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  • Marquez Takes 75th GP Pole in Dutch TT Qualifying

    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.

  • Austrian Grand Prix: Bottas Claims First Pole of the Year

    Image courtesy of Pirelli Motorsports

    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.

  • Can Yamaha End Their Year-Long Drought in Assen?

    Can Yamaha End Their Year-Long Drought in Assen?

    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?

  • Bagnaia Looks to Bounce Back in Assen

    Bagnaia Looks to Bounce Back in Assen

    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.

  • 2018 Austrian Grand Prix preview

    2018 Austrian Grand Prix preview

    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

  • Home Run – Christian Horner On Red Bull’s Team Spirit Ahead Of The Austrian Grand Prix | M1TG

    Home Run – Christian Horner On Red Bull’s Team Spirit Ahead Of The Austrian Grand Prix | M1TG

    Check out the latest Mobil 1 The Grid latest feature in which Red Bull Racing boss Christian Horner previews the Austrian Grand Prix – the home race for the team.

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  • Venturi: The Team Everyone’s Talking About

    A year ago, Venturi were the minnows of Formula E, hidden behind the arms race of Renault and Audi. They have hosted a number of experienced drivers throughout their four seasons in the sport including current Mahindra driver Nick Heidfeld and WEC stalwarts Stephane Sarrazin and Mike Conway.
    However, despite the talent of their drivers and a wealth of electric car manufacturing experience, the team have one podium to their name. They are one of the few teams that have never won a race and are never on the front pages. This could all be about to change with the arrival of two former Formula One drivers – one climbing behind the wheel and the other taking the reins of the team.  

    Susie Wolff and Gildo Pastor. Image courtesy of Venturi

    It was announced this week that Susie Wolff; ex Williams test driver, will become the first female team principal of a Formula E team and will be taking up her new position at the season finale in New York in a few weeks time.

    Wolff’s appointment will be a welcome one within the paddock. Since the departure of Simona de Silvestro in season 2, there has been a distinct lack of female figures in the sport. However, Formula E has always prided itself on new blood and on giving drivers from other series a fresh start. Having Wolff at the helm of one of the teams, coupled with the presence of her Dare to be Different campaign, which was first introduced at the Berlin ePrix, could inspire more women and young girls to become interested in and join the sport. It will also be a challenge. Wolff has no experience in leading a team but she will be working alongside a team of well seasoned mechanics and strategists who will help to integrate her into the new role.

    The appointment of Wolff is the latest step in Venturi’s plans to strengthen, following the regulation changes that will come into effect next season. F1 veteran Felipe Massa has joined the Monegasque team and will no doubt add add some further experience, flair and critical sponsorship. He will no doubt provide more exposure to the sport. Formula E already has two well known Brazilian champions in Lucas di Grassi and Nelson Piquet Jr, but a familiar face, particularly one as well known as Massa, will allow Formula E to reach a wider audience of motorsport fans. By choosing Venturi, a team who are yet to win a race, Massa may be hoping to prove something to those who think he’s too old for motorsport.

    Venturi certainly seem to be looking to the future and the acquisitions of Massa and Wolff are just the beginning. The Monegasque outfit are the first to establish a junior drivers programme within Formula E, which includes the likes of Arthur Leclerc, brother of F1 rookie Charles. Although development drivers are common, Venturi are taking the approach of nurturing youth to a new level. Many experienced drivers have got behind the wheel of a Formula E car and struggled with strategy and conserving the energy needed to perform well within a race. By educating a rank of junior drivers, Venturi will eliminate the problem and create a pool of experienced but youthful drivers going forwards.

    Susie Wolff the new Team Principle at Venturi. Image courtesy of Venturi


    Wolff’s position also raises questions over Mercedes arrival in season 6. This season, Venturi partnered with Mercedes DTM specialists HWA, working alongside them in preparation for their inaugural season. This partnership will continue into season 5 with Venturi providing customer powertrains for the new outfit. Venturi and HWA have links to Mercedes. Both Venturi drivers, Maro Engel and Eduardo Mortara currently drive for the successful German outfit. It seems likely that when Mercedes finally join the party, it will use either Venturi or HWA to ease into the transition. It is a tried and tested method that was employed by Audi upon their entry as a full works team this season. HWA seem more likely due to their customer status, but Mercedes could continue to remain in partnership with Venturi. It would not be a foolish decision owing to the invaluable experience that the Monegasque team have and the resources that they have.

    No matter who Mercedes choose, one thing is certain – Venturi won’t be fading into the background anytime soon.

  • Quartararo Dominates Moto2 Field for First Grand Prix Victory

    Quartararo Dominates Moto2 Field for First Grand Prix Victory

    Fabio Quartararo may have stunned everyone on Saturday with his first ever Grand Prix pole position, but on Sunday afternoon he sealed the deal, taking the victory. It wasn’t a straightforward job for the Frenchman, though, as he had to recover from an average start that allowed Alex Marquez into the lead, as Fabio dropped to fifth in turn one, where the two Dynavolt IntactGP bikes came through with Pecco Bagnaia.

    Whilst that was happening at the very front, Miguel Oliveira made his usual start: coming from a different continent to be in the front group. This time, the Portuguese went from seventeenth to seventh, and by the end of the first lap and a half he was fourth. After setting a series of fastest laps and picking his way through the field, he took the lead at turn ten on lap eight. Oliveira was unable to open up much of a margin, though, and when he ran wide at turn four with thirteen laps to go, Quartararo was soon underneath him.

    From there, Quartararo went unchallenged, stretching away from Oliveira, making the Portuguese look almost amateur. Not only was Quartararo’s victory unexpected, it was also masterful, dominating the field to the point where the question has to be asked: why only now? Quartararo’s ability and speed has never been questioned, and after changes made to his personal management and training personnel have been clearly so successful, you have to wonder why it didn’t happen sooner. Had it been so, he would likely still be at Pons HP40 and perhaps fighting for the Moto2 World Championship; or maybe he would be in the Estrella Galicia Marc VDS team having won the Moto3 title for them in 2016. Quartararo’s story in Grand Prix racing so far has been one of ‘what if’s’, and this win only increases that – but if the double Junior World Champion can continue in this form, and take more podiums and victories with Speed Up, his real future might just start to look as promising as his hypothetical one as it did in 2015.

    Miguel Oliveira. Image courtesy of Gold and Goose /KTM

    Oliveira may have had no answer for Quartararo on Sunday, but he still took second place and after starting seventeenth, it is probably fair to say that he should be reasonably happy with his performance. Crucially, he beat Bagnaia (by quite a bit) and cut the gap in the championship to just one point. Twelve rounds remain and we are pretty much back to square one in the intermediate class championship, and there are reasons to say that both Oliveira and Bagnaia are evenly matched as we approach the second half of the season.

    Third place went to Alex Marquez. Whilst this meant he closed in, in the championship to be precisely one race win behind Bagnaia, but he will be disappointed to have missed the victory. Once more, Barcelona proved a race of unfulfilled promise for Marquez: quick in practice, nailed on for the win, only to find himself in more difficulty in the race, and dropping back in the end. Maybe a cooler Dutch climate can yield a first 2018 victory for the Spaniard.

    The late-race drop off from Marquez this time brought him into the grasp of the two Dynavolt Kalex’s of Marcel Schrotter and Xavi Vierge. Schrotter realistically should have beaten Marquez to the podium, in fact you could even argue that he had the potential to challenge Oliveira for second, but a mistake in the early phases of the race when he ran wide at turn one and dropped five or so positions. His fightback was strong, though, but still he will be frustrated to have missed the podium. It was not all bad for Marcel though, as he got a motocross jersey from American motocross/supercross star Adam Cianciarulo.

    Vierge went under the radar in the race to end up fifth, which was quite a good result for the Spaniard after a weekend which was not straightforward. Three seconds back of Vierge was Brad Binder, who fell away from about the midpoint of the race onwards – for whatever reason he cannot manage the race distance as well as teammate Oliveira, although he can keep the leading pace fairly often in the beginning of the race.

    Seventh place went to Lorenzo Baldassarri, who lost his third place in the championship standings to Marquez after this race. It had been a difficult weekend for Balda, and he will hope for more in Assen to try and keep himself in the championship frame. Nearly three seconds back of Baldassarri was a frustrated Francesco Bagnaia. It was a tyre problem which cost the championship leader a shot at the podium and maybe even the victory; after the race he put a photo of his tyre on Instagram, and it had a huge chunk of rubber missing from it. A frustrating race for the Italian but not a threatening one in the long run, his pace is not in doubt.

    Lorenzo Baldassarri . Image courtesy of Honda pro news

    The extent of Bagnaia’s struggles can be contextualised by the following: Sam Lowes had a fuel pump problem before the race began, and did not make the grid for the formation lap. This meant he had to start the race from last, rather than his qualifying position of ninth. By the end of the race, Lowes was only three seconds behind Bagnaia, and had recovered to his original qualifying position – ninth. It was a stunning race by Lowes, much of it off camera, but where he might have previously made mistakes and in the end had a poor result, he showed calmness and class in a difficult situation to make a good race. Credit has to go to his team manager, also, who was making a big effort to calm the Brit down before the race when everything looked so negative. In another team, Lowes might have crumbled. As it is, he can go to Assen in a good frame of mind.

    It was Lowes’ teammate, Iker Lecuona who returned to the top ten after a few difficult races, as he finished in P10 in his home GP.

    Andrea Locatelli took eleventh place, ahead of Simone Corsi. But the drama for Corsi was not in the race, rather it came after the chequered flag. Corsi was looking everywhere other than in front of him after the race had ended, and when he looked up he was too late to react to the impending situation, and he slammed into the back of Oliveira on the run into turn one. Thankfully, neither rider was hurt in the incident, but Corsi received a back of the grid penalty for Assen; an understandable decision from the stewards.

    Tetsuta Nagashima finished thirteenth, ahead of Augusto Fernandez on his return to Grand Prix racing in place of Hector Barbera. The fact that Fernandez was wearing fully liveried up Stihl Pons HP40 leathers strongly suggests he will remain with us in Grands Prix for the remainder of the season, which is no more than he deserves. Remy Gardner took an impressive point on his return from two broken legs as he rounded out the top fifteen.

    Edgar Pons wildcarded this weekend and finished sixteenth, better than he ever managed, pretty much, as a full-time GP rider, and ahead of Luca Marini who may have felt better physically better on the bike this weekend than in Mugello but clearly did not have the feeling with the bike as he ended the race seventeenth. Eighteenth went to Steven Odendaal on the NTS, ahead of Khairul Idham Pawi in P19 and Domi Aegerter who completed the top twenty.
    Danny Kent was P21, thirty seconds down on his race winning teammate, and then came Joe Roberts, a further seven seconds back, Jules Danilo, Dimas Ekky, and Eric Granado who was the final finisher.

    Stefano Manzi, Niki Tuuli and Bo Bendsneyder all got caught up in an incident at turn four on the first lap which ended their respective races. They were joined on the sidelines by Jorge Navarro, Federico Fuligni, Joan Mir, Mattia Pasini (who crashed because of a gearbox problem), Romano Fenati and Isaac Vinales.

    Featured image courtesy of Markus Berger/KTM

  • Powered By Honda – Red Bull’s Adrian Newey On The Team’s Switch To Honda Engines For F1 2019 | M1TG

    Powered By Honda – Red Bull’s Adrian Newey On The Team’s Switch To Honda Engines For F1 2019 | M1TG

    Check out the latest Mobil 1 The Grid latest feature with Red Bull’s Adrian Newey, during which he talks about the team’s switch from Renault to Honda power units for 2019.

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  • After a telling French GP, is Raikkonen’s number up?

    After a telling French GP, is Raikkonen’s number up?

    16 years ago, a young Fin by the name of Kimi Raikkonen was racing in his debut season with in Formula 1 with Sauber. He would go on to have mixed fortunes with McLaren, before making a switch to Ferrari, winning the championship in his first season in 2007.

    He would leave the sport after the 2009 season to switch to rallying before returning in 2012 with Lotus, saying he “missed racing.” A move back to Ferrari in 2014 beckoned a second world championship for Kimi, but it wasn’t to be. The fairytale return has been somewhat of a nightmare. Reliability failures and poor pace compared to team-mate Sebastian Vettel have left the 38 year-old in a precarious position in F1, and he now has a young Monegasque breathing down his neck.

    Charles Leclerc (MON) Alfa Romeo Sauber F1 Team and Kimi Raikkonen (FIN) Ferrari on the drivers parade at Formula One World Championship, Rd8, French Grand Prix, Race, Paul Ricard, France, Sunday 24 June 2018. Image courtesy of Sauber F1

    16 years after Raikkonen, Charles Leclerc, the extremely talented 20-year old has impressed massively in his own debut season… with Sauber.

    In a French Grand Prix for which Raikkonen qualified more than half a second slower than team-mate Vettel, Leclerc was right behind him on the grid, only just over a second behind the Ferrari. With Leclerc’s 8th place in qualifying, it was the first time Sauber had made Q3 since 2015. By the end of the first lap, Leclerc was in front of him.

    Ultimately, after a problem with the front wing for Daniel Ricciardo, Raikkonen ended up on the podium, while a poor Sauber strategy left Leclerc in tenth; he deserved a lot more

    However, after the pace we saw from the respective drivers, it seems Raikkonen’s number, is up. Truth be told, it should have been up before this season, but it seems that, with the start of a bright career for Charles Leclerc, it is time for Kimi to swallow his pride and call it a day at the end of 2018.

    Raikkonen has enjoyed a brilliant career. His racing has been world class, he’s a world champion, and of course he has given us some of the best one-liners we’ve ever had in F1, most notably his “Leave me alone, I know what I’m doing” radio message during the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix of 2012, which he won.

    Now, however, with the start of a career with Sauber mirroring the start of Raikkonen’s, the Fin will begin to realise that, despite his achievements, it may be time to move over. Furthermore, the excitement about the career ahead of Leclerc is rife; his prodigious talent has led many of us to believe that he is capable of multiple world championships in the future. While we shouldn’t put too much pressure on the charming Monegasque, the excitement is difficult to contain.

    What would be Leclerc’s role at Ferrari? We know that Ferrari have always had a number 1 and number 2 driver system. Even when this has not been the case contractually, the principle was still applied, as we saw when Rubens Barrichello and Michael Schumacher raced together at the Maranello-based team. Sebastian Vettel, a four-time world champion, would surely be ahead of Leclerc in the pecking order. However, with the ability that Leclerc has, “it’s more than possible that Leclerc could overthrow him and become number 1, and perhaps at some point, in what will hopefully be an illustrious career, a world champion. As with Kimi Raikkonen himself, but more notably the great Michael Schumacher, it wouldn’t just be a Formula 1 world championship; it would be a Formula 1 world championship with Ferrari.