Tag: Alonso

Red Bull Lay Down a Big Marker

Max Verstappen won the Bahrain Grand Prix in emphatic fashion on Sunday with a performance that should really scare the rest of the F1 grid. Once he navigated the first couple of corners without incident he just disappeared into the distance. Even Charles Leclerc on fresh soft tyres couldn’t get anywhere near him. 

It was an opening race performance that reminded me of Sebastian Vettel in his prime Red Bull years but this time, Verstappen had the reliability to finish the job. His teammate would recover from losing positions at the start to take an easy 2nd place as well. Both Red Bull’s finished 26 seconds ahead of anyone else despite turning their engines down for the last 10 laps. Max must have wondered where everyone else was at points as he sauntered around the Sakhir International Circuit. 

Behind the two Red Bull’s this race was all about tyre management as Ferrari, Aston Martin and Mercedes traded superiority throughout their stints. All three ran pretty close to each other throughout the race which bodes well for future races to see who will get that final podium place behind Red Bull. Ferrari are the second fastest car on pure speed but have much more tyre wear than both Aston and Mercedes. Mercedes really just lack overall downforce to maintain the pace of Ferrari and Aston. On a highly abrasive track surface like in Bahrain they were always going to use more of their tyres to keep up. This showed as Alonso was able to stay out a couple of laps more in both stints to create a tyre delta to attack Hamilton and Sainz late on after losing places at the start. It would have been really interesting to see what Alonso could do against the Red Bulls if he gained positions at the start rather than losing them. He would have at least been able to mix it with Leclerc before he retired with engine issues. 

This really was the worst start for Leclerc’s season. Ferrari had to replace his energy story component before the race as a precaution but it was the replacement part that failed which caused him to retire. This means Charles has already used his whole allotment for that part for the season, without completing a race distance. The Ferrari is quick but seems to have a very tight window when it’s able to deploy that performance. They will hope the next race in Jeddah doesn’t highlight their tyre wear issues as much as Bahrain. 

Behind the ‘Top 4’ fight there were some performances that went under the radar. Pierre Gasly climbed from the back of the grid to take a comfortable 9th on his Alpine debut, just behind Bottas who used the undercut to great effect to jump from 12th to 8th by the flag. The midfield does look very close and I would imagine that the balance of power will shift race to race as it doesn’t seem like there are any ‘backmarkers’ this year. The whole grid can arguably fight for points. 

This is because Williams have made great strides, in Bahrain at least, to join the fight and Alex Albon even got points in 10th place. His teammate Logan Sargent had the best debut out of all the rookies in 12th and finished under 10 seconds behind his much more experienced teammate. That is a great performance and one that should give him and the team great confidence. 

But Bahrain wasn’t rainbows and smiles for all the competitors. McLaren had one of the worst opening races that I can remember. Norris qualified 11th which was much higher than the team expected with his teammate being knocked out in Q1. But that was where the ‘positives’ ended really. Piastri did make up some places from 18th but was forced to retire after 13 laps as an electrical issue in the steering column meant his steering wheel shut down and Norris had to pit 6 times after his car developed a pneumatic pressure leak so had to come in every 10 laps to get its air topped up. He finished 2 laps down in the end. The only sliver of good news is that the car did show more pace than the team was expecting before retiring. They must do better so let’s hope the major upgrade planned for Baku really works. 

But at least the race went better for McLaren than it did for Esteban Ocon. He was penalised three times that all stemmed from one issue. He was initially penalised 5 seconds for being incorrectly positioned on the starting grid: he rolled a little too far into his slot and was JUST in front of his grid box. He was able to take this time penalty at his first stop BUT Alpine started working on his car before the 5 second penalty had been served, so he got another time penalty – 10 seconds this time. When he came in to serve the 10 second penalty at his next stop, he approached a bit too quickly and sped in the pitlane by 0.1 mph, receiving another 5 second penalty. Alpine ended his nightmare on Lap 41 when they retired the car. So McLaren, it could be worse!

Overall, it was an interesting first race of the season, mainly because of Aston Martin’s jump into the fight at the front. But it is worrying to see that Red Bull have only extended their advantage over their traditional rivals but only time will tell how close Aston Martin really are in a straight fight. 

23 to go but at this rate, it will be Max Verstappen 3 time World Champion by the summer break. Happy New Year!

F1 Driver POWER Rankings – Hungary Edition

Welcome to the eleventh edition of my F1 driver POWER rankings list. I hope you enjoyed my previous edition after the British Grand Prix but if you didn’t get around to reading it and don’t want any spoilers, you can find it here. 

Just when I thought I had seen everything in F1 after 20 odd years of watching, the F1 gods chuck Hungary 2021 at me. The first time I have ever seen only one car take the lights and it really should have been none, as much as Toto Wolff wants to defend it, it was the wrong decision to send Hamilton to pole position. This weekend just reinforced Murray Walker’s famous quote “Anything can happen in Formula 1, and it usually does” and reinforced my view that any race is livened up by wet weather. A wet morning meant intermediates were the tyre to start on and that was a big factor in the chaos that would ensue once Bottas missed his braking point and went straight to the scene of the accident. He took quite a few people with him as well. With lots of the front runners either out or heavily damaged, it gave the midfield a golden chance for glory, which Esteban Ocon grabbed with both hands. He got a helping hand from his teammate who admirably defended from Lewis Hamilton for ten laps which proved vital to keep the other Alpine in the lead. There were lots of good drives all down the field in Hungary, with some notable performances from both Williams, a great Carlos Sainz comeback and a mature Sebastian Vettel drive which couldn’t quite take the win from Ocon. There was even drama after the chequered flag as Vettel was disqualified for not having enough fuel in his car at the end, an unfortunate slam dunk of a penalty. We now have a month break to regroup, review and come back stronger at Spa in September. Now let’s get into the rankings.

After Hungarian Grand Prix (11 of 23)

1. Lewis Hamilton (+1)

Hamilton takes the lead on this list again after quite a few weeks in Max Verstappen’s shadow. His pole position kept him out of the carnage behind to take an easy lead into the second corner. It should have been an easy win but neither driver or team thought it best to pit at the restart and it dropped them to the back on Lap 4. However, what we saw after was a classically relentless drive with some great overtaking to haul himself back into the podium places using the two stop strategy well. Hamilton’s battle with Alonso was the highlight of the day, both drivers showing skill, respect and toughness to battle it out for ten laps before Lewis finally prevailed. Hamilton goes into the summer break in the lead of the championship, which he knows how to defend but he could be facing his toughest title run-in yet in the form of an uber-motivated Verstappen and Red Bull.

2. Max Verstappen (-1)

It’s been a tough stretch for Max Verstappen with him only scoring one point in two races while his championship rival has scored over forty. This could mean the end of his chances in another seasons but Max is still right in it and only eight points back. He was an innocent victim at Turn 1 when the right side of his car was ripped off by the equally innocent Lando Norris. He was able to battle his car back into the points to claim that singular notch, which may turn into two if Vettel’s disqualification is confirmed. That could prove crucial come the end of the season. I bet Max can’t wait to get back in the car in Spa and release some pent up frustration on that legendary circuit.

3. Lando Norris (-+)

Speaking of Lando Norris, he was cruelly punished by the F1 gods for a brilliant start on Sunday. He nailed the revs and wheel spin to climb to third from sixth by the braking zone at Turn 1. This is where it would all go wrong, as Bottas out broke himself and crashed into the back of the McLaren which then caused it to crash into Verstappen’s Red Bull which ended Norris’ race and his scoring streak. The steak came to an end at fifteen which became a new McLaren record. He will move on from this, with the summer break probably coming at a good time, so that by the time we get to Spa, this will be a distant memory.

4. Charles Leclerc (-+)

Charles was another driver who was punished for their great start to the race. He was driving into second place when Lance Stroll decided to use Leclerc’ car as his personal braking apparatus and ended his race way too prematurely. If Charles had got through the first corner he may well have won the race. Leclerc, however was keeping up his great form before that notorious moment so doesn’t deserve to be displaced from his spot on this list.

5. Sergio Perez (-+)

Sergio was not on the pace of his teammate all weekend, at some points a second off the pace. He recovered to fourth on the grid and started well, getting past the slow starting Bottas, but I bet Perez wished he hadn’t. Once Bottas had hit Norris, we wasn’t done there. He disengaged from the Brit and went straight into the Mexican who was calmly minding his own business on the outside. This would also end Perez’s race before it had really begun and Red Bulls streak of bad luck continues.

6. Carlos Sainz (-+)

Sainz is probably annoyed he didn’t win in Hungary. He got stuck behind the slower Latifi and Tsunoda in the early stages of the race and lost too much time to the leaders. To compound the issue, he then missed out on the podium celebrations by two laps after getting passed by Hamilton, but he would eventually get the position back once Vettel had been disqualified. Sainz has driven beautiful for Ferrari in his first half season and he should take great confidence into the second half to try and grab even more podiums.

7. Fernando Alonso (+1)

Fernando produced some of the best defending of a position that I have seen in a long time to keep Lewis Hamilton behind for ten laps on newer, softer tyres. Fernando was aggressive but not unreasonable in his positioning of his car into Turns 1, 2 and 4 that helped win his teammate the race. Once Hamilton got past, he was three seconds quicker, showing us the job Fernando was doing. He is looking really comfortable in this Alpine now so we should expect more of the same in F1 2021 part 2 when we return at Spa.

8. Pierre Gasly (-1)

Gasly was obstructed by the crash ahead of him on Lap 1 but did massively out-brake himself on his own so the crash may have just spared his blushes. He had a good recovery drive to beat his teammate to the flag, who was right at the front of the restart queue while Gasly was near the back. The Alpha Tauri does seem to have lost a step compared to their rivals in front but Gasly keeps getting it into the points. He only drops because of Alonso’s eye catching drive.

9. George Russell (-+)

It has finally happened!!! I predicted it would be a great chance for George to get his first Williams points in Hungary and I’m overjoyed I was correct, for his sake. One small downside is that his teammate did beat him to it but as George showed on the radio mid race, he is very much playing the team game, asking the team to prioritise Latifi who was in a much stronger position. If George isn’t announced as a Mercedes driver by Spa, I’ll be surprised.

10. Esteban Ocon (+3)

The biggest jump of this week goes to Ocon, and how can it not after his first F1 victory and one done in style as well. It wasn’t on true merit but once he got the opportunity, Ocon didn’t make any mistakes and kept the seemingly faster Vettel behind him for sixty odd laps. Ocon was bold enough to tell the team to pit him at the restart despite a front row start and with it all to lose by choosing the wrong decision. He made the right one however and it won him the race, that and a quick in-lap while Vettel tried to undercut him at the pit stops. He is the 111th winner of an F1 race which is how many years old Bilbo Baggins was celebrating in the first Lord of the Rings. It’s not relevant or useful but I find it interesting.

11. Sebastian Vettel (-+)

Another podium drive from Sebastian, even though he won’t be credited for it. He will be frustrated as he felt he should have won the Hungarian Grand Prix but couldn’t quite find his way past Ocon. The Aston did look the quicker car. However, it’s another confidence inducing drive from the 4 time World Champion who is really finding his feet in his new team. He kept out of trouble at the start which is what Aston Martin need him to do as his teammate is still susceptible to an accident or two; cough cough, wink, wink.

12. Daniel Ricciardo (-2)

Unfortunate for Daniel in Hungary as he was taken out just when it looked like the seas had parted and he was staring at second place on the road which could have become first when Hamilton and Mercedes messed up the restart. However, he was hit by Stroll and Leclerc which damaged his floor and scuppered his pace. The stat sheet will point to another poor performance by the Aussie but this was just a case of wrong place at the wrong time.

13. Yuki Tsunoda (+1)

Tsunoda benefitted from the carnage on Lap 1 and the restart to get up to fourth for the majority of the race. However, he didn’t quite have the pace to hold onto the bigger places but did get back ahead of Latifi to come home a great sixth place for Alpha Tauri. He is still making too many unnecessary mistakes in practice and Quali but this will give him a nice confidence boost going into the summer break. He needs to get himself up the grid so that he can get in the fight with his teammate and not be stuck in traffic or crashes.

14. Lance Stroll (-1)

Minus one is probably generous for Lance as a rookie error created a clumsy looking crash to take out Leclerc and ruin Ricciardo’s race in Hungary. He got a great start from twelfth but out-broke himself and as a result gets a five place grid penalty in Spa, which is fully deserved. It did help his teammate so I’m sure the team will be fine with that.

15. Kimi Raikkonen (+1)

Kimi made it into the points in Hungary to double his score for the year when he caught and passed Ricciardo towards the end, despite having a penalty for an unsafe release against his name. Very little of him was shown on TV so that’s all I’ve really got for the Iceman. He does seem to be the Alfa Romeo to score points when they are on offer.

16. Valtteri Bottas (-1)

Bottas was the instigator of the carnage on Lap 1 and must take the blame. He simply out broke himself and slid into others. He also gets a five place grid penalty for Spa which could and maybe should have been ten. Not what he needs when his bosses are deciding to hire him or not for next year. Unfortunately for Bottas I think he will be driving in different overalls next year.

17. Nicolas Latifi (+2)

What a result for Latifi and one that may keep him in F1 next year. He was sitting as high as third for a long time on Sunday but the Williams just doesn’t have the pace to keep it. He was able to come home in seventh to collect the most points Williams have scored in a race since 2018. He had a fantastic first lap which won him those points. Fair play Nicolas, fair play.

18. Mick Schumacher (-1)

Mick showed some good race craft and fight in his battle with Verstappen in Hungary but the Haas just didn’t let him properly have a go at it. What we learnt was that there is no way the younger Schumacher is going to get bullied out of positions. His Dad can be proud.

19. Antonio Giovinazzi (-1)

A tough weekend for Gio. His teammate was once again able to pick up points and these crazy races are where Antonio needs to show his metal. It’s about grabbing points and showing yourself, neither of which Giovinazzi did. After two years, I’m still not sure if he’s good enough for F1 and I believe Ferrari don’t know either.

20. Nikita Mazipin (-+)

For the first time this year I actually feel sorry for Mazipin. He was taken out in the pit lane when Alfa Romeo let Kimi Raikonnen go into his path, snapping his front suspension. He did beat his teammate in qualifying for the second time in three races which shows promise and progress. Let’s see if Haas can give the boys a car to show themselves in the second half of the season.