IndyCar heads back to the street courses for the next three races, first up is Long Beach. We’re at round number three and there is still no definitive order with the previous races at St Petersburg and Phoenix giving rather contradicting results.
Josef Newgarden taking the Chequered flag at Phoenix curtesy of http://media.gm.com
The last race was just a weekend ago at Phoenix, the first of the April triple-header. It was won by Josef Newgarden in about as dominant fashion as you’re going to get this season. Rookie Robert Wickens shined again to lead much of the race but was ultimately out-done by Newgarden at the final restart. Newgarden’s win was the first for both Penske and Chevrolet this season to make it one all in the battle of the manufactures. With the first two races down, it’s last year’s champion, Newgarden, who sits at the top of the standings tree, closely followed by Alexander Rossi and Sebastien Bourdais – not exactly the top three we expected coming into the season!
After the excitement, and challenge, of their first oval, the rookies are back on more familiar turf as IndyCar hits the streets on Long Beach however, learning the track is still going to be a hard ask for the first timers.
Long Beach is a temporary street circuit which is renowned for being tight, twisting and rather bumpy. The first corner is a very popular overtaking zone while the famous fountain and following section of corners usually provides some sort of action, especially on the first laps and restarts – as Will Power knows all too well.
Last year Long Beach was the second race of the season, as opposed to the third, and was won by James Hinchcliffe who took his first race win since his near fatal Indy 500 crash in 2015. The weekend was not dominated by either Honda or Chevrolet but Honda did take the brunt of the retirements, mostly through accidents. Power was lucky to get anywhere near the end of the race after he was shown the wall by Charlie Kimball on lap one with the latter’s race being ended by the rear suspension damage caused by the incident. Pole didn’t do much for Helio Castroneves who slipped to sixth in the opening laps before finishing tenth; that has been a common theme for all recent Long Beach pole sitters with the last conversion coming back in 2007 by Bourdais.
There are just two driver changes for this weekend; Zachary Claman De Melo is back in the #19 Dale Coyne after Pietro Fittipaldi took the wheel for Phoenix while Jordan King takes over the #20 Ed Carpenter car from Ed Carpenter himself.
As we’re back on the streets, we’re back on the street and road course weekend format so Practice 3 will play a pivotal role in qualifying which, be warned, doesn’t carry much meaning into the race. Pit strategy, accidents and cautions all shake up the order massively so where you start bears little resemblance to where you finish!
As always seems to be the way with IndyCar, predicting who will shine this weekend feels a bit like pulling names out of a hat! After Penske came back fighting at Phoenix, you’d expect them to carry this form through to Long Beach, preferably on more than one of their cars. If what we’ve seen so far this season if anything to go by, only a fool would count out Wickens, Rossi, Bourdais and probably Hinchcliffe as well but there will certainly be some surprise contenders thrown into the mix with them.
Practice and qualifying will be streamed on IndyCar’s various outlets as per usual while the race will be live on the BT Sport/ESPN channel. If you’re looking to catch the action, your timings, in BST, for the weekend are as follows…
Having just about thawed out from Donington Park two weeks ago for the opening round of the 2018 British Superbike Championship, the paddock now heads to Kent, and the Brands Hatch circuit, specifically the Indy layout, for round two.
After a stunning double at Donington, Bradley Ray will be hoping to continue his stunning start to the season, and keep up his 100% podium record on a circuit which represents something more like home territory for the championship leader than the Midlands. Last season, in his rookie year, Ray managed to take a twelfth place in race one and an eighth in race two, meaning the shortest track on the calendar yielded one of Ray’s best weekends until his podium in Oulton Park in late September. Naturally, for a rider in just his second season in BSB, there is caution regarding his championship chances, but if the twenty-year-old leaves Brands this weekend with a couple more podiums then surely there will be no doubt?
2018 British Superbike Championship, BSB Round 01 Donington Park, Derby, UK. 1st April 2018. Richard Cooper, Nottingham, Buildbase Suzuki
But perhaps Ray does not feature among the main favourites for this weekend. For sure, the expectation is that he will once more fight in the front group, and the circuit’s nature should lend itself to the Suzuki’s “1000cc supersport” characteristic that most people seem to be claiming it has. But over the past years, many riders have shown themselves to be particularly dominant at the short Brands layout.
One of those is of course Shane Byrne. The home favourite is accustomed to winning at Brands Hatch but perhaps not so much on the Indy circuit, especially in the last few years, but the reigning champion left Donington Park in good form, despite missing the podium in the second race. The first race was a different story for the PBM Ducati rider, who made an awful start, but closed down a fairly large gap in the last five laps or so to arrive on the back of the leading duo of James Ellison and Brad Ray, and after passing Ellison in the Melbourne Hairpin on the final lap, he was nearly able to take the win away from Ray in Goddard’s, but thought better of it. For certain, the pace shown by Byrne in the final phases of race one should have the rest of the field concerned.
Another rider who has proven handy at the original layout of Brands Hatch is James Ellison. The Kendal rider could have had a double win last season, but a crash in race one that caused damage which was beyond repair for race two meant he went home pointless. He was, however, able to complete the double back in 2015 on the JG Speedfit Kawasaki. After a crash in race two in Donington, a big points haul would help Ellison’s Showdown hopes a lot, especially if other rider who are expected to challenge for the Showdown, and the title, struggle once more this weekend.
One of the riders in question is Leon Haslam, who had tyre woes in both races two weeks ago. In race one, Haslam could only manage ninth thanks to tyre issues relating to the 2018 hard rear tyre. In race two, he suffered similar problems, and insisted that it was only the narrowness of the racing line that allowed him to get onto the podium in the mixed conditions, as it was difficult for riders to pass. These issues are particularly worrying for Leon, as almost every weekend he favours the harder rear tyre as he struggles to make the soft last. The problem in Donington was that some riders, like the double winner Brad Ray, had 2017 spec hard rears, which allowed them to make a consistent pace all race long. Meanwhile Haslam on the 2018 spec tyre lapped two or three seconds off the times he was able to do in testing with the 2017 tyre. On paper, the tyres are the same, meaning there is likely a problem with the manufacturing process on the 2018 tyre. If this is not sorted for this weekend’s tyres, Haslam could be one rider who struggles the most when it comes to Sunday.
Luke Mossey also had similar issues to those of Haslam in Donington, and will likely suffer again this weekend if the situation is not resolved. But the positive for Mossey is that he scored his first win, and first double in this round last season, meaning he should go to Brands in high hopes of claiming his first podium, and important points in the race for the showdown.
Josh Brookes is another rider who had a disappointing round in Donington. The Australian could only manage twelfth in race one thanks to rear vibration problems, and despite a night to try and fix the issues he could only manage one place better in race two. This leaves Brookes in perhaps the most vulnerable position of all the Showdown favourites, and he kind of needs a response this weekend to rediscover some confidence if nothing else. Of course, panic stations have not yet been manned in the McAMS Yamaha squad, who will be safe in the notion that Brookes’ 2015 campaign did not get off to a stunning start, but the Aussie went on to dominate the second half of that season and took the championship as a result. And, of course, last season Shane Byrne failed to even make the start in either of the Donington races thanks to a warm up crash, and crashed out of one of the Brands Indy races, but still went on to win the title. Brookes’ season did not begin as he would have likes two weeks ago, but all of that could be forgotten with a pair of good results this weekend.
Dan Linfoot made a brave call in race two at the season opener to run an intermediate front, when most of the grid went with a slick, and it worked for him to put him third, and on the podium at the chequered flag. This was enough for Dan to leave Donington in third place overall, thanks also to a fourth place he registered in race one. It has been a while since Linfoot started a season so well, and considering the way he ended last year, this could be ominous for the competition, and the Honda Racing rider will hope to continue that into this weekend.
On the other hand, Jason O’Halloran will be looking to right the wrongs of the Donington Park round this weekend, as the Aussie could only manage a seventh in race one and a ninth in race two. In a similar situation is Jake Dixon, who took an eleventh in race one two weeks ago, and only a twelfth in the second outing. Other riders looking to bounce back from difficult season openers include Peter Hickman who only managed an eighth and a penultimate lap crash; Chrstian Iddon who took a fourteenth and a sixth; Michael Laverty who claimed a pair of tenth places; and Richard Cooper, a sixteenth and a thirteenth whilst his teammate took the double.
Of course, there are plenty of other riders who could find themselves in contention this weekend, such as Glenn Irwin, who had a solid start to the season with a sixth and a seventh despite a fractured neck (although, that never held him back last season), Gino Rea, Danny Buchan, who beat Shane Byrne to fourth at the last round, and Tommy Bridewell.
The good thing about Brands Indy is that the shortness of the track allows for some incredibly tight times, and this can lead to very tight racing, where one mistake can make the difference between being on the podium and being outside the top eight, and this means that we should be in for a scintillating pair of races this Sunday.
Hello rally fans. This is the first in a series of Rally Diaries that Phil Hall, Co-Driver to Tom Williams will be providing for you to enjoy. Here, Phil shows the whole week dedicated to Tour de Corse. Enjoy!
Reece Day One
Monday the 4th of April
Phil Hall – Photo courtesy of M-Sport.
Recce on Corsica is a challenge in itself. Writing down a seemingly endless stream of pacenotes whilst trying to navigate (including turning pages in the pacenote and road books independently) requires no small amount of multitasking and coordination. Because of the sheer number of corners, I actually use 50% more pages of paper in Corsica than a ‘normal’ rally.
Today was the first day of recce and saw us cover 3 incredible stages in the north of the island. In Sweden we found Elk, in Mexico we found goats, and today we found a herd of cows. We are certainly discovering plenty of wildlife this year.
Reece Day Two.
Tuesday the 5th of April
This is where we see the full breadth of road types on the island; from race track smooth 2 lane winding up the valleys, to slimy and gravely ‘barely there’ slivers of asphalt clinging to mountain sides.
The pinnacle of today is a 49km stage that covers everything this rally has to throw at you. And it takes so many pages of pacenotes, I started an entirely new book for this stage just to be sure I had enough.
You have to really focus on the pacenotes here, there are so many variables. It’s a great challenge.
Reece day Three.
Wednesday the 4th of April
The final day of Recce, on paper, looks simple enough. Just 2 stages. But when one of them is a Monster 55km Corsican legend, the day continues the challenging theme of the event.
72 pages; concentrating on making quality notes for nearly an hour and a half straight, reading the road and writing it down, page after page. It’s a real team effort.
FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP 2018 -WRC Tour de Corse (FRA) – WRC 04/04/2018 to 08/04/2018 – PHOTO : @World
An incredible stage to (almost) finish the rally, as the penultimate test of the event it will make Sunday an exciting prospect to say the least!
Friday, 6th of April – Day One of Competition.
Only two stages repeated sounds quite simple. Except this is Corsica. A 50km monster followed by a fast and flowing test was a true challenge.
Reading pace notes for 40 minutes nonstop is a work of concentration and endurance. Especially as the car is moving around so much on the twisty roads.
The conditions today saw a lot of gravel on the roads and some damp and wet patches in places that only added to the difficulty. However, we had a good clean day and I’m looking forward to tomorrow (Saturday).
Saturday, 7th of April- Day Two
Saturday was a huge day of the rally, an early start and a late finish. Though only covering two loops of 3 stages, the day was a complex challenge. We had three very different stages to contend with; the opening test was long and narrow through mountainous terrain with a lot of bridges and big drops (!), the second was more like a race track, wide and flowing with smooth and consistent tarmac, the final stage was possibly the trickiest with a lot of gravel and dirt on the road whilst still being fast.
We got a front puncture on the first stage of the day and had to change it, we are well practised at changing the wheels but we still lost quite a lot of time. The rest of the days stages went smoothly, or as smoothly as any Corsican stage can go.
Sunday, 8th of April- Day Three
Sunday had only two stages, the first being over 55km in length! We had a really good run over both stages, we had learnt a lot over the rally and were starting to get everything to work really well. Reading pacenotes flat out for nearly 40 minutes is a challenge and shows why co-drivers have to be fit as well as drivers. We had no straight longer than 150m in the whole rally, and corner after corner had to be delivered exactly on time. That’s a lot of processing power being used!
Tom Williams – Photo courtesy of M-Sport.
Corsica is one of my favourite rallies, and I can’t wait to be back next year. Our next JWRC event is WRC Portugal.
Phil Hall and Tom Williams – Junior WRC – Photo courtesy of Phil Hall
A huge thanks to Tom for a great drive, M-Sport for a great car and team, and my supporters ITSMYMOTORSPORT and the Royal Air Force.
Formula One rolls into Shanghai to complete the first back-to-back Grand Prix sequence of 2018.
In the Chinese year of the dog Sebastian Vettel has started like a greyhound with two wins from two race this season, while Mercedes are yet to show that their bark is as bad as their bite.
Valtteri Bottas missed the chance to pass Vettel on better tyres in the closing stages of the Bahrain Grand Prix after an error-strewn Australian Grand Prix, while a mixture of bad luck and reliability have hamstrung Lewis Hamilton in the early stages of this season.
Bottas will rue his missed chance in Bahrain
Ferrari have defied pre-season expectations that had them third in the Formula One pecking order after going in a different direction with car design including a longer wheelbase, a decision that appeared to have them playing catch up.
Last year in China, Hamilton got his title challenge underway with victory in a wet-dry race as Vettel got some overtaking done after serving a penalty for a jump start to ignite a title fight between Ferrari and Mercedes.
Ferrari have four wins in Shanghai from 14 races, although only one in the last 11 years courtesy of Fernando Alonso’s victory in 2013.
Mercedes have won five of the last six races in China with Lewis Hamilton claiming three of those.
Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool Red Bull will be aching to get back on track after a disappointing start
But what of Red Bull? Their race pace is on or close to that of Ferrari and Mercedes if you believe Free Practice times.
Problem is, they cannot get their cars into position. Daniel Ricciardo was penalised in Australia and was another VSC beneficiary in Australia, while Max Verstappen spent a lot of time behind the Haas of Kevin Magnussen and then latterly McLaren’s Fernando Alonso.
The least said about their Bahrain Grand Prix, the better. Ricciardo did nothing wrong and retired after a couple of laps, Verstappen retired after contact with Lewis Hamilton after chucking his Red Bull at a wall in qualifying.
Pierre Gasly’s stunning weekend in Bahrain has raised Toro Rosso expectations
Toro Rosso say they expect to be quick based on Bahrain, where Pierre Gasly secured an amazing fourth place to change not only the expectations of the team but the perceptions of the Honda Power Unit.
Renault and McLaren also look to be strong contenders for points, with McLaren having four points finishes from two races to show plenty of improvement from a disastrous Honda partnership.
Alonso is a man reborn, while Stoffel Vandoorne has added consistency this season to the flashes of speed shown from the middle of last year.
Check out the newest video from Mobil 1 The Grid in which Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo give their thoughts on what they call an ‘ugly’ Halo design, and the reasons behind its full-scale introduction, while Scott Dixon comments on IndyCar’s Aeroscreen alternative, which has been inspired by jet fighter canopies.
Max Verstappen on the Halo: “The car is very ugly with it. I’ll keep saying that for the rest of the season, because I really don’t like it. It’s a shame really for Formula 1. It’s a bit safer, but at the end of the day, you can never make it 100% safe anyway.”
Photographer Credit: Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool
Daniel Ricciardo on the Halo: “It’s visually not the most pretty thing, but it’s fine. I think people will just get used to it. It’s there for a reason; it’s there for those freak accidents and for head injuries. What the fans and viewers need to not get confused or get misled by is that it doesn’t change anything what we do… racing, attacking, defending, how much you’re willing to put the car on the limit – the Halo doesn’t change any of that. Is it attractive? No. But were the F1 cars in 2009 attractive when they went to the big front wings and skinny rear wings? No, they thought they were ugly as hell. But after a few races your eyes just get used to looking at them. Yeah, they’re ugly, but they’re not as ugly as they were a few months ago. If there’s a crash and a part comes flying in the air, if it is going to land in front of you, it could save a death, that’s really all it is.”
Scott Dixon on the Aeroscreen: “The Halo wasn’t something that was feasible for us [in IndyCar], mostly because of the ovals sight-line. You’re in a looking up position, so you’d be looking directly at it. I think the Aeroscreen, with the backing of PPG [Industries], with what they’ve done in the past with fighter-jets, they’d already had a good concept and a good idea of what works and what doesn’t work.”
Following the highly publicised and race deciding pit lane incident involving Kimi Raikkonen at the Bahrain GP, there has been much debate about whether a change in the pit stop process is needed or whether it’s all part and parcel of F1.
The Ferrari stop had the worst result of the four blunders so far this year after the mechanic was left with a broken leg however, Ferrari were fined in practice for releasing Raikkonen with one of the wheels cross-threaded, something that also ruined both Haas drivers’ races in Australia. These four were all classed as unsafe releases and were caused by the automatic lighting system going green when the car was in fact not ready for release.
Problems like this are inevitable given that the modern day pitstops usually last between two and three seconds, with the record being just 1.923s by Red Bull. Before we delve into the problems of F1 in the present, let’s look back at the evolution of pitstops and accidents that have come about along the way.
The pitstop is something that has nearly always been present in F1, its view is to spice up the racing by adding another element of strategy and teamwork, allowing a car to overtake by under or over-cutting the car in front. Back in the 1950s when F1 was in its infancy, a pitstop was expected to last between sixty and seventy seconds depending on how much fuel was needed. When refuelling was banned in 1984, pitstop times plummeted as only the tyres now needed changing but, the drivers were forced to conserve fuel and the racing suffered as a result.
Ten years later in 1994, refuelling was reinstated which pushed pitstop times back up but made the racing more captivating and improved viewing figures. Throughout the 2000s, pitstops lasted between six and twelve seconds, again depending on the amount of fuel needed by the car before refuelling was banned for the final time, to date, in 2010. There was talk of bringing it back for 2017 but that idea was soon rejected, leaving pitstops to fall to an average of two to three seconds.
Times have fallen for a number of reasons; refuelling is obviously the biggest changer, in addition to this, the number of people working on the car has increased massively to around 21 while automated systems aim to cut out as much human reaction time as possible.
This development is all well and good, very short pitstops mean that any mistakes are amplified when the cars return to track with many races being won or lost solely by the activities of the pit lane. However, the road to these ‘blink and you miss it’ pitstops has been, and continues to be, a very bumpy one which has been littered with various pit lane accidents and mishaps.
Probably the most infamous of these happened when refuelling had just been re-introduced back in 1994. If you haven’t guessed already, this was when Jos Verstappen’s Benetton went up in flames during his pitstop at Hockenheim. The car was refuelled as normal but as the fuel hose was removed, around three litres of fuel escaped, covering the car and crew in flammable liquid which was then set alight by the hot brake discs. Thankfully, everyone escaped relatively uninjured but it was a stark reminder of just how dangerous pitstops can be.
During the 2000s, there were various incidents of drivers taking out members of the pit crew either on entry or exit of the pit box. This happened at Brazil 2007 when Kazuki Nakajima took out most his crew on his very first pitstop and again when Kamui Kobayashi hit four members of his crew in 2012. Romain Grosjean was another to do this when he locked up his brakes and hit his front jack-man during the 2015 Spanish GP.
There were two very infamous incidents of drivers leaving with the fuel rig attached in 2008 and again in 2009 with Felipe Massa at Singapore and Heikki Kovalainen at Brazil, the latter of which caused a small fire in the pit lane and on the car behind, Raikkonen. These, along with other incidents, amounted to refuelling being banned once more in 2010.
In more recent memory, there have been occurrences of drivers leaving the pit box with wheels not attached, either at all or not properly. Mark Webber did this in 2013 at the Nurburgring when his loose wheel bounced down the pit lane and hit a cameraman, leaving him with a broken shoulder and cracked ribs.
At Melbourne 2018, both Haas cars left the pit lane with cross-threaded wheel nuts, ending both their races shortly after. The FIA handed out a 5,000 Euro fine for each incident to the American team but that was nothing compared to what Ferrari received for the next incident.
Raikkonen had come in for his second stop at the Bahrain GP when one of his rear tyres failed to come off. The automatic lighting, unbeknown to the mechanics still working on the car, showed green and Raikkonen left the pit box, hitting the mechanic stood in the path of the rear wheel. That mechanic, Francesco Cigorini, suffered a broken leg while Ferrari were handed a hefty 50,000 Euro fine.
All of this has drawn scrutiny on the current pitstop procedure, they are so fast that there’s no time to flag up and address errors before the car leaves in an unsafe condition. So, if change is needed, what are the possible solutions?
F1 could simplify the process by having less people working on each wheel, as seen in both Formula 2 and IndyCar. These both have just one mechanic to each wheel and have a mechanic who signals to the driver when the car is ready to leave, meaning that unsafe releases are much less common or though do still happen.
Another solution would be to keep the pitstops as is but replace the automatic lighting system with a lollipop-man (or woman!) who can clearly see if the car is ready or not. This seems to be the most reasonable solution.
A much less popular one is that of a minimum pitstop time, as was present in Formula E. However, something like this would not be accepted by the F1 paddock as it just isn’t what F1 is.
On balance, the most appropriate next move for the FIA would be to ban the lighting system, which has caused problems for its whole duration in F1, and have it replaced by a lollipop-man. Whether that will happen or not remains to be seen.
In Bahrain it was a case of another race, another unsafe pitstop as Kimi Raikkonen snapped Ferrari mechanic Francesco Cigarini’s leg.
Let’s be clear, this was not the fault of Raikkonen, nor really the Ferrari pit team, in the same way that the Haas crew shouldn’t be held entirely responsible for the strife of Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen in Australia.
No, this was almost entirely down to the now normal traffic light system in place in every single F1 garage up and down the pit lane.
The system is red when tyres are off the car, but as soon as all four wheels are on at the end of the stop, it goes green. To a racing driver, that always means “floor it”.
It does not allow for a feel not being attached tightly enough. We’ve seen three such incidents this season alone, while there have been numerous other incidents in recent years.
Before wishing Cigarini well, Raikkonen explained: “I go when the light is green. I don’t see what happens behind. Unfortunately, he got hurt but my job is to go when the light changes.”
Away from the pits and it was another steal of a victory for Sebastian Vettel after a fortunate success last time out in Australia.
Vettel joins three others in winning on their 200th Grand Prix
Mercedes and Valtteri Bottas made their medium tyres last longer while Vettel struggled on soft tyres, after being asked to make them last almost 40 laps.
While Ferrari were faster on pure pace over the weekend, Mercedes’ cunning strategy put Vettel on his back foot and after ten laps of intense pressure, Bottas could not force last year’s runner up into a mistake.
Vettel held on brilliantly, and joined Nico Rosberg, Jenson Button and Michael Schumacher in winning on their 200th Grand Prix outing.
That’s the second time Ferrari have won when they shouldn’t have this season and it is something that they weren’t doing last year.
Despite that, Mercedes still look to have a pace advantage and but for bad luck, Lewis Hamilton would have at least one win from two races this season.
Pierre Gasly was in stunning form all weekend
To round off, an honourable mention should go to Pierre Gasly and Toro Rosso.
Their performance changed the perception around Honda at a power-hungry circuit in one afternoon.
Gasly in particular was in scintillating form throughout the weekend, qualifying sixth as the best of the rest and starting fifth once Lewis Hamilton’s penalty was applied.
After a disappointing start in Melbourne, Red Bull’s junior team delivered on the promise shown in winter testing to cause further confusion in an already congested midfield.
A fantastic Bahrain Grand Prix, one of the best in the modern era as you just couldn’t take your eyes off it!
Driver Ratings for the Grand Prix, in finishing order.
Sebastian Vettel – 10
Exceptional from the four time champion, looking a bit behind in free practice to one to his team mate. This was one of his best wins, not only as a Ferrari driver but probably in his career. Storming pole lap and driving on ice skates for the majority of the Grand Prix. He managed to keep Bottas behind him and win, just! ‘Mamma Mia’
Valterri Bottas – 8
Bottas had a very good weekend, a few more laps and we would have heard the Finnish anthem you would expect. Steady pace by him and managed to out qualify his team mate Hamilton. Sadly, you would have expected Hamilton to have passed Vettel. He could of lined up a move to turn 3 with a better chance. Great performance but lacks a killers instinct.
Lewis Hamilton – 8
A recovery drive that most expected by the reigning World Champion, most highlighted for that stunning treble overtake into Turn 1 with sparks flying in the midnight sky. Kept his nose clean at the start as others collided at the start. Through retirements of others at the front he got on the podium. He could of made Sunday easier but had a very poor Saturday finishing Q3 in 4th. With Ferrari showing great pace all weekend nearly best he could of done.
Pierre Gasly – 10
**DRIVER OF THE DAY**
From a man who qualified last at Australia and an early retirement, a weekend he would want to forget to one he will never forget. Took advantage of retirements to finish so high up, but still best of the rest. His flying lap in qualifying was near perfect. He started on clean side of the grid, passed Ricciardo into Turn 1 and kept the rest at bay. Brilliant. He finished 10 seconds clear of Hulkenberg, Magnussen and Alonso, unexpected pace by Toro Rosso, with a HONDA engine. With Red Bull contracts up in air at the end of the season, Hello Helmut?
Kevin Magnussen – 8
Haas got their tyres on cars with solid times in the pits, a change from a fortnight ago. K-Mag gave the team the reward for their success. Good weekend for him, out qualified team mate Grosjean and on a different strategy to most, got a points finish.
Nico Hulkenburg – 8
Hulkenburg doing a Hulkenburg, a quiet a weekend but nothing out of the ordinary by the German. A points finish which give Renault something to build on after a solid weekend in Melbourne.
Fernando Alonso – 9
The despair of Saturday to the delight of Sunday, the Mclaren team was left red faced in being out qualified by Toro Rosso Honda. Alonso being the racer he is stormed through the field, finishing 7th from an original starting place of 13th. Once more is the car holding him back?
Stoffel Vandoorne – 7
The Belgian scores again, but once more in the shadow of his team mate. Scored in both rounds but only a matter of time before critics come out more about if he is the right man in the seat.
Marcus Ericcson – 9
Points?! The Swede scores points 50 Grand Prix after his last haul in 2015, at the Italian Grand Prix. He tried something different, a one stop, whilst others squabbled holding each other up he kept just chipping away. Pace was horrible due to tyres well past their best at the end but much like Vettel kept it together as a true racer can. Showed his rookie team mate the much improved potential of the Sauber Team with Alfa Romeo backing.
Estaban Ocon – 7
Battling with others throughout the entire race gave the Frenchman the final points of the Bahrain Grand Prix. He got the best of some talented drivers but didn’t manage to assert himself by pulling away.
Carlos Sainz – 6
Carlos was stuck between the majority of the battle for the small points of the race. Force India managed to just managed to get the Spaniard for the last points.
Charles Leclerc – 7
More mileage in the car for Leclerc, and a track that he knows compared to Melbourne. He did in Formula 2 one of the most amazing returns to win last year, and kept on the speed transferring it onto the F1 grid.
Romain Grosjean – 6
A race which will be forgotten for the Frenchman, the highlight of the race was his stupidity at holding his team mate up and nearly causing a collision at turn 2. Restricted pace due to sidepod damage early in the race. Not his day.
Lance Stroll – 6
The Williams driver was nowhere in qualifying, he started 20th, but managed to finish above others. Lance kept his nose clean early on and got the advantage through collisions.
Sergey Sirotkin – 6
The Russian had a quiet race, finished the grand prix. More mileage for the rookie to hopefully build experience for tracks he has been too before later in the season.
Sergio Perez – 6
Being hit from behind at turn 3 on the opening lap ruined any chance of a decent finish for the Mexican. He kept the car going if anyone faltered but after early retirements no one else retired.
Brendon Hartley – 6
The Kiwi is still getting to grips with open wheel racing after racing so long in Endurance racing. A silly error on the opening lap resulted in a penalty which put him on the back foot for the race.
Kimi Raikkonen – 7
The Ferrari driver did well in practice being quicker than his team mate. When it came to qualifying when it mattered he was caught out to P2. Bottas jumped him at the start and never got close to him again, the pit stop error caused a retirement. Best Wishes and speedy recovery for mechanic, Kimi did nothing wrong.
Max Verstappen – 5
Erratic from the Dutchman all weekend, struggled to keep his car on track regardless of the sudden power increase in qualifying resulting in the crash. He was the one most ran wide in practice trying to find the limits. He got past Hamilton well, but there was no need to open up the steering, which resulted in the contact causing a puncture and differential damage. Bad day at the office, I wouldn’t go as far as what Hamilton called him.
Daniel Ricciardo – 8
He looked up for it all weekend but the car when it mattered let him down. Was very close up to the front in qualifying which Red Bull since the beginning of the hybrid era have struggled the most. He managed to retake Gasly after a poor start but an electrical failure ended his day early in a few horrible minutes of the Austrian team.
With the Chinese Grand Prix this weekend ahead questions are beginning to be discussed, more coming to light than others, I’d say the major one is Honda, have Mclaren made another mistake? Heavily power focused in sector 3 at China, we’ll see.
IndyCar got its first oval of the season done at Phoenix and, while Josef Newgarden was the one to take the win, it was rookie Robert Wickens who was once more grabbing headlines and stealing the show with a remarkable second place finish. Alexander Rossi was the big mover of the day, completing over 50 overtakes while Sebastien Bourdais’ race fell apart at the first hurdle.
After qualifying on pole, Bourdais’ race started with trouble after the Frenchman’s Dale Coyne was kept in the pits for the first formation lap to give the team time to restart his car. He joined the track in time to take the start on pole but his team soon reported that they’d lost all telemetry on his car however, that problem was soon negated when he came into the pits and hit one of his pit crew, giving him a drive-thru penalty and dropping him to last. Thankfully, the pit member involved was unharmed.
Another one to be compromised by the first round of pit stops was Rossi who, like Bourdais, hit his pit crew and landed himself a drive-thru penalty, Again, the crew members involved were fine. Rossi didn’t come back into significance until he assisted Will Power into the wall, ending the Penske driver’s race, before fully un-lapping himself under green flag conditions. When Ed Jones hit the wall with 21 laps to go, all the field pitted other than Wickens, James Hinchcliffe and Rossi; this gave the three track position over the fresh tyre runners but high degradation in the latter stages of the race cost all of them at least some positions.
Wickens was leading the race up until those final stops but was unable to defend from Newgarden who was flying on his new Firestones. Before then, Wickens had come to the front after pitting early at the second round of stops and passing teammate Hinchcliffe who’d gotten caught up in traffic. The Canadian dropped to third after the third stops but was propelled into first after Jones crashed out of second and leader Newgarden pitted; the win was not to be for Wickens but second place on his first ever oval race is outstanding achievement.
Josef Newgarden. courtesy of media.gm.com
Newgarden himself was relieved to break his unlucky streak under lights at Phoenix after failing to finish on the podium at any of his previous races here. The reigning champion worked out second after the first round of pit stops, something he attributed to team owner Roger Penske insisting that the team clean the pit boxes thoroughly. The second pit stops didn’t work out in the American’s favour but, with Power out, Newgarden was the first to pit at the next round, allowing him to take the lead. He took the risk to pit again when Jones hit the wall but that paid off when he was able to blast past Hinchcliffe and Rossi on the restart before getting Wickens with just four laps remaining to take his first win of his title defence.
A surprisingly low amount of cautions, despite numerous incidents, meant that once cars were lapped, that was pretty much it for them. This was the case for all the new teams, Carlin, Harding and Juncos, who all struggled for pace at their first oval and all ended up at least a lap behind the leaders. It wasn’t just the rookie teams who struggled, all the rookie drivers, other than the incredible Wickens, were off the pace, with some even ending in the wall. Pietro Fittipaldi and Kyle Kaiser both got too close to the wall while Matheus Leist’s race was ruined when he left the pit box with one wheel not attached.
This race was a large improvement on Phoenix last year for Honda who took positions two through to sixth however, it was still a Chevrolet that took the win, meaning that Penske’s Newgarden now leads the championship, five points ahead of Rossi.
Phoenix marked the first of three races in a row with IndyCar now heading to the streets of Long Beach before going to Barber Motorsports Park in two weeks’ time. IndyCar will not return to an oval until the 102nd running of the Indy 500 at the end of May so it’s street courses all the way until then.
Full race results:
1. Josef Newgarden
2. Robert Wickens (R)
3. Alexander Rossi
4. Scott Dixon
5. Ryan Hunter-Reay
6. James Hinchcliffe
7. Ed Carpenter
8. Tony Kanaan
9. Graham Rahal
10. Simon Pagenaud
11. Takuma Sato
12. Marco Andretti
13. Sebastien Bourdais
14. Spencer Pigot
15. Gabby Chaves
16. Zach Veach (R)
17. Charlie Kimball
18. Max Chilton
19. Matheus Leist (R)
DNF – Ed Jones, Kyle Kasier (R), Will Power, Pietro Fittipaldi (R)
The 2018 Formula 2 championship kicked off in Bahrain this weekend, with a typically dramatic pair of races, giving us an insight into the brand new car and engine introduced this season, and our first chance to see how the 2018 grid stacks up against one another.
In a turn of events that was unsurprising to some, but impressive nonetheless, F3 champion Lando Norris bagged pole position in only his second round of F2. He narrowly beat fellow Brit and reigning GP3 champion George Russell, who edged out DAMS driver Alexander Albon who lined up third on the grid. Albon was only confirmed for the single round in Bahrain in a seemingly last minute deal, but his impressive performance out-qualifying his more experienced teammate by over half a second surely warrants another chance. Albon’s teammate Canadian Nicholas Latifi was not the only experienced driver who had failed to put together a complete lap in Friday qualifying, title favourite and last year’s runner-up Artem Markelov could only do as well as seventeenth.
Markelov’s weekend would only go from bad to worse when he lined up on the grid for the feature race on Saturday only to stall and be forced to start from the pit lane. He wasn’t the only one, with ex-Formula 1 driver Roberto Merhi also stalling, the first of several cases which prove that these new F2 cars are not the easiest machinery to get off the line.
Copyright: Zak Mauger/LAT Images
It was a dream start for Lando Norris with some lightning quick reactions to get himself off the line, something which he will take a lot of confidence in given the starts were one of his few weaknesses during his 2017 F3 campaign. By contrast, Russell was slow to get moving and even impeded Prema driver Nyck de Vries who was starting behind him. It was not the start he needed if he wanted to get one back against Norris. Albon also found trouble in getting his car moving, and the two of them lost several places in the opening seconds of the race.
For Norris, from there it was a maturely handled race. His only hitch was a slow pit stop, but he had built himself a comfortable lead, so was able to retain this despite the hiccup. When the inevitable tyre degradation kicked in, as it always does around this track in the searing desert heat, he had enough of a cushion to be able to ease off slightly and bring his Carlin home safely. The dominant fashion in which he controlled the race was very reminiscent of some of current champion Charles Leclerc’s victories from last year.
Behind him was a much more chaotic story. While it was Norris’ race to control, it was Markelov’s show to steal. Despite starting from the very back of the field he used his uncanny ability to manage his tyres to pull off a whole host of his usual opportunistic overtakes. The rest of the grid wouldn’t let him make it look easy however, and some of the newer arrivals proved that they could fight just as hard. There was a thrilling moment when the Russian driver, Maximilian Günther and Jack Aitken attempted to go three wide into turn 1. But it was Markelov who bested them all in the end, fighting through almost the whole field to finish a fantastic third place.
Copyright: Zak Mauger/LAT Images
After his poor start George Russell and ART attempted an undercut to gain some time back, and he did manage to finish in fifth in the end, but the tyre degradation was too great for him to gain any significant time back. This was the drawback of the Mercedes junior driver attempting to stop so early. The Pirelli tyres run in Formula 2 are notoriously high degradation, especially on a track like Bahrain, and therefore usually difficult for rookie drivers to adapt to. It will not have been the result Russell was hoping for, especially after making his championship ambitions abundantly clear.
Carlin, a team returning after a year out in 2017, had one of the best results of the race. Alongside Norris’ win, Sergio Sette Câmara brought home a second place finish for the British team, giving them an impressive one-two on their return to the sport. The Brazilian driver was initially overtaken by de Vries in the early stages of the race, but ultimately managed to gain second place back. Where he really proved his worth was in his end of race scrap with Markelov as he fought to defend his second place from the charging Russian. They fought until the very last lap, but clever and aggressive defending was enough to for Câmara to maintain his position.
Albon managed to recover after his poor start and intermittent DRS problems to a respectable fourth place, followed by Russell, and de Vries in sixth who could not find a way to manage his degrading tyres. Sean Gelael, a much criticised and controversial driver, proved his stock by making a very impressive recovery from only qualifying nineteenth to finish seventh. It was rookie Maximilian Günther who finished in eighth to claim reverse grid pole for Sunday’s sprint race, while Jack Aitken and Ralph Boschung took the last points paying positions.
In Sunday’s sprint race, there was yet more drama at the very beginning of the race. Gelael, with the potential for a solid result from his starting position of P2 stalled on the formation lap and was forced to start from the pit lane. There was just more trouble to come. Upon the race start three cars stalled again, failing to get off the grid entirely and they were pushed to the pit lane where they could join the race, albeit a way behind the pack. Two of the stallers were ART pair George Russell and Jack Aitken, with Haas junior driver Santino Ferrucci also failing to get away. Impressively, the other cars managed to avoid the stationary vehicles and everyone got away unscathed.
Copyright: Zak Mauger/LAT Images
The best start in this race was bagged by Nyck de Vries who was starting from third. He overtook pole sitter Günther to claim the lead of the race, while the young German was also overtaken by Markelov who had a storming start from sixth on the grid, the Carlin pair following him to slot into fourth and fifth.
Everyone’s eyes were on tyre degradation throughout the 23 lap race. All drivers had started on the medium tyres, which in theory have long lasting wear. But ever year Formula 2 comes to Bahrain even the most experienced drivers find it difficult to make them last well. Many had speculated whether any of the drivers would attempt to do what Charles Leclerc did last year in the sprint race but taking an unprecedented pit stop and using his fresher tyres to fight back to claim victory. A pit stop is not mandatory in a sprint race, and at almost any circuit other than Bahrain it would not even be considered during a sprint race. But Leclerc had proven last year that it could have its advantages.
In the end it was Prema who attempted to repeat their exploits of the previous year when they pitted de Vries from the lead on lap nine. He had a sizeable lead of around three seconds, but it was very early in the race to expect him to make his new tyres last until the end. It could be argued that it was not a gamble for the win, but an attempt at damage control, as de Vries is not famed for strong tyre management.
His stop meant that Markelov inherited the lead of the race, Günther moved up into second and Câmara took third. Câmara was under pressure from his teammate Norris for some time, but an engine misfire midway through the race sent the Mclaren reserve driver tumbling back a handful of places, and most likely cost him a potential podium. The best the youngest driver on the grid could do was fourth place.
De Vries was rapid after his switch onto softer tyres, and for a while it looked as though he might be able to recover to the podium. But as the laps wore on, his tyres began to degrade again. He still managed to finish in fifth, which is arguably better than he would have done had he not pitted.
Copyright: Zak Mauger/LAT Images
Ahead of him Markelov once again deployed his tyre management skills to hold a lead over Günther who was being put under pressure from the Carlin pair. The Arden driver was struggling to work out how to best manage his tyres, expected perhaps after he made the switch from Formula 3 where drivers are able to push their tyres a lot harder with a lot less degradation. But he showed great composure in holding off both Câmara and Norris, and by the end of the race he was even able to close the gap to Markelov in front.
Behind the Carlin pair and de Vries in fifth, Luca Ghiotto made a quiet recovery from twelfth to finish sixth, while Ralph Boschung rounded off a solid double points scoring weekend by finishing seventh. Rookie and Honda junior driver Nirei Fukuzumi claimed the last point in eighth place.
Norris leaves Bahrain as championship leader, and it was undoubtedly a dream start for the young Brit, as he certainly seemed to have the edge over many of the other rookies. At the moment it seems as though Markelov, who provided most of the thrills of the weekend, is his closest competitor. This should be expected from a driver entering his fifth season at this level, but that is not to take away from the skill and speed he displayed this weekend. Günther is perhaps a surprise as the second rookie in the standings at the moment, taking the points over higher rated drivers like Russell, Aitken and Haas junior driver Arjun Maini. But his rivals would do well to remember that he was more than capable of taking the fight to Norris on his day during Formula 3 last year.
Bahrain is a difficult track to open the season on, especially for those unused to the Pirelli tyres. And it is clear that teams are still trying to work out how to optimise the performance in these new cars, particularly in terms of start procedure. But after a calendar reshuffle this year, the next challenge Formula 2 faces are the streets of the Baku City Circuit, no mean feat given the utter madness it usually delivers.
