Jordan's Track Talk

Tag: Red Bull

  • Round 22- Abu Dhabi Quali

    Well! I don’t think anyone expected that result from qualifying…

    We have Max Verstappen on pole here in Abu Dhabi for the second year running, with Lewis Hamilton joining him on the front row and Mr Lando Norris starting P3!

    What a way to close off the final qualifying of 2021, the top 6 are just wow!

    Lando Norris WHAT A LAP! I don’t think nobody expected him to put it on the 2nd row but clearly him having his family and friends with him in Abu Dhabi helps!

    Brilliant lap from Max too, they used the tow brilliantly and it shows as his on pole. But the thing which gets me is why choose the Softs to start the race on for both drivers… was they forced into the decision? Will it work in their favour tomorrow, it’s all to play for.

    The top 10 are as follows: P1: Verstappen, P2: Hamilton, P3: Norris, P4: Perez, P5: Sainz, P6: Bottas, P7: Leclerc, P8: Tsunoda, P9: Ocon and P19: Ricciardo.

    Tomorrow is going to be absolutely insane, Max on softs, Lewis on mediums, throw Lando into the mix who is also on softs, we will definitely have an interesting opening lap tomorrow.

    This is one of Lewis’ strongest circuits everybody knows that so Mercedes need to get there strategy absolutely perfect and they may even try and go for a one-stop as the medium goes longer than the soft.

    Predictions-

    Oh this is so tough, as whoever wins out of Lewis and Max tomorrow is going to be champion and either way they both deserve it, they both have had really good races but I will do my top 5…

    I’m going to say P1 will go to Hamilton, P2: Verstappen , P3: Norris, P4: Bottas and P5: Perez. I think Verstappen will get fastest lap too!

  • Mercedes appeal rejected

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • Mercedes request review

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

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

    The onboard of Max Verstappen.

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

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

    My Opinion-

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

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

  • Hamilton Disqualified, Verstappen Fined

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • Round 18- Mexico Race

    If you was unsure whether Mexico was an Red Bull track or Mercedes, its safe to say RB stole the show today! Max Verstappen WINS the Mexican GP, with Lewis Hamilton in 2nd and Sergio Perez coming home in 3rd making him the first ever Mexican on the podium at his home race!

    It was not Bottas’ day today which is a massive shame after that pole position lap yesterday. Lap one incident which saw him drop down the grid and then a slow pit stop and being held up by Ricciardo. But he did do the second driver role of taking the fastest lap point away from Max Verstappen which helps his team-mate out massively in the championship battle.

    The top 10 are- P1: Verstappen, P2: Hamilton, P3: Perez, P4: Gasly, P5: Leclerc, P6: Sainz, P7: Vettel, P8: Räikkönen, P9: Alonso and P10: Norris. The fastest lap of the race goes to VB but due to not being in top 10 he doesn’t get that extra point.

    Pierre drove brilliantly, it seems that Alpha Tauri had got their strategy right with pitstops as he pitted at the right time and kept hold of P4 for the majoritiy of the race! The same can’t be said with his team-mate Tsunoda, another first lap incident which saw him get hit which caused him to DNF. I was quite looking forward to seeing some good overtakes from him, but these things happen!

    Not a good race for Daniel, obviously being apart of the lap 1 incident was the main cause which saw him loose his front wing… he done brilliant defending and his late breaking from Bottas kept the Mercedes up for a long time! Norris done quite well considering he started 18th due to penalty, he done a very long stint on the mediums which saw him work his way up the order and sit in P7 until he pitted which saw him drop down to 10th which he still managed a point!

    Good day for both Ferraris, coming home in P5 and P6 which gives them a very strong start to the triple header, if they keep this up McLaren may be in trouble for P3 in the championship here…

    MEXICO CITY, MEXICO – NOVEMBER 07: Third placed Sergio Perez of Mexico and Red Bull Racing celebrates in parc ferme during the F1 Grand Prix of Mexico at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez on November 07, 2021 in Mexico City, Mexico. (Photo by Lars Baron/Getty Images)

    The Championship-

    Max now leads with a 19 point gap over Lewis, which in reality isn’t anything when we have four races to go and a sprint race too. I don’t think this battle will be over anytime soon…

    Mercedes are still leading the constructors with a 1 point lead over RB, so if Valtteri didn’t get that fastest lap and Max did RB would be leading the constructors! Ferrari are now in third with their big points haul this weekend, they really capitalised on Ricciardo working his way down the order on first lap…

    Now onto the next race, we are returning to Brazil for round 19! We don’t have to wait long as its only next week and we are also having the third and final sprint race of this season too!

  • Mexico GP

    After two years we are returning to Mexico so we can start of our final triple header of the 2021 season! It is the home Grand Prix of Sergio Perez but will he be fortunate enough to win his own GP for the very first time? Or will the championship come into play…

    Could we see Max extending his lead or will disaster struck again in Mexico for the dutchman? All we know is this weekend could either go to Mercedes as Red Bull as both teams have done well here before…

    Who needs a good weekend?

    I think coming into the last 5 races its tougher to pick out who needs a good weekend, everybody will be wanting to score points and this is where DNF’s will come into play for the teams. But lets pick out a few!

    I’m thinking maybe Aston Martin, Vettel and Stroll are currently sitting P12 and P13 in the championship which puts the team in 7th overall, I feel like they need to score a good amount of points this weekend especially if they want to pick up a last minute fight in the constructors with Alpha Tauri who is currently sat in 6th and Alpine who are sat in 5th.

    Alpine will be looking to bounce back as having two DNF’s in COTA made them miss out on getting a good set of points, I have no doubt at least one of the Alpines will finish in the top 10 this weekend.

    The same goes for Gasly, he DNF in COTA too so he could do with a really good weekend in Mexico, hopefully he gets that as he has been consistent this year. Last time out in 2019, Pierre managed to finish 9th so he will be hoping to improve on that result.

    Predictions for Qualifying-

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

    I think for qualifying we will get the same four teams in the top 10 at our last race weekend, Red Bull, Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari. Which only leaves two spots left, possibly an Alpha Tauri and Alpine?

    Grid penalties could come into play again this weekend which could shake up the order, none have officially been announced as of yet but I can imagine last minute decisions could be made!

    Times for the weekend-

    Friday 5th- FP1: 17:30pm – 18:30pm (GMT), 18:30pm – 19:30pm (CET). FP2: 21:00pm – 22:00pm (GMT), 22:00pm – 23:00pm (CET).

    Saturday 6th- FP3: 17:00pm – 18:00pm (GMT), 18:00pm – 19:00pm (CET). Qualifying: 20:00pm – 21:00pm (GMT), 21:00pm – 22:00pm (CET).

    Sunday 7th- Race: 19:00pm (GMT), 20:00pm (CET).

  • A look into the last 5 races

    Now we only have 5 races left this season so lets take a closer look into them and see what could potentially happen in the next 6 weeks and see who could come out on top at each track…

    Mexico:

    First up starting our triple header we have Mexico, this is a track which both Max and Lewis has won at twice each and Lewis being the last one to win their back in 2019. But that doesn’t mean its going to go his way as the Honda engine thrives in thinner air which favours the high-downforce nature of the car.

    Favourites to win: Red Bull.

    Brazil:

    Again like above it applies to the race at Sao Paulo. Last time we raced here in 2019, Red Bull dominated with Verstappen taking pole and the race win, and if Albon wasn’t hit RB would of took a 1-2.

    RB have a far more competitive car, compared to previous years and this appears to be one of Verstappen’s best tracks. But with the power of the Mercedes engine on what we saw at Austin it could make things interesting.

    We also have the last sprint race of the season here, so this could change things up and we could get a very different result…

    Favourites to win: Red Bull.

    Qatar:

    Now coming into races we have never raced and no past results to look at it makes it difficult to predict who will leave on top. All we can do is guess which car will suit the circuit layout more.

    Looking at it I am more leaning towards Mercedes, as they will gain a lot of time on the Red Bulls due to the 1km main straight and thats only the most possible overtaking spot. But it all depends on track position, qualifying will play a massive part of the Qatar weekend, and as well as this, set up’s, tyre strategy will also play a big part.

    Favourites to win: Mercedes.

    Saudi Arabia:

    Again, the Jeddah Street Circuit is unknown for F1 and the teams so we will be looking at the circuit itself.

    When the words street circuit you initially think of “Red Bull to dominate” but its a completley different circuit to what we are use to. It features some long straights and some high speed sweeping corners, which will benefit the Mercedes more.

    As well as this, Hamilton is known to thrive on street circuits (apart from Monaco this year), where as Verstappen’s aggressiveness has cost him (again apart from Monaco.)

    Favourites to win: Mercedes

    Abu Dhabi:

    Now onto the season finale, Mercedes have dominated here winning every race in the hybrid era, however that changed last year when Max won. But with that being said Mercedes, struggled with their car setups all weekend and had engine issues to add to the problem.

    With the changes coming to the circuit this year as well, making it possible for more overtakes it could change the race completely and we could see both Merc’s having a really good weekend especially if they figure out what set up is the best one.

    Favourites to win: Mercedes.

    I’m very much looking forward to these next 5 races, it will be entertaining to see who comes out on top and as well the fight between Ferrari and McLaren.

  • Should GAS go back?

    So one of the main thing I feel like gets talked about in F1 whether there are spare seats or not, is whether Pierre Gasly will ever return to Red Bull?…

    Since Daniel Ricciardo left RB back in the 2018 season, its been no lie that the other Red Bull seat has been hard to fill with them now being on their third driver in three years.

    It started off with Pierre, but unfortunatley he only lasted 12 races, and Alex Albon got brought in for the rest of 2019 season and the full 2020 season. Sergio Perez is now the third driver to be in that seat for this year and then his got a contract extension till then end of the ’22 season.

    It’s no lie that Pierre thinks he should be in that second seat, even more so now that his got a win with Alpha Tauri, and he is putting consistent results in almost every weekend and pulling everything out of the Alpha Tauri.

    Gasly admitted that he felt over looked for 2022 promotion speaking to Canal Plus, he recently said: “I felt based on this year I could have deserved a better chance, but that is the decision, it doesn’t stop my motivation.”

    My Opinion-

    I feel like this is a tough one, Pierre obviously thinks a lot of Red Bull still even after everything so of course he is going to stay loyal to them. But theres a time when you say enough is enough.

    Pierre is still contracted to RB till the end of 2023, so I don’t know whether he waits till then to leave RB all together or wait and see if he gets a drive for Red Bull for the 2023 season, but he wont be the only one hoping for a drive then, Alex Albon wants to be a contender for the RB seat in 2023, and if you look into the feeder series, you’ve got RB juniors in there such as, Juri Vips, Liam Lawson, Dennis Hauger, Jack Doohan and many others who will be looking to fill that seat or the Alpha Tauri seats…

    I personally don’t see him going back to Red Bull, which is a shame but I do think he will be in a top car in the next few years, which I can’t wait to see!

  • Round 17- Austin Race

    WHAT. A. RACE! Wow… Max Verstappen WINS the US Grand Prix!! No-one knew how this race was going to go, but it did not disappoint!

    The battle between Max and Lewis was something else, first Lewis taking the lead and then the possibility of Red Bull stopping early but it seemed that Max looked after his tyres really really well! Both drivers drove amazing and definitely put on a show…

    The top 10 are- P1: Verstappen, P2: Hamilton, P3: Perez, P4: Leclerc, P5: Ricciardo, P6: Bottas, P7: Sainz, P8: Norris, P9: Tsunoda and P10: Vettel. Fastest lap goes to Hamilton.

    The battles between McLaren and Ferrari this race was something else! It seemed like Leclerc just wanted to get away and he did! He didn’t really have many battles in the race but he fully deserved the 4th position!

    At one point, Alonso was providing us with the battles and when they eventually stopped we had Alpine and the FIA communicating about the second one and how it was not fair etc.

    Personally, I feel like Bottas didn’t do much. In his first stint I felt like it took a while for his tyres to kick in and then afterwards the gap was too big to other drivers and the only way he went up the grid was due to pit stops.

    We sadly had 3 retirements this race, first up being Pierre Gasly, and then both Alpine’s for different reasons.

    The championship…

    So Max now has a 12 point lead over Lewis, but things can change very quickly… Perez is now into P4 but only by one point so Lando will be looking to get back into that spot.

    The gap between Mercedes and Red Bull is only 23 points, so having Perez be in P3 for race really boosted them up higher!

    Now onto the next! Only 5 remaining now and the next time we are back we have a triple header…

    We’re starting in Mexico on the weekend of the 5th November, who will come out on top?

  • Round 17- Austin Quali

    Well well well… we have Max Verstappen starting on pole position for tomorrow’s race! With Lewis Hamilton lining up next to him on the grid.

    This is the 7th time the championship pair have been in the front row together this season… Who will come out on top after the first lap?

    The top 10 is as follows: P1: Verstappen, P2: Hamilton, P3: Perez, P4: Bottas, P5: Leclerc, P6: Sainz, P7: Ricciardo, P8: Norris, P9: Gasly and P10: Tsunoda. Bottas will be starting P9, so Leclerc to Gasly all move up a place for tomorrow’s race!

    It’s good to see Tsunoda in Q3 for the second race weekend in a row! Could this be down to Alex Albon coaching him? This will really benefit Alpha Tauri with the constructors if he is able to score good points in these last few races…

    Both McLaren and Ferrari in top 10! I feel like whatever team comes on top tomorrow is due to strategy with when to pit. A downfall on Ferrari is that they have Sainz starting on the soft tyre which will see some degrading quite quickly compared to other tyres.

    Some drivers have a penalty for the race, which will see them start at the back of the grid: Russell, Alonso and Vettel. Bottas has a five place grid penalty…

    Predictions for tomorrow:

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

    I think Charles can do really well tomorrow, he finished P4 here in 2019 and he seems to have a lot of pace and confidence in his Ferrari today.

    Times-

    The times for tomorrow’s race is as follows: 20:00pm (BST), 21:00pm (CEST).

  • RB and AT to run special livery

    Red Bull and Alpha Tauri are set to run a special livery this weekend at the Turkish Grand Prix as a special tribute to Honda.

    If the Japanese GP was going ahead it would of been this weekend, which means Honda’s last home grand prix, unfortunately due to Covid-19 restrictions means that they will miss out.

    The RB16Bs of both Max and Sergio will run in a predominantly white livery which is inspired by the pain scheme of the Honda RA272 where Richie Ginther raced to victory at the 1965 Mexican Grand Prix.

    Where as Pierre’s and Yuki’s AlphaTauri’s will feature the word ‘arigato’ which is the Japanese word for ‘thank-you’ this is aimed to be on the rear wings of the AT02.

    Red Bull’s partnership with Honda launched back in 2018, since then Honda have helped both Red Bull and AlphaTauri reach the top step of the podium, with Red Bull scoring 13 victories to date and AlphaTauri taking hone a memorable win on home turf in Italy 2020. In total Red Bull and Honda have together scored 35 podium finishes and 11 pole positions.

    Team Principle and CEO of Red Bull Racing Honda, Christian Horner said: “We had all been looking forward to giving Honda’s Japanese fans a chance to celebrate our extremely successful relationship in Formula One, on home soil at Suzuka. With the race falling victim to the pandemic, we just couldn’t let the weekend pass without paying tribute to Honda and its amazing home fans by bringing a little bit of its heritage to Istanbul. The livery chosen for our cars pays homage to Honda’s remarkable F1 journey and hopefully we can give fans another victory in those legendary colours this weekend.”

    My Opinion-

    It’s a lovely gesture from RB and AT however I cant comment too much on what it looks like as all we have is a little teaser video below, but from what I can see it looks good…

  • Round 13- Zandvoort Race

    Well… Max Verstappen wins on his home turf and now leads the championship again, he drove a superb race!

    Hamilton finished in P2 with fastest lap as-well which we all know is major in the championship this year as its so close and then Bottas in P3 which now makes Mercedes have a 12 point advantage over Red Bull in the championship!

    The rest of the top 10 are- P4: Gasly, P5: Leclerc, P6: Alonso, P7: Sainz, P8: Perez, P9: Ocon and P10: Norris. We knew the order wouldn’t of changed too much so I honestly am not surprised by this order at all!

    It does make some changes to the Championship though, which is what we like to see and makes the future races more exciting! Norris is down to P4 as Bottas’ podium means he move us to P3, but I can imagine they will keep swapping round.

    Alonso done very well today, from starting in P9 and finishing in P6 which is a good points haul for the Alpine and Alonso! Gasly, done absolutley mega today, kept his P4 which went un-noticed yesterday but he made it count today and this is where it counts.

    Ferrari had a very good day today, which means a good lot of points for the Italian team, and they will want to excel on their performance this week going into the Italian Grand Prix next weekend!

    We had 3 DNF’s and they were Mazepin, Tsunoda and Russell. All cars retired to pit lane, the reasons are unknown at this time but will be updated later on.

    Now onto the second Red Bull, I don’t think Perez has had the best weekend, he obviously qualified P16 and then Red Bull done a very clever move and changed his power unit which meant he starts from the pit-lane but even then it didn’t exactly go the way they wanted it to. He started on hard tyres and then had to pit on the 10th lap to change to mediums as there was flat-spots. They did however manage to claw some points for Perez. It did make me think imagine if he was on the mediums to start what would of happened? Could we off seen him top 5?

    Now all eyes onto next weekend as we have our second sprint race of the season and we are back at Monza for the Italian Grand Prix!

  • Perez retained for 2022

    The seats for 2022 are starting to fill up quick, as Red Bull announced on Thursday 26th that they will keep Sergio Perez for the 2022 season.

    Red Bull have been looking for a driver who will keep up with Max Verstappen and bring the fight to Lewis and Mercedes, they had been unsuccessful until this season…

    Perez has made a strong start for his first season with the team, he took four top five finishes in the first five races and then clenched his first win with the team in his sixth in Baku. Perez is currently sitting in 5th in the driver standings with 104 points, which is just four points away from Bottas.

    “Checo is a highly respected Team member and his experience and race-craft are invaluable as we fight for the Constructors’ Championship,” said Red Bull boss Christian Horner. “His integration into the wider Team has been seamless and we have been impressed by his performances during the first half of the season which demonstrate what he’s capable of in our car.”

    What does it mean for Gasly & Albon?

    It looks like Gasly will be leading Alpha Tauri forwards, his had a very good season so far having grabbed points in all but three races this year, the team intend to secure fifth place in the constructors. AlphaTauri are yet to confirm their driver plans for the 2022 season but they are very much likely to keep it the same as the 2021 season.

    Now onto Albon, after not getting his seat renewed this season he went into the reserve driver role and to drive in DTM. Red Bull are impressed with the job Alex has been doing as the reserve, with clocking up miles in the simulator which has made Red Bull stronger this year, it seems they would want to keep him on.

    However, they realise he wants to race and they have said they are supportive of a move to a different team if he can make one work. There are two opportunities either at Williams or Alfa Romeo, both outside the Red Bull family.

    My Opinion-

    I think its a good move that Perez is staying for another year he seems to have done a lot of work within the team to help the championship fight. What shocked me the most, was the fact they announced it quite early, I thought they would of waited till the end of the season.

    It’s obviously a shame for Gasly and Albon as everyone wants to be in the best car, fighting for wins and podiums. But if they keep working on what their doing and being consistent I can see them both being back in a top car in the future!

  • Round 12- Spa Race

    Well… I don’t think anyone expected it to go the way it did today…

    First of all I just want to say a big well done to the fans at Spa, I admire every single one of you for for sticking it out in the rain all day to see some racing however, the rain wasn’t holding off today.

    As we done two laps behind the safety car, half points are awarded to drivers in top 10 and I think some teams and drivers will be happy that there is at least some points awarded this weekend!

    George Russell got his first podium in F1 today and some may think its not deserved etc but in my opinion I believe it is, the way he pulls out everything from the Williams is something else. He managed to get it to start on the front row of the grid which I cant imagine isn’t easy but he very much deserves these points, trophy and a better seat…

    Big shame for Red Bull today, when Perez was going to the grid for the start of the race he crashed, and we didn’t think he was going to be able to race due to damage but the FIA said yes but only if they could get all four tyres on in time and to be honest they did it in plenty of time, however because we didn’t have any overtakes etc because of the safety car being out Perez didn’t score any points. They had a chance at free points and close down the gap in the constructors too, but it just wasn’t there day.

    The top 10 are as following: P1- Verstappen, P2- Russell, P3- Hamilton, P4- Ricciardo, P5- Vettel, P6- Gasly, P7- Ocon, P8- Leclerc, P9- Latifi and P10- Sainz.

    Hamilton now leads the championship by only 3 points, so these next two races will mean a lot to both Hamilton and Verstappen. Norris, Bottas and Perez do not move any where in the drivers championship as none of them scored points today…

    One bonus is the fact we don’t have to wait too long for the next race, we’re back next week at Zandvoort!!

  • Round 12- Spa Quali

    WOW! What a quali… I don’t think anyone expected the results we got!

    Max takes another pole position! And next to him on grid will be Mr Saturday himself, George Russell and yes I know! No-one expected that but he had the pace their all qualifying! Hamilton will be starting P3! The rest of the top 10 are: P4- Ricciardo, P5- Vettel, P6- Gasly, P7- Perez, P8- Bottas, P9- Ocon and P10- Norris. Bottas has a 5 place grid penalty which sees him start 13th.

    The rest of the grid look like this (before penalties are added) P11- Leclerc, P12- Latifi, P13- Sainz, P14- Alonso, P15- Stroll, P16- Giovinazzi, P17- Tsunoda, P18- Schumacher, P19- Raikkonen, P20- Mazepin. Stroll also has a 5 place grid penalty which means he will start P20.

    Norris was so quick in Q1 and Q2, unfortunately in Q3 he had a big shunt which ended his qualifying and chance of pole. But the main thing is seeing him get out of the car okay! His being checked over as precautionary measures as usual, updates on him and his car will come as and when there is some. *UPDATE AS OF 22:00pm (BST) Lando has been given the all clear to race tomorrow which is good news, however he does get a 5 place grid penalty because for gearbox change so he will be starting P14*

    Bottas, didn’t have the birthday he was hoping for… qualifying in P8, I expected him to be up there in top 3 at least which is a shame but at the end of the day the points are awarded tomorrow and he has a lot of work to do in the race if he wants to score a decent amount. It does make me think now that George has got himself on the front row in a Williams, will this mean George gets the seat at Mercedes? The announcement should come soon!!

    Daniel Ricciardo starting P4 tomorrow which is amazing for him and the team, definitely shows his starting to get comfortable in the car which is brilliant for the constructors fight against Ferrari, lets hope Daniel gets a good amount of points tomorrow!

    Now I definitely didn’t see both Ferrari drivers starting out of the top 10. I think the team has a lot of work to do over night and figure out a good strategy so both drivers can score points.

    Predictions-

    My top five predictions for tomorrow are: P1- Hamilton, P2- Verstappen, P3- Ricciardo, P4- Vettel and P5- Russell. I think fastest lap will go to Hamilton.

    I think Latifi has a good chance at points again tomorrow, especially if Williams nail their strategy for him. Hopefully we see Bottas finish in the top 10 and not have an incident in the rain like Hungary and Imola.

    I’m very much looking forward to tommorrow, we should see some hard racing and maybe a surprise result!

    Times for tomorrow-

    The race starts at 14:00pm (BST) and 15:00pm (CEST). Don’t forget we also have an F3 race tomorrow as well.

  • Round 7- France Race

    Well what a race! For once Paul Ricard wasn’t boring and we didn’t even have rain 😳

    Another win for Verstappen after a last minute over take on Hamilton, meaning Hamilton takes P2 and P3 to the other Red Bull driver Perez! Big congratulations to the drivers on and off the podium!

    The rest of the top 10 are P4- Bottas, P5- Norris, P6- Ricciardo, P7- Gasly, P8- Alonso, P9- Vettel and P10- Stroll. The fastest lap point goes to Verstappen!

    Can I just say McLaren have aced their race pace and with both drivers, Norris started P8 and Ricciardo started P10 and they have both managed to climb up places to score points and overtake Ferrari in the constructors!

    It was nice to see Bottas back up to the top 4 but Mercedes strategy today just didn’t work, it made Bottas loose a podium, Hamilton a win and potentially taking back the Constructors lead as well as the Drivers championship. I think they need to re-group and think about their strategy for the next two weeks at Austria… And also it’s not going very well for Bottas is it? I don’t think it will be long till we get an announcement saying his out of a seat (Sorry to Bottas’ fans😬)

    Another team who needs to re-think there strategy is Ferrari, Sainz started P5 and Leclerc P7 however Sainz finished 11th and Leclerc all the way down in 16th! Lets hope they figure out a better strategy soon as they will have a big gap between McLaren in the Constructors if this happens in the next few races..

    Big well done to both Aston Martin drivers as well! Both in the points! So they clearly had the right strategy, and mega drive from Stroll, having to start at back of the grid because he didn’t get a qualifying time to then finishing 10th!

    Russell done a good drive too! Finishing P12, the Brit is going to go places, putting the Williams in a place it really shouldn’t be but is! Not long till he will be scoring his first points for the British team🤞🏻

    Now we don’t have a long wait to go till the next race as its only a week away! We are back at the Red Bull Ring, Austria!! Can Mercedes beat Red Bull at their home track? Or will it be Red Bull taking another win? It’s all to play for and I for one am very excited!🤩

  • Pirelli tyres

    So following on from the weekend in Azerbaijian, during the race we have two high speed crashes from Lance Stroll and Max Verstappen because of tyre blowouts.

    Both drivers were on the hard tyre compound, Lap 30 of the race is when Stroll crashed and spun violently into the wall which could of been a lot worse! Verstappen was leading the race with only 5 laps to go and then he suffered the exact same.

    However, Pirelli’s Head of F1 and Car Racing didn’t believe that tyre wear had been the issue in either of the incidents Mario Isola told the media: “I don’t want to give any preliminary conclusions. But it seems that it is a cut due to debris, because as I said, it’s not the most stressed tyre… We had other cars with the same number of laps [on the] same tyres without any issue. So the preliminary investigation is that it is probably due to an external factor, or debris, or kerb or whatever.” Isola then went on to add “Another element was there was no sign, or any warning according to the teams, we have to receive the telemetry from them but what they told us was that there was no warning, no vibration nothing to seem that there would be something in the tyres.”

    Isola suggested that Verstappens crash could have been caused by running over debris from Stroll’s crash. Meanwhile Pirelli announced that they have also spotted a cut in the hard tyre of Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes, this was discovered when everyone pitted under the red flag.

    My Opinion:

    I personally have very mixed views on this, I think that Pirelli need to review there Hard compound tyre, I don’t think Stroll’s was due to debris as no one had crashed before him and to make that big of impact to the tyre and car you’d expect it to be a big piece of debris off a crash. Where as Verstappen’s could possibly be a bit of debris, when you watch the replay you can see no debris on the track big enough to cut the tyre but then again this isn’t the first time the hard tyre has had a blowout etc as last year at Silverstone’s first race, Bottas, Sainz and Hamilton all suffered tyre blowouts on the hard tyre.

    I’d love to know your view on this so I have added a poll and video below!

    Sky Sports Video on Youtube

  • Flexi wing saga

    Lately in the news of Formula One we have seen lots of talk about Red Bull using a “Bendy wing/ Flexi wing” since qualifying at the Spanish Grand Prix

    At the Spanish Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton brought up that Red Bull have a bendy wing which he said was worth an extra three tenths in performance to the Mercedes. After the Spanish Grand Prix the FIA then announced they would have new tests on the flexibility of F1 cars rear wing and will be in place from the 15th of June (ahead of the French Grand Prix)

    Then leading up to the race weekend in Monaco, it came out that McLaren strongly disagrees with the FIA’s current plant to eventually outlaw the ‘bendy wings’. However no matter how unhappy they are with the current plan, they are reluctant to start launching protests against other teams…

    Christian Horner said during the Monaco Grand Prix weekend that such a tweak to the regulations could cost his team “half a million dollars”  an expense they can do without now that Formula 1 teams are working with a budget cap. Alfa Romeo boss Frederic Vasseur, agrees with Horner and slammed the decision to move the goalposts mid-season as a “joke”.

    It has now gone onto that Mercedes and Red Bull could end up protesting each other ahead of the next round in Baku unless the FIA provide further clarification on the wing saga. Whilst Mercedes have drawn attention to Red Bulls rear wing, Red Bull have now brought up Mercedes flexing front wing from the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

    What are the regulations?

    Article 3.9.9 of F1’s Technical Regulations states: “The FIA reserve the right to introduce further load/deflection tests on any part of the bodywork which appears to be (or is suspected of) moving whilst the car is in motion.

    My opinion-

    Personally, I don’t think its right, if its illegal and doesn’t comply with the regulations then they should change it straight away not wait a month later, I understand it takes time etc but Red Bull could of easily got it done by the Monaco Grand Prix as they had a two week break between them or by Baku as that would be a four week break.

    I do think Red Bull are just trying to find anything on the Mercedes so they can protest back. I think Red Bull will be the ones looking silly at the end of this, they could of just saved their time and energy and changed it as soon as possible…

    I do see this going on for a little while so come back for some more updates as they happen!

  • Round 5- Monaco Race

    Well well well, we now have a new championship leader! Max Verstappen is leading the championship for the first time and by only 4 points!

    The Monaco curse continues for Charles Leclerc! He was meant to start on pole however he did not start due to an issue with the left driveshaft… however not all bad for the Ferrari team as his team mate Carlos Sainz finishes on the podium in second!

    Lando Norris on the podium again for the second time in 5 races! He is on fire, I am extremely happy for him🙌🏻 he had to defend from Perez towards the end of the race but he managed to hold him off and hold onto that podium!

    Now onto the Mercedes… not a very good weekend for them at all, Bottas was in second came in for a pit stop then a wheel nut got stuck meaning he couldn’t carry on… now onto Hamilton he started P7 and also finished P7 with fastest lap, they tried an undercut on Gasly with the pit stop but it just didn’t work unfortunately😣

    Somebody I have to mention is Sebastian Vettel! Could his luck be changing? He started P8 and finished P5! His team mate Lance Stroll also finished in the points in 8th, so could this possibly be a turning point for the team?

    Pierre Gasly as-well! What a man! Drove absolutely beautiful and no mistakes too! He finished in P6👏🏻

    Now we’ve got a 2 week break until the 6th round which is Azerbaijan! And that’s on the weekend of the 4th to 6th June🤞🏻Lots of drivers will be wanting to redeem themselves their so it’s all to play for once again 🔥

  • Round 1- Bahrain Race

    GET IN THERE LEWIS. That is a Formula One race right there… Hamilton held off Verstappen in the first race of the season. Not only did Hamilton win the race he also passed Michael Schumacher’s record of 5,111 for the most laps led in F1 history. Finishing behind Verstappen was Bottas and he also managed to take the fastest lap of the Red Bulls too.

    Lando Norris and Sergio Perez make it fourth and fifth… These two shocked me so much, obviously McLaren has the power etc but Norris was just on another level today, he really held his own. And Perez from starting in the pits as there was an issue on the formation lap to then finish 5th is just wow, you can understand why he got the Red Bull seat now.

    The rookie Yuki Tsunoda made it into the points for his first F1 race and no doubt he is very happy with that! One rookie we should mention is Nikita Mazepin, he spun and crashed on the first lap of his first ever F1 race, he must be gutted…

    Aston Martin and Sebastian Vettel must be gutted too, making their come back to F1 and not having the best of races… Vettel starting P20 as he was handed a 5 place grid penalty after ignoring yellow flag and then he caused a collision with Ocon in the race, Seb finished P15.

    My driver of the day would be Red Bull’s Perez, he done very well and deserves it. Keep an eye out for a poll so you can make your vote! 😜Now we only have to wait 3 weeks until the next race… Which is in Italy from the 16th-18th of April.

  • Mercedes vs Red Bull

    So one of the biggest rivalries on grid is Mercedes and Red Bull, they are the two top teams who are always fighting against each other for the top spot on the podium.

    Every race weekend we always see Mercedes and Red Bull pushing each other, however there hasn’t been two consistent drivers at Red Bull to properly push the silver arrows… However could this all change this year, with having Sergio Perez teamed up with Max Verstappen?

    I always believe that you can never go by how the teams are in pre-season testing as the top teams always hide how good they are but Mercedes have never been that bad before and I don’t know if thats a sign to show whats to come in this season or not?

    There was too many things going wrong for the Mercedes team over the weekend such as Lewis’ two spins which included one bringing out a red flag, also the amount of grip and pace they didn’t have, they was all over the track! (and not in a good way) They also run into an issue on the first session of the first day which only let Bottas do as not as many laps as he would of wanted.

    Red Bull was very consistent over the weekend and they also had the pace unlike the Mercedes. Red Bull have been pushing everything to stop the Mercs from winning another championship and I do think they could possibly do it, IF and thats a very big if Mercedes don’t sort out their problems before the first race which is in 10 days time.

    If Mercedes do some how sort out all their problems and have the pace unlike testing, I do still think Red Bull will have a strong fight against them and there will be a few interesting battles on the track this year!