Jordan's Track Talk

Tag: Austria

  • F2 – RND 7 Round Up

    Day 1, Practice-

    Isack Hadjar was fastest of all in the Spielberg free practice session, after he completed a lap of 1:16.441 to set the pace ahead of qualifying.

    The Campos racing driver was over two-tenths clear out front of Hitech Pulse Eight’s Paul Aron in second and DAMS Lucas Oil’s Jak Crawford in third.

    It was PREMA Racing’s Oliver Bearman that led the way early on though thanks to a time of 1:17.011, putting him 0.076s clear of MP Motorsport’s Dennis Hauger in second.

    The fastest time continued to change hands and next to top the timesheets was Paul Aron. The Hitech driver’s time of 1:16.680 put him two-tenths in front of ART Grands Prix Victor Martins.

    Fresh from his Feature Race victory in Barcelona, Crawford looked to be continuing that fine form as he went up to second, 0.162s off Aron’s leading time.

    The Red flags were waved moments later after AIX Racing’s Taylor Barnard pulled over to the side of the road on the main straight.

    With the track then clear, the session resumed to green flag conditions and Crawford once again improved on his best effort.

    Campos’ Hadjar then took over at the top of the leaderboard on a 1:16.624 eclipsing Aron’s time by just 0.056s. The Frenchman then extended his lead out front on his next flying effort, this time setting a lap of 1:16.441.

    No one could improve late on, which left Hadjar with the fastest time ahead of Aron and Crawford.

    Qualifying-

    MP Motorsport’s Dennis Hauger sealed his second pole position of the season after a close battle with AIX Racing’s Joshua Duerksen in a dramatic Spielberg Qualifying.

    The Norwegian driver completed a lap of 1:15.487 to lead Duerksen by just 0.008s, as Invicta Racing’s Gabriel Bortoleto rounded out the top three.

    It was Campos Racing’s Isack Hadjar that led the way in the early stages though, an opening time of 1:15.828 put him over two-tenths clear of Hitech Pulse-Eight’s Paul Aron in second.

    While most went for cool down laps, others continued to push but no one could trouble the top two.
    Returning to the pitlane, Hadjar had smoke coming from the rear of his car, with the issue ruling him out the remained of the session.

    With five minutes left, the final few laps started and after leading the rest of the field around the track, Hauger went to the top of the timesheets with a 1:15.487.

    The Paraguayan improved further on his next flying lap to go within 0.008s of top spot, but in the end Hauger held on to pole position with Bortoleto in third.

    The full top 10 are- Pole: Hauger, P2: Duerksen, P3: Bortoelto, P4: Colapinto, P5: Aron, P6: Barnard, P7: Hadjar, P8: Marti, P9: Bearman and P10: Maini.

    Day 2-

    It was a superb start for Bearman as he took the lead from pole-sitter Kush Maini on the run up to Turn 1. The Invicta Racing driver then ost another place to Marti later in the lap.

    By the end of lap 3, Bearman was now over two seconds clear of Marti. The Spaniard was also out of DRS range of Maini in third who was coming under attack from Taylor Barnard, Paul Aron and his teammate Gabriel Bortoleto.

    At the start of lap 6, the gaps were starting to close, as Marti had moved to within a second a half of Bearman, while Maini was now within DRS range of the Campos rookie.

    Barnard though was beginning to loose touch with Maini in the battle for P3, and the AIX Racing driver then dropped down to fifth after Aron dived down his inside at Turn 3.
    Back at the front, Bearman’s margin had gone with Marti now within DRS range of the Briton, with Maini just behind as they started lap 9.

    At the halfway stage of the race, Joshua Duerksen made his way past his AIX Racing teammate Barnard after diving down his inside on the entry to turn 3.

    Maini was beginning to struggle on lap 20 and fell out of DRS range of Marti up ahead. The Invicta driver then lost his place on the podium to Aron at the exit of Turn 3 on the next lap, with teammate Bortoleto following the Estonian through at the next corner.

    But this allowed Bearman and Marti to escape on the road with Aron and Bortoleto now over a second away from the top two fighting for the final spot on the podium.
    The battles had also started further back as Duerksen lost P7 to Hauger on lap 24.

    By the end of lap 26, Bearman had extended his lead to over one second to Marti while Bortoleto was all over the back of Aron. Just behind them, Maini lost out to the two MP drivers Colapinto and Hauger and dropped to seventh.

    Onto the final lap, and Bearman extended his lead to nearly two seconds before crossing the line to take victory ahead of Marti, while Aron held off Bortoleto to take his seventh podium of the year.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Bearman, P2: Marti, P3: Aron, P4: Bortoleto, P5: Hauger, P6: Crawford, P7: Maini, P8: Duerksen, P9: O’Sullivan and P10: Martins.

    Day 3-

    There was drama before the lights even went out, as pole-sitter Dennis Hauger at the start of the formation lap, alongside Kush Maini and Jak Crawford, forcing the three drivers to start from the pitlane.

    This then left Duerksen as the lead car on the grid and he made a fast start ahead of Bortoleto with Colapinto in third and Championship leader Paul Aron in fourth.

    Colapinto was the lone driver in the top five to start on the softs and he was coming under pressure from Aron and Isack Hadjar who were on supersofts.
    Further up the road, Duerksen and Bortoleto were now battling for the lead with the Brazilian making the move down the inside at Turn 4 on Lap 4.

    On lap 6, Josep Maria Marti lost P6 to sprint race winner, Oliver Bearman, the Prema racer getting past at the exit of turn 3.
    Moments later, the Virtual Safety Car was deployed with Zane Maloney stopping on track. After his Rodin Motorsport car was cleared, racing resumed with a number of supersoft runners then pitting for the softs.

    That included Marti, Duerksen, Bortoleto, Taylor Barnard, Richard Verschoor and Andrea Kimi Antonelli – with the latter stalling in the pitlane dropping him to the back of the field.

    Onto lap 18 and Aron had now got past Duerksen, and further up the road, Bortoleto was now right on the back of Marti in the battle for what would turn out to be the lead of the race.
    The Brazilian driver dived down the inside of his fellow rookie at Turn 3 to take the position.

    Enzo Fittipaldi was having a strong day as he made his way past his Van Amersfoort Racing teammate Rafael Villagomez and Trident’s Roman Stanek with Duerksen his next target in P9.

    The battle between the two Campos drivers then resumed on lap 32, just as the leader Colapinto made his mandatory pit stop. The MP rookie came back out in P8 behind a squabbling Fittipaldi and Duerksen.
    But he quickly overtook both of them at Turns 3 and 4 on lap 35, putting him up to fifth and just under three seconds behind Aron.

    Out front, Bortoleto’s lead over Hadjar was over three and a half seconds, with the Frenchman coming under pressure from Marti, Aron and a flying Colapinto.

    The Argentine took P4 from Aron at Turn 4 on Lap 38, before moving past Marti on the next tour. Onto the final lap, he overtook Hadjar for second but there was no catching Bortoleto, who crossed the line to take his first Formula 2 victory.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Bortoleto, P2: Colapinto, P3: Hadjar, P4: Fittipaldi, P5: Aron, P6: Durksen, P7: Cordeel, P8: Barnard, P9: O’Sullivan and P10: Crawford.

  • F3 – RND 6 Day 2 & 3

    Day 2-

    Pole sitter, Stenshorne tried to cover off Mansell from lights out but the Australian was able to get alongside him into Turn 1 to take the lead.
    The Hitech driver tried a re-pass into Turn 3 but was left running off the track, giving Tsolov momentum to take second position into Turn 4, making it an ART 1-2.

    Dino Beganovic was a spinner at Turn 1 falling from inside the top 10 down to 25th. Kacper Sztuka was an early retirement and was stranded on the circuit which required the Safety Car to neutralise things.

    Racing then resumed on lap 5 and Mansell was able to retain the advantage in front. Luke Browning was on the move after his grip penalty left him from starting 15th, going three-wide into Turn 4 to pass Nikita Bedrin and Arvid Lindblad to move into 11th.

    With DRS, Tsolov was able to get alongside Mansell into Turn 4 and rounded the Australian on the outside to take the lead on lap 7.

    Browning moved himself into the points-paying positions at the expense of Tim Tramnitz, moving down the inside at Turn 3 on lap 10 to secure 10th from the MP driver.

    Lap 12, and Fornaroli put a brave move on Bedrin to move up to 14th, passing the AIX Racing driver around the outside of Turn 6.

    Lap 16, was a busy one as Montoya looked to make a move on Alex Dunne at Turn 1, but the MP driver resisted the pressure to hold onto the position.

    Up further ahead, Mansell got a move at Turn 4 to stick on Tsolov, able to take the lead from his ART teammate and remain ahead.
    Gabriele Mini got brave and rounded Oliver Goethe on the outside at Turn 6 to secure sixth position.

    Contact with Trident’s Sami Meguetounif at the end of the lap for Lindblad left the PREMA Racing rookie with a puncture and dropped him out of the points fight.

    On lap 17, the fight for the lead continued with Tsolov getting back through on Mansell at Turn 4, a slow corner exit for the Australian allowed Stenshorne a run through Turn 5, putting the Norwegian up to second.

    The fight for the top five places continued just behind the trio but after a heated battle Montoya made contact with Dunne and was left spinning at Turn 4. The Colombian driver out of his car and ok, but the crash required another Safety Car.

    The Safety Car was withdrawn with one lap to go, setting up a final lap sprint to the finish. Tsolov got the restart he needed to put some distance between himself and Stenshorne, and the Bulgarian earned his second sprint race victory of the year ahead of the Hitech driver.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Tsolov, P2: Stenshorne, P3: Mansell, P4: Dunne, P5: Van Hoepen, P6: Mini, P7: Goethe, P8: Tramnitz, P9: Leon and P10: Meguetounif.

    Day 3-

    Browning launched into a clear lead at the first corner while PREMA Racing teammates Lindblad, Mini and Beganovic followed in second through to fourth as Tim Tramnitz dropped down to seventh.
    Lindblad and Mini battled on the exit of Turn 4 which allowed Beganovic the run into Turn 6 to take third from the Italian.

    That became second for the Swede on lap 2, as he dived down the inside of his teammate into Turn 3. Noel Leon was on the move too further back, taking sixth from Sebastian Montoya as he continued his charge from 13th.

    Lindblad was dropping through the pack on lap 8 after brief contact with Alex Dunne into Turn 3 as the MP Motorsport driver passed Goethe.
    Leon, Dunne and Goethe were able to clear the Brit on the run to Turn 4 to relegate the Red Bull Junior Team driver to seventh.

    Contact at Turn 3 between Mari Boya in the Campos and AIX Racing’s Nikita Bedrin brought out a Virtual Safety Cat on lap 11 while marshals retrieved the latter’s car.

    Back to racing conditions and Goethe was on the attack against Leon for fourth. The slightest of touches resulted in a puncture for the Van Amersfoort Racing driver, ending his charge through the pack and tumbling down the order.

    10 laps to go, everyone behind leader, Browning had DRS down to ninth-placed Tramnitz as the fight for points ebbed and flowed.

    Christian Mansell made his way into sixth position with a pass around the outside of Lindblad at Turn 4 on lap 19.
    That became fourth for the Australian with five laps to go, diving down the inside of Goethe at Turn 4.

    Mini made an attempt on Beganovic for second at Turn 3 on the following lap, but it was Mansell that went surging around the outside of the Italian at the following corner to take third. That was until Mini pulled off his own audacious pass to re-take P3 at Turn 6.

    Onto the penultimate lap and the battling behind allowed Browning to break out of DRS range to Beganovic, who was under attack from teammate Mini at Turn 4, with the Alpine Academy driver securing second a Turn 6.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Browning, P2: Mini, P3: Beganovic, P4: Mansell, P5: Goethe, P6: Tsolov, P7: Lindblad, P8: Vans Hoepen, P9: Fornaroli and P10: Dunne.

  • RW 11 – Austria

    Wow! What a race we had in Austria, it all looked plain sailing for most of the race until a collision took place and it all changed…

    Mercedes’ George Russell claimed a somewhat unexpected victory in the Austrian Grand Prix after a dramatic end to the race which saw Max Verstappen and Lando Norris collide in the battle for the lead, which dropped Verstappen down the order and forced Norris to retire.

    Verstappen originally made a strong start from pole position to hold P1 for much of the race, a thrilling duel with McLaren driver Norris unfolded when both made their final pit stops on lap 52, where RB suffered a rare slower stop due to an issue with the rear left wheel.

    Norris was then hot on the tail of his rival and made more than one attempt to snatch P1. But it all came to an end of lap 64 when the pair made contact, causing the pair to limp back to the pits.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Russell, P2: Piastri, P3: Sainz, P4: Hamilton, P5: Verstappen, P6: Hulkenberg, P7: Perez, P8: Magnussen, P9: Ricciardo and P10: Gasly.

    Russell’s second victory in F1! This just shows that Mercedes have made a step forward, I know he didn’t battle for the win, but this is a part of racing, if the top 2 crash into each other the driver in third 9 times out of 10 will take the lead and go on to win the race especially so late on in the race.
    A very good result, for Mercedes, Hamilton finished 4th aswell a very good points haul for the team!

    Piastriii, McLaren’s last man standing, the Australian made up good ground after qualifying and having his lap time deleted. It makes you think if that didn’t happen and he started P3, would he have won the race?

    Podium for Carlos Sainz! A good result for Ferrari, just what the team needs. However for Charles Leclerc it is a different story, he had contact on the first lap which saw him have to pit for a new front wing and that was basically his race over he finished P11 out of the points.

    A very good result for Nico Hulkenberg P6 for him! And the same goes to Magnussen he finished P8, just what the team needs. And I do have to say their team work between them is great, we have seen it quite a few times this year and they just capitalise on other’s misfortune or go through the field together.

    Ricciardo in the points, it was what he needed, and probably wanted aswell. But he will be needing more than one good performance to get a seat for next year and his only bet really is going to be sticking with VCARB.

    Gasly in the points aswell! The French driver, is on a run of points at the moment with it being his fourth consecutive race with points, so a good drive from him.

    Now we don’t have to wait too long for the next race, as it is only next week! And it is the home race of 7 time world champion, Lewis Hamilton, as well as race winners, George Russell and Lando Norris!

  • RW 11 – Austria Qualifying

    Max Verstappen secured pole position for the Austrian Grand Prix after a commanding performance in Saturday’s qualifying, beating closest challenger Lando Norris by four tenths of a second.

    Having set an impressive early benchmark in the initial laps of Q3, Verstappen bettered his time on his second effort to record a lap of 1m 04.314s in the Red Bull.

    The full top 10 are – Pole: Verstappen, P2: Norris, P3: Russell, P4: Sainz, P5: Hamilton, P6: Leclerc, P7: Piastri, P8: Perez, P9: Hulkenberg and P10: Ocon.

    Pole again for Verstappen! He will definitely be wanting to turn it into a victory, but I don’t think he will be able to sail away with it, he has Norris and Russell right behind him and we have seen the battles those three drivers have had recently…

    A wonderful result for the remaining top 3, I have no doubt that they would of been up there, it is all eyes onto the race now…

    Another decent qualifying by Carlos Sainz! His teammate Charles Leclerc also had a lot better qualifying that the sprint qualifying. Now the drivers will need to work as a team and score some big points, especially because of McLaren catching them in the constructors standings.

    Not the best result from Piastri, he was P3 however he had the lap time deleted due track limits so he got bumped down to P7, he will have a bit of work to do in the race.

    A decent result for Nico Hulkenberg! P9 for the Haas driver, he will be wanting to capitalise on this result for the race and score as many points as he can.

    Ricciardo just missed out on the top 10, the Australian will be wanting to score some points this weekend, especially because his seat is under threat so will be wanting to prove that he possibly deserves a seat.

    Again not the best result for Aston Martin, P15 for Alonso and P17 for Stroll. They really are struggling at the moment and they have gone backwards to where they were last year…

  • F3 – RND 6 Day 1

    Practice-

    Jenzer Motorsport’s Charlie Wurz ended up quickest of all in the opening session.
    The Austrian saved his best effort for the final five minutes to go top on a 1:21.182, while Trident’s Santiago Ramos got closest to him, just half a tenth back in second.

    Joshua Dufek set the early pace for AIX Racing, though it was beaten shortly afterwards by ART Grand Prix’s Laurens van Hoepen, as he set a 1:22.409 to lead after 10 minutes of running.

    Van Amersfoort Racing’s Noel Leon then moved to the top of the timing screens, lowering the fastest effort to a 1:22.387 to narrowly head up the field. Sami Meguetounif then put Trident in P1, going quicker still onto a 1:22.325.

    After a minor lock-up on his first flying lap, Luke Browning went quickest of all approaching the halfway stage on a 1:21.781. Teammate Martininius Stenshorne made it a one-two for Hitech Pule Eight.

    Fornaroli took back over at the top with 16 minutes to go of the session, lowering the benchmark to a 1:21.663 to lead the way.

    After a lull in action, and return to the pits, cars ventured back out onto the circuit with under 10 minutes to go for the final laps.

    Charlie Wurz for Jenzer Motorsport was the first to go quickest of all, deposing Fornaroli and then going quicker still, putting in a 1:21.182 to go almost half a second quicker than anyone else.

    Santiago Ramos closed the gap down to just 0.054s with under two minutes remaining to go second.

    Qualifying-

    Luke Browning earned his first pole position in FIA Formula 3, opting to run without a tow on the final runs to take the top spot around the Red Bull Ring.

    The Hitech Pulse Eight driver was at the head of the train going into the final few laps and was able to record a 1:20.222 without a slipstream to lead PREMA Racing’s Arvid Lindblad and MP Motorsport driver Tim Tramnitz.

    In the opening stages, Noel Leon set the pace before being deposed by Nikola Tsolov, then Oliver Goethe and finally Gabriele Mini, with the PREMA driver’s 1:21.013 the time to beat.

    The Van Amersfoort Racing driver repositioned himself in P1 with his next effort, just over a tenth quicker than Mini, before the Alpine Academy driver responded to go quickest by just 0.005s.

    A return to the pits and switch to a fresh set of tyres, the field was back out onto the circuit.
    After trying unsuccessfully to not lead the field across the line to gain a tow, Browning led the line for the final flying laps without a slipstream and set a 1:20.222 for provisional pole.

    Lindblad got closest to him, moving into second just 0.048s off that effort, while Tramnitz was another late improvement for MP.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Browning, P2: Lindblad, P3: Tramnitz, P4: Mini, P5: Beganovic, P6: Goethe, P7: Van Hoepen, P8: Montoya, P9: Dunne and P10: Tsolov.

  • F2 – RND 8 – Day 2 & 3

    Day 2-

    Light rain ahead of the race meant half the field opted to start on the wet tyres. Utilising the dry soft tyres, reverse polesitter Crawford held the lead through the opening corners, but it was Arthur Leclerc who made the most of his choice to start on wets.

    Jehan Daruvala spinning off into the gravel at Turn 7 brought out an early Safety Car at the start of Lap 2.

    Out front, Leclerc opted to stay out and held the lead at the restart on Lap 4. Second-place Richard Verschoor dropped a wheel over the sausage kerb and spun off at the exit of Turn 1, which resulted in another Safety Car.

    Another beneficiary of the soft tyres, Novalak had already made up 16 places after dispatching Isack Hadkjar for fourth and soon caught Correa. A spin for Fittipaldi between Turns 3 and 4 after catching the grass led to the Virtual Safety Car.

    Clement Novalak crossed the line in P3 but got disqualified after the race as his cars rear tyre pressure were below the limit required.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Crawford, P2: Martins, P3: Hadjar, P4: Correa, P5: Stanek, P6: Hauger, P7: Doohan, P8: Bearman, P9: Vesti and P10: Nissany.

    Day 3-

    From second on the grid, Vesti got the better launch at lights out, immediately snatching the lead from polesitter Victor Martins. The ART driver also lost out to teammate Theo Pourchaire by Turn 1 and his early struggles continued.

    After making up five places alone on the opening lap, Iwasa was up to ninth on Lap 6. Amaury Cordeel squeezed Dennis Hauger onto the grass exiting Turn 1, leaving the door wide open for Iwasa to overtake them both.

    Pourschaire was the first of the leading pack in for his mandatory stop on Lap 8, followed in by Maini and Jehan Daruvala. Doohan and Martins swiftly joined them in a lap later, whilst Vesti extended his opening stint for another lap before handing the lead over to Fittipaldi.

    Arthur Leclerc and Oliver Bearman were both in for supersofts on Lap 27. While the PREMA Racing driver rejoined at the tail end of the order in 18th, the Monegasque driver was forced to pull off to the side of the track shortly after his pitstop, triggering a Virtual Safety Car.

    Converted to a full Safety Car on Lap 29, the alternate strategy runners capitalised, with Verschoor completing his mandatory stop and coming out in fifth.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Verschoor, P2: Iwasa, P3: Vesti, P4: Doohan, P5: Bearman, P6: Fittipaldi, P7: Pourchaire, P8: Crawford, P9: Martins and P10: Daruvala.

  • F3 – RND 6 – Day 2 & 3

    Day 2-

    Marti retained his lead off the line, but Oliver Goethe didn’t pull away cleanly as he dropped down from fourth to 27th, where as Aron was flying and got up to third by the end of the first lap.

    On Lap 2, Trident’s Gabriel Bortoleto dropped down to 14th having been in ninth after a slow exit out of Turn 3 but the Brazilian was quick to start his fightback, taking 13th from Mari Boya and then 12th from Dino Beganovic.

    The Safety Car was deployed on Lap 11 after contact between Oliver Gray and Rafael Villagomez at Turn 4. The VAR driver was spun around following contact with the Rodin Carlin car, where the Brit had nowhere to go to avoid him.

    Aron had closed on Marti gradually lap after lap following the restart and on Lap 18, he cleared the Spanish driver into Turn3 3, fending off Mini in the process who’d put them all three-wide entering the corner.

    Collet dived to the inside of Marti at the final corner on the penultimate lap to move himself into third, and O’Sullivan capitalised on his lost momentum to pass Marti for fourth.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Aron, P2: Mini, P3: Collet, P4: O’Sullivan, P5: Edgar, P6: Marti, P7: Frederick, P8: Beganovic, P9: Montoya and P10: Bortoleto.

    Day 3-

    Gregoire Saucy held onto pole from lights out whilst Bortoleto had to fend off pressure from Paul Aron to keep hold of third. Further back, Gabriele Mini had slight contact with Luke Browning at Turn 4. The Hitech driver was sent across the gravel and was left out the race, which prompted a safety car on lap 2.

    Racing got back underway entering Lap 5 with Saucy able to build up a small gap to Dino Beganovic behind him. The ART driver couldn’t escape the one-second DRS window though, and the Swede was through for P1 on Lap 7 under breaking at Turn 4.

    Aron made a late dive down the inside of Bortoleto at Turn 3 to take third position on Lap 10. One lap later he tried the same on Saucy but had no room to make it stick.

    In the fight for the lead, Bortoleto was able to slipstream his way past Beganovic for P1 into Turn 4 on Lap 13, while Aron was finally forced to out for a new front wing due to contact.

    Further back, Caio Collet and Sebastian Montoya made progress up the top 10, passing Kaylen Frederick to take fifth and sixth places.

    The full top 10 are- P1: O’Sullivan, P2: Bortoleto, P3: Collet, P4: Colapinto, P5: Beganovic, P6: Edgar, P7: Mansell, P8: Barter, P9: Marti and P10: Fornaroli.

  • RND 10 – Austrian Grand Prix

    The Austrian Grand Prix is now complete, lets take a look at how race number 10 went!

    Max Verstappen make its 5 wins in a row, and a clean sweep of wins and poles across this jam-packed weekend as he showed a dominant display today, he led home Ferrari driver, Charles Leclerc and teammate Sergio Perez in third.

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

    Great results for Red Bull, finally Sergio Perez having a decent result! Only thing is to see if he can do the same next weekend including a good qualifying result too.

    Good result for Ferrari also, nice to see Leclerc back on the podium aswell. They needed a strong weekend as a whole for both drivers and they finally got it. So let’s hope this happens again and we see some closer battles.

    A really good result for Lando Norris too, the new upgrades clearly work so hopefully we can see both McLaren boys up in the points more often now!

    Not the best weekend for Mercedes, the car just did not like this track. Lewis struggled turning round corners which resulted in him getting a 5 second penalty for track limits. And then George, had to work his way through some of the pack because he didn’t have the best qualifying result on Friday.

    However, not everything stays the same. A new classification for the race has been released after the FIA handed out penalties to eight drivers following the conclusion of the race.

    Aston Martin had lodged a protest over the provisional classification shortly after the 71 lap encounter.

    The eight drivers are: Sainz, Hamilton, Gasly, Albon, Ocon, Sargeant, De Vries and Tsunoda all being hit with penalties.

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

    We haven’t got long to wait till the next race as it’s just around the corner, where we race at Silverstone for the British Grand Prix next weekend!

  • F2 – RND 8 – Day 1

    Free Practice-

    Enzo Fittipaldi kick started the second half of the season in great form as the Rodin Carlin driver topped the opening practice session in Spielberg. Setting a 1:15.216 before the halfway point, the Red Bull junior remained at the top of the pile throughout.

    With track temperatures approaching 40˚C at the Red Bull Ring, Roy Nissany set the initial pace, which put him ahead of Fittipaldi and Maloney by just 0.025s.

    The first Red Flag was thrown with 11 minutes left on the clock after Pourchaire spun out a Turn 4. The Frenchman dropped a wheel into the gravel, sending him into a pirouette and he was unable to restart the car.

    Green flag conditions resumed with six minutes to go. As the field jostled for track position behind him, Virtuosi Racing’s Amaury Cordeel spun off at Turn 1. With less than four minutes remaining, practice was red flagged once again and did not resume.

    Qualifying-

    Victor Martins threw down the gauntlet early on in Qualifying around the Red Bull Ring on his way to claim his second Formula 2 pole position of his rookie campaign.

    The ART Grand Prix driver led from his first flying lap, improving to a 1:14.643 on his third attempt to retain the top spot. Championship contenders Frederik Vesti and Theo Pourchaire had to settle for second and third.

    The full top 10 are: P1: Martins, P2: Vesti, P3: Pourchaire, P4: Maini, P5: Doohan, P6: Fittipaldi, P7: Cordeel, P8: Leclerc, P9: Daruvala and P10: Crawford.

    Heading the field out of the pits, Roman Stanek was the first driver to take a turn in the top spot, before Vesti put himself ahead with a 1:15.134.

    Meanwhile, Practice pace-setter Fittipaldi looked to continue that form as he moved up into second, before a track limit violation demoted him to the bottom of the timing sheets. But he wasn’t the only one to get caught out by track limits.

    After a lengthy stay in the pits, the field immediately scrambled for track position as they headed out with just 11 minutes left.

    Vesti tried to wrestle provisional pole away from the Alpine junior but couldn’t quite manage it, ending up a tenth down on Martins.

  • RND 10 – Austria Sprint

    Sprint Shootout-

    Max Verstappen secured pole position for the Sprint Shootout at the Austrian Grand Prix with a stunning display at the end of a damp-dry session.

    He headed Red Bull teammate, Sergio Perez and McLaren’s Lando Norris in third.

    The full top 10 are: P1: Verstappen, P2: Perez, P3: Norris, P4: Hulkenberg, P5: Sainz, P6: Leclerc, P7: Alonso, P8: Stroll, P9: Ocon and P10: Magnussen.

    A good result for the Red Bull team, finally seeing Perez up there with his teammate, but ideally it should be for the race on Sunday as theirs not much points on offer today.

    Big result from number 4, Lando Norris again, like I said yesterday he likes this track a lot.

    The Haas duo both done well both in the top 10, so they will be hoping to score some points this weekend.

    Not such a good result for Mercedes, neither driver in the top 10, Hamilton had a shock SQ1 exit, as the times just kept on improving which dropped him down and then he had traffic on his final lap so couldn’t improve.

    Whereas for George Russell he got into SQ2 but, he had a hydraulic problem and subsequently confirming that he would be taking no further part in the session.

    Sprint-

    Max Verstappen emerged victorious in an action packed Sprint race at the Austrian Grand Prix, where he survived some early drama to claim an ultimately dominated win on Red Bull’s home soil.

    He was followed by Perez in 2nd and Sainz rounding out the top three in third.

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

    Verstappen lost the lead to teammate Sergio Perez as the start but quickly fought back and settled into a rhythm up front, cruising away from the competition.

    A change in the starting order saw Charles Leclerc demoted from sixth to ninth – which then promoted the Aston Martin pair and Alpines, Esteban Ocon.

    Lando Norris was a big loser at Turn 3 of lap 1 as he got caught behind the squabbling Bull’s and then suffered a slow exit – where he fell from 4th to 10th.

    With eight laps, to go, Russell reported that conditions were not far off slicks and moments after making that call, he headed for the pits.

    The start was not ideal, a bit of wheelspin, but after that, after Lap 1, once we got back in the lead, it was good. We were just managing the tyres, knowing that if it wasn’t going to rain anymore, then you know 24 laps on an intermediate is quite a lot, but they were hanging in there. I think of course the last five laps the slicks were quite a bit faster, but I think for us, so far in the lead, it didn’t make sense to pit. We just hung in there with the inters which worked well.

    Verstappen on winning the Sprint.

  • F3 – RND 6 – Day 1

    Free Practice-

    Gabriel Bortoleto hit the ground running in Spielberg, setting the track record with a 1:19.410 to top the free practice session for Trident.

    The Brazilian driver was 0.148s quicker than Jenzer Motorsport’s Taylor Barnad, while Gabriele Mini left it late to take third for Hitech Pulse-Eight.

    Once the tyre preparation laps were complete, Paul Aron set the initial benchmark to beat with a 1:21.998 on his first effort. The Estonian’s 1:21.205 was three-tenths quicker than PREMA Racing teammate Dino Beganovic, who had a heart-in-mouth moment shortly after.

    With just over 16 minutes remaining the red flags were out after Sebastian Montoya beached his Hitech car in the gravel trap on the outside of Turn 7.

    Once the session resumed with 12 minutes remaining, everyone returned to the track. ART Grand Prix’s Saucy was the first in the queue with prime track position and set a 1:20.306 for the rest to beat.

    Qualifying-

    ART Grand Prix’s Gregoire Saucy secured his first Formula 3 pole position in Spielberg after a dramatic qualifying session around the Red Bull Ring. PREMA Racing’s Paul Aron had ended the session fastest of all but dropped to P4 after exceeding track limits.

    His demotion moved Saucy up into P1 and PREMA teammate Dino Beganovic onto the front row. While Championship leader Gabriel Bortoleto secured third place in his Trudent.

    With patches of rain on the weather radars, everyone was out immediately at the green light. Caio Collet led the way as the rest jostled for Track position and the Van Amersfoort driver set the first time to beat.

    With 15 minutes gone, Beganovic headed up Aron, Gabriel Bortoleto, Josep Maria Marti and Gabriele Mini in the top five. After everyone returned to the pits to fit a fresh set of the soft Pirelli tyres, the track was busy once again with under 10 minutes remaining.

    There were improvements throughout the field, but nobody could leap ahead of either PREMA driver prior to the final two minutes of the session.

    The full top 10 are: P1: Saucy, P2: Beganovic, P3: Bortoleto, P4: Aron, P5: Collet, P6: O’Sullivan, P7: Colapinto, P8: Goethe, P9: Frederick and P10: Mansell.

  • RND 10 – Austria Qualifying

    Qualifying is now complete for the Austrian Grand Prix on Sunday, let’s take a look at what went down at the Red Bull Ring.

    Max Verstappen made it three pole positions in a row for the Austrian Grand Prix, getting the better of the Ferrari pair Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz in an action-packed session.

    Verstappen overcame deleted lap times in Q1 and Q2 – with plenty of drivers falling foul of the track limits – to make it into the top 10 shootout and deliver his pole-grabbing effort of 1m04.391s.

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

    Perez was absent from the Q3 battle, as he dropped out in the second phase of qualifying with successive deleted times. Not a good start to the weekend for the Mexican driver, with him starting 15th on Sunday his got a bit of work to do which isn’t needed for the team or himself.

    A good result for Lando, P4 for number 4! Hopefully he can turn it into a better result on Sunday as we all know he likes this track and does well here.

    Brilliant result for the Ferrari’s! Is it too early to say their back? Hopefully they can get at least a podium/ possibly two on Sunday and grab some important points for the team in the Constructors!

    Also a good result for both Nico Hulkenberg and Alex Albon who make it into the top 10 for another race weekend in a row, hopefully they can grab points when it matters.

    Predictions for race-

    My top five predictions for Sunday’s race are: P1: Verstappen, P2: Leclerc, P3: Hamilton, P4: Sainz and P5: Alonso.

    With a few drivers not in the right position it will be interesting to see how they will do and how well they will come through the field. One thing we have to look out for though is track limits, some drivers might be pushing and then result in a time penalty…

  • Austrian Grand Prix

    We are back racing this week, as we have a jam packed month coming up and it starts off with a double header, where we head to Austria this weekend, where it’s Red Bull’s home race.

    Can Red Bull make it a 1-2 on home turf? Or will another team take the win and end RB’s streak?

    With the Sprint back this weekend, there’s more opportunity for our drivers to score more points, will some take risks? And will they work out?

    Who needs to shine?

    Sergio Perez, there has been some talk about if he doesn’t keep performing well, he may loose his seat, as we all know what Red Bull are like. His had a couple of rough races, from qualifying to the actual race, he just needs a clean weekend this weekend and get some good points so he can build a gap back to Alonso whose third in the drivers championship.

    Lance Stroll, with his teammate performing so well this season grabbing podiums and qualifying on the front row, it’s a bit bittersweet for the team if they have one driver starting 2nd and then the other in 7th for example, yes it’s still a good result but why can’t it be 2nd and 3rd? So Stroll has a bit more work to do as he needs to score points to get further up the standings also.

    The Alfa Romeo boys, they’ve had a bit of a rough start to the season so far this year, with Bottas only scoring in Bahrain and Canada and Guanyu Zhou in Australia and Spain, they’ve still got a lot of work to do.

    Times for the weekend-

    Friday 30th June-

    • Free Practice F3: 08:55am – 09:40am (BST)
    • Free Practice F2: 10:05am – 10:50am
    • Free Practice 1 F1: 12:30pm – 13:30pm
    • Qualifying F3: 14:00pm – 14:30pm
    • Qualifying F2: 14:55pm – 15:25pm
    • Qualifying F1: 16:00pm – 17:00pm

    Saturday 1st July-

    • Sprint Race F3: 09:00am – 09:40am
    • Sprint Shootout: 11:00am – 11:44am
    • Sprint Race F2: 12:45pm – 13:30pm
    • Sprint F1: 15:30pm – 16:00pm

    Sunday 2nd-

    • Feature Race F3: 07:25am
    • Feature Race F2: 08:55am
    • Race: 14:00pm

  • Austria Tyre Selection

    We are back racing this week and Pirelli have chosen the tyres for this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix, which is Round 10 of 23.

    The tyres which are available for the teams are: C3 (Hard), C4 (Medium) and C5 (Soft), just like last time out in Montreal.

    This weekend will be the second grand prix on the calendar featuring an F1 Sprint. With the Sprint Shootout deciding the grid for the Sprint, and only having three short sessions that make up the Shootout. Teams will have to fit new tyres and use the medium compound for Q1 and Q1 and only in Q3 the soft compound will be used.

    The Red Bull Ring has only 10 corners, with the shortest lap time of any track on the championship, with the lap record being held by Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, with a time of 1m05.619s in the 2020 Styrian Grand Prix.

    Most drivers made two stops last year, starting on the medium tyre ahead of two stints on the hard. There was plenty of overtaking, particularly in the midfield, with five cars competing for the places just off the podium.

    The elevation changes at the Red Bull Ring put it second only to Spa-Francorchamps in terms of variation. There’s a change of more than 60 metres between the lowest point on the track – just before Turn 1 – and the highest point, after Turn 2.

    The Red Bull Ring is a circuit where tyres get no rest. The cars race through the track’s 10 corners in a lap time of just over a minute, and the few straights mean that there is little reprieve for the tyres. The asphalt has a fairly high micro and macro roughness, due to the age of the surface, while grip is high at the start of the lap. Traction and braking are key elements, while particular attention will have to be paid to managing tyre overheating. Drivers who manage not to cool their tyres properly may find it difficult to defend against attacks from rivals, especially in the first and last sectors. An important factor in this will be ambient temperature, with weather conditions traditionally somewhat variable. Last year’s race was largely a two-stopper using the medium and hard compounds, but a one-stopper could also be an option this year if degradation is not too high.

    Mario Isola – Motorsport Director.

  • F1 to race in Austria until 2027

    It has been announced that Formula 1 will continue to race in Austria until 2027, after a new four-year agreement was reached.

    The Austrian Grand Prix returned to the FIA Formula 1 World Championship in 2014, an since then the Red Bull Ring has welcomed millions of fans, with 303,000 supporters in attendance at last year’s sold-out event.

    The last race under the current agreement, set to take place 30th June to 2nd July, will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Austrian Grand Prix’s return to the Formula 1 calendar, and feature an F1 Sprint for the second consecutive year.

    And now fans can now look forward to at least four more Grand Prix at the historic track.

    The Austrian Grand Prix brings together the perfect mix of a challenging track, high-speed racing, and a beautiful venue for our fans, so I am delighted that we will be coming back to the Red Bull Ring until at least 2027 under this new agreement. As we celebrate the 10th year since our return to Spielberg, I would like to thank everyone involved in this renewal, especially the promoter and Red Bull and I want to pay tribute to Dietrich Mateschitz for the love, passion, and vision he brought to Formula 1 that has ensured the continued success of the event and the huge enthusiasm for our sport in Austria and around the world.

    Stefano Domenicali, President and CEO of Formula 1.

    We are proud of the special partnership we have with Formula 1, and we are absolutely delighted to be welcoming the top class of motorsport to the Red Bull Ring for a further four years. In signing this contract extension, Formula 1 has made a strong commitment to Austria, Styria and the Murtal region. As we enter the tenth year of our partnership with Formula 1, we want to celebrate this milestone with all the great fans of the sport and to thank them for their loyalty and the tremendous atmosphere they help to generate. Everyone is invited to experience another great race weekend at Spielberg in 2023.

    Erich Wolf, General Manager of Projekt Spielberg GmbH & Co KG.
  • F2 Spielberg – Round-Up

    F2 Spielberg – Round-Up

    Day 1-

    Van Amersfoort Racing’s Jake Hughes set the pace in Free Practice, ending up fastest of all by four-tenths. The Briton’s 1:15.038 was a late effort that put him clear of the pack, followed by ART Grand Prix teammates, Theo Pourchaire and Frederik Vesti. Just 0.230s separated second position from 10th as the short layout of the circuit closed the gaps between all drivers.

    Overnight rain had cleared by the time Free Practice got underway in Spielberg, but the task at hand was far from simple. With such a short lap around the Red Bull Ring, traffic was a challenge almost immediately.

    Calan Williams stranded Trident brought out the Virtual Safety Car as he stopped on the side of the road beyond Turn 3.

    Now onto Qualifying, Frederik Vesti put his qualifying issues that plagued his start to the season firmly to bed, claiming his first pole position in Formula 2. It all came down to his second run after a track limit violation saw his time deleted, plummeting the ART Grand Prix driver to the back of the order at the halfway point.

    Juri Vips was unable to pip the Dane at the last minute and the two were separated by three-thousandths of a second. Logan Sargeant put himself firmly in the fight at the front with third, as Ayumu Iwasa blazed up to fourth with a last gasp attempt at the chequered flag.

    Day 2-

    As the sun beamed down on the Red Bull Ring, Marcus Armstrong was ready to shine lining up on reverse grid pole. Seizing the opportunity with both hands the New Zealander aced his start to keep Pourchaire behind. However, his getaway wasn’t a patch on Drugovich’s. The orange MP Motorsport car launched right inbetween Verschoor and Doohan when the lights went green, but the Brazilian had no room to squeeze through.

    Whilst the rest of the field got away cleanly, elbows were already out in the fight for the podium. Banging wheels into Turn 1, Doohan managed to make his way past Verschoor and sent the Trident driver back into Drugovich’s clutches.

    Track limit warnings were looming over several drivers heads as they fought to keep their cars within the white line. The arrival of DRS saw a four-car battle to form for fifth, as Verschoor, Vips, Sargeant and Iwasa formed a train along the Spielberg straights.

    The full top 10 are: P1: Armstrong, P2: Pourchaire, P3: Doohan, P4: Drugovich, P5: Vips, P6: Verschoor, P7: Sargeant, P8: Fittipaldi, P9: Hauger and P10: Iwasa.

    Day 3-

    There was a mix of strategy on the grid, with half the grid starting on slicks and the other half on the full wets. A dry line was beginning to form on the track surface, but the rooster tails remained on the formation lap.

    Vips soared into the lead at lights out as pole-sitter Frederick Vesti bogged down and lost second to Iwasa. At Turn 4 the ART GP driver took the place back, finding grip on the wet patches of track ahead of him while Iwasa was left to run over the dry line.

    The sprint winner, Marcus Armstrong didn’t get close to repeating his victory from the previous day. He came to a halt at Turn 3, bringing out the Safety Car. Vips led comfortably at the restart, but Pourchaire was on the move, cleaning Doohan into Turn 3 at the first time of asking.

    Meanwhile, Felipe Drugovich tumbled down the order, falling from within the top 10 to 18th on his overheating wet tyres. Those on slicks were comfortably quicker than on the wet tyres. Verschoor and Daruvala cleared Sargeant and Iwasa with ease in the space of one corner onto the seventh lap. The trident driver then secured the lead with Daruvala and Merhi close in tow.

    Merhi was enjoying his deputising role and was up to second on Lap 11, sliding down the inside of Daruvala into Turn 3, up 19 positions from where he started the race.

    It was Verschoor who crossed the line in P1, but he got disqualified from the Feature Race after the Trident team were unable to provide the required post-race fuel sample for scrutineering. Jehan Daruvala had also received a post-race driver through penalty, which has been converted to a 20-second penalty in the final classification. The stewards found that the PREMA racing team had attempted to dry the track surface at his grid slot ahead of the race commencing. It drops down the PREMA driver, down to 12th after corssing the line to finish 2nd.

    The full top 10 after penalties are- P1: Sargeant, P2: Fittipaldi, P3: Merhi, P4: Hauger, P5: Hughes, P6: Caldwell, P7: Iwasa, P8: Vips, P9: Nissany and P10: Lawson.

    Formula 2 is back next week for Round 9, on the 22nd to 24th July at Circuit Paul Ricard!

  • F3 Spielberg- Round-up

    Day 1-

    Showers overnight saw Practice commence around a slippery Red Bull Ring. Fortunately for the 30 drivers the rain held at bay for the whole session, as they took the time to make some exploratory laps on the wet tyres.

    Immediately getting to grips with the challenging conditions, Trident’s Roman Stanek laid down a cautious but representative 1:30.622, before he and MP Motorsport’s Alexander Smolyar began to trade fastest times.

    At the halfway point, it was clear the wet tyre had served their purpose as a dry line had started to form around the Red Bull Ring, taking a gamble, the first driver to switch over to slicks was Arthur Leclerc. Turning the timing screens purple, times tumbled as drivers began clocking in their best laps of the session, the change in conditions saw lap times over 10 seconds quicker than those at the start.

    Arthur Leclerc finished the practice session on the top spot, with Smolyar finished 2nd and Jonny Edgar 3rd.

    Now onto qualifying, HiTech’s Grand Prix, Isack Hadjar claimed his first Formula 3 pole position, going two-tenths clear of title rival and Championship leader Victor Martins who will join his fellow Frenchman on the front row.

    Oliver Bearman bettered PREMA Racing teammate, Arthur Leclerc for P3, whilst Kaylen Frederick made it two Hitech’s in the top five.

    There was no sign of the damp conditions that drivers dealt with in practice, but the wind had picked up from the morning session as Caio Collet was warned of a headwin into Turn 3.

    Day 2-

    Caio Collet covered off Correa to retain the lead into the first corner, whilst Franco Colapinto challenged Crawford for third. Further back it was as much as four wide entering Turn 3.

    Correa got a run into Turn 4 and went around the outside of the MP Motorsport car to take the lead. Colapinto also managed to sneak through on Crawford in the same place before a Safety Car was deployed.

    The Safety Car was withdrawn entering Lap 4, and it was three Tridents that were instantly wheel to wheel, as Zane Maloney and Roman Stanek scrapped, Jonny Edgar slipped up the inside of the pair of of them at Turn 4. Corrrea’s strong start was for nought as on Lap six he coasted to a halt front he race lead to leave Collet at the head of the field.

    On the next lap, Oliver Bearman made a late dive down the inside of Stanek to steal sixth position, however his move opened the door for Leclerc at Turn 4 and both PREMA drivers were through on the Trident man.

    But it was Jak Crawford who wins his first F3 race, Caio Collet in 2nd and Franco Colapinto finished 3rd rounding out the podium. The rest of the top 10 are: P4: Leclerc, P5: Stanek, P6: Frederick, P7: Edgar, P8: Martins, P9: Smolyar and P10: Hadjar.

    Day 3-

    A big challenge arrived for the grid for the Feature Race, as heavy rain at the Red Bull Ring saw the drivers face a contest of attrition on wet tyres, with standing water everywhere and spray creating a lack of visibility, it was up to maiden pole-sitter Hadjar to lead the field away in a rolling start.

    Despite never started from the front row in Formula 3, Hadjar nailed his launch allowing him to hold off an attack from Championship leader Martins. However, an error saw the rookie run wide into Turns 1 and 9, allowing fellow Frenchman Martins to close in on him.

    The pair’s duel wasn’t slowing them down, as they continued to pull a gap to the PREMA duo of Bearman and Leclerc behind. As predicted, conditions began to east and a drier line began to form along the circuit, with the field urgently searching for wet patches of tarmac in order to run the blue walled tyres to the end of the race.

    Outside the points, the two Charouz Racing System drivers of Francisco Pizzi and Zdenek Chovanec made contact whilst Josep Maria Marti charge to try to claim his first points finish in F3 took a knock.

    But it was Hadjar who took the win in Austria, Victor Martins finished 2nd and Oliver Bearman grabs another podium in the bag! The rest of the top 10 are: P4: Leclerc, P5: Maloney, P6: Stanek, P7: Colapinto, P8: Smolyar, P9: Alatalo and P10: Cohen.

    We are back in less than 3 weeks for round 6 at Budapest, Hungary on the 29th to 31st July, where the championship is hotting up!

  • Round 11- Austrian GP

    Round 11- Austrian GP

    What a race. I honestly have no idea where to start… But one thing to say is the Orange Army did not disappoint and was great to see the sea of orange in the grandstands!

    But it was Charles Leclerc who won the Austrian Grand Prix, his first win since Australia! Max Verstappen joined him on the podium in P2 and Lewis Hamilton rounds out the podium in P3!

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

    What a race for Charles! His been saying he needs a win and he finally got one and it was very well deserved, he done lovely overtakes on Max and caught him out a few times. But the same couldn’t be said for his teammate… Carlos ended up retiring due to an power unit failure which saw quite a big fire when he pulled over to the side of the track.

    A decent day for Max, he just didn’t have the pace compared to Leclerc and you could tell by the second overtake Leclerc done on him, as normally Max doesn’t let it happen and fights back straight away. Again, the same couldn’t be said for Perez as he retired aswell, which saw Leclerc now jump him in the constructors.

    One team out of the top 3, had a brilliant day! Mercedes, wow… Lewis started P8 and finished on the podium, Russell started 4th, had a first lap tangle with Perez, which saw the Brit get a 5 second time penalty and then he pitted to serve his penalty and change his front wing. Naturally he dropped down the order, he then thought back to finish 4th, which I must say is very impressive!

    I said Ocon could score big points, and he did, the Frenchman finished 5th and it really helps his championship out as he moves further up. Another team, who I said could score big, were Haas and they did! Mick finished 6th – his best ever finish and Magnussen finished 8th, double points finish two weekends in a row for the American team!

    Finally McLaren!! Double points finish, Lando 7th and Daniel 9th. It’s no secret that Danny’s had some problems, but if your patient then the points do come eventually, hopefully this is the start of the continuous points finish…

    We are back in two weeks! And for another double header before the summer break… First up we have the French GP on the 22nd to 24th July, who will come out on top the next race weekend, as we now have completed 11 rounds out of 22?

  • Round 11- Austria Sprint

    Round 11- Austria Sprint

    Our second sprint of the season is complete and what a race, drama from left right and centre, and even before we got racing…

    The yellow flags, come out on the formation lap when Fernando Alonso’s Alpine failed to get off the grid, forcing him out of the Sprint, this was before Zhou Guanyu’s brief stoppage at the final corner approaching the grid, which the field then had to do another formation lap, as we saw the Alfa Romeo driver start from the pitlane.

    But, Max Verstappen won the sprint as he dominated from lights out to the checkered flag. The two Ferrari’s follow him closely, with Leclerc in 2nd and Sainz in 3rd.

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

    What a drive from Perez! Started P13 and to finish 5th is really good! Could we see him try and battle for a podium or maybe a win today?

    Zhou Guanyu, done really well considering he started from the pitlane, he finished 14th, I’d say keep an eye on him today, he could score some points and do some very nice overtakes!

    The McLaren boys made up a few places each Norris starting 11th today and Ricciardo 12th. I think there will be lots of battles throughout the race later!

    One person I’d say you would have to really watch is Esteban Ocon, his been looking strong all weekend, so I won’t be surprised if we see him up there later today.

    Predictions-

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

    I think we are going to have a bit of a crazy race today, there are plenty of overtaking spots but there is also track limits so drivers need to keep that in mind…

  • Round 11- Austria Qualifying

    Round 11- Austria Qualifying

    F1 really knows how to keep us on the edge of our seat, on a weekend where we have more drama than normal because of the Sprint, but to add to that we had an eventful qualifying session at the Red Bull Ring.

    Qualifying set the grid for the Sprint later on today, which will then set the grid for tomorrow’s Grand Prix. The top eight from the sprint will score points, so it’s a good way to get up the field a bit more.

    But it was Max Verstappen who took pole position infront of the Orange Army, but he was followed closely by the two Ferrari’s, Charles Leclerc in 2nd and our newest race winner, Carlos Sainz in third.

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

    Sergio Perez, actually qualified P4, but after qualifying, it came out that he breached track limits in his Q2 lap, the stewards deleted that time, alongside his Q3 laps so he will now be starting 13th! Not a good start to his weekend, but this is where the Sprint comes into play, it gives the drivers an opportunity to get a little further up the grid.

    Oh Mercedes… it was looking like pole for Lewis Hamilton, as he was strong in Q1 and Q2. But once again, things just don’t go that way in F1. Hamilton went into the barriers at Turn 7 to bring out a red flag in the middle of the session, leaving him 10th. George then thought he would add to the mix, with a spin and then crash at the final corner, however he had already put down a banker lap. Not a good start for the Mercs, but they can still have a good fight.

    Both Haas’ in the top 10!! Wow, the car so far seems to like the track, definitely big points on offer for them this weekend, and it will be interesting to see if they can get their strategy right and optimise on other peoples misfortune.

    Mr Alex Albon, starting P11 today, he only has to make up 3 places and he’ll score points… This is why part of me likes the Sprint, its for the teams who are close to scoring points on a normal weekend, but add the sprint into their they have more of a chance to score on Sunday.

    Predictions-

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

    I feel like we are going to get a crazy sprint, later today and its going to cause carnage… But if it does happen, then we are in for a crazy race on Sunday.

    Times for the weekend-

    Saturday 9th-

    • Sprint Race F3- 09:35am – 10:20am (BST)
    • Free Practice 2 F1- 11:30am – 12:30pm
    • Sprint F1- 15:30pm – 16:30pm
    • Sprint Race F2- 16:55pm – 17:40pm

    Sunday 10th-

    • Feature Race F3- 07:35am (BST)
    • Feature Race F2- 09:05am
    • Race- 14:00pm

  • Austrian Grand Prix

    We are on our second week of the double header, and we are heading to the Red Bull Ring, Austria for Round 11. Will Red Bull make it count on home turf, or will Ferrari fight back? The Sprint also returns for the second time this season!

    What can Carlos Sainz do this weekend of the back of his first win? Will he be going for number two already? Will Charles’ strategy go right this weekend? Or will it be another winless or podiumless weekend for him? What can the Bulls do? What can Mercedes do?? So many questions about how the Silver Arrows will do, and I can’t wait to find out!

    Who needs a good weekend?

    Daniel needs a good weekend, it’s just getting repetitive putting him in here. But in all honestly and hopefullness, I hope he does click with the car well this weekend, and its the return of the sprint so a chance to get further up the grid…

    Alpha Tauri needs a good weekend, another non-points finish. If the car struggles in high paced corners, then they will more than likely struggle this weekend, unless they find the right set up.

    Alfa Romeo will be wanting to sort out their reliability sooner rather than later, VB had to retire last race again, and its going to start hurting their championship if this carries on…

    Predictions for qualifying-

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

    I feel like Leclerc will just be looking for revenge, so he will do an absolutely stonking lap to put it on pole, but I think Max will be close to him. But if it rains, its going to be another story and we can see the Mercs fight for pole aswell. With a few surprises added in there aswell…

    Times for this weekend-

    Friday 8th-

    • Free Practice F3- 08:55am – 09:40am (BST)
    • Free Practice F2- 10:05am – 10:50am
    • Free Practice 1 F1- 12:30pm – 13:30pm
    • Qualifying F3- 14:00pm – 14:30pm
    • Qualifying F2- 14:55pm – 15:25pm
    • Qualifying F1- 16:00pm – 17:00pm

    Saturday 9th-

    • Sprint Race F3- 09:35am – 10:20am (BST)
    • Free Practice 2 F1- 11:30am – 12:30pm
    • Sprint F1- 15:30pm – 16:30pm
    • Sprint Race F2- 16:55pm – 17:40pm

    Sunday 10th-

    • Feature Race F3- 07:35am (BST)
    • Feature Race F2- 09:05am
    • Race- 14:00pm

  • Merhi makes F2 comeback

    Former Formula 1 driver, Roberto Merhi will be returning to the Formula 2 grid once more at the Red Bull Ring this weekend in place of Campos Racing’s injury-stricken Ralph Boschung.

    Boschung has been plagued by neck pain over recent rounds, which have forced him to withdraw in the middle of three of the last four race weekends, including last week at Silverstone. He will now skip the upcoming events to allow his injury to heal.

    His seat in Austria will be taken by Merhi, the 31 year old making his first F2 start since the end of 2018.

    It’s been tough few last months, since after Imola the neck has dominated my every day and professional life, it’s very difficult to leave the team mid-season like this but I really need to recover from this injury and I thank my sponsors and the team for being fully supportive.

    Ralph Boschung on not racing this weekend.

    After racing in F1 with the Manor team in 2015, Roberto Mehri made his F2 debut with Campos at Barcelona in 2017 as team-mate to Boschung before making three further appearances with Rapax at the end of the season.

    He then did the first eight rounds of the 2018 season with MP Motorsport, and raced for Campos for the final two rounds of the year. As well as this, he tested for Campos before the start of the 2019 season, and with HWA at the end of 2020, whilst his racing exploits have been focused on sportscars in Europe, Australia and most recently Japan.

    I will try my best to achieve strong results to respond to the trust that Ralph, his sponsors and Campos Racing have placed in me. I drove a F2 car in 2018 for the very last time with Campos Racing, with whom stepped onto the podium at Yas Marina. I really like Spielberg circuit, a good place to come back.

    Roberto Mehri, on making the return this weekend.

    Unfortunately Ralph won’t be able to contest Spielberg as his season turned into a nightmare after Imola and we haven’t delivered our full potential yet. I feel very confident because he will work a lot to be back with us as soon as possible and at his 100 per cent. Besides, I would like to extend a warm welcome to Roberto, who will be temporarily replacing Ralph. We expect a quick adaptation and let’s complete a positive weekend together.

    Adrian Campos Jr, Team Principal.

  • Spielberg Tyre Allocation

    It’s another race week, and we have been given the tyre allocation from Pirelli for this weeks race in Austria.

    The Red Bull Ring in Austria is a short and sharp rollercoaster with only 10 corners and constant elevation changes. Pirelli brings the three softest tyres in the range C3 (Hard), C4 (Medium), C5 (Soft).

    Last year there were two races at the Red Bull Ring held back-to-back, this weekend is the same tyre nominations as the second race there. It’s designed to help put on a show by increasing degradation and creating more overtaking opportunities. On that occasion, the winning strategy was two-stopper, one opening stint on the medium and then two stints on the hard.

    Austria is home to the second sprint of the season. Instead of the normal 13 set of tyres, this weekend they will 12, two sets of hard, four sets of medium and six sets of soft.

    The asphalt at the Red Bull Ring offers reasonably low grip on a low-severity circuit, which makes it possible to bring the softest tyres in the range. This helps us in putting the focus on entertainment, at a venue that has often delivered exciting races in the past, thanks to a busy and compact lap that’s essentially a series of short corners. Traction and especially braking are key here: with a  particular risk of lock-ups in some of the tricky downhill braking areas. Maintaining the performance of the rear tyres throughout the lap is also vital to ensure adequate traction. Our tyre nomination makes a variety of different potential strategies possible.

    Mario Isla, Motorsport Director

    Formula 2-

    The medium and supersoft tyres have been nominated for Formula 2 in Austria. This is the third time that this combination with an extra step between compounds have been used this season.

    Formula 3-

    For the first time this season, the softest tyre in the Formula 3 range – the soft compound – will be the sole nominated tyre. This is one step softer than 2021, when the medium compound was available at the Red Bull Ring.

  • Sprint Races confirmed

    The F1 commission has approved plans after talks with all key stakeholders including governing bodies at the FIA and all the teams, to run the F1 Sprint format at three Grand Prix weekends in 2022, those being at Imola, Austria and Brazil.

    F1 Sprint was introduced last year which involved a 100km dash with each lasting between 25-30 minutes, the result then determines the grid for the weekends main event on Sunday.

    With this being decided, the points system has been changed, with now the top eight driver scoring points, as before it was just the top 3 received points. The driver who finishes P1 will now receive 8 points, down to one point for the driver in 8th.

    As well as the points change, it has also been decided that the driver who sets the fastest time in qualifying, will be attributed ‘pole position’, last year it was the driver who won the Sprint. Qualifying will continue to determine the grid for Saturdays Sprint, with the result of the Sprint forming the line-up for Sundays Grand Prix.

    “Following a review of the three Sprint events that took place in 2021 and a recognition by all that the format created positive benefits for the sport, three Sprint events were proposed for 2022, acknowledging this as a sensible number in light of the pressures already on the teams for this season with the introduction of major changes to the regulations,” an FIA statement said. “The Commission unanimously approved the three Sprint events for the coming season, incorporating a number of updates to the format based on the feedback of fans, media and teams.”

    My Opinion-

    I’m glad they have chose new tracks for the sprint race and keeping Brazil, we all saw the masterclass in Brazil, but having Imola and Austria have a sprint race could potentially pay of, more Austria then Imola. But i’m not ruling anything out between the two new ones until they happen!

    At first when I saw the new points I was like oh no there isn’t going to be much action between top 5 but… this could change things with people starting anywhere from 6th to 14th to try and score points, we all saw how these points from the sprint race meant a lot to the top teams, so now with more points up for grabs they will mean a lot more for more teams.

    And finally, awarding the driver with pole position on the Friday is the right thing to do, as lots of fans felt like it should be awarded for qualifying and not the sprint, which I make them right.