Jordan's Track Talk

Tag: Round 4

  • F3 Silverstone – Day 1

    F3 Silverstone – Day 1

    Free Practice-

    All three MP Motorsport cars were on track immediately to make the only practice session of the weekend. The track started to fill up slowly with just under half the field during the opening 10 minutes.

    Barcelona Sprint Winner, David Vidales traded the top sport with Van Amersfoort Racing’s Franco Colapinto during the initial stages as representative times filtered through.

    Championship leader, Victor Martins was pushing the limits at Copse corner, which saw him run wide and scraping the floor over the exit kerbs, loosing his laptime for exceeding track limits in the process.

    Entering the final 10 minutes of the session, drivers started to search for a slipstream for the final fast laps. Despite almost dropping the car through several corners in the final sector, Hadjar wrestled his car across the line to post a 0.25s improvement to lover the benchmark to a 1:45.116.

    But it was an MP Motorsport double punch as Kush Maini leading his teammate, Caio Collet first and second respectively. Kaylen Frederick managed to improve and push himself up in to 3rd.

    Qualifying-

    Zak O’Sullivan gave local fans an early celebration as he pushed it to the limit to secure his first pole position, as well as writing his name into Carlin history by securing the teams first pole in the championship. Meanwhile, Arthur Leclerc banished his qualifying woes to snatch second as Zane Maloney rounds out the top 3.

    Collet was quick out of the box, becoming the first driver to set a flying lap, MP Motorsport were on the pace from the start as Collet’s 1:45.602 was momentarily bested by his teammate Maini before he regained P1.

    Traffic and track limits coming in to play as Oliver Bearman set a blistering 1:44.873 which put him up in P1 before being deleted. Meanwhile, the Trident trio were on the charge as Maloney climbed up into third ahead of teammate Edgar, who was returning at his home race following a two-race absence.

    As the clock ticked down to zero, a flurry of fast laps once again switched up the order as Leclerc jumped up to P1 but nothing could stop O’Sullivan from pipping the PREMA. Almost identical times in the opening sector mean that there was virtually nothing between the pair who ended the session separated by only 0.027s.

    Lining up on reverse grid pole for Saturday’s Sprint Race, Maini has the perfect opportunity to secure a maiden rostrum finish in the opening race of the weekend.

  • F2 Barcelona- Day 2 & 3

    F2 Barcelona- Day 2 & 3

    Day 2-

    Felipe Drugovich made up for the post-qualifying penalty by winning the Sprint Race. Demoted to fourth on the grid, he seized the lead at Turn 1.

    The MP Motorsport driver led every lap from that point and victory moved him to the top of Formula 2 Drivers Championship. Ayumu Iwasa and Logan Sargeant were able to secure their maiden F2 podiums, finishing second and third.

    The Sprint Race was not good for Juri Vips, as he spun at Turn 4 in which he beached himself in the grave and it saw the Safety Car come out.

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

    Day 3-

    Felipe Drugovich, made it two wins from two in Barcelona, winning the Feature Race after his Sprint Race success on Saturday. The MP Motorsport driver made it look simple from 10th on the grid, extending his stint on the soft tyres longer than anyone else before catching and passing Jack Doohan for the win.

    The Virtuosi Racing driver did everything right, but his early pit stop left him on tyres five laps older than the Brazilian’s. His first podium of the 2022 F2 season will offer some comfort heading into Monaco. Frederik Vesti made his best F2 qualifying result count and the ART Grand Prix driver completed the podium.

    The full top 10 are: P1: Drugovich, P2: Doohan, P3:Vesti, P4: Sargeant, P5: Novalak, P6: Fittipaldi, P7: Armstrong, P8: Pourchaire, P9: Lawson and P10: Nissany.

    The Championship-

    Drugovich’s dominance in Barcelona has helped him into a 26 point lead, as Pourchaire remains second with an okay weekend. Daruvala is narrowly ahead of Lawson and Armstrong who moved himself up into the top five.

    MP Motorsport made the tyres work fo rboth drivers, which has extended their points tally at the top of the Teams’ Standings to 108 points. ART remain in second with 85 and Carlin sit in third with 73 points.

    We don’t have long to wait till the next round, as we are back next week for Round 5, in Monaco!

  • F2 Barcelona – Day 1

    F2 Barcelona – Day 1

    Round 4 for Formula 2 this weekend, lets take a look at how the first day went.

    Free Practice-

    Felipe Drugovich led the way in free practice after multiple red flag stoppages. The MP Motorsport driver, was almost a full half-second clear of the pack, with Jehan Daruvala and Logan Sargeant his closest challengers.

    Olli Caldwell and Marcus Armstrong both brought out the red flags during the session, with the Campos Racing driver spinning and hitting the wall at Turn 9. Meanwhile Armstrong became beached in the gravel at Turn 4 as drivers struggled for grip.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Drugovich, P2: Daruvala, P3: Sargeant, P4: Doohan, P5: Lawson, P6: Vips, P7: Iwasa, P8: Pourchaire, P9: Hauger and P10: Williams.

    Qualifying-

    Before we start looking at the qualifying result, Ralph Boschung has withdrawn from this weekend as he is suffering from neck pain and wasn’t able to continue after the practice session.

    Virtuosi Racing’s Jack Doohan, left it last minute as he stormed to his second pole position in Formula 2, the Aussie managed to hold off an extremely late charge from HiTech’s Juri Vips which saw the Estonian driver leap up from last to second and ahead of ART’s Frederik Vesti in third.

    The full top 10 are- P1: Doohan, P2: Vips, P3: Vesti, P4: Daruvala, P5: Sargeant, P6: Iwasa, P7: Pourchaire, P8: Hughes, P9: Williams and P10: Drugovich.

    Drugovich was meant to be starting on pole position for today’s sprint race but, he has a 3 place grid penalty for impeding Theo Pourchaire, so he now will be starting 4th. That promotes Calan Williams to pole position and Jake Hughes onto the front row.

  • Round 4- Emilia Romagna GP

    Round 4- Emilia Romagna GP

    It was a mixed conditions type race today, and it’s safe to say its one for Red Bull to remember but one to forget for Ferrari!

    Max Verstappen wins the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, with his teammate, Sergio Perez coming home in second to make it Red Bull’s first 1-2 of the year! Lando Norris took the final podium spot, for a second year running, a first for the young Brit!

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

    Lets start with Ferrari, another DNF for Carlos, 2 in 2 races not good for him or the team… Himself and Ricciardo made contact on the first lap which saw Carlos not being able to move out of the gravel trap (again). Maybe Miami will be good for him? Now onto the Championship leader… he looked set to take P3, he pitted on lap 50 to try and get the fastest lap point and once he did this, both Bulls followed suit… Lap 54 was where it went wrong though as he went into the barriers at the chicane and dropped down to P9.

    Now onto McLaren, another up and down day! After the collision, Ricciardo just couldn’t get back up anywhere. But for Norris, what a day! Sometimes keeping out of trouble and not pushing tyres is good (like how we saw with Russell in Aus), the podium was well deserved for all at McLaren from where they started to where they are now!

    Mercedes, well a good race by Russell and some amazing defending by him to stop Bottas getting past, but for Hamilton I think his race was done when Ocon got released early in the pitlane and pushed Hamilton… A regroup needed for the Silver Arrows for Miami.

    Aston Martin! All the teams have now scored points after AM had both drivers score points today which I didn’t expect to see especially after Australia. But it was good to see and quite a mixed top 10.

    Points for Tsunoda, a very good weekend for him, he started P16 yesterday for the sprint and finished P7 today! Hopefully we see this happening more often throughout the year now.

    The Championship-

    Leclerc is still on the top spot and leading with 86 points, but its now the reigning world champion in second and now with 59 points! His teammate is close behind, Perez has 54 points. We then have Russell in that battle aswell in 4th i’d say, his consistent race finishes are helping with the fight.

    We then have Carlos rounding out the top 5 with 38 points, 11 away from Russell. Norris moves up to P6 with 35 points.

    Now looking at the Constructors, Ferrari still lead with 124 points, but Red Bull have closed in massively with 113 points. Then there is quite a gap between RB and Merc, the silver arrows are sat in third with 77 points. McLaren are 33 points of Mercedes so another gap and then Alfa Romeo are fifth with 25 points so its quite spaced out…

    We are back in two weeks, for the first ever Miami Grand Prix and the round number 5, on the weekend of 6th to 8th May, where the battle between RB and Ferrari continues!

  • Round 4- Imola Sprint

    Round 4- Imola Sprint

    The first sprint race of the season is complete and what a race it was! Max Verstappen beat Charles Leclerc to the checkered flag. But it wasn’t all smooth sailing as Charles got the better start and led for 19 laps.

    With the top 8 now scoring points in the sprint, we wasn’t sure if there would be much on track action, but it is safe to say we were not disappointed.

    The top 10 are- P1: Verstappen, P2: Leclerc, P3: Perez, P4: Sainz, P5: Norris, P6: Ricciardo, P7: Bottas, P8: Magnussen, P9: Alonso and P10: Schumacher.

    First up, Mr Zhou Guanyu was our only DNF, he made contact with Pierre Gasly which saw Zhou go off at Turn 9. Pierre also picked up damage and needed to pit for a new front wing and tyres. Zhou will be starting from the pitlane as his pitcrew needed to work on the car during parc fermme conditions.

    Both Perez and Sainz had a lot of making up to do before the Sprint even started and I think its safe to say that they both put in the work to do damage limitation in the sprint, ready for the main event tomorrow.

    Yuki was the saving grace for Alpha Tauri as he made up 4 places, giving him that advantage tomorrow for the race.

    Disappointing sprint for the king of sprint, Alonso. He lost 4 positions during the sprint and that may be to his tyres not heating up enough and he was just a sitting duck. Hopefully we see more from him tomorrow.

    Predictions-

    Top five for tomorrows race is- P1: Leclerc, P2: Verstappen, P3: Sainz, P4: Norris, and P5: Ricciardo.

    Now, seeing as Mick has the perfect opportunity to score points as he starts in the top 10, I am hoping this happens. It does look like he is comfortable in the car on this track so lets hope he can do it.

    A possible chance for points for Russell, Tsunoda and Vettel. There could be a chance of rain tomorrow so that could shake up the order quite some what and then that would give the 3 drivers I just mentioned to move up a few spots.

    Times for tomorrow-

    Feature Race F3- 7:50am (BST)
    Feature Race F2- 9:20am (BST)
    F1 Race- 14:00pm (BST).

  • Round 4- Imola Qualifying

    Round 4- Imola Qualifying

    A very mixed qualifying is now complete from a dry track to a red flag and then a wet track. Safe to say the Imola cat will be keeping dry in paddock.

    But with his first pole position of the year for the current world champion, Max Verstappen!

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

    Not a good day for the home heros, both Alpha Tauri’s out in Q1 as they couldn’t manage to get through the next stage of qualifying. Lots of work for them to do in the sprint and the race if they want to score some points this weekend.

    Due to a red flag in Q2, caused by Carlos Sainz, the running stopped in qualifying completely even after the red flag went as the rain started to come down and the drivers had already set some laps so none of them were going to change.

    Mercedes did not have a good qualifying, you could put it down to Carlos’ crash as well as they are just having problems with the car also. Both drivers out in Q2 the first time a Mercedes car hasn’t been in Q3 since Japan 2012

    Williams having more and more problems as the weekends go on, this time for Albon as his breaks set a light whilst in Q1 and cause a stop to the session as there were debris from the brakes being on fire.

    A total of 5 red flags throughout qualifying. A lot for teams to work on. Disappointing that Perez could’ve been higher up and benefit on the fact that Ferrari only have one car at the top.

    A good showing from McLaren, hopefully we see some more good work from the pair throughout the rest of the weekend as well as Haas’ Kevin Magnussen!

    Predictions-

    My top 5 for the sprint is- P1: Verstappen, P2: Leclerc, P3: Norris, P4: Alonso and P5: Magnussen.

    If it is a dry sprint tomorrow, like expected then I can’t really see much happening. A couple of positions switch around in the top 10 but nothing major unless it’s mechanical issues…

    Times for tomorrow-

    Free Practice 2 F1- 11:30am – 12:30pm (BST)
    Sprint Race F1- 15:30pm – 16:30pm (BST)

  • Emilia Romagna Grand Prix

    We are back this weekend racing not just Formula 1 but Formula 2 and 3 also! We are now in Italy for the return of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. The Sprint returns this weekend also, for the first time in 2022.

    Its both Ferrari and Alpha Tauri home race this weekend, can the teams provide a good weekend? Will Max have more reliability issues? Or will he conquer through? Carlos retired last race, can he get back on the podium on Sunday?

    Could we see a wet qualifying? It’s definitely looking that way and a possibility of some rain across the weekend also. This could shake the order up quite a bit!

    Who needs a good weekend?

    Red Bull, or more likely Max. 2 DNF’s in 3 races isn’t a good start for defending his title. I know it isn’t his fault as they were things to do with the car and not himself but he will be wanting this weekend to go as smoothly as possible.

    Aston Martin will be wanting a good weekend especially Seb, he DNF’ed in Australia and will be wanting to get through the whole Grand Prix this weekend.

    Carlos will also be wanting a good weekend also, he has had a good start to the season apart from the DNF in Aus, but with his new contract being announced this week he will be wanting to perform even more than before.

    Predictions for qualifying-

    My top 5 are- Pole: Leclerc, P2: Verstappen, P3: Perez, P4: Sainz and P5: Hamilton. Apparently Red Bull are bringing upgrades this weekend, if they work well the fight could be on between both RB and Ferrari.

    A part of me don’t want to count out Russell, we all saw what he could do in qualifying when it was raining and at the moment its predicted to rain whilst quali is going on, so we could see a masterclass from him again.

    Hopefully we see at least one Haas in Q3, would be nice to see both in there as well as the McLaren’s. Lando likes driving in the wet as we all saw last year, so it may help him get further up the grid for the sprint on Saturday.

    Times for the weekend-

    Friday 22nd-

    • Free Practice F3- 8:55am – 9:40am (BST)
    • Free Practice F2- 10:05am – 10:50am (BST)
    • Free Practice 1 F1- 12:30pm – 13:30pm (BST)
    • Qualifying F3- 14:00pm – 14:30pm (BST)
    • Qualifying F2- 14:55pm – 15:25pm (BST)
    • Qualifying F1- 16:00pm – 17:00pm (BST).

    Saturday 23rd-

    • Sprint Race F3- 9:35am – 10:15am (BST)
    • Free Practice 2 F1- 11:30am – 12:30pm (BST)
    • Sprint Race F1- 15:30pm – 16:30pm (BST)
    • Sprint Race F2- 16:55pm – 17:40pm (BST).

    Sunday 24th-

    • Feature Race F3- 7:50am (BST)
    • Feature Race F2- 9:20am (BST)
    • F1 Race- 14:00pm (BST).
  • Round 4- Rome E-Prix

    Round 4- Rome E-Prix

    Round 4 of the Formula E season has took place today, so lets take a look at how it is gone.

    FP1-

    Championship leader, Edoardo Mortara led the way in the first practice session with a time of 1m 40.022s, whilst Jaguar’s Mitch Evans came close behind in second followed by reigning champion, Nyck de Vries in third.

    All 22 cars made it out for the session, while Nick Cassidy spent time in the pits after only competing two laps with a suspected driveshaft issue, the Brit made it out towards the end to complete 6 laps in total.

    With the cool morning temperatures impacting breaking, a lockup from Jake Dennis saw the Brit avoid a narrow miss through the chicane. With seconds to go, Rowland suffered damage after contact was made with Jean-Eric Vergne, sent him into the wall on the chicane through Turns 12 and 13.

    The top 10 were: P1: Mortara, P2: Evans, P3: de Vries, P4: Da Costa, P5: Frijns, P6: Vandoorne, P7: Lotterer, P8: Sims, P9: Bird, P10: Sette Camara.

    FP2-

    The DS Techeetah and former Rome winner, Jean-Eric Vergne topped the timesheets in the final practice ahead of qualifying with a 1m 39.082s. Ahead of Pascal Wehrlein in second and Sam Bird who went third fastest.

    More problems for Mahindra’s Oliver Rowland, as he wrestled with his car sliding through Turns 12 and 13- the same spot he crashed earlier on. That same chicane stopped the running of Andre Lotterer as he clipped the inside of Turn 13 causing him to stop on track before a red flag came out.

    The top 10 were: P1: Vergne, P2: Wehrlein, P3: Bird, P4: Dennis, P5: de Vries, P6: Evans, P7: Da Costa, P8: Mortara, P9: Vandoorne and P10: Frijns.

    Qualifying-

    Stoffel Vandoorne claimed his 7th Formula E pole, as he lined up against Robin Frijns. Heading down in Turn 3, Frijns lost time in the final, handing the lead to the Mercedes-EQ driver. Despite his best effort to catch him, Frijns failed to make up for lost time.

    The pole marks Mercedes-EQ third Pole in four rounds, as the Mercedes power train continues to prove its dominance in the electric series. Could Stoffel turn the pole into a win? He already has a win here in the Eternal City last year, so it could very much be possible.

    The top 10 are: P1: Vandoorne, P2: Frijns, P3: de Vries, P4: Da Costa, P5: Vergne, P6: Dennis, P7: Wehrlein, P8: Lotterer, P9: Evans and P10: Rowland.

    Round 4-

    Jaguar TCS Racing, Mitch Evans takes victory on the streets of Rome for the second time in his career. Evans dominated, pulling away from the field to lead Envision’s Robin Frijns in 2nd and Mercedes EQ’s Stoffel Vandoorne in third.

    Despite starting on pole, Vandoorne let his lead slip on the streets, giving way to a determined Mitch who stormed to victory after starting ninth. For the reigning champ, it wasn’t all good though, the Mercedes driver failed to finish the race, retiring after slowing on track and slipping down the order.

    Home here, Antonio Giovinazzi, finished 18th after a steady race at the back of the grid- still adjusting to the challenging nature of driving on street circuits, Giovinazzi will be looking to make more of an impact in tomorrows race.

    Nudged from behind early on in the race, Edoardo Mortara behind, Oliver Rowland hit the barrier on Turn 7, with the cars behind being backed up. Shortly after this, Max Guenther crashed into the barrier on Turn 11- the safety car was brought out whilst his car was recovered.

    Times for tomorrow-

    Free Practice 3: 07:30am – 08:00am (BST), Qualifying: 09:40am – 10:55am (BST), Round 5: 14:00pm – 15:00pm (BST).

  • A look into Rome

    Formula E is back this weekend and we are in Rome for Round 4 and 5 after a two month break! It’s also Antonio Giovinazzi’s home race too.

    Last time we were in Rome, Jean-Eric Vergne (DS TECHEETAH), picked his moments perfectly to drive from fifth to victory in the opening race of the Rome E-Prix double-header last season.

    We have had 3 different winners, in the past 3 rounds, will we see a 4th different winner or will one of our 3 be victorious again? Mortara sits at the top of the standings with 43 points, Nyck de Vries in second with 38 and Wehrlein in 3rd with 30.

    The Teams battle is very close with ROKiT Venturi Racing claiming the top spot with 68 points, Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team with 66 points and TAG Heuer Porsche has 60. There is then quite a big gap down to 4th is DS Techeetah with 39 points and Envision Racing with 39 and then Avalanche Andretti 3 points behind them.

    Circuito Cittadino dell’EUR-

    As one of the longest tracks on the calendar, the Circuito Cittadino dell’EUR races around the Obelisco di Marconi, against the backdrop of the iconic Colosseo Quadrato.

    The Rome circuit features plenty of challenges for the drivers with undulations, lots of elevation changes, uneven surface and that jump – it’s a technically and fast track with long straights and a host of passing opportunities in the Eternal City.

    The fastest lap of the circuit goes to Stoffel Vandoorne, Mercedes-EQ (2021)- 1:41.820.

    Past Winners:

    • 2018, Sam Bird
    • 2019, Mitch Evans
    • 2021, Jean-Eric Vergne
    • 2021, Stoffel Vandoorne.
    Rome E-prix track map

    Times-

    Saturday 9th-

    Free Practice 1: 06:15am – 06:45am (BST), Free Practice 2: 08:00am – 08:45am (BST), Qualifying: 09:40am – 10:55am (BST), Round 4: 14:00pm – 15:00pm (BST).

    Sunday 10th-

    Free Practice 3: 07:30am – 08:00am (BST), Qualifying: 09:40am – 10:55am (BST), Round 5: 14:00pm – 15:00pm (BST).