Bottas, pole and win in Azerbaijan

Pole starter Valtari Bottas has just won the Azerbaijan F1 Grand Prix, in front of his team-mate, and Vettel for Ferrari. After starting in pole, and after a well agitated race, the Finn could score his second win and get back to the lead of the overall championship. Not only this, but this is the 4th double for Mercedes F1 team.

Bottas started 1st, 2nd was Hamilton, 3rd Vettel, 4th was Verstappen and a good start for Perez as 5th. After penalties, Raikkonen, Gasly, and Kubica were obliged to start last, and for the first time in his career, Kubica was starting 18th. The race start was rough between the two Mercedes, Hamilton went immediately for the attack on Bottas, who blocked and did not give him the chance. Vettel was a spectator, just behind him there was a fight between Perez and Verstappen who ended in the favor of Perez. Leclerc lost his start, 10th.

After another tough fight, between Perez and Verstappen, and after 6 laps, the dutch man could regain his position. In the 7th lap, Raikkonen started the Pit stop craze, Hulkenberg followed, in the 10th lap, Perez, Stroll and Ricciardo went in. Leclerc, in that part of the race went on the hunt, overtaking one after another the drivers in front of him, and was even 3.0 s faster than Hamilton, which lead to the pit of Bottas in 13th lap and Hamilton a lap later. Right after the pits, Vettel was faster than the two Mercedes, but still a bit slower than his team-mate who was then first and leading the race.

The will to catch the two was there, but Vettel did not have enough pace, Leclerc was loosing it, due to old tyres, and on the 34th lap, he was overtaken by Bottas, and Hamilton, and Vettel. He pitted in the 35th lap. Wanting to do another of his impressive overtakes, Ricciardo misses the turn, and almost caused a crash with Kvyat, the two breathed, it was safe, but Ricciardo went back on the Russian, end of the story, both of them in the pits leaving the race. Another loser, is Gasly, who did an impressive race, but was obliged to leave it after loosing power.

The extra point of the fastest race goes to Leclerc 1m 43s 009, he had rhythm, he had a great pace, but once more, luck wasn’t on the side of Ferrari.

Hamilton wins the 1000th F1 Grand Prix

Hamilton wins the Chinese Grand Prix and enters history as the winner of the F1 1000th Grand Prix. Next to him was his teammate Valtari Bottas, securing a solid one-two for Mercedes. Vettel scores his first podium.

It was a strong weekend for the Mercedes Boys, the third One-Two in a raw. After starting in pole, Bottas lost to his teammate, and ended up second. The ferrari’s in the other hand who seemed the best in the free practice, went just second row in the quali. Verstappen scored the 4th place snitching it from Leclerc.

The Russian Kvyat and The German Hulkenberg scored a DNF. It was a great performance from Albon, who went into the top 10 in the race. Albon had a serious crash in the FP3 session, and was feared not to be able to go to quali.

This was a serious performance from Mercedes, Ferrari need to have their points checked, and to get really ready to the Azerbaidjan Grand Prix

Chinese GP : Mercedes Front Row Lock-up

The quali session for the 2019 F1 Chinese Grand Prix ended with a Mercedes F1 team front row lock-up and 2nd row preserved by Ferrari. After them come the two RedBull and right after is the two Renaults and Finally the two Hass’s for the 5 row.

Though dominating the FP1 and FP2, Ferrari had something missing for the quali session, or was it maybe the Mercedes found some pace to secure a one – two start tomorrow. It was clear that the Italian were faster in the straight, they even could win up to 0.7 s in the straight alone, but lose everything in the rest of the circuit.

Sebastian Vettel is under review for overtaking Verstappen in the before last corner while the dutch was in a flying lap, he found up coming from behind and away from the racing line, a hurrying Vettel. This caused the young dutch to remain 5th and not have a better chance to improve.

The difference in pace is still huge that only five people are into the second gap. Mercedes maintained first with Bottas, who had an advantage to his teammate through the weekend, what can they translate that into the race, or will Ferrari have a wake-up Call from what happened in Bahrain?

 

 

Bahrain Grand Prix full report

After a sour loss in Australia, Ferrari brought its A-game to Bahrain GP, the Italian team dominated all the qualification sessions with good margins. It was mostly Leclerc who was in the front, Vettel could only be first in the second free practice. Came the race, Ferrari had a front row lock-up, Mercedes was in the second raw, and Verstappen was fifth, his best Bahrain GP qualification.

Leclerc, scoring his first pole position in F1, had the right to dream of a first win. Things did not work well for him in the race start, being overtaken by Vettel, who squeezed him in the first turn, leaving the door open to Bottas to pass by and even at risk of being overtaken by Hamilton. Not a problem, he got his head down, and went for it. In the lap two, he got rid of Bottas, and left him for an easy prey to Hamilton who took the opportunity to get back to second, in the 5th lap, in the main DRS zone, he got back to first, and he dictated the pace since.

A bit in the back, things did not work well for Grosjean who was touched from the back by Stroll, causing damage to his car, and leading him to quit the race. Sainz who wanted to bully Verstappen out, got a taste from the anger of the dutchman, blocked, touched, damage to the car, pit stop, and last in the race. Ricciardo had an amazing start, he was easily 7th in the first laps, and even got to 6th. The stewards did not bother with all the touching, shoulder rubbing and squeezing, they decided that race incidents happen. However, Kvyat who was a victim of Giovanazzi small touch from behind, was awarded a 5 seconds penalty, for speeding in the pits.

Verstappen, suffering from a slow puncture, started the pitstop wars, in the 12th lap, just after him were Leclerc and Hamilton, and the biggest loser from all that was Vettel. Hamilton who kept a brand new soft tyre kit, thinking he could dominate in his second stint, found himself loosing pace to Leclerc flying to a certain win, and being chased by Vettel. Yet at the 23rd lap, and after overtaking the Brit, Vettel was +8.0 seconds from his teammate. Mercedes gamble paid off after getting the medium tyres on, Hamilton had a better race pace then Vettel, and went for him. First try was in the 37th lap, but Vettel kept his place, the old rivalry taught them both some tricks, and let them know each other move. In the 38th lap, Hamilton went for it again, and in the same turn 4, he left Vettel spinning, his new favourite sport since the Italian Gp in Monza. He should leave playing Mario Kart we all think. Getting back on his feet from the overtake, but damaging his wheels, he created vibration in his car, thing that made him loose his front wing in the back DRS straight, and getting back, after pitting to the 9th place.

Ferrari, did not lose hope, Leclerc was in the game yet, but in the 46th lap, things started to change. Leclerc declared a loss of power, and a loss of dreams. Some say it was because of ignition, and the cylinders are not working, some say he lost his turbo recycling valve and balance monitor. The result is, he was 5 second paced off to Hamilton. There a new chase started, Hamilton even grew wings, seeing the win being offered to him. Leclerc lost to Bottas, but the Renault team cars decided it is time to go home, and both Ricciardo and Hulkenburg quit the race, getting the safety car in, and saving Leclerc from finishing fourth. The race ended behind the safety car, and we all think it was damage limitation for all, Verstappen would have his teeth clinking until now from desire to overtake.

So Ferrari were the biggest loosers, Renault also, despite starting 7th, sainz ended up in the pits, this made Kubica end up winning 4 places and two laps behind the lead.

The biggest winner, besides Hamilton, who got the things offered to him, was the young Lando Norris, who finished 6th, proving once more that the Mclaren is winning in reliability and performance. Raikkonen finished 7th after starting 9th.

This is a bit from what the drivers said after the race :

LECLERC: “It happens. Unfortunately it was not our day. Of course I’m extremely disappointed. A very hard one to take but thanks to the team… Congratulations to Lewis and Valtteri”

HAMILTON : “It was a really, really hard race today. Charles did such a great job so it must be devastating for him. The fight with Vettel was great fun for me”

BOTTAS: “It was a difficult race for me, the balance of the car was everywhere – I was making a lot of mistakes”

Two weeks from now, we will go to China, to see even more performance extracted from these cars, and maybe a change of winds of luck direction towards Ferrari. As the world champion is concerned, Mercedes is still keeping a comfortable one-two, Ferrari needs to re-read its paper, Verstappen is third.

Lucky Hamilton wins Bahrain Grand Prix

This just in, Mercedes F1’s driver Lewis Hamilton won the Bahrain Grand prix with not a bit, but a lot of luck. The Brit who started third had the win offered to him by major luck forces due to a spin of Vettel, his favourite sport apparently, in the 37th lap turn 4 and Leclerc losing power.

The Monégasque who lost to his teammate in the start, and to Bottas in the first lap, recovered in the 5th lap to get back to first, he kept dominating the race up until the 46th lap, he declared that he had power problems, and that kept carrying on, until being overtaken by Hamilton, then Bottas, and was saved from offering the last step of the podium to Max Verstappen by the intervention of the Safety Car. This is the 8th Grand Prix to finish behind the safety car. Still, this is Leclerc first podium, and he got a well deserved extra point for the fastest lap of the race.

Mercedes, deserved a one-two win in Australia, Bottas had a stuggering pace, but in Bahrain, who was fully dominated by Ferrari, they had the win offered to them this time.

Will problems ever be over at Ferrari Side, or will this lack of luck be carried on up until the end of the season? this goes without saying, but From the second half of the 2018 season, and the start of the 2019 season, Ferrari wasn’t able to score enough points to put them in a good place for a fight.

Another big deception is for Renault, with both drivers out of the race, and the luck wasn’t in favour of Romain Grosjean. It was a good race overall for everyone, McLaren’s Lando Norris finished his race in 6th,

The Bahrain GP Pre-race

The Bahrain GP is upon us, the biggest surprise was the pole set by the young Monégasque Charles Leclerc, which is the first ever in his career, the first monégasque ever pole, the second youngest polesitter. Another fun fact, is that he is the 99th polesitter in F1 history, and since the clock is ticking, this is F1’s 999th race.

The question is, will Ferrari allow the two drivers to fight? since Vettel needs a win and a fastest lap of the race to get closer to the first steps in the driver’s championship being fourth, that the german didn’t have the pace for quali, but could get the pace for the race. Ferrari said that it will not push them to fight, but there is a championship at stake here. Vettel congratulated his teammate, this is what it needs be shown to the camera, but in his helmet, there was a war going.

McLaren is doing good, even better than the first race. In the Australian GP, only Lando norris could be present in Q3 for the fight over top ten, this time, Carlos Sainz came and joined him to the 7th place, but due to penalty for Romain Grosjean, the Spaniard will start 6th. Grosjean penalty was beneficial to many a driver, one of which is Daniel Ricciardo, who is having a rough start of season, DNF in his home circuit, hid third in Australia, being able to qualify only 11th +0.044 shy of the 10th time in Q2.

The mid-fight is being tough still, Red Bull being in the top 5 with Verstappen and all the way to the 13th place with Gasly, Alexander Albon will be breathing down Grosjean’s neck in 11th and 12th, Ricciardo will try and go past all of those before him, Raikkonnen did struggle with FP1, FP2, and FP3 yet he could score a 9th position and will start 8th with his Sauber, his team mate did not find his pace yet.

The race is yet to come, and it is full of surprises, the fight will be tougher than the australian GP, will Mercedes find other horses left and squeeze them into the engine? will Leclerc score his first win? Will the monster in Vettel wake up?

C. Leclerc first ever pole

The bahrain qualification session was entirely dominated by the Rossi, Ferrari scored a one-two front row lockout, followed by the Mercedes Team, and Verstappen in fifth.

Cherles Leclerc was the biggest ish surprise for the Bahrain Grand Prix Qualification sessions, he beat the world record set by Sebastian Vettel last year, 1m27s958 to set a new one 1m27s866, to sit on the pole of the Bahrain Grand Prix, and the first time ever in his career. Having a troublesome Australian GP, not being able to score maximum points, Ferrari came to Bahrain with a new aero and power package, the team worked in Maranello to find answers to the failing of the Aussie GP, and came back stronger this time to look for a win, and maybe the extra point for the absolute track record.

Mercedes two, Hamilton and Bottas are just behind the two Ferrari’s, Bottas has amazing race starts, so, would the red’s be able to defend from behind. Hamilton is confident in his car, yet he admits that this year’s Ferrari is the team to beat, that emotional advantage that Mercedes had for the past 5 years is not the same. Another dangerous man from behind, is the young flying dutchman, Max Verstappen, he scored a fifth place yes, but you never know how he can manage his race, especially that this year’s RedBull is powered by the Honda engine, and that Max could take him to his maximum potential.

Another surprise is McLaren this year, being in the top ten, Carlos Sainz is 7th, Lando Norris closes the door of the top ten, there is a lot of work going on, Alonso made another appearance, and is said to have a seat back maybe.

There is nothing to be done to William’s pace, the mighty F1 team, that in the before time was dominant in F1, is still struggeling to get some power out of the car and the engine, and not finding the correct balance. The two williams, G. Russel and R. Kubica are plain last with 4 seconds off the pace.

The race is tomorrow, C. Leclerc hopes to finish the work, Vettel knows how to overtake and to take wins, there is a completely new attitude to Valteri Bottas, and Hamilton knows where to place his car, just in case.

 

Italian GP : Qualification.

Mercedes F1 team carries its domination over the times at the Italian GP. It had 1,2’s in all the sessions, including the qualifications’ session. The best time, and pole position were Hamilton‘s, dominant in all the qualifying session (Q1, Q2 & Q3). He did a flying last lap, beating all drivers to the pole, with a 1:21.135, leading his team mate by almost half a second.

Hamilton has the pole, yet, he will start with potentially flat-spotted tires, Mercedes will ask to change them, they may present danger on the driver himself and on the race. Ferrari locked the second row in the starting grid, Vettel (1:21.972) beat Raikkonen (1:22.065) for the third place, and the drivers will start on softer, faster tires, but will have shorter first stints. Vettel may have his 3rd place revoked, because he may have gone off track in the parabolica curve. Velteri Bottas was 5th, and Ricciardo 6th. Verstappen who was criticized for his driving style, by the race director Charlie Whiting, the F1 drivers, and even the GP2 drivers, did only achieve 7th place on the grid doing a 1:22.411. Haas, who put a driver in Q3 for the first time ever, had only the 10th position, Gutierrez had it, Grosjean will be having a 5-places grid penalty for changing his gearbox.

Esteban Ocon, who had electronic problems in the free practice on Friday, did not score a time today, and will start last, still not clear, if from the grid, or from the pits. His team mate, Pascal Wehrlein scored the 14th time, but will start from the 13th spot on the grid, due to Grosjean’s Penalty.

Both Force India drivers are behind William’s driver, Bottas, 5th on the grid. Sergio Perez was 8th and Hulkenberg 9th. To everyone big surprise Massa was out of Q2. He said that he did not get the grip he needed from his tires.

Mclaren will be having a quite difficult race with both drivers out of qualifying in Q2.

This is the provisional grid for tomorrow :

Felipe Massa says bye bye to F1, at the end of this season.

After 15 years as an F& pilot, the Brazilian driver Felipe Massa announced today that he will retire from F1, this is as he said the last 8 races for him, and the last F1 season for him.

He started F1 as a driver for Sauber, in 2002 he became a test driver for Ferrari, and then he got back to Sauber for two years. His debut as a driver with Ferrari was in 2006, and in 2014 he joined Williams F1, to end his career. In 2008, driving for Ferrari, Massa was close to scoring his first ever championship title, but it was taken from him for one  point difference by Louis Hamilton, it was all played in the last turn, in the final lap, of the final grand prix. Massa’s career was moved by his big crash in the Hungarian Grand Prix which left him with a fractured skull. In the end, Massa is leaving F1 with at least 41 podium, 11 wins, 16 pole positions, and a best record as a runner for a world champion.

Spa Francorchamps : FP3 session

The third practice session, FP3 has ended with The Ice man on the top, Kimi Raikkonen did a 1:47.974 to be the only driver to be under the 1:48:00 for the week-end, a personal best for him. Right behind him, with a 1:48.189 sits Daniel Ricciardo, and third goes for Sebastian Vettel who did 1:48.297. The drivers improved on the FP1 and FP2 times (found here)

Kimi Raikkonen said yesterday to expect more from his Ferrari. Louis Hamilton did the best time for Mercedes, with another engine/turbo units change and 55 place grid penalty. The brit did 1:48.635 besting his team mate. The changes were after two failures of the MGU-H and Turbo units on yesterday. Mercedes did the gamble, making him start last on the grid, and seeing what he can do with the upgrades, and avoiding him other grid penalties for the upcoming races of the season.

With penalties going on all the week-end, some drivers, changed their gearboxes and are allowed their grid places, according to article 23.6a, because they used the same gearbox for 6 consecutive races and are allowed a new one. These drivers being : Kimi Raikkonen, Felipe Massa, Daniel Ricciardo, Max Verstappen and Nico Hulkenberg.

Max Verstappen who did the best time on Friday’s FP2 did not post a time, after only two out laps, and he had to go back to the garage, after a gearbox problem.

The final FP3 times are as follow :