Lance Stroll, I feel like his not been spoke about much recently? Has he had just a quiet season and working behind the scenes to focus on this years car or has he just struggled? Lets take a look into his season…
Overall his season is okay, obviously not the best but not the worst either… 9 times he got in the points, making him finish 13th out of all 20 drivers on 34 points, his new team-mate Vettel was in 12th and scored 43 points. Stroll had 3 DNF’s across the season, one being the tyre blow out in Azerbaijian, and then the Hungarian race and the last one being Brazil where he had lasting damage from contact with Tsunoda.
His qualifying is where you can see the inconsistency, reaching Q3 six times and then its just a mixture from 12th to 20th… I don’t know if he felt like he had a better race car than one lap pace but it just looks like he has struggled so much compared to last year where he scored in 10 out of 17 races, and where he finished 11th in the drivers standings on 75 points.
Below, is a table of Lances’ qualifying position compared to his race position:
Grand Prix
Qualifying position
Race position
Bahrain
10th
10th
Emilia Romagna
10th
8th
Portugal
17th
14th
Spain
11th
11th
Monaco
13th
8th
Azerbaijan
DNF
DNF
France
NC
10th
Styria
10th
8th
Austria
10th
13th
Great Britain
15th
8th
Hungary
12th
DNF
Belgium
15th
20th
Netherlands
12th
12th
Italy
12th
7th
Russia
8th
11th
Turkey
9th
9th
United States
16th
12th
Mexico
20th
14th
Brazil
15th
DNF
Qatar
12th
6th
Saudi Arabia
18th
11th
Abu Dhabi
13th
13th
Obviously, I know the car has changed, but can it really change that much? Considering his team-mate got two podiums in his first year with the British team (one being DSQ) but it seemed like he pushed the car more than Stroll did?
But saying this, with things changing this year could we potentially see a Lance Stroll who is continuously making Q3 appearances or scoring points almost every race? If this does happen then I can’t wait to see it!
It has been announced by Aston Martin that Otmar Szafnauer has left the company and his role.
The team will be managed by the leadership team which is already in place until a replacement is appointed.
Szafnauer has been with the team since 2009, back in the Force India days. He played an integral role in the teams performance with the team going on an upward path.
His role in the team also saw him secure a long-term agreement with Mercedes to use the Powertrains from 2014 onwards.
Back in November there was speculation Otmar would be joining Alpine, as Laurent Rossi the CEO of Alpine revealed he was planning to undertake an assessment of his leadership team. However the rumours got shut down pretty quickly…
Aston Martin says: “We would like to thank him for the service provided to the team over the past 12 years and wish him well for the future as he will undoubtedly take on new challenges. Fortunately, we are led and managed by a strong group of individuals, and we are comfortable to take a little time to explore options before announcing a new team structure.”
My Opinion-
Well, I’m not shocked in the slightest but it does make you think, could Otmar be going to Alpine? I could see him going there and it really benefiting the team so for now it’s just a waiting game to see if he does go there…
During the season, we tend to look at the Championship contenders/ teams which are doing well more so than other teams/drivers. But seeing as the season has ended, now would be the perfect time to take a look back through the careers of some of the other F1 drivers on the grid. My main question being in this post is, is Esteban Ocon underrated?…
Lets take a look back…
The French man has had a good career so far, working his way through F3, GP3, DTM and the Formula 1, his first full season being in 2017 where he signed for a two year deal with Force India now called Aston Martin, his team-mate back then was Sergio Perez.
But during the 2018 season, it is said that Ocon had an “informal agreement” with Renault for the 2019 season, because Lance Stroll was moving to Force India. But, the bad news for Ocon was Renault signing Daniel Ricciardo instead of Esteban Ocon which left no room for the now 25 year old.
So Esteban became Mercedes reserve driver for the 2019 season- however he did not get the chance to fill in for a driver during the season but apparently became “very close” to replacing Valtteri Bottas, but they decided to stick with the Fin.
After a year out, the french driver came back into F1 in the 2020 season with Renault and then now the newly named Alpine. He then signed a new 3 year deal which takes him up to then of 2024.
Now looking onto this season. Overall he finished 11th, just 7 points away from his team-mate. We saw him get his first win in F1 in Hungary after he kept a cool-head knowing the fact Hamilton was on a war path to get higher up the gird, his team-mate Alonso, done some amazing defending helping the young driver to ensure on getting the win. As well as this, Ocon almost got on the podium in Saudi Arabia, as they crosed the line and Valtteri Bottas took it from him just!
My Opinion-
I personally, do think his underrated, if he had the right car underneath him I believe we would see a very good driver, I have a feeling he would be fighting for podiums etc. He is also very good at helping the team and him and Alonso get on well which we have all seen, if things go well for Alpine this year, we could see a few shock drives from Esteban.
So, its a new year but for penalty points that doesn’t mean its a fresh start… Last year I done a post in August during the break and I took a look at penalty points, now I’m looking to see how much it has changed since then.
As usual penalty points get taken of after being on the record for 12 months, with it currently being winter break no-one has any coming off until the season starts up again.
Driver
Points Currently
Difference from August
Yuki Tsunoda
8
+4
Max Verstappen
7
+7
Sergio Perez
7
-1
Sebastian Vettel
6
0
Nikita Mazepin
6
+1
Nicholas Latifi
6
0
Valtteri Bottas
5
+1
Lando Norris
5
-3
Lance Stroll
5
-1
Antonio Giovinazzi
3
-1
Pierre Gasly
3
+2
Lewis Hamilton
2
-2
Fernando Alonso
2
+2
Kimi Raikkonen
2
-3
Esteban Ocon
1
+1
George Russell
1
-3
Daniel Ricciardo
0
-1
Charles Leclerc
0
-2
Carlos Sainz
0
-1
Mick Schumacher
0
0
Updated Penalty Points January 2022
A driver who needs to be careful is the reigning champ, he got his penalty points in September onwards so if he doesn’t want a race ban then he needs to keep it clean from March to August which holds 14 races as his only 5 away from doing so.
Even though Yuki has more than Max, Yuki can start clearing his sooner from April to July he got 4 points so if he keeps it clean from the start of this season he should be half of what his got now by the Summer Break.
With Guanyu Zhou joining and Alex Albon returning both drivers will start of with 0 penalty points. But with the calendar being 23 races long and it being such a compacted season anything could happen!
We have had an amazing season and its only right that as the year is coming to the end I take a look back on the year and pick out some brilliant moments/races we have had this year.
Which 3 drivers were the best this season?
I am going to pick the two most obvious ones, Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton. Both drivers gave it their all this year and came back fighting after things which have happened on track. My third pick would be Carlos Sainz, I feel like his just beat his ex team-mate to the third place spot but only because of how well and quick he settled into Ferrari, he managed to grab four podiums in his first year, so it will be interesting to see how he can do in his second year!
Biggest shock of the season?
I would say the Esteban Ocon win in Hungary or Daniel Ricciardo’s in Monza. The Alpine win was quite surprising considering the car changed quite a bit from last year and obviously Alonso’s marvellous defending from Hamilton helped secure his team-mates win but Esteban was there when he needed to be and it was nice to see him rewarded for it! Danny Rics win in Monza wow, if someone asked me back in June if Ricciardo would of been one of the winners this year I would have said no! And I think thats what made the win so great, he and the whole McLaren team just deserved the 1-2 and they had no problems at all on the Sunday.
The best individual drive?
Lewis Hamilton, Brazil. Even if your not a Lewis fan you have to admit he done amazing that weekend! To be demoted down the field twice over the course of the weekend is just wow and to top it off he won. I definitely think that will be a race which will be talked about for a long time!
The best qualifying moment?
Hmmm, I had a few for this, but one of the best moments for me was Sochi, where the top 3 was Norris on pole, Sainz 2nd and Russell 3rd. It was like a little preview of what is to come and what made it better was that Russell was in a Williams!
A team I think thats improved…
Ferrari. Plain and simple! Partly because of the new team-mates Carlos & Charles, as they get on great on and off track, they seem to qualify together and finish quite close together to so it feels a lot more equal at Ferrari. Another part of the improvement would be the car, they’ve managed to figure out what went wrong in 2020 and switched it around so quickly and to pull of P3 in the Constructors.
Most heartbreaking moment?
I would say Lando Norris, loosing his win in Sochi after the whole switching/non switching tyre situation. I felt like he deserved a win this season and I’ve said it since the beginning! Sochi was a learning curve for him and the team and it will most likely give him the hunger to go for the win next year.
A team I thought would do better?
Aston Martin. They outshined in quite a few races last year, but obviously they just couldn’t get it right this year. They did have their podium in Baku and as well had one in Hungary but got disqualified, so they did have the pace at some places, I just thought they would’ve done a bit better and it felt like they didn’t try and upgrade their car during the season.
What driver and team need to do better in 2022?
For driver I would say Lance, I feel like this year he was just floating about I didn’t see something amazing from him, where as his team-mate who only joined the team this year down really well, hopefully AM come up with a good car next year which will suit Stroll and we will see more of what he can do.
For the teams I managed to nail it down to two! Williams and Haas. Even though Williams scored a good set of points this year, it can only go up from here, new regs for everyone so a clean slate and it will be interesting to see how the British team can cope with it all. Now Haas, obviously we have all seen whats been going on with them, but I feel with Schumacher in the car and again new regs next season they could possibly have a chance at scoring points hopefully frequently, these two teams I’m going to be keeping my eye on when the season starts up.
It has been announced that Oliver Bearman will be racing in Formula 3 for PREMA Racing, who he joined for the successful post-season test in Valencia.
The 16 year old Brit became the first driver to win both Italian and ADAC Formula 4 Championships in the same season, which saw him earn a spot in the Ferrari Driver Academy.
2021 was Bearmans second year of single seaters, he grabbed 15 podiums, 11 wins and eight poles in Italian F4 as well as 11 podiums, six wins and five poles in ADAC F4.
“I’m really looking forward to stepping up to FIA F3 with PREMA, as my first official year being part of the Ferrari Driver Academy,” said Bearman. “We worked really well together in the post-season test at Valencia, and their results in previous years across everything which they do, speaks for itself. I can’t wait to get started in Bahrain!”
PREMA Team Principal Rene Rosin added: “We are looking forward to working with Oliver in 2022. The results he achieved this year speak for themselves, and we have obviously been observing him as rivals. The step for him will be huge and particularly challenging, with a lot to learn, but we will do everything we can to help him maximize his potential and be competitive right from the start. It will be extremely interesting to see the season develop, and what we will be able to accomplish together.”
My Opinion-
I think this is great! Ollie is a very talented driver especially at 16 years old, and because of his achievements so far he deserves to get this seat in F3. It will be interesting to see how he does next year he is most definitely one to watch!
With the season over and the year coming to an end let’s take a look back of the Formula 2 2021 Championship and see who were our winners across the weekend, how many retirements we had and my opinion on who is the driver of the weekend!
Sakhir–
Bahrain saw the rookies Liam Lawson win the first Sprint Race and Oscar Piastri win the second Sprint Race with Guanyu Zhou winning the Feature Race.
Lots of drama over the weekend which included some daring moves where people got away with where as others race ending early.
Over the course of the weekend my driver of the weekend is Liam Lawson, his first race weekend in F2, he qualified P8 then went to win the first Sprint, the second one wasn’t as good which saw him score no points and then the Feature Race he finished 3rd, after the weekend he walked away in P2 in the standings.
Monte Carlo-
The lovely Monaco saw Zhou win the first sprint race, Ticktum win the second and Pourchaire win the feature race.
Pourchaire didn’t just win the feature race, his weekend started when he got pole position. But the tight walls of Monaco wasn’t as kind to some we saw 4 retirements in the first Sprint Race. The second saw 7 retire. Then the Feature Race saw 4 retire.
My driver of the weekend is… Oscar, even though he didn’t win and he didn’t need to he still got on the podium twice and managed to put himself in a good position for the second sprint race.
Baku-
We went back to Baku for the third round of the season in which we saw, Shwartzman take the first Sprint Race win, and then Juri Vips take BOTH Sprint Race 2 and Feature Race wins.
Baku brought the drama for everyone but HiTech, the team managed to stay away from it all. There was 4 retirements in SR1. 6 in SR2 and 3 in the feature race.
My driver of the weekend got picked very quickly because he managed to win two races. Its Juri Vips, I feel like this was his best weekend in F2 this year and he fully deserved the wins he got.
Silverstone-
The 3 winners at Silverstone were: Robert Shwartzman SR1, Richard Verschoor SR2 and Guanyu Zhou for the Feature Race.
Silverstone managed to catch quite a few of the drivers out but not as many as the previous races we have had as we saw 5 retire in SR1. 3 in SR2 and none in the Feature Race.
Ah I feel like there is two drivers of the weekend, one being Richard Verschoor he deserved his win in the sprint race, and the other being Dan Ticktum he didn’t win but he did manage to get on the podium twice which Oscar done back in Monaco.
Monza-
Round 5 and our winners at Monza were: Théo Pourchaire SR1, Jehan Daruvala SR2 and Oscar Piastri Feature Race.
Monza wasn’t as kinda as Silverstone was we had 7 retire in SP1. Only 2 in SP2, and 6 in the Feature Race.
I think my driver of the weekend would be, Guanyu Zhou he finished 2nd in Sprint Race 1 and the feature race. And he still managed to grab a point in the second feature race.
Sochi-
Well, I think we will all remember Sochi for a very long time and not for the good reasons. When we finally did get racing we only had 2 out of the 3 races. The first and only sprint race won by Dan Ticktum and the Feature Race winner were we saw Oscar Piastri take back to back feature race wins.
Even though we had two races, we still had retirements 4 in Sprint Race 1 and 4 in the Feature Race.
Dan Ticktum would be my driver of the weekend being the first out of all the drivers, he obviously finished 1st in the first race and then 5th in the feature race so he managed a good lot of points considering the conditions they had to deal with on the Saturday.
Jeddah-
A new track for the drivers but it was Marcus Armstrong who took the first Sprint Race win, and Oscar Piastri taking both the second Sprint Race win and the Feature Race win.
With it being a new track to all drivers its to be expected that we have retirements over the weekend, 4 drivers retired in Sprint Race 1, 7 in Sprint Race 2 and 2 in the Feature Race.
This is probably the most easiest choice i’ve had to make in a while, Oscar Piastri would be my driver of the weekend, I think the Jeddah weekend showed people how talented he really is (if they already didn’t know). He won two races, the latter making it 3 back to back to back feature race wins, he stuck it on pole as usual and just done everything right this weekend.
Yas Island-
The weekend where we saw our 2021 Champion crowned! But the race winners were: Jehan Daruvala SR1, Guanyu Zhou SR2 and Oscar Piastri won the final Feature Race of the season.
The first Sprint Race was quite calm considering Formula 2! We only had two retirements. We then had a crazy second Sprint Race where we had four retire (one being the champ himself) and the Feature Race we had three retirements.
My driver of the weekend would be, Oscar again and not just cause he got crowned the champion, but because he deserved it, the first Sprint Race saw him battle his own team-mate for the championship in the race which decided it all and Shwartzman was not going to let him have it so easy.
Overall-
I mean what a year! So many rookies joining us and them winning/ being on the podium/ scoring points, but also the drivers who have been with us longer, we have definitely been blessed with a fantastic set of races this year. I already can’t wait for next season to start and we haven’t even had all the announcements yet! Hopefully next year will be just as good.
Now the 2021 season is over and all drivers have been announced for next season, lets take a look whose with who and what were expecting from drivers.
Mercedes-
Lewis Hamilton & George Russell. A 7 time world champ and a Mercedes Junior on the same team! This is what we have been waiting for (especially me!), I feel like they could both learn from each other but probably George more so than Lewis, but I’m mainly just looking forward to seeing GR in a competitive car (hopefully) and see him score points on the regular.
Red Bull-
Max Verstappen & Sergio Perez. RB have kept it the same which is understandable after a good first year for Perez in the team he helped Max/the team out on many occasions this year and it really is just good team-work.
Ferrari-
Charles Leclerc & Carlos Sainz. No change for the Italian team- good team work with from both sides of the garage especially in Carlos’ first year with the team.
McLaren-
Lando Norris & Daniel Ricciardo. Again no change, hopefully 2022 is a better year for Ricciardo and his more comfortable with the new car. And we’ve all seen what Lando has done this year!
Alpine-
Esteban Ocon & Fernando Alonso. No change for Alpine, which I think is justified after seeing Alonso defend Hamilton so his team-mate could win, then Alonso got back on the podium in his first year back.
Alpha Tauri-
Pierre Gasly & Yuki Tsunoda. Pierre has had such a consistent season so I think it would of been silly if he wasn’t there, and Yuki has had a good season as a rookie scored his best finish in Abu Dhabi so hopefully he gets more consistent in the new season.
Aston Martin-
Lance Stroll & Sebastian Vettel. I had no doubt about either, with Seb scoring podium this year, I felt like Stroll could’ve done better so hopefully a better season for the team next year!
Williams-
Nicholas Latifi & Alex Albon. Now this one I’m excited for! Quite a good season for Nicky for it being his 2nd in F1 but his with Alex next year and I’m glad to see him returning to the grid! Hopefully we see good things from the pair.
Alfa Romeo-
Valtteri Bottas & Guanyu Zhou. Alfa Romeo is the only team to have two new drivers in 2022, Bottas starting a new journey with them which I’m excited to see what he can do, it’s not unknown for drivers to go to a less rewarding team for a bit of a challenge. Guanyu Zhou, is moving up from F2 after he finished 3rd in the standings this year, it’ll be interesting to see how he can do next year. But I think the pair will work quite well together, and Bottas will help Zhou a lot to help him find his footing.
Haas-
Mick Schumacher & Nikita Mazepin. No change for Haas for 2022 which is probably a good thing, I’m hoping we see Haas be able to score points next year I wanna see what they can do in a more competitive car.
Ever since, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the rumours have been flying about left, right and centre. But the main topic being- Could Lewis Hamilton retire?
Nobody actually knows if he is going to or not except himself, after after everything which has gone on in the past week he may be possibly be thinking about it. Lewis led the majority of the Abu Dhabi GP and looked set to win, which meant he would get a record breaking 8th title, until the safety car and changes to lapped cars changed the top 2 around. Since then he has been quiet on social media- he didn’t do post season testing due to being knighted (not related to retirement), but the main thing people don’t understand is him not going to Paris for the FIA ceremony, he was then at Mercedes in the UK for Valtteri Bottas’ farewell the day after the ceremony.
Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff threw Hamilton’s career into doubt this week, hinting the Formula 1 icon could retire. He said: “I would very much hope Lewis continues racing because he is the greatest driver of all time. As a racer his heart will say I need to continue because he’s at the peak of his game. But we have to overcome the pain that was caused upon him on Sunday. He is a man with clear values.”
This isn’t the first time the Austrian has hinted at retirement for the Brit earlier this year they discussed it, he confirmed that before Lewis signed a new deal that they went over the topic.
Now with this all coming over social media the past week after whats happened, its understandable if he would want to retire, Lewis outs everything into F1/Mercedes, he makes a change even when his not racing on track and his so well-known of course these rumours would come about!
My Opinion-
One word. No. I don’t see him retiring for a few years yet, his signed a two year deal with Merc, and his a team person his been so committed even when he didn’t win the 2016 drivers championship he has still carried on and came back to win the championship the year after.
If anything I think this will fuel him, he will want to come back after the winter break jump straight back in the car and win both championships not just the Drivers, but the Constructors too. As for his social media break, its understandable its been such a tough season for all drivers and his no doubt upset what went down in the race so its fully justified.
The final lot of testing for Formula 2 has came to an end today, after 3 days of testing in Abu Dhabi, lets take a look at how they got on…
Day 1-
Returning to MP Motorsport, Drugovich set the benchmark during the opening 30 minutes posting a 1:35.577.
There were several red flags during the morning session of the first day, with Clèment Novalak, Amaury Cordeel, Frederick Vesti and Thèo Pourchaire all stopping on track at some point, as well as a coming together between Jüri Vips and Formula 3 champ, Dennis Hauger.
Vips, had briefly set the 3rd fastest time but after the collision he then fell to 6th. Virtuosi’s Doohan jumped to third, ahead of Carlins Liam lawson and Ralph Boschung closed the top 5.
During the afternoon sessions, there were two stoppages quite early on where Cordeel and Vips both needing red flags.
Olli Caldwell was the early pace setter with a 1:40.217 before being replaced by Daruvala. Vesti took the times below 1m 38s for the first time, he then saw Daruvala drop a 1:36.063 which saw him return to P1.
Drugocich and Pourchaire briefly bumped the Prema down to second but Daruvala managed to make his way up to first again, Doohan then got in on the action and moved his way into third to finish as the quickest rookie for the second session in a row.
Day 2-
The morning session got started off and it was very much the same, as Drugovich, Doohan and Daruvala took up the familiar top 3 positions. There was several stoppages during the session with Frederik Vesti, Juan Manuel Correa, Guilherme Samaia, Ayumu Iwasa and Sargeant all requiring red flags during the 3 hour stint.
Drugovich increased his lead at the top, he improved to a 1:35.614. Théo Pourchaire moved to fourth after putting on a new set of tyres. Carlin’s Liam Lawson beat his old HiTech team-mate Jüri Vips to fifth.
Now onto the afternoon session, it was led by Carlins rookie Sargeant who jumped to the top of the leaderboard in the final half hour of the session with a 1:36.155. Joining him up there, Daruvala for the fourth consecutive time in the top 3!
But it was Lawson who set the afternoon pace with a 1:36.802 but eventually fell to P6, ahead of Doohan. Vesti, Hughs and Teppei Natori all caused stoppages in the afternoon session but that didn’t stop seven of the 22 drivers breaking the 50-lap mark.
Day 3-
The most coolest day out of the 3, where we saw Doohan and Drugovich once again dominating going first and second during the early stages of the session. Doohan’s time of a 1:36.110 was enough to make it P1 with Drugovich just 0.029s off, and Ralph Boschung went to 3rd with less than a tenth off as well.
The Carlin duo, Lawson and Sargeant finished in fourth and fifth, the top 5 of the session being separated by less than a tenth. Luckily for the teams and drivers there were no red flags during the morning session which meant half of the field had completed more than 50 laps.
Now onto the afternoon session and we had newcomers Van Amersfoort Racing on top, as Cem Bolukbasi set a 1:37.978 being the benchmark. But it was Drugovich and Daruvala who once again finished first and second with the MP driver setting a 1:36.342.
Boschung and Mercedes junior, Frederik Vesti caused only two stoppages in the afternoon which still meant a lot of running left in the final session and Jüri Vips took full advantage of that as he topped the lap count with 56 and finished fourth.
Formula 3 Champ, Hauger enjoyed his strongest session yet finishing 3rd with Prema, whilst Roy Nissany completed the top 5 with Dams.
MP Motorsport have announced the driver who will be teaming up with Clément Novalak in the F2 2022 season, and that is Felipe Drugovich.
He first joined the team in 2020 in his rookie season, where he delivered three wins, four podiums and one pole position before switching to UNI-Virtusoi for the 2021 season.
Since then he has added four podiums to his tally with the British team, which includes the two in the final round of the season which helped them in the teams battle.
“I’m really delighted to reconnect with MP for my third season in FIA F2”, said Drugovich. “I have such wonderful memories of my debut season with them in 2020, starting off with a win in my very first F2 weekend and collecting two more victories after that. The team and I are eager to repeat that form in 2022, and then some more!”
“It’s great news to have Felipe return to as the old nest, we’re really happy to welcome him back at MP”, said MP Motorsport team principal Sander Dorsman. “We gelled so nicely back in 2020, and with Felipe’s added experience I’m convinced we can do it all over again or even improve on our 2020 form. I’m also pleased that we have our line-up confirmed this early in the winter season. Having both Drugo and Clem on board so soon means that we can fully focus on the season ahead, and prepare ourselves as best we can.”
My Opinion-
Ah its so nice to see him back with MP. I feel like MP have a strong line-up for next year it will definitely be a team to watch and they have secured their line up early so they now can fully focus on testing and prepare for next year!
Dams are the next team to confirm one of their drivers for the 2022 season, and they are retaining Roy Nissany for a second season.
The Williams Formula 1 Test driver scored his first podium with Dams in the second round of the season this year at Monte Carlo in Sprint Race 1.
The 27 year old then took two further top 10 finishes in the Monaco and Monza feature races, to secure his best finish to date in Formula 2, ending the season in 16th in the Drivers Championship.
Nissany just doesnt have experience in F2, his made an appearance in F1 during FP1 sessions for Williams, his also raced in several junior categories including ADAC Formel Masters, European Formula 3 and Formula Renault 3.5
“I’m extremely happy to continue with DAMS, we have become a family which has made me feel very confident and comfortable,” said Nissany. “I’m sure we will carry on with the amazing progress we have achieved so far, constantly pushing ourselves upwards. I’m really focused on continuing my development within the team throughout the new season and getting some solid results next year.”
DAMS Co-Team Owners, Gregory and Oliver Driot added: “We’re very happy to confirm Roy as part as our F2 line-up for next year, we have been able to build a strong relationship in our first year together. Both Roy and the team have their goals for the season to come, as we showed some very strong performances throughout 2021 but sometimes failed to materialise them into proper results.
With two races per week instead of three, the new format will make it less unpredictable and it should help us transform our pace into consistent results. The three-day post-season test held in Abu Dhabi in the forthcoming days will be the kick-off for the preparation for next year and we are looking forward to it.”
My Opinion-
I was quite surprised to see the announcement come through, as his already done 3 years in Formula 2 so this could be his last. It does make sense however for him to stay with Dams as his now built up that relationship with the team.
The Formula 2 Championship promoters have confirmed that Van Amersfoort Racing will replace HWA Racelab entry and assets for the 2022 Formula 2 season. The Dutch team will be running for the first time this week in the post season test taking place in Abu Dhabi.
This follows two months after Formula 3 announced their grid that Van Amersfoort Racing will be joining F3 next season (2022).
VAR started over forty years ago, with a number of different drivers coming through. From the likes of Jos Verstappen, Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc, Mick Schumacher, Dennis Hauger and Jonny Edgar all having driven for the team over the years.
FIA Formula 2 Championship CEO Bruno Michel said: “I am very pleased to welcome Van Amersfoort Racing to the Championship. I am certain that they will be a great addition to our grid, with them also competing in Formula 3 from next year. Joining F2 is always challenging, but their expertise and professionalism will undoubtably help them get to grips with the category quickly. I would like to take this opportunity to thank HWA RACELAB for their collaboration for the past two seasons, and I wish them success for their next challenge.”
Rob Niessink, CEO of Van Amersfoort Racing adds: “After having recently announced our entry into the FIA F3 Championship, it now is an absolute pleasure to become part of the FIA F2 Championship as well. We are simply proud and consider this step as an important milestone in the long history of our team. It will be a challenge we don’t take lightly, and it might not come as a surprise that watching “our” F2 cars leave the pit-lane for the first time during the upcoming post-season test at Abu Dhabi will be a big moment for us. I want to thank Bruno Michel and HWA RACELAB for their support in making this happen.”
My Opinion-
I have heard of the Dutch team before with some drivers having driven for them in the past shows only good things. With them joining both Formula 2 and 3 grids it only shows good things in my opinion, looking back on the history of their drivers, it looks like they take time in spotting which drivers they want and they are all very talented now…
The final track action of the year for F1 has come to an end now, with two days of testing in Abu Dhabi, where the new 18 inch tyres got tested with a few familiar names!
Day 1-
It was Nyck de Vries who topped the table with the fastest time which is a popular spot for the Mercedes crew, the reserve driver completed 77 laps in the W12 with a 1m 23.194s which put him clear of the field by 1.5s.
The young driver test runners, took the top seven positions with Red Bull junior Liam Lawson in the Alpha Tauri ending up 2nd, with the Formula 2 Champion Oscar Piastri in third with Alpine.
Pato O’Ward was testing for McLaren, managed 92 laps in his F1 debut, who managed 4th fastest, he was then followed by newbie Guanyu Zhou who ended up being half a second off O’Ward. We then had another Red Bull Junior, this time Juri Vips in the Red Bull. The F2 driver was responsible for one of three red flags during the day as he hit the barrier exiting Turn 14.
Aston Martin simulator driver Nick Yelloly was seventh overall, a little under 2.2s of Nyck. Alongside the young drivers in current cars, teams were also running mule cars to test the 18 inch tyres. Ricciardo was nearly a second slower Yelloly but 0.3s clear of Stroll in the adapted Aston- who caused the first red flag of the day around 90 minutes in due to a mechanical issue.
The final interruption of the day came from the Williams of Logan Sargeant where he had a power unit problem which ended his day earlier than expected, he ended up 15th overall.
Bottas managed 127 laps in his Alfa Romeo, as the Mercedes of George Russell managed 131- both starting work at their new teams ahead of the season. We then had our new world champion Max Verstappen completing 123 laps who was also giving advice to Vips in-between breaks.
Day 2-
On the final day of testing we saw Robert Shwartzman who was driving the Haas top the session the Russian’s best time being a 1m 25.348s put him half a second clear of Lando Norris who was using the adapted McLaren car which was carrying an LED panel display on the rear wheel covers.
Russell was fourth fastest with the Aston Martin of Sebastian Vettel in third by just 0.025 between the pair. Vettel was the only one to cause a red flag during today- he stopped on track with a technical issues but the action soon returned.
Gasly was fifth fastest just 0.047s off Russell’s best time, Sainz was in sixth who had the highest total of laps out of the Wednesday runners with 151 laps.
We then had Pietro Fittipaldi who is standing in for Nikita Mazepin due to him testing positive for Covid on Sunday. Fittipaldi was just 0.1s off team-mate Mick Schumacher on the same tyre compound.
Another driver announcement for Formula 2 for the next season and that is Logan Sargeant who is joining Carlin! The American will be making his debut with the team later this week during post-season testing.
The Williams Academy driver has raced for the team in British Formula 4 and in his first season in Formula 3. Logan gained his first experience in F2 in the penultimate round of the 2021 season in Jeddahn with HWA Racelab.
Sargeants year in F3 with Charouz Racing System was successful, he managed to claim four podiums and a win in the season finale at Sochi, he was a title contender in 2020 with Prema finishing 3rd overall with six podiums and one win.
Before joining Carlin for testing, Sargeant is taking part in the young drivers test with Williams.
“This is an incredible week for me!” said Sargeant. “To get my first taste of the FW43B today (Tuesday 14th) and then follow that up with three days testing in my new F2 car is just incredible. I can’t wait to re-join Carlin who have been so strong in F2 and get to work on our 2022 programme. Big thanks to Trevor, my management at Infinity and of course Williams Racing for this incredible opportunity.”
My Opinion-
I don’t think anyone doubted he wouldn’t get a seat for next year, and his got a good one at that. Carlin have had a good season this year, with wins and podium and finishing 3rd overall in the teams. I’m going to be looking at how he does with the Carlin car hopefully he can learn a lot in testing about the team and car!
The Young Drivers Test, allows an opportunity for teams to field junior drivers to gain experience in F1 machinery, this takes place once a year and always once the season has ended. Lets take a look at who is driving for which team!
Mercedes-
Nyck de Vries will be in the silver arrows. This is no surprise to me, as his took part in it last year. Not only this, but Nyck is a test and reserve driver for Mercedes. The dutchman has driven in Formula E since 2020 with the Mercedes EQ Formula E Team and this year he became the first ever World Champion in Formula E.
Red Bull-
We have Formula 2 driver, Juri Vips driving for Red Bull in the YDT. Juri is apart of the Red Bull Junior Team, once again this isn’t Vips first time in the YDT, he drove for Red Bull last year too. Vips hasn’t got anything lined up for next year he could become Red Bull’s Test and reserve driver, as Alex Albon is going to Williams next year.
Ferrari-
Ferrari have two drivers doing the test for them, Robert Shwartzman who is apart of the Ferrari Driver Academy, and finished 2nd this year in Formula 2 Championship. As well as Antonio Fuoco. Fuoco done his first test with the Italian team back in 2015 and was also part of the Ferrari Driver Academy up until 2019, he was then promoted to Ferrari’s F1 simulator team, this line up for Ferrari is the same as last year.
McLaren-
The papaya team have Pato O’Ward in the car. Pato is not a stranger to McLaren as he races in IndyCar with the McLaren Arrows, and Zak Brown made a deal with the Mexican if he won in IndyCar he will get a chance to test the F1 car, so here we are! Pato is doing another year in Indy Car next year and it is said if he wins the championship there could be a possible move for him to F1 for McLaren!
Alpine-
Now, Alpine has the 2021 Formula Two Champion in their car for the Young Drivers Test. Oscar Piastri is apart of the Alpine Academy and has had an amazing career winning 3 titles back to back. However that didn’t secure Oscar a seat in F1 this year… Instead he is now Alpines test and reserve driver.
Alpha Tauri-
Another Formula 2 driver is amongst us! This time we have Liam Lawson who is driving for Alpha Tauri. Lawson is apart of the Red Bull Junior Team, he took part in both DTM and Formula 2 this year. DTM he finished 2nd, and F2 finished 9th overall, there is no news yet to see what he is doing next year but speculation is he will do another season in F2 which will be his second year if he did.
Aston Martin-
Aston Martin have chosen Nick Yelloly for the test, Nick is no stranger to the Silverstone based team as he has been their simulator driver for a few years now, he now gets to test the Aston Martin.
Williams-
Williams have decided to put their new Academy driver into the hot seat for the young drivers test. Logan Sargeant will be making an appearance for the British team, he has confirmed he will be racing in F2 next year with Carlin, whilst also being on stand-by helping out Williams when he can.
Alfa Romeo-
Alfa Romeo will be putting their new driver, Guanyu Zhou in for the YDT, as well as testing the prototype car on Wednesday. Zhou, finished 3rd in the Formula 2 Championship this year, and now he is graduating to Formula One.
Haas-
Robert Shwartzman will also be in the car for Haas. This wasn’t meant to be his first time in a Haas car, he was actually meant to run in the first practice session of the 2020 Abu Dhabi GP but did not appear on the entry list.
So day number one after the final race of the season and its been a busy Monday, we have had UNI-Virtuosi confirm their driver lineup for the 2022 season.
Their two drivers being Jack Doohan who is Formula Three’s Vice Champion taking one seat and then Marino Sato who drove for Trident this year has switched to the British team!
The duo replace Felipe Drugovich and Guanyu Zhou, the latter graduating to Formula 1 after three years with the team.
Doohan won four races, three podiums from seven rounds in Formula 3 this year and missed out to Dennis Hauger in the title battle, however he did help Trident to get the Teams Championship.
2022 will be Doohan’s first full year in Formula 2, having taken part in the final two rounds this year where he scored a top five finish and qualified on the front row.
“I’m very pleased and excited to join forces with Virtuosi Racing for our 2022 FIA Formula 2 campaign,” said Doohan.” I’m looking forward to continuing the team’s success and getting to work with the team in post-season testing this coming week!”
22 year old Sato made his F2 debut in Monza back in 2019 with Campos before he made the switch to Trident for 2020 and 2021. The past two seasons he has took two points finishes.
“It’s really a privilege to join a team that is fighting for the championship,” said Sato. “I have to say a big thank you to everyone involved in making this happen, and to the team for trusting me. I’m really looking forward to the upcoming season!”
My Opinion-
I knew it wouldn’t be long until we saw an announcement for Jack! These past two F2 weekends have been good, scoring points, qualifying 2nd and doing some lovely battles on track whilst also learning the F2 car.
I’m quite surprised Sato got announced, it will be interesting to see what he can do in the car next year, as the team has had a really good year finishing 2nd overall.
To start firstly I just want to say what an amazing season we have had from all 20 drivers, lots of drama in all 22 races, and its been amazing to see! It’s truly one of the best seasons I have witnessed and I hope we can have more like this soon.
We do however have some drivers leaving F1 today, Kimi retiring and Antonio Giovinazzi going to Formula E. We also have some driver changes, Bottas to Alfa Romeo, George to Mercedes. We also have the returning Alex Albon who will be joining Williams and we also have Guaynu Zhou who will be making a step up from Formula 2 to join Alfa Romeo.
Wow, I have no clue what to say in the race we just watched… Just a note before hand I try and keep my blog neutral, so that I don’t favour a driver or a team and just go off pure predictions and how I feel at that time and whenever I state my opinion I make it clear, so thats what I am going to do now.
MY OPINION-
I don’t get how the FIA can make their own rules up during the race. Going against their own rule book is insane it doesn’t present itself well to Formula One fans in general. I think this is what Mercedes fans are most upset about, which I do get. The FIA states in the sporting regulations that:
48.12 If the clerk of the course considers it safe to do so, and the message “LAPPED CARS MAY NOW OVERTAKE” has been sent to all Competitors via the official messaging system, any cars that have been lapped by the leader will be required to pass the cars on the lead lap and the safety car. This will only apply to cars that were lapped at the time they crossed the Line at the end of the lap during which they crossed the first Safety Car line for the second time after the safety car was deployed. Having overtaken the cars on the lead lap and the safety car these cars should then proceed around the track at an appropriate speed, without overtaking, and make every effort to take up position at the back of the line of cars behind the safety car. Whilst they are overtaking, and in order to ensure this may be carried out safely, the cars on the lead lap must always stay on the racing line unless deviating from it is unavoidable. Unless the clerk of the course considers the presence of the safety car is still necessary, once the last lapped car has passed the leader the safety car will return to the pits at the end of the following lap. If the clerk of the course considers track conditions are unsuitable for overtaking the message “OVERTAKING WILL NOT BE PERMITTED” will be sent to all Competitors via the official messaging system.
In my opinion when cars are allowed to un-lap themselves its normally all the cars which are lapped and not the four in-between the two championship contenders. And I get why Mercedes are appealing it, because it clearly states above that lapped cars can overtake- but to make it even more confusing Masi decided that the lap cars would not over-take on the safety car and then decided a little while later they can!
No-one wanted the championship to go this way, with it being taken to get looked at by the FIA, but rules are rules at the end of the day and I feel like Lewis should’ve won this race.
The Race-
Congratulations to Max Verstappen for being Champion, a hard season for both contenders but neither gave up, it saw Lewis coming home in 2nd and Carlos Sainz grabbing one more podium to end the year, he finished P3.
The full top 10 are as follows: P1: Verstappen, P2: Hamilton, P3: Sainz, P4: Tsunoda, P5: Gasly, P6: Bottas, P7: Norris, P8: Alonso, P9: Ocon and P10: Leclerc.
We had 5 DNF’s, first one being Kimi we didn’t want to see him retire on his last race but some things are just out of his control, the next being Russell with a gearbox issue which isn’t the way he wanted his final race with Williams to go.
Giovinazzi was the next to DNF as he had a problem with his car too, Perez had to retire too due to a problem with his car. Then Latifi, crashed which caused the safety car to come out, thankfully Latifi was okay after the his crash.
Lewis Hamilton got off the line just superbly starting P2 on the mediums made it think that Mercedes picked wrong as everyone else around Lewis was on softs, but he took the lead on the first lap! And led the majority of the race, with having stopped quite early on people started to doubt the 7 time world champ with tyres and him struggling towards the end.
WOW, Yuki Tsunoda finishing P4! Making that his best ever finish!! What a way to finish his first year in F1, I cant wait to see how he does next year.
The Championship-
Sainz managed to grab P5 of both Norris and Leclerc, with him finishing on the podium which saw Ferrari clinch 3rd in the Constructors! Norris finished 6th ahead of Leclerc by ONE point.
Mercedes won the constructors by 28 points, it helped having both Mercedes finish and Red Bull only having one car finish the race. Ferrari obviously clinched P3 with McLaren in P4 and Alpine coming home in 5th.
Our final race days for Formula 2 are over unfortunatley but that didn’t mean they weren’t crazy! Lets take a look…
Day 2-
Sprint Race 1-
Well, Daruvala got a brilliant launch as soon as the lights went out, taking the lead into Turn 1, however his team-mate didn’t get as good of a start, it saw Dan Ticktum dropping down the field.
Piastri was looking to wrap up his title during this race, he managed to get up to 6th form 10th at the start, in doing this he was behind his team-mate who was also battling for the championship.
Both Prema’s knew what they had to do, they both climbed up the field, after Shwartzman built up a gap between him and Piastri, he then took the final podium place from Lawson.
But that didn’t last long as Piastri responded and overtook Lawson on the following lap and was back in the tracks of Shwartzman. Both Prema’s looked happy in third and fourth until Piastri spotted a late opportunity and decided to take it at Turn 9 in which the Australian took the final podium spot.
With Oscar finishing 3rd this saw him wrap up the title, making him a 3 time champion in 3 years. With Armstrong finishing 10th this saw him on pole for sprint race 2.
A very crazy start for the second sprint of the day, but not for the race leader, Marcus Armstrong zoomed off into the distant leaving the rest of the field to battle it out.
Boschung and Zhou who was in 2nd and 3rd held their positions well, but everyone behind them wanted action, the newly corwned champ sent his Prema down the outside but a four car wide brawl saw him almost get pushed into the wall…
Even though he missed the wall, the Aussie came away with minor damage as he banged wheels with Lawson, which saw him drop down to 13th where as the Hitech went to 8th, Piastri was then found to be at fault and handed a 5sec time penalty.
The grid was given time to breath and cool down as a safety car appeared due to contact between Deledda and Caldwell at Turn 9, the HWA was forced to retire but Caldwell carried on.
Once the racing resumed Piastri started his charge in which he gained two spots from Nissany and Vips. That didn’t last long as Vips and Nissany came back at Piastri which saw the trio clip wheel, and only Nissany survived, this brought out another safety car as Vips and Piastri climbed out of their cars.
Before the safety car came out Zhou managed to get ahead of Boschung, but once the safety car went away, Zhou was promoted to first as Armstrong then had problems with the car which saw him pull over.
The top 10 is as follows: P1: Zhou, P2: Shwartzman, P3: Boschung, P4: Ticktum, P5: Drugovich, P6: Lawson, P7: Daruvala, P8: Doohan, P9: Pourchaire, P10: Viscaal.
Day 3-
Piastri wanted this race to be one to remember as it is his last in F2, and that he did he got away superbly.
Doohan starting P2, was the only one of the mediums, he was the only one with them out of the top 5 so he managed to cling on to P2 for three corners of wheel-to-wheel racing but Zhou was not giving up, the MP rookie clipped the curb in which he picked up a chunk of marble and went spinning off into the barriers.
Racing resumed when the safety car went in, the pit-stops started going on as Lawson was the first to ditch the super-softs on lap 7 which saw him back on the grid in 20th.
The crossover between prime and the alternate startegies started to arrive with seven laps to go, Armstrong headed in to collect the super-softs and began to pick the drivers with the mediums, he took places off Boschung and Lawson within a lap.
The full top 10 as follows: P1: Piastri, P2: Zhou, P3: Drugovich, P4: Pourchaire, P5: Shwartzman, P6: Ticktum, P7: Armstrong, P8: Vips, P9: Boschung and P10: Verschoor.
That concludes the 2021 Formula 2 season now, with Piastri taking the championship, his team-mate coming home in 2nd and Guanyu Zhou in 3rd who will be graduating to Formula 1 next year!
With the teams championship, Prema wrapped it up last weekend in Jeddah, Uni-Virtuosi managed to pinch 2nd from Carlin, which Carlin then ended up 3rd.
It has been confirmed that Nikita Mazepin will not take part in the race today, as he has tested positive for Covid-19
Mazepin returned the result to an on-site test centre at Yas Marina, he then done a re-test which came back positive too.
Haas will not be putting Pietro Fittipaldi in the car as he has not took part in any practice sessions this weekend, so he is not eligible.
This means that they will only run Mick Schumacher today, who is starting P19.
A joint statement on Mazepin’s positive test said: “The FIA, Formula 1 and Haas F1 Team can today confirm that during onsite PCR testing for the 2021 FIA Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Nikita Mazepin has tested positive for COVID-19. In accordance with COVID-19 protocols he will take no further part in this Event. All contacts have been declared.
“There will be no replacement driver in accordance with article 31.1 of the 2021 FIA Formula 1 Sporting Regulations, which prohibits any driver from starting the race who has not taken part in at least one practice session. The procedures set out by the FIA and Formula 1 will ensure no wider impact on the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.”
Well! I don’t think anyone expected that result from qualifying…
We have Max Verstappen on pole here in Abu Dhabi for the second year running, with Lewis Hamilton joining him on the front row and Mr Lando Norris starting P3!
What a way to close off the final qualifying of 2021, the top 6 are just wow!
Lando Norris WHAT A LAP! I don’t think nobody expected him to put it on the 2nd row but clearly him having his family and friends with him in Abu Dhabi helps!
Brilliant lap from Max too, they used the tow brilliantly and it shows as his on pole. But the thing which gets me is why choose the Softs to start the race on for both drivers… was they forced into the decision? Will it work in their favour tomorrow, it’s all to play for.
The top 10 are as follows: P1: Verstappen, P2: Hamilton, P3: Norris, P4: Perez, P5: Sainz, P6: Bottas, P7: Leclerc, P8: Tsunoda, P9: Ocon and P19: Ricciardo.
Tomorrow is going to be absolutely insane, Max on softs, Lewis on mediums, throw Lando into the mix who is also on softs, we will definitely have an interesting opening lap tomorrow.
This is one of Lewis’ strongest circuits everybody knows that so Mercedes need to get there strategy absolutely perfect and they may even try and go for a one-stop as the medium goes longer than the soft.
Predictions-
Oh this is so tough, as whoever wins out of Lewis and Max tomorrow is going to be champion and either way they both deserve it, they both have had really good races but I will do my top 5…
I’m going to say P1 will go to Hamilton, P2: Verstappen , P3: Norris, P4: Bottas and P5: Perez. I think Verstappen will get fastest lap too!
WOW! We all knew it was coming but OSCAR PIASTRI IS FORMULA 2 2021 CHAMPION!
Oscar now has THREE back to back titles, with his first being in 2019 Formula Renault Champion, 2020 Formula Three Champion and now 2021 Formula Two Champion
What a drive from Oscar, he could of just left it in the points but noo, Oscar wanted to be on the podium which I make him right!
Oscars had a brilliant year so far with 5 pole positions and 5 wins so far, it’s like he wants to keep on going! We still have two races left, a sprint race later today and a feature race tomorrow where Oscar is on pole!
My Opinion-
Wow, Oscar is just unstoppable, he fully deserves this championship! His year has been amazing it’s gutting to see that he won’t have a seat next year as he does deserve it, hopefully we see him with a seat in 2023.
Ahead of the season finale it got announced that Abu Dhabi will be remaining on our calendar until at least 2030.
The new agreement will keep Formula 1 coming here until the end of the decade, with the Yas Marina Circuit being reconfigured this year ahead of the race specifically in three areas; Turn 7, Turn 11 and Turn 17.
The circuit has become one of the most iconic venues since it came on the calendar in 2009, with the track having held some classic moments of F1 over the years.
This year is no different, with the 2021 Drivers Championship set to be decided on Sunday in either Verstappen’s or Hamilton’s favour.
Speaking of the contract renewal, Formula 1 CEO and President Stefano Domenicali said: “We are delighted to confirm that we will be racing in Abu Dhabi until 2030 under this new agreement. We are hugely looking forward to the season finale this weekend when more Formula 1 history will be made. The promoter, ADMM, always creates an incredible show for the final race of every F1 season and combined with the changes made to improve the racing on the Yas Marina Circuit we are excited for many years of racing in Abu Dhabi that is ahead of us.”
My Opinion-
I think this deal is good, I like the changes they have made to the track and the drivers do as-well so that’s a positive. Obviously we have had no racing yet too see what it’s like for overtaking if it’s possible or not but if we do that’s just another positive in my book!
Our first day of cars on track is over and it was our last free practice and qualifying of the year, lets take a look on what happened!
Free Practice-
Championship leader, Oscar Piastri got the start he wanted this weekend by finishing fastest in free practice, the 1:36.800 was enough to beat Jack Doohan to P1, with Christian Lundgaard in third.
The second weekend in a row both MP’s went out first to get a feel for the track with Clèment Novalak setting the benchmark at 1:59.442.
But his team-mate Jack Doohan topped the times at the end of the first run of flying laps with a 1:37.702 ahead of Marcus Armstrong and Ralph Boschung.
Lundgaard beat Piastri to P1 halfway through the session and he was the first to break the 1m 37s but the Prema driver fought back and re-gained the position by 0.005s.
As the session went on the track conditions were improving after heavy tyre wear, this saw lots of fast times coming through but it was Oscar who stayed at the top.
Qualifying-
Oscar Piastri finished his last qualifying session in Formula 2 with a FIFTH consecutive pole position lapping a 1:35.077, in which he now has four extra points to add to his tally, one step closer to claiming the Drivers title! It was Jack Doohan who impressed the most with him qualifying 2nd in only his second qualifying session in Formula 2 with Guanyu Zhou finishing off the top 3.
PREMA was the early pace setters, with Piastri setting a 1:36.044 ahead of his team-mate and championship rival Robert Shwartzman and Carlins’ Jehan Daruvala.
The times kept coming during the half hour, with improvements being made but none dethroning Piastri. The grid then went in to the pits to change tyres etc so they could come out on a fresh set and see if they can improve their times.
The final top 10 for the feature race on Sunday are: P1: Piastri, P2: Doohan, P3: Zhou, P4: Shwartzman, P5: Boschung, P6: Pourchaire, P7: Lawson, P8: Drugovich, P9: Ticktum and P10: Daruvala.
So for our first Sprint Race tomorrow we have an all Carlin front row, with Jehan Daruvala in P1 and Dan Ticktum in P2. Drugovich in P3 and Liam Lawson in P4 making that our second row.
All eyes are on to tomorrow now, with the battle heating up between the Prema team-mates for the championship!
ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES – DECEMBER 10: Oscar Piastri of Australia and Prema Racing (2) drives during qualifying ahead of Round 8:Yas Island of the Formula 2 Championship at Yas Marina Circuit on December 10, 2021 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images)
Well, Mr Richard Verschoor is back in Formula 2 this weekend, he is filling in for Enzo Fittipaldi in the Charouz car.
Fittipaldi suffered a broken heel and a lesion to his left eyebrow after a collision with Theo Pourchaire at the start of the Feature Race in Jeddah last Sunday, which means Fittipaldi wouldn’t be taking part in the final round of 2021 in Abu Dhabi.
Verschoor, has had a really good first season in Formula 2 in which he won a Sprint Race at Silverstone earlier this year, his currently sat in 10th in the championship with 55 points. He drove six rounds with MP Motorsport before having to pull out form Formula 2 due to sponsorship.
The Dutch driver has gained experience in ADAC F4, Italian F4, Formula Renault Eurocup and the Toyota Racing Series before spending two seasons in Formula 3 with MP.
“First of all, I would like to express my thoughts to Enzo,” said Verschoor. “I hope he will recover well and very soon. I’m happy to be back racing and excited to do so with Charouz Racing System, hopefully, we can end this season together on a high.”
Team owner Antonin Charouz added: “On the eve of the last round of the year, we have been forced to change our line-up, as a consequence of Enzo’s injury in Jeddah. On behalf of the whole team, I wish him again a speedy recovery, hoping to see him return on track as soon as possible. At the same time, I’m glad Richard will join our squad for this weekend in Abu Dhabi. We saw him racing during this year in the FIA Formula 2 Championship and I have to say he delivered some very interesting performances. At the wheel of the other car, we’ll continue to count on Guilherme, and we’ll do our best to support his hunt to first personal points in the series.”
My Opinion-
I’m so glad to see Richard back on track, none of the fans like to see a driver leave before the end of the season due to money especially one doing so well like Richard. I’m happy he gets this chance again, and hopefully this will lead to a confirmation on what he does in 2022.
Race week once again and the final one of the year, so lets take a look at everything you need to know, what I think will happen this weekend, and who needs a good weekend to finish this year on a high!
Both Lewis and Max are on equal points going into this weekend? But who will be victorious come Sunday night? Well its all to play for…
I think whatever happens this weekend, we are extremely grateful for the championship battle we have witnessed this year and not just Lewis/Max. Looking further into it, the battle between Perez/Bottas which one would qualify higher up would it be a Red Bull sandwich or a Mercedes?
But going a little bit further down the grid, the battle between McLaren and Ferrari, two great teams and all very good drivers, all in which have been on the podium this year!
Who needs a good weekend?
I feel both Red Bulls need a good weekend, Max has lost the lead in the championship to now be on equal points with Lewis, if he wants to win this on Sunday he will need to have a brilliant Saturday and then again a brilliant Sunday too as the Mercedes engine is very powerful and they have dominated Abu Dhabi a lot (apart from last year). Perez needs a good weekend, obviously he had a DNF last week in which made Mercedes have a bigger gap in the Constructors, so he will be hoping to get a good amount of points this weekend.
Lando needs a good weekend, he lost P5 to Charles last weekend so he will be hoping to be able to get that back, if that wasn’t the only thing he has his ex-team-mate just behind him by 4.5 points as i’m sure he wouldn’t want to loose out on another place in the constructors.
Predictions for Qualifying-
My top five are: Pole- Hamilton, P2: Verstappen, P3: Bottas, P4: Perez and P5: Leclerc. Both Mercedes and Red Bulls will be wanting to get the most out of their car this weekend and get the best position they can!
Gasly could possibly be up in the top 5, like I said last week you can’t count him out of a qualifying session, so it will be either him or Leclerc in top 5, or maybe both of them if a Merc or Bull has a bad qualifying?
McLaren and Vuse revealed their one-off livery design for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix earlier this week.
The design was designed by UAE-based artist Rabab Tantawy as part of the Given by Change campaign for the 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Vuse, came up with a campaign called ‘Driven by Change’ this gives up and coming artists who are over 25 a chance to show off their work to gain more recognition and representation.
This is the second time this season McLaren have produced a one-off livery, the first one being in Monaco with their partner Gulf, which got a lot off good attention from the fans.
The livery still contains the popular papaya and blue colours, it features Tantawy’s distinctive Nubian Series all put together to make a masterpiece livery! The livery will be on both MCL35M’s in which they will be pushing for as many points on Sunday to end the year on a high.
“We are excited to bring the art and motorsport worlds together in a ground-breaking way, by sporting Rabab Tantawy’s artwork on our race cars at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Together with Vuse, Driven by Change is a unique opportunity to use our global stage to support rising talent, giving undiscovered creatives the platform they deserve. Rabab’s art is inspiring, and we are proud to take her papaya-influenced creation racing this weekend.”
My Opinion-
I love it, even more so that it comes from an up and coming artist, its definitely one way to get your name out there!
I think the campaign in itself is amazing, and the fact McLaren want it on their car too is something else, I can imagine Rabab Tantawy is having the time of her life right now!
Well for the final time for the 2021 season we take a look at which tyres have been picked!
Our selection is: C3 (Hard), C4 (Medium) and C5 (Soft), even though the track has been modified quite a bit this year, we have the same compound as we did in 2020.
The changes to the track were brought in to provide more overtaking opportunities, this will then increase speeds and loads through some corners.
The track itself-
We will now take a look at the said changes, the first being the chicane that formed Turn 5 and 6 will be bypassed with a straight. The following hairpin has been brought forward slightly and widened, which increases the speed carried into it.
A long and slightly banked turn has now been created to replace the technical complex of corners which were previously Turns 11 to 14. Towards the end of the lap, the four tight corners that route the track around the Yas Marina hotel Turns 17 to 20 have all opened up in which makes it faster.
The changes above have made the circuit shorter by 273 metres, which the race distance has been increased from 55 to 58 laps, and lap times are estimated to fall by 14 seconds.
Last years winning strategy with the same tyre nomination, was medium to hard one stopper, the same used for the top three finishers.
We also have Formula 2 with us this weekend, for the final round of the 2021 Championship, this will be our first time back here since 2019, and its the first time the 18-inch tyres will be used. The tyre nomination will be the same as it was in Jeddah which was the Medium and the Supersoft.
Another Formula 2 race week, another driver change! And its for HWA Racelab again, Jake Hughes will be back in car number 22 for the final weekend of F2 in Abu Dhabi.
Hughes first made his debut in F2 at Sochi in 2019 and finished P12 in the feature race, he then made a return this year in Monza and as well as Sochi in which he scored his first Formula 2 points.
The Brit, has spent two years with HWA’s Formula 3 outfit in which he scored three wins and eight podiums across 2019 and 2020.
He is currently the ROKiT Venturi Racing reserve driver in Formula E and is also the simulator driver for Mercedes’ F1 and championship-winning Formula E outfits.
“I’m really excited to be racing with HWA RACELAB again this weekend,” Jake said. “It’s going to be an emotional weekend with the team as they make their final appearance in the championship – and having raced in both F3 and F2 with HWA since 2019 it’s going to be sad to see them depart. I’m hoping to end the season positively with the team and I always enjoy coming to Abu Dhabi. The changes to the circuit will hopefully make the racing more exciting and if we can end the weekend with more points on the board then it will be a successful outing!”
My Opinion-
I think this is great, we saw back in September that he got comfortable with the car and was able to score some points so maybe the same again this weekend? I’m looking forward to seeing what he does this weekend!
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.
Jordan's Track Talk 