Jordan's Track Talk

Category: Formula One

  • Round 9- Canadian GP

    Round 9- Canadian GP

    What a race! The Canadian Grand Prix has come back with a bang, and I can honestly say it’s good to have it back!

    Max Verstappen stormed his way to victory making it Red Bull’s sixth in a row, can they get past Vettel’s 9 with the team? Carlos Sainz comes home to finish 2nd after he had a last minute battle for the win but it wasn’t meant to be this time. Lewis Hamilton joins them on the podium in P3, his second of the season!

    The full top 10 are- P1: Verstappen, P2: Sainz, P3: Hamilton, P4: Russell, P5: Leclerc, P6: Ocon, P7: Alonso, P8: Bottas, P9: Zhou and P10: Stroll.

    Red Bull, now I was excited to see what Perez could do and see some nice overtakes from him but this weekend really wasn’t his, he ended up DNF’ing quite early into the race and I think there are some question marks coming up about RB’s reliability after they had seemed to sort it quite early on.

    A good weekend for Ferrari overall, especially Charles, him starting P19 after his penalties for him to finish 5th is good, and it’s even better for them that only one Red Bull finished…

    Now onto Merc, very different pace compared to Friday, maybe a sign of things to come? A great drive from both drivers, obviously George had a bit of work to do after qualifying 8th but he kept it consistent and finished in the top 5 once again. Lewis, seemed a lot happier this race, less bouncing and he just loves this track which makes this podium even better!

    Now Alpine, I kind of expected a bit more from Alonso, we’ve seen before in the past he defends like a lion but today I didn’t see that much and heard that there fight wasn’t with the Bulls or Ferrari but both Alpines ended up behind the Mercs?

    Alfa Romeo! Double points finish, they had good pace throughout and done some nice overtakes, happy for Zhou though as he has had it rough with mechanical DNF’s so this weekend as a whole should boost his confidence going into the next round!

    Now Haas, I think we expected at least one car to finish in the top 10… but they didn’t. Mick suffered a PU issue, after doing well to stay in the top 10 at the beginning of the race. Where as for Magnussen, had a bit of contact on lap 1 and then got shown the black and orange flag to pit for a new front wing, which saw him tumble to the bottom…

    McLaren, wasn’t really anywhere today which is a shame as they looked promising with their pace yesterday, Ricciardo finished 11th and Norris 15th…

    The Championship-

    Theres no change at the top, as Max Verstappen still leads and extending his lead now on 175 points. His teammate is still in 2nd but that gap between them grew due to the DNF. Charles Leclerc is sat in third on 126 points, closing in on Perez as there is just 3 points between the pair. Russell stays in 4th on 111 points and Carlos is on 102 points now and in fifth, so it’s getting closer as the races keep on coming.

    Red Bull lead the Constructors still, with 304 points, Ferrari closed down the gap a little but they are sat on 228 points, 76 points between the two teams… Mercedes sit comfortably in third and with their big points haul over the past two weekends are starting to close in on Ferrari as they sit on 188 points.

    McLaren are still sat in 4th on 65 points, but points are needed soon as Alpine are coming to hunt them down. They are currently sat in 5th and are on 61 points…

    We are back in two weeks for the British Grand Prix! Round 10 of 22 and we all remember what happened last year at Silverstone? Will Max get the victory this year? Or can Charles get the win? Where will Mercedes be, and will their new upgrades see them fighting with the front two teams? It’s all to play for!

  • Round 9- Canada Qualifying

    Round 9- Canada Qualifying

    Well well well, I think Canada thought they would make their comeback a rather good one, and so far it has been! We saw a wet qualifying today and it did not disappoint!

    Charles Leclerc and Yuki Tsunoda are starting at the back of the grid due to taking penalties for new power unit elements.

    But, Max Verstappen clawed his way to pole position as he made his way round the track without any costly mistakes. He is joined on the front row by Alpine’s, Fernando Alonso for the first time since the 2012 German Grand Prix. And Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz rounds out the top 3, making it count for the Italian team as his teammate has a penalty.

    The full top 10 are: P1: Verstappen, P2: Alonso, P3: Sainz, P4: Hamilton, P5: Magnussen, P6: Schumacher, P7: Ocon, P8: Russell, P9: Ricciardo and P10: Zhou.

    Lets just take a moment to appreciate, Fernando Alonso, what a man and what a driver. I could see him battling for the win today and I honestly can’t wait, is this El Plan really coming to life now?…

    Haas deserve a round of applause what a qualifying session for them! Both drivers in the top 10 and also Mick’s best qualifying session ever! Big points on offer for the pair of them today, and a certain German driver needs to make it count…

    Ohhhhh Daniel Ricciardo! Top 10, that is what we like to see, and so far he has had a good weekend, and looks to be enjoying himself, could this be the comeback for him now? His teammate starts down in 14th due to an issue with the car, so Norris will be trying to get through the field.

    Zhou Guanyu, in Q3 and I am sure he is happy with that one! Things haven’t exactly gone his way in the past few races so his been quite unlucky, but with a good qualifying and starting ahead of his teammate he will have an extra boost of confidence for today.

    Predictions-

    My top five are- P1: Verstappen, P2: Alonso, P3: Hamilton, P4: Sainz, P5: Russell. I could see todays race be taken over by the more experienced drivers, Alonso, Hamilton, Ricciardo and Vettel, it looked like they were doing that yesterday during FP3 and Qualifying.

    I think seeing Charles Leclerc come through the field will be good, we get a feel for how that Ferrari actually is and lets hope we get to see some killer moves.

    Timings-

    Race- 19:00pm (BST)

  • Leclerc to take 10 place grid penalty

    After much speculation, it has been confirmed that Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc will drop 10 places on the Canadian Grand Prix grid for taking new control electronics.

    With the Ferrari power unit that let go in Baku last week whilst Leclerc was leading got deemed ‘beyond repair’ the team and driver arrived this weekend and was surrounded by talk of potential grid penalities.

    Initially it appeared that this would not be the case, Leclerc having received a new Internal Combustion Engine, MGU-K, MGU-H and Control Electronics, though none of those components took him over the imits for the season.

    Obviously, we are not in the best situation possible. For the power unit change I think there are still ongoing discussions, we’ll try to push (back) as much as possible the decision. For now, no decisions are taken. But it’s not the best situation for me. It’s up to us to choose the best track where you want to get a penalty – if you get a penalty. And this is one of the tracks where it’s actually quite easy to overtake. But there are also some of the tracks in the next three or four races where it’s easier to overtake too. We’ll discuss and try and take the best decision from there.

    Charles Leclerc on the possible penalty

    But, the FIA confirmed another new Control Electronics for Leclerc, taking him to three for the season and thus pushing him over the permitted number of components. As such, he drops 10 places on the grid for the first Canadian GP to be held since 2019.

    A new Control Electronic has been fitted to Charles’ car prior to FP2. It is the third of these elements used so far this season – only two are permitted – therefore Charles takes a grid penalty.

    Ferrair’s statement.

    This now gives Red Bull’s Max Verstappen a major boost in the race for the 2022 Drivers title, the reigning world champ comes into this weekend with a 34 point buffer over Leclerc.

  • Canadian Grand Prix

    We are back in Canada, after not being here since 2019! It’s a new track to some of the drivers, as well as being the home Grand Prix of both Nicholas Latifi and Lance Stroll.

    Will Ferrari bounce back after their double DNF last weekend? Or will Red Bull continue on their run of race wins? Can Mercedes have another strong weekend? It’s all to play for this weekend…

    Who needs a good weekend?

    Ferrari for sure, they need to be worried about the power unit and what effect it could have on the championship. A big points haul is needed for the Italian team and in the past at Canadian GP, Ferrari does like it here so hopefully they can turn things around here?

    Alfa Romeo, need a good weekend for both of their drivers, Bottas was no where in Azerbaijan and Guanyu Zhou had to retire in the pits which is unlucky for him as it could of been a ‘what if he continued’ situation.

    Magnussen needs a good weekend, 3 DNFs in the last four races isn’t good for Haas. Hopefully this weekend will be a different story for the American team!

    Predictions for qualifying-

    My top five are- Pole: Leclerc, P2: Verstappen, P3: Perez, P4: Sainz and P5: Russell.

    At this moment in time, Charles is the best qualifier, only qualifying 1st and 2nd so far this season, he seems to put it all together when it counts. Where as for his teammate, he does a few little mistakes on his lap, which could and has knocked him down a few places.

    I could see a McLaren getting in the top 10, and possibly Bottas? If Alfa Romeo sort out their car in qualifying whilst on the soft tyre there will be no problem, but at the moment we don’t know what were going to get from them!

    Times for the weekend-

    Friday 17th-

    • FP1- 19:00pm – 20:00pm (BST)
    • FP2- 22:00pm – 23:00pm

    Saturday 18th-

    • FP3- 18:00pm – 19:00pm
    • Qualifying- 21:00pm – 22:00pm

    Sunday 19th-

    • Race – 19:00pm

  • Aus GP renewed till 2035

    The Australian Grand Prix will remain in Melbourne until 2035, following a deal to extend the race’s agreement beyond 2025 by a further 10 years.

    More than 419,000 fans visited Albert Park for the 2022 Australian Grand Prix in April, making it the largest ever crowd for a weekend sporting event in Australia.

    Albert Park has hosted the Australian GP since 1996, with significant investment made over the past two years in order to improve the circuit, fan experience and facilities – whilst there are further improvements, including the paddock and pit lane, are planned in order to continue the circuit’s modernisation.

    The date of next year’s Australian Grand Prix will be provided in due course and once the 2023 calendar is finalised, it will be subject to the World Motor Sport Council approval.

    I am delighted to confirm that Melbourne and the Albert Park circuit will continue to be on the Formula 1 calendar until 2035. The race has always been a favourite for the fans, drivers and the teams and Melbourne is an incredible and vibrant international city that is a perfect match for our sport. This year we saw huge crowds and passionate fans at the Grand Prix, and we are very excited by the future in Australia as our sport continues to grow. I want to thank the Victorian Government, Daniel Andrews, Premier of Victoria and Martin Pakula, Minister for Tourism, Sport & Major Events for their tireless support for the event in Melbourne, as well as Andrew Westacott and Paul Little from the AGPC for making this already long-term partnership secure for the future. We are all looking forward to being back in Melbourne next season with all our fans.

    Stefano Domenicali, President and CEO of F1.

    This is a sensational announcement that is simply great for Melbourne and Victoria. It builds on our rich motor sport history as well as Melbourne’s love of big sporting events and provides aspiration to the next generation of Aussie racing stars. We’re proud of our strong relationship with Formula 1 and together we will grow the sport in Australia and the broader Asia-Pacific region. Everyone at the Australian Grand Prix Corporation looks forward to taking the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix to new levels over the course of the next 13 years.

    Andrew Westacott, CEO of the Australian Grand Prix Corporation.

  • Canada Tyre Allocation

    After a two year absence, Canada is back on the calendar and we have the tyre allocation ready for us.

    Pirelli have chosen the softest tyres in the race, which was the same last time here in 2019, it is also the same as the past two races (Monaco and Azerbaijan.) C3 (Hard), C4 (Medium) and C5 (Soft). In 2019, the winning strategy was a one stopper, starting on mediums and finishing on the hard.

    Montreal has some similar elements of Baku, thanks to its heavy traction and braking demands, on a rapidly-evolving surface but with lower speeds and cooler weather.

    Talking about the weather, it often has been a major feature of the Canadian Grand Prix: the 2011 race is still the longest in F1 history. Which saw six safety car periods and a lengthy interruption that neutralised the action for several hours. It’s never easy to predict the conditions and there’s also a reasonable chance of rain.

    Canada will pose a number of question marks for the teams: the weather is often variable, all previous data is three years old, and we have a completely different range of tyres with new compounds and structures, on a track that is hardly ever used – which will lead to a very high degree of evolution. Compared to their last visit to Montreal, the drivers should find compounds that are more stable with a wider working range, enabling them to push harder throughout each stint with a much lower risk of overheating. One interesting aspect to Montreal is that it has one of the lowest pit lane time loss penalties on the calendar, meaning that a car can be in and out of the pit lane in less than 20 seconds. This could open up a few options in terms of strategy.

    Mario Isla, Motorsport Director.

  • Piastri closing in on deal for 2023

    Oscar Piastri is closing on a deal to drive for Williams in Formula 1 next season, with his debut potentially confirmed by the end of the month

    The Alpine test and reserve driver has been the talk of the paddock as he is one of F1’s most promising young drivers, and wont a hat-trick of titles across the Formula Renault Eurocup, Formula 3 and Formula 2 from 2019 to 2021.

    But, he missed out on an instant F1 graduation for 2022, as Alpine had no room and they could not find or agree a deal for Piastri to go on loan elsewhere. Piastri has spent 2022 so far testing last year’s Alpine alongside his role as the team’s reserve driver.

    The Aussie, is still under contract with Alpine for next year but is thought to have a release clause of some kind if he does not have a deal agreed for him to race in F1 by the end of June. Alpine is still not able to put Piastri in its own team as Esteban Ocon is contracted to the end of 2024, and two time world champion Fernando Alonso is all but confirmed for 2023.

    Alpine has made it clear that in the circumstances it is happy to let Piastri join another team but on a short term basis as they are not keen to lose such a highly rated driver permanently. Multiple sources have indicated the solution looks increasingly likely to be loaning Piastri to Williams.

    It’s to be rumoured, that Piastri’s move will be announced at the British Grand Prix, as that even begins at the end of June – the aforementioned contractual deadline for Alpine to secure Piastri’s future and the race at which Alpine’s team principal, Otmar Szafnauer hoped to be able to confirm its driver plans.

    Williams is clearly amenable to such an arrangement as for the 2022 season, the British team struck a similar deal with Red Bull to sign Alex Albon, whom Piastri is likely to partner when he makes his F1 debut. Albon has been extremely impressive in 2022, whilst his team-mate Nicholas Latifi has struggled, lacking pace and also suffering some expensive crashes.

    Latifi’s position at Williams has so far been guaranteed by the funding he brings and his father was also integral in helping the team manage some debts early in pandemic, that helped Latifi extend his stay till 2022, but its is not expected to last beyond a third season.

    But rumours continued to fly around at the Azerbaijan GP, that Piastri could replace Latifi from this year’s British GP onwards. Latifi has denied these claims and denied he would leave the team mid season and expects to stay until the end of the year…

  • Round 8- Azerbaijan GP

    Round 8- Azerbaijan GP

    Another Azerbaijan GP complete and we definitely had a few shock surprises along the way!

    Max Verstappen takes his 5th win of the season, with his team mate joining him making it Red Bull’s third 1-2 of the season also. George Russell’s keeping it consistent as he finished in P3!

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

    What a weekend for the Bull’s! Both drivers are making it count at the moment and you can see that when there driving. Perez seems like his got so much more confidence in the car, since his win and signing a 2 year deal!

    This isn’t what Ferrari wanted or needed, Charles had a power unit issue and Carlos with a hydraulic issue – no points for either driver and it’s having some effects to the drivers and constructors standings…

    What a weekend for Mercedes! Being there when it matters is key and that’s what they keep on doing. Both drivers in top 5 and another podium to add George’s tally! A quick side note- I hope LH is okay considering he couldn’t barley move after the race and getting out of the car was a struggle!

    Gasly back in the top 5 is nice to see, and at a track he done well at last year makes it even better, let’s hope Baku is a turning point for Alpha Tauri now!

    Someone else who needs a mention is Seb! P6 finish after going straight on in one of the run off areas and then having to spin round (which was beautiful) and then climb his way back up to get those all important points.

    Now onto the Papaya team, I said they had an opportunity to score points, and they did – a double points finish for Lando and Daniel! Again maybe this is the start of turning things around, especially for Daniel.

    The Championship-

    Max Verstappen still leads the championship with 150 points, his teammate is close behind him in 2nd with 129 points and then its Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in third on 116 points. But, Leclerc needs to watch himself as Mr Consistency is making moves, Russell finds himself in fourth on 99 points – just 17 points between the pair. We then have Carlos Sainz in fifth on 83 points.

    Red Bull remain in the top spot and extend their lead as they sit comfortably on 279 points, then it’s Ferrari in 2nd of 199 points, with the Silver Arrows coming at them rather quickly, they are on 161 points. We then have a big gap to 4th, which is McLaren who are on 65 points and then Alpine are now in fifth on 47 points after a double points finish today.

  • Round 8- Azerbaijan Qualifying

    Round 8- Azerbaijan Qualifying

    The grid is all set for tomorrow’s Azerbaijan GP! With a mixed qualifying which saw a red flag, a stunning lap for a Ferrari driver and an Aston Martin driver in the top 10…

    But it was Charles Leclerc who took pole position once again, his 6th this year. He is joined by Sergio Perez who out qualifies his teammate for the second weekend in a row. Max rounds out the top 3.

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

    I am actually quite surprised at the McLaren’s it looked like both drivers had pace to be in the top 10 but things don’t always work out that way – they are in the middle of the pack which isn’t always the best but they could benefit by any first lap incidents and starting from 11th and 12th you can still get into the points, especially because it’s Baku and anything can happen!

    The Alpha Tauri’s WOW! They needed a good result and they got it, Gasly starting P6 which we love to see and takes us back to his great qualifying form from last year. And Yuki Tsunoda starting 8th is like a dream for the team. Hopefully both drivers can keep out of trouble and score a good amount of points and make up for this season!

    A driver who I expected to be in the top 10 was Bottas, his starting P15, behind his teammate so it will be interesting to see how both Alfa Romeo’s can get through the field…

    It feels good, this one. Obviously all pole positions feels good, but this one I probably did not expect it, because I thought Red Bull were stronger, especially in Q1 and Q2, I really struggled to see that we were faster, but then in the last lap, everything came together and I managed to do a good lap, so extremely happy… I’m really excited for tomorrow.

    Charles Leclerc on pole position in Baku!

    Predictions-

    My top fie for the race tomorrow is – P1: Leclerc, P2: Verstappen, P3: Perez, P4: Sainz and P5: Russell.

    I feel like we will have a crazy race tomorrow, no doubt that there will be a safety car which the teams will have a strategy for as they know how this circuit can be, but who will get that strategy right and will we see a surprise podium? Or something we didn’t expect…

    Times for tomorrow-

    Feature Race F2 – 08:05am (BST)
    F1 Race – 12:00pm

  • Azerbaijan Grand Prix

    The Azerbaijan GP is here once again, and it hosts Round 8 out of 22! After an unexpected race here last year, what could happen this year and will Max settle his unfinished business here after last year’s retirement?

    Just like Monaco, the Baku City Circuit has areas where mistakes can’t be made, but unlike in Monaco there is more overtaking chances, especially down the straight.

    Who needs a good weekend?

    The Ferrari boys need a good weekend, the last 4 races a Red Bull has won, which has led them to lead both championships and have Perez close in on Charles in 2nd. Sainz needs to get a good amount of points on the board as he is 27 points away from Perez who is in 3rd. Either way a Ferrari needs to win this weekend to get back on form which we saw in the early few races.

    Both Haas’ will also be wanting to do well this weekend, as they look to try and score double points (fingers crossed). After having both cars DNF last time out, Haas will be wanting to score to get further up in the constructors, they currently sit in 8th just two points away from Alpha Tauri in 7th.

    Guanyu Zhou will be hoping for a good weekend, having scored a point in his first ever F1 race, it hasn’t all gone his way this year, finishing just outside the points in both Saudi Arabia and Australia, he then finished 15th in Imola and had two DNF’s in Miami and Spain, he then bounced back to finish 16th in Monaco. In F2 last year, he finished 3rd in Sprint Race 1 – hopefully he can put that to good use and get in the points this weekend!…

    Predictions for qualifying-

    My top five are- Pole: Verstappen, P2: Leclerc, P3: Perez, P4: Sainz and P5: Hamilton.

    I feel like the battle for 5th will be between both Mercs, Lando Norris and Valtteri Bottas – all have very good cars and it looks like McLaren and Alfa Romeo have unlocked a bit more than Mercedes at this moment in time.

    Times for the weekend-

    Friday 10th

    • Free Practice F2 – 09:35am – 10:20am (BST)
    • Free Practice 1 F1 – 12:00pm – 13:00pm
    • Qualifying F2 – 13:30pm – 14:00pm
    • Free Practice 2 F1 – 15:00pm – 16:00pm

    Saturday 11th

    • Sprint Race F2 – 10:30am – 11:15am (BST)
    • Free Practice 3 F1 – 12:0pm – 13:00pm
    • Qualifying F1 – 15:00pm – 16:00pm

    Sunday 12th

    • Feature Race F2 – 08:05am (BST)
    • F1 Race – 12:00pm

  • Williams fined for breach of financial regulations

    Williams racing have been fined $25,000 following a procedural breach of Formula 1’s financial regulations, the sports governing body the FIA announced yesterday.

    From 2021, the teams have been required to submit an interim account of their spending against the cost cap – which this year runs at $141.2 millions for the period between January and April by the end of June each year. Their annual spend must be reported by the end of the following March.

    Williams had failed to hit the second deadline of 31st March 2022, with the FIA informing the team of their procedural breach the following month.

    The British team accepted they had not obeyed the rules, with the FIA saying in a statement that the team explained the steps that they had taken in a bit to avert the breach.

    As the breach was voluntarily disclosed by the team in advance of the deadline and fully cooperated in seeking a remedy, the Cost Cap Administration – a body created to monitor compliance of the financial regulations – offered the team an Accepted Breach Agreement (ABA).

    This involved a commitment from Williams to remediate the breach by 7pm on 31st May 2022, pay a fine of $25,000 and bear the costs incurred by the Cost Cap Administration in connect with the preparation of the ABA. Williams accepted the offer and have since fulfilled the tree requirements.

    Why is there a cost cap?

    A cost cap was brought into F1 for specific reasons, to allow the small teams to spend the same amount as the big teams. It also looks like the cost cap will decrease each year until they (F1) are happy with how much teams are spending.

  • Azerbaijan tyre allocation

    After a weeks break, we are back racing once again as we have another double header, with our first destination being Azerbaijan this weekend.

    Pirelli have chosen the tyres for this weekend those being the softest tyres in the range, C3 (Hard), C4 (Medium), C5 (Soft). This is the same selection as last year’s Azerbaijan GP.

    Baku’s street circuit has a personality of its own, combining rapid straights with some narrow and technical sections, especially around Turn 9 in the old city centre. As a result, the high downforce setups which the teams used in Monaco won’t be used here, teams prefer to go for a low to medium downforce set up.

    The weather can be warm in Baku, with the track temperature in excess of 50 degrees, but the tight confines of the building around the circuit mean that there are areas around the track with light and shade, varying the track temperature quite a bit around the lap.

    The winning strategy last year was effectively a one-stopper (although the race was red flagged close to the end). The favoured strategy was soft to hard, with the soft tyre being fitted for the last three laps.

    Until Jeddah came along, Baku was the fastest street circuit of the year. But the demands of this city track are still relatively low, as none of the corners take a huge amount of energy out of the tyres due to the low levels of abrasion and contained lateral loads – which means that we can have the same nomination as Monaco. Having said that, the high speeds in Azerbaijan still place a certain demand on the tyres. The main point is all about traction, with finding the right balance between front and rear axles being the key challenge for all the teams: you need to have enough heat in the front tyres to generate grip, despite the long straights that cool them down, but not too much heat at the rear, otherwise it’s easy to overheat them in the traction zones. Track temperature is also inconsistent in Baku, so all in all it’s quite a specific track with a few different technical challenges, which are nonetheless the same for everyone.

    Mario Isla, Motorsport Director.

    Formula 2

    The Medium and Supersoft tyres have been chosen for this weekend in Baku for Formula 2. This is the same nomination as previous years, even though the supersoft is a new compound for 2022. But the same compounds have already been seen this season at Imola.

  • Ricciardo’s future in doubt?

    Ricciardo’s future in doubt?

    Rumours are growing every race weekend at the moment, as there is uncertainty whether Daniel Ricciardo will be keeping his seat at McLaren…

    Ricciardo has accepted that his time at the Papaya team has not delivered the results he or his bosses would have liked, but he is committed for the full three years of his contract…

    Daniel has only scored points on two occasions this year, his home race in Australia, and the sprint race in Imola… His sat on 11 points in 11th, 4 places away from his teammate and 37 points.

    Zak Brown, spoke ahead of a trip to visit the Indianapolis 500, suggested that McLaren’s deal with Ricciardo was not completely watertight. He (Zak) also suggested that there were break clauses that could open the door for a parting of ways if things did not improve.

    I don’t want to get into the contract, but there are mechanisms in which we’re committed to each other, and mechanisms in which we’re not. I spoke with Daniel about it. We’re not getting the results that we both hoped for, but we’re both going to continue to push. I think he showed in Monza [last year] he can win races. We also need to develop our race car; it’s not capable of winning races. But we’d like to see him further up the grid.

    Zak Brown, on whether there was a get out clause for driver or team.

    But after last weekend in Monaco, there’s more rumours coming about. The statements from the McLaren team are something to take into consideration also but at the moment Danny Ric’s seat isn’t safe whether that’s this year or next…

    Who could possibly take his seat?

    I’ve seen a few possibilities which could potentially take his seat, they are- Colton Herta, Pierre Gasly and Oscar Piastri (if he didn’t get the Alpine seat).

  • Perez stays till 2024!

    Perez stays till 2024!

    Just after claiming his first Monaco victory, Sergio Perez is now celebrating more this week as Red Bull retain the Mexican for another two years!

    Perez, joined Red Bull Racing last season and took one victory in Azerbaijan and four more podiums to finish fourth in the drivers championship.

    Already this season, he has 3 second place finishes and his victory in Monaco last weekend, he currently sits in third in the drivers and is 15 points adrift of leader and teammate Max Verstappen.

    Since joining Oracle Red Bull Racing, Checo has done a fantastic job. Time and again he has proved himself to not only be a magnificent team player but as his level of comfort has grown he has become a real force to be reckoned with at the sharp end of the grid. This year he has taken another step and the gap to World Champion Max has closed significantly, evidenced by his superb pole position in Jeddah earlier this year and by his wonderful win in Monaco just last weekend. For us, holding onto his pace, race craft and experience was a no-brainer and we are delighted that Checo will continue to race for the team until 2024. In partnership with Max we believe we have a driver pairing that can bring us the biggest prizes in F1.

    Christian Horner on Sergio Perez.

    For me, this has been an incredible week, winning the Monaco Grand Prix is a dream for any driver and then to follow that with announcing I will continue with the Team until 2024 just makes me extremely happy. I am so proud to be a member of this Team and I feel completely at home here now. We are working very well together and my relationship with Max, on and off the track, is definitely helping drive us forward even more. We have built tremendous momentum as a Team and this season is showing that, I am excited to see where that can take us all in the future.

    Perez on his new contract.

    My Opinion-

    Ayyy!! We love to see it! I think we all knew this was coming after Sunday as Perez said ‘I think I signed to early’ after him winning Monaco! But it’s a good decision for him and the team, his helped the team massively last year and this year.

  • Mercedes want to cut one customer team

    Toto Wolff, has said Mercedes could drop one of their customer engine teams in the future due to the low profit margins.

    Mercedes currently supply to Aston Martin, McLaren and Williams with power units, which makes their engines the most used among the grid ahead of Ferrari whose power units are deployed by three teams.

    The budget cap in Formula 1 has begun to take hold of the teams and cost cutting measures have been taken or are starting to come into play as the affects are being felt.

    As a result of this, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff would prefer to keep their production costs down and letting a customer team go. But Wolff has not gave any indication on who he could be letting go…

    Unfortunately, the business of leasing engines is not compelling and interesting because the FIA have put in a certain limit you can charge to your customers in order to protect the smaller teams. I’d rather have six [customer cars], push the development further down the line and then make two engines fewer, because you need to produce two fewer plus two spares for every team. In an ideal world, I would maybe see us plus two [customers], so actually downsize a bit.

    Toto Wolff talking to Financial Times.

  • Round 7- Monaco GP

    Round 7- Monaco GP

    Did we just have a chaotic and interesting Monaco GP?? I think we did! There was a threat of rain for today’s race, going into the weekend and boy did we get it!

    Sergio Perez wins the Monaco GP, him now being the most successful Mexican F1 Driver as he took his third career win. Carlos Sainz finishes in 2nd, two years in a row! And Max Verstappen rounds out the podium, another great weekend for Red Bull!

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

    To start, we had a delayed race and wasn’t sure why at first but it turned out to be a power problem. But it had been raining, and whilst we was waiting for the race to start the rain got heavier… We saw the cars go round on formation laps but it was just too wet to start.

    Eventually we got racing, and without a safety car also, but it was all about strategy and who would get it right…

    Lap 27 came around, and it saw Mick Schumacher spun and crash at the swimming pool section which then brought a red flag, 3 laps later- the crash saw the gearbox and rear suspension detach from his Haas. His teammate also retired due to a system water pressure loss.

    A what could’ve been day for Charles, as he finally finishes a home race for the first time. He got told to pit, and then his team came on the radio to tell him not to pit but it was too late… This compromised the Monegasques race, but he bounced back from not scoring any points last week.

    Disappointing race for Haas, both drivers DNF, the first time this year and the team won’t be happy about it. Hopefully we see them bounce back in Baku next time out.

    A good race for one McLaren, Mr Lando Norris – he didn’t want it to rain, but he didn’t seem to mind it in the end after finishing 6th and looked like he was closing in on GR in the final few laps.

    Now onto the Silver Arrows, another good race for Russell, he maintains the top 5 finishes for this season! Now onto Hamilton, he got stuck behind a slow Fernando Alonso who looked like he settled for 7th, which compromised the 7 time world champions race as he had a lot more pace.

    The Championship-

    Max Verstappen is still leading the championship, but Charles Leclerc is sitting in 2nd only 9 points away, Perez is now closing in on the pair as he is 6 points away from the Ferrari driver. Russell remains in fourth, and Sainz is in fifth but there is one point between the two drivers.

    Looking at the teams, Red Bull lead the Constructors on 235 points, Ferrari are in 2nd on 199 points. We then have a big gap to third which is Mercedes on 134 and then another gap to fourth, which is McLaren on 59 points. Alfa Romeo are in fifth but Alpine is just one point behind them.

    We are back in two weeks and we have another double header! We go to Azerbaijan on the 10th to 12th June, and then we return to Canada a week later on the 17th to 19th June!

  • Round 7 – Monaco Qualifying

    Round 7 – Monaco Qualifying

    Well, another crazy qualifying in Monaco is complete, which saw a few surprise exits as well as a crash in Q3 which saw people not being able to complete their final laps.

    But it’s home boy hero, Charles Leclerc on pole position, with no-one being able to get close to him! Carlos Sainz makes it an all Ferrari front row. Sergio Perez, rounds out the top 3!

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

    A crash from Sergio Perez brought the final qualifying session to an end, as he lost the rear and went into the barrier, with Carlos Sainz doing the same- at the exact time aswell which caused there to be a traffic jam as drivers couldn’t get through.

    Gasly got knocked out in Q1 as he wasn’t able to get to the flag in time, he starts the race in P17, a what could’ve been today as it looked like he had really good pace so far but now onto tomorrow, what can he do from P17?

    Danny Ric out in Q2, and is starting P14- sandwiched between both Haas’ not a good day at all, which is a bit confusing as Lando Norris is starting P5!

    Someone I have to mention though, is Sebastian Vettel, starting P9! He done a mega lap in Q2 so he wouldn’t get knocked out, and he managed to get his Aston Martin into P9.

    A mixed day for Ferrari and Red Bull, for Ferrari its more of a good day obviously the pole for Leclerc, but the crash for Sainz once again has got to be hurting the team… Where as Red Bull more of a down day, Perez crashing which ruined his and his teammates lap, but as well as this it looks like Max isn’t comfortable in the car this weekend.

    Predictions-

    Well, these predictions I done before qualifying as I recorded my podcast- so I won’t change them (even though I want too!).

    My top five are- P1: Verstappen, P2: Sainz, P3: Hamilton, P4: Perez and P5: Russell.

    There is an 80% chance of rain during the race tomorrow, so this may add some chaos to the Monaco race. Strategy is key here, the teams will be wanting to get the pit stops right * Flashback to last years Monaco GP, VB *

    Times for tomorrow-

    Feature Race F2- 08:50am (BST)
    F1 Race- 14:00pm.

  • Monaco Grand Prix

    The most prestigious motor race is here, we are in Monaco for Round 7 of the 2022 F1 Season! It is also the home GP of Charles Leclerc, will he finally have a good race result here and make up for scoring no points last week? Or will Max Verstappen continue with his charge?

    With overtaking not really possible here, qualifying is everything, so will we see some good performances from drivers to get further up the grid?

    Who needs a good weekend?

    Charles, even before what happened last week, he needs a good home GP. Last year, he qualified on pole before crashing, but if he does the same again (without the crashing part), there’s no reason why he shouldn’t win this race.

    Daniel needs a good weekend, he qualified well last week, but he just went backwards in the race and ended up finishing outside the points, which McLaren wouldn’t have wanted.

    Pierre Gasly, he got out performed by his teammate last week, and he managed to get into the points also. Pierre will be hoping to have a good qualifying and then he can go from their and see what he can do.

    I think Aston Martin need a good weekend also, they brought basically a new car last week so it will be interesting to see how the car does around different tracks, but more importantly this week.

    Predictions for qualifying-

    My top five are- Pole: Leclerc, P2: Verstappen, P3: Sainz, P4: Hamilton and P5: Russell.

    As I said earlier, qualifying is everything, so everyone will be pushing to improve their laps, but no mistakes can be made, its Monaco after all and it’s can bite at any point and ruin the drivers’ lap.

    Times for the weekend-

    Friday 27th

    • F2 Qualifying Group A- 10:40am – 10:56am (BST)
    • F2 Qualifying Group B- 11:04am – 11:20am
    • Free Practice 1 F1- 13:00pm – 14:00pm
    • Free Practice 2 F1- 16:00pm – 17:00pm

    Saturday 28th

    • Free Practice 3 F1- 12:00pm – 13:00pm (BST)
    • Qualifying F1- 15:00pm – 16:00pm
    • Sprint Race F2- 16:40pm – 17:25pm

    Sunday 29th

    • Feature Race F2- 08:50am (BST)
    • F1 Race- 14:00pm.

  • Monaco tyre allocation

    It’s race week once again, and we are in Monaco for Round 7, and the most famous street circuit of all! Let’s take a look at the tyre allocation.

    The softest compounds have been selected for the Monaco GP, C3 (Hard), C4 (Medium), C5 (Soft).

    Like Barcelona, Monaco is extremely well-known to the teams, with it being just one of three circuits still on the calendar that originally appeared in the inaugural 1950 Formula 1 season. Unlike the other two (Spa and Silverstone), the track hasn’t changed shape significantly since then, which means that it has the lowest average speed of any track and very little run-off, making it hard to overtake.

    The slippery street asphalt, and slow speeds mean that the energy going through the tyres is low with minimal wear and degradation, but quite a high degree of track evolution each day.

    This means that a one-stopper is the normality, but there’s quite a wide pit stop window and the timing of the stops can be influenced by safety cars, which are very likely around the tight circuit.

    The cars run a special high-downforce configuration for Monaco in order to maximise grip at low speeds. This weekend is obviously the first time for the new 18 inch tyres have race at Monaco, so the teams will have a lot to learn about how they react in the conditions.

    Monaco is often described as one of the most unpredictable races of the year, but the truth is that qualifying takes on a particular significance as track position is key here. As a result of that, understanding how to maximise the softest C5 compound – which has only raced at one event so far this year, in Australia – will be a vital part of free practice. With the previous rule requiring drivers to start the race on their fastest Q2 tyre now abolished, we might see some different strategies this year, with some drivers picking harder compounds to begin the race to target running a long first stint, given the difficultly of overtaking. Others may choose a more traditional approach by starting on the softest compound, at a race where strategy can make a real difference.

    Mario Isla, Motorsport Director.

    Formula 2

    Formula 2 will also be racing in Monaco this weekend, with the softest available compounds: the Soft tyre and the Supersoft tyre. This is the same nomination from 2021 and prior years, although the supersoft is a revised compound for 2022.

  • F1 set to group races by region

    Formula 1 is planning to group races by region in 2023 in an effort to improve its sustainability credentials by reducing freight movements and personnel travel.

    The strategy was revealed by F1 boss, Stefano Domenicali during the Spanish GP weekend, with a meeting with the team principals.

    In 2019, Liberty announced a plan to make F1 carbon neutral by 2030, and rationalising the calendar is seen as a key part of that ongoing commitment. At the same time, a more efficient schedule will tackle the dramatic rise in freight costs that has impacted both the F1 organisation itself and the teams.

    Whilst some races have traditionally been grouped together, there are anomalies in the calendar in the way some flyaway races are placed. This season, Miami was a standalone race involving a North American trip for just one race weekend, whilst the upcoming races in Baku and Montreal in June are back to backs but far apart geographically.

    Although, Domenicali did not go into extensive detail in the meeting of what could change, its understood that Baku could be grouped in a run of races with Shanghai and Suzuka. One complication that F1 still faces is the COVID-19 situation in China still remains unclear, and moving it towards the end of the season creates some extra breathing space.

    Another option that could potentially happen, is to pair Miami and Montreal, which means that one or the other will have to move from its 2022 date by a month. Monaco’s traditional end of May date reduces F1’s flexibility at that time of year.

    The Middle Eastern races could also be paired together, with Bahrain and Saudi Arabia together at the start of the year, and Qatar and Abu Dhabi towards the end of the season.

    My Opinion-

    About time they did this, it doesn’t make sense for us to go from Italy to the US and then to Spain. As well as the cost, you’ve got to think of the teams, as F1 wants a big calendar grouping races together will make it easier for teams.

  • Round 6- Spanish GP

    Round 6- Spanish GP

    WOW! A chaotic race in Spain, saw us with a new championship leader… A race which is normally a two stop turned into a 3 stop, and there was a risk of a 4 stop also.

    Max Verstappen WINS the Spanish GP, he now moves into the lead of the Championship, his teammate comes home to make it a 1-2, with team orders taking a play which Perez wasn’t very happy about… But the final podium spot goes to George Russell, the new minister of defence!

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

    A mixed day for Ferrari, Carlos spun and went into the gravel trap earlier on, which saw him drop down out of the top 10. But Leclerc looked like he wrapped up the race from early on, but it never stays that way in F1, as he lost power which saw his race come to an end as he retired in the pits.

    A great day for the Mercedes team, especially Lewis, he had contact on the first lap which saw him drop down to the bottom and then pit for new tyres as he had a slow puncture, he then fought his way up to the top five! Mr George Russell aswell, round of applause for him, mostly fought the Red Bulls today and held of Max for a long time! Safe to say the Mercedes upgrades have worked.

    What a drive from Fernando Alonso, started P20 and finished in P9, great damage limitation from him. And his teammate finishing in P7, a good points haul for Alpine.

    A mixed day again for Alfa Romeo, mechanical issues again for Guanyu Zhou, his race ending earlier than usual, but for VB a big points haul in P6.

    The Championship-

    Max, now leads the championship by 6 points! Everybody in the top 10, apart from Max and Charles, have stayed in the same position. Perez now has 85 points in third, Russell sat behind him in 74 points, and Carlos Sainz has 65 points and he rounds out the top 5.

    Red Bull lead the Constructors, with 195 points and Ferrari are in 2nd with 169 points. Mercedes sit comfortably in third with 120 points a 70 point gap between them and McLaren who are in 4th. Alfa Romeo are in fifth with 39 points, slowly catching the papaya tomorrow.

    We will be back next week for the second race of our double header, Round 7 in Monaco, the home Grand Prix of Charles Leclerc.

  • Round 6 – Spain Qualifying

    Round 6 – Spain Qualifying

    What a qualifying we have just witnessed, from a Ferrari spinning, to a home town hero being knocked out in Q1, a lap time deleted which promoted a Haas into Q3 and a Red Bull loosing power on the final flying lap!

    But, it was Charles Leclerc who took pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix, with a spin on his first flying lap in Q3 he only had the chance to do one lap which he made count, we then have Max Verstappen joining him on the front row, as he wasn’t able to improve his final lap as he lost power before he even started it. Carlos Sainz makes it a 1-3 for Ferrari on his home turf, hoping to get the jump on the Red Bull at the start of the race.

    The full top 10 are- Pole: Leclerc, P2: Verstappen, P3: Sainz, P4: Russell, P5: Perez, P6: Hamilton, P7: Bottas, P8: Magnussen, P9: Ricciardo and P10: Schumacher.

    A big well done to Haas, not only have they got both cars into Q3, but they had to take apart Micks cars in FP3 due to a fire, and they managed to get it ready for qualifying! Big day tomorrow for both cars, as they have brought no upgrades and will be hoping both cars can score points.

    McLaren, mixed day for the Woking based team, good to see Danny Ric starting in the top 10, hopefully with the right strategy he can score a good amount of points, but for Lando, he got into the top 10 for Q3, but got his laptime deleted which sees him start P11. Which is not that bad considering his just outside the top 10, he will be hoping to stay out of trouble at the start tomorrow.

    Not the day for Fernando Alonso, and Alpine as a whole, we didn’t really see that pace their like we have done in recent rounds. The Spaniard is starting 17th, a lot of work to do at a track where overtaking isn’t major.

    A good day for Bottas, in the top 10 once again, he will be hoping to score points in tomorrows race. His teammate, Guanyu Zhou starts P15.

    Predictions-

    My top five are- P1: Leclerc, P2: Sainz, P3: Verstappen, P4: Hamilton and P5: Russell. If Leclerc and Sainz can look after their tyres in the race and the Ferrari team perfect the strategy and pit stops then I don’t see why they won’t get a double podium.

    Bottas, Magnussen and Ricciardo could all be battling for that 6th position in the race, if things go their way and they stay out of trouble in the opening laps.

    Times for tomorrow-

    Feature Race F3- 09:05am (BST)
    Feature Race F2- 10:35am
    Round 6- 14:00pm

  • Spanish Grand Prix

    It is race week once again, but this time it’s the start of a double header! We are in Barcelona for the Spanish Grand Prix which is Round 6 out of 22. It is also the home grand prix of Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso!

    The drivers have a lot of knowledge of this track with it being one of the test tracks but how will the new cars/tyres and upgrades fair here? It is all to play for once again…

    Who needs a good weekend?

    Daniel Ricciardo, plain and simple, seems like since Australia his not that comfortable int he car compared to Lando, if McLaren are bringing upgrades this weekend could be his turning point and get a better grip of the car.

    The Haas pair, I feel like I haven’t spoke about them together yet… But last time out in Imola it looked like they were both set for points but it didn’t end that way. So both drivers will be wanting to get points on the board this weekend and give the team a good result.

    Alpha Tauri, need a good weekend not just for one driver either, they need it as a team. Last time we was racing, Pierre Gasly had the incident with Lando Norris so scored no points and Yuki finished just outside the points also too.

    Predictions for qualifying-

    My top 5 are: Pole: Verstappen, P2: Leclerc, P3: Sainz, P4: Perez and P5: Norris. We all know the battle for pole is going to be between Ferrari and Red Bull, but Ferrari are bringing big upgrades to this weekend grand prix.

    But the battle for 4th/ 5th and 6th will be the most interesting though, as McLaren are said to brought upgrades as well as Mercedes and Alfa Romeo have a strong car. McLaren and Mercedes will be hoping to get both their drivers in the top 10.

    Times for the weekend-

    Friday 20th-

    • Free Practice 1 F1- 13:00pm – 14:00pm (BST)
    • Qualifying F3- 14:30pm – 15:00pm
    • Free Practice 2 F1- 16:00pm – 17:00pm
    • Qualifying F2- 17:30pm – 18:00pm

    Saturday 21st-

    • Sprint Race F3- 10:00am – 10:40am (BST)
    • Free Practice 3 F1- 12:00pm – 13:00pm
    • Qualifying F1- 15:00pm – 16:00pm
    • Sprint Race F2- 16:40pm – 17:25pm

    Sunday 22nd-

    • Feature Race F3- 09:05am (BST)
    • Feature Race F2- 10:35am
    • Round 6- 14:00pm

  • Juri Vips gets FP1 outing

    Red Bull junior driver, Juri Vips will be making his Formula 1 race debut when he steps into the cockpit of the RB18 for the first practice session at this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix.

    The Estonian driver will be behind the wheel of Sergio Perez’s car at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

    Vips, who currently competes in Formula 2 and is sat in eighth in the championship has been apart of the Red Bull Junior Team since 2018, and previously drove an F1 car at last year’s post season test in Abu Dhabi.

    The opportunity for Vips is Red Bull fulfilling one of their two mandated young driver sessions for the year.

    My Opinion-

    Ahh Juri! I love this new rule, it gives young drivers the opportunity to get a handle on an F1 car in a free practice session. I could see Juri being a contender for an F1 seat next year, he has said before that Red Bull haven’t said he needs to win the F2 championship, just show you want it, so it will definitely be interesting to see how he does!

    I imagine as Juri is in the Red Bull, we will see Liam Lawson in the Alpha Tauri for the FP1 outing.

  • F1 to host 22 races in 2022

    The 2022 Formula 1 calendar will now run 22 races rather than the originally planned 23, following the decision not to replace the Russian Grand Prix.

    The Russian GP was due to be the 17th race of the season on September 25th but was cancelled back in February following the country’s invasion of Ukraine.

    F1 had planned to fill the slot to keep a record 23 race calendar with Qatar and Turkey as options. The sport already has a tight calendar for the rest of the season and the Russian GP was set to kickstart one of the two triple headers after the summer break, instead it will now be a weekend break before a Singapore-Japan double header.

    One of the reasons for there being no replacement despite plenty of options, is that European round would not have been possible because of logistical issues around EU freight rules.

    As well as this, a fly-away race also could have had complications; a Qatar round for example would’ve been in the soaring heat in September and also just two months before the nation hosts the World Cup.

  • Barcelona tyre allocation

    We are back in Europe this week, as we head to Spain for Round 6 for the F1 season. We also have Formula 2 and 3, joining us this weekend to carry on their season.

    Pirelli has decided to bring the hardest tyres in the 2022 range, C1 (Hard), C2 (Medium), C3 (Soft). It’s a pretty straight forward choice, which is the same as last year albeit using a brand-new family of tyres.

    The teams were at Barcelona as recently as February, for pre-season testing, however there are three big differences to consider since last being there:

    • The teams concentrated on testing compounds in the middle of the range, rather than the hard.
    • The weather conditions were much cooler.
    • The new cars were in their most basic launch specification, the cars have since moved on considerably since then.

    With the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya being a very well-used circuit, there will not be much track evolution expected over the weekend, thanks to a busy schedule of support races also.

    Last years winning strategy was a two stopper, the traditional approach to Barcelona, with Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton triumphing a pole to a win using a soft-medium-medium strategy. Soft-medium-soft was used by all the finishers from P2 to P8.

    It’s hard to say much about Barcelona that hasn’t been said already, as it’s possibly the best-known circuit on the calendar for the drivers, with its wide-ranging layout making it a perfect testing venue. It has a bit of everything, with the very technical final sector being particularly important when it comes to looking after the tyres. As a result, the teams will have a good opportunity to assess the progress they have made with their cars since the start of the season, although the weather conditions will be much warmer and there will probably be a lot more running on the hard tyre than there was in testing, which will perhaps be the key to the race. In the past, Barcelona has traditionally been a two-stopper, so it will be interesting to see if the new generation of tyres this year leads anyone to target a one-stopper.

    Mario Isola, Motorsport Director.

    Formula 2

    The Hard and Soft tyres have been nominated for Round 4 in Spain. This is the same nomination as the championship’s last raced at the circuit in 2020, and one which has already been seen this year at Bahrain and at the in-season test in Barcelona last month.

    Formula 3

    The Hard tyre is nominated for the third round of the season. Drivers will have three sets of the hard compound plus one set of Medium tyres which are carried over from the previous round in Imola, these are to be used in free practice only.

  • De Vries gets FP1 run with Williams

    Mercedes reserve driver, Nyck de Vries will be making his Formula 1 race weekend debut, this weekend in Spain as he carries out driving duties for Williams in the first practice session.

    The reigning Formula E World Champion, will be borrowing Alex Albon’s FW44 for the 60 minute session at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

    De Vries, shares the Mercedes reserve role with Stoffel Vandoorne, who is also his teammate in Formula E for Mercedes EQ. The Dutchman previously tested F1 machinery when he drove the Silver Arrows in last year’s post-season Abu Dhabi Grand Prix test.

    His appearance for Williams fulfils one of the British team’s two mandated young driver sessions, which is a new rule introduced for this season.

    We are looking forward to having Nyck de Vries in the car for FP1 as it is always good to work with a new driver and get a fresh opinion on the car’s strengths and weaknesses. Nyck’s experience and professionalism will be crucial on Friday as he will complete some of the key engineering tests in FP1 before he hands the car back to Alex for FP2.

    Dave Robson, Head of Vehicle Performance at Williams.

    Firstly, I’d really like to thank Williams for the opportunity to run in FP1. It’s great for me to get to know the team and drive the FW44, and also to get myself out on track during a Formula 1 weekend. Preparation for the test is going well so far and the team have been incredibly supportive of me. I’m very much looking forward to the whole experience in Spain now.

    Nyck de Vries, on the FP1 session for Williams.

    My Opinion-

    Well, one of the teams had to take the bullet and go first… All jokes aside, I’m glad that Nyck is getting a chance, he definitely deserves a seat in F1 and maybe this is his chance to get out there and impress Williams or maybe some other teams?

    Nyck has been rumoured to the Williams seat, not just last year but also this year, all eyes onto Friday now to see how he does!

  • South African GP to return?

    With the F1 calendar forever changing, and with a record-breaking 23 races this season is it time to bring some old races back? Especially now with Miami, Zandvoort, Jeddah and Las Vegas signing deals in recent years taking up spots on the calendar.

    It definitely makes me think are there some places missing? One which has been spoken about recently, is the South African Grand Prix, which F1 hasn’t hosted a race there since 1993, with 13 drivers on the 2022 grid not being alive the last time it featured on the calendar…

    Based near Johannesburg, the Kyalami Circuit has previously held 21 out of 23 GP’s in Africa from 1967 to 1993. But we may have to wait a few more years till its return.

    A lot of work is needed to upgrade the circuit to meet the FIA Grade 1 status required to host an F1 race, the circuit was redesigned in 2014 but still requires improvements, including extra run off areas and TecPro barriers.

    Max Verstappen has backed Lewis Hamilton’s calls for F1 to return to South Africa, the reigning world champion said “I’d like to race in Africa, so Kyalami would be a cool addition.”

    On top of America, on top of China, I think there is a potential also to be in Africa soon. There is a lot of interest there. For sure that’s another area that so far is missing in the geography of our calendar.

    F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali stated his desire to add a GP, talking to Sky Sports F1.

    The one I really want to see is South Africa. That’s the one I want to hear announced next. We’re pretty much on every other continent, so why not? Ultimately, my ancestors are from there so that’s why it is important for me personally. I think it’s important for the sport to go there. If they’re in every other continent, why not?

    Lewis Hamilton on a race in Africa.

    My Opinion-

    I’d very much like to see the South African GP back on the calendar, as much as these new tracks are great, there are other tracks around and in different countries which are waiting to have their turn.

    Hopefully we get to hear something soon on whether this will happen!

  • Round 5- Miami GP

    Round 5- Miami GP

    The first Miami Grand Prix is officially over, and what a race it was! No-one really knew how it was going to go from tyres/pitstops to weather to VSC and Safety Cars, it was all unknown.

    But, Max Verstappen wins the Miami Grand Prix after getting the lead from Charles Leclerc early on in the race. 2nd place went to Charles Leclerc and the final podium spot going to Carlos Sainz, a good haul of points for Ferrari.

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

    There was quite a lot of overtakes throughout the race, but Mr Russell, seemed to make them stick as he was charging up the field after starting 12th! He took full advantage of going long and waiting for a VSC/Safety Car, and it ended up paying off.

    There was a few DRS trains during the race, but one which caused some drama, was where Pierre Gasly went wide, which allowed some cars to go through, but Lando Norris and Gasly made contact as Norris went to over take the Alpha Tauri driver. Lando’s race was therefore over, which caused a VSC and then a full safety car, Gasly retired into the pits just as the Safety Car went in.

    Another bit of contact late on in the race, was between Mick and Seb, both running in the points but as they made contact it saw the pair fall down the order, Seb retiring in the pitlane and Mick having to get a new front wing…

    An okay day for Alfa Romeo, they had Bottas score some points, and it could’ve been more if he didn’t go wide and have both Mercedes sat right behind him. But Guanyu Zhou had a technical issue which saw his race come to an end rather early.

    McLaren and Ricciardo are not having a good time at the moment, second race in a row, finishing outside the top 10. The Woking team now have time to the next race to understand a few things out about the car, as I’m sure they are not the only team who will be doing so.

    The Championship-

    Leclerc still leads the Championship by 19 points, the gap just keeps on coming down now… Max still in 2nd on 85 points, his teammate in third on 66 points. we then have Russell in 4th on 59 points and then Sainz rounding out the top 5 on 53 points.

    The gap between the top two teams are closing, Ferrari still leads with 157 points but Red Bull are just 6 points away from them. Mercedes sat comfortably in third on 95 points, with McLaren in 4th after not scoring any this weekend, and Alfa Romeo in 5th on 31 points.

    We are back again in two weeks, but this time we have a double header. Our first stop being to Barcelona, Spain on the 20th to 22nd May, the home Grand Prix of Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz!

  • Round 5- Miami Qualifying

    Round 5- Miami Qualifying

    The craziness continues in Miami, we only had 19 drivers take part in qualifying as Esteban Ocon had a crash in FP3 where his chassis broke, and wouldn’t of been fixed in time.

    But it was Ferrari who came out on top for the first ever Miami Qualifying, Charles Leclerc took pole position for the third time this season! With his teammate making it an all Ferrari front row lock out.

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

    Bit of a mixed weekend for most teams really, some seem to improve a lot on Friday, but Saturday they went a little bit back down.

    Mercedes looked very strong in the two free practice sessions, so for GR to qualify out of the top 10 was bit strange, starting in the middle of the pack may not be good here, but it will be interesting to see if he can work his way up the field. Onto LH, much better weekend for him here, back in the top 10, and in a good position if anything happens today to make the most of it.

    Alpha Tauri, a big improvement for them as both drivers in the top 10, where as in Imola they were out in Q1! Lets see if they can keep it up today and score some good points for the team.

    McLaren had an okay day, Norris in the top 10 again, whereas 14th for Ricciardo. The Aussie had an issue with starting the car up in Q2, this then compromised his out lap as he was pushing to get heat in his tyres.

    Predictions-

    My top 5 for the race are- P1: Leclerc, P2: Sainz, P3: Perez, P4: Hamilton and P5: Norris.

    I feel like things aren’t going to go well for Max, his already had a few mechanical problems this weekend, so could this play apart?

    I’d love to see Mick get points, but with the track really only having 2 overtaking spots, can he make up 4 places as well as having to pit and then make up those positions again?…

    I could see a few DNF’s happening today, the track is so tight and there is no room for error, as we have seen from Ocon and Sainz both crashing.

    The race starts at 20:30pm (BST).