Alpine have made some changes as team principal Otmar Szafnauer and sporting director Alan Permane leave the team, whilst chief technical officer Pat Fry has left to join Formula 1 rivals, Williams.
The exits are confirmed with the French team who currently sit sixth in the constructors’ championship after 11 rounds of the 2023 season, following successive double DNFs for both drivers at the British and Hungarian Grand Prix.
Alpine Motorsports vice president, Bruno Famin will take over from Szafnauer as interim team principal, while Alpine academy director, Julian Rouse is named interim sporting director and technical director Matt Harman takes leadership of the “technical team”.
Fry, the only member of the trio who appears to have chosen to exit, will be able to work at Williams in November after taking up the same role with the British team. He replaces, Francois-Xavier Demaison, who left Williams in December amid a shake-up that also saw James Vowles replaces Jost Capito as team principal.
The Alpine exits come little more than a week after Laurent Rossi was replaced as brand chief executive by Philippe Krieft, amid apparent infighting at the Enstone-based team.
Szafnauer, has paid the price for Alpine’s disappointing first half of the 2023 season, which sees them sit 134 points adrift of Ferrari, who currently hold the fourth position in which the French team finished last year.
BWT Alpine F1 Team announces today it will part ways with Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer by mutual agreement following the 2023 Belgian Grand Prix. Otmar will continue his duties as normal for last weekend’s race in Belgium, before leaving the team ahead of the summer break. The team would like to thank Otmar for his hard work over the past 18 months and for leading the team in achieving fourth place in the 2022 Constructors’ Championship. The team wishes him the best for the future. The team can also confirm it will part ways with Sporting Director Alan Permane by mutual agreement. Alan will also continue his role last weekend in Belgium before departing ahead of the summer break. After 34 distinguished years at Enstone, the team extends its thanks to Alan and wishes him the best in his future endeavours. The team also announces that Pat Fry will leave the team to continue his career in Formula 1 elsewhere.
The Drivers’ World Champion may have been crowned, but there was still lots to play for in the final round. All 22 drivers took to the track for the last Free Practice session of the weekend, with Jaguar TCS Racing’s Mitch Evans topping the timesheets.
The dry session on the half indoor-outdoor circuit was the final chicane to get some laps in before qualifying and the race later on.
Evans became the first man to set the fastest time of the weekend, locking in a 1m 10.152s lap which remained the best of the session. Sebastien Buemi and Nick Cassidy of Envision and Sam Bird also had their own moments as the quickest guys on track. By the time the chequered flag fell it was a Jaguar powertrain 1-2-3. As Evans led Bird in second and Buemi in third.
Several drivers found themselves going down the run-off at the chicane, pushing their cars to the limit whilst they could and get away with it during practice.
With 11 minutes on the clock, 21 drivers were all within a second of each other which shows just how close this field is in the new era.
Qualifying-
Envision Racing’s Nick Cassidy will start from the first place slot for a second consecutive race as he secured the Julius Baer Pole Position by just 0.010s in London. The Kiwi also picked up the important three points for pole to help Envision in their fight with Jaguar in the Teams Championship.
As the rain started to fall during the final qualifying of the session, several of the championship’s big players fought for their places on the grid.
Cassidy topped Group A with a time of 1m 10.521s, with Dennis a tenth behind in second, Buemi finished third and Bird also made it through. Mitch Evans topped Group B, at one point in the session, Nico Mueller set an identical lap time to the thousandth of a second. Norman Nato finished third with Season 8 Champ, Stoffel Vandoorne in the final spot.
The full top 10 are- P1: Cassidy, P2: Evans, P3: Nato, P4: Dennis, P5: Vandoorne, P6: Bird, P7: Buemi, P8: Muller, P9: Ticktum and P10: Wehrlein.
Round 16-
Nick Cassidy led the charge from the front for Envision Racing amid ultra-tricky, wet conditions in a delay-hit London E-Prix Round 16 – leading lights to flag for a fourth win of the season to ensure his outfit secured maiden Teams’ World Championship honours.
After delays for the wet weather to recede to allow a safe race, Cassidy composed himself to stride to a comfortable race win – where he headed home fellow New Zealander, Mitch Evans and new champion, Jake Dennis.
The race started behind the Safety Car, with eight laps waiting for things to get started properly. Stoffel Vandoorne and Sam Bird immediately jumped for their first of two mandatory Attack Mode on Lap 9.
On home soil, NIO 333’s Dan Ticktum made a move stick on Maserati MSG Racing’s Edoardo Mortara on Lap 15 as the Swiss-French-Italian got sideways out of Turns 4 & 5 opening the door for 10th and some points.
On Lap 19, the best racing was between three champions between Vergne in 16th, di Grassi 17th and da Costa in 18th as the former got a nudge from di Grassi with the trio inseperable as they looked to climb the order – just 0.8s between all three of them.
Four laps were added on for a 38 lap total but it wouldn’t change the result as Cassidy led Evans and Dennis home – with five seconds in hand.
The full top 10 are- P1: Cassidy, P2: Evans, P3: Dennis, P4: Nato, P5: Vandoorne, P6: Buemi, P7: Bird, P8: Mueller, P9: Ticktum and P10: Wehrlein.
The Formula E grid got their first taste of the indoor-outdoor London circuit in Gen3 as free practice got underway.
Nissan’s Norman Nato set the quickest time with a 1m 10.765s in the first practice session of the season finale weekend in London. His teammate, Sacha Fenestraz joined him in the top three. Sandwiched between the two Nissans was Season 2 champion Sebastien Buemi and just 0.006s of the top spot.
Teams were getting to grips with the newly-modified circuit, pushing their cars to the limits early on. Jake Hughes and Maximilian Guenther both explored the track limits with both of them going down the escape road at the chicane.
The Envision Racing and Jaguar TCS Racing cars are expected to be strong this weekend and started well with Sebastien Buemi topping the timesheets for most of the first 15 minutes. Soon enough his teammate Nick Cassidy went faster.
FP2-
Envision Racing’s Nick Cassidy let his championship rivals know he means business, as he set the fastest time in the final free practice session before the London E-Prix qualifying.
The Kiwi went over three tenths quicker than the next guy, NIO 333’s Dan Ticktum. All four championship contenders, Cassidy, Dennis, Evans and Wehrlein all finished in the top six.
Typical British weather came and heavy rain made for a wet track for Free Practice 2. Even though we have had wet conditions in Gen3 before, with the ABT Cupra’s putting on a masterclass in Berlin. The London circuit is half indoor-outdoor design means drivers won’t have the same consistency throughout a lap which proves a challenge.
Robin Frijns had a little moment, going down the run off at the chicane – something we have seen several times over the weekend so far. However, this unfortunately wasn’t his only off, as he brought out a red flag with a minute left on the clock. The Dutchman lost his car at the hairpin, clipping the wall and ending up in the barrier, also preventing any final flying laps from others on the grid.
Two-time champ, Jean-Eric Vergen also ran off at Turn 1 during the session, but he managed to master a quick turn around to join the track without any issues.
Qualifying-
Mitch Evans and Jaguar TCS Racing sealed Julius Baer Pole Position in London in a square fight against title rival Nick Cassidy in a nail-biting Duels Final. But Cassidy will take to P1 on the gird after Evans was served with a five place grid penalty for a collision in Rome.
Both drivers in the final, were pushing to the limit so much so Cassidy appeared to kiss the wall on his lap. Lining up alongside Cassidy will be Dennis, a copy of the Rome grid but in the opposite order.
The Envision duo of Cassidy and Buemi, the first time that both Envision’s have reached the Semis in the same race this year. Nick was sent through as his teammate made a crucial mistake.
There was a dramatic moment when championship leader, Dennis complained of a “huge power cut at Turn 9” whilst getting some laps in, in addition to mentioning that he’d hit the wall on a different lap.
Recent podium finisher in Rome, Norman Nato suffered a massive lock up on one of his laps and then went down on a run off.
The full top 10 are- P1: Evans, P2: Cassidy P3: Dennis, P4: Buemi, P5: Ticktum, P6: Rast P7: Wehrlein, P8: Vandoorne, P9: Bird and P10: Nato.
Round 15-
Jake Dennis navigated a crazy Hankook London E-Prix to come home second; enough to make sure of a sealing the 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Drivers’ Championship, as Mitch Evans took the chequered flag first.
Dennis survived two missed trips through the Attack Mode loop, heavy pressure from his closest rival and polesitter Nick Cassidy as well as two red flags to become Formula E’s first British World Champion and the first to take it on home soil.
Cassidy led the early stages before ceding top spot to eventual winner and countryman Evans on lap 11 and second spot to teammate Sebasiten Buemi. Dennis had made it by Cassidy with an opportunistic move at the final corner just a couple of laps before, with Cassidy immediately fighting his way back by the Andretti car.
However, with Cassidy running in formation, close behind the Swiss, the Envision drivers came into contact. Loose bodywork from that clash caused a brief spell under the Safety Car bunching the pack up. Dennis meanwhile was not impressed over the radio with Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein the German hanging onto fourth.
Wehrlein’s challenge then also fell by the wayside in a shunt just before a red flag was flown for the recovery of Sacha Fenestraz’s Nissan. He and Jake Hughes tangled into Turn 1.
On the restart Evans led away, with Dennis working his way into third – enough to seal the title as it stood. An over-optimistic move from Norman Nato at the penultimate turn on Lap 34 caused a chain reaction behind with several cars unable to avoid the mess enforcing another spell under the red flag conditions.
It was a three lap sprint to the flag at the restart with Dennis having only to hold fast to ensure he’d take top honours.
The full top 10 are- P1: Evans, P2: Dennis, P3: Buemi, P4: Bird, P5: Mortara, P6: Di Grassi, P7: Ticktum, P8: Nato, P9: Wehrlein and P10: Hughes.
The last race before summer break is officially over and we had a mid race shower with a few different strategies going on.
Max Verstappen recovered from a five place grid penalty to claim his eighth successive victory in Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix with teammate Sergio Perez adding to the celebration as he completed a one-two result. Charles Leclerc held on to the final podium spot, denying seven-time world champion, Lewis Hamilton.
The full top 10 are- P1: Verstappen, P2: Perez, P3: Leclerc, P4: Hamilton, P5: Alonso, P6: Russell, P7: Norris, P8: Ocon, P9: Stroll and P10: Tsunoda.
Lando Norris had an up and down race, as initially he lost a host of positions after starting on medium tyres and then switched to hards, but a move to softs as spits of rain began to fall proved inspired and he gobbled up the competition and eventually managed seventh.
A clash between Oscar Piastri and Carlos Sainz led to both drivers retiring – the McLaren driver clipping the inside wall at La Source as he had no where to go and Carlos went into him, which led to him having damage to his sidepod.
Aston Martin secured another double points finish, with P5 for Alonso and P9 for Stroll, I think Aston would be happy with that considering past couple of races.
Finally a good result for Perez, a podium! And it’s about time too, the last time he was on there was back in Miami, so he will be hoping to keep this good form going after we come back after summer break.
Mercedes, had a pretty good race, double points again and George had to work his way through the field after dropping a few positions. They go into the break on a high and will be hoping for more good results next month.
Round 14 isn’t until 25th to 27th August where we return to the Netherlands for Max’s home race, can he make it nine in a row?
Max Verstappen was at his best again, as the Red Bull driver narrowly beat the McLaren of Oscar Piastri and the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz to take pole for the Sprint Race.
Verstappen left it late to put a time down as he took the chequered flag with four seconds to go, but he went straight to the top of the timesheet’s with a 1m 49.056s.
The full top 10 are- P1: Verstappen, P2: Piastri, P3: Sainz, P4: Leclerc, P5: Norris, P6: Gasly, P7: Hamilton, P8: Perez, P9: Ocon and P10: Russell.
The drivers were met with worse conditions yesterday, than the day before as the Shootout got postponed by 35 minutes. Once it got started, with each lap the times were beginning to drop as track conditions continued to improve.
Aston Martin made a bold call during SQ2, as they put Lance Stroll on a set of medium tyres. However, the decision proved costly as Stroll ended up in the barrier at Turn 9 which saw a red flag. The session was unable to be restarted, Ricciardo narrowly missed out on a place in SQ3 along with the Williams duo and Aston Martin duo.
It was good enough. Just tricky conditions, you don’t want to make big mistakes so I think the lap was okay – I just didn’t risk too much in the second sector where it was still a bit damp, and it was just enough for first so that’s good. If it’s going to be wet, dry, also if it’s wet, how you’re going to survive with the wet tyres or the intermediates. So a lot of question marks still but we’ll figure it out along the way.
Verstappen on getting pole.
Sprint Race-
Red Bull’s, Max Verstappen converted pole position into victory during Saturday’s Sprint race at the Belgian Grand Prix, as he claimed back the lead from McLaren rival, Oscar Piastri after the two opted for different strategies.
Amid plenty of action at Spa-Francorchamps circuit, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly made the most of the conditions to round out the podium. Lewis Hamilton was demoted from fourth to seventh after the Mercedes man clashed with Sergio Perez and picked up a penalty.
The full top 10 are- P1: Verstappen, P2: Piastri, P3: Gasly, P4: Sainz, P5: Leclerc, P6: Norris, P7: Hamilton, P8: Russell, P9: Ocon and P10: Ricciardo.
With a rain theme of the weekend so far, the heavens opened up again just before the 17:05pm time scheduled start of the Sprint – officials decided to push it back by 30 minutes to allow the latest downpour to pass by.
By the time the formation lap began on mandated full wet tyres and behind the Safety Car which became several laps.
After a lot of near misses in the pit lane as drivers squabble for position after changing tyres to intermediates. Gasly found himself running third behind Piastri and Verstappen, with Perez up to fourth, Hamilton in fifth and Sainz rounding out the top six from Leclerc and Norris.
As the race started to settle down, Verstappen took his chance to gain into Piastri’s lead which stood at just under two seconds after their stops.
But on Lap 4, Fernando Alonso lost control of his Aston Martin at Pouhon and spun into the gravel which then triggered a Safety Car just before Verstappen was about to make a move on Piastri.
Hamilton and Perez dramatically banged wheels through Blanchimont as they battled over fourth position the seven time world champion managing to work his way through around the outside of La Source a few moments later.
I think [staying out on wets at the start] was just a safer call. I could come in first, but then I might be blocked by other cars. There might be a Safety Car and then you lose out massively. I didn’t to stay out, we lost one position, but we know that we are quick. I think you could see that when we put the inter tyres on we were flying, so it was OK!
Day one of the weekend is complete, let’s take a look at how qualifying went yesterday ahead of the Sprint today!
Max Verstappen claimed pole position in a thrilling session, however he won’t be starting from pole due to having a five place grid penalty, which means Charles Leclerc is set to start from P1 tomorrow.
The full top 10 from qualifying are – P1: Verstappen, P2: Leclerc, P3: Perez, P4: Hamilton, P5: Sainz, P6: Piastri, P7: Norris, P8: Russell, P9: Alonso and P10: Stroll.
A good result for both Ferrari’s, Charles starting P1 and Carlos P4, they haven’t had the best result recently so they will be wanting to capitalise on other’s misfortune during the race.
Finally a good result from Perez where he starts in the top 3! With his teammate starting 6th, Perez will be relied on to take the lead at the start, will he be able to do it? Or will Max breeze his way through the field again?
A great result from Piastri, out-qualifying Norris, and starting 5th on the grid. So far the rookie is having a great season, from being towards the back of the grid, to scoring big points almost every weekend as well as showing off his skills we all know he has. The Aussie will be hoping to get his first podium this season.
Alpine is still having a rough time at the moment, they would of been hoping for a clean weekend, but that disappeared when Ocon damaged his front wing after crashing into the barrier at Turn 9.
The final race before the summer break is here, and we are headed to Spa-Francorchamps for Round 13, which also involves another Sprint race!
What can Red Bull do this weekend? Will they manage a clean sweep from Qualifying to the Sprint Shootout and Sprint to the Grand Prix on Sunday? It will be an interesting one!
Could anyone stop Red Bull this weekend? Say the likes of McLaren? Or maybe Mercedes? With the Sprint in action aswell this gives the teams more of a possibility to get things right!
Who needs to shine?
Aston Martin, they’ve had a rough time at the moment, last time out in Hungary and only Alonso scored at Silverstone, so they will want a strong weekend but they now have McLaren and Mercedes to fight rather than just the one team.
Alpine, another rubbish weekend last weekend with a double DNF. The team will be hoping that because there is a sprint this weekend they have more of an opportunity to score points, as McLaren has built up a big gap.
Logan Sargeant, has had quite good form at the moment, and was having a good race last week until he had to retire in the pit, so he will be hoping to have another good weekend, maybe he will score some points?
The ABB FIA Formula E World Championship has reached it’s last race weekend of Season 9! As rounds 15 and 16 are held in London with home-hero Jake Dennis, the man with the target on his back.
Our very own Brit, Jake Dennis is on the verge of claiming his first FIA World Championship title, as the Avalanche Andretti driver goes into the two final races of the season in which he has won twice before – including a grand slam of Julius Baer Pole Position, TAG Heuer Fastest Lap, the race win whilst leading from start to finish last season.
A repeat of his supreme victory on the streets of Rome last time out – another Grand Slam, making him the only driver with more than one – would be enough to seal a first FIA World Championship title in the opening race on Saturday. 11 drivers have made it to the podium and 19 drivers have led a lap – beating Formula E’s Season 7 record.
The Circuit-
The ExCeL Circuit starts off indoors on a silky smooth surface offering bags of grip and after a quick succession of the corners the pack heads outside. Immediately on exit they will touch a strip of slippy metal, before heading down into the outdoor portion with the highly abrasive asphalt surround the exhibition centre.
The outside features a flowing set of chicanes prime for passing opportunities, from there it’s a quick run down to twisty set of curves before heading back up into the main hall to finish a lap.
With changes in surface, elevation and dealing with the shift in lighting, the field face a unique challenge with this indoor and outdoor circuit.
We’ve had three home winners in London: Sam Bird (Jaguar TCS Racing) Season 1, Alex Lynn (Mahindra Racing) and two for Jake Dennis with Andretti. Only Nico Prost and Dennis have managed more than one win in the British capital.
The tyres have been chosen for the final race before summer break and we head to Spa-Francorchamps for Round 13.
The selected tyres are- C2 (Hard), C3 (Medium) and C4 (Soft), the same as the 2022 Belgian Grand Prix.
Along with Silverstone and Suzuka, Spa-Francorchamps is a circuit where tyres are subjected to considerable forces. With the most challenging part is the compression at Eau Rouge followed by the climb up to Raidillon: consisting of a high speed left-hand turn, where the downforce squashes the car into the ground.
Spa is the longest track on the Formula calendar at 7.004 kilometres with 44 laps scheduled for the Belgian Grand Prix. When the circuit was inaugurated back in 1921, it was around double the length at 14.9 kilometres.
Looking back at last years race, nearly all the teams opted for a two-stop strategy using all three compounds. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen lined up 14th on the grid after a penalty but won the race with a great fightback, starting on the softs and then completing two stints on the medium.
The circuit also had the biggest difference in elevation of any track all year. The highest point is at Malmedy (around 468 metres above seas level) while the lowest is Paul Frere (around 366 metres above sea level).
After just a couple of days off, there’s another Formula 1 race this weekend: the last before the summer break. The Belgian Grand Prix is one of the most prestigious races on the calendar, held on a track that’s particularly challenging for drivers, cars, and tyres. We’ve nominated the same line-up of compounds as last year – C2, C3, and C4 – to offer a wide range of strategy options; at least if the rain holds off. Traditionally, the weather at Spa is a key factor throughout the weekend; the fact that the grand prix has moved dates – from the first race after the summer break to the last race before it – should make little difference, as the forecast is always variable anyway. The length of the track, with Spa being the longest lap of the year, and the variation in elevation – which is also the biggest of the whole season – means that it’s easy to find wet conditions on one part of the track while it’s completely dry elsewhere. New for this year is Spa becoming the third Sprint venue of the season, after Baku and Spielberg, with a Sprint Shootout on Saturday morning followed by a 100-kilometre race in the afternoon. With just an hour of free practice before qualifying on Friday (which, for now, seems to be the day most at risk of rain) there will be even less time than usual to set up the cars. At Spa, we tend to see some of the biggest differences in terms of aerodynamic setup between the teams: some prefer more downforce in order to push harder during the second sector while others prefer a looser car to have extra speed to attack and defend more down the straights. With two races this year, one of the most spectacular venues of the season is set to put on an even bigger show.
Porsche and Formula E have announced that the manufacturer has extended its involvement in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship through to Season 12 in 2025/2026.
Porsche entered Formula E in 2019 with an initial five-year commitment until the end of Season 10 which will conclude in July 2024. Today’s announcement confirms TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team will continue to compete in the premier all electric motorsport world championship through the Gen3 era,
Porsche also confirmed it will continue to play and active role in shaping the successful future of Formula E and is already involved in the design of Gen4 from Season 13.
This season has been the most successful for Porsche since it entered Formula E. Pascal Wehrlein and Antonio Felix da Costa have won four of the 14 races to date, with Wehrlein running for the title too.
For the first time this season, Porsche is supporting a customer team, Avalanche Andretti Formula E, with driver Jake Dennis currently leading the Championship with the final two races in London this weekend.
With our entry into Formula E, we have opened a new chapter in all-electric motorsport. We remain convinced that our presence and successes in Formula E will lay the foundation for future mobility solutions. It provides the most competitive environment to accelerate the development of high-performance vehicles with a focus on environmental friendliness and energy efficiency. We look forward to playing an active role in shaping the successful future of Formula E and thereby giving electric mobility even more impetus on a global scale.
Micheal Steiner, Porsche AG.
We want to bring innovative technologies and more sustainability to motorsport and be at the forefront of new developments. Formula E plays a major role in this. The competition in this series is at an exceptionally high level and enables us to provide important impetus for future production models. With high-class and exciting races, it inspires people around the globe for electromobility. We will be happy to continue to contribute to this in the future.
Thomas Laudenbach, Head of Porsche Motorsport.
Porsche has been a valued and influential team since joining Formula E and we are excited that this will continue. The championship is enabling Porsche to accelerate development of the innovative EV technologies we see in their road cars, while the team is an active member of the group driving development of the next generation of Formula E car to arrive in Season 13.
Alejandro Agag, Founder and Chairman of Formula E.
Formula 1 announced that the Hungarian Grand Prix will remain on the calendar for an additional five years until 2032, extending the existing deal that run until 2027.
The new agreement follows an announcement that the Hungaroring will undergo significant development and refurbishment in the coming years including a new pit building and a main grandstand.
Located just 20km outside the historic city of Budapest, the iconic 4.38km Hungaroring has been part of the F1 calendar since 1986 with many legends of the sport claiming victory at the circuit.
Five of the 2023 grid have been victorious at the Hungarian Grand Prix, with Lewis Hamilton holding a record eight wins, Fernando Alonso. Daniel Ricciardo won back in 2014, while Esteban Ocon claimed his maiden victory in 2021, and Max Verstappen made it back to back wins.
The Hungarian Grand Prix took place last weekend, with 300,000 fans in attendance, an increase from 290,000 in 2022. The Grand Prix this year also marked a special moment for the country with it being 20 years since Zsolt Baumgartner, the only Hungarian to compete in the sport, made his F1 debut.
It is great news to announce the extension of the Hungarian Grand Prix for an additional five years as we return for another action-packed weekend at the Hungaroring. It is a very special circuit next to the incredible city of Budapest and one all of the drivers and our fans look forward to on the calendar. To see the commitment from the promoter in Hungary to develop the facilities and further enhance the experience for fans is another important step and something we want to see all our events doing in order to continue to improve and make our races even better.
Hauger gained the run he needed on the way to Turn 1 to take the inside line and lead away from Kush Maini. Iwasa surged around the outside of the Campos driver at Turn 2 to take second from fifth on the grid, while Bearman was looming large in Maini’s mirrors for third.
Victor Martins also got in on the action, moving up to seventh from P9 on the grid, rounding Isack Hadjar at Turn 12 to end a busy opening lap.
Frederik Vesti tried to pass Hadjar at Turn 1 on lap 2 but was forced to take to the runoff. It allowed Jack Doohan enough momentum to go around the outside of the Championship leader and take ninth from the Dane at Turn 2.
A DRS train formed in the first 10 laps which started from second down to 21st as drivers looked to save tyre life for later in the race.
The formation running ended on lap 12 after a lock up by Clement Novalak into Turn 1 put the Trident driver on a collision course with Ralph Boschung. It left both drivers out of the running and brought out a brief VSC.
With 11 laps to go, Iwasa was given the all clear from the team to push, and the action ramped up once again as everyone upped the pace. The DAMS driver closed up to Hauger by eight tenths of a second on the following lap, with the gap at 1.9s entering the final 10 laps.
With five laps left, Pourchaire made the dive at Turn 1 on Maini having been stuck to the rear wing of the Campos. Bearman was next on the attack, taking fourth position from the Indian driver at the next corner, going all the way around the outside.
Down to three laps remaining and this time Bearman was the one making the late dive to the inside at Turn 1, forcing his way through on Pourchaire to take P3 from the french driver.
The full top 10 are- P1: Hauger, P2: Iwasa, P3: Bearman, P4: Pourchaire, P5: Daruvala, P6: Maini, P7: Martins, P8: Hadjar, P9: Vesti and P10: Doohan.
Day 3-
Doohan got a great launch from pole to lead into Turn 1 while third placed Vesti went wheel to wheel with Martins into the first corner. On the run to Turn 2, the PREMA Racing driver got the move done to seal second position.
Oliver Bearman started on mediums from seventh, but the Briton fell back to ninth on the opening lap, passed by Dennis Hauger and Enzo Fittipaldi who were both on the softs. Juan Manuel Correa made an electric start to move up five places to P10.
Zane Maloney was the first of those on soft tyres to make a mandatory stop on Lap 8. The Rodin Carlin driver rejoined in 21st but his stopped dragged a few more in on the following lap.
Isack Hadjar was the first of the top five to stop on Lap 13 from fifth and Theo Pourchaire responded one lap later, both swapping to the mediums. The ART Grand Prix driver rejoined in 14th to remain ahead of his compatriot, but both were caught up behind Amaury Cordeel on old medium tyres.
Vesti made the swap to mediums lap 23, rejoining in fourth position just 1.4s ahead of title rival Pourchaire. Martins pitted on the following lap and filtered out on cold tyres ahead of Vesti. The Mercedes junior breezed back through to take the place on the run to Turn 2.
While his rivals scrapped on track, Doohan made his stop on Lap 25, rejoining with the lead of the race and 8.7s ahead of closest challenger Vesti in second. Iwasa was onto the back of Pourchaire quickly with his soft tyres fired up. The Japanese driver got the switchback out of Turn 1 to take fifth position on Lap 26.
The full top 10 are- P1: Doohan, P2: Vesti, P3: Martins, P4: Iwasa, P5: Hadjar, P6: Pourchaire, P7: Hauger, P8: Fittipaldi, P9: Correa and P10: Verschoor.
In his first front row start of Formula 3, Nikita Bedrin didn’t let inexperience fail him, as he nailed his getaway and gave him the run he need to swoop around the outside and take the lead out of Turn 1.
Bortoleto tried to execute the same move on Mansell for third, but the Trident driver couldn’t keep it within the white lines, going across the run-off.
Further back on the grid, Tommy Smith and Sebastian Montoya made contact on the opening lap, with Van Amersfoort Racing driver pitched into the air and across the gravel.
Having been waiting for a time to make the right move, Bortoleto pounced for third on lap 7. Utilising the DRS, the Trident driver sailed from a long way back down the inside of the Campos at Turn 1. Aron tried to do the same two laps later, with a great run out of the final corner but couldn’t make the late move stick and ended up running wide.
Attempting to find his way through on Tsolov, O’Sullivan tried moves left, right and centre as the Bulgarian driver got his elbows out to defend eighth. Looking up at the apex, the PREMA car tagged the rear of the ART forcing O’Sullivan to box.
Montoya came to a halt between Turns 12 and 13, which triggered a Virtual Safety Car which was quickly converted into a full Safety Car.
Once racing resumed on lap 17 the field faced a three-lap sprint to the line. Aron instantly forced Mansell onto the defensive for fourth position, having been unable to get past at Turn 1, the Estonian got the job done around the outside of Turn 3.
The full top 10 are- P1: Mini, P2: Bortoleto, P3: Bedrin, P4: Aron, P5: Goethe, P6: Mansell, P7: Colapinto, P8: Edgar, P9: Saucy and P10: Beganovic.
Day 3-
O’Sullivan wasted no time breaking clear out front, as he bolted off the line to cover off his teammate Beganovic on the run down into Turn 1.
Oliver Goethe tried to swoop around the outside of Colapinto, but the MP Motorsport driver fought back to cling on to fourth. Having lost P6 off the line, Paul Aron muscled his way past Jonny Edgar through Turn 3.
After a disappointing Qualifying, Josep Maria Marti was on a redemption charge from 13th on the grid. The Spanish driver moved up into the points, where he quickly dispatched his teammate Mansell along with Edgar on Lap 8 to move into 8th position.
Championship rivals Bortoleto and Marti squared off against each other for seventh. The Campos car tried to pass the Brazilian at Turn 1, but a huge lock-up sent him sailing wide across the run-off area.
Edgar began hounding Mansell at the tail end of the points. Mansell suffered a lock up into Turn 1 on Lap 18, allowing the Briton to breeze through, with his MP teammate Mari Boya taking advantage to demote him out of the top 10.
The full top 10 are- P1: O’Sullvian, P2: Beagnovic, P3: Colapinto, P4: Goethe, P5: Aron, P6: Marti, P7: Bortoleto, P8: Edgar, P9: Fornaroli and P10: Boya.
Not long to wait until round 9 as it’s this week! We only have two rounds remaining of the Formula 3 2023 Championship, who will be our new champion?…
Round 12 is now complete, we had a dominant display from one driver in particular, and a bit of drama on the opening lap, let’s take a look at how it went…
Max Verstappen claimed his seventh win in a row! Which now saw Red Bull break records with 12 consecutive wins in a row – which was held by McLaren. Talking of McLaren… Lando Norris brings home a second consecutive podium, with Sergio Perez returning to the podium in third.
The full top 10 are- P1: Verstappen, P2: Norris, P3: Perez, P4: Hamilton, P5: Piastri, P6: Russell, P7: Leclerc, P8: Sainz, P9: Alonso and P10: Stroll.
Lovely work from both Bulls in today’s race, Max taking the lead into turn 1 on lap 1 and Sergio Perez making his way through the field and back onto the podium! Hopefully this gives him the momentum next week aswell!
Obviously another good result for McLaren, are they officially back now??!!! Two podiums on a trot for Lando and two good point finishes for Oscar, who will be hoping to get his first podium in F1 soon!
Now Mercedes, obviously great pace in Quali for Lewis, but not the best of days today, finishing 4th is still good but I think the team was expecting a podium at least… But George worked his way through the field and managed to get up into 6th after starting 18th.
Now onto the first lap drama… Both Alpine’s with a double DNF for the second week in a row. However this wasn’t their fault… Guanyu Zhou went into the back of Daniel Ricciardo who then went into Gasly and Gasly into Ocon… So they were kind of sitting ducks in that collision and was just really unlucky.
Now onto Ricciardo, first race weekend back, obviously unlucky with the incident on lap 1 but he managed to fight his way back through the pack and finish 13th, two places ahead of his teammate Tsunoda in 15th…
Now looking towards Round 13, we don’t have to wait too long as the next race weekend is only next week in Belgium the last race weekend before the summer break!
Will 13 be unlucky for Max, and we have a different driver win? Or will it be the Bulls going for a 13th consecutive win in a row?! Find out next week!
Ayumu Iwasa was quickly up and running around the Hungaroring, ending the first session of the weekend fastest of all for DAMS. The Japanese driver traded the top spot with Championship leader, Frederik Vesti throughout Practice. He ended up top of the timesheet with a 1:28.882, 0.149s quicker than the Dane. Martins rounded out the top three.
The ART Grand Prix driver set the initial pace with a 1:30.839 to lead the way from Roman Stanek and Jack Doohan in the opening 10 minutes.
Iwasa bettered the Frenchman’s effort before Vesti took the top spot, setting a 1:29.360 after losing a previous attempt for exceeding track limits. Martins immediately moved back to P2, 0.060s down on the best time from the PREMA Racing driver.
Doohan was looking set to challenge the top three, setting a purple middle sector but his efforts were soon undone with a lock-up and wide moment at Turn 12.
Qualifying-
Jack Doohan claimed his first FIA Formula 2 pole position of the year with a last-gasp effort in a closely fought session. The Invicta Virtuosi Racing driver’s 1:27.676 prevented a third consecutive pole position for Victor Martins with the ART Grand Prix driver second in the end. Frederik Vesti, held provisional pole for much of the session, but couldn’t find a late improvement, settling for third.
After the early warm up laps, Vesti set the benchmark to beat on a 1:28.334 to lead the way. Doohan popped his car into second early on, 0.2s back from the Dane with Martins third.
Improvements by Enzo Fittipaldi, Ayumu Iwasa and Dennis Hauger put them fourth, fifth and sixth respectively, bumping Doohan down to P7 before a red flag appears.
Trident’s Roman Stanek caused the stoppage after spinning into the barriers at Turn 11, with just under 20 minutes of Qualifying left.
With 12 minutes to go, the drivers switched to new soft tyres. With Pourchaire next to go top by just 0.001s ahead of his title rival until Vesti retook P1. Teammate, Oliver Bearman cracked the top five on his next lap to go fourth fastest ahead of Jehan Daruvala, who leapt up to fifth for MP Motorsport.
Martins had made an error on an earlier effort but with a purple middle sector, took provisional pole by 0.039s but this time Vesti couldn’t respond.
The full top 10 are- P1: Doohan, P2: Martins, P3: Vesti, P4: Pourchaire, P5: Hadjar, P6: Iwasa, P7: Bearman, P8: Daruvala, P9: Hauger and P10: Maini.
Qualifying this time was a bit different than normal, with Pirelli’s new ‘Alternative Tyre Allocation’ making its debut. Where Q1 drivers use hard tyre, Q2 the medium and Q3 soft.
And this time, it was Max Verstappen or Red Bull taking pole position… It was in fact the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton who stormed to pole 104. Max was close behind in 2nd and Lando Norris rounded out the top three.
The full top 10 are- P1: Hamilton, P2: Verstappen, P3: Norris, P4: Piastri, P5: Zhou, P6: Leclerc, P7: Bottas, P8: Alonso, P9: Perez and P10: Hulkenberg.
A great result for Lewis managing to get pole, the only other team apart from Red Bull and Mercedes to get pole this season is Ferrari, so it’s good to see that teams are closing in on the Bulls.
Obviously another great result for McLaren, starting P3 and P4, they’ll be looking at scoring big points this weekend and looking at the podium aswell.
The star of qualifying, Zhou Guanyu and the whole Alfa Romeo team really as Zhou took 5th and Bottas 7th, they’ve had a rough season so far but they will be looking to optimise on others downfall tomorrow so they can score good points.
An okay result for Perez, but he still isn’t where his meant to be, but at least he got into the top 10 this time. He has a bit of work to do during the race, and he will be hoping to stay out of trouble aswell.
Now looking outside the top 10, Daniel Ricciardo on his return managed 13th for AlphaTauri, and outperformed his teammate Tsunoda in 17th.
Predictions-
My top five for the race are- P1: Hamilton, P2: Verstappen, P3: Piastri, P4: Alonso and P5: Perez.
I feel like we might have a few surprises along the way in tomorrow’s race, maybe a strategy which hasn’t gone right or a bad pitstop or a badly timed safety car? Who knows what will happen, but one thing is for sure… Hamilton and Verstappen front row? Drama!!
Zak O’Sullivan was the driver to beat in the opening Free Practice session in Budapest. The PREMA Racing driver clocked in a 1:32.701 to take the top spot during the first half of the session.
Mari Boya started MP Motorsport weekend strong in second, three-tenths off the #3 car and Paul Aron secured third moments before the session ended early due to a red flag.
On his debut at the Hungaroring, Max Esterson took advantage of every opportunity to learn the track. Setting the initial time to beat with a 1:35.804s.
Williams Academy junior, Luke Browning took the lead with a 1:33.726 putting the Hitech Pulse Eight car 0.792s clear of Nikola Tsolov. Jenzer Motorsport’s Nikita Bedrin joined Browning inside the 1:33s as the remained of the field slowly peeled out of the pits.
PREMA Racing assumed the top of the timing sheets. Dino Beganovic went fastest with a 1:33.186 which was immediately beaten by O’Sullivan’s 1:32.702 and Aron joined his teammates inside the top three.
Rafael Villagomez brought out the Red Flag with six minutes remaining, the Van Amersfoort driver spun and crashed into the barriers at Turns 11 and 12.
Qualifying-
PREMA Racing’s Zak O’Sullivan stormed his way to his second FIA Formula 3 pole position and secured his and the Italian squad’s first pole position of the 2023 season.
Dino Beganovic couldn’t quite get close enough to his teammate’s 1:31.091 and had to settle for second, 0.403s off the Briton’s pace. Leonardo Fornaroli led Trident’s charge as he secured third.
After a dry and humid free practice, conditions changed for Qualifying and the field faced a slippery albeit drying Hungaroring. With drivers getting in banker laps early, with Fornaroli setting the early pace.
The red flag brought the session to a pause with 22 minutes on the clock. Oliver Gray got caught out around the slippery track, hitting the barriers out of Turn 3 but managed to crawl his way back to the pitlane.
As the clocked ticked down, so did the lap times. Hugh Barter went quickest momentarily with a 1:33.784, before Boya, Mini and Mansell all found even more margin out front.
O’Sullivan responded, going fastest in all three sectors to lay down a 1:31.091 with four minutes to go. As the medium tyres faded away, few could improve and the Williams junior’s time remained untouchable.
The full top 10 are- P1: O’Sullivan, P2: Beganovic, P3: Fornaroli, P4: Colapinto, P5: Goethe, P6: Aron, P7: Tsolov, P8: Edgar, P9: Bortoleto and P10: Mansell.
We are back! That’s right we have a double header coming up just before the summer break and we’ve had a little bit of a shake around…
Danny Ricc is back!! All eyes on him this weekend, to see how he gets on in the AlphaTauri car and his first race weekend since last season.
Will ANYONE stop Max? Or is he simply unstoppable at the moment? The last couple of races at Hungary have been entertaining, George’s pole last year and then Esteban Ocon winning in 2021, could we get some more drama this year?
Who needs to shine?
I think the most obvious one is Daniel, if he performs in the car and beats Tsunoda this weekend then I think his going to be a candidate for that Red Bull seat. But with so many people watching him will he be able to keep the pressure down?
The Ferrari’s, they had a bit of a rough run last time out in Silverstone, with Leclerc 9th and Sainz 10th. If they want to be in the fight for the Constructors then they need to pull there finger out, Aston Martin are ahead of them by just 24 points!
Alpine also need a good weekend, last time out aswell neither driver finished the race so no points scored, and then Gasly only managed just to get a point in Austria. With McLaren getting there best result of the season last time out, with a podium and P4 the British team has now pulled a gap to the French team.
Times for the weekend-
Friday 21st July-
Free Practice F3- 08:55am – 09:40am (BST)
Free Practice F2- 10:05am – 10:50am
Free Practice 1 F1- 12:30pm – 13:30pm
Qualifying F3- 14:05pm – 14:35pm
Qualifying F2- 15:00pm – 15:30pm
Free Practice 2 F1- 16:00pm – 17:00pm
Saturday 22nd-
Sprint Race F3- 08:50am – 09:35am
Free Practice 3 F1- 11:30am – 12:30pm
Sprint Race F2- 13:15pm – 14:00pm
Qualifying F1- 15:00pm – 16:00pm
Sunday 23rd-
Feature Race F3- 07:25am
Feature Race F2- 09:05am
F1 Race- 14:00pm
Predictions for Qualifying-
My top five are- Pole: Verstappen, P2: Leclerc, P3: Hamilton, P4: Alonso and P5: Russell.
I think, we might have a few shock surprises in Qualifying, with a few getting knocked out in Q1. There isn’t going to be any rain at the point of writing this, but Hungary is unpredictable…
A Formula 1 race in Madrid is a step closer to reality after the boss of the proposed venue insisted that he knows when a deal will be signed.
The claim was made on Thursday the 13th by Jose Vicente de los Mozos, the president of the executive committee of the IFEMA fairgrounds and convention centre located to the northeast of the Spanish capital.
Opened in 1991 IFEMA has become a major centre for conferences and conventions, and there is enough land in and around it to form the basis of a race circuit, with the existing buildings called into use.
Since March it has been the host of the officially-sanctioned and well-received F1 Exhibition, which in effect has served to help the city to stake its claim for a race event.
Barcelona currently has a deal to run the Spanish GP until 2026, and it’s not clear yet if the plan is for the new event to eventually take over the title, or if it will run as the Madrid GP.
The Madrid area previously hosted F1 when the Spanish HP was held at Jarama, to the east of the city and not much further away from the centre than the new venue.
The track first held the race in 1968, initially alternating with Montjuich Park in Barcelona, which co-incidentally like the proposed new venue was a street track adjacent to an exhibition facility.
I know when we’re going to sign it and when we’re going to do it. We have followed the process indicated to us. The Spanish Automobile Federation has been informed from the first moment, we have signed exclusivity, and now we are advancing with the contract.
De Los Mozos on a future race deal.
It is true that Madrid wants to host a race in the future. And no decision has been taken so far. That’s another great sign of the state of the health of F1. And this is the right competition that will not involve at all any political discussion, only commercial and technical and sporting discussion we’ll be taking the next couple of months. And for the best of F1 we will take the right decision. I’m sure about it. But we need to remember that we still have years of contract with Barcelona, and we are really very, very happy with the way that Barcelona is handling the future because, of course, this has helped them to react, to push for the improvement that is needed at all levels, everywhere. And then this, of course, is in a moment where we have Fernando [Alonso] performing incredibly well, and we have Carlos Sainz in Ferrari. Both of them have a lot of fans. We see that the TV rating figure is growing incredibly well in Spain. So the market is very, very strong now. And so that’s great that we have these kinds of hopes for the future.
Stefano Domencali speaking to F1’s own Beyond the Grid podcast.
The tyres have been chosen by Pirelli ahead of this weekends Hungarian Grand Prix!
The chosen compounds are- C3 (Hard), C4 (Medium) and C5 (Soft), which are softer than the compounds used last year.
Budapest will be hosting the debut of the Alternative Tyre Allocation (ATA) with just one mandatory slick compound for each qualifying session. Teams must use the hard compound in Q1, medium in Q2, and soft in Q3. If the qualifying is wet they will have a free choice of compounds as usual.
Under the ATA rules, the number of tyre sets available for each car is reduced to 11, instead of 13 available for a normal race weekend. Each driver will have three sets of hard, four sets of medium and four sets of soft. With the number of wet tyres staying the same.
On Friday, one set of tyres must be returned at the end of each free practice session. A further two sets must be returned on Saturday after FP3. This then leaves seven sets of tyres for qualifying and the race, and out of those seven one set of hards and one set of mediums must be kept for the race.
Hungary often features high ambient and track temperatures. With the race taking place at the end of July, and the circuit located in a natural bowl with little airflow, Budapest will be a challenge for both thermal management of the tyres and driver fatigue.
The most common strategy at the Hungaroring is a two-stopper, with a one-stopper occasionally perfered. The choices made last year were heavily influenced by a Virtual Safety Car, and a Safety Car.
Almost all drivers last year made three stops, using all three compounds available to them. At the start, half the grid was on softs and the other mediums, with the hard tyre normally being used for the second or third stint.
The Hungarian Grand Prix has become a classic event of the Formula 1 summer season, and as such the air and asphalt temperatures, which are usually very high, are the main features. This puts the drivers, cars and tyres to the test, not least because the twisting nature of the track does not allow anyone or anything to catch their breath. There’s a fairly long pit straight, which provides the only real overtaking opportunity under braking into the first right-hand corner. Then there are 13 more corners – seven right-handers and six left-handers – on a circuit that is second only to Monte Carlo in terms of slowest average speed; to the extent that the cars use similar downforce settings to Monaco. With so many slow corners, traction is one of the key factors for good performance and the biggest risk is tyre overheating. Despite being a permanent track, the Hungaroring is not used very often and the asphalt conditions improve considerably during the weekend as the ideal racing line rubbers in.
Usually, this race is all about strategy and tyre degradation. This year we have opted for a trio of softer compounds (C3, C4 and C5) compared to 2022, while a new tyre allocation for qualifying (known as ATA, or ‘Alternative Tyre Allocation’) will be tried out for the first time, with the obligation to use just the hard in Q1, medium in Q2 and soft in Q3 if conditions stay dry. Both these changes, at least on paper, should lead to a wider range of options, particularly in terms of strategy. The ATA also saves two sets of dry tyres compared to the traditional format (using 11 sets instead of 13) and it will be run again at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza. After that, the FIA, F1 and the teams will decide whether or not to adopt it for next season.
↗️ One step softer compounds for 2023 🆕 Alternative Tyre Allocation makes a belated debut 🌡️ High track and air temperatures to manage#Fit4F1#F1pic.twitter.com/Wdh7HzAWat
Jaguar TCS Racing’s Mitch Evans continued his Rome dominance, as he topped the timesheets in the final Free Practice session of the Rome double header.
Saturday’s winner, who achieved his third consecutive victory in the Italian capital, set a time of 1m37.561s. Envision’s Sebastien Buemi, who had to have his car rebuilt after a big crash in Round 13, slotted into second. Joining him in the top tree was Maximilian Guenther who set a completely identical time to Buemi.
Nissan’s Sacha Fenestraz, wasn’t able to take part in FP3, being forced to watch from the sidelines, reportedly he had a battery problem.
Maserati’s Maximilian Guenther had a small impact with the wall at Turn 7, going into the barriers after bailing the corner. Minutes later, Roberto Merhi (Mahindra Racing) narrowly avoided a big shunt, as he had a very close call with the wall at Turn 13/14.
Qualifying-
Avalanche Andretti’s Jake Dennis kept his cool in the scorching Rome heat to start the Hankook Rome E-Prix from the Julius Baer Pole Position. It’s his second pole of the season and has helped him clinch an extra three points to close up the gap to Championship leader, Nick Cassidy to just two points.
Cassidy will start on the front row of the grid alongside the driver closest to him in the standings Dennis, with championship contender Mitch Evans starting in fourth.
Dennis has never finished lower than second when starting from his previous four pole positions. Round 14 will be crucial in the title battle and it’s set up perfectly.
In the Semi’s it was a Kiwi showdown, as Round 13 winner Mitch Evans took on Cassidy. Both cars are equipped with Jaguar powertrains, it was Cassidy who made it through and guaranteed himself a spot on the front row.
The full top 10 are- P1: Dennis, P2: Cassidy, P3: Nato, P4: Evans, P5: Bird, P6: Guenther, P7: Ticktum, P8: Buemi, P9: Mortara and P10: Da Costa.
Round 14-
Jake Dennis took full advantage of his rival’s misfortune to hammer his authority home on the 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Drivers’ Championship with a stunning first Grand Slam of the Gen3 era.
Dennis led away from pole and just about kept himself out of the absolute disaster that struck his closest title rivals Nick Cassidy and Mitch Evans behind on just the second lap of the race.
As the former took a look at Dennis for the lead into the braking zone at Turn 7, Evans lost the rear of his Jaguar in the compression, clipped the leader’s Andretti and spectacularly launched over the top of Cassidy’s Envision. Dennis took full advantage of Evans’ damage proved terminal while Cassidy could only recover to 14th come the end of the race.
The result means Dennis takes a 24-point advantage over Cassidy into the season finale double-header in London – home soil and a circuit he’s strong at as a two-time winner. Evans is 44 points back in third, while TAG Heuer Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein retains a slim mathematical hope, 49 points shy of top spot with 58 points available.
Joining Dennis in the top three were Norman Nato in P2, who managed to hold off Sam Bird for the duration despite suffering early damage to his front wing in P3.
The full top 10 are- P1: Dennis, P2: Nato, P3: Bird, P4: Mortara, P5: Buemi, P6: Guenther, P7: Wehrlein, P8: Vandoorne, P9: Ticktum and P10: Muller.
With the sun beating down on the Rome circuit, the TAG Heuer Porsche of Pascal Wehrlein went quickest in the first free practice session of the double header.
The Jaguar TCS Racing driver, Sam Bird rounded out FP1 in second, with the Maserati MSG Racing of Edoardo Mortara completing the top three.
Championship leader, Jake Dennis had some early concerns about his steering column. As a result of this, the Brit spent most of the valuable session in the garage, as his Andretti squad tried their best to fix his X99 Electric Gen3 – with the Brit complaining of poor confidence in the rear axel.
The last team out of their garages was Mahindra Racing. Mahindra and customer ABT CUPRA cars both had a small software issue in the rookie test and continued into FP1, with all four drivers with Mahindra power units spending time in their pit boxes at points.
Antonio Felix da Costa (TAG Heuer Porsche) spun at Turn 7, bringing out a brief yellow flag. A little later on, his old teammate Jean-Eric Vergne also found the limits of the street circuit as he pirouetted at Turn 14 whilst on a push lap.
FP2-
Three time Rome race winner, Mitch Evans closed out Free Practice 2 with a meteoric 1m37.881s firing him to the top of the timesheets, and almost half a second inside last year’s pole time.
Several drivers were using the 30 minute session to explore the limits of the circuit with a few early yellow flags for offs at Turn 7. The likes of Mitch Evans and both NIO 333 drivers found themselves doing a 180 degree spin down the escape road.
Evans had already gone quickest before he embarked on his final lap as the timer expired in the session. He went another four-tenths quicker than his previous best.
Portland winner, Nick Cassidy found himself with work to do in 15th, following up on just 12th in FP1. The Kiwi is just a point behind Dennis in the standings.
Qualifying-
Jaguar TCS Racing’s Mitch Evans strolled to Julius Baer Pole Position making it his second of the season – heading a front row lockout for the team.
Evans and Bird headed into the Final knowing they’d achieved their second front-row lockout in Formula E. Evans had been 0.6 seconds quicker than the rest in FP2, but there was nothing between the two over the opening sector of the lap until Bird made a mistake dropped him well over a second back from his teammte.
Standings leader, Jake Dennis said he didn’t feel quite at one with the car in qualifying, he made the Duels but only managed seventh. That said, he’s ahead of his closest title rival Nick Cassidy – the Envision driver down in ninth and third-placed Pascal Wehrlein also failed to make the Duels – knocked out of Group A.
Fenestraz faced Bird in the first Semi. The Nissan looked rapid throughout but with the track temperature hitting over 50 celsius, it looked liked it’d be Bird in the final as Fenestraz slipped up and made a costly error.
Evans faced Buemi. As the Jaguar driver started promosingly, taking a slender advantage of less than a tenth of a second over the first half of the lap. More than a second split the two, Buemi would nevertheless be happy with fourth.
The full top 10 are- P1: Evans, P2: Bird, P3: Fenestraz, P4: Buemi, P5: Rast, P6: Mortara, P7: Dennis, P8: Guenther, P9: Cassidy and P10: Wehrelein.
Round 13-
Mitch Evans became the first polesitter to stride to victory in Rome int he Hankook Rome E-Prix Round 13, besting the rest in a race of two halves, split by a massive multi-car shunt involving his teammate Sam Bird and several other drivers.
Evans was jumped by Bird off the line, with Jaguar looking like playing it tactically, ensuring the Kiwi could conserve energy in the slipstream behind the sister I-TYPE 6.
The pair then swapped positions again after the opening of the race before Sacha Fenestraz made it by Bird first and then Evans for the lead through the first round of Attack Mode activations and a brief break in the action for a Safety Car while Andre Lotterer’s car was recovered – the German finding the wall.
High drama on Lap 9 saw multiple cars caught up in a massive shunt at the quickest part of the track with Bird losing the rear of his Jaguar over the tricky, rapid and undulating section between Turns 6 and 7.
Sebastien Buemi, clipped back end of the Jaguar on his way through – the Swiss narrowly missing a square-on impact. Edoardo Mortara flew into the side of Bird’s car as it sat stricken in the middle of the circuit while several other drivers picked their way through and escaped with minor damage. That meant big ramifications for the teams and drivers – who all thankfully escaped unharmed in testament to Gen3 resilience.
Fourteen cars made the restart, with Fenestraz heading the pack away with Evans in tow. From there, Dennis seized the initiative, passing Evans with a sweeping move around the outside of the Jaguar through Turn 5.
It was comfortable for Evans to the flag, as headed home Cassidy while Maximilian Guenther also dispatching Dennis for third at the flag.
The full top 10 are- P1: Evans, P2: Cassidy, P3: Guenther, P4: Dennis, P5: Vergne, P6: Mortara, P7: Nato, P8: Sette, P9: Wehrlein and P10: Fenestraz.
The ABB FIA Formula E World Championship is back this weekend as we return to Rome for Round 13 & 14, it’s also the penultimate race weekend of Season 9 with the standings top four all sat within striking distance.
Formula E makes its way back to the Eternal City for the fifth season and its seventh race in the Italian capital city at the Circuito Cittadino dell-EUR.
Four drivers representing four teams two marques, Jaguar and Porsche are split by just 32 points – well inside the total on offer over the two races in Rome.
Last time here in 2022, we had a double winner, Mitch Evans who has been the most successful here in Rome with three wins to his name. He looks like he will be one of the strongest drivers this weekend due to his speed this year and the Rome record.
The Circuit-
As one of the longest tracks on the calendar, the Circuito Cittadino dell’EUR races around the Obelisco di Marconi, against the backdrop of the iconic Colosseo Quadrato.
The Rome circuit features plenty of challenges for the drivers with undulations, lots of elevation changes, uneven surface and that jump – it’s a technical and fast track with long straights and a host of passing opportunities in the Eternal City.
The 19 turn 3.385km Circuito Cittadino Dell’EUR is among Formula E’s longest and takes in the city’s Palazzo dei Congressi, Piazzale Marconi and the iconic Palazzo della Civilta Italiana, also known as the “Square Coliseum” while Ninfeo Park skirts the track.
It’s a perfect mix of high speed runs and tight, complex sections and undulations with plenty of opportunities for overtaking at the hair pin and some 90 degree bends – peak Formula E and a big favourite of the drivers.
Reserve pole sitter, Vesti got things underway with a rolling start, pulling well clear of Isack Hadjar, Pourchaire and Bearman, who dispatched Enzo Fittipaldi with a brave move around the out of Becketts.
Further down the order, Brad Benavides spun off at the loop after being tagged by Clement Novalak, as the pair tried to avoid a slowing Ayumu Iwasa.
Once the safety car went in on Lap 3, Vesti once again nailed his getaway steadily began building his advantage out front. Teammate Bearman wasted no time dispatching two cars in one lap.
Fittipaldi and Victor Martins were locked in battle over sixth. From the loop, the pair were side-by-side until the Rodin car was able to sweep into Copse to keep the position.
As conditions slowly improved, Doohan caught Bearman on lap 11 to set up fight for the remaining laps. Up ahead, Pourchaire utilised his better traction out of Club to snatch second from Hadjar on Lap 12.
Doohan and Bearman then resumed their battle on lap 17. Desperate to keep the place after Doohan got alongside him out of Stowe, Bearman locked-up into Vale and ended running up into the gravel.
The full top 10 are- P1: Vesti, P2: Pourchaire, P3: Doohan, P4: Fittipaldi, P5: Hadjar, P6: Bearman, P7: Martins, P8: Leclerc, P9: Nissany and P10: Maloney.
Day 3-
Ayumu Iwasa got a lightning start from third, immediately getting the better of pole sitter Martins off the line. However, the ART Grand Prix instantly fought it back, diving up the inside of the loop to retake the lead.
Meanwhile, second-place Kush Maini got bogged down off the line, allowing Oliver Bearman to move up into third and Enzo Fittipaldi dived up past Jack Doohan for fourth.
Martins already had a 4.5s advantage before the first Safety Car arrived on Lap 7 following a spin for Amaury Cordeel at Stowe. The ART driver and the top six soft tyre runners took the opportunity to complete their mandatory stops.
Racing resumed on lap 11, Hadjar was able to put a gap between himself and Leclerc, while Doohan lost out to both Maloney and Pourchaire. Further back, Championship leader Frederik Vesti was caught up in a crash at Vale, tagged from behind by Dennis Hauger. The contact knocking him straight into Roman Stanek’s Trident, triggering a second Safety Car.
On Lap 17, Martins was handed a five-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage just as the Safety Car made a third appearance of the day.
The full top 10 are- P1: Martins, P2: Maloney, P3: Pourchaire, P4: Doohan, P5: Iwasa, P6: Daruvala, P7: Fittipaldi, P8: Bearman, P9: Leclerc and P10: Crawford.
Daniel Ricciardo will be making a return to the Formula 1 grid as he will be replacing Nyck de Vries at Alpha Tauri for the rest of the season.
The Australian driver has been in action today at Silverstone, driving Red Bull’s current RB19 car in a Pirelli tyre test. But it’s now been announced that Ricciardo – currently Red Bull’s third driver will be on loan from Hungary for AT.
Dutch driver De Vries, who stared in a one-off drive for Williams at Monza last year where he claimed ninth position on an impressive first outing, has endured a difficult first season of full time racing in F1 and is still yet to score any points.
This has unfortunately led to him being replaced after 10 Grand Prix, with eight time race winner Daniel Ricciardo who lost his seat with McLaren at the end of 2022 season following two trouble seasons with the team stepping in.
He is set to re-join the Faenza squad with whom he spent two seasons with in 2012 and 2013 in their Toro Rosso guise before his promotion to Red Bull in 2014.
Ricciardo went one to net seven victories for Red Bull, before joining Renault for two seasons from 2019, then moving onto McLaren for 2021.
My Opinion-
Honestly, it’s great to see Daniel back in F1 but I have a feeling this is a test for him. Obviously he done the tyre test at Silverstone today and apparently the time was quick enough to be on the front row last Sunday… But this test I’m talking about, is if he performs well enough the last 12 races, could he possibly replace Sergio Perez at Red Bull next season?
There’s also a part of me which is gutted for Nyck, no-one deserves to be treated this way whether you’ve been in F1 for months or years. I get he hasn’t scored any points this season, but we are only 10 races in, whereas other rookies for Alpha Tauri / Red Bull outfit have been given more than a season to prove themselves.
I’m very pleased to welcome Daniel back into the team. There’s no doubt about his driving skills, and he already knows many of us, so his integration will be easy and straight forward. The team will also profit a lot from his experience, as he is an eight-time Formula 1 Grand Prix winner.
As rain began to fall before lights out, all bar Gregoire Saucy started on slicks. Pole sitter Sebastian Montoya kept the lead from pole, while Taylor Barnard surged up to second as he passed Jonny Edgar around the outside of Turn 1.
Colapinto then passed both in one move, diving down the inside at Village to go from fourth to second. A scruffy run through Maggotts and Becketts allowed Barnard to slot back into second.
With DRS enabled, Bortoleto was able to put pressure on Mini ahead in fifth position, the Brazilian driver was through on the Hitech driver as he forced a lock-up from the Italian driver into the Vale Chicane.
The heavy rain arrived on lap 8 and the Safety Car was deployed with all the drivers running slick tyres. Dino Beganovic took the opportunity to pit for wet tyres whilst the rest of the grid remained on track.
With positions one to 10 still on dry tyres and those behind on wets, the Safety Car was withdrawn entering lap 13, with Barnard right on the rear wing of Montoya, the pair made contact at Turn 1.
After his spin, Montoya was back into the points and eighth, as he passed both of the PREMAs down the Hangar Straight with three laps to go.
The full top 10 are- P1: Colapinto, P2: Bortoleto, P3: Mansell, P4: Collet, P5: Mini, P6: Barter, P7: Fornaroli, P8: Montoya, P9: Cohen and P10: Marti.
Day 3-
Fornaroli covered off his teammate to retain the lead into Turn 1 while Gabriel Bortoleto made immediate progress up to fourth position, going around the outside of Mansell into Turn 3.
Further ahead, Marti cleared Goethe to take second position, albeit briefly. The Trident driver was able to retake the place with a great pass around the outside of Stowe later on.
Luke Browning made contact with Hugh Barter out of the final corner, leaving the Hitech driver with a broken suspension. It resulted in his retirement from the race and brought out the Safety Car. Edgar was also out of his home event on lap 1 after contact with Collet on the opening lap.
On lap 17, rain began to fall and Robert Faria went off into the barriers at Woodcote. He was out of the car ok and the Safety Car came back out. As the rain intensified, Tommy Smith was the only taker for wet tyres with three laps remaining, rejoining in 28th position.
Van Amersfoort Racing’s Collet was able to make great progress despite running the slick hard tyres, taking multiple positions on the penultimate lap to rise up to the points positions. Teammate Smith was able to take full advantage of conditions on the wets, going from 28th to 12th in the space of a lap and a half.
The full top 10 are- P1: Goethe, P2: Fornaroli, P3: Marti, P4: Aron, P5: Mansell, P6: Bortoleto, P7: Mini, P8: Colapinto, P9: Saucy and P10: Montoya.
DAMS’ Ayumu Iwasa kicked off Round 9 in style around Silverstone, laying down a 1:41.593 in the final minutes of a disrupted Free Practice to top the session by 0.060s from Victor Martins.
Martins got the first competitive lap of the day on board after the first 10 minutes of the session. The ART driver put down a 1:42.690 put him five tenths ahead of Iwasa before improving further to a 1:42.067.
Running stopped at the 24 minute mark, due to Juan Manuel Correa losing his rear of the Van Amersfoort Racing Car spinning off into the gravel at Copse which resulted in a red flag.
With just over 15 minutes left, Martins quickly took advantage to leapfrog teammate Pourchaire for P2. The Alpine junior wasn’t done there as he improved to a 1:41.653, before the VSC made an appearance as Dennis Hauger suffered a spin at Brooklands and couldn’t get his car restarted.
Qualifying-
Victor Martins will start from P1 for the second time in the space of a week. The Frenchman was the man to beat once again in Qualifying, setting a 1:39.832 to secure the top spot around Silverstone.
Kush Maini made a late improvement to jump up to P2 for Campos Racing late on, whilst Ayumu Iwasa moved himself up into third with his final effort.
Practice pacesetter, Iwasa was quick to set the early benchmark with a 1:41.100 matched exactly by his teammate Arthur Leclerc to the thousandth.
The first of two red flags came at the 19 minute mark after Amaury Cordeel spun off into the barriers at Copse. After the Invicta Virtuosi car had been recovered, a short green flag spell was broken by the second red flag.
The full top 10 are- P1: Martins, P2: Maini, P3: Iwasa, P4: Doohan, P5: Bearman, P6: Fittipaldi, P7: Maloney, P8: Pourchaire, P9: Hadjar and P10: Vesti.
Round 11 is now complete, let’s take a look at how it went down at an action-packed British Grand Prix weekend!
Max Verstappen extended his current winning streak to six races and a first at Silverstone. With Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton rounding out the podium putting on a show for the British crowd.
The full top 10 are- P1: Verstappen, P2: Norris, P3: Hamilton, P4: Piastri, P5: Russell, P6: Perez, P7: Alonso, P8: Albon, P9: Leclerc and P10: Sainz.
Norris jumped Verstappen for the lead at the start, with teammate Oscar Piastri almost following him through, meaning it was a Red Bull sandwich over the first few laps – but the reigning double world champion fought back.
We had a late Safety Car period as Kevin Magnussen’s Haas was smoking which saw the leading group come into the pits.
Great result for McLaren!! Wow, so glad we saw Lando on the podium at his home race, as it’s fully deserved! Obviously gutting for Piastri for him to miss out on his maiden F1 podium but either way its a career best finish for him in 4th!
Obviously a great result for the Mercedes team too, I think we had no doubt that Lewis will get on the podium here, but to have George in the top five too, just rounds out the weekend for them.
Not the best result for Ferrari, 9th and 10th is a bit shocking considering their pace in qualifying, but these things happen, they still scored points!
Another great weekend from Albon, so happy to see him doing well at the moment, it’s like his fount something and it just clicks, so more points in the bag for himself and the team! As for Logan Sargeant, he was just missing out on points in P11! But I have a feeling they’ll come soon enough.
A decent result for Perez considering his starting position, I think we all know it could’ve been a better result. I think it’s time he needs to re-group and start fresh as I think RB might get the hump soon if they haven’t already with the Mexican…
We are back racing for Round 12, in just under 2 weeks! And we head to Hungary on the 21st to 23rd July!
What a qualifying session we had yesterday, with changing conditions adding a bit of drama to it, which brought out a few surprises… good and bad!
Max Verstappen made it five pole positions in a row and seven for the 2023 season so far, as he beat the McLaren pair, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri to the top spot.
The full top 10 are- P1: Verstappen, P2: Norris, P3: Piastri, P4: Leclerc, P5: Sainz, P6: Russell, P7: Hamilton, P8: Albon, P9: Alonso and P10: Gasly.
Obviously first few drivers I have to mention are McLaren! WOW, honestly being a McLaren, Norris and Piastri fan I’m so happy. We all saw how Lando did last weekend with the updated car, and now Oscar has it, McLaren have made a huge step forward!
Really good results for Ferrari, nice to see them both there together, so they can push for more points today.
Now Sergio Perez… he is starting 15th, not the place he wants to be that’s for sure, especially when there’s both drivers from three teams in the top 10. It’s his 5th exit not being able to make Q3, I think something needs to change on his side of the garage, whether it’s just bad luck or not.
Valtteri Bottas got disqualified from qualifying as he starts in the race in P20. Bottas ground to a halt at the end of Q1, after bagging himself a spot in Q2.
The FIA were unable to extract the stipulated one-litre fuel sample from the C43 machine, which lead to him being disqualified.
I think we might have an entertaining race, we have Sergio Perez coming through the field, and will the McLaren’s be able to turn the qualifying pace into race pace and keep up with the likes of Ferrari and Mercedes.
Hitech Pulse-Eight’s Luke Browning started his and his team’s home event in fine form, setting a 1:45.794 to lead the way in Free Practice.
With the Championship leader, Gabriel Bortoleto following closely in second position and Dino Beganovic in third making him the highest-placed PREMA driver.
Sebastian Montoya got the weekend rolling with a 1:48.957 and the initial time to beat. Leonardo Fornaroli and then Franco Colapinto quickly beating that.
There was contact between Kaylen Frederick and Zak O’Sullivan at Turn 16 as traffic began to build up and drivers searched for clean air. The Briton was able to continue in the session, but the ART Grand Prix driver was out after sustaining suspension damage and recovering to the pitlane.
Browning continued to lap quickly, lowering his best time to a 1:45.946 before a Virtual Safety Car was deployed to recover debris left by the earlier contact.
Back to green flag conditions with 12 minutes left, and there were very few improvements as Bortoleto moved himself up to second on a 1:46.075s.
Qualifying-
Leonardo Fornaroli headed up a Trident 1-2 around Silverstone, taking his maiden Formula 3 pole position with a 1:45.520.
Fornaroli’s teammate, Oliver Goethe followed in second after making a late improvement, whilst Josep Maria Marti led the Campos Racing effort in third.
Gabriele Mini set the early pace with a 1:46.619 which was swiftly beaten by teammate Luke Browning. The Tridents of Gabriel Bortoleto and Oliver Goethe crossed the line to split the two Hitech drivers, with the top three covered by just 0.120s.
The track filled up once more after a swap to fresh tyres with less than 10 minutes remaining of Qualifying.
Mini, Browning and Aron each improved on their next efforts but only the Estonian driver got to within a quarter of a second of Fornaroli’s provisional pole time.
The full top 10 are- P1: Fornaroli, P2: Goethe, P3: Marti, P4: Mansell, P5: Bortoleto, P6: Aron, P7: Mini, P8: Browning, P9: Colapinto and P10: Barnard.
Jordan's Track Talk 