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.

 

Grand Prix de Chine, Ricciardo le grand gagnant

La course du grand prix de Formule 1 en Chine a été clôturée par une victoire surprise de RedBull, bien méritée, mais les circonstances ont tournées en faveur de l’équipe autrichienne, accidents, safety car, arrêts au stands, tout a fait en mesure que l’Australien Ricciardo puisse gagner une course bien mouvementée. Hamilton se rapproche de Vettel au classement par points, Mercedes devance Ferrari, et ça se serre pour donner un peu de spectacle.

Ferrari a commencé en pole, elle a couvert la première ligne de départ, la deuxième ligne était totalement couverte par les deux Mercedes et la troisième était occupée par RedBull. Le départ était marqué par la montée de Verstappen, qui a pu gagner directement deux places, contre Raikkonën et Hamilton, Ricciardo est resté 6ème, Vettel a pu conserver sa première place. Bottas est passé en 2ème position facilement à cause d’un blocage de Raikkonën par Vettel qui défendait sa première position. Au 2ème virage, un petit accrochage entre Alonso et Perez a couté 6 places au Mexicain. Stroll qui était parti parmi les derniers rangs, a réussi à la fin du premier tour à gagner un total de 6 places.

il faut patienter jusqu’au premiers arrêts aux stands pour avoir un peu d’action dans la course. Verstappen, Ricciardo, Hamilton, Bottas et Vettel se sont suivis dans les pits un tour par un, entre le 18ème pour les deux RedBulls, jusqu’au 21ème tour pour Vettel, qui se trouve perdant devant Bottas. En faite l’undercut (le dépassement suite à un arrêt au stand) a bien fonctionné pour Mercedes, qui a réussi a couvrir 4 secondes de retard en un tour. Vettel a lancé une chasse féroce contre le Finlandais, il y avait seulement Raikkonën qui a préféré rester dehors pour rapprocher son compatriote à son co-équipier. Mais sans grande défense et avec des pneus beaucoup plus abîmes que les deux qui sont derrière lui, a fini par céder et aux rentrer aux stands, 7 tours après.

La deuxième partie de course était encore plus animée. Au 30ème tour, Pierre Gasly fonce directement dans son co-équipier laissant beaucoup de débris dans l’épingle suite à la dernière ligne droite, Hartley ne pas laissant beaucoup d’espace en défense, Gasly plus déterminé que jamais à dépasser a fini par endommager les deux voitures Torro Rosso. La direction de course n’a pas tardé a demander à la safety car de se mettre dans le circuit, contrôlant le rythme de course pour permettre de nettoyer la piste. Les deux perdants de cette décision étaient en faite Vettel et Bottas. Ferrari qui attendait un deuxième arrêt de stands, n’a pas pu le faire, puisque la safety car n’a été instaurée que lorsque les deux leaders de course ont pris le dernier virage, chose qui ne leur a pas permis de s’arrêter. Les deux grands gagnants de ceci, étaient les deux RedBull puisqu’ils sont sauté directement dans les pits. Verstappen n’a même pas attendu que la Torro Rosso de hartley se ballade un peu dans l’entrée aux stands, mais pensant aux premiers rangs, il l’a directement dépassé. L’éligibilité de ce dépassement reste à être vérifiée, sous la safety car le dépassement est interdit, mais ceci était passé dans l’entrée des stands, une faille dans le règlement, ou la FIA qui commence un peu à tout pardonner au jeune Néerlandais, on ne le sait pas.

Après la reprise de la Safety Car, Verstappen et Ricciardo, qui étaient avec des gommes plus adhérentes et plus fraîches que tout le reste devant eux, ont commencé à lancer des attaques orchestrées contre leurs rivaux, première victime était Hamilton, puis Raikkonën, puis Vettel qui était facilement dépassé par Ricciardo, mais à la non-surprise de nous tous, avec un accident avec Verstappen. Vettel dit ne l’avoir vu que lorsque la “catastrophe” était imminente, Verstappen pour une fois accepte le blâme. Verdict de Whiting, le directeur de course, 10 secondes qui s’ajoutent au temps du Néerlandais. Ceci ne donne pas grande joie à Ferrari, puisque son pilote à continué de perdre des places jusqu’à l’avant dernier tour de course, dans une lutte contre Alonso, le laissant terminer seulement 8ème.

état de la voiture de vettel après le crash avec verstappen

La course se termine par une victoire de Ricciardo, une chasse pour la deuxième place entre Bottas, Raikkonën et Verstappen, qui recule lui même à la 5ème position, à cause du temps additionné au final. Hamilton en bénéficie et termine donc 4ème. Vettel reste premier au classement, seulement avec 9 points d’avance sur le Britanique. Ricciardo profite de sa victoire et fait un grand Jump à la 4ème place du classement. Mercedes prend la tête u championnat constructeurs, et pour la première fois depuis 2014, aucune des 3 premières courses n’a été gagnée par Mercedes.

Je vous laisse avec un petit résumé de course par Sky Sports F1.

Résumé Course du Grand Prix du Bahreïn

Le Grand Prix du Bahreïn a eu lieu aujourd’hui le dimanche 08/04/2018 et a été clôturé avec la victoire des rouges de la Scuderia Ferrari.

La grille de départ comprenait Sebastian Vettel et Kimi Raikkonën en première ligne, derrière eux, il y avait Valtteri Bottas pour Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport et Daniel Ricciardo pour RedBull Racing team. La surprise des qualifications était le Français Pierre Gasly en 5ème place et il faut remonter en 9ème place pour trouver le champion du monde en titre Lewis Hamilton suite à une pénalité de 5 places à cause d’un changement de boîte de vitesse. La deuxième voiture Redbull était en 15ème place à cause d’un accident qu’il a eu en qualifications le Samedi.

Dès le départ, la course était mouvementée, Bottas a réussi à prendre la deuxième place à Kimi Raikkonën, Pierre Gasly est passé en 4ème, Lewis Hamilton était attaqué de tous les côtés, et Verstappen est parti en mission de voler des places à ses concurrents. Dans le deuxième tour, Verstappen déjà 10ème était en attaque sur Lewis Hamilton pour la 9ème place où il y a eu un petit accrochage entre les deux qui s’était terminé avec une crevaison pour le jeune néerlandais, qui a dû retourner aux stands en boitant afin de changer les roues. Dans la surprise de tous, son coéquipier s’est arrêté aux bas côtés du circuit à cause d’un problème mécanique. Si on croyait que tous les problèmes sont arrêtés pour le team RedBull, on est en tort, parce que, deux tours après, Verstappen s’arrête aussi sur le bas côté à cause d’une défaillance mécanique. Alonso s’était bien amusé à dépasser les pilotes l’un après l’autre et s’est trouvé en 8ème position, juste derrière l’Allemand Nico Hulkenburg pour Renault. Juste après la voiture virtuelle de sécurité, Hamilton a profité du DRS derrière tout le monde, et 3 d’un coup, dans la ligne droite des stands, il passe Alonso, Hulkenburg et Ocan, pour prendre la sixième place

Le premier à déclencher la guerre des arrêts au stands était le mexicain Sergio Perez pour Force India et a qui était chaussé des gommes Medium. à l’avant de la course, il a fallu attendre le 18ème tour pour que les choses bougent, Vettel change des Supersoft vers les Soft, Raikkonën de même, Bottas des Supersoft vers Medium, et après avoir été dépassé de la part de Sebastian Vettel, Hamilton, en 27ème tour, fait son arrêt aux stands pour se faire chausser des gommes Medium. Les Mercedes avaient un meilleur rythme de course que les deux Ferraris, déjà il y avait une nette amélioration du rythme, chose qui a poussé Raikkonën a rentrer une deuxième fois aux stands, au 36ème tour. Là, il percute son mécanicien, et a dû quitter la course; verdict de la FIA, Ferrari s’est prise une amende de 50,000€ pour unsafe release (libération dangereuse du pilote dans les pits). Après l’accident de Raikkonën, Ferrari a dû changer de stratégie, et au lieu d’avoir deux arrêts au stands, Vettel était obligé de continuer la course avec ses pneus Soft. Chose qui a failli lui coûter la victoire si la course était plus longue de deux tours, parce qu’en faite, dans les derniers trois tours de course, le Finlandais Bottas était à l’attaque complète et avait la victoire en viseur. Heureusement pour Ferrari, la course était terminée avec la victoire de Vettel devançant Bottas e moins d’une seconde.

Le classement par points du championnat du monde des pilote n’a pas changé dans la tête du classement, Vettel reste premier avec 50 points, 17 points le séparent du champion du Monde Hamilton. Bottas se place 3ème avec 22 points, Alonso 16 points et Raikkonën en 5ème place avec 15 points. Ferrari est en tête du championnat du monde des constructeurs cumulant 65 points sur les deux courses, et n’ayant que 10 points entre eux et le team Mercedes. La formule 1 se dirige vers la Chine la semaine prochaine. La course sera à 7h du matin, alors à vos réveils.

(en bas, un résumé en video de la course par Martin Brundle et David Croft, de Sky Sport)

 

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 :

Italian GP in Monza : Free practice sessions.

After the dramatic F1 Belgian Gp, we head to the Italian GP, in Monza (or God’s personal race track). The two free practice sessions were largely dominated by Mercedes team, and Ferrari in the run. Mercedes had 1,2 for Rosberg first Hamilton, Ferrari 3rd, 4th, in favor to Raikkonen. In FP2, there was the same result for constructors except drivers exchanging places. Red Bull was a bit far in the ranks.

The two marking events of the day, were the return of Kevin Magnussen, after being cleared to drive, and Charlie Whiting, having “the talk” with the young Max Verstappen. The young Dutchman was criticized for his aggressive defense against Raikkonen, which was the theme of drivers debrief. Charlie Whiting gave the teenager a soft warning, telling him that what he did could have lead him to disqualification. Of course being a teenager, and being criticized by many of his colleagues, Verstappen prefers not to care, as Horner says.

The first free practice session was dominated by Mercedes F1 team, Roseberg scored 1:22.959, right behind him, was Lewis Hamilton, 2 tenths separating him from the lead. Ferrari was 3rd and 4th, advantage to Raikkonen. Ferrari is doing great results, and closing to Mercedes thanks to new upgrades on the power plant. New elements including a new internal combustion engine, new turbochargers, new MGU-H, new control electronics, and a anew energy store were used for the Italian GP, and with this Ferrari has used all of its 32 tokens of development. Next time Ferrari will bring an update, it may risk the penalty. In FP1 Raikkonen did a 1:24.074 and Vettel did 1:24.307 which is a bit more than a second away from Rosberg’s time. In FP2, Ferrari closed the gap to the lead. to just 4 tenths for Vettel and 6 tenths for Raikkonen.

Haas did benefit from Ferrari new power unit, with less changes, the results were impressive, 6th place for Grosjean, 1,804 off the lead and 9th for Gutierrez, 2 seconds off. The results for the FP2 were not as good, but the team is confident that the results tomorrow will be better. Force India’s Perez kept with the 5th place, done with super soft tires. Force India ran with three drivers : Perez (5th in FP1, 13th in FP2), Alfonso Celis (who is Force India’s reserve driver, who did an impressive 1éth position) and Nico Hulkenberg who ended the FP2 being 12th.

One other remarkable result, is this of McLaren–Honda. Even with difficulties for Alonso wit the gear box and the clutch, he finished in the top ten for the FP2, being a second and a half off the lead. Button looks forward to being a fourth time in Q3 tomorrow.

Massa, after announcing retirement at the end of this season, had his fair share of difficulties, with a boost problem in his Mercedes power unit. He could only achieve 14th and 11th place today. Ocon had a problem with his car which engendered a virtual safety car call.

Results of the two sessions are as below :

PRACTICE ONE TIMES:

Pos	Driver	Car	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1m22.959s	–	37
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1m23.162s	0.203s	36
3	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1m24.047s	1.088s	16
4	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1m24.307s	1.348s	17
5	Sergio Perez	Force India/Mercedes	1m24.650s	1.691s	32
6	Romain Grosjean	Haas/Ferrari	1m24.763s	1.804s	17
7	Valtteri Bottas	Williams/Mercedes	1m24.785s	1.826s	37
8	Max Verstappen	Red Bull/Renault	1m24.982s	2.023s	25
9	Esteban Gutierrez	Haas/Ferrari	1m25.113s	2.154s	19
10	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull/Renault	1m25.120s	2.161s	17
11	Jenson Button	McLaren/Honda	1m25.351s	2.392s	23
12	Alfonso Celis	Force India/Mercedes	1m25.367s	2.408s	30
13	Fernando Alonso	McLaren/Honda	1m25.507s	2.548s	14
14	Felipe Massa	Williams/Mercedes	1m25.840s	2.881s	18
15	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber/Ferrari	1m25.853s	2.894s	20
16	Carlos Sainz	Toro Rosso/Ferrari	1m25.973s	3.014s	20
17	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso/Ferrari	1m26.074s	3.115s	20
18	Esteban Ocon	Manor/Mercedes	1m26.391s	3.432s	30
19	Felipe Nasr	Sauber/Ferrari	1m26.439s	3.480s	21
20	Pascal Wehrlein	Manor/Mercedes	1m26.762s	3.803s	28
21	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	1m26.811s	3.852s	35
22	Kevin Magnussen	Renault	1m26.956s	3.997s	32

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Practice Two timesheet
1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1:22.801
2. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, + 0.193
3. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, + 0.453
4. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, + 0.626
5. Max Verstappen, Red Bull, + 0.931
6. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull, + 1.202
7. Fernando Alonso, McLaren, 1.458
8. Valtteri Bottas, Williams, + 1.498
9. Romain Grosjean, Haas, + 1.715
10. Jenson Button, McLaren, + 1.748
11. Felipe Massa, Williams, + 1.755
12. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India, + 1.786
13. Sergio Perez, Force India, + 1.852
14. Esteban Gutierrez, Haas, + 1.873
15. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber, + 2.180
16. Pascal Wehrlein, Manor, + 2.282
17. Carlos Sainz, Toro Rosso, + 2.439
18. Esteban Ocon, Manor, +2.474
19. Kevin Magnussen, Renault, + 2.754
20. Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, + 2.813
21. Felipe Nasr, Sauber, + 2.842
22. Jolyon Palmer, Renault, + 3.032

 

 

Spa Francorchamps : Qualification

The qualification for the F1 Belgian Grand Prix was pretty intense today, marked by the high temperatures. Roseberg had the pole, with a 1:46.744 time, the 5th for him this season, beating Max Verstappen by a tenth and a half, Ferrari had a second row lock and fifth was Daniel Ricciardo, with a 1:47.216.

Roseberg and Verstappen times were posted in the first runs, the Mercedes and Red Bull driver did an astonishing fast lap each but couldn’t improve on the last runs. Verstappen becomes the youngest man ever to be on a front row. He is doing a stunning season so far, with a win already in his pocket. He goes on aggressive defense, and doesn’t give a quarter when attacking, so we maybe looking at his second win tomorrow. Behind him with a new diffuser, and 4 Spa wins, is Ferrari‘s Ice man, who was first in the FP3 session, and beating his team mate by two tenths of a second. Raikkonen maybe interested in another win, especially that the coast is clear, and there is just a Mercedes in front of him.

Raikkonen didn’t have a good first run, going off the track at Stavolet, the car went sideways, but he did not lose control, which made him cut on his lap time and go directly to the pits, on his fast lap he improved on his time, and posted a 1:46.910. It was his best time for the day. He outqualified Sebastian Vettel, by two tenth of a second, strategy will play tomorrow. Raikkonen has more points in the championship than Vettel, but the German has a more aggressive driving. He also has one of the best race starts, so, if everything goes well for him, he can see to skip the two drivers in the first line and go for the win.

Jenson Button who is racing in his 15th Spa Grand Prix edition, posted the 9th time. His team mate faced many difficulties, and was racing Hamilton backwards to the last place, he ended up having it. Alonso did not post a qualification time, he was the only driver to do so. McLaren–Honda is still on the struggle, after more than a year back to F1.

All eyes were on Hamilton, with a 55 grid place penalty, after two MGU-H and turbo unit failure, a third replacement, he stand on the before last position. He did a slow enough lap to keep him in the 107% time. Hamilton was eliminated in the Q1, he did 1:50.033, it kept him in the race, a race on which there are many gambles. Note that he has a 19 points advantage on the F1 world championship to his team mate.

The Force India team had a strong qualification session, the two drivers finished 6th and 7th, with the best time going to Sergio Perez. The race tomorrow could be in his advantage, being the driver who knows best how to manage his tyres and makes them last longer.

Deception for Williams, with the 8th time for Valteri Bottas and 10th time for Felipe Massa. Massa had a misfire in his outing lap, he wasn’t satisfied with the regulated tyre pressure, and it is going to be another long night for the Williams team if they want to have a decent race tomorrow.

This is the provisional grid for Tomorrow, of course, drivers like Gutierrez, Hamilton, Alonso and Ericsson will have grid penalties to serve, the advantage was to Mercedes power units, despite being the longest circuit in the F1 calendar, it had two long straight, and mainly fast turns. Ferrari had the advantage in the second sector, which has more turns to be dealt with.