Category: Formula One

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Grand Prix of Mexico Qualifying Reaction

Image courtesy of Pirelli Motorsports

The twin themes for Qualifying are excitement and disappointment. On the excitement front, watching the shootout for P1 was thrilling. While it’s certainly au courant to knock the current generation of power units, as the 2017 package hits high levels of development it’s fantastic to see the track records falling. Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in its current incarnation may not have much of a history to compare against, but it’s nonetheless exciting to see records fall.

On the disappointment front, the luckless Pierre Gasly of Scuderia Toro Rosso will be starting from the back after missing Qualifying due to a power unit change, and Brendon Hartley’s promising start to qualifying was also cut short due to an engine failure of his own. Haas failed to perform to expectations, and even typical high performers Kimi Raikkonen and Daniel Ricciardo qualified below their proven potential. One can perhaps understand Ricciardo’s slower pace in comparison to his teammate as Verstappen has a more advanced power unit, but it’s still unusual to see him so far behind. McLaren continues to show how what could have been, and Williams continues in their inconsistent form.

Renault and Force India occupied the middle ground between the extremes. Their drivers all delivered competent performances, qualifying in the lower half of the top 10, but apart from the crowd’s obvious love for Sergio ‘Checo’ Perez the highs and lows experienced by the other teams overshadowed their solid performance.

Q1:
It was no surprise to see Ferrari open with a strong performance on supersoft tyres, though while Sebastian Vettel finished the session in 4th his teammate Kimi Raikkonen fell to 7th, behind McLaren’s Fernando Alonso and Force India’s Sergio Perez.

While Mercedes was able to beat Ferrari, they did it on ultrasofts. While Mercedes’ pace is generally undeniable, their need for the softer compounds this round shows that they’re not as safe as they might be.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen topped the Ferrari times – also on supersofts. Hamilton’s engine gremlins continued, with Hamilton reporting another engine cut during the latter half of the session. Regardless, his early time of 1:17.518 ensured he’d safely advance to Q2. His teammate Daniel Ricciardo completed the session in 10th.

Force India’s Sergio Perez, the local favorite, put delivered a solid performance for his supporters the grandstands and occupied 6th.

McLaren’s Fernando Alonso continued to demonstrate the sadly-unrealized potential of the car by climbing to 5th in the first half of Q1 following a forgettable series of practice sessions. The waning moments of Q1 showed Honda’s return to form as Alonso reported no power and no turbo. Despite this, he still managed to deliver excellent sector times as the flag fell.

The flying laps after the chequered flag saw the usual last-minute excitement among the backmarkers. Alonso’s teammate Stoffel Vandoorne climbed to 13th. Toro Rosso’s resident Kiwi, the impressive Brendon Hartley, advanced, finishing the session in 14th. Williams’ Lance Stroll rounded out the Q2 field in 15th. Sadly, Haas and Sauber both failed to put together enough performance to advance to Q2. Given the disparity between Sauber and Haas’ power units, Haas’ finishing behind Sauber is troubling.

Advancing to Q2: HAM BOT VER ALO PER RAI RIC HUL OCO SAI MAS VAN HAR STR

Excluded: ERI WEH MAG GRO GAS

Q2:
Records continued to have a very short lifespan due to the battle at the top of the timing chart, and ultrasofts are the order of the session among the frontrunners. Bottas rocketed to the top of the leaderboard with an opening time of 1:17.161 on ultrasofts, but was topped by Vettel with 1:17.058 (incidentally setting a new track record). Hamilton, disregarding any worries over his engine, put in a blistering new record time of 1:17.035 in turn.

Hartley’s Toro Rosso let him down in the early stage of the session with a sadly-familiar puff of smoke echoing Gasly’s FP3 misfortune. His radio message to the pit wall, “No power, no power,” signaled the end of a promising day and bringing out a yellow.

The yellow flags caused Max Verstappen to back off a promising lap, but he recovered to set his own new record of 1:16.524. Vettel fought back and topped Hamilton, but wasn’t able to unseat Verstappen.

Force India and Renault certainly took part in Q2, but apart from the crowd’s cheering for Checo there wasn’t much notable in their performance – but an unexciting advancement to Q3 is just as much an advancement to Q3 as an exciting one, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

Williams continued to suffer from their ongoing inability to quite bring everything together, and elected to only run late in the session. The lower air pressure at altitude contributed to their woes thanks to the associated lack of downforce, and they weren’t able to rise out of the drop zone.

While Vandoorne and Alonso did each put in an early lap, McLaren elected to not attempt to set times for Q2 to preserve tyres, and likely power units, for the race. After Alonso’s excellent Q1 performance it’s disappointing to see McLaren still making these decisions.

Advancing to Q3: VER VET HAM BOT RAI RIC SAI HUL OCO PER

Excluded: MAS STR HAR VAN ALO

Q3:
The crowd loves Checo, and their excitement seeing him in Q3 comes through.

The battle for pole didn’t disappoint, and once again the boots of choice were ultrasofts. Bottas got a good start, but was forced to abort his early flying lap when he came up on a slower-moving Verstappen in the Foro Sol section. While Verstappen did move off to the left, Bottas wound up braking hard and locking up briefly before diving for the pits where he was to remain until the closing minutes of the session. The stewards announced an investigation into Verstappen for impeding Bottas, but in a move that will doubtless ease any sense of anti-Verstappen bias determined that no action was warranted.

Hamilton put in a valiant effort and sat briefly in P1 himself with a repsectable-but-not-unbeatable time of 1:16.934. The churn in P2 was entertaining, with Hulkenberg, Raikkonen, Sainz, and Ocon occupying the position in turn until Sebastian Vettel coaxed his SF70H, Gina, into delivering a lap of 1:16.833, pushing everyone ahead of Verstappen down a spot.

Verstappen responded with a fastest first and second sector, going on to set an excellent time of 1:16.574. For a moment it seemed that a record other than track time, namely youngest pole winner, might be broken, but this sadly wasn’t to be.

After the mid-session lull, Bottas completed his flying lap with a 4th-place 1:16.958 shortly before the chequered flag fell. Hamilton was unable to improve his time.

After the flag fell, Vettel completed his own flying lap to set a new record with a time of 1:16.488, securing his 50th pole position. Verstappen was unable to improve his own time, taking second. Bottas’s own final lap wasn’t enough to improve his position.

As with Q2, the battle at the front overshadowed otherwise competent drives from Renault and Force India. And as with advancing to Q3, an unexciting top-10 starting position is just as much a top-10 as an exciting one. Ocon certainly had the best performance of the midfield, qualifying a surprising 6th ahead of Ricciardo.

As the dust settled on an exciting qualifying session, the grid prior to penalties was VET VER HAM BOT RAI ECO RIC HUL SAI PER MAS STR HAR ALO VAN ERI WEH MAG GRO GAS.

With Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen on the front row, one can only imagine the conversations in the Ferrari and Red Bull camps, hoping to avoid a repeat of the carnage at the start of the Singapore Grand Prix. Even though it’s quite possible that we’ll see the Drivers Championship locked up for Lewis Hamilton during the race session, it’s still exciting to see Red Bull and Ferrari bringing the fight to Mercedes at this late stage of the season. Hamilton’s engine gremlins certainly add an element of uncertainty, and Renault-powered teams will doubtless be keeping a wary eye on their engines following Toro Rosso’s troubles.

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United States Grand Prix Yee-haw-cap

Circuit of the Americas, Austin, Texas, United States of America.
Sunday 22 October 2017.
World Copyright: Andy Hone/LAT Images
ref: Digital Image _ONY2503

The weather just south of Austin, Texas was fine for the start of the United States Grand Prix, with the early morning rains moving on with plenty of time. That heavy rain, though, cleaned the track up considerably with all the rubber deposited over practice and qualifying washed away. This newly-green surface added an element of uncertainty to the pre-race proceedings. The very-American opening ceremony proved to be polarizing. For every fan that enjoyed Michael Buffer’s boxing-style driver introductions (beneficial to an American audience, many of whom aren’t as familiar with Formula One), there was one who found it ‘cringey AF.’ Whatever your reaction, you can’t deny that Liberty Media delivered on the promise of spectacle for this race’s opening ceremonies.

The word of the day for the United States Grand Prix was ‘poised’. After a record-setting weekend, Lewis Hamilton and his teammate Valtteri Bottas faced the day poised to secure the fourth consecutive Constructors Championship for Mercedes AMG Petronas. Sebastian Vettel was poised to breathe a bit of life into the Drivers Championship if he drove well, and if he didn’t (or if he suffered some other issue) Hamilton was poised to seal his fourth Drivers Championship. Carlos Sainz was poised to make a good impression in his debut with Renault. Brendon Hartley was poised to make a good showing in his first single-seater race in years. The paddock was full of expectations. Who would see their goals realized? Who would leave disappointed?

When the lights went out, Lewis Hamilton made a solid start but Sebastian Vettel did him one better, leaping off the line to take the lead at the outset. The remainder of the field enjoyed a fairly clean start.

The opening lap saw a great deal of shakeups in the field. Force India’s Esteban Ocon briefly got the jump on Kimi Raikkonen for 5th, but it was not to last. Fernando Alsonso’s McLaren overtook Carlos Sainz’s Renault for 7th, in what I’m sure McLaren hopes to be a harbinger of next season. Williams’ Felipe Massa overtook the other Force India of Sergio Perez for 9th. At the bottom of the field, Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg took 17th from Haas’ Kevin Magnussen and Stoffel Vandoorne of McLaren took 19th from Toro Rosso’s Brendon Hartley. There was a contact between Weherlein and Magnussen, which was later determined to not merit any further action by the stewards.

And Max Verstappen began his inexorable climb in his Red Bull. In the first lap alone, he overtook both Saubers and Williams’ Lance Stroll, bringing him up from 16th to 13th. In the second lap, he claimed Haas’ Romain Grosjean and Toro Rosso’s Dany Kvyat. Lap 3 saw him pass Perez, and Massa in lap 4, rising to 9th by lap 5.

Toward the front of the field, Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo brought the fight to Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas several times in the early laps, but wasn’t able to make any of the attempts stick. Raikkonen lurked quietly behind Ricciardo, searching for an opening. Hamilton and Vettel traded fastest laps early on, with Hamilton declaring that the, “[p]ace feels pretty good,” as he settled into the groove. Hulkenberg’s race came to an untimely end in lap 4 thanks to an engine failure, to the disappointment of both his fans and his team.

Lap 6 saw Hamilton finally able to make a move on Vettel to retake the lead. Despite a valiant defense, Vettel was unable to deny Hamilton, and the #44 Silver Arrow found its legs. Weherlein’s race came to an end at this point with a retirement due to damage.

Lap 10 brought Max Verstappen into 6th place, overtaking Ocon in at turn 12. The teams began eyeing pit stops, with Stroll going in for softs on lap 11 and Ricciardo requesting that he be brought in as soon as there’d be good track position. Vettel reported blistering on the left front during lap 12, and Raikkonen made an attempt on Ricciardo.

Pit stops began in earnest in lap 13, with Ricciardo and Perez both taking new tyres. Perez, pitting from 11th and rejoining in 15th, opted for a set of softs, while Ricciardo pitted from 4th left the pits on a set of supersofts to rejoin in 9th. Ricciardo’s stop allowed Raikkonen to rise to 4th and Verstappen to 5th. With his fresh tyres, Ricciardo handily overtook Sainz to advance to 8th. Ocon and Alonso both stopped for fresh rubber in lap 15, with Ocon rejoining in 12th and Alonso in 14th on soft tyres.

After setting the fastest lap thus far, misfortune struck Ricciardo. His Tag Heuer-branded Renault power unit gave up the ghost, leading him to coast to a halt on the grass past turn 15 and bringing out a double yellow for sector 3 as his car was recovered. Both Renault and Red Bull were doubtless feeling a bit of nervousness for their remaining drivers, though (spoiler alert!) there were no further Renault-powered retirements.

By this time, a significant gap had emerged between the Mercedes, Ferraris, and lone Red Bull at the front of the pack.

Lap 17 saw Vettel dive for the pits from second, emerging on his new set of soft tyres in 5th behind the hard-charging Verstappen. When faced with Vettel’s pit stop, Hamilton confidently declared, “Tyres are good, I can extend.” His confidence in his well-worn ultrasofts seemed to be well-placed, as the onboard camera shots showed no indication of striping or blistering. Nonetheless, worn ultrasofts, no matter how well-managed, would be tricky to match against Vettel’s fresh set of softs. Vettel confirmed his tyres’ puissance by setting the fastest second and third sectors, and then going on to set the fastest lap shortly thereafter.

Mercedes brought Bottas in for soft tyres in lap 18, causing him to take his turn in 5th when he rejoined the track and allowing Raikkonen, Verstappen, and Vettel to each climb one place. The battle in the midfield continued apace, with Sainz and Massa jockeying for position with McLaren and Force India. Sainz’ stop in lap 19 for – you guessed it, softs – left Massa in 6th, trailed by Ocon, Alonso, Perez, and Vandoorne. Alonso issued a call to his team for strategy information, sarcastically telling them, “It’d be nice to know what I’m doing.” Rejoining in 11th, Sainz would face an uphill battle for position for the remainder of the race.

Hamilton finally entered the pits in lap 20, also taking a set of soft tyres. His crew turned in an excellent stop, though this led to a fraught moment for Mercedes, as Vettel was closing fast while Hamilton climbed out of the pits and up to turn 1. While his tyres were a few laps newer than Vettel’s, they were cold while the Ferrari’s rubber was already up to temperature. Hamilton did manage to rejoin in 3rd, just in front of Vettel, and was able to defend his position. Vettel wobbled and ran a bit wide in turn 1, and Hamilton set about rebuilding his lead and catching Max Verstappen.

With Raikkonen entering the pits for softs in lap 21 (and duly taking his turn in 5th upon exit), Verstappen’s strategy became a hot topic. Verstappen began the race on a used set of supersofts, and despite his masterful performance thus far they clearly wouldn’t last forever. This was brought into focus in lap 23 when Hamilton was able to successfully attack Verstappen and reclaim the lead. The question of a Verstappen-Vettel battle began to loom when Red Bull finally called their wunderkind into the pits in lap 25 for a set of… softs. Verstappen dutifully rejoined in 5th.

In the midfield, Marcus Ericsson went into the pits in lap 21, emerging with softs of his own but falling from 13th to 18th in the process. In lap 25 tragedy – by now firmly farce – then struck struck Fernando Alonso. Again. With a call from the pit advising him to back off, he returned to the garage and ended his race with yet another Honda-powered retirement. Our hats are off to Alonso for being able to maintain any sense of equanimity after the absolute disaster that is the modern McLaren-Honda partnership, though doubtless seeing the Renault-shaped light at the end of the tunnel helps. We also wish Toro Rosso the best of luck for 2019. Unless Honda is able to resolve these serious issues, they’ll need it.

The following lap, Alonso’s more fortunate teammate pitted for a set of ultrasofts, rejoining in 15th. Sainz began to methodically reel Force India in up in the middle of the pack, while Perez and Ocon continued to vie for position themselves. Happily, both Force India drivers kept it clean, avoiding the on-track contact that cost the team so dearly earlier in the season.

At the front of the pack, Verstappen went on to set the fastest lap of the race. Vandoorne meanwhile passed Hartley on lap 28 and Stroll in lap 29 to rise back to 13th. Massa made his first stop of the race in lap 30, trading his supersofts for a set of new ultrasofts. This late stop did cost him, as he rejoined in 12th. Meanwhile, Hartley continued his quiet-but-proficient drive, breathing down Stroll’s neck.

Continuing the long, slow burning battle between the Force India drivers and Sainz, Perez’s calls to the pit wall requesting that Ocon let him by were denied. Ocon’s fine, he was told, YOU need to manage better, and management’s what we need right now. Sainz’ patience finally paid off, and he overtook Perez at turn 19 to advance to 7th. This in turn left Perez in Kvyat’s sights. In the midst of all this, Massa began to regain positions, overtaking Magnussen in lap 32 and later claiming the other Haas in lap 39.

Lap 38 saw a surprise pit stop from Max Verstappen for a set of supersofts. While exiting the pit, his crew radioed, “You know what we’re up to. We need a big lap.” Vettel followed Max in on lap 39 for a set of supersofts of his own. Pitting from second, he rejoined in 4th. This was a risky move. Would Verstappen’s new supersofts outperform Vettel’s used set? Would Vettel be able to close the gap to Raikkonen and Bottas? Ferrari would doubtless issue team orders, instructing Raikkonen to let Vettel pass, but Bottas certainly wouldn’t be so obliging. Verstappen then set the fastest lap thus far.

By lap 42, Raikkonen was able to mount a successful challenge on Bottas for second. By lap 44, commentators were discussing the scenario of Vettel passing Bottas, and Raikkonen being issued the expected orders to let Vettel pass.

In an example of the interesting things that can happen when the front runners lap the backmarkers, on lap 46 Marcus Ericsson attempted to follow Vettel past Kevin Magnussen at turn 12 under the blue flags. Magnussen wasn’t having it and tried to close the door. The drivers bumped, with Magnussen coming out worse for the wear after a spin, plummeting to 16th. Though Ericsson did briefly claim 13th, the stewards handed him a 5-second time penalty for his trouble and Stroll quickly overtook him for the position.

Meanwhile, Carlos Sainz continued his long search for advantage over Esteban Ocon, but Ocon’s defense continued to be impregnable. This so impressed the world feed directors that they continued to broadcast the feed from Sainz’s car as Vettel set the fastest lap of the race and approached DRS range on Bottas.

By turn 1 of lap 51, Vettel was in position to attack Bottas. Bottas, apparently relying on traffic to provide cover, miscalculated the his position relative to Vettel and the lapped Vandoorne and failed to mount an effective defense against Vettel’s attack on the outside. This cost Bottas 3rd, and opened him up to attack from Verstappen. Bottas was able to more effectively use traffic, in the form of Romain Grosjean’s Haas, to hold Verstappen off for a bit.

In lap 52, the expected radio call from Ferrari’s pit wall to Kimi Raikkonen arrived. “Seb is now the car behind, Seb is now the car behind. OK, if Seb comes alongside, let him by.” The Finn dutifully ceded 2nd place to his teammate. A short distance behind, Bottas had run out of time against Vertstappen. Verstappen attacked on the inside, forcing Bottas wide. Bottas wasn’t able to make his counterattack stick, and with nothing to lose he made a gamble of his own by pitting for a set of ultrasoft tyres. Sadly, it amounted to nothing and Mercedes’ in-house Finn was left to finish in 5th.

Overshadowed by the action at the front, Massa quietly overtook Kvyat for 9th place, and a couple of points for Williams.

Having dispensed with Bottas, Verstappen then set his sights on Raikkonen. With only 2 laps left and a little more than a second between them, Verstappen would have only one chance to attack Raikkonen. Pushing hard, it appeared that Verstappen would fall just short of Raikkonen.

As Lewis Hamilton crossed the line to secure the fourth consecutive Constructors Championship title for Mercedes AMG Petronas, Verstappen mounted an audacious attack on Raikkonen at turn 17 as the chequered flag fell, and claimed third place for his efforts.

In what will doubtless be a long-discussed penalty, the stewards determined that Verstappen had exceeded the track limits to gain advantage, and gave him a five second time penalty. This led to an awkward moment after the race, as Verstappen was already in the cool-down room.

The final finishing order, after time penalties, was:
HAM
VET
RAI
VER
BOT
OCO
SAI
PER
MAS
KVY
STR
VAN
HAR
GRO
ERI
MAG

DNFs:
ALO
RIC
WEH
HUL

Congratulations to Lewis Hamilton for a well-fought victory in Austin! Congratulations to Mercedes AMG Petronas for the fourth consecutive Constructors Championship! Congratulations to Sebastian Vettel for setting the fastest lap of the race, with 1:37.766 and keeping the Drivers Championship alive, at least mathematically! Congratulations Max Verstappen for getting us up out of our seats and shouting in the dwindling seconds of the race!

We can’t wait to see what Mexico brings us on Sunday.

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Mexico Grand Prix Preview with Austin Taste, Ariba Ariba

GP MESSICO F1/2016 – CITTA’ DEL MESSICO (MESSICO) 27/10/2016
© FOTO STUDIO COLOMBO PER PIRELLI MEDIA (© COPYRIGHT FREE)

Last back to back race of the season, directly tickets from Texas to Mexico City were booked by the Formula 1 staff, some had to climb Trump’s wall in order to arrive in Mexico, but everything is almost ready for the 18th race of the season.

Max Verstappen as another Speedy Gonzalez, will have to control his nerves and the “stab in the back” pain from FIA, must race as a normal racing driver under the official rules. Kimi Raikkonen from the other hand, the cool type that we all love, will go to Mexico with one purpose, to support Sebastian Vettel from Friday till the chequered flag. The Finn, was second in Austin and was looking very comfortable, but suddenly Ferrari discovered that he was going to run out of fuels, the order was clear “Save fuels, Kimi” and to our big surprise, Kimi stepped aside and let Vettel pass second, he almost lost the third place from Max, but as many said on the social media, one Finn supports the other, and Mika Salo advised the stewards to give 5 second time penalty to Max Verstappen after the chequered flag.

Circuit of the Americas, Austin, Texas, United States of America.
Sunday 22 October 2017.
World Copyright: Steven Tee/LAT Images
ref: Digital Image _R3I1833

Oh, I almost forgot to mention the 3.7-4 world time champion Lewis Hamilton. The Brit had an easy weekend in Austin, no pressure for him, he read the script and followed exactly Mercedes’ plan. The track suited perfectly to Lewis and his sixth victory in COTA proves that, now the Champ has to finish fifth or above in Mexico in order to celebrate his fourth world title.

AUTÓDROMO HERMANOS RODRÍGUEZ

Laps: 71

Circuit Length: 4.304 km

Race Distance: 305.354 km

Lap Record: 1:20.521 (Nico Rosberg – 2015)

Mexico Grand Prix re-appeared in the Formula One calendar in 2015, after a long absence. Nico Rosberg was the driver who took the chequered flag in that year. Last year Lewis Hamilton won the Mexican Grand Prix, and he will try to repeat his success this season as well.

It is a home race for Sergio Perez, the fans will cheer for him and hopefully he will not complain about Oconstistency’s pace.

Sergio Perez – “Racing at home means a lot for me. It’s always a busy week, both for me and the team, but being at home makes all the hard work we put in for our fans and our partners worthwhile. It’s definitely the most enjoyable weekend of the year for me. It’s a great race for everyone involved in Formula One. There’s so much passion and the whole week is a big celebration. Everyone in Mexico City is looking forward to the race.The track is quite fun to drive and being on those long straights is special. Because of the altitude, even though you’re running high wings, you still achieve very high speeds and it’s really hard to stop the car under braking – in that sense it feels like a bit like Monza.I am lucky I get to race in my country in front of my fans. Their support means so much to me and it’s inspiring to see fans waving the Mexican flag in every grandstand. I really want to give them a special result to celebrate.”

GP MESSICO F1/2016 – CITTA’ DEL MESSICO (MESSICO) 30/10/2016
© FOTO STUDIO COLOMBO PER PIRELLI MEDIA (© COPYRIGHT FREE)

Felipe Massa – “First of all, it’s a shame to see what’s happened, it’s so sad to see the people losing their lives and also their homes from the earthquake so that’s really, really sad. I think we need to help them and get as much support for them. We need to pass the message to people around the world. That is the most important thing. Secondly, they are really in love with Formula One and they go crazy for the race. When you see the people in the grandstand and around the roads, they are proper Formula One fans and I think it’s fantastic to race there. I always enjoy it, I go with some friends, my father and we always enjoy the atmosphere there. It looks very similar to São Paolo so you also feel at home. I really hope we can have an important race for them in this difficult moment.”

In the American Grand Prix, Mercedes AMG celebrated their fourth consecutive constructors’ title, despite their bad start this season, the team managed to overcome their problems and the hard work paid off for them as they won the world title, massive congratulations to every member who contributed to the success.

Max Attack – Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen On How To Overtake & Win Races In F1 | M1TG

Twitter – @FP_Passion

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Formula One needs more common sense to solve its technical issues

Ahh, technical grid penalties in Formula One.

It is difficult to know quite where to begin, so here are just a few statistics.

At the Belgian Grand Prix in Spa at the end of August, Stoffel Vandoorne passed a threshold that, equated into distance, would have cost him a kilometre in engine-related grid penalties. The gap from position to position on is eight metres.

Vandoorne has officially been penalised 170 places this season for exceeding various elements of his Power-Unit quota of four elements each.

At the Italian Grand Prix Kevin Magnussen qualified 16th, but with no fewer than eight drivers receiving penalties for exceeding their quota of elements, he lined up ninth.

Sergio Perez himself was meant to go back five places from 11th at Monza. Guess where he started.

Nope, you’re wrong. He lined up 10th.

It really has gotten silly. The reasons for introducing grid penalties back in 2004 were good ones, where if you changed an engine during a weekend you were penalised ten places in qualifying.

Author: Rick Dikeman
Engine penalties were first enforced in 2004, but the rules were a lot clearer

In those days, you didn’t have a Power-Unit that was almost as complicated as trying to tie your shoelaces with only your left hand. You had no individual elements to change.

Attempting to work out the grid is now almost a routine part of a Saturday afternoon at a Formula One Grand Prix, and that is not attractive to anybody whatsoever.

No one actively wants to be confused at a Grand Prix and the debate and talking points should be about on track action, not a guessing game about who starts where.

There are a couple of ways around this, however.

The idea behind the penalties is to improve reliability and save engine manufacturers an awful lot of money that would spent on developing and making the various engine parts, with technical costs in F1 never far away from paddock chatter.

One idea to end the nonsense of endless grid penalties is to replace grid drops with Constructors’ points deductions, provided the deductions don’t go over the top.

The driver who would otherwise be forced to start from the back of the grid, or possibly 12th, would therefore not have his race completely ruined before it even began.

Shanghai International Circuit, Shanghai, China. Sunday 09 2017.
Stoffel Vandoorne, McLaren MCL32 Honda, is returned to the garage as he retires from the race. Vandoorne has been penalised 170 places for exceeding the elements quota of his Power Unit
World Copyright: Steven Tee/McLaren
ref: Digital Image _O3I5054

He would be allowed to fight where he should be fighting while the team, responsible for reliability, would suffer without the spectacle being impacted for the spectators and worldwide public.

However, there is a drawback.

Team points deductions would affect some teams more than others, with Sauber just one example of a constructor that rely on prize money given out at the end of the season.

It is well documented that the late Jules Bianchi’s two points for ninth at the 2014 Monaco Grand Prix kept Manor/Marussia alive until the end of 2016.

Points deductions, no matter how small, could hurt smaller, independent teams for years to come while it may prove to be no deterrent to the big boys.

A second, more feasible route would be to limit track time at Grand Prix weekends, with a 20-minute penalty in free-practice sessions for each element exceeding the quota to be served after the first 15 minutes of any session, with a total and complete ban on work on the car during this period.

This would provide a sporting penalty to impact both driver and team, without completely ruining the weekend of the driver affected by mechanical problems.

The team and driver would both be affected but nobody would feel like it was a triumph if they guessed the right grid order.

It would have the same impact on bigger teams and smaller teams alike as limited track time would similarly hamper a Mercedes to a Sauber.

Whether the FIA do indeed decide to put an end to the farce that is the current penalty system is another matter.

But leaving the results of one of the most important sessions of a weekend as vague as the current system can often be is far from the way forward in an era where Formula One constantly strives to pioneer.

Formula One has a lot of thinking to do in order to solve its technical problem.

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Alessandro-Alex Zanardi, A True HERO

Alex Zanardi is the guy who never gives up. He is a person which inspires generations and has become the idol of many young kids. Alex has taught to all of us that life is hard, but we must never give up.

Born in Italy, on 23 October 1966, Alex Zanardi had the chance to race in Formula 1 for Jordan, Minardi, Lotus and Williams. In 1991, the Italian driver made his debut in Formula 1 with Jordan, where he remained only for one year. The following year, Zanardi raced for Minardi, but again the next year he changed a team and signed a contract with Lotus.

In Lotus, Alex, had his best moment of his F1 career. He scored his first point in the Brazilian Grand Prix in 1993. Alessandro qualified 15th, but after a tremendous race, he managed to finish sixth, behind two British drivers, Johnny Herbert and Mark Blundell. Despite the good result that Alex had in Brazil, 1993 was not a good year for the Italian driver. Zanardi had an accident with his bicycle, but that was not enough to hold him off the sport. Alex raced in Germany with several broken bones, but a spun didn’t let him finish the race.

Zanardi’s injuries forced him to postpone his racing in 1994, Alessandro had to wait to fully recover from his injuries. Hence, he missed the season premiere, but he returned in the Spanish Grand Prix, where he replaced Pedro Lamy, who at that time was racing for Lotus.

In 1999, Zanardi raced for his last time in Formula 1. At that time he was driving for Williams and his last race was in Suzuka. The Italian qualified 16th, but he forced to quit the race due to electrical issues.

That was the end of his career as an F1 driver.

15 September 2001

Zanardi continued his career as a driver in another series, in Indy Car. At the EuroSpeedway Lausitz September 15, Zanardi had a terrible crash which it could cost him his life. During the final laps he was leading the race, his team decided to call him for a late pit-stop, when he re-joined the race, Alex had spun and lost control of his car, while his he returned to the track, unable to control his vehicle, was avoided by Patrick Carpentier, but Alex Tagliani crashed on Zanardi’s car. Tagliani crashed on the side of Zanardi’s car, behind the front wheel. From the crash, the Italian lost both his legs and lot of blood. The doctors managed to stabilise his condition and save his life.

After his surgery, the Italian joined a rehabilitation program, he even designed and built his own custom legs. Zanardi continued to race in European Touring Car Championship. Alessandro won his World Series race in August 2005, he also won in Istanbul in 2006 and won twice in Brno in 2008 and in 2009. At the end of 2009, the Italian decided to quit the WTCC series.

In 2006, BMW Sauber gave a chance to Alex to drive a modified Formula 1 car, where he could control it with his hands. Zanardi knew that he would never sign a contract with an F1 team, but still, it was very special for him.

Zanardi’s new chapter

In 2007, Zanardi decided to try something different and started practising with a handcycle. His aim was to enter the Italian Paralympic team. Zanardi managed to fulfil his dreams. In 2011, Alex won a silver medal at the UCI Paracycling.

It was not long before his first race in London’s Games. In 2012, the Italian lifted with his hands his handcycle above his head. It was a very memorable moment at Brands Hands race circuit, it was the moment where Alex Zanardi celebrated his first gold medal in Paralympic games.

Alex won a gold medal in the individual road race H4 and a silver medal in the mixed relay team H1-4.

The Italian made himself known to everyone, he was awarded the Best Male at the 2013 Paralympic Sport and Media awards.

“This is a great accomplishment, one of the greatest of my life.” Zanardi said about his gold medal in London.

Rio 2016

Zanardi travelled to Brazil with the thought to win more medals and inspire the world.

“Even my accident, what happened to me, became the biggest opportunity of my life, all the things I am doing today are related to my new condition.” He said.

“When you find yourself in a certain situation you have to identify where you want to go and focus on what you can achieve on that given day.Whether it is a small thing or big one, step-by-step you can make things happen.” Zanardi added.

In Rio, the Italian claimed his third gold medal in Paralympics. He won the H5 time trial at Pontal in Rio de Janeiro. It was a hard race for Alex, he passed Tripp over the second half of the route and won the gold medal by 2.74 seconds.

“It has been a long journey, which basically started the day after the London games when I decided that I would focus on a new horizon in my life and that this would be Rio. After the exciting years of preparation and coming here to a course that was not really my kind, of course, it is just fantastic to finally enjoy the taste of gold once more.” Said Zanardi.

More than fifteen years have passed since Zanardi’s terrible accident, but the Italian is still racing and he never gave up. During his hardest moments in his life, Alessandro found the courage and he didn’t give up.

He is a legend for me, and he is the idol that all the generations must have and follow. I don’t want to underestimate any Paralympic athlete, every each of them has a history which I am sure that it is very admirable.

Never give up.

 

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Verstappen’s Penalty is Excessive and F1 Needs More Common Sense

Christian Horner and Red Bull Racing labelled Max Verstappen’s penalty for overtaking Kimi Raikkonen “unbelievably harsh.”

They have every right.

The Dutchman passed Raikkonen on the final lap on the inside of turn 17 for third place as the two duelled for a spot on the Austin podium.

Yes, he did leave the track with all four wheels and yes, track limits should always be respected even

in an era where run off areas become bona-fide parts of the circuit.

However, the Finn hadn’t exactly left oceans of space for the Red Bull hotshot as the cars accelerated through four flat out apexes, with speeds approaching 160mph through the complex.

The alternative for Verstappen would have been to make contact and most likely cause a major accident.

In a year where stewarding in Formula One was supposedly relaxed in order to help improve the show, Verstappen’s penalty shows an incredible lack of common sense.

Raikkonen must certainly have been surprised to have got the call to head straight to the podium when he returned to parc ferme.

This is not the first time the stewards have been heavy-handed on this issues.

Four years ago at the Hungarian Grand Prix Romain Grosjean was given a drive-through penalty for overtaking Felipe Massa around the outside, completing his move millimetres off circuit.

The move itself was magnificent and excited fans, and Grosjean was rightly lauded for this daring manoeuvre.

By everyone except the stewards.

Formula One has for the past couple of years been desperately searching for ways to bring back those that have stopped watching, with audiences down since the beginning of the decade.

They will have been helped by a close battle for the title between Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and Mercedes’ probably champion Lewis Hamilton, but it needs more than that to persuade viewers to come to pay-per-view TV and back to F1.

So often in the last two years, Verstappen has been that bit extra, the little bit more.

The author of this has been a critic in the past, but whether you agree with his harsh defending or bolt-from-the-blue overtaking manoeuvres, the 20-year-old is a man to lift people out of their seats.

The stewards this season have on occasion exercised common sense with sporting penalties, including in Azerbaijan after Vettel and Hamilton’s road rage incident.

But there was also the double penalty given to Daniil Kvyat, who got a stop-go and a time penalty for the crime of regaining his grid position after falling backwards.

A return to that common sense, at all levels, is needed if Formula One is to accomplish its mission to bring back many that have switched off.

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United States Grand Prix Quali Roundup

The word of the day for qualifying is ‘pace’. Lewis Hamilton wasn’t content to rest on the track record he set in P3, and went on to set new course records several times during qualifying as well as the record for front-row starts. Ferrari looks like it might be able to breathe some life into the Drivers Championship again.

Red Bull continues to nip at Mercedes and Ferrari’s heels – they may not realistically be able to unseat Ferrari for second place in the Constructors Championship, but they sure can play the spoiler in the Drivers Championship (well, but for those pesky penalties). Force India continues to dominate fellow Mercedes customer team Williams, and Fernando Alonso keeps wringing impossible results out of the Honda power unit, aided by McLaren’s excellent chassis and a few upgrades that his teammate doesn’t have.

Renault keeps showing hints of their future potential, while Toro Rosso is floundering a little due to driver availability issues. Haas is continuing their sophomore slump, and we’re all carrying a torch for Sauber, hoping that next year’s improved power unit and stabilization in the organization will bring them back to competitiveness.

Q1
Most of the field took to the track on the pink ultrasoft tyres, while Mercedes and Ferrari elected to use softs. The backmarkers opened the session with Pascal Weherlein setting a decent pace for Sauber. Unfortunately, but predictably, he was quicly eclipsed by cars with more capable power units. Next year, Sauber! Next year!

The leaderboard underwent its usual early churn, with Valtteri Bottas, Esteban Ocon, Max Verstappen, and others – seemingly half the field – taking turns in P1. Fernando Alonso even briefly held P2 before everyone began to find their pace and the more dominant cars rose to the top. Valtteri Bottas set the pace for the first half of the session, with a lap of 1:35.309.

Lewis Hamilton’s early laps were somewhat lackluster while he found his pace, placing him in 7th with a 1:36.425. Hamilton wasn’t the only one appearing a bit sluggish, with Verstappen running into traffic, Daniel Ricciardo sliding around a bit, and the Ferraris split by Felipe Massa.

The middle of the session featured some excitement of the negative kind. Haas found themselves in the interesting position of being on both sides of impeding investigations. Romain Grosjean found himself off cutting the grass when forced to swerve wide to avoid Lance Stroll’s Williams. Stroll was seemingly living up to his name (he was in fact being coached through a setting change at the time; perhaps not the wisest time and place to do so) while Grosjean was coming up quickly behind. Grosjean moved to pass on the right, but Stroll abruptly moved further to the right himself, sending the Haas driver out onto the grass. Stroll was awarded a three-place penalty for his efforts, and his very first penalty point for his license. Not exactly the kind of first a driver wants, but into every life a little rain must fall.

On the other side of the coin, Kevin Magnussen found himself under investigation for impeding Sergio Perez. Due to a miscommunication with the pit wall he slowed at turn 11, unaware that Perez was approaching quickly on a flying lap. Perez was forced to slow abruptly to avoid contact. Driver and team both owned up to the error, and Magnussen was handed a three-place grid penalty and a penalty point on his license as a result.

At the midpoint of the session the timing sheet was thoroughly mixed. It was at this point that Lewis Hamilton came alive, turning in a lap almost as quick as his record-setting lap in P3 and putting himself firmly atop the timing sheet with 1:34.822.

As is often the case, the closing minutes of the session featured spirited efforts by those lower in the order attempting to secure a place in Q2. Carlos Sainz catapulted his Renault into 5th, while Hartley found himself edged below the cutoff despite a spirited drive, being outpaced by Stroll and Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson. Grosjean barely made it through for Haas – his 15th place 1:36.835 being only .007 quicker than Ericsson’s 1:36.842 for 16th.

At the conclusion of Q1, Hamilton sat atop the timings, followed into Q2 by Verstappen, Bottas, Vettel, Sainz, Massa, Raikkonen, Alonso, Hulkenberg, Ocon, Ricciardo, Kvyat, Vandoorne, Perez, and Grosean.

Ericsson, Stroll, Hartley, Weherlein, and Magnussen were excluded, falling below 15th place.

Q2
Q2 opened with a notable absence. Nico Hulkenberg elected not to run due to his 20-place grid penalty despite having placed in 9th in Q1, 0.15 seconds ahead of the Force India driven by Esteban Ocon. While perhaps understandable from a race strategy perspective, this proved to be a disappointment to commentators and fans alike.

Everyone but Max Verstappen elected to run Q2 on ultrasofts, while Verstappen opted for the soft tyres.

Unlike in Q1, Lewis Hamilton put his best foot forward for Q2. Initially dueling for fastest sectors with his teammate Valtteri Bottas, Hamilton set a seemingly-unassailable time of 1:33.560, setting a new track record once again. Bottas turned in a respectable time of 1:33.793.

Sebastian Vettel rounded out the top 3, being 0.829 seconds behind Hamilton. Daniel Ricciardo made his way to 4th, .935 behind Hamilton. Kimi Raikkonen, despite always looking very quick (red ones go faster, right?) found himself in 5th in the first half. Verstappen, on the soft tyres, was in an unexciting 6th.

The Force India duo of Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez were in 7th and 8th place going into the Q2 lull, and Carlos Sainz found himself in 9th. Felipe Massa rounded out the top 10.

Both McLarens found themselves in the drop zone, along with Romain Grosjean and Dany Kvyat as the teams regrouped for the final Q2 push.

When the action resumed in the dying minutes of the session, Kvyat was first to take to the track in his Toro Rosso. Other teams followed suit with the exception of Red Bull, who elected to keep Ricciardo and Verstappen in the pits. Wary of Ferrari, Mercedes elected to send Hamilton and Bottas out, while both Vettel and Raikkonen took to the track in an attempt to unseat the Mercedes duo.

As the chequered flag descended, drivers on track began to finish their flying laps. Kvyat was first to complete his session, and while he improved his time he wasn’t able to crack the top 10, finishing in 12th. Grosjean was next, and found found himself in 14th. While he also improved his time it wasn’t enough to improve his position.

Lewis Hamilton’s seemingly unassailable lap time was then beaten – by Hamilton himself. Hamilton once again set the record for fastest lap, with a blistering 1:33.437.

Fernando Alonso delivered a significant improvement to his time bringing him to 7th, pushing Ocon down to 8th. Ocon then crossed the line, improving his time, but not his position. Vandoorne was next across the line, echoing the refrain of improving his time he was unable to improve his position, finishing the session in 13th between Kvyat and Grosjean. Bottas in turn crossed the line in 2nd place, a full third of a second behind Hamilton.

Felipe Massa the pulled himself up out of the drop zone, splitting the Force India duo and crossing the line into 9th, pushing Carlos Sainz into the drop zone and leaving Perez in 10th. Vettel meanwhile crossed the line 0.666 (spooky!) seconds behind Hamilton, but was then pipped for third by Raikkonen, in turn pushing Ricciardo into 5th.

Sainz brought his Renault across the line with a significantly improved time, propelling himself into 7th while leaving Massa in 10th and Perez in the drop zone. Perez, the last man on track, finished the session by beating Sainz to 7th and pushing Massa back into 11th.

When the dust settled following this frantic scene, Massa, Kvyat, Vandoorne, and Grosjean joined Hulkenberg in not advancing to Q3. Hamilton, Bottas, Raikkonen, Vettel, Ricciardo, Verstappen, Perez, Sainz, Alonso, and Ocon advanced.

Q3
Lewis Hamilton led the charge into Q3, followed by Valtteri Bottas, and they quickly began trading fastest sector times. In short order all the others save Carlos Sainz were on track.

Esteban Ocon was the first to set a time in Q3, coming in with a respectable 1:34.743

Echoing his performance in Q2, Hamilton yet again set a course record. His time, 1:33.108.

Bottas then set a solid second place time of 1:33.568. Fernando Alonso was the next to set an initial time, crossing the line in 1:35.126.

Daniel Ricciardo then brought his Red Bull into third, with 1:34.130, but was eclipsed by his teammate, with Max Verstappen setting a time of 1:33.868.

Hot on Verstappen’s heels, Sebastian Vettel crossed the line with a time of 1:33.867, occupying third and squeezing Max into 4th by the narrowest of margins. Sergio Perez delivered a slower 1:35.167 for 8th place.

Kimi Raikkonen then crossed the line, pushing Vettel out of third with a time of 1:33.852 before the drivers began to filter back into pit lane to prepare for the final push. clearly felt his performance in the first half of Q3 wasn’t up to par, commenting, “S**t. Too many mistakes,” when told he was in P3.

Meanwhile, Sainz had yet to set a time. He was the first to head out onto the track in the final minutes of the session.

As with Q2, the teams released their boys onto the track with just enough time to complete the out lap and begin a flying lap before the chequered flag fell.

Alonso was the first to cross the line with an 8th-place time of 1:35.007. Sainz topped that with 1:34,852, claiming 9th for himself and pushing Alonso down into 9th and provisionally putting Perez in 10th. Ocon placed himself in 7th, improving his time to 1:34.647.

Vettel then found his pace, though he was unable to top Hamilton’s record-setting time. His time of 1:33.347 was sufficient for him to move up the ranking to second. Across the world, fans rejoiced at the prospect of the title fight remaining alive.

Ricciardo improved his time a bit, provisionally holding onto fourth place with a time of 1:33.577, followed closely by his teammate who set a provisional fifth place time of 1:33.658.

It wasn’t to last, though, as Raikkonen split the Red Bulls with a time of 1:33.577, matching Ricciardo. As Ricciardo was the first to post the time, he remained in fourth and Raikkonen moved to fifth.

Despite setting a fast first sector time in his late push, Hamilton was unable to venture into 1:32 territory. Perhaps his engineering team forgot to refill the cheetah blood tank in their excitement.

Bottas was similarly unable to improve his time and remained in third place, while Perez remained in tenth despite improving his time slightly to 1:35.148.

The finishing order for Q3 was Hamilton, Vettel, Bottas, Ricciardo, Raikkonen, Verstappen, Ocon, Sainz, Alonso, and Perez.

But of course, there are penalties to account for. Stoffel Vandoorne incurred a 5-spot drop, Max Verstappen had 15, Nico Hulkenberg received a 20-spot penalty, and Brendan Hartley, for reasons that technically make sense but still manage to seem mystifying, faced a 25-spot penalty.

After penalties are applied, the starting grid for Sunday’s race session is: Hamilton, Vettel, Bottas, Ricciardo, Raikkonen, Ocon, Sainz, Alsonso, Perez, Massa, Kvyat, Grosjean, Ericsson, Vandoorne, Wehrlein, Stroll, Verstappen, Magnussen, Hulkenberg, and Hartley.

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United States Grand Prix P3 Roundup. We’re calling it a ’roundup’ because Texas, y’all.

 

The word of the session for Free Practice 3 of the United States Grand Prix is, ‘workmanlike’. The teams are continuing to dial the cars in, find the limits, and push them. While rain didn’t make an appearance the wind was particularly noticeable along the back straight, blowing at 3.7 m/s (around 8 miles an hour for us Yanks unused to SI measures) from the north and making turn 12 exciting. A track temperature of 35 C (95 F) and an air temperature of 28 C (82 F) made for warm running. Following the usual churn in the leader board as the session progressed, an unsurprising back-and-forth finally ensued between Ferrari and Mercedes at the top of the timing sheet, with the familiar final order of Hamilton, Vettel, Bottas, and Raikonnen in the top 4.

Mercedes had, by all appearances, an uneventful session. After slowly ramping up, Lewis Hamilton set a new record of 1:34.478 to top the timing sheet. Hamilton made some creative interpretations of the track limits in the closing moments, but ran into no major issues.

Valtteri Bottas showed respectable pace as well, and with a fastest lap of 1:34.692 claimed third on the sheets.

After a raft of complaints from Sebastian Vettel following yesterday’s sessions, Ferrari claims to have completely changed the chassis on his car. Though as Will Buxton pointed out in his commentary on NBC Sports, supported by his fellow commentators, there have been occasions where the mechanics have simply taken a car apart and reassembled it – a placebo for the drivers. Maranello swears it was a full chassis change, so we’ve no choice but to take them at their word.

Seb’s times gave the impression he was happy, though. After the usual back-and-forth at the top of the timing sheet, Vettel’s best lap of 1:34.570 saw him finish in second, 0.092 seconds behind Hamilton. If he can keep this pace in quali and the race, the title battle may go down to the wire – were that to happen, the true winners would be the fans. Seb appeared to have a moment of nostalgia for his Red Bull days, accidentally pulling into a Red Bull pit box before correcting himself.

Much like his fellow Finn and #2 driver (search your feelings, you know it to be true), Kimi Raikkonen turned in respectable pace but was overshadowed by his teammate. His fastest lap of 1:34.755 earned him 4th on the leaderboard for the session.

Red Bull showed good pace early on, with Daniel Ricciardo topping the timing briefly during the middle of the session. Sadly it wasn’t to last, and with a bit of a scruffy showing he finished in 9th, with a fastest lap of 1:35.723.

Max Verstappen, who may be forced to start the race from Taylor after taking a new engine and MGU-H, was up to 2nd for a moment, but settled in at 5th with 1:35.103

Brendon Hartley, helmet issues resolved, continued to put in the work for Toro Rosso. First out and closing with 26 laps, he easily put in the highest mileage in the session. Toro Rosso is clearly happy with his performance, as the flow-viz paint on the back of his car indicates they’re running some experimental parts. With a best lap of 1:36.818, he came in at 15th place, and the speculation of a Gasly-Hartley line-up for the Baby Bulls in 2018 continues apace.

Speaking of Toro Rosso, poor Dany Kvyat can’t catch a break any more – even though Pierre Gasly couldn’t make it back from Japan in time thus giving him a race seat, he suffered from steering issues and spent significant time in the garage. With a best lap of 1:38.5, Dany is dead last in 20th, with only 6 laps under his belt.

It wouldn’t be practice without Romain ‘I’m not moaning’ Grosjean beaching his Haas. Though not quite as dramatic as Vettel’s excursion yesterday, this nonetheless brought out the Virtual Safety Car and ended his session after only 9 laps. His best time of 1:37.891 left him in 19th.

Kevin Magnussen had a far less eventful session, finishing 16th with a fastest lap of 1:37.271. His dad was there, which was nice.

Renault put in a solid, though comparatively uneventful showing. Nico Hulkenberg put in the second highest lap tally of 21, and had a best time of 1:35.608. He finished the session a comfortable 7th.

His freshly-minted teammate Carlos Sainz was right behind, landing 8th with a best lap of 1:35.650. Sadly, there is no time bonus to be found in their livery – though the cats leave them solidly tied for P1 in our hearts.

Force India, fetchingly color-coordinated with their pink livery and the pink ultrasofts, rocked up 10th and 11th, with Sergio Perez bringing a lap of 1:35.802 and Esteban Ocon weighing in with 1:35.965. Sadly, no time benefit for style here either, lads.

McLaren continued to show hints of what they could do with a better power unit, briefly having both cars in the top 10. Sadly, they’ve still got Hondas in the back and came to rest with Alonso in 13th with a time of 1:36.239 and Vandoorne in 14th, clocking 1:36.599.

Williams left getting out on track until comparatively late in the session, but they turned in reasonable times themselves. Felipe “will he retire again or what” Massa finished up in 6th, with a best lap of 1:35.346, while Lance Stroll ended 12th, turning in a best time of 1:36.118.

Sauber quietly rounds out the time sheets, with Marcus Ericsson finishing in 17th with 1:37.319, and Pascal Weherlein in 18th with 1:37.807.

The final order for P3 is:
HAM
VET
BOT
RAI
VER
MAS
HUL
SAI
RIC
PER
OCO
STR
ALO
VAN
HAR
MAG
ERI
WEH
GRO
KVY

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Max Verstappen has agreed the contract with Red Bull Racing for a further three years

Max Verstappen continues to race for Red Bull Racing for a further three years. The 20-year-old Dutchman, who won this year’s Malaysian GP, is happy with the decision. “Their support, from the guys and girls in the factory through to the crew in the garage, no matter what plays out on the race track, has always been 100 per cent. We’ve also had some fun times! I’m very happy to commit further to Red Bull Racing.”
Max started his F1 journey as a part of Red Bull’s young driver programme. “Red Bull has always shown their faith and belief in me with actions; inviting me in to the young driver programme as a 16-year-old, then giving me my start in Formula One when I was just 17, and then the opportunity to race with Red Bull Racing where I had such a dream start with this team. They have always backed me and my ambition and I know we share that ambition.” He expects more successes in the future.

Credit: Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

The Team Principal said: “We are delighted that Max has agreed to extend his contract with Red Bull Racing. We had a phenomenal start together in Spain last year and Max has only pushed on from there. It was a great moment for the whole team to see him put the frustrations of this season behind him in taking that fantastic victory in Malaysia last month. He is pure racer, with an undeniable talent at the wheel and a rare instinct for what it takes to compete consistently at this level. Coupled with a committed work ethic and a mature approach to learning his craft that belies his years, Max is right to be hungry for success”. Christian Horner belives that Red Bull Racing is the right team for Verstappen to win the championship. “As we now look to the long term with Max he is in the best place in the sport to build a team around him to deliver our shared ambition.”

Credit: Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool
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