to Lando as well, even though he started back of the grid last weekend and managed to score one point, he will be wanting to finish higher up than that this weekend.

    Bottas will be wanting a good weekend, again after last weekend and not scoring, its put him in a spot where he could potentially loose P3 in the driver standings if Perez keeps having really good races and Bottas not having good ones, this would then effect on the Constructors too with only one point separating the top 2!

    Predictions for Qualifying-

    My predictions for the top five for qualifying are- P1: Verstappen, P2: Hamilton, P3: Bottas, P4: Perez and P5: Norris.

    Hopefully we see a Williams in the top 10 for qualifying this weekend. But traffic will play a part in qualifying tomorrow, so keep an eye out especially if there is a yellow flag.

    Pierre will be wanting to do well in tomorrows qualifying, last time out he got a podium here in 2019, so he will be wanting to do well this weekend and possibly pick up the pieces if something like that happens this weekend.

    Times for the weekend are-

    Friday 12th- FP1: 15:30pm – 16:30pm (GMT), 16:30pm – 17:30pm (CET). Qualifying: 19:00pm – 20:00pm (GMT), 20:00pm – 21:00pm (CET).

    Saturday 13th- FP2: 15:00pm – 16:00pm (GMT), 16:00pm – 17:00pm (CET). Sprint: 19:30pm – 20:00pm (GMT), 20:30pm – 21:00pm (GMT).

    Sunday 14th- Race: 17:00pm (GMT), 18:00pm (CET).

  • Tyres for Brazil

    Pirelli have chosen the tyres ahead of this weekend for the Brazil GP, where we will see the sprint race return for the last time in 2021.

    The tyres chosen are C2 (Hard), C3 (Medium) and C4 (Soft). This is the same tyre choice which has been made for the raves on the American continent this year, however it is a step softer than the tyre choice nominated in 2019.

    The hard tyre wasn’t used extensively on our last visit to Brazil, but this years choice should see an more even use of all compounds potentially different variations in strategy.

    The circuit itself-

    A lap of Interlagos is short and intense, the lap is one of the few anti-clockwise layouts on the calendar. With a non-stop succession of corners that keeps the tyres working hard- pacifically the front right.

    Traffic can be an issue on the circuit as its a short lap, so you may want to keep an eye out for this over the course of the weekend, especially qualifying, the traffic also plays a bit of a role on strategy for the sprint and race too.

    The weather in Brazil at this time of year can range from intense heat to torrential rain, but the circuit shouldn’t be affected as some grooves had been cut to help drain in the event of heavy rain, looking at the weather for this weekend, theres a possibility of rain on Friday right when Qualifying is…

    The winning strategy last time out in 2019 was by Max Verstappen, a three-stop where they had two safety cars at the end of the race. Without the safety cars, a two-stop strategy is favoured with the 71 laps on Sunday.

  • Ollie Bearman joins FDA

    Looking a little further down than F1, but to do with Ferrari’s Driver Academy, they have announced two new signings to join the successful academy.

    First one being Oliver Bearman and second Rafael Camara, who were chosen at the end of the FDA Scouting World Finals. The standard was very high this year, which is known for Ferrari as they want to find the most promising up and coming young drivers.

    Ollie has had a brilliant year, competing in both Italian Formula 4 and the German Formula 4 he walked away from both of them winning the titles at the age of 16. Italian F4 saw him with eleven wins, five pole positions and two fastest laps. With the German F4 saw him get six wins, five podiums, five pole positions and three fastest laps. He is the second British driver to join FDA after Callum Ilott.

    Rafael is currently racing in karts. He is definitely making an impact this year as he won the WSK Champion Cup and the WSK Super Master Cup. He won a European Championship race as well as a Champions of the future race. All getting him to this point now, he is the third Brazilian to join FDA.

    They both are joining a successful academy, FDA have seen the likes of Charles Leclerc, Jules Bianchi, Mick Schumacher, Callum Ilott through. As well as currently FDA drivers, Arthur Leclerc, Robert Shwartzman, Maya Weug, Dino Beganovic.

    Ollie Bearman says: “I am really happy to have been selected to join the Ferrari Driver Academy. It is a great way to end what has been a really good racing season  for me. Just spending a week in Maranello was in itself an amazing experience, especially getting to drive at the Fiorano track. Now, I can’t wait to start working at the Academy and to be part of the Ferrari family and to see what the future holds for me.”

    Rafael Chaves Camara says: “I am very happy to have been chosen by the Ferrari Driver Academy. It is a unique opportunity for me and I will do my best to repay the faith shown in me. It is a dream to be part of this big Ferrari family and I just have to thank everyone who has always supported me, especially my parents who are always by my side.”

    My Opinion-

    I think this is great, i’ve heard a lot about Ollie this year and I kept up on what he was doing while testing Formula 3 last week and I would definitely say he is one to watch out in the future. Just take a look at what his doing at just 16 years old, it makes you think what could he be doing in 5 years? F1 maybe? You may want to remember the name Ollie Bearman for the future.

    I haven’t heard much about Rafael until he got announced for FDA but I think now people will be wanting to keep an eye on what he does in the future myself included. To be scouted so young into your career obviously shows you have a tremendous amount of talent.

  • Saucy joins F3 for 2022

    The first signing for the 2022 Formula 3 Championship has been announced, and that is Grégoire Saucy and for ART Grand Prix.

    Saucy took part in the post-season testing at Valencia last week, where he set the best time of the three-day test and consistently running in the top two with ART.

    This isn’t the start of Saucy’s and ART’s relationship as it started last year as he competed in the Formula Renault Eurocup before making the switch to the newly formed Formula Regional Championship, he went on to get the title with 10 podiums including eight wins!

    “I am honoured and happy to continue the adventure with such a fantastic team like ART Grand Prix,” said Saucy. “This is a continuation after our great year 2021. I know the team and how it works, and this will be a very valuable asset to prepare for next season. I would like to thank my sponsors for this opportunity. The Valencia test went very well, even though I had a lot of new parameters to work through. Having said that, it’s way too early to set any goals for myself as I still.”

    Team manager Sébastien Philippe added: “After two years of a fruitful collaboration, concluded by securing the first title in the history of the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine in 2021, ART Grand Prix was very keen to take another step forward with Greg. He showed the full extent of his talent and maturity in 2021 and in addition to this, we have come to know and appreciate each other both personally and sportingly. I am delighted and eager to write this new chapter in our collaboration.”

    My Opinion-

    I think this is great, I kept an eye on what Saucy was doing during testing and he definitely was one of the ones who stood out for me. It will be interesting to see what he does next year!