Eric Boullier has resigned from his post as McLaren’s race director, as part of a “leadership restructure” announced by the team ahead of the British Grand Prix.
Boullier had been facing pressure over his role this season as McLaren continued to struggle for performance despite switching from Honda to Renault power for 2018. When questioned at the French Grand Prix, Boullier insisted that he wouldn’t step down, although his departure with immediate effect has now been confirmed by the team.
In the announcement Boullier said: “I am proud to have worked with such a brilliant team over the past four years, but I recognise now is the right time for me to step down.
“I want to wish everyone at McLaren the best for the remainder of the season and for the future.”
Steven Tee/McLaren
As well as Boullier’s resignation, McLaren’s restructuring sees the team’s chief operating officer Simon Roberts move to oversee production, engineering and logistics, and Andrea Stella being appointed trackside performance director.
McLaren has also created the new role of sporting director—concerned with “[maximising] the effectiveness of the team’s racing package”—for former Indianapolis 500 winner Gil de Ferran.
McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown said these changes are in response to “systemic and structural” problems with McLaren’s management, “which require major change from within” to correct.
In a statement, Brown said: “With today’s announcement, we start to address those issues and take the first step on our road to recovery.”
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has praised Max Verstappen’s approach to the Austrian Grand Prix, in light of the Dutchman’s win this afternoon.
It was Verstappen’s first victory of 2018 after a series of incidents in the early stages of the year, and is Red Bull’s first win at their home race since it returned to the F1 calendar, re-branded in their image, in 2014.
Max Verstappen the Winner of the 2018 Austrian GP with Kimi and Seb. Image courtesy of Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool
“To win in a Red Bull Car at the Red Bull Ring is something I never imagined would happen this morning,” said Horner. “All credit to Max today, he drove a very, very mature race, managing a very tricky situation with the tyres and he completed a very controlled drive to win our first Austrian Grand Prix.”
Verstappen started the race in P4 and gained a position on the opening lap when Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen overcooked an attempt to overtake Lewis Hamilton.
When Valtteri Bottas retired on lap fourteen and brought out the Virtual Safety Car, Verstappen emerged from the round of pit-stops in P2, now on the soft tyres and thirteen seconds behind the other Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton, who had stayed out.
He then inherited the lead of the race when Hamilton finally did pit, and calmly waved off his team’s concerns about his tyres blistering, an issue that befell a number of other drivers on the grid. Kimi Raikkonen may have been closing in the final stages of the race, but Verstappen had built up enough of an advantage to hold on to victory.
Max ahead of kimi. Image courtesy of Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool
His team-mate Daniel Ricciardo – whose 29th birthday it was today – retired from the race on lap fifty four. “It was a great shame not to have Daniel up on the podium as well,” Christian Horner said, “after running for so many laps in P2, but then his rear tyre started to overheat which caused a second pit stop. Shortly after that we began to see an exhaust crack that was causing gearbox damage, forcing his retirement.
“A special word to our pit-crew, again executing a faultless stacked pit stop on our route to victory, as they had done previously this year in China. I have to also applaud out entire staff back at the factory and their commitment to produce a competitive race car. The day belongs to them, to Max, to the team, to Red Bull and particularly to Mr Mateschitz who has given so much to modern Formula One. We are all delighted for him.”
The second race of the first ever ‘triple header’ saw F1 return to the mountains of Austria, for the Grand Prix at Spielberg’s Red Bull Ring.
As it’s the team’s home race, Red Bull Racing had high hopes. These hopes were, however, seemingly shattered when a disappointing qualifying on Saturday meant that Max Verstappen would start the race on Sunday from P5 (which ended up as P4 when Vettel got a three-place grid penalty for impeding Sainz in Q2), with Daniel Ricciardo in P7 behind the Haas of Romain Grosjean. There was no reason for them to be yodelling just yet.
This weekend not only was a special Grand Prix for the Austrian team’s management, but also for Max Verstappen personally. With a sea of orange shirts in his very own ‘Max Verstappen Grandstand’, it is no surprise that this is seen as the second home Grand Prix for the Dutchman (with Belgium being the other one). Not only that, shortly before the weekend he announced he would be driving with a special helmet design. Rather than its normal dark blue, his helmet instead shone yellow as a thank-you to his first big sponsor, the Dutch supermarket Jumbo. Were these things the trigger for Verstappen to get the luck he so desperately needed?
Start of the Austrian F1 race. Image courtesy of Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool
He had a pretty good start, and went from P4 to P3 after turn one as Kimi Räikkönen and Valtteri Bottas ran wide. Still taking risks on the first lap, he made slight contact with Raikkonen, who then had to run wide a bit. He was briefly under investigation for the touch, but the stewards decided it was just a racing incident as the consequences for the drivers were little.
Shortly after Nico Hülkenberg retired with a spectacular engine failure – resulting in some big flames – another car retired. It was none other than Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas, whose gearbox got stuck in second gear, resulting in a loss of drive. This brought out the Virtual Safety Car on lap fourteen. Some teams decided to use this VSC to change their strategy, as Ferrari and Red Bull put on the soft tyres on their cars.
One team that didn’t decide to change their strategy, however, was Mercedes, and Lewis Hamilton stayed out on track. This led to a gap of just thirteen seconds to Verstappen, who emerged from his pit stop in P2. It takes roughly twenty-one seconds to complete a pit-stop in Austria, including time spent driving down the pit-lane, so it was looking disastrous for Hamilton. When he finally did pit, Max Verstappen inherited the lead and, from that moment onwards, dominated the race. Things later when from bad to worse for Hamilton, and he eventually had to retire the car due to engine problems.
Max Verstappen leading the Austrian Grand Prix. Image courtesy of Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool
One critical issue during the race for lots of drivers was tyre degradation. Daniel Ricciardo for instance had changed to the softs during the Virtual Safety Car period, but after just twenty-two laps it became clear he would not be able to make it to the end, as his rear-left tyre was destroyed.
Someone that didn’t seem to struggle at all with the soft tyres, however, was Verstappen. He drove over fifty laps on those tyres to bring home the victory for Red Bull Racing, claiming his fourth career win. The orange crowds went insane and it didn’t look like the party would end very soon for the fans and the team.
Max Verstappen. Image courtesy of Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool
Criticised for his aggressive driving style many times this season, Verstappen has surely shown the press they were wrong. Whilst his teammate struggled on the same tyre compound after just twenty-two laps, Max managed to make it to the end and keep both Ferraris behind. Once again his aggressive driving style brought him a brilliant victory. Should he really change his driving style?
Yesterday, Jorge Martin looked to be in trouble after a crash in FP2 which left him being carried away on a stretcher but today turned that around, despite an injured foot and thusly adjusted right Alpinestars boot, to take yet another Moto3 pole position by 0.310 seconds. Tomorrow it will be important for Martin to finish, not only to protect his foot but to also get some points on the board after the non-score in Barcelona two weeks ago. But Martin will not just want to finish, he will want to win, and it would be no surprise to see him break the pack, or at least try to, in the first laps tomorrow. Whether he can do it or not is a different story, but again he is probably the favourite for the victory tomorrow.
Two Italians join Martin on the front row: Enea Bastianini and Nicolo Bulega. The last time the pair started together on the front row was back in 2016, also in Assen. Bastianini has had a mixed weekend, climbing and tumbling through the times in almost equal measure, but he got a solid time on the board when it counted and will hope to be able to take back-to-back wins for the first time in his Grand Prix career tomorrow.
Nicolo Bulega, meanwhile, took his first front row start since Argentina last year, to show that Barcelona was no fluke, and his pace is truly back. Last time out in Barcelona, Bulega had the pace for the win but was taken out of contention by events out of his control – tomorrow he will look to rectify that, and maybe even take his first Grand Prix victory.
Aron Canet has shown superb pace this weekend and could fire himself back into championship contention tomorrow with a good result. Aron put himself in a good position to do so, too, qualifying third. A win tomorrow would be his first of the season, and could hardly be better timed, just before the end of the first half of the season.
Fifth place on tomorrow’s grid will be occupied by Lorenzo Dalla Porta, and the last place on the front row is taken by John McPhee, who has looked strong in the last two rounds and will be aiming to claim the podium that escaped him last time out in Montmelo.
Fabio Di Giannantonio is seventh on the grid, ahead of championship leader Marco Bezzecchi. Bezzecchi has been fast this weekend, but also has been suffering with the front end of the KTM, a common theme. But, the most important thing for Marco tomorrow is to protect his nineteen point championship advantage which he currently holds over the rider starting one place in front of him.
Marcos Ramirez goes from the back of the third row, whilst Gabriel Rodrigo, aiming for his second GP podium and second in a row, rounds out the top ten on the grid.
From here, things get complicated because of penalties. Yesterday, Adam Norrodin got a back of the grid penalty for his second offence of riding too slowly in three sectors in one session; whilst Dennis Foggia, Ayumu Sasaki, Jakub Kornfeil and Kaito Toba received 12 place grid penalties for the same offence, but they were first timers. Albert Arenas also picked a penalty up.
Darryn Binder. Image courtesy of Philip Platzer/KTM
So, from eleventh back, the grid positions are: Tony Arbolino, Niccolo Antonelli, Livio Loi, Philipp Oettl, Jaume Masia, Tatsuki Suzuki, Darryn Binder, Arenas, Andrea Migno, Nakarin Atiratphuvapat, Alonso Lopez, Ai Ogura (wildcard), Kornfeil, Kazuki Masaki, Stefano Nepa (replacing Makar Yurchenko), Ryan van der Lagemaat (Dutch wildcard), Sasaki, Foggia, Toba, Norrodin.
If Martin cannot break away tomorrow, it could be a cracking Moto3 Dutch TT, and a potentially crucial one for the championship.
Featured image courtesy of Gold & Goose/Red Bull Content Pool
Francesco Bagnaia came into this weekend after having had his championship lead cut to one point by Miguel Oliveira in Barcelona two weeks ago. Bagnaia had to rebound, and he has, qualifying for the Dutch TT on pole – his second in the intermediate class – after topping all three free practice sessions. Bagnaia has the best pace, and he is in the best position to capitalise on that tomorrow. Bagnaia is the favourite, but as we know with Moto2 – it is just not that simple.
Miguel Oliveira.Image courtesy of Gold & Goose/Red Bull Content Pool
For a start, Marcel Schrotter has been phenomenal in the last few races, and this weekend has been no different, qualifying second and looking good all weekend. We will only find out whether Schrotter will be able to take the fight to Bagnaia tomorrow but if anyone is going to do it, it could well be the German.
Luca Marini made sure that the Dynavolt Intact GP Kalex of Schrotter will be the meat in a Sky Racing Team VR46 sandwich on the front row by putting the #10 Kalex third on the grid. This has been Marini’s best weekend since Le Mans last year; now that he is fully fit he is being able to express his potential, and whilst his performance this weekend might be a surprise, if he stays fit for the remainder of the season Marini’s name towards the top of the timesheets might not be such a rarity by November. Of course, racing is much different to qualifying, but Marini will be targeting the podium tomorrow, which would be his first in Grand Prix racing.
Alex Marquez starts from fourth tomorrow. The Spaniard has had a tricky weekend, struggling for consistency, but managed to pull a lap out of the bag in qualifying to give him a decent chance to make a good result tomorrow. Typically, this year, Marquez has gone well in practices only to fail to live up to expectations in the race. Maybe a more difficult time in practice will yield a more impressive race for Marquez – with expectations perhaps a little lower he will be able to ride more freely and perhaps get a better result as a consequence.
Xavi Vierge starts precisely behind his teammate, Schrotter, in fifth place. The #97 has been fairly under the radar this weekend but has put himself in a good position for tomorrow; tending to race better than he qualifies, Vierge should be one to watch tomorrow and could well arrive on the rostrum.
Qualifying has been an issue for KTM this season, and Sam Lowes was the highest placed rider on an Austrian chassis today, qualifying sixth. Often, Lowes has underperformed in races this season, but in Barcelona he rode fantastically to come from a pre-race bike issue and starting last to finish ninth. If he can ride as well as that tomorrow, there is no reason why Lowes can’t make a return to the podium, albeit a while later than most expected.
Montmelo winner, Fabio Quartararo, has continued his good form on the Speed Up this time out, qualifying seventh, and he has looked strong all weekend too. Getting his first win seems to have freed the Frenchman up a bit, so he should be quite competitive tomorrow, but being a newcomer to Moto2 frontrunning, it is difficult to predict what he might be able to do come race time.
Andrea Locatelli has enjoyed a brilliant weekend, finishing second in FP2 yesterday, and qualifying today in the middle of the third row, in eighth. It’s his second season in Moto2 and finally, it looks like something is clicking for the Italian. Hopefully for Loka, he can turn his good pace over the weekend into a good result in the race tomorrow.
Jorge Navarro has crashed a lot this weekend, but he has also been quick. He goes from ninth tomorrow, and it will be interesting to see what the Gresini rider can do in the race, because as yet he hasn’t made the step probably most people thought he might from rookie Moto2 season to season two.
Joan Mir, again, did not have such a stellar qualifying performance, but always races better. He rounded out the top ten today but it would be a surprise to see him absent from the podium fight tomorrow. Joining Mir on row four are a disappointing Mattia Pasini and an incredibly impressive Khairul Idham Pawi who, like Locatelli, may have finally found something with the Moto2 bike.
Lorenzo Baldassarri has looked okay this weekend, but nothing special. He qualified thirteenth, but with the times so tight (he was only 0.347 seconds off pole) he can still make progress tomorrow. Typically, consistency is Balda’s strongpoint, and if he can have good consistency tomorrow he can still rescue a good result and some important points for the championship.
There have been moments this weekend where Romano Fenati has looked like he can fight for the podium, but qualifying was not one of them. Like Baldassarri, he suffered from the tightness of the field – being just 0.453 seconds off pole but down in fourteenth on the grid. Again, Fenati’s pace shows potential, so if he can make a good start then he can be in the mix towards the front.
The last rider on the fifth row is Isaac Vinales, who starts ahead of Augusto Fernandez, who has got the Pons gig full time in the wake of Hector Barbera’s dismissal.
Brad Binder. Image courtesy of Philip Platzer/KTM
Miguel Oliveira once again decided to make life difficult for himself in the race by qualifying 17th. He was also 17th on the grid in Montmelo and finished second, but there are only so many times you can qualify in the back end of the top 20 and get away with it. Oliveira’s pace has been good this weekend, anyway, so he can still make a good result, but he also needs to make a good start to be able to do so. Remy Gardner lines up on the back of row six.
Nineteenth place was taken by Iker Lecuona, ahead of Simone Corsi, although the Italian will start from last after riding into the back of Oliveira in Barcelona on the cooldown lap.
Domi Aegerter will start twentieth, Brad Binder 21st, Danny Kent 22nd, Bo Bendsneyder 23rd, Stefano Manzi 24th, Steven Odendaal 25th, Niki Tuuli qualified 27th (which would have been 26th) but might not be able to race because of a big high side at the end of qualifying. Eric Granado will be 27th Joe Roberts 28th, Jules Danilo 29th, Xavi Cardelus – who also crashed at the end of qualifying – will be 30th, and finally Federico Fuligni will start 31st.
Tetsuta Nagashima crashed yesterday, and was taken to hospital to have surgery on a broken finger. Hopefully he will be back in Sachsenring, although the doctors have to make a decision first.
Assen, once more, has not disappointed. It is only qualifying day but this weekend might be the best of the season already. In Q2, just 0.376 seconds separated the top ten riders, and it seemed like almost each of those twelve had a spell in pole position.
In the end, though, it was Marc Marquez who took his 75th Grand Prix pole position, his third of 2018 and first at Assen in the premier class. The result for Marquez was somewhat expected; despite suffering with the front quite a lot this weekend, he has been fast throughout and was always going to be difficult to beat to the first grid slot. All of his lap time came in the final sector, perhaps predictably, and this is important for tomorrow, because if he is fighting for the win come lap 26 he is absolutely going to be able to launch his #93 Honda up the inside of whoever is in front of him into the final chicane. He probably will be there, too; along with Maverick Vinales, Marquez has enjoyed the best race pace of anyone this weekend, and is probably the favourite tomorrow. He is the only rider who can make the 2018 Dutch TT a dull race.
Cal Crutchlow made it a Honda 1-2 in qualifying, with a strong fastest lap at the end of Q2 to secure his spot in the middle of the front row. The critical thing for Cal tomorrow will be track temperature, and how that affects the front tyre, which is once again the limiting factor for Honda this weekend. His pace looks quite strong, too – if he can go with the front riders from the start then he can battle for the podium.
Also likely to be in that battle is Valentino Rossi, who qualified third. The Italian has seemed to have the pace to fight for a fourth consecutive podium all weekend, and maybe even a first win of 2018. However, his weekend took a negative turn when he crashed at the very high speed turn seven, Ruskenhoek, in FP4. This crash not only upset his rhythm into qualifying, but also hindered his race preparation for tomorrow, and cost him valuable minutes in FP4 where he might have wanted to try something different. Anyway, he recovered well to be third fastest in what was a very competitive Q2, and put himself in a good position to end both his and Yamaha’s year long winless run.
Andrea Dovizioso. Image courtesy of Ducati
Andrea Dovizioso has looked strong all weekend too, enjoying pace superior to that of his Honda bound teammate; Jorge Lorenzo, and pace enough to be in the frame for a third podium of 2018. For Dovi, it was important to qualify well to allow him to use his good pace from the beginning of tomorrow’s race, and he managed to do that, qualifying fourth. Ducati have been without a win in Assen since 2008 with Casey Stoner (who else?), their only Dutch TT win, but now Dovi is in a very good position to be able add a second victory to that, and if things go his way, maybe even bring himself back into championship contention.
Alex Rins and Maverick Vinales join Dovi on the second row, in fifth and sixth respectively. For Rins, this was a great result, as he out-qualified teammate Andrea Iannone, and recovered well from what had been a difficult weekend up to qualifying. It will be interesting to see whether the steps he seemed to have made for qualifying will also translate into race pace.
For Vinales, sixth is something of a disappointment. Over the whole weekend the number 25 had looked good, constantly being amongst the top riders in all practice sessions, and having strong race pace as well as decent one-lap speed. However, being less than 0.2 seconds off the pole position time of Marquez in Q2 was not enough for Vinales to qualify any better than sixth. The most important thing for Vinales is, as ever, to make a good start and go with the leaders on the first laps. If he can do that, he has the pace to win.
The third row is headed up by a very impressive Aleix Espargaro, who is joined on row three by Johann Zarco, who has seemed to struggle this weekend, and Andrea Iannone who, with one minute to go, was running second in Q2.
Jorge Lorenzo qualified in tenth place, just 0.376 seconds off the pole time, and with one minute to go, he was on pole. Either way, Jorge has struggled more this weekend compared to the last two races, and has been generally slower than his teammate, Dovizioso. However, it is difficult to discount Lorenzo from podium contention in the race given his recent form, but he will need to find something big in morning warm up.
Lorenzo’s Ducati replacement for 2019, Danilo Petrucci, will line up between Lorenzo and the slowest rider of Q2, Alvaro Bautista. Bautista tends to race a lot better than he qualifies, so it will be interesting to see what he can do from twelfth tomorrow.
Bradley Smith signing fan’s hats. Image courtesy of Philip Platzer/KTM
Thirteenth place went to Takaaki Nakagami, who is alongside Tito Rabat and Hafizh Syahrin on row five tomorrow; row six consists of Jack Miller, Scott Redding and a struggling Dani Pedrosa; row seven will be occupied by Karel Abraham, Bradley Smith and Pol Espargaro and the two riders on row eight are Tom Luthi and Xavier Simeon.
Franco Morbidelli suffered a broken metacarpal in FP3 this morning and was ruled unfit, so only 23 bikes will start tomorrow. Hopefully Franky will be back in Sachsenring.
Valtteri Bottas has claimed his first pole position of the year, and leads a Mercedes 1-2 into tomorrow’s Austrian Grand Prix.
Of the big-hitters, only Bottas and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen had a truly clean session. Both Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel made mistakes early on – at turn three and turn four respectively – and ended up relatively far back after the first Q3 runs had been completed. It took until the last couple of minutes for the pair to pull themselves back up the order – Hamilton ultimately qualified P2, and Vettel P3, with both pushing Kimi Raikkonen down into P4. Vettel was noted as being under investigation for allegedly impeding Carlos Sainz in Q2, but since Sainz did advance to Q3 it is uncertain whether Vettel will receive any penalty.
Red Bull had expected qualifying to be a struggle compared to Mercedes and Ferrari coming into the weekend. Max Verstappen may have qualified P5 but he was still two tenths behind Raikkonen, and Daniel Ricciardo ended up P7 behind the Haas of an impressive Romain Grosjean. Replays of team radio throughout the session indicated a certain amount of tension in the team, with Ricciardo frustrated that Verstappen did not follow orders to lead the Australian for a lap and give him a tow, as Ricciardo had done for Verstappen the lap before.
Kevin Magnussen and the two Renaults of Carlos Sainz and Nico Hulkenberg complete the top ten.
Further down the order, Charles Leclerc continues to impress in the Sauber. He qualified P13 but carries a five-place grid penalty due to his gearbox needing to be changed following a stoppage on track in FP3.
Force India’s Sergio Perez had a nightmare of a session. The Mexican complained of running out of battery during his first run and of getting stuck in traffic during his second. He failed to make it out of Q1 and starts P17.
It was also a frustrating session for McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne and Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley. Both were looking to pull themselves out of the drop-zone and into Q2, but encountered yellow flags on their flying laps when Charles Leclerc ran through the gravel trap in the final moments of Q1.
Both Mercedes and Red Bull will start tomorrow’s Grand Prix on the supersoft tyres, with all those around them starting on the ultras. Bottas will be hoping to convert pole position into a win, at the circuit where he claimed his second ever victory in 2017.
Austrian Grand Prix Grid
1. Valtteri Bottas – 1:03.130
2. Lewis Hamilton – 1:03.149
3. Sebastian Vettel – 1:03.464
4. Kimi Raikkonen – 1:03.660
5. Max Verstappen – 1:03.840
6. Romain Grosjean – 1:03.892
7. Daniel Ricciardo – 1:03.996
8. Kevin Magnussen – 1:04.051
9. Carlos Sainz – 1:04.725
10. Nico Hulkenberg – 1:05.019
11. Esteban Ocon – 1:04.845
12. Pierre Gasly 0 1:04.874
13. Fernando Alonso – 1:05.058
14. Lance Stroll – 1:05.286
15. Stoffel Vandoorne – 1:05.271
16. Sergio Perez – 1:05.279
17. Sergey Sirotkin – 1:05.322
18. Charles Leclerc – 1:04.979 *5-place penalty for gearbox change
19. Brendon Hartley 1:05.366
20. Marcus Ericsson – 1:05.479
Update – 17:30 – Sebastian Vettel has been given a three-place penalty by the stewards for impeding Carlos Sainz at turn one in Q2. The German will now start P6, promoting Kimi Raikkonen to P3, Max Verstappen to P4, and Romain Grosjean to P5.
Since 1949, world championship motorcycle racing has visited Assen, annually, without fail. This will therefore be the 69th running of the Dutch TT as a world championship race, and an important one, especially for Yamaha.
It has been way over one year since Maverick Vinales last won a race, back in Le Mans 2017, but for his teammate, Valentino Rossi, and the Iwata factory, last week marked the one-year anniversary of their last win. Furthermore, the day of the race, July 1st, will be the 63rd birthday of Yamaha’s motorcycle division; so an important weekend for Yamaha awaits. Moreover Rossi, second in the championship, abit twenty seven points back, he is not theoretically, out of contention – so a win this weekend would ensure that his deficit in the championship is cut to less than one race win. Also, Assen has long been one of Rossi’s best circuits on the calendar, perhaps his absolute best, winning ten times at the Dutch track in his, now, 22 and a bit season long career, even winning in a tough 2013 season. Assen may prove one of the best circuits for the Yamaha, too. Not only does the M1 suit the fast, sweeping corners which arrive after De Strubben, and the end of the first sector, but the usually cooler Dutch climate can work in the favour of Yamaha, who tend to struggle in the heat. That said, the forecast for this weekend seems remarkably stable and warm, like it was for World Superbike earlier in the year.
Rossi himself, has had a tremendous run of races since the return to Europe. It started with a difficult Jerez, where he lucked into fifth place thanks to the triple crash of Dani Pedrosa, Jorge Lorenzo and Andrea Dovizioso, and that was followed by three third places in the next three races: Le Mans, Mugello and Barcelona. Again, he was fortunate in Barcelona that Dovizioso crashed, but with the current situation of Yamaha, capitalising on the errors of others is more important than usual. The Mugello podium was also quite special, losing the front in almost every corner throughout the race to finally take his first Italian GP podium since 2015. But what about this weekend for The Doctor? The importance of this weekend resulting in a win ultimately means little; what is important for Rossi and for Yamaha this weekend is whether the M1 will be able to cope well with the warmer conditions and whether it can conserve the tyre sufficiently in the race to be there at the end.
For the #25 side of the Movistar Yamaha garage, the situation is different. Maverick Vinales has suffered ever since he went to Yamaha in the early phases of races, even in the first races of last year, even the ones he won. Many times after tests, or after Saturdays on race weekends, Vinales has said something along the lines of ‘We tried with the full tank, we’re happy. I feel good,’ only for the next race to see precisely the same pattern as the previous ones: a poor start, an inability to overtake or ride quickly in the first laps, followed by a final five or seven laps which are as fast as anyone else out there. Once more, after the Monday test on the day following the Catalan GP two weeks ago, Vinales claimed a step had been made with his M1, that he could go to Assen and finally make the start he needs to, to be able to make use of his late-race pace. Only on Sunday will we understand whether he will be able to fight for a good result.
Jorge Lorenzo on his Ducati. Image courtesy of Ducati
But ultimately, the layout of Assen works well for Yamaha. And, typically, what works for Yamaha works for Jorge Lorenzo. The winner of the previous two Grands Prix is arriving this weekend with all the confidence in the world – who wouldn’t, after dominating the last two races? However, it is excessive confidence which Lorenzo blamed for his crash in 2013 which arguably cost him the World Championship that year, but more importantly broke his left collarbone and left a minefield of mental scars which have haunted the five-times World Champion ever since, especially when returning to the origin of the damage, which makes absolute sense. In 2013 he would have won, but the broken collarbone prevented that, although it did not stop him from racing (an act of relative heroism). As a result, Lorenzo has only one MotoGP win in Assen, back in 2010 – his first championship year in the premier class. Since then, Lorenzo has only had one podium in Holland, in 2015 – he was taken out by Marco Simoncelli in 2011, by Alvaro Bautista in 2012; the collarbone prevented a win in 2013; it rained in 2014, 2016, 2017. However, consistent, dry, warm weather – on paper – suits Lorenzo perfectly. But the Ducati has suffered in Assen in recent years (with one exception which we will get to later), its stability combined with a lack of turning making it a very physical twenty six laps on Saturday, and more recently Sunday, and none of them being particularly rapid. Maybe this weekend, Lorenzo can change that, and if he can fight for the win, that is a very worrying occurrence for the opposition.
That Ducati exception, came from Danilo Petrucci last year. If it weren’t for Alex Rins getting in the way at the end of the race when Petrucci was challenging Rossi for the lead, Yamaha could have been waiting for 13 months by now for a win, and Ducati would have signed a Grand Prix winner to replace the Honda-bound Lorenzo for 2019. The rain towards the end of the race played into the hands of the #9 Pramac Ducati rider last year – having nothing to lose helped Petrucci in those conditions. But this weekend has the potential to be a difficult one for Petrux, partly for the reasons mentioned previously about the difficulties of the Desmosedici in Assen, but also because the higher temperatures, combined with the old, relatively slippery Dutch asphalt and Petrucci’s aggressive riding style could leave him without grip at the end of the race.
Andrea Dovizioso struggled last year in Holland, relying on the late rain to allow him to fight for the podium, although he ultimately missed out. Dovizioso has the unfortunate situation this weekend of being on a motorcycle that does not particularly suit Assen, with a riding style which does not particularly suit Assen. Dovi brakes very late, carries quite high entry speed, but not much apex speed, which doesn’t really work in Assen. However, the factors which could work against Petrucci have the potential to work for Dovizioso, who is the master of tyre conservation. However, you have to say that the most likely rider is Lorenzo to end Ducati’s 10-year winless run in Assen.
Marc and Dani Assen stats. Image courtesy of Honda Pro Racing
Marc Marquez comes into this weekend with a 27-point championship advantage and, probably, as the favourite for the race win. Marquez has five wins in Assen, including three in a row in 125cc and Moto2 between 2010 and 2012. He is without a win in Holland since 2014, but with fair reasons: his Honda was subpar in 2015 and his ability to even fight for the win was impressive enough; 2016 was a situation where he had to think of the championship whilst sat behind Jack Miller; and 2017 was a similar situation to ’16 with rain at the end bringing out the rarely seen cautious Marc Marquez, although he still threw down a huge move on Cal Crutchlow at the Ramshoek on the final lap to take third place. Fair weather and a much improved RC213V compared to previous years could put Marquez out of reach on Sunday, although excessively high temperatures could see the return of the front tyre issues that have plagued the Honda rider in the last two races.
Unusually, Dani Pedrosa is currently attracting more attention than Marc Marquez, primarily due to his contractual situation. It is seeming more and more likely that the Spaniard will go to the proposed Petronas Yamaha team for next year, but the announcement of the team has to come before Pedrosa can announce that he is riding for them – and that is if he is riding for them at all. The warm, stable weather should help Dani this weekend, who has struggled at Assen in recent years, but was strong in Barcelona and feeling better physically ahead of this weekend.
Johann Zarco will be hoping for a stronger weekend for this round, having suffered in the last races. The Frenchman was on pole for the Dutch TT last year, and fought for the victory for most of the race until he pit for a bike change anticipating an increase in the rainfall which never arrived. Another potential dark horse this weekend is Jack Miller, who took his one and only MotoGP win in Assen back in 2016.
An unusually warm weekend in Assen awaits, with birthdays and anniversaries, the potential for a second triple-winner of 2018, but who will win the first Dutch TT to be held in July?
Last year, the Dutch TT was one of the best races in the Moto2 World Championship, and with an even tighter championship this time round, Assen looks set to deliver a cracking intermediate class race yet again.
Two weeks ago, in Barcelona, Fabio Quartararo crossed the line first to take his debut Grand Prix win, and Speed Up’s first since Sam Lowes won in Texas, 2015. It was a breakthrough for Quartararo, who has had a couple of years in the doldrums since his broken ankle at Misano in his debut GP year, 2015. The win was an important one for Speed Up, too, who had traditionally struggled in hotter conditions, but Quartararo’s imperious performance proved that those days may well be gone, which could be important for this weekend, which looks set to be uncharacteristically – for Assen – hot. Assen has been a good track for Quartararo in the past, too, taking one of his two Moto3 podiums at the Dutch track back in 2015, and he will see this weekend as an opportunity to prove that his Catalunya win was no fluke.
Whilst the Catalan GP was a dream for Quartararo, it was a nightmare for championship leader, Francesco Bagnaia. The Italian had looked strong all weekend, which made his race performance particularly confusing, as he finished eighth. The situation became more clear after the race, though, as it became obvious that Bagnaia had suffered a tyre problem – a whole chunk, at least, missing from his rear Dunlop by the end of the race. Fortunately for him, he held the championship lead coming to Assen, although his advantage is down to one point over Miguel Oliveira, and Bagnaia will be keen to extend that on Sunday.
Whilst Oliveira could not keep tabs on Quartararo to fight for the win in Montmelo, he was able to come through from seventeenth on the grid to finish what was, in the end, a comfortable second place. Oliveira is going to need to sort his qualifying out at some point, there are only so many times you can start in the middle of the pack and not get caught up in a race-ending incident. Miguel scored Mahindra’s first Moto3 pole position in Assen, back in 2014, so perhaps this is the time for the Portuguese to set his 2018 Saturdays straight. What is sure, though, is that the warmer conditions this weekend should suit well the KTM-Oliveira pairing come race day, where tyre management will be key to obtaining a good result.
Alex Marquez only managed third place at home in Barcelona. Once more, he went from race winning pace in practice to fighting hard for the last podium spot in the race, this time 3.485 seconds off the win in the end. Since then, Marquez has been testing the Kalex chassis for next year with the Triumph engine, with positive results. With so much time riding the Honda Moto2 Kalex, it is improbable that Marquez will struggle to re-adjust back to the 2018 spec machine, however it will be interesting to see if there are any issues. Assen was a circuit at which Marquez dominated, though, in 2014, taking the Moto3 win by a few seconds from Alex Rins. Perhaps this weekend can thus provide the catalyst for Marquez’ title charge.
Lorenzo Baldassarri needs to bounce back this weekend, but in a different way to his flatmate, Bagnaia. Balda struggled all weekend in Barcelona, in complete contrast to the domination he enjoyed in Jerez, the previous Spanish round. It was seventh in the end for Lorenzo in Montmelo, and the onus will be on him to return to the podium on Sunday.
The Dynavolt Intact GP team were unfortunate to miss a podium in Montmelo, with both Xavi Vierge and especially, Marcel Schrotter in the running for a top 3 finish. Vierge came almost from nowhere in the race to be challenging for the podium, whilst Schrotter had looked strong all weekend and probably would have been on the podium had he not made a mistake at turn one, costing him a lot of time and many positions. Expect the #23 and #97 to be fighting at the front again this weekend.
With so many riders having the potential, coming into this race – and to the aforementioned riders you can add Mattia Pasini, Sam Lowes and possibly Iker Lecuona – the intermediate class should produce a brilliant battle this weekend, which could have, potentially, large ramifications for the championship.
Round nine of the 2018 Formula One Championship will bring us to the Styria Mountains in Spielberg for the Austrian Grand Prix.
The Red Bull Ring is one of the shortest tracks on the calendar; the track length is 5.9 kilometres, with ten turns. With a sweeping second and final sectors, coupled with a powerful first sector, the track is tough but overtaking is possible, particularly into turns 3 and 4.
Spielberg stats. Image courtesy of Pirelli
Lewis Hamilton comes into this weekend with a 14 point lead over title rival Sebastian Vettel, following his dominant victory in France last time out; this was aided by Vettel taking out Bottas at turn one and the German and the Fin ended up in fifth and seventh respectively.
Austria is the home race for Red Bull racing who have 3 wins under their belt in 2018 thanks to Daniel Ricciardo, and they will be hoping for a win on home turf this year.
This is not unreasonable to expect; they have been on the podium in both of the last two races at Spielberg; Max Verstappen in 2016, and Ricciardo last year. This is, however a power track, and Mercedes, who have won every race in Austria since its return in 2014, are the favourites.
Austria has seen some exciting moments. It was the scene of Williams’ shock one-two in qualifying in 2014, a huge first lap crash between Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen in 2015, and a last lap collision between Mercedes team mates Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg in 2016. Before its 11-year break, we saw a collision between Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard, ruining their chances of a one-two, and a close battle between Michael Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya, whose paths repeatedly crossed in their careers.
Valtteri Bottas won the race last year – it was his second win of his career – while Daniel Ricciardo brilliantly held off Lewis Hamilton for the final spot on the podium.
The Red Bull Ring is considered as one of the “old-school” circuits in F1, which was the cause of such excitement when it returned in 2014.
There will undoubtedly be further excitement this weekend. The championship battle heats up between Ferrari and Mercedes, but watch out for the charging home bulls.
Featured Image courtesy of Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool
Image courtesy of Pirelli Motorsports
